Hisha's brows creased, he couldn't place if this body was as gullible as a fish to be swayed by such meaningless praises, he could tell that they were merely trying to play on his emotions.
'Hisha, if you were stupid to these old geezers, you're in luck. I would take care of these little issues that deal with brains.' Hisha spoke to himself.
[That's a little ironic, don't you think, host?]
HTC interrupted with a cackle, remembering how stupid Hisha would still be without it.
'Way to ruin my cool moment!' Hisha narrowed his eyes, cross popping veins making their way to his forehead.
Wae took a step back, frightened by Hisha's glare.
Bowing his head low, he avoided making eye contact with those gleaming green eyes.
His body trembled uncontrollably, temporarily forgetting what he had wanted to say.
"I... I..." Wae stammered.
"My lord, what Wae was trying to say isn't something that would cause you stress." A soft and hypnotic voice spoke up among the tribal chiefs.
[Name: Frich Mer]
[Height: 167cm]
[Position: Chief of the merfolk tribe]
'Okay, another batch of crazy.' Hisha rolled his eyes, snorting at the voice from the merman.
Frich's silk blue jacket covered him to just above his knees and was barely buttoned up at the left side. The sleeves of his jacket are a little narrow and reach down to just above his hands, they're decorated with several thread linings of pearls at the sleeve ends.
Pulling down his hood to reveal his fair skin which was covered with faint scale marks. He had his grey hair braided that lay perfectly on his right shoulder.
Warm lavender eyes stared right back at Hisha with a little smile.
Hisha held his stare, curious about what he wanted to say.
"This is a matter of the harem at your disposal, my lord." Frich began, pausing and giving enough room for Hisha to respond.
'This is the important discussion? Because of this, I left meretrix one?!' Hisha's brow twitched in frustration.
He looked over to Kritz who at the same time held the gaze of his lord. Stunned that Hisha would look to him for the right words to say.
[Be natural, yet not stupid]
Hisha shook his head, resisting the urge to curse at every one of them.
"You may continue, your words would determine the right kind of words to address the issue at hand." He nodded to Frich to continue.
Wae's shoulders drooped as he sat back down, feeling dejected and worthless. He was always the one who spoke to their lord and requested, and propose on the tribal chiefs' behalf.
Knowing the sort of calmness Frich uses when he speaks, he could only reluctantly accept his approach as being way overdue.
'This is for the benefit of our tribe, that's all that matters.' Wae nodded his head to his resolve.
Frich had his lips curved into a smile, happy that he had gotten Hisha's attention with just those words. "Our people do not have enough women to bear us offspring, so we needed to ask if you could–"
"Are you suggesting that I share my harem with your tribe?" Hisha's rage only rose to the meaning of what they were trying to say.
Kritz's eyes burned with rage, ready to do his lord's bidding when ordered to. They had overstepped their bounds by asking such a treacherous question.
[Do not...]
'I know HTC, there is no way I would share my harem, not while they are under my jurisdiction.' Hisha snarled in response.
Hisha was never one who loved to share the things he had. Even while he was an only child, he had never enjoyed sharing his mother's affection with his father.
Finding himself as an oddball with the females in his world, he took this new life as a turning point. Sharing this privilege was more or less signing their death threat.
Frich flinched to Hisha's glowing eyes, gulping and internally facepalming on how blunt he had been with his request.
"I would never do that, my lord." He quickly answered, trembling in fear.
[Total number of merfolks: 1,567,009]
[Total number of mermaids: 997,005]
Hisha's brows raised to the information that was displayed, this had just proven false to what Frich had said earlier.
'That slippery, conniving little fish!' Hisha gritted his teeth while in his head he rained down profanities on Frich.
Even when he didn't know the number of mermaids in their tribe, there was something in him that felt underneath the enchanting voice of Frich, was nothing but lies.
"No, I know you meant every bit of what you propose." Hisha shook his head, his devilish grin widening as he pointed at Frich.
Frich dropped to his knees, shaking his head, his voice quaking as he said, "My lord, I was merely requesting your help in recommending our tribe to the daughters of the land."
"Liar!" Hisha barked.
The six tribal chiefs all looked the other way, obscuring their gaze of disappointment with the news and trying their best not to get affiliated with Frich.
Frich looked towards his fellow tribe chiefs, hoping that they would intercede and pull him out of the trap that he had unintentionally set for himself. "Wae, Vanas, Sa–"
"That's enough!" Wae snarled, "do not mistake us for joining in on your foolishness, you dare try to put us in your mess?!"
Frich's eyes widened at the accusation. This was the very thing they had all connived as a team, certain that their lord would agree so easily as he had done in the past.
To his horror, the very people who he had trusted were turning their backs on him and pretending they had nothing to do with it in any way.
'Traitors! You shall pay for betraying the pact!' Frich furrowed his brows in rage.
Turning his attention towards Hisha, he made up his mind to say nothing but the truth, if he was to be punished, he would bring them all down with him.
"My lord, this wasn't just–"
Shluk!
Frich's eyes widened in shock as he slowly looked down at the hand that had plunged right through his chest.