Later that night.
"Well then, please excuse me."
"Oh, mm."
I went to bed with Iris.
Needless to be said, it wasn't the dirty sense.
Earlier she had bashfully come into my room and asked if she might
sleep together with me.
Though she had said that she wanted to be my wife one day, she
probably only longed for affection from an older brother.
Thinking so, I agreed to sleeping together but,
――Squeeze.
She was hugging me so tightly.
Well, I didn't mind as it was just what kids usually do.
"…So warm."
"Really? Then, sleep well."
"Yes…"
Gently stroking her little head, I tried to put Iris to sleep.
She's really cute, just like a little sister who's far apart in age, I
genuinely thought inwardly but,
"…That girl, isn't she being too assertive?"
"Fufu, as expected of my little sister, I'd say."
"Fumu, she's totally superior than you."
"Wha-!?"
"No I'm tellin' ya, y'all are too harsh on that brat…"
Looked like everything was seen by the girls who were peeping in
from the slight opening of the door.
Rather, what the heck were they doing…
They didn't seem to have any intention of hiding what they were
doing…
Sigh… even as I sighed, their argument continued, but without even
showing any pretense to care at all, Iris kept snuggling up to my
chest with a joyful expression on her face.
◇ ◇
And so, we had another morning of departure and reluctantly left
Berqua but,
"I never imagined that a strong enemy would be lurking so close to
us…"
"Fuh, but at the end of the day, she's still too young. There's no need
to fear her."
"Please take a look in the mirror and see the bags under your eyes
before saying that…"
"Putting that aside, I, as her big sister, should be superior than her
no matter how I think about it, though? My figure is far better than
hers, too. Don't you think?"
"No, who cares 'bout that…"
I was glad that the girls seemed lively today too.
It looked like Iris gave them a sense of crisis, I didn't think they have
to, however.
Well, she was surely good girl, to be honest.
I was sure that 10 years from now, she'd grow into a wonderful lady.
"By the way Ophir, you said that Sinus-sama resides under the sea,
didn't you?"
Anyways, we were currently heading towards Sinus-sama's place
just like what we had previously decided.
Though Arca seemed to be slightly lacking sleep, she had taken
plenty of rest in the past few days, hence we decided to immediately
depart today.
"Yeah, that's the case from what I heard from the hag."
Speaking of which, by 'hag' Ophir was referring to the goddess of
wind—Turbo-sama.
"If I remember correctly, she's in the coastal waters of the port town
called 'Ittle' south of here, isn't she? But I heard it has a giant
whirlpool as a landmark, so how do we get into the sea, I wonder…"
Magmell said.
"Ha, we can just swim, can't we?" Ophir
"No, that would only get ourselves killed…" replied Magmell.
Zana said with amazed face, "You, could it be your brain cells are
rotten?"
"What did ya say!? Ya pickin' a fight with me!?"
Arca soothed the infuriated Ophir, "There, there, calm down, Great
Ogre."
"Who's the Great Ogre!? Want me to beat ya up!?"
My bad, I was mistaken.
She didn't soothe her at all.
"Anyway, calm down, will you. Although Exa might be able to pull it
off somehow given that he's immortal, that'd be impossible for us.
That said, I once read something interesting regarding Ittle in a book
in the library of Berqua. The book says that there's a legend about
'mermaid' passed down in the town," said Zana.
"Mermaid? Is it different from Merman?" asked Magmell.
"Ahh. Merman is simply a monster, but mermaid is a race that can
understand human speech. In other words, mermaid is a race of
demi-human, such as elf."
Listening to Arca's explanation, Ophir said as though something had
just come to her mind, "Ah~, I think I remember the hag told me
about it. In this world there are races of demi-human who live as one
with nature, she said."
"I see. If Turbo-sama said so too, it's highly likely that they actually
exist. It'd probably be best to ask about the sea to a race that lives
under the sea, so let's search for those mermaids first." I said.
"Indeed. Perhaps the people of Ittle have some information about
them, too." said Magmell.
Arca nodded, "Umu. It may be unbelievable, but folklores and
legends aren't all completely made-up, after all. I second that."
"Yo~sh, then we gotta treat them to some good food when we're
askin', that should loosen up their lips!" shouted Ophir excitedly.
"Why do I get the feeling that the food is your main goal…"
Being looked at suspiciously by Zana, Ophir grinned widely, "Don't
mind the small details! Now that's decided, let's hurry already!"
"…..Haah," Zana sighed, but immediately broke into a smile after.
Seeing that, I also smiled and said, "Alright, I'll speed up a bit, then!
Hold tight!"