"ALLOW me to introduce myself, Princess Neoma."
Neoma gulped after hearing what the Mermaid Princess said. "Okay, go ahead."
"My name is Maan Hali, the First Princess of the Hali Sea," the Mermaid Princess said, introducing herself politely. "Our kingdom is located in the border of the Evedane Duchy, near the hidden island where my husband Lewis and his siblings lived."
Ah.
Neoma remembered that when Lewis and his siblings first arrived in the island, they had a dispute with the mermaids living nearby. "Oh, right. You fought with my "children" before."
Maan smiled and nodded eagerly. "But we're all friends now, thanks to Greko."
Neoma tilted her head to one side. "My baby Greko?"
"The mermaids kidnapped Greko before, then we saved him," Lewis explained. "We kind of lost it, so we ended up destroying a palace in their kingdom."
"My dear husband, it's not good to lie to your mother," Maan scolded Lewis, laughing. "Princess Neoma, your cute "children" destroyed a palace, a library, and a small garden. It took us years and a huge amount of money to renovate the places they destroyed."
Neoma was too stunned to react.
[My children… are menace to society…]
"It was your fault," Lewis said brazenly. "Who told you to kidnap our youngest?"
"My dear husband, let bygones be bygones," Maan said, smiling charmingly at Lewis. "We recognized our mistake. That's why we didn't ask you to pay for the damages."
Whew.
Neoma was glad to hear that since she was about to offer to pay for the damages even if she was already years late.
"Uhm, Princess Maan, may I ask a question?"
It was Dahlia.
With the appearance of a stranger, the Black Witch had regressed to her usually timid self.
[Dahlia is really shy with strangers, huh?]
"This island is the home of the Black Witches," Dahlia said awkwardly. "Even a Mermaid Princess like Your Highness shouldn't possibly be able to cross the barrier that my predecessors had set up in order to protect the island. In fact, this island should be invisible in the first place."
"Oh, I have some bad news for you, dear," Maan said in a sympathetic voice. "This island is no longer as hidden as you thought it was. The barrier is still pretty strong to ward off mid to top tier Mana users. But I'm above that level."
Hmm, really?
Neoma's competitive spirit suddenly awakened…
… and she failed to be discreet about it.
"Are you sizing me up, Princess Neoma?" Maan asked playfully. "Would you like to test my level?"
"Did you fight Lewis?"
The Mermaid Princess was taken aback by her question, but she slowly nodded her head. "I did fight Lewis, and I lost. That's how he became my husband."
Lewis scoffed. "Princess Neoma, I didn't agree to that."
"I'm the strongest princess in our kingdom, so when it was time for me to find a husband, I told my father I'd only marry the first person to beat me in a fight."
Oh, classic.
"Lewis may be a fox, but it's alright," Maan said, shrugging. "My family is open-minded. Moreover, Father approved of Lewis after seeing him beat me to a pulp."
That was Lewis for you.
[He doesn't care if the opponent is a woman. And he was probably pissed since the mermaids kidnapped Greko.]
"If that's the case, then I'm done sizing you up, Princess Maan," Neoma said, smiling as kindly as she could. She probably just looked arrogant, though. "You can't be on my level if you can't beat Lewis."
Dahlia covered her mouth with her hands when she gasped.
"Neoma," Mama Boss, who spoke for the first time since they met the Mermaid Princess, scolded her. "Please don't pick a fight with someone you just met."
Neoma just shrugged.
"It was five years ago, Princess Neoma. I never stopped training since the day I lost to my dear husband," Princess Maan, who seemed to be unbothered by Neoma's arrogant words, said. "Moreover, Lewis only defeated me because we fought on land. I'm the strongest when I'm fighting underwater."
"Princess Maan, I fought the God Slayer in the Upper World and won," Neoma said calmly. "But even if I lost to him, I wouldn't blame it on the air in the Upper World."
Maan's face turned red, obviously embarrassed by Neoma's 'shade.'
[Okay, let's stop being a bitch here.]
"I was humbled quickly, huh?" Maan said, laughing at herself. "You're right, Princess Neoma. It was cheap of me to blame my defeat on the location of the fight."
Hmm.
[I like this woman.]
Not everyone could laugh at themselves.
The fact that Maan did only meant she wasn't full of herself.
"I like people who could admit their mistake and laugh at themselves," Neoma said approvingly, extending her hand to Maan. "I'm Neoma Roseheart de Moonasterio, the one and only Imperial Princess of the Great Moonasterion Empire. It's an honor to meet you, Princess Maan."
"The honor is mine, Princess Neoma," Maan said, accepting her hand and shaking it firmly. "I'm glad to be acknowledged by arguably the most famous princess in the world at the moment."
***
"WE RECEIVED Greko's message."
Neoma, who was sitting on the bolder next to Maan, put a chocolate candy in her mouth. "Is it about the mermaids that the crows abducted?"
When Neoma and her "children" saved the elves and the fairies from captivity, they failed to save the mermaids because they were already too late when they arrived.
According to the elves and the fairies, the captured mermaids were already killed by then.
[Anyway…]
Right now, Neoma and Maan were sitting on a huge rock while watching the Blood Sea.
Mama Boss and Dahlia had already begun their investigation. Her mother and the Black Witch rode Lapiz, the Blue Whale, and were currently underwater.
On the other hand, Lewis stood quietly behind them.
"Five years ago, Greko tried to convince the mermaid clan to join your religion, Princess Neoma."
Okay, she almost choked on her saliva. "I don't have a religion, Princess Maan. Admittedly, I'm arrogant as hell. But not to the point that I consider myself a god or something. It's not fun to be a god anyway."
Neoma then looked over her shoulder to give Lewis a questioning look.
Lewis just avoided his gaze as if he was guilty.
[This brat…]
Maan laughed at her as if she found her cute. "That was just a joke. Me and my clan just thought Greko looked like he was recruiting us to join his religion while he was talking about you. That's how much he loves and respects you, Princess Neoma."
Whew.
She was relieved to hear that.
[To be fair, building a religion devoted to me sounds like something my "children" will really do.]
"Back then, Greko warned us about how dangerous the crows are," Maan continued with her story. "But we ignored his warning. We thought it has nothing to do with us since the cult is only after your life, Princess Neoma. Moreover, we thought it wouldn't affect us since we live underwater."
Well, that was natural.
[Most people don't care about things that don't directly affect them.]
"But for the past five years, we noticed that there are unknown group of humans who tried to invade our territory," Maan said, getting more serious as her story grew more intense. "Thanks to Lewis and the other kids who sunk several ships, our kingdom remained relatively safe. But, then again, the younger ones began disappearing one by one."
"The ones who disappeared must be children with the Darkness attribute."
After all, those crow bastards tried to create an Elemental Guardian using the Darkness gathered from the fairies, elves, and mermaids with the Darkness attribute.
[I'm getting angry now that I remember it again.]
"Of course, I'm beyond angry that children from our clan were abducted and killed for some cruel experiments," Maan continued, her voice full of resentment. "However, it's not the only reason why I came here."
Neoma turned to the Mermaid Princess. "Oh? There's something worse than getting children from your clan abducted and killed?"
"We're not certain if those people are the crows that are after you, but there's a group of bastards who threw bombs at our kingdom," the Mermaid Princess said through gritted teeth. "The bombs were made of Impure Mana."
She gasped out loud. "Those crazy crow bastards!"
"Many have already died after the Impure Mana bombs exploded," Maan said, her eyes now brimming with tears. "Right now, the king and the queen are using their power to contain the Impure Mana in a Bubble. But we don't know how long the Bubble will last. Hence, I ventured here on my own."
"But why here?"
"The Blood Sea has always been famous among meramaids and other marine life," Maan explained. "After all, the Blood Sea was submerged in Novak's blood."
Oh, right.
[Novak was the Ancient Spirit who was also Mama Boss' mentor.]
"Moreover, Novak was a Darkness attribute user," Maan continued. "When he died, his Mana turned into Impure Mana. It was mixed with his blood that flooded the sea. Even so, the marine life in the Blood Sea didn't die. The Impure Mana didn't affect them in any way, and that's why I came here to investigate."
"Right," Neoma agreed, nodding her head. "That's also the reason why we're here."
"Then should we work together, Princess Neoma?"
She was about to make a DEAL with the Mermaid Princess instead of merely working together when she felt something dangerous coming their way.
It was a tsunami– a tsunami created by a giant sea monster riding the waves.
A kraken.
It was fucking kraken…
… and the giant octopus was releasing a huge amount of "ink" at them.
[No, that's not ink– that's Impure Mana!]
"Get behind me," Neoma said to Maan and Lewis as she stood up and raise her hands to create a Dome. "We'll have a giant octopus for dinner later."
***
NOTE: Hi! I joined a challenge in ko-fi. If I achieve my target amount, I'll get a chance to win a prize. I just posted a 4-PANEL COMIC featuring Neoma and Papa Boss on my ko-fi account (ko-fi.com/sola_cola or simply g00gle ko-fi sola_cola). Check it out~
Please donate if you can. You can consider this as your birthday present for my 30th birthday soon. I hope to complete the challenge by May 11th. If I achieve my target amount (hopefully on my target date), I'll release five chapters of RS.
Thank you. <3
***
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This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢