Chapter 3-11 : Unexpected Attack
「Everyone, now we can see our first island, and as some of you might have guessed, that island is the home for mermaids.」(Carmine)
The tour guide, Carmine, extended his hand toward the island a few hundred meters ahead of us.
I thought mermaids lived deep in the ocean, but in this world, they seemed to live on an island.
Ahh~ I can’t wait to see them.
「I wonder if you can eat them-nya~」(Nyat)
「H, Huh!?」(Kako)
While I was feeling excited to see the mermaids, Nyat said that while grinning next to me.
He said the same thing when we saw the sea cats.
「You gotta be kidding, right!? Tell me you don’t mean it!」(Kako)
Just because they’re aquatic creatures, it doesn’t mean you can eat them!
「Nyahaha! I’m just joking-nya.」(Nyat)
「Geez… Your joke is bad for my heart…」(Kako)
Phew… I’m glad that he doesn’t seriously think of eating mermaids.
「Don’t worry, I won’t eat them-nya. They don’t taste good-nya.」(Nyat)
「Don’t taste good…? Wait… Have you…」(Kako)
Don’t tell me… He had eaten a mermaid before!?
「I once fought a mermaid warrior, and I bit their leg in the battle-nya. It tasted awful-nya.」(Nyat)
「Ah, I see…」(Kako)
He learned what they tasted like in a battle, huh? I see, I see.
…Hm…? Wait a minute…
「Say, what if their leg tasted good…? Would you…」(Kako)
「Who knows-nya~」(Nyat)
Nyat grinned while giving me a vague answer.
This cat… He’s not serious, isn’t he?
「The mermaids on that island are friendly and welcoming, so if you see them, please wave your hands. They will wave back at you.」(Carmine)
The tour guide was still explaining while Nyat and I were having our crazy conversation.
I heard that it was prohibited to visit their island, but the mermaids living there seemed to be friendly toward humans.
I hope Nyat won’t bite any of them…
Our boat kept moving forward, and the island, which still looked small a few minutes ago, is now looking bigger and bigger as we’re getting closer.
「Wow, it’s a huge island.」(Kako)
The island was bigger than I thought, now that I could see it closer.
There were so many unique plants that I had never seen growing all over the island. Judging from the shape of the leaves, they seemed to be tropical plants.
「Apparently, there are many other aquatic creatures other than mermaids living on this island because it’s quite big.」(Thea)
「I see.」(Kako)
As expected from our knowledgeable maid. It seems like this island is quite populated.
But… I still haven’t seen any of the inhabitants. All I see is vegetation. It kinda looks like a deserted island.
「Where are the mermaids…?」(Kako)
「Hmm… I wonder if they’re hiding.」(Thea)
Thea and I were looking around the water, expecting some mermaids to come out and greet us.
Not just me and Thea, but the other tourists were also looking around while wondering.
The tour guide said they were friendly toward humans, so they wouldn’t be avoiding us and chose to hole up on the island, right?
「This is weird… They normally would have shown up by now. But, everyone, please rest assured. It rarely happens, but I think they’re just shy today. Don’t worry, you will be able to see them if we get closer to the island.」(Carmine)
There seemed to be something wrong going on, but as the tour guide, Carmine tried to calm us tourists and promised that we would see what we were expecting to see on this tour.
As we kept getting closer to the island, a lady sitting near the edge of the boat let out a loud voice while pointing at the water.
「I see a mermaid!」(tourist lady)
「What!? Where?」(Kako)
Spontaneously, I and the other tourists looked in the direction she was pointing.
「So that’s a mermaid…?」(Kako)
I’m seeing a male mermaid coming out of the water.
I could only see his head and chest since his lower body was submerged in the water, but I could already tell that he was not a human because he had some features that a human didn’t have, such as scales covering half of his skin, and a pair of small fins on both sides of his head instead of ears.
Without those scales and fins, he would just look like an ordinary, good-looking guy with an athletic body.
Other than his unique features as a mermaid, I could also see a trident he was holding in one hand.
Since he has a weapon, I wonder if he’s a guard who’s currently patrolling the waters around the island.
「Oh? Looks like we have our first local here. Everyone, please wave your hands and greet him with smiles!」(Carmine)
「Mermaid-san!」
「Hello, Mermaid-san!」
「Good day, Mr. Mermaid!」(tourists)
Prompted by the tour guide, all the tourists were waving at the mermaid.
Of course, I raised my hand and waved at him too.
「Mermaid-san~!」(Kako)
We were greeting the mermaid with smiles as the tour guide said, but the mermaid didn’t wave back at us; instead, he was glaring at us, returning our greeting with a somewhat intimidating expression for some reason.
「Uhh, is it just me, or our mermaid there doesn’t look happy at all?」(Kako)
「It’s not just your imagination-nya. He’s angry. I can feel hostility from him-nya.」(Nyat)
「What?」(Kako)
Aren’t mermaids friendly toward humans?
Hmm… Perhaps he is just having a bad day?
While I was wondering what was possibly making him upset, the mermaid suddenly attacked us. He raised his trident, created a ball of water with magic, and shot it at us.
「Eh!?」(Kako)
「Watch out-nya!」(Nyat)
However, Nyat quickly jumped forward to the bow part of the boat and shattered the ball of water with his claws.
ーSPLASH!!
The water ball turned into millions of droplets and drenched us passengers.
「Whaー What the hell happened!?」
「Did the mermaid just attack us!?」
「No way! They should be friendly, right!?」
「Why did he do it!?」
「Oi, what the hell’s going on here!?」(tourists)
Everyone was panicking due to the sudden attack. They began to blame the tour guide.
「Everyone, please calm down and stay in your seats!」(Carmine)
「Don’t screw with us!」
「You told us they were friendly!」(tourists)
「I’m not sure why he did that… A, anyway, Mr. Catto, thank you for saving us.」(Carmine)
「You’re welcome-nya. I don’t know what’s going on, but you better talk with him before he attacks us again-nya.」(Nyat)
「You’re right.」(Carmine)
Following Nyat’s advice, the tour guide stepped forward and raised his hands, showing the mermaid that he didn’t have any ill intentions.
「You, Sir, why did you attack us all of a sudden?」(Carmine)
「Shut your trap, human! How dare you still visit our territory after what you’ve done!」(mermaid)
「What? I don’t understand what you’re talking about! Don’t you recognize me? It’s me, Carmine. I usually guide a tour boat around here.」(Carmine)
「I don’t care! You humans are all the same! Now feel our wrath!」(mermaid)
「WーWait! Please listen to me!」(Carmine)
Ignoring the tour guide, the mermaid raised his trident again.
At the same time, several more mermaids appeared from the water and raised their tridents too. It seemed that they had been hiding in the water and came out to attack us all together.
「This is bad-nya! Everyone get your head down-nya!」(Nyat)
「Catto-san, we’ll help!」
「We can’t let them sink our boat!」(adventurers)
Two of the tourists who seemed to be adventurers came forward and prepared their weapons.
One was holding a sword and a huge shield, while the other was holding a magic staff.
While the mermaids were attacking us with water bullets, they were working together with Nyat, protecting the boat using their shield and magic.
「Kyaaaaaaaaa!!」
「Gaaaaaahhhh!!」
「We’re doomed!」
「We’re gonna die!」
「I don’t wanna die here!!」(tourists)
The boat was shaking greatly, and everyone was screaming in panic.
The fun tour had turned into chaos in just a few seconds.
「Ukh…!」(Kako)
「Kako ojou-sama!」(Thea)
I was also panicking, but Thea hugged me tightly so that I didn’t fall from my seat.
Really, what in the world is going on!?
「Dammit! I don’t know why, but they don’t want us here! Get our boat away from here! Hurry!」(Carmine)
「Yeah, hurry up!」
「We can’t hold them for long!」(adventurers)
「Hurry-nya!」(Nyat)
「We’re trying, but their attacks make this boat feel heavy!」
「We’re gonna need some time to turn around!」(boat attendants)
While Nyat and the adventurers were doing their best repelling the water bullets, the two other tour boat attendants, who could use wind magic and water magic, were struggling to turn this boat because the water was shaking a lot.
「Kyaa!!」(tourist lady)
Suddenly, the lady sitting near the edge of the boat fell from her seat. She was the one who first spotted the mermaid earlier.
「Ugghh!!」(tourist lady)
She groaned in pain while holding her leg. It seemed that she sprained her ankle.
「Madam, are you alright?」(Kako)
「Ugh, my ankle hurts…」(tourist lady)
「That’s really bad! Thea, can you help her?」(Kako)
「But, Kako ojou-samaー」(Thea)
「I’ll be fine. More importantly, we can’t leave her like this!」(Kako)
「…Understood.」(Thea)
Thea was hesitant for a second, but she released me from her arms and approached the lady.
There’s no way I could ignore someone in trouble right in front of me, but there was little I could do to help, so I asked Thea.
As expected from our super maid, she brought a first aid kit in her magic bag. She took out the ointment for the sprain and some bandages and then started treating the lady’s injury.
I thought the situation wouldn’t get worse, but suddenlyー
「Everyone, be careful-nya! Something big is coming-nya!」(Nyat)
As soon as Nyat shouted, a huge wave was coming toward our boat.
It seemed to be the mermaids’ doing. They really wanted to sink us for some reason.
Since no one could stop the wave, it hit us, blowing our boat a few meters up into the air.
「WAAAAA!!」(Kako)
Unable to hold on to my seat any longer, I was bounced off my seat and tripped over the safety rail.
「ー!!」(Kako)
ーSploosh!!
Before I even realized it, I was underwater. It seemed that I fell into the sea.
「ーHnngh! Ngghhh!!」(Kako)
「Kako ojou-sama! KAKO OJOU-SAMAAAAaaaaaa……」(Thea)
「Ngggheaa!! Hennghhpppp…!!」(Kako)
I could hear Thea’s voice that was gradually becoming distant.
Ah, that’s right… Thea may be a super maid, but I doubt she can swim. After all, she had never been to the sea before.
And Nyat is busy protecting the boat from the attack. Besides, he’s a cat, and cats hate water. I doubt he will come to save me.
Well, if he heard it, he would definitely yell at me, saying, “I’m not a cat-nya!”.
「Nggh…. Gghh…………」(Kako)
While thinking about such a pointless thing, I started losing my consciousness.
I can’t breathe…
It hurts…
It’s suffocating…
Aa-aah… Am I going to die here…?
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