Because the standing water was bubbling, it turned out the angry mermaid was exhaling from every part of her body.
I cleared my throat and sank to one knee on the floor. I leveled my eyes with the mermaid and offered an excuse that wasn’t really an excuse.
Drunkard wiped the cold sweat from his brow with a gaunt face and waved at Bell. She opened another bottle and pressed it into his hand again.
"These people moved the whole building without telling me," I said. "I didn't expect that."
"You promised me! You said you'd come back soon and left me here..."
"I'm really sorry. You were scared being alone, weren't you?"
"...What?"
" I should have come sooner. Is there anywhere that hurts?"
At my gentle questions, the mermaid's turquoise eyes fluttered in tiny tremors. She had looked like she would tear me apart with a lightning strike of a rebuke, but she shut her mouth tight instead. She even examined my face from corner to corner with a puzzled expression.
"But you... you're really not a prince, are you?"
She'd been going on about princes since earlier; maybe I should actually find a real prince for her.
I smiled lightly and answered.
"Thanks for thinking I look princely, but I'm not a prince."
"No, no. The prince from the picture books I read when I was a kid looked exactly like you."
When she said that, I tilted my head. So this world had fairy tales after all. It was odd that a fairy-tale being had grown up reading fairy tales. I found myself curious about what story she had read.
"What book was it?"
"It was a book where a human prince saves the world. The prince in that book had black hair and purple like you—"
Then an invisible force made my body jerk upright. I was hanging in midair, but it didn't feel frightening.
"Hey, fish-stink. Stop pestering Ceryl."
" I'm talking to the prince! Don't interrupt me, firewood!"
" Ceryl isn't a prince. He's far more impressive and beautiful than any prince."
"That's why I'm trying to have a conversation!"
I turned tired eyes toward Varen. He was approaching me with his blue eyes narrowed in a way that made them look slightly cross.
When he reached me, Varen gently set me back down on the ground, then fixed his gaze on the mermaid in the tank.
"Fish-stink, what's your name?"
"Hah, like I'd tell that stinky thing my name."
I sighed softly as I alternated my look between the two monsters. Varen had lived his whole life in an underground cave; it was unlikely he'd ever met a mermaid before. Still, the degree of animosity between them had to be rooted in species conflict.
Unable to just watch their conversation, I stepped between them and bent to smile at the mermaid.
"Could you tell me your name? Or should I keep calling you Princess?"
The mermaid pulled her chin in and opened her eyes wide. Her expression was unreadable, but her voice softened noticeably when she answered.
"I'm... Maril."
"Maril. That's a pretty name."
"...Ceryl Aylos."
Not a prince, I reminded her. When she stiffly lifted her head to look for Varen's reaction, the dragon prince's gaze glowed as if it might crack the tank.
Worried that the bars might actually crack, I rose and covered Varen's eyes with my hand. There were mountains of things to solve before I could be curious about the relationship between two monsters.
"Why is Maril isolated here? There's even a curtain."
"Hah, stupid humans. It's obvious what they're up to. They're trying to sell me to some fat, greasy human for a high price, aren't they?"
"I don't think that's it."
Now that I knew the Rebels were genuinely trying to save monsters, my sympathy leaned decidedly toward them.
I scanned for someone who could answer my question and spotted Bell running over with a basket full of vegetables. I waved; despite looking frantic, she hurried to me.
"Bell, why is this monster kept separate—"
"Eeek!"
It was as if the open curtain was a boundary she couldn't cross; Bell froze and dropped her basket with a clatter. Then she quickly turned her head and stared at the floor, trembling with fear. Her terrified shaking made me even more unnerved.
"Bell, are you all right?"
"Why... why did you open the Talen's tank?"
Bell called the mermaid a Talen. It sounded like the local species name for mermaids in this world.
Her frightened reaction confused me. I lifted my hand and admitted frankly.
"I only noticed that this monster was alone. Is there a reason it's isolated?"
"You know monsters well and still don't know not to meet a Talen's eyes?"
Bell's panicked voice made me flustered. I turned and looked straight into Maril's eyes. Her beautiful turquoise gaze was innocent, as if she knew nothing.
I awkwardly scratched the back of my neck and asked Bell again.
"But I looked into her eyes and nothing happened."
"Of course not. A Talen lures humans with song and—if you meet its eyes, it will freeze your whole body."
A siren-like trait for a mermaid princess. Myth mixed into the fairy tale setting.
Varen nodded along as if to confirm Bell's words.
Now things were getting stranger. I was a spirit-possessed reader in someone else’s body, but my body was an ordinary human. Why did the monsters' magic not affect me?
"We should draw the curtain again."
"What? No! It's too dark! I'll pour seawater on that firewood, ah! Ceryl Aylos, help!!"
Before I could stop him, Varen grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the tank. He slammed the open curtain shut so hard Maril's shouting was instantly muted as if someone had flipped a sound switch.
I had thought it was just an ordinary curtain, but it seemed to be enchanted too.
I felt bad leaving Maril again, but Bell's shaking shoulders looked pitiful. When I told her it would be fine and patted her, her face—beaded with cold sweat—turned toward me.
She didn't glare or scowl. Her eyes were full of admiration.
" Aylos, you really are the human who tames monsters."
"...I just fell into it."
"You're amazing. Truly amazing! How did you revive creatures that were losing life, and how did you avoid being affected by a Talen's gaze?"
I had only fed electrolyte water to dehydrated, malnourished monsters. Being unaffected by a monster's magic was apparently a blessing of the possessed body I wore.
Explaining it in detail was annoying, so I steered the topic away.
"Could Drunkard unlock Maril's chains?"
"No. We left it last in case. If something goes wrong freeing a Talen's shackles and Drunkard gets hurt, we won't be able to free the others."
That reason for postponing Maril was sensible, so I nodded without protest.
A voice called for Bell, and she answered cheerfully as she scurried away.
While watching her leave, I took the moment to ask Varen what had been puzzling me: why he used the slur "fish-stink" only for mermaids even though he called all monsters kin, and why mermaids called dragons "firewood."
"Varen, I've been wondering since earlier. Why are you on bad terms with Maril?"
"Dragon and Talen can't possibly have a good relationship."
"Okay, but why is it so hostile? You just met a Talen, why are you already prickly with Maril?"
Varen, hit in a sore spot, clamped his mouth shut as # Nоvеlight # if he didn't want to answer.
But since it was something we had to clear up, I pressed.
"It's not ideal to hate something without having experienced it yourself."
"......"
"Well, I can guess. Dragons use fire and Talens live in the sea—maybe they're natural opposites. But does that justify being this sharp?"
Varen hesitated, then when I nudged his shoulder and urged him, he finally spoke.
"Sigh... can't help it. It's dragon instinct. Same with that fish-stink..."
"Not fish-stink. Maril."
"...Maril too, same thing."
I beamed when Varen finally used her name. His sulky expression didn't soften much, though.
"It's a tale from a very long time ago. There's no written record—it's an oral story passed down."
"I like old stories."
"...When this world first came into being, the earliest life was the spirits of the sea. Dragons were born much later."
The tale was closer to myth than a nursery story. I brightened at the intriguing opening and leaned in.
"Dragons tried to dominate the whole world. But they couldn't leave this island."
I looked away and recalled the original story's setting: Alberian, the country where most of the novel takes place. It consisted of a central large island and dozens of small uninhabited islets.
Given the setting—trade with foreign lands supposedly possible, yet with strong currents that made navigation difficult—I wondered how dragons could fail to leave the island.
"Dragons wouldn't have sailed; they would have flown. So why couldn't they leave the island?"
"Because the sea spirits kept interfering."
"How? No matter how high the waves, they wouldn't touch dragons, would they?"
Varen paused mid-story, then ground his teeth with wounded pride.
"...They brought down torrential rain."
