Chapter 70: Kidnapped Fish People
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Nighttime passed and the episode aired on TV and streaming services. The kids watched the episode together in the living room, sitting on the floor and eating popcorn, and I was forced to attend by Mem-Cho.
Most of it passed with us laughing at some shots and complimenting each other for genuinely good takes, but silence stretched every time scenes with me and another girl played. Eyes darted back and forth. Everyone wondered which of the three girls was going to be paired with me.
The other guys had their own girls by now; Nobuyuki had Yuki, and Kengo had Chloe – the ginger local whom he got pretty close to in this episode. Only Sen didn't have anybody, his bad luck. On the other hand, I had three options – Akane wasn't included in this before, but I kissed her forehead in this episode. Same with Mai, whom I shared a deeper kiss with.
Mem-Cho munched on popcorn faster under the gazes of others. They must be curious about what she felt right now. She was certainly jealous; it was obvious from the way she was eating. But she wasn't as aggressive as a girl in her position should have been, thanks to our odd chemistry – along with our prior agreement from the beginning where I told her I was not interested in any relationship with my subordinates.
I felt bad for her. She must be so mad at me, apparently from the glares she shot toward me. 'Goddammit, I knew walking the harem route wasn't a good idea. This is so uselessly complicated and tiresome. Hah.'
By now, it had been a few days since I used the [Switch] to focus my personality to fit the Venerable persona. Since nothing irked me and I wasn't actively trying to keep it up, on the contrary things from my other lives were becoming more prominent, like the tiger cubs who were descendants of my Trigathar persona. All of this made the Venerable persona slowly wear off and so I was returning to normal – to who I was in this world.
It was for the better too. Otherwise, I'm sure I would have done something bold and more complicated about this girlfriend-choosing situation.
'Well. I'll figure something out. It's just a simple girl problem in the end. I've dealt with worse. Then again, they were easier to fix. Murdering fixed almost everything. I need something to distract myself.'
After the romantic ending to the episode where I kissed Mai Sakurajima, causing the room to be blanketed by silence, I stood up. Clearing my throat, I quickly fled the scene and went to sleep. I needed to rest for whatever I had to face tomorrow.
* * *
"I'll be roaming the islands for a bit. That blonde woman from yesterday will be with me. When will the crew leave for the next filming location?" I walked to the table of adult men who were having breakfast, leaving my own group of teens behind after I finished my meal just now.
The production crew changed glances, but I was talking to the director in particular. The man took a bite of his steak and frowned as he chewed. Swallowing the portion, he hummed and nodded at me. "We'll leave in the evening. Be back before then."
"Hey, just like that-?" a few kids sounded incredulous that I was allowed an unsupervised trip just like that, and it took me by surprise too. I expected a bit more resistance and was thinking I'd have to reach out to the Producer old man to ask for permission.
Not that I was complaining.
I showed him a small smile and nodded. Then I walked out of the resort. Mem-Cho stared at my back; she knew where I was going since she was there when the situation unfolded. Despite everything that happened recently which made her mad at me, a hint of worry was present in her gaze as she watched me leave.
….
I knew where to find Quetzalcoatl, her presence was hard to miss when she wasn't trying to hide it. She was inside the cave where I sensed the Mermaids yesterday. I walked into the forest and found the cave. There didn't seem to be any traps of anything in front of the cave, and my senses didn't catch any apparent traps inside it either.
I walked inside the cave, the shadows swallowed me. The walls grew wetter the deeper I walked inside. After a few minutes of walking inside, I was greeted with three paths leading inside. A maze? I could sense the Mermaids and Quetzalcoatl inside, but it was hard to determine which path led to those presences.
For situations like this, a sensitive nose was better than energy-sensing abilities. The path that let out the most smell would be the path leading to the Mermaids. My five senses, including smell, were beyond human thanks to my Soulfire refined body. I let my nose lead the way, and after a few minutes of following the left entrance, I came across another entrance. This happened two more times before I found myself walking into a lake.
A lake, inside this cave. I stepped out into a clearing, finding myself in a world of colors. Many kinds of plants laminated the area, and crystals were sticking out of the ground that also provided light. The ceiling was clad with a combustion of thousand flowers as it lit the entire opening.
Where I stood, there was land. On my right side, there was also land, filled with plants and such. On my left side, however, there was a luminous lake. It was a mana-enriched lake, and it was connected to a hole I noticed. This led to the sea, from the looks of it.
More importantly, people were bathing in the lake. No, bathing was wrong. They were just they, floating and… living. And they weren't people at all, of course. Two dozen of Mermaids looked at me, their eyes twinkling with fear and curiosity. Mostly curiosity, even if they could sense my power level that outclassed them, they didn't feel much fear since a stronger powerhouse was by their side.
"I was dying of boredom, boy," Quetzalcoatl said as she sat on the edge of the lake, her legs dangling on the water. She was looking at him, bored. "Be faster, next time."
"I think I'll stick to taking time with a lady's request. Especially if it's a gorgeous baddy like Madam Kukulan." I made a bad joke as I walked to her, under the eyes of the tasty… delicious fishes. God, I am salivating.
I didn't show anything on my face. It wouldn't be wise to let the people whose princess I am supposed to rescue know that I was interested in eating them.
"Bold," Quetzalcoatl looked almost amused that I still had the guts to joke and flirt. "Save that wit of yours for later; this isn't a simple kill-and-done job, you are to rescue a bunch of people. Especially the Princess. Use your wit if things come to that, if not then the block-headed power junkie act should be enough."
"As witty as I am, Block-Headed Power Junkie is my middle name. I'll manage."
She snorted and pointed at the lake, the part that connected to a tunnel outside this, leading to the sea. "Take this route. You'll find a portal to Hawaii's Middle-Shore replica ahead. I don't know what you'll find on the other side since I didn't bother going in but it shouldn't be a problem for you. The Dark Pirates are camping there. First rescue the crybaby Mermaid Princess, then destroy those fools. Or destroy those fools and then rescue her. Just make sure she isn't harmed."
"Will do," I nodded. "What about that guy? George, right? It doesn't seem he succeeded very much if you're sending me."
"Yeah. If he had succeeded, he'd have reported to me. So he's either still scouting them and is currently in the Middle Shore, or he got defeated and captured."
"Or he's working with them."
"Or that, yeah." Quetzalcoatl nodded in agreement. "I have no reason to believe the vice-leader of the Hero Faction will dirty his hands for no reason, despite my words yesterday, but it's not impossible either. In which case, be careful. I doubt you'll be in trouble, but he does hold one of the top four Longinus ever recorded. That Dimensional Lost is annoying. Just make sure he doesn't teleport you in the Dimensional Gap, that would kill you."
"I'll keep that in mind." I nodded at her, sliding near her and putting my legs in the water.
The mermaids and mermen cleared a path for me, whispering amongst each other as they still eyed me like a piece of wonder. I suppose it's natural to be curious about a young man – a human, just like the Mages – who was capable enough to be trusted by Quetzalcoatl.
I took one last look at the Mermaids, then I threw myself into the water. My Qi surged out of me as I blasted forward at a moderate speed. I slipped through the hole, which was like a water slide, and after passing through it for a whole minute, I found a blue portal barely distinguishable in the water. I passed through it and the world went bright with colors.
I came out of the hole, underwater, near a large chunk of earth. I looked around, allowing my [Jade Perception] to scan around the sea. There was nothing in the sea. Well, other than large sea monsters that will make any normal human faint in a spot.
I doubt the Princess of Mermaids is shaped like a bloated shark, roaming the sea freely. She wasn't in the sea, at least not near me. I began to swim upwards, poking my head out of the water. I faced the vast sea that stretched to the horizon. I twirled back and faced the island of Hawaii – a replica of the main islands in the Far Shore.
Unlike the outside world, this didn't have all the buildings and such despite the landscape being a copy of the original. There were a few buildings, though. Buildings that could be considered important, or magical, or have been there for long enough, could transverse from the Far Shore and leave imprints on the Middle Shore.
That meant, though few in comparison, there were still quite some buildings on the islands combined. Since Hawaii was 28,311 km² in area, it would take me a while to search around. If I don't find anything in the land, I'll have to search the sea. Since they're called pirates, it wouldn't be odd if they were roaming the sea in a ship.
"For now,"
I allowed the wind aura in the area to carry me off the water and into the air. I blasted through the air, keeping myself clad around a blob of mist – acting like a cloud – as I jetted through the sky and searched for any sign of human life with my Jade Perception.
"Let's fly around a little."
* * *
The island had strange beasts that would be classified as either monsters or mythical creatures in the outside world. I didn't have any bad blood with them, so I let them be except for the few birds which mistook me for prey and died swiftly.
After roaming the sky for a couple of hours, I located an area with buildings that looked a bit better than the other buildings ruined by the monsters. It looked like it had been cleaned recently, though that'd have been hard to detect if I hadn't paid extra attention to the details.
But I did, and it was obvious that people were living in the quarters. Living may be a stretch, they were hiding there.
The mist surrounding me allowed me to get close to the buildings, which let me feel the energy of the people in there.
There were about a dozen people inside. And double that Mermaids. Given how the Mermaids' presence was clustered close to one another, they seemed to be in a cell. The human presences were walking in a pattern; they were patrolling.
As much as I wanted to drop down and blast the area, there were fish to rescue. So I had to take this silently and slowly. I didn't want the humans to blow the fish's brains out because of fear.
Also, I didn't sense any divinity from the bunch of mermaids. If the Princess I was supposed to save was the granddaughter of Poseidon, she ought to have divinity in her presence. But since I didn't sense any in the bunch below, it meant the Princess was not here. I had to capture the guards and make them spill where she was.
All the while making sure they don't get the chance to report to their backup. This is likely not the main group; there was no particularly strong presence here.
Nodding to myself, I gently flew near an open window where I didn't see or sense any guard. Calling forth my assassin skills from many lives, where I had to learn the skills for various reasons, I slipped into the building and landed on the floor softly.
Well, it was time to get into action.
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