The reply seemed to confuse the mermaid so Nick explained himself "There isn't actually a lot of information about your peoples culture up there so I honestly didn't know what to bring if anything." he said and the mermaid seemed to understand. "Typically a scholar would bring something of rarity or value that is not found nearby." she said helpfully and Nick's eyes brightened up and he pulled out a dragon steel ring of protection from Greed. "This ring can protect from a single fatal attack before breaking. I am the only person in the world who can make it as well. You can ask anyone you like to confirm it too." he said holding ring on his palm that he extended for the mermaid to take.-
She seemed like she didn't believe him but he had said she could confirm it with anyone she wanted to so she did precisely that. She grabbed a small stone from a string of them on her wrist and crushed it between her fingers. Nick's magical senses picked up a sort of signal being sent out when she did so and was speechless at how easily she dismissed his claims.-
About five minutes who else except Albus motherfucking Dumbledore showed up in a bubble of air like he was just taking a casual stroll ten meters underwater. The old man merely had a smile and look of just pure amusement on his face when he saw Nick with the merfolk. "I had heard you had taken a dip in the lake last year. This is not a casual swim this time I take it?" Dumbledore asked casually. Nick shrugged "Figured the best place to get information on the subject of the merfolk was from themselves." he said honestly.-
"A fine approach if one is familiar with the language , though I hadn't thought you the type to learn such a thing for knowledge." Dumbledore said with an implied question. "As you are aware knowledge is quite literally power with my enchantment method and there is so very little known about these people under the waves , it has me rather excited by what I may find." Nick said honestly. "If you'd like I don't mind compiling a report on the subject to be added to the Hogwarts library after my personal study here." he added to incentivize the old goat.-
A glint of intrigue flashed across the old mans eyes before he smiled wider than normal "So long as you allow me a personal copy." he said before finally addressing the elderly mermaid in their native language if a little roughly. The elderly mermaid patiently explained the situation and Dumbledore took a moment to mentally translate the words he received. After he was done he vouched for Nick's claims under some sort of oath that all headmasters of Hogwarts had sworn to the merfolk apparently. This seemed to surprise the mermaid who now looked much more favorably at Nick.-
After that Dumbledore left and Nick was officially welcomed to the mermaid city of Azba as a foreign scholar. Most of the population was still watching from behind cover when Nick and the two merfolk descended into the city and the elderly mermaid loudly announced Nick and his intentions to her people. While the rest of the merfolk were slowly leaving their hiding spots she also explained that he would need to trade with each individual merfolk for any information they might have that he wanted. 'I'm definitely going to need to come back with more rings , I only have an extra ten right now.' he thought calmly.-
Nick cleverly gifted another ring to the elderly mermaid to learn about her peoples history and legends. This proved to be a great idea as he learned something quite intriguing. Apparently according to the elderly mermaid all merfolk were descended from a the first merfolk , Oceanus. Nick may not have been able to know who that was as it was said very differently in merfolk than Greek that the name came from. However thanks to being able to translate perfectly he knew exactly which being held that name.
The youngest brother of Chronos who was the titan ruler of the rivers and oceans and also one of the only titans who didn't join Chronos in his attack on their father Uranus. This was a huge deal in Nicks opinion as if even the tiniest morsel of that beings vast power or knowledge remained with his supposed descendants a few trinkets would be a steal to pay. He wasn't delusional however as he knew that was very unlikely. Still he was learning so many things from his talk with this one mermaid that he even had to summon a bubble of air to take notes without ruining the paper.