Having held off on the pig's execution in consideration of the public
eye, I regained my calm and continued the journey to the south of
Lastall, then arrived at the port town Ittle.
It was the closest town to the sea area at which Sinus-sama was
residing according to Turbo-sama. I had looked for information about
it, and there seemed to be a legend about 'mermaids' passed down
in the town.
Speaking of 'mermaid', it was a race of demi-human whose
members had human upper body and fish tail as lower body but, I
wasn't sure what differentiate them from Merman.
But my instinct told me that the mermaids were suspicious.
I mean, the legend about them was passed down in a town near the
sea area where the goddess of water was residing.
They had to have something to do with her!
As such, I immediately tried to look for those mermaids but,
"You're looking for where the mermaids living? In the sea, of course."
HAHAHAHAHA! A man laughed boisterously. While adding him to
my execution waitlist, I went away to meet up with the pig.
"How did it go on your side, Porco? Did you find any information?"
"Yes, I was able to learn of two pieces of interesting stories. The first
is about a fisherman falling in love with a mermaid in the past, and
the other is about some Saintesses calming down the god of the
sea."
"Saintesses…?"
Huh, what the hell!?
Could it be that Idiot Exa and his party also came to see Sinussama!?
Yeah, he seemed to have gone to meet Turbo-sama following Terrasama too, it wouldn't be weird if he was heading for the other
goddesses' places as well…
But wasn't he a little too greedy!?
Just how many gods' powers did that guy want!?
Grr… I bit my lips, but this wasn't the time for dawdling around.
I'm not going to fall further behind that Idiot Exa!
"All right. Then, let's go ask for the details about the second story."
Nodding, we hurried to the fisherman who had told the pig about the
story.
◇ ◇
And so, having listened the detail of the story from the elderly
fisherman, we rented his boat and headed towards the sea area
where he had sighted that god of the sea to find some clues, but
there we met an accident.
"—Hawaa!?"
――SPLASH!
"Wha!?"
The pig somehow lost his footing and fell into the sea.
"Please save me, Saintess-samaaaaa!?"
Furthermore, it looked like the pig couldn't swim as he was
desperately asking for help.
"P-please hold on for a second!? I'm going to help you now!?"
Even though I had set the pig as a target for extermination, it'd leave
a bad taste in my mouth if I let him die just like this.
As such, I intended to help him, but… yes, I couldn't swim either.
But human sure was a mysterious creature…
"Kh… There's no other way…!"
――SPLASH!
Yes, I jumped into the sea.
Even though I was just a hopeless swimmer myself.
"Obu… abu…!?"
Of course, given my inability to swim, I ended up drowning and my
consciousness gradually receded.
◇ ◇
"…Hm, ngg~…"
Huh…?
I'm alive…?
Could it be that the god of the sea… no, Sinus-sama saved me…?
While dazedly thinking about such things, I slowly opened my eyelids
while feeling the feel of cold ground on my back.
What appeared before my eyes was,
――Chu~~~~~~~~.
"..."
The kissing face of the pig who was pursing up his lips and was
about to steal a kiss from me.
"Higyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!?"
――SLAP!
"Abyuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"
――Roll roll roll roll, BANG!
I of course reflexively slap him with all my might, and the pig was
violently blown away by the impact but,
"—My? You've woken up?"
"...Huh?"
A female voice suddenly echoed, and I slowly turned around.
"You are…"
"Fufu, I'm glad you're okay."
There stood a woman with a human upper body and a fish tail as
lower body, which glowed with a pink luster—yes, it was a 'mermaid'.