Chapter 339 – Duties.
“…Priyazen, why are we different from humans?”
Rubo, who was left alone after leaving with Reuben, asked at the sign approaching behind him.
“Because we don’t have legs?”
When the lower body is brought together like a human being squatting and hugging, instead of soft skin, the body is connected as one with the touch of small and thin scales that can not hide the cool feeling.
“Because it has fins?”
Where humans should have ears, fins have taken over the role, and there is also a large fin at the end of the tail. Although they were so different from humans.
“Why is our hair not different from humans?”
Hair was more of a hindrance to swimming than I thought. It is heavy and hinders movement when wet, but most mermaids are raised to seduce men.
“Why do you have breasts like humans?”
Likewise, the bigger the breasts, the mermaids regarded them as something to be proud of. Even though there are more things that get in the way not unlike hair.
“Why are our eyes like humans?”
Their eyes were not that different from humans.
“Why are there fingers?”
It was a hand that was no different from a human’s, except for the webbing that connected each finger.
“Why are we in human bodies?”
How did they remain in such ambiguous form without being fully human? Even compared to the other beastmen I met this time, their appearances were heterogeneous. Other beastmen could walk on two legs without any problems, but they had to lead their bodies with their arms to get around the ground. If it wasn’t different from other fish in the water, at least I wouldn’t have to go through uncomfortable things to live than a body that is neither human nor fish. They cannot live only in water like fish do.
“You know it’s not that kind of problem, right?”
To Luboshi, Priyazen was a reliable presence who seemed to know everything, so those words weighed on her heart even more. Ruboshi recalled the image of Reuben, who had left this place with tears in his eyes. She became a boy who, like her, liked a girl who liked Usher. When he wiped the spot where he had shed tears with his palm, the grains of sand scattered. The sand that held the boy’s tears had already dried up and erased his traces.
“Why do we feel the emotion of love? It can’t always come true.”
Lu Bo-si raised her head and peered inside through the crack in the door of her carriage.
“Aha ♪ Your face is so red~ Why is it so red?”
“Ugh, it’s just because I have a fever.”
There, Erica leaned against Usher’s chest and poked his cheek, and Usher seemed ashamed of her action but did not avoid it. The two looked very happy even though they were just looking at each other and talking. Her heart, watching that scene, is so stuffy and bitter.
“If I had known that, I would have caught that man for sure.”
From Priyazen’s bitter voice, Lu Bosi seemed to know that somehow Reuben had refused her offer of sleeping pills and turned away.
“Now, give me that sleeping pill. I didn’t tell you how to use it this way.”
Ruboshi obediently handed over her sleeping pills to Priyazen, who held out her hand to him. It was because Usher had found the reason for not looking at him no matter what he did. At least she wanted to get revenge on her for stealing the heart of the man she liked. Maybe she’ll do something even scarier than she thought? She thought, recalling Reuben’s back as she walked away with her staggering steps.
“I’m preparing to go back and get scolded.”
“…Huh.”
Seeing Luboshi weakly nodding her head at Priyazen’s words and heading somewhere, Rachel opened her mouth.
“Who is that mermaid?”
“It’s just, he’s like a younger brother. He’s always a troublemaker, so I’m paying more attention to him. It’s not going well.”
As Rachel kept her mouth shut at the sight of Priyazen laughing bitterly as she twisted the ends of her hair with her hand, she led Rachel again.
“Come on, follow me.”
Rachel followed her as she changed her seat. As for how she was walking with Priyazen, it was just before Usher collapsed after being recognized by Gideon.
“Did Yakaf leave the knight behind until the end?”
It was when Rachel bowed her head at Gideon’s muttered words as she watched Usher being carried off to tend her wounds. Suddenly, her dark blue haired mermaid, who was looking at her, met her eyes with her Priyazen. She was a late finder because her body was not structured to stand up. As Rachel looked at her incredulously, her priyazen bit her lip, untied it, and seemed to hesitate several times before finally she came in front of her.
“Krikaliev. No, is it true that Yakav is dead?”
At her words, Rachel sighed. The fact that she had been trying hard to ignore until now was because she had been discovered by him completely unexpectedly.
“How do you do that?”
Rachel never thought she would ever hear his name from a mermaid. Besides, mermaids were people who looked at men like monsters who would kidnap men without warning. As she glared at Priyazen with her doubts, she lowered her head.
“Really… I can’t see you again.”
Soon after hearing her voice filled with tears, Rachel unconsciously let go of her strength as her hand that was holding her sword trembled. Because at that moment, she had a gut feeling. Priyazen also had a crush on her teacher, Yakaf.
“Let’s go somewhere else first and talk.”
She never thought that she would see anything like herself in her mermaid, whom she only thought was a monster-like kind, so Rachel left her seat with her teary-eyed Priyazen. And the place she arrived was a remote beach with no people. The distance was a bit far, but it was a secluded space where the waves crashing in from far away were beautiful.
“How did Master find out?”
As if they promised to talk here without anyone saying anything, Rachel asked and Priyazen answered.
“At first, Luboshi only brought Usher. Yakaf came because he came to pick Usher.”
Priyazen said that when she first saw Yakaf, she wondered what kind of person he was. She even doubted that the demon king, whom she had only heard about in legends, might have visited. He said no, but she said.
“At first, it was just curiosity. It was amazing that there was a human with such strong power.”
Rachel couldn’t help but swallow her bitter heart at Priyazen’s words. She said that although her mentor was strong, she wasn’t strong enough to create strong winds by swinging her fists. Because he knew it was because he had heard from Diana that he decided to use her golem’s body to revive her master. She had been told that the method that Rachel thought she had only failed in was actually a success.
“So we decided to make a deal. If you teach us about human love, we’ll take you faster.”
Rachel was even more surprised by her words. The way mermaids reproduce was famous. She didn’t know that she would be curious about that.
“Actually, I didn’t really expect it. We were in decline, but few mermaids thought the breeding method was a problem.”
But he did in just a few days what I couldn’t do no matter how hard I tried. He said he was on the verge of collapse, feeling that all he had been doing was pointless, sighed Priyazen.
“What did Master say?”
“If you don’t want to hold a man’s hand once in your life, let alone breed, they say to live like this.”
“S-It’s your master…”
Rachel raised her forehead at the fact that she said such a thing in a situation where Yakaf would not be harmed, but she might be raped by a group of mermaids. Even so, she couldn’t help but smile because she was like that.
“I was dumbfounded when I knocked over and passed out, saying, ‘If you don’t want to listen to your fellow countrymen, who were talking back to you on everything, don’t listen.'”
“You’re still like that.”
As if listening to a heroic story, it was short, but it made me feel all the more sad because it was enjoyable just to hear her story of daily life with Yakaf. Then she looked at Rachel as if she remembered.
“Come to think of it, there’s not enough time to talk about everything, so I wrote down something. Do you want to see it?”
Hearing her words, she was following Priyazen.
“Now, right here.”
And the place she arrived seemed to be a Wen cave, and numerous writings were densely written on the walls of the cave.
‘If people want to reject mermaids, what can they do? A mermaid has to prove it. That there are things humans cannot do. Since we are the best at this, you prove that it is better to accept us than reject us. Just as there are no unnecessary farmers and carpenters in the world.’
As expected, the handwriting that Rachel was familiar with was clear that it was Jacob’s. I could tell that it was written in a variety of ways, from people’s culture to dating methods and laws, but among many of them, there was something that caught her eye.
‘If you want your students to be proud, you must first become a teacher that your students can be proud of.’
Wounded writings showing traces of overwriting and erasing.
“I never thought that you would think of me this far. So even though I wanted to forget it, I just couldn’t.”
Seeing Priyazen caressing her hand over the text full of her scars, Rachel closed her mouth with the palm of her hand and sat down. She didn’t want to reveal the tears she’d been holding back. Because I don’t want to admit that Yakaf is dead. Even so, the writings full of his traces made his death come true.
ぅぅ, the sound of swallowing sadness stayed quietly in the cave without leaking anywhere.
