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Chapter 174: The Mermaid (1)

Realizing that the constraints blocking the world had disappeared since the dawn of time, it came outside.

And it couldn’t help but be surprised.

What is this?

The place where it had lived was very dark and cold.

It never knew if it could catch prey immediately, and the frigid temperature could freeze it to death if it let its guard down.

In fact, the survival rate of its kind was very low.

But the outside was bright and warm.

Prey was abundant, and the temperature was high.

It was an incredibly distant place.

And it was surprised once more.

What are these weak creatures?

The place it came from had no prey.

If it wasn’t careful, it would be eaten by competitors.

But outside, there was nothing but prey.

Lightly touching them would crush them, spilling their insides, and putting them in its mouth brought a sweet meaty flavor.

It was the best thing it had ever tasted.

It finally realized that the outside was a much weaker place compared to where it had lived.

It was immensely delighted.

It was moved by the breaking of the world’s constraints and devoured the outside creatures.

The feeble prey struggled and resisted, but it was meaningless to it.

What a weak world this is.

What delicious prey this is.

It felt as if it had become a king.

It joyfully rampaged.

Across the vast continent, a confined being was unleashed.

* * *

‘It’s a mermaid. A mermaid.’

Ketal quickly examined the mermaid who had thrust her head in.

The mermaid was half-naked, wearing a bikini made of woven seaweed, naturally revealing a lot of skin.

Yet, she did not look vulgar or obscene.

It seemed very natural, almost like everyday clothing.

Her appearance was also quite beautiful.

‘Her ears are like a human’s.’

In some creative works, mermaids have gill-like ears, but the mermaid’s ears were just like a human’s.

Her upper body was human, while her lower body was fish.

A fantasy being, a mermaid, was in front of his eyes.

Ketal was deeply moved and continued to gaze at the mermaid.

The mermaid, feeling uncomfortable, slightly averted her gaze.

‘She doesn’t seem afraid.’

Elves would feel intimidated and scared when facing him.

Being close to nature, they were sensitive to such intimidation.

But the mermaid, though slightly uncomfortable, did not seem to be as scared as the elves.

‘Are mermaids not beings of nature? Or are they different from elves?’

Ketal smiled broadly.

The mermaid, trying to ignore him, turned her gaze to look at the people on the ship.

“I see a few familiar faces.”

At her words, Valkran and the sailors flinched.

They were pirates.

They had raided cargo ships transporting goods needed by the mermaids several times.

Naturally, the mermaids would not have good feelings toward them.

After glaring at the sailors for a moment, the mermaid shook her head.

“Let it be. In this situation, it’s a small past matter. It seems information hasn’t spread well outside, but this place is currently very dangerous. I can’t guarantee your lives, so I recommend you leave quickly.”

“No, we know everything,”

Aquaz calmly said.

“We came here to help you.”

The mermaid’s eyes widened.

“Really? We’ve asked for help from the outside several times, but all efforts failed, and we had given up…”

“A survivor provided some information about what is here. Based on that information, we came here.”

Aquaz stood up and respectfully bowed.

“I am Aquaz, an Inquisitor of the Sun God. We came to help the mermaids.”

“Oh, ah… The Sun God. His grace…”

The mermaid showed an expression of deep emotion.

“Thank you for the great god’s interest. The sea near here is monitored by monkeys, but you managed to avoid them. It must have been thanks to the Sun God’s blessing.”

“We encountered the monkeys.”

“…What?”

The mermaid paused.

“You encountered them? But how did you get here? You couldn’t have escaped them with the ship’s speed.”

“We flew through the sky.”

“…Pardon?”

For a moment, Merow didn’t understand the meaning and asked again.

Aquaz gave a wry smile.

Even she would have reacted that way.

It was that incomprehensible a statement.

But since it was the truth, there was nothing else to say.

“We flew through the sky to escape.”

“Oh… I see.”

The bewildered mermaid accepted it somewhat.

She assumed they must have used some method to escape and took “flying through the sky” as a metaphor.

“Anyway, if you managed to escape, it means you have enough power. That’s fortunate. Honestly, the situation here is very dire.”

“What exactly is the situation?”

“I would tell you right now, but… it’s hard to say when the monkeys might lay eyes on this place. Let’s move to a different location.”

Merow looked at the sea below.

“I will take you to our dwelling. We can talk in detail there.”

“Wait a moment. By dwelling, you mean underwater?”

Baker was horrified.

Humans couldn’t breathe underwater.

His concern was valid, but Merow dismissed it lightly, flicking her tail.

“Don’t worry. There will be no problem. [Blessings be upon you.]”

With those words, a strange light enveloped the people on the ship.

“Then, let us go.”

The mermaid grabbed the boat and pulled it down.

The boat slowly sank into the sea.

Naturally, the humans were drawn into the water along with the boat.

“Whoa!”

“Whoa!”

The people, who had been holding their breath in panic, soon realized.

“…What?”

“We can breathe?”

They found they could breathe and see underwater.

Baker was astonished.

“Mermaid magic?”

“It’s not magic; it’s a blessing.”

As they descended deeper into the sea, Merow explained.

Mermaids were beings that lived and breathed in the deep sea.

But half of them were human.

Since there was a boundary between land and sea, many tragic stories had arisen between humans and mermaids.

A god who pitied them granted mermaids a blessing.

It was a blessing that allowed land beings to survive underwater.

Thanks to this divine blessing, mermaids could interact with land beings without much trouble.

They could live in the sea and trade with coastal cities because of this blessing.

“Oh…”

“I see.”

Aquaz and Baker were impressed as they realized this.

Allowing land beings to live underwater!

While they were admiring the great power of the god, someone tapped Merow on the shoulder.

When Merow looked at the person, she saw Ketal staring at her.

“…Huh?”

It was then that Merow realized.

Ketal had not received the mermaid’s blessing.

“Oh, oh no?”

Merow was flustered.

It had already been ten minutes since they descended into the sea.

A normal human would have fainted from lack of air by now, so why was he fine?

Merow hurriedly tried to grant the blessing, but it didn’t work.

“What? Just a moment.”

Instead of waiting, Ketal closed his eyes and began to pray.

Kiiing.

Holy power enveloped his body.

The sailors and Merow widened their eyes.

“…Huh?”

“Holy power?”

“Hmm. This works. It’s done. Problem solved.”

Ketal opened his mouth.

Merow stared at him blankly, stammering.

“…Why?”

“My body is a bit special. Such power doesn’t work well on me. I’ve resolved it with holy power, so it’s fine now.”

By using a holy relic from Kalosia, he cast a false veil around his body as if he were on land.

“Holy power can even do this, huh.”

Ketal laughed joyfully.

Truly, it was a versatile power.

“No, but…”

Merow looked at Ketal in disbelief.

She was amazed that a barbarian could wield a holy relic, and she was astounded that the mermaid’s blessing didn’t work on him.

The blessing was a power granted by a god.

If it didn’t work, it meant that the god’s power didn’t work, which was impossible in a world that existed by divine grace.

“Even if you question it, I don’t know either.”

Ketal shrugged.

There was no point in asking since he didn’t know either.

Merow stepped back, feeling perplexed.

The sailors now looked at Ketal as if they were seeing a monster.

“Well… let’s continue descending.”

The boat continued to descend deeper into the sea without any problems.

The ocean gradually grew darker.

They had reached a point where light could no longer penetrate from the surface.

Without the blessing, they wouldn’t have been able to see anything.

They began to see sea creatures they had never seen before.

At first, the sailors were amazed by the underwater scenery, but gradually their expressions turned to fear.

“How far down are we going…?”

“The sea is very deep. We still have a long way to go.”

Merow spoke calmly.

The further they descended, the more uneasy Baker and Aquaz began to feel.

A primal fear overtook them.

Only Ketal was happily observing the depths of the sea.

Merow, watching him with a mixture of bewilderment and caution, carefully asked,

“…What do you see?”

The sea was incredibly dark.

Without the blessing, Ketal should not have been able to see anything.

Yet he responded calmly,

“I can see well. There are many fish I’ve never seen before. It’s fascinating.”

As if he were genuinely having fun, he observed the dark abyss.

Merow looked at Ketal with the same eyes as the sailors, seeing him as a monster.

Eventually, they reached the sea floor.

The boat landed with a small sound.

“This way, please. I will guide you to our dwelling.”

Merow swam forward, flicking her tail.

They carefully followed her, treading on the sea floor.

Before long, they arrived at the entrance of a small underwater cave.

A small merman boy appeared from inside, perhaps sensing their presence.

“Merow, you’re back? What’s going on?”

“These people have come to help us.”

Merow spoke calmly.

The boy’s eyes widened.

“Oh? Does that mean we can be saved now?”

His voice was quite loud, and several mermaids emerged from the cave.

They exclaimed in astonishment upon seeing Ketal’s group.

“Oh!”

“They’ve come to help from the outside!”

“Please kill those damned monkeys!”

They were warmly welcomed into the underwater cave.

The resting mermaids gathered around to see them.

Valkran, observing the number of mermaids, frowned.

“…Is this everyone?”

This place was once called the city of mermaids because it was home to so many of them.

At least a thousand mermaids lived here.

But now, it seemed there were fewer than a hundred mermaids in the cave.

Merow spoke with a bitter expression.

“The situation is dire.”

“…Are they all dead?”

“No. I don’t think so. Most of them are still trapped in the mermaid city.”

“Trapped in the city? Are the monkeys treating them as slaves?”

“There is someone who can explain more clearly than I can. I will guide you to our city’s administrator. Please hear the details from them.”

Merow spoke calmly.

* * *

Ketal, Aquaz, and Baker went to meet the administrator.

The sailors were excluded.

Their role was to bring Ketal’s group to the mermaids.

Their task was complete.

Thanks to the mermaids’ hospitality, the sailors were guided to a room in the underwater cave.

Valkran spoke to Ketal one last time.

“I hope everything goes well.”

“Don’t worry. It will be fine. Think of it as an unusual trip and get some rest.”

“…You’re the only one who could think like that.”

“Is that so?”

Ketal laughed heartily.

They were led to the deepest part of the underwater cave.

There, a middle-aged merman was waiting for them.

“Nice to meet you, humans. I am Kukulitan, the leader of the bluish-green city… or rather, the former leader now.”

Kukulitan smiled bitterly and bowed politely.

“Thank you very much for coming to help us.”

“Think nothing of it.”

Kukulitan cautiously asked,

“Could you introduce yourselves?”

It was certainly a good thing for humans to come and help the endangered mermaids.

However, not all goodwill necessarily brought aid.

Given the situation, Kukulitan needed to confirm if they had enough power and background to help.

“I am Aquaz, an Inquisitor of the Sun God. I have reached the level of a superhuman.”

“Oh! An Inquisitor of the Sun God!”

Kukulitan exclaimed.

The Church of the Sun God was the most powerful church on the surface.

An Inquisitor at the superhuman level would be a significant asset for the church.

If trouble arose, they could expect support from the church.

Next, Baker spoke.

“I am Baker, a superhuman magician of the Starrail School, gazer of the stars.”

“Oh! A great magician of the Tower!”

Kukulitan exclaimed again.

The Tower of Magic, created by the great hero, was renowned even in the sea.

A magician from there would surely wield great power.

Given the rarity of magicians from the Tower, the school might also aid them if needed.

Both were formidable and authoritative individuals, more impressive than Kukulitan had expected.

With hopeful eyes, Kukulitan looked at Ketal, expecting him to have similar power and authority.

Ketal spoke.

“I am a barbarian. Ketal.”

“…Is that all?”

“Yes, that’s all.”

Ketal looked as if to say, ‘What more do you need?’

For a moment, Kukulitan was at a loss for words.