113 – Mermaid’s Request
Did I hear correctly?
So you have to marry a mermaid to get pearls?
“No, I… I have to go home.”
“Yes. Of course it would be embarrassing. But this must be a good suggestion for you too.”
Why do you decide that on your own?
I don’t want to marry a foreign girl I’ve never seen before.
“Not on barren land, but in this paradise full of life, rule the sea as the king of Merrow.”
It’s nice to be proud of where you belong, but the land isn’t that barren either.
“From the looks of it, Her Majesty seems to be in good hands. Do I need to intervene out of the blue?”
“Of course. Because the prophecy said that when the owner of the Millennium Pearl rules Merrow, Paradise will reach its peak and enjoy peace, prosperity, national prosperity, and prosperity.”
It’s just that all the good words are beaten into it.
Leaving aside the fact that there is no connection in common sense, if a being different from the tribe suddenly became the ruler, would it be possible to rule it well? If you don’t have crystal gills right now, you can’t even breathe in the sea.
I looked at Ariel next to her with her eyes asking for help, but she deliberately avoided her eyes, pretending not to see my earnest gaze.
Even though I noticed something strange in the room earlier, I never imagined it would turn out like this.
I was prepared to challenge for a duel, but it felt like I received a shy confession.
Right now, I think the former would have been better.
Looking at the atmosphere, it was absolutely not a flow that could be easily overlooked. It was clear that the slower and hesitating my decision was, the harder it would be to say no.
Yes. I didn’t want to be forced into marriage and spend my whole life under the sea just to get one, no matter how good the jewel.
Let’s give up millennial pearls neatly. She wanted to return home, grateful for the fact that she met the mermaid and appreciated such a romantic theme park.
“Sorry. I don’t think I’m the owner of that pearl, so I’ll go back to the mainland.”
“Hmm… Too bad.”
“Surely, the owner of the pearl who is much better and wiser than me will appear and fulfill the prophecy.”
“No. I don’t mean that.”
A mermaid queen who corrects my misunderstandings with an ominous smile.
“It’s just a pity that I will be uncomfortable with you, who will become my son-in-law from now on.”
“… Huh?”
“Please be kind enough to understand. Man of the land.”
She belatedly recognized her danger and tried to escape her throne room, but it was too late.
The door was firmly closed, and the Royal Guard mermaids surrounded me.
You twisted it one more time in the confession attack, so it was actually a duel challenge? If this is the case, it means to openly reveal your true colors from the beginning.
Feeling betrayed and chewing on it for a while, I calmly inspected the enemies and prepared for battle.
“Quietly surrender. Because I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You are funny. If you really think of me as the king of prophecy, will you take that trident right away?”
“I can’t help it. This is all for Merrow.”
The largest of the enemies, who looked like a shark, said that, and the enemies attacked at the same time.
Of course, I had no intention of being held still.
I immediately used the prepared magic to scatter a smoke screen in the water.
“This is…!?”
“You are using a shallow strategy!”
Among the bewildered enemies, one mermaid took a deep breath and inhaled all the smoke.
What else is that? Looking at her swollen body, did she come from a blowfish?
This time I threw a card. The card, which flew slowly because it was in the water, soon created a magical chain of blue light and bound the enemies as a group.
Ariel, who was watching the scene, muttered blankly.
“That’s…”
“What are you doing! We must not let humans escape!”
No matter how desperately he tried to swim, it was next to impossible to outrun the finned mermaid in the water. The bodyguards who cling to me in an instant and interfere with me.
I tried to resist as much as I could with magic, but in the end I was faced with the limit. Besides, the shark mermaid who seemed to be the captain of the bodyguard was too strong. Every time he swings his trident, all the magic bounces off, making him laugh out loud.
In the end, they were captured and tied up.
With the feeling of holding on to the last straw, I earnestly cried out to the only girl whose name I knew.
“Ariel! Help me!!”
“·······.”
“Is it like this? Did you intend to trick me from the beginning!”
I try to close my eyes and ignore her, but my eyelashes are trembling as if I feel guilty.
“My dear guest. Please forgive my rudeness.”
Finally, with the voice from behind, I lost my mind again in the sea.
***
A VIP?
You’re laughing.
What country in the world would confine a VIP to solitary confinement?
Am I still supposed to thank you for not putting me in a cell?
If the mermaids were going to kill me, all they had to do was remove the crystal gills from their cheeks right away.
That means they have no intention of killing me.
In fact, it was obvious what the mermaids’ intentions were, just by thinking about the queen’s words.
Georgeko will marry me to Merrow and make me the owner of the prophecy.
At this point, I wonder if there is a reason why it must be so.
It’s not simply because I’m enjoying national prosperity, it’s because I feel like I’m caring enough to be close to obsession.
It had nothing to do with me.
Looking back on my situation, I let out a sigh of relief. In the end, there was no way to know how much time had passed since I was trapped in 30,000 leagues under the sea, let alone the thousand-year pearl I was aiming for.
Of course, at least one room like this can be easily escaped using magic.
But that doesn’t solve the fundamental problem. It was arrogant to think that I could go all the way to land by myself, when I didn’t know exactly where I was or how deep I was.
In the end, it means that if you want to escape this place, you must get help from the mermaid, whether you like it or not.
It was then.
Smart.
A knock at the door.
Is it breakfast time? If that’s the case, you’re probably too lazy to go to the academy.
But the door didn’t open even after waiting, so I went to the door first.
“What is it?”
“Raven. It is me.”
“…Ariel?”
She was a little taken aback by the unexpected voice, but in the end, it didn’t change the fact that she was a member of the same team.
Rather, wasn’t Ariel the main culprit who approached me first pretending to be innocent and stabbed me in the back? I was a fool for being seduced by her innocent beauty and not paying attention.
“I have nothing to say. Go back.”
“I’ll go in for a minute.”
“Yes?”
Ariel unlocks the lock and enters without hearing an answer.
Even in this situation, she was pretty enough to put me in awe.
No. This is not it.
She hesitated while looking at me, then cautiously brought up the story.
“I’m really sorry…”
“What’s the use of apologizing now? It’s just self-satisfaction.”
An apology meant only to relieve guilt is meaningless.
“It’s not like that…! I thought about it before I came here. It is true that we were wrong this time. That’s why I want to apologize on behalf of you.”
“So an apology alone means nothing…”
“I’ll get you out of here.”
Ariel’s confident declaration cuts off my words.
Looking at his eyes, it didn’t look like he was just saying it. Or is this just mere fascination with beauty?
“You might be wondering why we are so hung up on the prophecy to capture Raven.”
“Of course. While you’re talking, let me know why you’re like that.”
“This Paradise looks very happy on the surface, but in reality it is in great danger.”
Danger. I didn’t really notice it when I was walking around the palace.
Actually, it’s been less than half a day since I came here, so I don’t know, but it’s not strange.
“It’s a monster from the very north.”
“Um… Just hearing the name sounds like a pretty big risk.”
“Right. The huge monster is very ferocious and will try to harm us the moment it sees Merrow. Until now, warriors have tried their best to stop it somehow… But the monster still continues to descend here toward Paradise.”
Yes. I roughly understood.
In short, the reason why I was so desperately looking for the owner of the prophecy was in the end.
“You said you wanted me to defeat the monster and bring peace back.”
“Right. Everyone, including me, is putting their hopes on Raven.”
No, I understand that feeling, but the problem is that I’m not that great of a warrior.
“I saw it earlier. Wasn’t the thing Raven-sama used magic?”
“Uh… It is magic.”
“As expected! I read it in a book! Among the humans living on the ground, they know how to handle magic, a mysterious power!”
Are mermaids incapable of magic? The pufferfish mermaid that just inhaled the smoke was magical enough.
Ariel’s twinkling eyes made it clear that she was expecting a lot from me.
It is very burdensome. I’m sorry, but I don’t have the confidence to defeat the giant monster from the north.
“If you defeat the monster, I will give you a pearl and send it right back to your house… Yes?”
“Um…”
It would be better to reject it now than to give false hope to it by taking it lightly.
The moment I tried to honestly say that it would be difficult for me.
The goddess who had been quiet all this time spoke.
[Accept it.]
‘···Yes? Are you serious?’
[Of course. Because that monster is something you can easily defeat.]