The scene hadn't changed much while Blake was in his thoughts, but after a few minutes passed, a drop of water fell on his nose making him come back to reality to notice how little by little more drops fell from the sky.
"Why does it start raining all of a sudden... Well, I guess it's best... Huh?" But before continuing on his way, he saw how right in front of him there was a huge tree that had several apples growing on it. He didn't think much of it and took the ones that were closer to the ground. "Maybe they're not a big deal, but I think I know how to take advantage of them."
After he was done with his thoughts of future plans, he approached the sword plant and took it from its hilt so that it would later return to its seed form. Once he saw that he had nothing else to do, he quickly used a teleport and appeared right in front of his house.
"Sigh... I guess I'll just plant the seeds I bought and flop into bed for today." But before he even took a step, Blake encountered a strange situation that made him rub his eyes to see if he wasn't dreaming.
Right on the road that went to the town inn, he could see how the tail of a fish was making a great effort to drag itself along the ground that was slowly turning to mud because of the rain. It didn't take long for him to figure out who it really was once he saw the pink hair, and he moved closer as fast as he could to try and help her as he drew her attention.
"Pia!" Just from the scream, Pia seemed startled, but once she saw who it was, she could only show an embarrassed face as she tried to make him ignore her situation, but her warning made her forget about it.
"Huh? Blake? It's raining!! Please be careful!!"
"Why you said so...?" But unable to finish his words, Blake was able to figure out what she meant by Pia once he fell face first onto the muddy ground.
"Blake!!" Pia called out his name upon seeing his sudden accident, and Blake just slowly raised his muddy face and gave a nervous smile as well as a quick wave before Pia burst out laughing at the way she looked.
"Hi, Pia..."
"Ahahahahahahaha! You should see your face; you look like a slime! Ahahaha!" And after Pia let out her laughter and Blake cleaned himself up a bit, he could see the situation Pia was in.
She was "turned" into a mermaid while her bluish tail was covered in mud from the road. He was about to ask her what happened, but Pia's complaints came first.
"Ahhh! I hate the rain! I want to eat a squid!"
"Huh, why?" Blake didn't understand the reason for those words, so he had to ask that question.
"Why I love fish!" And that was the answer Pia gave as her characteristic smile returned to her face.
"Well, yes, they are tasty, but what does it have to do with...?" But in that instant, Blake could feel how a murderous look was directed towards him making him feel as if he were a simple ant while words that did not go with the image of her came out of Pia's mouth.
"Sick monster! Fish are not food! You're the worst!"
"Huh? What do you mean...?" But before Blake finished his question, he slammed his palm into his face as he realized what he had just said. 'I think I'm dumb, how did I not realize Pia is practically half fish? Is as if I heard someone say that humans are tasty... Although, my species appears with question marks in my status now that I remember.'
And wasting no time, he knew what he had to do next.
"Sorry Pia, I think I said something really horrible, I'm an idiot!"
"Yes, you are... Just promise me you won't talk about it in front of me again, okay?" Blake believed that he would need to do something else for her to forgive him, but he sighed at Pia's attitude.
"I promise..." 'I thought she wouldn't stop seeing me with those eyes.'
"And if you're wondering why I want to eat squid, it's because those horrible creatures love to eat my friends the fish, they're horrible, they should never have existed! That's why my mission is to devour all the squid that exist in the world! plus... They taste delicious!" Blake didn't really know what to say, a moment ago it seemed like Pia wanted to cut him off with a look, and now she had a huge smile on her face as she raved about devouring squid left and right. He was about to ask her another question when his body began to feel the change in the weather.
"Achoo!"
"Are you okay, Blake? You shouldn't spend so much time in the rain, you might catch a cold."
"Do not worry, I'm fine. In any case, how did you get to this point, Pia?" But if he had known, Blake wouldn't have asked that question.
"Huh, well, you see, I woke up and went swimming, cleaned the baths to a sparkle, had nice rice with bamboo shoots for breakfast, and then I was at the reception for several hours. I went to the lake to talk to the fish and I was on my way to the inn when the clouds got sad and the rain managed to catch up with me, then my legs got wet and I couldn't stop my tail from coming out for air. I tried to crawl myself, but the mud is very sticky, and that's where you found me. Then you fell and I laughed a lot, then I complained about the rain and said I wanted to eat squid, so you asked me why..."
"Wait, wait! Why are you telling me your whole day?!"
"You asked me how I got to where I am now… Ah, maybe I should have started from when I was born, or from when the world was created… Well, let me start, a long time ago…"
"No, no, there is no need to go that far back!" And after Blake had spent about five minutes preventing Pia from telling him about it, it seemed that the situation was back to square one.
"Sorry Blake, I think I can be a bit silly sometimes, hehe."
"Don't worry, it's fun to listen to you."
"Maybe it's a good idea to do a comedy act at the inn, I'd better hurry up before Shino and Sakuya get worried." But before Pia started to crawl, she felt how she was suddenly lifted until she noticed that she was between Blake's arms as she saw the bright gray eyes on his face.
At the same time, Blake also stared at Pia's surprised face and could only give a small smile to avoid the awkward situation, and started walking towards the inn as he noticed how she turned her head for some reason and she was saying something in a low voice.
"Thanks…"
"Hehe, you're welcome..."
[Progress... Saved.]