Chapter 76: The New King
"Father... is this your choice..."
At this moment, Neptune couldn't understand why his father's words didn't oppose the other party becoming King. He knew he was no match for them, yet his father chose to end his reign in this manner.
"Neptune, you can leave with Pontos's body. Where you bury him is up to you. You may also take the personal belongings from the palace with you.
Since I promised him, I won't make a move against you. But if you intend to become my enemy, I won't show mercy either. Do you understand what I mean?"
Nereus didn't play double games. If he were negotiating with the World Government, he would treat everything on the agreement as nonsense.
But in times like this, he would keep the promises he made.
However, he had no intention of letting Neptune stay on Fish-man Island. Holding a "grudge for killing one's father" wasn't suitable for staying here.
Neptune looked at Nereus with a complicated gaze. No matter what, the other party had killed his father.
But Neptune also remembered Pontos's words.
"I want to bury Father in the Sea Forest."
"Allowed."
The Sea Forest was a submarine forest made of coral, located northeast of the Fish-man District, in the suburbs of the suburbs.
Due to the currents, most ships that sank while diving toward Fish-man Island would be carried here, earning the Sea Forest the nickname "Ship Graveyard."
At the same time, there was a Poneglyph here, recording Joy Boy's letter of apology.
"Pontos should have quite a few loyal subordinates. Gather them all."
"What do you want to do?!"
"Don't misunderstand. I'm just letting you take them with you. Of course, they can also choose to stay, but if they harbor other thoughts, I won't be lenient."
This sounded like he wanted to wipe them all out, but that wasn't the case. Anyone in Fish-man Island who could count as a high-end combatant was under Nereus's command; Nereus already possessed absolute military power.
This gap in power wasn't something schemes could bridge. Identifying these people was merely to reduce the possibility of slaughtering his own race within Fish-man Island later.
Counting from the time Nereus entered the palace, not much time had passed. The exchange between Pontos and Nereus hadn't taken long either. The entire coup was very brief.
But when the great doors opened, everything was different.
"His Majesty Pontos..."
"Mr. Nereus really..."
Many Neptune Army soldiers were still lying on the ground, having been knocked out by Sebastian and Babel earlier. At most, they had superficial injuries; nothing serious.
But seeing the current situation, they still felt a sense of confusion from the bottom of their hearts. A change in the Royal Family—this was something that hadn't happened in Fish-man Island for hundreds of years.
"Lay down your weapons. From now on, the King of Fish-man Island is Nereus."
The one who said this was Neptune. He chose to obey his father's words. Under Neptune's order, the Neptune Army soldiers guarding Ryugu Palace laid down their weapons one after another.
If it were anyone else staging a coup, their resistance would have been fiercer. But the one doing this happened to be Nereus.
Not only because of the gap in strength, but Nereus's accumulated reputation over the years was also playing a role.
Some soldiers even began to suspect if Pontos had done something shameful in private that was discovered by Nereus, leading to today's situation.
There was no large-scale conflict. Only a small number of soldiers left with Neptune in the night, choosing to continue following the original Royal Family.
More people stayed. Their families and relatives were all on Fish-man Island. Moreover, being ruled by Nereus didn't seem like an unacceptable thing.
"Big Bro... no, Your Majesty. Are we really letting him leave like this? Should I..."
"At this time, continuing to call me Big Bro is fine. As for hunting him down, there's no need. Since I promised to let him leave, I won't pull any tricks. Do you think he has the ability to do anything to me?"
Nereus rejected Sebastian's proposal. He didn't need his subordinates to proactively take on such infamy.
As long as Neptune didn't do anything to affect him, he wouldn't care what Neptune did in the future.
...
The sun rose as usual, and dawn arrived on time. But for Fish-man Island, a major event happened today.
First, all Neptune Army troops received orders to assemble in the morning, requiring everyone to await orders in front of Ryugu Palace.
Fish-man Island's investment in military force was actually very small. The Neptune Army only totaled a few thousand, a very low ratio. The troops guarding Ryugu Palace last night were the batch most loyal to the Pontos royal family.
With a minority of the Neptune Army choosing to leave with Neptune, the remaining ones were the first among the military and civilians of Fish-man Island to know that Nereus had become the new King.
Discussions immediately erupted, among which were sounds of cheering.
"Really? That's great! If Big Bro Nereus becomes King, our lives will definitely get better!"
"Idiot! You can't call him Big Bro now! You have to call him His Majesty the King!"
"Haha, you're right! Long live His Majesty Nereus!"
A portion of the Neptune Army personnel came from the Fish-man District. These people accepted this matter immediately and felt jubilant about it.
In their hearts, Nereus should have become King long ago. He had done far more than that King they had barely seen a few times.
The reputation and prestige accumulated over more than a decade were cashed in at this moment, solving most problems for Nereus.
No major upheaval occurred within the entire Neptune Army. After all, many who chose to join the army had the idea of protecting Fish-man Island.
Since Nereus was the one protecting Fish-man Island in the true sense, his taking over gave them a feeling that it was only natural.
And this news began to spread across Fish-man Island along with the rising morning sun.
Coral Hill. In the hotel where the group was staying, the mermaid at the front desk yawned. Her night shift was over; in five minutes, she would hand over to someone else and go back to rest.
"It's already dawn. It seems Mr. Nereus and the others didn't come back all night. What exactly did they go to do?"
Just then, she saw her colleague coming to take over the shift. Then she noticed her colleague say something to someone at the door and hurriedly walk toward the distance.
"Hey! Come back and take over!! Where are you going!!"
"Just hold on for another two hours! I'll make it up to you later! I'm going to Gyoncorde Plaza! Mr. Nereus has become the new King!"
Hearing this, the mermaid at the hotel entrance was stunned, linking it to Nereus's words from last night.
"Mr. Nereus... you really... went to do something big..."
☆☆☆
-> 30 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Inkshaper
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you