Chapter 338 - [21st Round] Human Possibilities
“This situation isn’t good, hubby. If the other bugs have infiltrated the system in the same way, they will be difficult to find.”
“That’ll definitely be a problem.”
It would be nice if the inhabitants of Fantasy could resist the bugs’ attacks. Unfortunately, the bugs were able to easily replace and remove the residents from the system, which was only made possible by divine power.
The fake Elfheim claimed he got his power from Fantasy’s Wrath.
The mercenary from space, also known as the former owner of the stingray with a sexual scream, received an order from that being as well.
It couldn’t just be a coincidence.
I turned to Ssosiel, asking what she thought about this.
“I’ve already checked the mercenary’s personal file, but there are gaps in it. The face and voice of Fantasy’s Wrath are completely hidden. I didn’t even find any traces hinting my aunt transferred her administrator rights to someone else.”
“What about Lanuvel?”
“She’s on the Eastern Continent, exploring the Tombs of Heroes alone.”
“Hmm…”
I was suspicious of her, but she always presented herself as an archaeologist. To my surprise, she was currently doing exactly what archaeologists did.
“Do you still suspect her?”
“Of course.”
Only those who had experienced it would be able to understand me.
She deliberately stepped on traps when we were in dungeons, and if one were to suspect her of something, she immediately pretended to be cute.
It was really creepy.
“Keep watching her.”
“Sir Hero, leave it to me,” Shadow A seemed to agree with me.
Seriously?
Putting her divided soul together would be problematic, but if I were to do it seriously, I could send her to the festival planet in a matter of hours.
She might again find herself in the arms of the wretched Elf King, who, sitting at the window of the city hall, watched the breasts of female humans passing by.
Did she want to postpone it?
“Yes, I’m used to waiting. I promised that I would do my best to help you in exchange for you returning me to him. Instead of helping, however, I ended up causing a bug instead. Hence, I feel the need to make amends.”
There was no point in refusing her help.
I thought it would be nice to assign someone to monitor Lanuvel around the clock anyway.
I notified my wife, who happily agreed despite being a strict dictator that wouldn’t even let me touch other women.
“Hey! Don’t make me look like some crazy embodiment of jealousy! Moreover, you have a moral problem if you think grabbing women by the neck is okay!
“Let’s pick up the pace.”
“Tsk. I got it already!”
It happened in an instant.
Shadow A was moved directly into Lanuvel’s shadow, ignoring the laws of physics.
I was pretty certain there wouldn’t be any more mercenaries now.
Once Shadow A saw signs of a summoning, we could visit Lanuvel and clarify the situation.
Fshuh! Fshuh! Fshuh!
I advanced at high speed, compressing space.
The giants’ recreational lands, fishing grounds, fields, salt farms…
I slowed down to look at the infrastructures scaled to a size surpassing common sense, but only for a couple of moments.
Regardless, I arrived on the Eastern Continent in no time.
“There seems to be no problem here.”
Since my friend Noebius didn’t kill his fellow dragons, there were now more of their kind living here than in the 4th curriculum. Even one of the Five Great Disasters, the embodiment of plagues, turned into a regular housewife because of that.
Nothing changed.
“Hubby… A former member of the Five Great Disasters turning a new leaf and living a quiet life is a pretty big change.”
“She’s just a lizard.”
She was quite tough and difficult to kill, but she didn’t pose a threat in combat.
“That’s easy for you to say…”
“It is.”
I managed to defeat her, although my surprise attack failed due to the negligence of my companions.
“Where are you headed?”
“Guess.”
“… I don’t know. Most of the possible companions for the heroes live here. Are we checking everyone to see if they’re bugs…”
“Why should we check them?”
“Uhh…”
“I don’t know what power the bug has, but if it can’t even go beyond common sense, then it should just abandon its objective right from the get-go. All it’ll be able to do is block the students’ path, becoming a great enemy and taking the seat of one of the Five Great Disasters.”
“Ah… So you want to use it for your own purposes?”
“Exactly.”
Ssosiel, who understood the essence of my plan, looked at me with respect.
We headed to Island W, where trade with the Central Continent was most active.
In fact, it was too large to be called an island, just like how the USA wasn’t considered an island on Earth.
Using Earth terms, Eastern Continent was a “huge continent” consisting of four “subcontinents” and several archipelagos.
Thus, the local culture differed from island to island.
“Buying elves!”
“Selling an experienced warrior that’s defeated many demons!”
“Behold, the best product for sailors! Women’s urine to ward off the mermaids!”
“Urgently buying a healthy male elf!”
“I’m sailing soon, so I’m selling elven females for half the price! Don’t miss your chance!”
There were many slave traders in the port.
Slavery on the Eastern Continent was legal and special, after all.
Slaves were only below their owners. They were equal with the rest of the people.
Hence, many found themselves with great owners. There were even some of them that lived better than commoners.
“Nothing’s changed here.”
“Really?”
“Ah! There’s been a marked increase in the percentage of female seafarers.”
“That’s good! It means that women have gained more rights.”
“Not exactly.”
“What do you mean?”
“You seem confused. The Earthly information you’ve gathered through your Mollanphone has influenced you too much.”
Fantasy was different from Earth.
There were no beautiful mermaids on Earth who professionally abducted men.
More female rights weren’t passed because the number of female seafarers had increased.
Women were simply forced to take on difficult work because there weren’t enough men on the Eastern Continent.
I doubted they were happy to take up jobs with high mortality rates.
Moreover, at sea, the death rate of females was now much higher than that of males because of the mermaids, a race that showed no mercy to ladies drowning in the sea.
Males who disappeared after being in the water sometimes ended up on the shore after a month or two, but the females had a 99.99% chance of dying.
“By the way, Ssosiel.”
“Hmm?”
“Why don’t you know that? Your age allows… Ugh!”
“Never speak of a woman’s age. Anyway, I was active only on the Northern and Central Continents. I didn’t have the opportunity to go into the curriculum in detail like my husband did.”
“You traveled with Fugitive Senior, right?”
“Yes, but when that idiot noticed there were many unmarried beauties on one of the continents, I wasn’t interested in why there were so many of them.”
“My senior’s talents never cease to amaze.”
I took Ssosiel and Green Cake to an inn by the pier, finding many sailors gathering there because it hired mermaids as waitresses.
Wolves among sheep.
They didn’t even pretend to be human by hiding their webbed ears and blue skin.
Upon their appearance, they would immediately declare their race, stating, “Gentlemen~ I am a mermaid~?”
Ssosiel poked my side.
“What’s the matter?”
“If mermaids are a problem, as my handsome husband said, why aren’t the people fighting them?”
“It isn’t that simple.”
Everyone now considered mermaids as weak creatures that had allied themselves with humans.
After all, their race was imperfect in the sense that they wouldn’t be able to reproduce without humans.
As a result, the mermaids treated everyone around them as harmless creatures, even saving human crew members from drowning for free.
Ignorance.
… I was familiar with this.
Just like them, though, my cowardly wife knew little about the life on Fantasy.
“Don’t nitpick my faults.”
“If there’s something you don’t know much about, then gladly absorb new knowledge instead of complaining.”
But just by looking at the results, one could immediately tell that mermaids weren’t all harmless.
Among the people who had fallen overboard, only men survived. The rest died.
In addition, the men rescued by the mermaids, for certain reasons, returned to the shore only after a couple of months, completely exhausted.
So why weren’t they considered dangerous?
Nobody directly blamed the mermaids for anything. Thanks to the painful lessons our ancestors left behind, we knew that catching one or two mermaids wouldn’t solve the problem.
There was no need to anger the mermaid race.
After all, all sea routes would be completely blocked and isolated if we did so.
“That would indeed cause a lot of problems.”
“My ignorant wife is finally using her brain.”
“I’m not ignorant! I just didn’t know the influence of mermaids on the Eastern Continent is this great. If you give me time, then I will quickly master everything!”
“Okay.”
At that moment…
Pshss!
Large amounts of water and food spilled over Ssosiel’s head as she sat behind the table.
The mermaid waitress immediately said:
“Oh! I apologize, madam. I just couldn’t take my eyes off your handsome husband… I will bring you a towel and a change of clothes~ ?”
“…”
“It will take a little time, but if you want, we will compensate you~?”
“… Everything’s fine. Such is the karma of the woman who is lucky to have such a beautiful husband. I hope you’re not overly jealous.”
“Tsk…”
The defeated waitress hastily left.
Looking at my wife, I said, “This is the essence of mermaids. That being said, I’m surprised you’re not mad.”
“Hmph! Don’t look down on me. I learned to control myself on Fantasiart. The women there are much worse than mermaids.”
“Really?”
Ssosiel didn’t even lift a finger to wash her face.
Instead, Master Mollan took over, peering out of her chest.
“Mollan~”
The Great Being walked from her head to toe, completely removing moisture and stains.
He then returned to her cowardly chest.
“Did you see that, hubby? This is Mollan’s real ability. He can’t teach others and turn them into deities.”
“Don’t make me laugh. Master Mollan just cleaned up his hideout.”
“Just admit it already… Hey!”
“Gods~?”
Pshhhh!
Her clothes, which Master Mollan graciously cleaned, became dirty again.
If I were in her place, there would have already been fish heads flying, but my wife just resigned herself from what was happening.
I couldn’t understand why.
“Because Fantasy is the place my mother left me. To be honest, I’m a little annoyed, but I feel responsible for all of its residents.”
“I’m having a hard time understanding that.”
“So, hubby, why did you come to this tavern? To pull your wife into trouble?”
“No.”
I just thought she needed to learn about this place’s local culture.
What I came here for was just about to begin.
“Conjure up some money and give it to me, cowardly wife.”
“What do you need them for?”
“I’ll be using them to spread rumors.”
Bang!
I hit the round table with my palm and stood up.
The visitors’ eyes immediately turned to me.
The Righteous Hero, an expert in Fabrication and Incitement, loudly addressed the crowd:
“People! Today was a good day for me! Whoever asks why…”
“Why?”
“Give a glass of beer to this daredevil!”
“Hahaha! I thought you were a new guest in these parts, but you know our traditions!”
Now I had completely captured their attention.
“I met the ruler of the seas!”
“How did you meet him?”
“A beer for that brave man! But it doesn’t matter how we met. Do you know why?”
“The result of the meeting is important!”
“Hahaha! Another beer! Lots of great beer hunters have gathered here! It’s all about the treasure! The ruler of the seas told me about the location of the treasure!”
“What treasure?”
I shouted out its name.
“It is a legendary ship, also known as the cruise ship of the gods! Flying Ship Laurita!”
“Wow!”
“Woah!”
“Amazing!”
The flying ship was stolen long ago by the guardians of the Northern Continent, but only stupid sheep gathered here, so it didn’t matter.
My cowardly wife had a strange expression on her face, making her look like a mermaid who just witnessed the prowess of an outstanding man.
“Why do you look as if it’s your first time seeing your handsome husband’s face, Ssosiel?”
“You’re not wrong. This is the first time I’m seeing you in such a good light.”
“Huh?”
What was wrong with her?
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