Chapter 1: An Invitation to Ryugu Palace

“Rekka, Iris, thank you so much for saving Marle.”

The girl bowing deeply to us in gratitude turned out to be none other than the princess of this very planet. In other words, a mermaid princess. She introduced herself as Rain. Marle, the girl we’d saved, was one of her servants. She had normal human legs when I’d saved her, so I couldn’t tell, but she was apparently a mermaid, too. They told me that mermaids could change their tails into pairs of legs whenever they wanted.

“Jeez, you just vanished all of a sudden! I was so worried!”

“I’m so sorry, Princess Rain.”

“I’m just glad you’re all right,” Rain said with a smile as she pulled Marle in tight for a hug.

Since all merfolk were beautiful, including the two girls before us, their species was a popular target for slavers. That helped me make sense out of what Iris had said earlier.

“I must thank the two of you properly. Might I invite you and the rest of your party to Ryugu Palace?”

“Huh? Ryugu Palace? Really?!”

Iris seemed to get really excited at hearing that name.

“Yes, of course.”

“Hooray! I’ve always wanted to stay there for a night!”

“Hey, Iris, what’s Ryugu Palace?” I asked, feeling a little left out.

“Well, I told you that planet Berano is a resort planet, right? The beautiful beaches are one reason, of course, but the real reason is the resort town under the sea.”

“Under the sea?!” I yelled in astonishment and looked towards the water. The waves were softly crashing against the shore, but there was no way for me to see what was below the surface.

“Yeah. On the ocean floor, there’s a resort town where pretty merfolk run inns and things. The most famous of them all is Ryugu Palace. The whole town is named after it. They call it Ryugu Palace City.”

“Huh...”