Chapter 3-13 : Mermaid Village (part 1)
「KYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!」(Kako)
I shouted as soon as I saw the naked man sitting next to me.
「Whoa! You sure shout a lot, don’t you?」(man)
「It’s your fault! Why are you nakー….. Eh?」(Kako)
I thought he was naked at first, but when I looked closer at him, his lower half was fish.
Well, he was naked, but he wasn’t a human. He had the lower body of a fish instead of two human legs. It was covered in scales from his waist down, and he had a large fin at the end of it.
「Wait, are you a mermaid?」(Kako)
「As you can see.」(male mermaid)
The naked man I thought was a pervert turned out to be a mermaid.
I couldn’t see their feet when I saw them from the boat, but they seemed to be just exactly like I imagined. Their upper body was human, and their lower body was fish.
That’s right! Speaking of the boat, I remember I fell into the sea.
After that, I was speaking with the goddess in a dream while I was unconscious. I asked her to make my body look more mature when I woke up, but…
I looked down at my chest and put my hands on it.
Yup… It’s still as flat as ever, and my hands are small, too. Nothing changed.
「That stingy goddess…」(Kako)
「Did you say something?」(male mermaid)
「Nothing. I was just talking to myself. More importantly, where are we?」(Kako)
I looked around as I asked. It was dark here, but thanks to the sunlight coming through the small gaps in the ceiling, I could somehow see the surroundings.
It seemed that I was inside a cave. In the middle of the cave, there was a lake, and it was sparkling beautifully, reflecting the sunlight from the ceiling.
Since I could hear the sound of the waves, this place seemed to be a cave with an underground lake next to the sea somewhere.
「You’re in our village.」(male mermaid)
「Village?」(Kako)
So this cave is the mermaid village?
Hearing the word “our” from him, I realized that we were not the only ones here. I could see other mermaid-like figures deeper in the cave.
Suddenly, a chill ran down my spine.
I’m obviously in the mermaids’ territory, and I’m surrounded by them right now.
I may have escaped death from drowning, but I doubt I would be able to survive this time if they attacked me.
This is bad…
「Relax. We’re not going to hurt you.」(male mermaid)
I didn’t say anything, but perhaps he noticed the fear written in my face.
「Re, really? You’re not going to attack me?」(Kako)
「Why would I? I was the one who saved you, you know?」(male mermaid)
Hold on… So the one who saved me from the sea was him?
But…
「If you saved me, then why were you attacking our boat in the first place?」(Kako)
That’s right. They attacked our boat with powerful water magic, trying to sink and kill us.
I don’t understand why he saved me.
「That’s… We have to apologize to you for that. We hate humans, but as warriors, we have no intention of dragging a child into this conflict.」(male mermaid)
「Hold on. By “A child” do you mean… me?」(Kako)
「Yeah. We had no idea you were on the boat. If we knew there was a child, we wouldn’t have attacked the boat. Attacking children, no matter what race they are, is a shame for us mermaid warriors. Please forgive us!」(male mermaid)
He bowed deeply to me. I could tell that he sincerely wanted to apologize to me, but still. Not only did he endanger me, but Nyat, Thea, and other passengers, too.
「What about the people on the boat? Did you…」(Kako)
「Worry not. They managed to escape.」(male mermaid)
「I see. That’s a relief.」(Kako)
Looks like Nyat and Thea are fine, but I’m sure they’re worrying about me right now.
「Alright, I accept your apology, but why did you attack us?」(Kako)
「Right. You deserve to know the reason. We have been suffering greatly because of humans. Recently, we decided to start attacking their boats as a warning of their actions.」(male mermaid)
「What actions?」(Kako)
「Do you know there are so many inhabited islands in this area? Many humans have built houses on some of those islands recently. We had no problem with that alone since those islands belong to no one, but ever since they started exploiting natural resources there, people in our village started falling sick. We found out that the strange liquid leaking from their houses was harming our bodies.」(male mermaid)
「Strange liquid?」(Kako)
「Yeah, and it’s not just affecting us mermaids, but it’s also harming other sea creatures in this area.」(male mermaid)
I was thinking it was about a territorial dispute or something like that at first, but I see now. It seems like the main cause of this problem is marine pollution.
Hm? Wait a minute…
He said the strange liquid also harmed other creatures. Does that mean that fish are affected too?
Oh, no… I ate a lot of fish dishes in the inn…
I hope it won’t affect my body…
「Humans are foolish! Their actions will ultimately lead to the destruction of this sea!」(male mermaid)
「I see… I understand your frustration. You have been suffering because of humans. However, it doesn’t mean that you can attack any boats in sight. You have just attacked a tour boat with innocent people who don’t even know what’s going on, you know?」(Kako)
「That’s… Yeah, I can’t deny it, and I felt guilty about it… We should have thought it all the way through before attacking. I’m very sorry…」(male mermaid)
Again, he lowered his head and apologized.
He seems to have regretted his action.
「I know it won’t be enough to atone for my mistake, but I will take responsibility and keep you safe here until help arrives, so you can rest assured, child.」(male mermaid)
「Alright. I’m glad you seem to have reflected on it, but there’s one more thing I need to tell you.」(Kako)
「What is it?」(male mermaid)
「I’m not a child!」(Kako)
「……..」(male mermaid)
When I told him that firmly, he stared at me with blank eyes for a few seconds.
And then… burst into laughter.
「Hahaha! Good one! Anyway, I will take you around the village. Follow me.」(male mermaid)
Gununu…!
He doesn’t believe me at all!
But… Well… I don’t blame him.
It’s all that stingy goddess’s fault for not giving me a mature body!
After he laughed, thinking that I was joking, the male mermaid crawled toward the water and got into the lake.
I then followed him by walking along the shore next to him as he swam toward the deeper part of the cave.
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