Life As a Receptionist Lady, Year Two: The Land of the Sea

Today’s the day! Vacation time!

We meet up early in the morning in front of the gates of the Doran border crossing. We end up leaving the Kingdom much later than we had originally planned, however.

I call out the reason for our tardiness: “You’re late!”

“Eh, couldn’t help it. I was out of hair gel.”

Nikeh has her hands on her hips as she says, “Just to be clear, no one is ever looking at your hair.”

Both Nikeh and I glare reproachfully at the silver-haired young man in front of us. Three of my friends are going on this vacation with me. One of them, Satanás, was a rather last minute addition. He told us he was late because he needed to fix his hair, but to me it looks just as curly as ever.

We prepare to leave by putting on our cloaks. A brown cloak for Benjamine, black for Satanás, blue for Nikeh, and a well-worn, well-loved white cloak for me.

Nikeh gives him a big thumbs down. “As penance for your sins, you’re gonna be a meatshield for Nanalie and Benjamine this entire trip!”

“Well, Benjamine’s parents already asked me to do that. Something happens, I’ll save her. Just her, though.”

“I can’t decide if that’s the coolest or scummiest line I’ve ever heard.”

So that’s why he’s here. Benjamine’s parents must have asked Satanás to come along. I’m sure they felt more comfortable knowing she’d be accompanied by her romantic and professional partner.

Benjamine told us her parents wouldn’t allow her to come without Satanás, period. Nikeh and I had, of course, agreed to this condition. But still—wouldn’t any normal guy find it irritating to be the odd man out on a girls’ vacation? Then again, this is Satanás we’re talking about.

When I ask Satanás why he agreed to come he answers without hesitation. “Why wouldn’t I wanna come? One guy, three girls, together on vacation—ngh!”

“I’m going to call you Li’l Nás from now on so you don’t forget what a small man you are.”

Nikeh swipes him with a quick right hook to the face. Violence is never pretty, I think, but I enjoyed watching that.

“Hey, did Naru say he’s going to ‘save me’? He did, didn’t he, Nanalie?”

“Yep, he did.”

Benjamine’s taken to calling Satanás by his first name, “Naru,” quite a bit more often recently. Despite the fact that he’s just been punched, she seems happy that he’s publicly pledged to defend her should anything bad happen. That’s about as close to “I love you” as he’s going to get, I suppose. She’s probably replaying his words in her mind right now, over and over. Even if Satanás was sent flying across the horizon or the very world was about to end, I doubt she’d care much at all.

Why’s he gotta always be hitting on other women in front of her, though?

He cocks his head to one side and looks at me. “So? Where’re we headed once we get through the border gate?”

“Well, first we’ll enter Sheera, get our papers stamped, then head on to Yard, Chania, and then the Kingdom of Daldry.” I show him our route on the maps in my travel magazine.

“That’s a pretty damn ‘scenic’ route, don’t you think? Couldn’t we get there faster?”

Will this guy ever shut up? If you don’t like my itinerary, go ahead and walk to our destination.

“This is the best we got. I traced this route starting here and passing only through countries that let us fly through the borders on our familiars. I think it’ll be good.”

“Sounds like a slog to me,” he mutters.

Nikeh’s exasperated again by this comment. “You wanna go by horse and carriage, Li’l Nás? You gonna ride that horse ’til you can’t ride it no more, that’s how long that’s gonna take.”

Resolving to ignore the Man Who Won’t Stop Complaining, we all show the small blue passports we got from City Hall to the guard at the border gate deep in the forest, and write the name of our destination in his ledger. We don’t have to write the names of the countries we’re passing through along the way, so I just put down “The Kingdom of Seleina” and hand the ledger back to him.

This is the first time any of us are leaving the country, so he gives us some warnings and advice before we depart. Once we’ve checked all our luggage, the guard opens up the massive, heavy iron gate, far taller than any of the surrounding trees, and waves us through. We get on our familiars, race through the gate, and begin flying our way across the continent. Four or five hours or so later, we catch sight of our destination.

“Hey—! Where are we now—?”

“Uuuuuh, hold on a sec—! Lala, could you hold this in your mouth for a moment?”

We’re high in the air above Daldry Kingdom. The people and towns below us look like toy dolls and scale models, each person with their own tiny house, their own little lives. The view from here looks just like what I saw in the Museum of Culture the other day.

The Royal Isles in each Kingdom have different and unique features. Some of the floating isles are long and thin, others squarish blocks, others spherical. The castles in the sky are also a wide variety of colors and styles: Castle Doran is pure white, but Castle Sheera is blue, and Castle Daldry is yellow. What color might be Castle Seleina? I look over the map to check.

“Nikeh! Can you see a round, red gate—?”

“No—!”

“Benjamine! What about you—?”

“I can’t see anything—!”

There’s a map of the Keedolmani continent in my travel guide, with additional pages for detailed maps of each country and kingdom. There are also convenient little mark-ups on each map that help you figure out your bearings relative to other kingdoms.

“We’ve already passed the Royal Isle of Daldry, so it should be just a bit farther...”

It’s a full half-day before we catch sight of the gate indicating the border of the Seleina Kingdom. The sun’s about to set, and the fleeting red rays of dusk are lighting up the sky. Flying next to me, Benjamine shouts, “Look! There it is!” Her phoenix familiar, Benita, cries out in excitement.

Flying through the sky at such high speeds means that we have to speak quite loudly to be heard by each other. Benjamine’s infectious shouts of glee get us all excited as well.

“Is that—it’s the sea!”

Satanás is the first to spot the most thrilling feature of our destination. I try to contain my excitement as I scan the horizon for the gate. I squint, and catch sight of a building with a round red roof. That has to be it.

I shout out to the others. “It’s down there! Follow me—!”

As one, we descend to the gatehouse.

＊　＊　＊　＊

It’s nighttime in Verbano, a town in the Kingdom of Seleina.

Since it’s so dark, we decide to immediately head to our inn for the night. The sun set so quickly. We’d wanted to do some sightseeing before going to bed, but everyone’s tired—or rather, completely exhausted. Nikeh collapses onto the bed the instant we get into our room. “I’ve never flown that far in one day, even for work!” She pats the head of her snake familiar, Paula, as she stares up at the ceiling.

Lala worked really hard today, carrying me this far. I give her a nice little scratch behind her ears in thanks. I’ll give her extra for dinner tomorrow. We ate tonight’s dinner already while we were still flying, so no one’s hungry now.

“I wanna get started on our sightseeing early tomorrow morning!”

I roll around on my bed, squirming with excitement. Benjamine shakes her head as she watches me. “Where’s she getting all that energy, after the flying we did today?”

“Beats me,” Nikeh sighs. “He can’t sit still either.” She jabs her thumb over at Satanás, who’s running around the room from window to window, looking out. Why is it that I always end up getting lumped in with this guy? Thinking about being paired up with Satanás reminds me of my school days, which reminds me of Maris.

I really wish she could have come. Apparently, when she asked her parents if she could come with us, they replied with something like, “A noble young woman? Traveling alone? Don’t be absurd!”

The “alone” part must have been referring to no other nobles coming with us... They completely ignored us commoners, didn’t they?

Anyhow, as an attendant to the Queen, Maris wouldn’t have been allowed to leave the Kingdom for a personal vacation. When she told Nikeh, Benjamine, and me that she couldn’t go with us, she ended by saying, “Ugh! Being a noble is such a pain sometimes!” We’d had a bit of a group hug moment after that.

“Next time we go on vacation, we’ll go straight to your parents and ask them to let you come with us, okay?”

She should be with us right now. She should be experiencing all this with us, together.

Maris, you’re adorable. I’m sorry you couldn’t come with us.

“It’s really pretty outside though, isn’t it?” Benjamine says, smiling as she looks out the window.

“Yeah,” I say, “it really is.”

Nights in the towns of the Seleina Kingdom are as sparkling and beautiful as the stars above. The round red lanterns I can see outside my window cast their dim light on the colorful signs above the doors of shops. Despite the late hour, the streets seem almost as though they’ve trapped some of the crimson light of sunset, glowing with a faint, warm brilliance. The town is just as lively at night as it must be during the day, with people walking hither and thither, solo and in groups, all wearing the unique traditional garments of the Seleina Kingdom.

Lining the streets are trees unlike any I’ve seen in Doran, big, tall trees with round leaves. Are they interesting to me because they aren’t in Doran, or because they’re inherently interesting trees? Doran, of course, has its own unique flora and fauna, but I can’t help but feel jealous of the Seleinian people, somehow, because they get to live in a town with all these lovely trees. On the ground, I see grass everywhere around the inn—and it’s blue.

There’s also a large, tall clock tower in the center of Verbano. Supposedly the sound of its bells rings out most beautifully at night. Ah! I really hope I’m awake to hear the chimes while we’re here. Every new thing I encounter outside of Doran just makes me that much more excited to go out exploring tomorrow morning.

“Hey, Satanás—the heck you doing down there on the floor?”

“I’m sleeping here.”

This idiot’s crossed his arms behind his head and is using them as a pillow. He’s stretching his shirt so much his navel is exposed! What a slob!

“You have your own room, don’t you? Why don’t you just go sleep there?”

“Don’t wanna. Sounds lonely.”

“Good grief, how old are you?! If you’re gonna act like that, come over here and sit next to Benjamine.”

We’ve got two rooms with two beds in each. There hadn’t been any three- or four-person rooms available when we made our reservations. We’ve divided up in the most sensible way possible: Nikeh and I in one room, Benjamine and Satanás in the other. No one’s complained about the roommate pairings, but if we all end up hanging out in the same room, what’s the point of paying for two?

The walls are red brick, the floors wooden boards. There’s a small, portable woodstove in the corner, but we’re visiting Seleina during the hottest season of the year, so there’s no point in trying to use it. Why’d they leave it in here when it’s hot outside? For the aesthetic?

The room also comes with a private bath. Yeah, this was definitely the right inn to choose.

“Right then—where should we go tomorrow?” I hold up a travel magazine containing a list of the top Seleina attractions.

Benjamine thrusts her fist in the air and declares, “To the ocean, obviously! People who come all the way to Seleina but don’t go to the beach must have something wrong with them, seriously!”

I glance at the other two, who are nodding their heads in perfect agreement.

And so it was that the very thing I was most excited to see here in Seleina turned out to be the very first thing we had all decided to see tomorrow. We’re going straight down to the beach tomorrow!

We also decide we’re going to try wearing some traditional Seleinian clothing while we’re here, so before we go to sleep, we head down to the first floor of the inn and buy our outfits for tomorrow’s outing.

“I’ll take this one.”

“Two hundred tohru, please.”

Us three girls take our time in picking out our traditional garb, but Satanás seems to be walking over to the register the very second we enter the store, having already chosen his stuff, tried it on, and determined it satisfactory. Men sure are quick when it comes to shopping. Or maybe just Satanás is.

Waiting for us to finish, however, allows him time to start hitting on the local ladies. Right now, he’s cornered some girls who look like they’re on a trip just like we are. This guy’s hitting on women not only in a different country, but inside the very inn we’re staying in! Hopeless, isn’t he? Nikeh notices what he’s doing as well. She turns to me, gives me an exaggerated, exasperated roll of her eyes, then tries to warn Benjamine about what’s going on—only, she’s not with us anymore.

“Quit harassing these poor girls!”

She’s dragging Satanás away from his targets—literally dragging him across the floor, by his ears. Nikeh and I give each other a look. She’s pretty used to dealing with his antics, isn’t she?

“Hey you two! Decided yet?”

“Mmmm, not quite. Did you say you already had an outfit, Benjamine?”

“Yeah, my mom gave me one of hers. She has a ton of them back home.”

Benjamine’s mother was actually born and raised here in the Seleina Kingdom. The traditional garb here leaves a lot of skin exposed, so it makes sense that Benjamine, raised by such a mother, often dresses in a similar manner back in Doran—wearing clothes that show her belly, her legs, or other parts of her body.

Come to think of it, isn’t Ms. Berryweather from Seleina as well? I believe she told me once that she moved from here to Doran when she was little.

A lot of first names in the Seleina Kingdom begin with “B,” or so she’d told me. Considering how skimpy Ms. Bell’s clothes always are, I can certainly believe this is her home country.

In Doran, by the way, names that begin with “A” are rather common. Even within my own circle of acquaintances I know people like Mr. Alkes, Crown Prince Arman, and “Alois” Rockmann. A good number of those names also end with an “S,” so when two people who live or work together have very similar sounding names, others tend to refer to them by their middle names. There’s no other way to differentiate them, after all.

“We have an early start tomorrow, so be sure not to oversleep!”

We’re back up on the second floor and standing in front of the doors to our rooms. Benjamine’s still yanking Satanás around by his ears as I remind them of our plans tomorrow.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” he says, eyes tearing up a little from the pain. Is he really sorry? Honestly, I have no idea, but I suppose that’s Benjamine’s problem.

“I trust I’ll see you both out here tomorrow morning, bright and early,” I say, looking dubiously at them as she wrangles him into their room. Right before Benjamine closes the door, she smiles at me, saying, “You can leave it to me, Nanalie! ’Night!”

Nikeh and I enter our room, getting to bed early so we can be all rested for tomorrow’s adventure.

＊　＊　＊　＊

This dress is definitely a lot more comfortable than anything I had to wear when I was at Castle Doran. I actually like how much skin is left exposed—why is that? Maybe it’s because it’s easier to move around in, or something.

The weather today here in Seleina is hotter than it ever gets in Doran, even during the Season of Flowers. Maybe that’s why they wear so little clothing? It’s not horribly hot outside, but it is too hot for me to summon Lala and have her accompany us down to the beach.

It wasn’t hot at all last night, though. Even this morning when we woke up, it’d been rather cool. Now that the sun is well above the horizon, however, it’s so warm I feel as though I’m about to melt right here on the beach.

The clothes I’m wearing, however, are exactly the same as those of the city residents walking around the town, looking cool as can be and paying the heat no mind at all. Sure, it’s a bit hot, but I must admit wearing this little clothing does feel rather liberating.

“Oh hey, look, we’re here.” Beside me, Nikeh’s wearing clothing that completely shows off her arms, her hips, and a good deal of her chest. She’s got a big, adorable hat on though, to protect her face from the sun.

Benjamine looks just as flashy as she normally does—her chest piece seems to be a bit more colorful than usual, perhaps. “Doran has a ‘lake,’ but when compared to this, it’s practically a pond.”

One of our party, however, can’t seem to stop himself from staring at all the beautiful women on the beach, jaw dropped and practically drooling. “Look at the curves on these girls...”

The sky is as blue as the sea, and the clouds are white as the sand. All of us are presented with the most extraordinary sight stretching out before us, all the way to the horizon: “So this is the sea,” I say in awe. None of us have ever been to the coast before, so this encounter with the sea is a first.

I’d imagined what this moment would be like so many times while looking through my travel magazines. Heck, I was still staring at those pictures of the sea just yesterday.

My friends had gotten irritated with how excited I was about seeing the sea. I don’t think I’ve shut up about the idea since we started planning this trip. And now, it’s right here in front of me... I lay one hand against my chest, close my eyes, and take a deep breath. Calm down, Nanalie, this isn’t something to start screaming about—

Benjamine, however, seems to have no such inhibitions about shouting for joy in public. “Let’s gooooo!”

She pulls Satanás by the hand all the way down to the water—I mean, the sea—both of them running freely over the sand. Last night, she’d finally got as excited as I’d been about seeing the ocean, so of course she’s gonna go sprinting down there. Seeing Satanás allowing himself to be dragged all over the place by her makes me wonder, though. She’s gonna have him whipped for the rest of his life, isn’t she?

Nikeh and I give each other a look, laughing at the sight of our friends, then start running down after them.

“Is this what the sea smells like? Wow, it’s amazing!”

“Hahaha! Nanalie, you’re getting way too excited!”

“But this beach is just like a big sandbox!”

“It does feel nice and smooth on your feet, doesn’t it?”

I’m walking barefoot on the beach. The sensation of the sand against my skin reminds me of when I was young, playing in the sandbox at the neighborhood playground with my friends.

Playing with my friends was my entire world back then. I didn’t care what anyone around me thought as I ran and jumped and laughed, day after day. The older I got, though, the more I was told “you shouldn’t do that” or “that’s not what a girl should do,” and a whole lot else by the teachers back at the schoolhouse.

My mother hadn’t agreed with those teachers at all. Not one bit.

“But who cares whether you’re a boy or a girl, big or small? Those aren’t very important parts of who people are. Life is short. Those who enjoy it as much as they can are the real winners. Do whatever you want with all you are.”

It’s a bit strange to say this, but I really do think that it was all thanks to my mother’s encouragement that I grew up to become the woman I am, did what I wanted to do, and went to school to become the person I wanted to be. (I did end up dropping out of school for a bit when the teachers had first told me that, though.)

“Hey! What do we do if the water, like, suddenly comes rushing up at us?! I read about these things called ‘tides’ in a book once.”

“The heck are those?”

“It’s where the beach goes, like, underwater because the sea water rises, or something.”

“Whaaat?! That sounds amazing! I wanna see a ‘tide’!”

Nikeh and I happily giggle as we make our way down to the water, without a care in the world.

“Oh! That’s cold!”

I slowly dip my feet into the seawater, and the resulting invigorating chill is like an electric shock to my system. I get goose bumps all down my legs, but the ebb and flow of the water against my ankles feels amazing.

I roll up the hem of my thin skirt so it rises above my knees. The water sprays up into the air as another wave crashes, and all the droplets sparkle as they catch the sunlight. Benjamine and Satanás are splashing water at each other, and seeing them, Nikeh and I start doing the same. I kick the saltwater over at her, she kicks some back, and so begins our splash fight.

“Young lady, might I ask...”

I’m dripping with water from all the splashing when an old man stops near us. He looks like a local out for his morning walk, but he makes the strangest request: “Might I ask you to splash some water on me as well?”

Huh? He must be hot, or something. Nikeh and I splash some water on him, and he claps both hands together and bows to us in thanks. Guess he was hot after all. I laugh a little at how weird the whole thing was.

Once the old man’s out of sight, Satanás comes over and says something like, “that old guy’s got the same vibe I do,” at which I begin completely ignoring him, not wanting to hear anything further.

“I think I need a break!”

“Sounds good, I could use one too.”

Caught up in all of our excitement, we’ve gotten a little tired, so we decide to take a breather under the shade of some trees bordering the sandy beach. It’s hot, but the breeze is cool. I could use some magic to kick up a stronger wind, but the natural stuff feels better, somehow. I lay down on my side on the sand, close my eyes, and relax.

After a while I open my eyes and look out at the waves, watching them come and go.

Long live the sea. The sea’s the best. Thank you, Mother Sea.

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice something most surprising. I quickly sit up to make sure I’m not hallucinating.

“Um, hey, could you like, slap me, Benjamine?”

“Sure.” Slap!

That was harder than I expected. “Th-Thanks,” I say, massaging my blushing left cheek.

“No problem!”

I look over at what I’d noticed once more, just to make sure it’s still there—and it is. Am I the only one seeing this?

I lean over to tap Nikeh’s shoulder. “Hey, Nikeh, take a look over there.”

“Over there? What... Huh?”

Nikeh recognizes what I’m seeing as well. Guess I’m not hallucinating after all. That’s goo—no. That’s not good at all. I think I’m gonna be sick.

“The Captain and His Highness? Why might they be here?”

The blond, womanizing bastard is, unusually for him, strolling down the beach wearing commoner clothing. His outfit is simple—he’s not even wearing his trademark vest. Must be easier to move around in.

His hair looks like it’s gotten longer again. Now it’s halfway down his chest. You know, they say a pervert’s hair grows faster than average, so... I shake my head to rid myself of such thoughts. I really need to stop thinking about such random stuff all the time.

“Wasn’t Rockmann supposed to be ‘studying abroad’ or conducting an investigation or something?”

It’s not just the two of them, either. Walking next to Rockmann and the black-haired Prince Zenon is a beautiful woman with long, flowing hair wearing traditional Seleinian garments. Farther behind them is a group of men dressed like Satanás, nude from the waist up. Behind them I see Ms. Weldy walking, also dressed in traditional Seleinian garb.

Prince Zenon and the beautiful woman are walking together in front of Rockmann, talking about something. The prince isn’t wearing his usual military outfit but merely light trousers, a shirt, and sandals.

They aren’t that far away from us. It looks, actually, as though they’re getting closer. We’re in the shade, however, and a little removed from the beach, so thankfully it doesn’t look like they’re about to notice us.

“I’ve no idea why they’re here. It’s surprising that His Highness is here at all.”

“Nikeh, did you know that His Highness was going to be traveling here?”

“Well I knew he was fulfilling his duties as substitute Captain of the First Platoon, but our duty schedules haven’t overlapped for some days now. We haven’t spoken outside of work, either.”

Ugh. This isn’t going to be good.

How do we always end up running into each other? I have to be cursed or something, right?

I really do need to stop by a shrine on my way home and do a thorough cleansing to rid myself of this horrible, horrible “spirit” that keeps following me around.

“Let’s ignore them,” I say. “We haven’t seen anything at all.”

Nikeh nods vigorously at my suggestion. “Excellent suggestion. If you two meet, there’s bound to be trouble, anyway.”

It’s then that I notice Satanás is no longer sitting next to Benjamine.

“Benjamine, what happened to Satanás?”

“All of a sudden, he jumped and ran over there...? Hold on, is he talking to His Highness and Rockmann?”

“Whaaaaaaat?!”

Satanás is indeed right where Benjamine’s pointing—which also happens to be the exact place where Rockmann and the rest are gathered.

NOOOOOOO! Run, Satanás, hide! We were never here!

It’s too late. Satanás is waving and calling out to Prince Zenon, who’s turning to look at us. There’s no saving me now. I hug my knees close to my chest and hang my head. Really, Satanás? Of all the times, you choose now to not be hitting on women. I groan to myself. Wait—that woman who’s walking with the two of them is quite beautiful. Maybe she caught his eye, and then he noticed who the others were.

They’re still a ways away when all of a sudden Prince Zenon stops and yells at Satanás, “Why’re you here?” At this distance, his voice isn’t much louder than the dim sound of crashing waves or the breeze through the trees. They don’t know why we’re here, we don’t know why they’re here. Figures.

“Hey, you guys! Come on over!” Satanás, who’s apparently totally incapable of taking a hint, yells for us to join him.

“As if I’m about to go over there!”

“But look—His Highness is smiling and waving for us to come.”

“WHY?!”

Just what kind of conversation is Satanás having with Prince Zenon?

“Suppose we don’t really have a choice,” Benjamine says. She and Nikeh stand up.

“No way! You guys aren’t actually going, right? Right?! Hey!” The two of them grab my wrists firmly and begin dragging me along the sand, just like Benjamine had dragged Satanás through the hotel last night. My legs trace two long lines across the sand.

We get there quicker than I anticipated. “Gotta say I’m surprised to see all of you here,” Prince Zenon says, laughing. I feel rude for having thrown such a tantrum in front of him, so I fix my posture and try not to appear obviously displeased.

“And why, might I ask, is Your Highness here?”

“I’m in Seleina on official business. The princess here was just showing me and Alois around town. Bella, these four are friends of mine from Doran.”

So that’s who that beautiful woman is. Behind Prince Zenon, standing next to Rockmann, is none other than a princess of the Kingdom of Seleina. She’s stunningly beautiful, with hair as white as the sand beneath our feet. The princess looks at each of our faces closely, nodding to herself as she does.

“Zenon has a lot of female friends, yes indeed he does... I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

“They aren’t just my friends—they’re Alois’s as well.”

“Is that so? How delightfully common of you!”

The conversation zooms right past any explanation of why Rockmann and the others are here. Perhaps they’d rather not talk about that right now.

The princess makes some polite small talk to each of us in turn: “What curly hair you have!” to Satanás, “You have a lovely figure,” to Nikeh, “Were you born in this country?” to Benjamine, and “That’s a unique hair color you have there,” to me.

She’s a friendly, lovely person. I’m sure she’s a popular member of the royal family.

While we’re talking with her, the locals wave as they pass by, and she returns each one. Popular, and busy.

Princess Bella Nafs Seele Seleina is first in line to the Seleinian throne. She’s giving Prince Zenon a tour of her kingdom, and for some reason Rockmann and Ms. Weldy have accompanied them down to this beach.

The men behind her are her guards. They certainly look like guards, but they’re acting like they’re just a big group of friends.

“It’s been a while since we’ve had some fun—let’s enjoy ourselves!”

The princess links one of her arms with Rockmann’s. Is it really acceptable for the princess of a kingdom to be so touchy-feely with a foreign, womanizing bastard?

Satanás is apparently thinking the same thing. “It alright for you to be touching a guy from Doran like that?”

By the Goddess. I can’t tell if he’s a massive idiot or incredibly courageous for having said that to a royal from a different country. Fearlessly foolish? Foolishly fearless?

“Well I can’t exactly cling to Zenon, a prince, like this, but Alois is just the second son of a duke, so it’s totally fine. How could I stop myself from touching his arms, anyway? They’re begging to be touched!”

The hell is wrong with this woman? Rockmann’s arms are “begging to be touched”? What in the world is that supposed to mean?

I realize Rockmann hasn’t said a word the whole time. I look at him—and we make eye contact.

“Ick!” I think I just barfed a little.

“Nanalie, what’s wrong?”

I’m a little surprised to sense sparks are flying the very instant our eyes meet—but I can’t avert my gaze, because that means I’ll lose this little staring contest. I don’t know what he’s thinking, looking at me like this, but I’m not about to be the one to break eye contact. Calm, cool, and collected, our eyes remain locked.

“Here they go again,” mutters Nikeh next to me. “Hey—what’s that dark shadow?”

“What shadow?”

“It’s coming this way—” Benjamine points out at sea. Reluctantly, I turn away from Rockmann to see what she’s talking about.

Hmmm, I think I see what she’s talking about—it looks as though there’s something dark, far out in the water. It’s getting closer, though, and it’s unnaturally large...

Ms. Weldy, who hasn’t said a word of greeting to us, notices the large creature as well. Pushing back a strand of her light brown hair, she says, “it’s kinda creepy...”

And then—

Boom, boom, boom, splash!

“My Lazie! I ha’e vinally vound ye!”

All our eyes are practically bulging out of their sockets as we stare at what has just exploded out of the sea, onto the beach, showering us all with water droplets.

It’s an absolutely massive fish. Kind of. It’s a massive creature that’s built like a pipe.

Even if that was a fish, I’d never eat it. Looks disgusting. And those eyes! Swerving all over the place! Speaking human language with that rattling voice! And its fat, quivering lips!

“What the heck is that thing?!”

“Ahhhhh!”

“Eeeeeek!”

The beach is consumed in an uproar of panic. All the beachgoers who had been enjoying the sea are now fleeing the scene, screaming.

“My Laziiiiiiieeeeeeeeee!!!”

Both Rockmann and Prince Zenon jump in front of the princess to protect her from the massive, charging behemoth.

“Is it referring to the princess by calling her ‘My Lady’?”

“If so, we gotta get rid of him! Oh, look, they’re already doing it.”

The royals and the guards all begin throwing spells at the leviathan, like that’s the most natural thing to do in this sort of situation. Familiars are flying through the air all around us, pressing the attack.

That was so fast! Just what I’d expect from Knights and royal guards.

Out from the sides of the creature’s fat lips stretch long, whip-like tentacles—ugh, how vile—that are engaged in combat with multiple adversaries at once.

Benjamine and I give each other a concerned look. It’s obvious to both of us that we can’t step in and start fighting, because we might just end up getting in the way of the professionals. As we watch the fight go on, however, we realize something odd.

“Their spells—they aren’t working.”

“Something’s wrong, that’s for sure.”

No magic is effective against the monster. None whatsoever.

Prince Zenon’s lightning, Rockmann’s flames, Nikeh’s water, Satanás’s wind—none of their magic is working against this thing! The other mages don’t seem to be having any luck either.

As a test, I send an Ice spell hurtling against its flank—to no effect.

“Bella—”

“Alois!”

Rockmann leaps away from the assault team to stand back near the princess. He must think her safety is the top priority here. He holds her close against him, one arm outstretched and ready to cast a spell should the beast approach.

She sounds panicked. “I’ve never seen an animal like that before!”

“Is this really the first time?”

“Yes! Not even in pictures have I seen that!”

Glancing to my right, I see Rockmann holding the princess against him, blocking her from the creature’s sight. That’s a relief—as long as he’s around, she’s safe. Magic may not work on it, but as long as she’s in his arms, it can’t just carry her off without a fight.

The princess has wrapped her arms tight around his neck.

“It’s alright,” he says quietly.

The princess, however, looks over his shoulders at the monster and its encroaching girth. Those tentacles are just about close enough to—wait, look—the princess is one step ahead of me. She’s casting the Coat of Many Colors spell on herself to become invisible. Still, if one of those tentacles tries to grab Rockmann, it’s not gonna be good. I pull out the Cudgel of the Goddess, the Dare Labdos, from my belt, and step out in front of Rockmann and the others.

“Rockmann! Take the princess and—ahhhh!”

“Nanalie!”

One of the creature’s tentacles has wrapped around my leg—and it’s dangling me in the air! The sensation of the slimy slick against my ankles gives me goosebumps.

Benjamine extends her hand, but I’m already out of her reach.

“My Lazie! I ha’e vinally goot ye!”

“I am not anyone’s ‘lady’!”

“I can vinally, vinally return you to the Lord of the Sea!”

The “Lord of the Sea”?

I, dangling midair, try everything I can think of to get out of this thing’s slimy grip: I use magic to send pillars of ice stabbing into its flank, I whack the Cudgel of the Goddess against the tentacles, I try squirming out of its hold—but nothing works.

It isn’t just magic that has no effect on this thing—not a single type of attack hurt it at all! Is it invincible? All spells are totally ineffective against it, just like a couplet flower.

I’d read before that magic doesn’t work on animals that live in the Land of the Sea, nor its resident mermaids. Maybe it doesn’t work on this creature, just like it doesn’t work on them?

Nikeh and Satanás are trying their best to get me free of the tentacles, but the blades they conjure to cut me free have no effect on the leviathan.

“Why doesn’t magic work against it?!”

“Hel!”

Rockmann’s racing through the air on his familiar Yuri. He grabs my arm firmly as he flies past me.

Here I am, a damsel in distress...literally being rescued by this bastard. Losing, again. And in such an embarrassing manner! The mix of emotions is too much for me to process. Hold on—it’s bringing me towards the water, isn’t it? What about the princess?

I look over at the beach to see that she’s being protected by both her guards and a thin, glowing magical barrier.

“Ah! R-Rockmann! Let me go!”

The strange creature shouts at him as well. “I von’t hert my lazie! I shan’t ve vi’lent! I zoo not lie! Let goo, bvoy!” Another tentacle shoots around to latch onto Yuri, pulling Rockmann and me away from each other.

This is bad. At this rate, it won’t just take me, but him too.

“Just let it do what it wants!” I cry out, “It’s confused! It’s saying it won’t hurt me, so get back to the princess and escape while there’s still time!”

“I don’t take orders from you.”

My arm feels like it’s going to be ripped to shreds. I feel my face contort in agony from the pain of being yanked in opposite directions.

In that moment, Rockmann looks more concerned and frustrated than I’ve ever seen him before. For a moment I forget the pain, blinking as if to verify the look on his face is real.

“Wait for me,” he says. He yanks a gold ring off his left pinky with his teeth, and puts it on the ring finger of my left hand. “I will come for you.”

And with that, he lets go. I am instantly pulled into the sea by the leviathan, and down we go.

Strangely enough, I can breathe just fine.

The last thing I see before my vision goes dark is a flickering crimson light above me, surrounded with waves of gold.

＊　＊　＊　＊

After the great splash of water, after the roiling waters of the sea slowly grow calm, everything is as it had been moments ago. With the disappearance of the strange creature back into the sea, the tourists and local residents who had fled the scene come back to the beach, visibly relieved to find all as it should be.

All is as it should be—except that Nanalie is nowhere to be seen.

Alois jumps down from Yuri’s back. Satanás immediately starts pressing him for answers, yelling “Why the hell did you let her go?!”

Nikeh and the others, who’d found themselves scattered across the beach over the course of the fight, hurry over to where Satanás is getting up in Alois’s face about what’s just happened.

“The waters off the coast here are most likely part of that creature’s ‘territory.’ Or it might even have been an animal sent here from the Land of the Sea—they use a completely different kind of magic down there, so in that case it would make sense that our spells had no effect on it.”

“I ain’t asking you about any of that shit, you idiot!”

“Ouch. All that yelling of yours must’ve busted my hearing.”

Alois winces at the sharp ringing in his ears and begins making his way towards Bella, who is standing further up the beach, protected by a magical barrier. Satanás keeps badgering him all the while. Alois responds only half-heartedly to the repeated pestering and slaps on the shoulder—he’s clearly distracted as he swiftly makes his way across the sand. It’s difficult to say, however, whether he is distracted by his concern for the princess... or for someone else.

Bella, surrounded by her guards, watches Alois approach with tears in her eyes. He bows, then kneels before her, inquiring about her health before giving her a small, reassuring smile.

“Bella,” he says, “are you hurt?”

“No, thanks to you.”

“Lady Bella,” calls out a guard, “I recommend we return to the palace now.”

“W-Wait, please!” Nikeh cries as she and Benjamine run up to where Alois is kneeling before the princess. The two young women can hardly believe that the princess and the guards would so easily abandon one of their friends to some watery end at the hands—or rather, tentacles—of a mysterious beast.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” Benjamine says to the princess, slightly out of breath, “but this is serious. How can y’all just head on back to the palace like nothing happened, when the only reason that thing kidnapped Nanalie is because it thought she was you?!”

Nikeh nods. “Yeah! How are we ever going to save Nanalie if you’re just going to leave?!”

“And if our spells weren’t working,” Benjamine says, looking more and more worried, “we don’t even know if she’s still breathing down there in the water!”

“Oh,” Nikeh says, shaking her head, “I can’t bear the thought of her drowning! To have her first trip outside Doran end like this... Who could have imagined it’d turn out so awful?” She recalls the conversation she and Nanalie had just had moments ago:

“Let’s pretend we didn’t see them.”

“Yeah, sounds good. If you two meet, there’s bound to be trouble, anyway.”

This is what happens every time Alois and Nanalie meet, she thinks, fireworks, arguments, chaos, or worse. She presses a palm against her forehead. I never should’ve dragged her over to see him.

Satanás is looking out at the sea. “Don’t bother asking them,” he says quietly. “We’ll go save Nanalie, just the three of us.” We’re fully-fledged mages ourselves, aren’t we? If it’s our friend who’s in trouble, we’re gonna be the ones to save her. He pats Benjamine’s head.

“Naru...” she says, looking up at him, eyes full of admiration. He beckons for his familiar, and it looks like he is just about to climb up on her back and begin soaring the skies—when Alois stops him in his tracks.

“Have you given any thought at all as to how you’re actually going to find her?”

No longer kneeling, Alois has stood up and folded his arms, sounding thoroughly exasperated with Satanás.

He has a point.

Without being able to use magic, they’d never be able to sense Nanalie in the waters below them, nor would they be able to conduct their search underwater. Even Nikeh’s abilities as a Water-type would likely be totally inadequate for a manhunt on the high seas.

“We won’t know unless we try, right?” Satanás says, frowning at Rockmann. “It ain’t got nothin’ to do with you anyway. We’re going, no matter what.”

Nikeh calmly lays a hand on his shoulder. “Hold on there, Satanás—that’s no way to talk to him after what just happened. I know you’re angry, but didn’t you see? The first person to try to rescue her was the Cap—was Rockmann.” She points at Benjamine. “You’d let her go if it prevented her arm from being torn to shreds, wouldn’t you?”

“...That’s got nothin’ to do with it,” Satanás mutters darkly. Averting his gaze from everyone else, in a manner rather unbecoming of his age, he begins pouting.

He isn’t blind to the realities of the situation—Alois had tried to save Nanalie. Still, at the critical moment in the fight, in a moment when Nanalie might have died (and she still might end up dead after all), Alois had been the one to let go of her hand. That fact alone is enough to make him furious. Not only did he let go of her, he thinks, but she might be in more danger, right now, as we waste time talking about this! He is itching to jump on his familiar’s back and begin searching for her right away.

Satanás may possess only about half the common sense of an average person, but he is more devoted to his friends than anyone else is. Benjamine knew this was true. “He knows you’re right,” she says to Alois. “That’s why he’s lashing out. Sorry.”

But Alois knows Satanás well enough to expect this sort of attitude, and isn’t angry at him at all, merely giving him a small, somewhat pained smile. He turns away from his sulking friend and gently takes the hand of the princess.

“Bella, I’d like to have an audience with the King today—could that be arranged?”

“He should be back at the palace before sunset. What do you want to talk with him about?”

“I’m going to request he allow me to continue my investigation.”

“What? Your ‘investigation’...? Hold up, not even Borizurie was able to get there! You really think you can break through that seastorm?!” Bella is panicked at the very suggestion. Her sandy-white hair flutters in the coastal winds.

She’d spoken with the intention of criticizing Alois and his plans—but he understands quite well just how foolhardy his proposition sounds. “Regardless of the danger,” he nods, “if I do not pass through that storm, I’ll never find what I’m after.”

“Ever since they sealed off their waters twenty years ago, there’s not been a single person who’s spoken with one from the Land of the Sea, or so my mother tells me. My father’s been sheltering you and Zenon in his castle because he’s fond of the two of you, and for you to insist on going anyway... I know it’s my fault your friend was taken away, but still...”

The reason Alois and his two subordinates have still not completed their survey of the Land of the Sea is that they’d been denied entry at the border, quite forcefully in fact, and members of their reconnaissance corps had been injured in the process.

It’s a bit misleading on the part of the Princess, however, to describe what happened to them as being “denied entry.” Should any human try to enter the territorial waters of the Land of the Sea, the weather would suddenly take a dramatic turn for the worse. No spells would work against the oncoming storm, and no magical barrier would protect them from the driving rains and winds, not to mention the viciously wild strikes of lightning. It had been this storm phenomenon that stopped their investigation.

The wounds inflicted by the storm, furthermore, were resistant to healing by magic. According to the terms of the Emergency Aid Agreement they’d signed with the Seleinian Kingdom before heading out to sea, they had been allowed to return to Seleina in order to recuperate. Their investigation isn’t wholly sponsored by Doran’s neighboring countries, however—all of the realms in the region have agreed to cooperate with the investigation and provide all necessary assistance to see their mission fulfilled.

The Knights of Vestanu, led by Captain Borizurie, had themselves gone out to continue the investigation after the Doran group had failed to break through the storm, but they’d met the same fate: storms, injuries, and a long recuperation in the Seleina Kingdom.

The Land of the Sea is known as a place where magic simply does not work.

But both Alois and Weldy had been unpleasantly surprised by the discovery made just now: even in the shallows just off the shoreline, magic had failed to have any effect on the creature from the Sea.

“Still, the whole situation is a bit fishy,” Zenon says. “How did that sea creature know that the princess was standing here on land? If it could sense that much, surely it wouldn’t mistake its target once it arrived at the beach.” Zenon had come to Seleina to hear the details about the failed expedition of the Doran investigative unit. He’d never dreamed that one of his friends would be captured right in front of him, but he shows no signs of panic. With a measured calm, he tries to think of the best course of action for them to take.

“Bella, would you happen to have any idea as to why that thing would mistake my friend for you?”

“An idea? About that?”

Alois recalls what the giant beast said. “It said something about the ‘Lord of the Sea’—that must have referred to the Sea King, King Celestial. And then something about how it could ‘finally return my Lady’—do you have any idea what he was talking about?”

“Beats me... I’m only nineteen years old. The last time Seleina hosted an envoy from the Land of the Sea was before I was born. What I know is a lot less than what I don’t know.” She rests one hand on her chin as she thinks. “I honestly have no idea what it was talking about,” she says, groaning in frustration. “The only thing I ever heard from my parents was that a long time ago, King Celestial would often come to the shore and give gifts to us—not that I have any idea what those gifts were, though.”

“That so?” Alois says, lost in thought. If she didn’t know, the only way to find answers to Alois’s questions would be to ask the King of Seleina directly. He nods to himself. The King would surely remember something from his interactions with the Sea King, all those years ago.

Together, Alois, Satanás, and all the others get on their mounts and fly up to where Castle Seleina floats in the sky.

＊　＊　＊　＊

The roofs of the castle are round and gold. The walls are white, but seem almost blue when seen from certain angles.

Before them stands the storied Castle Seleina, built hundreds of years ago and home of the Seleinian royal family for generations. The structure is surrounded with thick green vegetation that lines the stone avenue leading up to the front gate.

“This is pretty big,” says Benjamine. Satanás and Nikeh are walking alongside her. Nearby, they hear the sudden piiiikrrr! cry of some large bird. With the permission of the princess, all three of the travelers cross the threshold into the castle. Alois, Weldy, and the other Knight from Doran are already inside.

Sunlight shines through the castle windows at an angle that makes it appear as if the floor is pure gemstone. The three of them, commoners all, tiptoe their way down the hall behind the others.

“This is ridiculous!” Nikeh whispers to her two friends. “We flew right up here, with no invitation from the King, because we’re in a hurry! We don’t have time to be dilly-dallying in fancy castle corridors when our friend’s in trouble!”

Benjamine grimaces as she nods her head in agreement, but she can’t totally discount Alois’s motivations for taking the time to meet with the King before searching for Nanalie. Satanás, walking next to her, is still sulking that he hadn’t gotten his way back down on the beach. She quickly gives his hand an affectionate squeeze before he joins in on the complaining.

Zenon slows down a little to walk alongside Nikeh. “Calm down, Nikeh. If you aren’t careful, you’ll end up like curly-hair over there.”

“Begging your pardon, Your Highness, but is this really the time to make jokes like that?!”

Nikeh balls up her fists in frustration at Zenon’s teasing. She’d spoken rather loudly. Zenon winces at the noise and tenderly pats her on the back until she has calmed down a little. He hadn’t intended to make her angry, but he supposes that nothing he says right now is going to make her feel better—She’s going to be on edge every moment until we find Nanalie, isn’t she? He sighs.

The interior of the palace is blue, white, and gold. The six subjects of Doran look around and see that the walls have unfamiliar forms of writing carved into them, the letters patterned into certain designs that decorate the hall. Most of the written characters are curved and circular in shape. There are also some engraved images of people with fishtails instead of legs. The engravings aren’t colored, however, so unless you look closely it is difficult to tell what the images depict.

“My father’s waiting for you inside Palace Chamber Fourteen.”

“Thanks. Sorry for the sudden request.”

“Arranging an audience with my father is the least I can do to help your friend.”

“You haven’t started hating the sea, have you? After what just happened.”

“Oh, don’t worry about me. A long time ago, I almost got eaten by a big fish, and what happened on the beach was nothing compared to that.”

“That sounds rough. I’ve heard that the bigger the fish, the tastier it is.”

“If a big fish ate me, would you kill it and eat it up, the meat all wet and juicy?”

Alois slides one arm around Bella’s waist, trying to keep her in as good a mood as possible. This isn’t their home kingdom, but somewhere else entirely—they can’t expect King Seleina to be as accommodating of their request as King Doran might be. It’s not like Alois could have gotten anything he wanted from King Doran, but it would have been much easier to ask him instead of a foreign King hosting him inside his own castle. No one wants to be thought of as an imposing guest, after all.

What Alois hasn’t quite picked up on, however, is that Bella is going to be happy as long as she is with him. With her help, their situation is not as desperate as it might have been. After all, hasn’t she at this very moment acted as a mediator between him and the King, arranging an audience at a mere moment’s notice?

It’s all thanks to Alois being so popular with women that we’re being helped right now, Zenon thinks, continuing to hold one arm over Nikeh’s shoulder. He watches Alois and Bella flirt as they make their way down the hallway. Let’s just hope the King is so eager to help us as well.

＊　＊　＊　＊

“Rumor has it that the daughter of the Sea King eloped with a human man.”

The man’s brilliantly white royal garb stands in sharp contrast to his sun-darkened skin. He looks to be in his mid-fifties, and from the way in which he leans back into the throne, legs crossed, one knows at a glance that this is most certainly the master of the castle.

Zenon and Alois are the only ones from Doran to be allowed an audience with the King. As such, inside Palace Chamber Fourteen they are joined only by Bella and King Seleina. The other four subjects of Doran have been left sitting in the waiting room, looking none too happy about the situation. Before the glittering golden throne of the Seleinian King, Zenon and Alois bow low as they greet him.

He must have heard about the whole situation from Bella before they’d come in, since the very first words out of his mouth had been about the daughter of the Sea King.

“It all happened twenty years ago. They all searched high and low for her, but she was nowhere to be found. There is no spell that can turn a mermaid into a human, of course, but the Sea King believed there was, and it had been used on his precious daughter. That’s why he closed off his territorial waters to all humans, supposedly.”

“Twenty years ago, you say?”

The Sea King’s daughter had run away with a human man. The story sounded like something out of a fairytale. Zenon and Alois look at each other and tilt their heads to the side in thought. The creature from the sea had referred to Nanalie as “My Lady,” presumably mistaking her for the daughter of the Sea King. But Nanalie wasn’t his daughter, and neither was Bella.

Setting aside the matter of whether the rumors of elopement were true or not, Alois still needed to enter the Land of the Sea. “Might there be some way inside his Kingdom? Any way at all?”

“I would not object to loaning you Hownyok to help you get there. He lives under this very palace.”

“Hownyok?”

“Hownyok was a gift from the Sea King himself, given to an ancestor of mine as a symbol of their friendship. The creature has protected the waters around Seleina for many years, but even I find the Rogue Fish to be a bit...strange.”

Hownyok, “The Rogue Fish.” Should a human be covered with its phlegm, they would instantly become able to breathe underwater. The sea creature serves the Seleinian throne by saving drowning swimmers and shipwrecked crews off the coast.

The big fish that had almost eaten Bella is none other than Hownyok.

“Are you two familiar with the story of ‘Genesis’?”

“Yes,” Zenon says, “I have heard the tale before, sir.” Alois nods his head as well.

“Genesis” is a collection of stories that had been compiled and edited millennia ago by a bard. They were set in ages long past, when the only beings in the world had been those spirits said to be the distant ancestors of mages: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning, and Ice.

The first chapter of the collection contained a story relating how five of the spirits had, while playing one day, created the Shadow Spirit. As a result, Ice, which had been the only spirit not to contribute to its creation, used all of her power to freeze it, shatter it, and send the shards flying to the four winds. These shards would later become the seeds for the demons that lurked in the dark corners of the world.

Bereft of her power, Ice died, and her spirit left this world, or so the first chapter concluded.

The author of this story, the poet Perieve, had included an attempt to explain why Ice-types were the rarest of all elemental affinities.

“That story was written thousands of years ago. Around here, however, there is another legend: Ice, the only one whose power the Dark Spirit did not possess, is not gone from this world, but merely in a deep sleep, slumbering down in the Land of the Sea. Just a rumor though, mind you.”

Bella, sitting next to the King, perks up when she hears this. Her mother told her the story of Genesis when she was little, but she hadn’t mentioned Ice sleeping at the bottom of the ocean. “Isn’t that just another fairytale?”

“The Land of the Sea is said to be the home of Water,” he says. “Why Ice should be said to be sleeping down there is a mystery to me. It is no fairytale, daughter, only a whispered rumor.”

He looks back at the two young men before him. “If this demon you tell me of, the one who spoke of a ‘Städal,’ truly went in search of the Land of the Sea, then ‘Städal’ is likely another demon. I believe it might even be in search of that power which slipped out of its grasp, all those years ago...

“King Celestial resides in a place entirely beyond our ken. Humanity cannot penetrate the defenses he has placed around his realm, nor can we reside there ourselves. From our perspective, then, he has all the power of some great beast, a force of nature...and he isn’t particularly old, from what I recall.”

King Seleina falls silent and motions for the kneeling Alois and Zenon to stand up. “Move near the walls,” he commands. Once they have done so, he grasps the left armrest of the throne—and pulls it upwards.

GRGRGRGR... The floor instantly begins to shake and rumble. A large round hole opens up in the center of Palace Chamber Fourteen, revealing—

“Water? Is that the sea?”

Zenon can’t believe his eyes. He squints down at the water. Beneath the surface, some great black shadow is moving.

King Seleina, having checked to see that the shadow has come to a halt in the center of the pool, points at the two young men and says:

“You must enter the belly of Hownyok. Don’t forget to swallow one of these Ames pearls first, however.”

KER-SPLASH!

The great fish erupts out of the water in a shower of droplets that pelt the ceiling. Keeping just its head above the surface, its two massive eyes look left and right as it watches Alois and Zenon.

＊　＊　＊　＊

The world around me is wavering, uncertain.

I feel as though I’m sleeping in a cradle once again, or even back inside my mother’s belly, surrounded by a calm, comforting warmth.

Something gently rubs my cheek. Slowly, I feel myself rise to the surface of consciousness.

The lethargy in my bones makes it feel like I’ve been asleep for a long, long time in complete darkness, but am now taking my first step back out into the light.

I blink several times as I focus my gaze on my surroundings.

I’m lying down. I am resting on something soft beneath me...not cloth, but as comfortable and gentle as a baby’s cheek. It’s as red as my lips.

I slowly sit up and look around.

What I see is a beautiful, blue world, dappled with light. The blue color is not the same as the sky above, but just as brilliant and clear.

I’m resting on what appears to be a bed. The bed frame seems to be made of seashells, just like those I’d seen on the beach.

Around me I see strange shapes, star-like objects lying here and there, and everywhere else, long swaying strands of...“grass” are growing.

That said, I am certainly in a room, inside. Indoor grass...?

The room’s white walls have a glossy luster to them, as if I had fallen asleep inside a conch shell.

I look up at the ceiling. Up there, I spot fishes and other animals swimming, swimming, swimming, like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

My hair, which had been tied up in a bun, is now hanging loose...but the weight of it feels different than before.

It’s floating freely around my head, like it would if I was underwater.

“......”

I think to myself for a moment, then try forcefully waving my arms around from side to side.

—swishswishswish.

There’s some resistance, and a few bubbles.

That doesn’t feel like air against my skin. It feels like my arms are submerged in lukewarm water—

“Huh? —Huuuuuuh?!”

I’m underwater.

“What is this place?”

Every time I open my mouth, bubbles slip out.

I’ve no idea what happened after I was dragged into the sea. I’m not seeing that freaky beast lurking around here either.

The moment I realized I was underwater, I clamped my hands over my mouth. Well, I relax, slowly lowering them, it does seem like I can breathe down here, somehow, so I guess there’s no need to worry about that.

I’m so glad I’m not dead. There are still so many things I want to do that I haven’t done yet. It’d be totally awful to die in a weird place like this.

I wonder how Nikeh and Benjamine are doing now. Right when we finally managed to go on a vacation together, here I am, getting myself kidnapped. How inconvenient for them.

“Oh, shoot! I didn’t finish organizing the materials room before I left!”

My job! What am I going to do about work! It’s only been one year since I started working as a receptionist lady. What if I can’t get out of here? How am I going to explain my absence to the Director? She asked me directly to relabel all of the books in the materials room, and I’d planned on finishing up when I got back, but now—! She’s gonna kill me...

I only have three more days off, and I still haven’t bought any souvenirs for Zozo or any of the others at Harré. I also haven’t collected any of the colorful shells from the Seleinian beach Cheena said she wanted. Then there’s ‘Pirkl Milk,’ that Seleina Kingdom specialty dessert that the Director told me she wanted. Haven’t got that either...

In just a few more months, I would’ve saved up enough money to be financially secure, too. I let out a sigh. I can’t stand the idea that I’m never going to accomplish that savings goal—but I’m not about to let myself die in a place like this!

Or so I think to myself, but I still have absolutely no idea where I am, or what direction home might be. I try using a bit of magic, just to see if anything happens—nothing.

“Shhhhhshshsh.”

I’m sitting stock still, lost in my thoughts, when I hear a—sound? voice?—something coming from the hole in the ceiling.

I look up and see an animal with the torso of a human man, but the head and tail of a fish. It descends to float before me, and I feel myself pushed back a little by the currents caused by its forceful strokes through the water.

“A fish?”

Or is this perhaps a merperson? It’s quite different from anything I ever heard about in stories, or saw in picture books or thoughtographs.

Both of its eyes swerve around to goggle at me.

“Shshh, shhsh.”

It’s opening and closing its mouth. I do believe it is trying to talk to me. The only thing I can hear is that “shhh” sound, though. With those gestures it’s making with its arms, it’s obvious it wants to tell me something, but I’ve no idea what that might be with all that “shhhh”-ing.

“Sh? Shh!”

I tilt my head to one side in confusion. Damn, I forgot, or so his facial expression seems to say, as he—the fishperson?—claps his hands together and then pulls out a small white marble from somewhere. He holds it out to me.

Take it, he seems to be saying, gesturing repeatedly with his other hand. When I do so, he points at me, then mimes something with his throat. Am I supposed to swallow this? Some mysterious marble handed to me by a stranger? What if it’s poison?

“Nglp?!” The fishperson forced the marble into my mouth and without intending to, I swallowed it. This sucks. Is this how I die?

“Shshshh! Shshhhhurry up and eat it!”

“Ah! You made me swallow that thing! Ug! Wait, hold on—”

The creature’s voice, which up until a moment ago had sounded like an irritable librarian shushing the life out of me, now sounded like actual, normal words. He was speaking with a man’s—boy’s?—voice.

I draw back in surprise—but the fishperson grabs my arm and pulls me towards him. My loose, waving hair floats in front of my face.

“You look like my older sister, but you aren’t her.”

“Huh?”

“Since Nanyok brought you, though, you must’ve smelled the same... Are you related to her? Did she get married? Did she abandon me for a human man?!”

I understand the words he’s saying, but I have no idea what he’s trying to communicate.

“Well, whatever. Father says that I’ve got to mate with you instead.”

“Um, I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

I pick up a large shell lying nearby and throw it at him, creating an opening for me to escape.

Good grief! Give me a break with all this kidnapping nonsense! If I can breathe, it seems like now’s the only chance I’ve got to run away—in a flurry, I kick, kick, kick my legs as I swim away from him.

He grabs my legs tightly. I’m not escaping him. I should’ve known better than to try something stupid like swimming away from a fishperson. Damn those fast flippy fins!

“I’m taking you to see the Sea King.”

“The Sea King? Do you mean—King Celestial?”

That monster fish had mentioned the Sea King as well.

Based on what I’ve read, if I can assume that I am now in the Land of the Sea, where the mermaids live, and this guy’s referring to the lord who rules the sea, then he’s probably—no, definitely—talking about the Sea King, King Celestial.

Once I’d seen a book that described how the “tempests and tranquilities of the sea turned in time to the tune of his tempers.” Should he get angry, the seas would get rough; should he be happy, the waves would be gentle; should he be sad, all the waters would still, and so on and so forth. “The soul of the sea and the soul of its King are one,” or so I’d read.

“Oh, you know about King Celestial? Good. That means I don’t have to explain. Let’s go.”

“W-W-Wait up there! I’m pretty sure you’ve got the wrong person? And where am I, anyway?”

“You’re in my older sister’s room.”

“That’s not what I’m asking! Hold on, who’s your older—ahh!”

The fishperson yanks on my arm and pulls me right out of the room through the hole in the roof.

What the hell is this guy’s problem? He’s not answering any of my questions! Bubbles of air burble out of my mouth as he drags me out the ceiling, but once I see what’s outside, I’m completely taken aback.

“What...is all this?”

There’s a white palace glowing before me, bigger than any castle I’ve ever seen before. What kind of people can create such massive works of art? Several colossal pillars ring the mountainous, seashell-like tower that spirals upwards, golden dots of light leaking out from the oval windows and passageways dotting its exterior. The structure appears to have gemstones laid into its walls, for they take the light falling from the sea above and reflect it in every direction, glittering rainbows fluttering across the sea floor. Massive shells can be seen attached to the palace here and there, some tight spirals, some thin and flat. Around the entire structure grow pale blue and red weeds, as well as some golden ones arranged all in some careful design, as if they were the King’s flower garden.

In the distance, I hear what sounds like music, beautiful notes trilling up and down the scales. A school of fish zooms across our path as we approach the palace.

“Don’t you get it?” the fishperson said. “That room you were in is a part of all this.”

The room I was in...is merely one room of this giant, giant castle.

“Welcome,” he says, puffing out his chest in pride as he continues to pull me along, “to the Hidden Castle of the Lord of the Sea, my great father, King Celestial. Welcome to Palace Oceanus.”

The Sea. It’s everything I’ve always dreamed of.

I look down at my left hand, the hand the fishperson is grabbing onto. Still on my ring finger is that loop of gold Rockmann had put there before letting me go.

If only I were here sightseeing, I think. My friends and I could have had so much fun here.

And so I’m taken by the hand, by some mysterious fishperson, to the King of it all.

＊　＊　＊　＊

Frankly, I must say I have neither a particular like nor dislike for fish. What I like and dislike is a bit of a moot point anyway, as Doran doesn’t border a sea, which means there are not too many fish to be eaten back home.

I do, however, often see fish in the river that runs through town, and there are fish sold in the markets. When I haven’t felt like eating meat, I have whipped up a seafood dish or two for myself, from scratch. If it’s available, I’ll eat it, if not, I won’t make a fuss. It’s nice but not necessary.

Starting today, though, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat fish again. I rub one hand against my exposed belly. I think it’s a sign just how overwhelming the current situation is that it’s making me consider swearing off a whole category of food.

“My son, will you never learn?” A deep, deep voice resounds in the waters around me. I don’t so much as hear the voice as I feel it, all the way down in my gut. I tilt my head upwards to make out the speaker.

I look up to see the (human) face of a merman, with thick, regal eyebrows and a beard that stretches all the way down to his waist. This is no “fishperson”—this is a merman, just like the ones I’ve seen in picture books.

The man—merman—is sitting on something that looks like a throne, and is looking down at me from his seat. The merman looks to be about three times as large as I am.

Not only is he tall, but his throne is so much higher than I am.

He’s unquestionably larger than the fishperson who brought me here. I don’t think it’s physically possible for a human to even be that large.

I just hope he lets me go back to Seleina, or anywhere above water, as soon as possible. It’s all just a big mistake that I’m here after all. I look up at the big merman, praying that he can see my request written across my face.

I can’t use any magic, so I’ve got to rely on the merpeople if I’m ever going to get out of here. Of course, I’d really rather not rely on them, but it doesn’t look like I’ve got any other options.

“Maiteiah,” he says, “you never gave up on finding her, did you?”

“Never, sire. Not once.”

“Maiteiah” seems to be the name of the fishperson who’s dragged me before the King. Not that I need to know who he is in order to escape.

I am standing inside the palace, before the throne of the King. It’s painfully obvious, however, that this bizarre situation was not set up so that I could complain to or make demands of him, so I stay quiet.

The first thing I saw upon entering the throne room were the beautiful mermaids with their glossy, lustrous, blue and red hair. The mermen scattered among them look exactly like the fishperson who’d met me in “my room.” All of them are lined up in rows near the throne. Strangely enough, however, while all of them are “standing” upright, facing the King, they all have their eyes closed. The only people with their eyes open in the room appear to be me, the fishperson, and the King.

I must say I’m glad I didn’t put on my normal clothes this morning, I think, nodding to myself. Not that I had any idea what today would bring. If I hadn’t worn this bathing suit, with its bathing shorts, and instead worn my usual skirt... I shudder at the thought. The fabric would have floated up and shown my underwear off to everyone. It’s not like it’d be the end of the world or anything like that, but obviously I’d prefer other people to see as little of my underwear as possible.

That said, I don’t think I’d be out of place or embarrassed here among the merpeople, even if I had just arrived in my underwear... The merpeople around me are dressed in a fashion that leaves very little to the imagination.

“No matter what Nefertieah does, she will never return here. Bringing her doppelganger before me shall not change my opinion on this matter.”

Were I allowed to be my usual self, I’d be running around this room looking at everything and trying to figure out what it was...but I definitely can’t allow myself to do that given the present circumstances.

I bet Nikeh, Benjamine, and the others are all worried about me. Don’t suppose he’d hurry up and just let me go...? I turn my head sideways to give the coldest glare I can muster at the fishperson standing next to me, desperately trying to persuade the King that there is some point in my being here.

“But Father! If Nanyok brought her here, that must mean she’s a close relation of my older sister or—”

“Silence! I cringe to hear such nonsense. Antics like these are why you are still just a fingerling.”

A “fingerling”? This fishperson is...a fingerling?

According to what I’ve read, mermen turn into adults only after they’ve found their mate. I hadn’t come across any descriptions as to what fingerlings looked like, however, so I’m not entirely sure what the King’s basing his accusation on. Just guessing here, but from what I can see of the other mermen, some of them have beautiful human faces, not the fish ones this guy has. They must gain their human faces once they turn into adults.

“Human girl. Do you know where you are?”

“Oh, uh, m-m-m-me, sir?”

I’m shaken by the sudden question. I nervously twitch my limbs in the water a bit, uncertain how to react. He asks me if I know where I am—but for the first time since I’ve left Doran, I can only guess based on what I can see. I don’t have my travel magazine with me anymore. I doubt it would have had any information concerning the Land of the Sea anyway...

It takes me a minute to answer his question. I’ve been seeing the merpeople, seeing the palace underwater, and guessing all the while—the answer’s clear:

“The...Land of the Sea?”

“Technically speaking, you are in the Kingdom of the Deep Sea.”

Isn’t that the same thing? I swallow those words before they come out of my mouth, and simply look up at the big merman.

“I am he who rules the seas of this world, the Sea King Celestial.”

Upon those words from the big merman—the Sea King—he comes down from his throne to approach where the fishperson and I are floating. I’m about to be forced back by the water displaced by his movements, but before that can happen the Sea King himself gently places a hand behind my back to prevent me from getting swept away.

This guy is enormous. Just his hand alone covers my entire back.

Somewhere, in the back of my mind, I’d wondered if this guy really was the Sea King or not—but with this simple gesture of consideration, and his royally large hands, I know he is telling the truth. “Thank you, King Celestial,” I say. He gives me a friendly smile, like that of an old man from my childhood neighborhood. “You are welcome,” he says, nodding.

“It would be easy to return you now to your home, but I wish to avoid frequent comings and goings of humans to my waters. Until your friends arrive here to meet you, I bid you to make your time down here pleasant and useful.”

“My friends?”

Is he talking about Nikeh, Benjamine, and the others? “S-Sir,” I stutter out of fear, “how might you know my friends are coming?”

“I know everything that has ever happened, or will ever happen, down here in the sea.”

My goodness. I’ve heard my share of rumors about the Sea King, but to think he can really know all that? He’s beyond anything a human is capable of. Not even Rockmann would be able to take him on.

I’m not the type to just sit here and wait patiently until my friends arrive, though. If possible, I’d like to escape all by myself. I don’t want to inconvenience anyone else. Well, perhaps trying to do everything myself is what’s causing everybody the inconvenience, I suppose. Still, while he did say they are coming (Now, or in the future? Was that a fact or a prophecy?), I’m not entirely sure he was telling—or knows—the truth.

“Wait for me. I will come for you.”

Goddess above. Does he really think that by saying something like that, I’m just going to believe him?

Well, I guess I am doing what he asked—waiting, here. After all, I’m not trying to do anything crazy to escape, right? But I’m not obeying his orders, or believing he’ll come through on his promise to me, or anything else. No way. I’m simply choosing to trust that what the Sea King says is true.

So that’s why I absolutely, absolutely did not need this, Rockmann. Why did you give me this ring anyway?

I take it off my ring finger and try it on my pinky. Too loose. I try putting it on my middle finger, my index finger, and my thumb, but it’s too small for any of them. I end up putting it back on the ring finger of my left hand.

“Ah,” the Sea King says, watching me fiddle with my ring. “That is a Dorseim Wisdom.”

“This ring?” I ask. He lifts up my hand to take a closer look. His grip is rather tight. What am I going to do if he breaks my arm?

A “Dorseim Wisdom” is a mysterious type of ring that comes from a country west of Doran. The rings can be used in hundreds of different ways, depending on what the wielder wishes to do with it. Stretch it vertically and it can turn into a bow capable of shooting arrows, throw it at a target and it can have all the force of a bullet, twist it sideways and it can be used as a rope. There are many such uses for the ring.

It is said that the Dorseim people who live to the west are the ones who made them. The Dorseim have pointed ears, are of small stature, and are highly intelligent. Or they were, until they all perished hundreds of years ago. Their creators gone, the rare Dorseim rings are purchased by the wealthy for large sums every time a new one is discovered somewhere.

Why would he have something like this?

I suppose he is a pampered rich guy, so it’s not too strange he would have one...but why would he give it to me?

“The Dorseim people wielded a special type of magic, different from that of you or I. I’m sure it will come in handy even down here in the sea.”

What in the world were you thinking, Rockmann? Pushing dangerously magical jewelry into my hand? Did you know?

Now that I think back on that moment, it was almost like he had given it to me instinctively. Perhaps he hadn’t thought about me using it down here in the Sea Kingdom—but that seems unlikely. I feel like I saw him use it in the battle on the beach. I pause, horrified as I realize something else. Am I now in his debt? Because he gave me this ring? Despite the pleasant warmth of the water around me, I shiver.

“Um, he mentioned ‘Nanyok’ earlier? What’s that?”

I ask the King about the curious creature that had captured me. I haven’t been able to get that thing out of my head ever since it traumatized me with that shockingly sudden kidnapping.

The Sea King smiles. “Ah! Nanyok. It is like a...custodian of the sea. A strange creature that eats all the filth and waste on the seafloor. It keeps my domain clean, every day, without fail.”

There’s one other thing I need to ask him about: the person who I was mistaken for. I ask him about her in an indirect fashion, so as not to come off as rude and nosy.

“I had a daughter,” he says, “but she left home a long time ago. I know she will never return. Nanyok, however, said he would go looking for her. Ever since then, he has been looking and looking. I told him ‘enough!’ many times, but he wouldn’t listen to me.”

“But don’t you want to see your daughter again?”

He strokes his white beard for a few moments before speaking. “A woman may choose to always be looking at a certain man, or, she may choose to never be looking at him. If you think about it, those are two sides of the same coin, differing in form but identical in motivation. Love is a mysterious thing, don’t you think?”

The Sea King smiles down at me, cheerful as can be.

The Sea King told me that I can go “tour the Land of the Sea” if I’d like, so that’s what I’m doing now—only, that fishperson is accompanying me, so I can’t relax and enjoy the sights.

“Don’t act so scared,” he says.

“What do you expect me to do? Shouldn’t I be scared when I’m with the fish that is my captor?”

Well, that’s what I say, at least, but I’m not actually scared of him. It’s just that now that I’m finally in the Land of the Sea, I’d really rather be by myself, going around and seeing everything at my own pace.

“You’ve got nothing to worry about. I won’t do anything to you. We can’t lie, you know.”

Now where have I heard that line before? Didn’t that huge monster that grabbed me off the beach also say something like, “I’m not lying,” or whatever?

“Lying and killing are forbidden inside the Sea Kingdom. Our magic isn’t like yours—you use incantations, but for us, every word we speak is magic. We have to take responsibility for everything we say.”

He goes on to explain further.

“You heard me talk back when I first came to get you from where you were sleeping, right? Our language is unique—it only has one sound in it. Somewhere along the line, back in our past, as we tried and tried to communicate with each other, our words came to possess magical power, all on their own. Of course, we don’t actually do magic unless we intend to, and thanks to the Sea King’s decree, no one can use magic to harm others inside the Kingdom. Still, our magic can still cause other effects, especially on ourselves. We can completely hypnotize ourselves, just by talking.”

“You hypnotize yourselves?”

“Yeah. Let me think of an example... Oh, here’s a good one: Let’s say I’m hungry, but I tell myself quite firmly that I’m not. My sense of hunger will quickly go away. Also, if I do something bad, but then I insist to myself, verbally, that I didn’t, then my memory of that action will disappear, and I’ll actually believe I haven’t done anything bad. That’s why it’s so dangerous for us to tell falsehoods—if we keep on lying to ourselves, we’ll lose our sense of self, our identity. We could also end up starving ourselves to death by endlessly distracting ourselves from our hunger.”

The world is much bigger than I know, with more types of magic in it than I could possibly imagine. I really don’t know very much at all, do I? I look down at my hands, unable to cast a single spell under the sea.

We’re swimming along at a quick pace, and I find something strange as I look around. I don’t see any other merpeople. There are fish and other animals all around us, but no people. Wait. I see something sticking out from behind a particularly large strand of seaweed. Isn’t that a merperson’s tail? I wonder... I look around at all the other strands of seaweed, and see tails sticking out from behind most of them.

Now I get it—I’m being avoided.

“Over there’s the underground shrine,” my captor says.

“Oooh, my mother would love that.”

We’ve arrived at a place where we can no longer see the palace and come across a lonely, ash-gray shrine. It’s—unsurprisingly—huge. It’s also built in a style much different from the shrines back in Doran, which gives it a different sort of ambiance.

“Am I allowed to go in there?”

“There’s no rule against it. Go in, if you want.”

“Alright then, I’ll just go take a peek inside, if you don’t mind,” I say, starting to swim over to the entrance.

Kick kick kick. Swish swish swish.

I don’t have a tail like the merpeople do, so obviously I’m slow in the water. I’ve also certainly never been underwater for this long, and for that matter, I don’t recall swimming that much at all. This might even be only my second or third time doing so. I flail around in the water, slowly but surely making forward progress. Swimming’s kinda fun!

I’m not a quick swimmer, though. I bet all the merpeople are scoffing at me from behind their seaweed strands: “Look at that laggard!” They must find it irritating to watch.

Apparently unable to bear how slow I’m going (even though I’m definitely not this slow on land), the fishperson, or I guess I should say “Prince Maiteiah,” grabs my hand and pulls me towards the shrine. His hand is covered in scales, firm, hard, but also a bit slimy.

He’s not grabbing me like he did when he dragged me from my room. No, this feels much different. Kind, even.

“Are you going to take me there?” I mumble, a bit taken aback.

“Yeah.”

Why’s he being so helpful all of a sudden? Suspicious...

I don’t try to struggle out of his grip. After stopping a moment right in front of the entrance, where he rolls his eyes around from side to side surveying the scene, he lets go of me before swimming inside the dim structure of the shrine. Naturally, I follow in after him, but there aren’t any lights about, so I have to squint in order to see. Prince Maiteiah must have noticed my squinting, because he suddenly murmurs to himself, “Let there be light.” Instantly, all around us shines light from the sun, drifting down through the water above us to fill the inside of the shrine with a bluish-white light.

So this is merpeople magic.

While I’m looking around, impressed by the sudden appearance of the light, the Prince himself is moving farther inside the shrine.

“What is this place?”

“Just what it looks like, a shrine.”

There are two stone altars rising high above us along the far wall. We’re underwater, though, so a little height isn’t going to prevent me from getting a closer look. As I swim up to them, however, I’m distracted by what I see on the wall behind them: writing, everywhere. But it’s not a type of writing I’ve seen before, so I understand none of it. Set into the center of the wall is what appears to be a large, glass marble.

“That sphere used to shine with bright white light, but ever since a certain day, it’s been nothing but an ordinary glass marble.”

“When did that happen?”

“Happened on the day my older sister disappeared.”

Prince Maiteiah gently touches the marble with his hands.

“My older sister would often spend all day in here. She was crying every time I saw her in here, too.”

“And why was that?”

“No idea.”

“Couldn’t you have just asked her why?”

“Who do you think you are?” The fish prince puts his hands on his hips as he turns around to me in a huff. “A real man is supposed to just leave a woman alone when she’s acting like that, right?”

“Well I can certainly see why your older sister ran away.” Not as if I’d ever say that out loud. He’s a prince, after all. I look away from him, back to the wall. I suppose it really doesn’t matter whether you’re on land or underwater—relationships between men and women are complicated. Or at least that’s how I understand his words, amateur in romance that I am.

“Were these characters created by people from the Sea Kingdom?”

“Who knows? They’re from a long, long time ago. Got no idea about them.”

This fish has “no idea” about quite a lot, doesn’t he?

“My older sister, though, she could read them.”

“She must have been quite diligent in her studies to be able to do so.”

“That’s why she ran away. She wanted to ‘know everything about the world,’ or something stupid like that. She wanted to learn more about the people and culture on the continents.”

“That’s—”

“I hate diligent people. Who needs to know all that stuff, anyway?”

Asking him anything else about his older sister seems like a bad idea.

I quietly distance myself from the Prince and try to get a feel for these mysterious characters written on the wall—literally. I place my hands against the ridges and furrows of the engraved characters, trying to commit them to memory. They haven’t got even the slightest bit of moss on them. Clean and sharp as the day they were engraved, most likely.

In our world (up above), ancient characters are more like pictures than letters; basically hieroglyphics. These characters, however, are all soft, loose rounded curves. It’s a bit difficult to describe them in words, but they’re certainly like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

Having seen enough, I exit the shrine.

“What kind of person is your mom?” the Prince asks me once I’m outside, his voice sounding unusually flat.

“Excuse me?”

Just when I thought I’d finally gotten away from him... Prince Maiteiah had followed me right out of the shrine. His big eyes, which look ready to leap out of their sockets, frighten me.

“You. Be my mate. Become the Princess of the Sea.”

“Huh? No, um, I’m just a human, you know.”

“There are a number of methods by which we might breed.”

“‘Breed’?! Who says I want to jump straight to ‘breeding’ with you?!”

The idea of becoming his mate is far too problematic for me to take remotely seriously. He’s completely got the wrong person! Has he lost his mind by asking me to breed with him?!

“No,” I say firmly, just to make sure I got the point across—but that’s when he clamps his fingers around my wrist and yanks me closer to his face. Whoa there, buddy. I’m not the type to just let you get on my nerves like that. As if a slimy git like you could hold onto me...!

I writhe my arm about, twisting it here, there—and then I get enough momentum to finally jerk it free. All thanks to my daily workouts, no doubt. I’ve got enough strength and endurance to fend off any man! If I didn’t, I’d never make it as an employee at Harré or ever have a prayer of beating that other bastard!

Don’t try to get in the way of my dreams, fishboy.

“All I want is to be a receptionist lady! It’s been my dream ever since I was a little kid and I’m not about to try being a princess or anything ridiculous like thaaaaAAAH!!”

Prince Maiteiah totally disregards every stubborn little thing I say, and this time he clamps on to both my arms.

“Owowowow! Hey, why aren’t you using any magic?!”

“I told you, didn’t I? We can’t use any magic that would harm another.”

“Not that! I’m talking about spells to make yourself stronger, or something—couldn’t you capture me real easy if you used magic like that?”

“I would be a fool to use magic like that when I am already prepared to claim you as my mate.”

“But here you are, forcing a lady to be your mate against her will—I think I’d have to call that foolish as well.”

Huh? Who just said that? ...It couldn’t have been—

Something zooms through the water at lightspeed, in between the Prince and me. Instead of sound, my face is bombarded by a shower of bubbles. Prince Maiteiah and I look at each other, both incredulous at this sudden interruption. Slowly, we both turn to look down in the direction of the projectile—and there, lodged deep into the sea floor, is a long, sharp spear.

“Huh. You dodged. Figures.”

Floating up and to my right, his arms crossed, is none other than Rockmann. His silky blond hair is waving in the water, and his glowing crimson eyes are stabbing daggers at the two of us.

I’m not dreaming or hallucinating right now, am I? When did he get there? It seems like he’s able to breathe...but how come I didn’t sense him there earlier?

Swimming behind him is a gigantic, mysterious creature. Unlike the monster that had dragged me off the beach, this one has the shape of a normal fish. What in the world is that? Also, did Rockmann really just imply that he was aiming to spear Prince Maiteiah just now? I haven’t felt safe since I came down here to the Sea Kingdom, but that spear almost killed me! What a bastard! It’s irritating to think that, once again, he’s rescuing me—but can you actually call that “rescuing”? Tossing around a spear, apparently indifferent to the fact that his weapon nearly stabbed right through me? Is he a total psycho?

“Hey! What were you planning on doing if that spear had hit me?!”

“Nothing. It would’ve been your fault for getting in the way.”

She says, he says.

Rockmann’s a perfectionist, though, so I can’t imagine he was intending to be so reckless. He’s a flawless marksman, but look what we have here—that spear was way off target. Maybe because we’re underwater, and he can’t use magic, he’s actually gotten a little...worse, weaker, as a fighter? I’m not sure if that’s good or bad in this situation... I breathe out a little sigh of relief.

It would have been awful to see this fishperson speared right before my eyes.

“Arrogant Human! Do not get in my way. What do you mean by bringing the Great Fish Hownyok before me?”

“Prince Maiteiah.” That’s the enormous fish speaking, thinking, singing? I’m not sure how to describe it. “Hownyok has come with this man. We are here to return that girl back to land. The Sea King knows and approves of our intentions, or he would not have let me enter the Land of the Sea.”

“Shut up!”

The monstrously large fish called “Hownyok” spins its great eyeballs around to stare at Rockmann. “You’re the one who needs to shut up,” he says. “I haven’t got all day. How ’bout you turn the runt over to me? Then we can both get on our way.”

“Don’t call me a freaking runt!”

“You need to shut up too,” Rockmann says, swimming smoothly to come right beside me.

That’s weird. I’ve never heard anything about him being good at swimming—have I lost out to him at that as well?

“Stand back, Human. I’m claiming this girl as my mate. Should you attempt to interfere, you must have a good reason for doing so—do you?”

“Well, she’s my little sister. If I don’t take her back home, our parents will be sad.”

“In that case, you have no authority to intervene here. You’re just her older brother—get lost.”

“What if I said she was my wife? Would you give up then?”

Rockmann lightly places an arm around my shoulder and pulls me close to him. What kind of crazy talk is this? Why’s he gotta claim me as his wife?

Ugh, hold on—he did just what he said, didn’t he? He came for me, as promised—but why? Grrr! This. Is. So. Frustrating!!

“If you’re gonna hesitate just because I’m saying she’s my wife, you might as well give up on making her your mate. You know she’s not the princess you’ve been looking for, anyway, so why not back off? I haven’t come here to harm you, after all.”

“Haven’t come here to harm him”? Didn’t you almost stab him through with a spear just moments ago?

“Who’re you calling ‘little sister’? ‘Wife’? If you’re gonna make something up, the least you could do is call me your ‘big sister’!”

Not only is he flat-out lying, he’s making me out to be his inferior! I’m not about to let him treat me like that, even if it’s just a fictional relationship! I do have standards, you know.

...On second thought, it’d still be creepy to have him call me his “big sister.” I can’t stand lying—but I know that lying’s the only thing that’s gonna get us out of this situation, and that while lying may be bad, telling a lie may be necessary to protect yourself, sometimes. So, it’s not like, so bad, right? I’m not too fussy about lying, am I? Whoa there, Nanalie, don’t get the wrong idea about yourself—you don’t have to berate yourself over telling a little fib now, do you?

Rockmann can obviously see how flustered I’m getting. He shakes his head, then says, “Stupidly stubborn to the very last, even when it comes to things like this. You really are an idiot, aren’t you?”

“Hey! Who asked you?! Why’re you here, anyway? How’d you get here?”

I fling Rockmann’s hand away from my shoulder and put some distance between us. I’m going to ignore the fact that he just called me an idiot.

The giant fish behind Rockmann opens its mouth wide, and out tumble my three friends, swimming over to me in a flurry the moment they see me.

Nikeh reaches me first. “Nanalie! Are you okay?!”

“Yergh! You got this gnarly slime all over you,” says Satanás, cringing away from me.

Benjamine sighs and pats my back. “She can breathe, though, so I’m sure she’s fine, right?”

“I ain’t seein’ a single one of those hot mermaids around! Where’d they all go?!”

“Naru, you’re the absolute worst.”

“Nanalie, I’m so glad thaaa—AH!”

My friends—they’ve all come to rescue me. I spread my arms wide and gather them up into a group hug. Not many people have friends who’d come searching for them down at the bottom of the ocean. When I first saw them come out of the fish’s mouth, I was worried about the dangers they may have faced in coming here, but now that they’re all in my arms, safe and sound, together—all I feel is happiness.

Behind them, I see Prince Zenon and Ms. Weldy have come out of the fish’s mouth as well. I race over to Ms. Weldy to try hugging her too, but she firmly refuses. “The only one who gets to hug me is Captain Alois!” She does allow me to shake her hand, though.

I really ought to thank her for tagging along with them. “Ms. Weldy, I—”

“What a load of fishshit! I found her, she’s my mate! I don’t care if she’s just a replacement for my older sister, no matter what, I will take this girl to be my—” Prince Maiteiah doesn’t seem like he’s going to give up on me that easily.

Benjamine watches as he throws his tantrum and gives me a look, saying, quite seriously, “You know, Nanalie, you’re kind of a weirdo—but you got all these guys falling head over heels for you. It’s impressive, honestly.”

I’m not sure if I want to entertain her opinion of me as a “weirdo,” but I can’t let this go. “He doesn’t like me, actually,” I say, “he’s just mistaken me for someone else. Apparently, the princess he’s looking for looks like me.”

“Ugh,” Benjamine mutters. “Men only care about looks, don’t they?” She scoffs at the Prince, leering at him as if he is some particularly pathetic creature.

“I can’t lose her again,” he says, panicking. “If you try to take her from me—I’ll use magic.”

Prince Maiteiah begins to recite a mer-spell, flapping his thick lips. Is he going to try to use attack magic on us? If so, we won’t stand a chance against him. None of us can use magic down here, not even Prince Zenon or Rockmann.

His fellow fish, Hownyok, appears to realize what’s about to happen, and starts swimming towards him.

But the very next instant—

“AH! What the hell’s going on! My magic—Father!”

All of us are bathed in white light.

Before I know it, I’m back inside Palace Oceanus, floating in front of the Sea King’s throne. I look up to see him sitting up there, just as he’d been doing a few hours ago.

“You’re a fool, Maiteiah.”

“Father, why! All I wanted—”

“Young Humans,” rumbles the King, “I ask you to forgive my son. He’s just a very lonely fish.”

All of my friends and I, along with Hownyok and Prince Maiteiah, are back inside the palace. This is only a guess, but I think the Sea King just teleported us all here.

Benjamine and Ms. Weldy both drop their jaws in surprise as they look around. I can’t say I don’t understand that reaction. The Sea King calls out to the Great Fish Hownyok floating behind us, saying calmly, “You are to take them all back to the Continent.”

Prince Maiteiah, on the other hand, is forced to remain silent by seaweed trapping every part of his body, including his big fat mouth.

“Nanalie,” Nikeh whispers, hiding behind me. “Is that...?”

“The Sea King,” I say, nodding.

She peeks out from behind my back to look up at him, eyes wide. “He’s so big!”

Well of course she’s shocked, just like I was. Not only is he huge, he’s half-fish, half-human. Meeting him is like seeing a human giant.

Satanás is distracted by the sight of all the pretty merladies floating in the court.

“Hurry up and get in Hownyok’s mouth,” Prince Zenon commands him, then he urges Nikeh and me to do the same. “Let’s go!”

I turn away from the Sea King—but I can’t help but think, All this trouble was caused by that fish monster Nanyok and Prince Maiteiah. The Sea King has been kind to me, allowed me to do what I want, and got me out of that slimy situation with the Prince trying to mate with me. Surely he deserves a proper goodbye.

I face the Sea King once more and give him a quick bow of thanks. Right as I’m about to jump inside Hownyok’s mouth, however, he speaks to me again.

“By the way, human girl,” he says to me. “Would you mind calling me ‘grandfather’?”

I stop moving and glance back to answer him. “Your Majesty...?” Why does he want me to do something like that? I’m in a rush to be gone, so I just do as he asks without thinking further.

“G-G-Goodbye, Grandfather! Farewell! Thank you very much for helping me!”

“‘Grandfather’?” Rockmann echoes me. He pauses for a moment outside Hownyok’s mouth, thinking. Then, he places one hand against his chest and bows deeply to the Sea King.

The Sea King laughs, and Rockmann rises to face me again.

“Give me your hand,” Rockmann says.

“Why?”

“Not that one—the other.”

He takes my left hand and slips the ring off my finger.

“Why’d you give that to me, anyway?”

“The ring? So I could know where you are, basically.”

“Really now... So you can use a Dorseim Wisdom like that as well, can you?”

“Huh. So you knew what this was all along?”

Can you really use these rings as locator beacons? It doesn’t seem like he knew whether or not it’d work underwater, though.

“Anyway,” he says, “I put that on you, just in case it might come in handy.”

Rockmann doesn’t know everything either, I suppose.

“You probably don’t know this,” I say, puffing out my chest in self-satisfied superiority, “but you can use Dorseim Wisdoms in the Land of the Sea.”

“...I kinda figured that out the moment I found you,” he says.

Oh, right. My sense of superiority bubbles right out of me in a disappointed sigh.

“Let’s just get going, shall we? Into the fish mouth now.”

I do as he instructs, sitting down in the fish’s mouth, behind the line of teeth. The inside of the big fish’s mouth doesn’t stink at all.

Once Hownyok closes its mouth, it of course gets dark inside, but Satanás is carrying a glowing orb in the palm of his hand, so I can see everyone else’s faces.

I also see the state he’s in. “Satanás,” I gasp, “what happened to your clothes?!”

“Oh, this? It was super gnarly.”

His clothes are ripped and torn all over the place. From what he tells me, they were all attacked by another gigantic creature on the way here. They’d all apparently been forced out of Hownyok’s mouth by the attack, and almost munched on by the attacking carnivore—but, mysteriously, Satanás was the only one the creature had attacked, leading to his clothes looking even more tattered than usual.

“Hey,” Rockmann says, turning to me, “that charm box didn’t work, did it?”

“Huh?”

“You opened the box, didn’t you?”

He’s sitting cross-legged, resting his chin on one hand. Hownyok’s mouth is full of seawater. Slowly, however, the water level inside is dropping, dropping, gone. My hair lies limp against my face and neck, dripping down my shoulders.

“I never opened that box,” I say.

“Hm?” Rockmann furrows his brow, looking like he can’t believe his ears. Does he have bad hearing, or something? Guess I’ll keep telling him until he gets it.

“Why would I open it? Our competition isn’t over yet. Even if it’s just a little charm box, I’m not about to let you off the hook that easily.” The image of that little green box, sitting on the ledge next to my window, comes to mind.

Right after we got our boxes, I do believe I got a little sharp with him. “I’m opening this box as soon as I get back to the dorm!” ...Didn’t he bait me into saying that, though?

Still, it makes sense that he would think I opened it after I’d so openly insisted I would. I’d certainly intended to open it when I said that...but while I may never, ever want to see him around town or anything like that, I feel...differently about the idea of never seeing him for the rest of my life.

If we really are never to meet again, I want to make sure I beat him at something—anything—before I think about opening that box.

“You really are a silly idiot, aren’t you?”

Rockmann lifts his chin off his hands and covers his mouth with one hand as he laughs. He’s not making fun of me, I don’t think—he actually thinks I’m just being silly. Probably.

After the whole affair of all seven of us piling inside a fish’s mouth, being carried across the sea, and putting up with being next to Rockmann for a good while, Hownyok spits us out onto a part of the beach somewhat removed from where I was dragged into the sea by the giant beast Nanyok. There’s a rocky outcropping that shields this part of the beach from the rest, and it’s completely empty of other people.

“Ouch!”

Hownyok isn’t exactly gentle in the manner she throws us up and out of her mouth (someone had informed me that she was a girl fish), right into the rock-ridden sand. We all came out of her mouth at once, so some of us have landed on top of others. Rockmann falls on top of me, and one of his knees crunches right into my ribs so hard, I feel as though I’m about to die.

Even if I had been wearing proper clothes to shield that part of my body, it would have hurt—but this swimsuit gives me no protection at all in that area! He hadn’t meant to bruise my rib cage, of course, so I don’t get too mad about it—but even so, I can’t help but think that whatever this bastard does, he’s always got some hidden motive for doing it, even when it looks like an “accident.” Especially then, perhaps. For good measure, I ball up my right hand into a fist and give his rib cage a good pummeling as well. Excellent. Now we’re even.

I untangle myself from him and stand up and look around for Hownyok—but she is nowhere to be seen. Gone, without a word. Did she go back home to the Sea Kingdom, or is she hiding nearby?

Rockmann’s standing on the rocks, hands on his hips, as he looks out at the sea. “You know you’ve got a good woman when she goes home that way, nice and quiet like.”

Ms. Weldy doesn’t like hearing this. Not one bit. “DOES YOUR LOVE OF ALL WOMEN EXTEND TO FEMALE FISH AS WELL?!” She’s pressing both of her hands against her cheeks like some famous painting, screaming at him. “You need to be more selective in your affections!”

Rockmann’s wearing a loose-collared, long-sleeved white jacket. It’s a commoner garment, but it suits him perfectly. As if to show off his long legs covered in black pants, he’s standing with one leg on the sand, another on a tall rock in front of him, leaning forward. Just looking at him pisses me off. Not that I’d be able to explain why.

Ms. Weldy, who’s standing to my left, continues to scold Rockmann. “I like you, Captain, but still, fish? Really?” I half listen to her as I watch the water. The back-and-forth sound of the waves breaking against the rocks is beautiful to hear.

The others had told me on the way back how the King of Seleina had lent them Hownyok. I wish I’d had the chance to tell her thank you. The King was so gracious to let us, foreigners, use her to get home. I, a commoner, can’t very well go and thank the King directly. I thought I might have been able to thank Hownyok, at least, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be.

After we walk over to the sandy part of the beach, Rockmann points up at the island floating in the sky, saying, “What’re you all going to do now? The three of us will be heading back up to Castle Seleina.”

The sky is bathed in the crimson glow of the sunset. Just a few moments ago, the sky was as blue as the water below it—but this new color creates a change of the scenery that’s actually quite lovely to look at. Some of my beloved bunny-birds are flying in the air above us. There are also some people walking along the beach right now, most of them couples, hand in hand. If Zozo was here, she’d no doubt be rolling her eyes at all these lovers being so publicly affectionate with each other.

It’s just starting to sink in that I’ve finally made it back from the Sea Kingdom. Glad to be back on land. I’d been interrogated quite thoroughly by the others about what I’d gone through in the Land of the Sea. It’d all been rather anticlimactic, to be honest—sure, I’d almost been hurt by Prince Maiteiah, but nothing else had happened. Just a little sightseeing, really.

I don’t think I’ll be able to forget how that fish prince had loved his older sister, and how he said I “looked like her”... Hold on, did he say how I looked like her? Did he say that at all? Or was it rather that I resembled her in some other way...?

If I truly did “look” like her, then asking a few questions of my parents and other relatives would likely solve the matter of whether I was, in fact, related to a mermaid princess. Could a mermaid really become a human, though? Sounds like that’s not possible, from what I know. I shake my head to rid myself of such thoughts. Whatever. All’s well that ends well, right?

I’m no longer upset about the whole kidnapping thing, despite how traumatic it’d been; Nikeh had surprised me with just how furious she’d been about it, and somehow seeing her get that angry about it had made me, for whatever reason, calm down. It’s times like these when I realize what good friends I have.

Satanás answers Rockmann’s question about our plans. “We got Nanalie back on land, right? We gotta see the sights a bit at least before we go home.”

“Sure you got time for that? It’s been two whole days since we stepped inside Hownyok’s mouth for the first time.”

“Huh?!”

“Just in case, I had Weldy here carry this—” Ms. Weldy pulls out an hourglass from one of her pockets. She holds it up so all of us can gather around to get a closer look. Inside the small, wood-framed hourglass, sand fills part of the top and bottom halves. If I look closely I can see that the sand in the upper half has fallen below the second line on the glass.

I and the other three vacationers who went on this trip are slack-jawed at the sight.

It took one day to get to the Land of the Sea, one day to return, for a total of two days since I was kidnapped. It hadn’t felt like that much time had passed while I was down there, but I suppose I’d been passed out for a full day before waking up.

“Everyone,” I sob, “I’m so sorry!” I fall down onto my hands and knees on the sand. “We came all this way, and the vacation we worked so hard to plan is now...” The cool breeze off the sea chills my bare skin. My wet hair is hanging together in a long, tangled clump. The light green traditional Seleinian garments I’m wearing feel cold. Despite the low price I bought it for, the soft, smooth fabric still clings tight, despite all the adventures I’ve put it through over the past two days.

We all complained about how hot we were upon arriving in Seleina. That seems like so long ago, now... It makes me feel nostalgic for that time, before I was attacked and dragged into the sea...

Benjamine kneels down to pat my back. “Nanalie, don’t worry about all that! What happened, happened. Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but we all got to experience something really unique, right? Plus, we even got to visit the Land of the Sea! I think we’ve had plenty enough fun.”

Her red hair looks resplendent in the light of the setting sun, making it look the same shade as the dusky skies above.

Nikeh nods. “That was the Sea King we saw, right? He was huge!”

Satanás scoffs at that, saying, “He was nothing compared to those hot merladies, yeah?”

I sniff and wipe away my tears. It’s nice of them to say all that, but—“We still haven’t done our souvenir shopping for the people back home, though...”

“Oh, yeah,” Benjamine says, wincing a bit at the thought. Nikeh and Satanás both seem like they’d forgotten the very same thing.

“Ms. Hel, a word, please.”

“What is it, Ms. Weldy?”

Ms. Weldy, who’s also wearing traditional Seleinian garments, grabs my arm and pulls me away from my three friends, her big, flashy bangles jangling with every step. Once we’re out of earshot of everyone else, she stops. The evening wind blows through her light brown hair, revealing glimpses of her small ears.

“Did you see anything down in the Land of the Sea that could have been a demon?”

“No, I saw nothing of the sort. Does this have to do with your investigation?”

“Well, yes, it is a part of it, I suppose. It’s fine if you didn’t see anything. Sorry for being weird about it.”

Ms. Weldy brushes a loose strand of hair behind her ear and looks out at the sea.

If I’m remembering this right, the whole reason for their investigation was to find where that demon had gone. Since Benjamine had also been inside Hownyok’s mouth on the way back, I hadn’t been able to ask them for any more details about their investigation, but it was definitely the Land of the Sea they had been trying to get into—until they’d run into the fact that they were unable to use magic there.

Without the kindness of King Seleina and Hownyok, they’d never have been able to visit the Land of the Sea.

“Also, this is just something King Seleina told the Captain and His Highness, but be sure not to tell others about our little trip to the Land of the Sea, alright? I told Brunel and the others not to talk either.”

“Understood,” I say, nodding. No good would come of blabbering on about that to everyone in Doran. I wonder, though—was that really the first time Rockmann and the Knights had been in the Land of the Sea? I’m not going to voice that question out loud. From what I gather from Ms. Weldy’s expression, it doesn’t look like they had much success in entering the Sea Kingdom on their own. Shame. They probably would have found out quite a lot had they been able to get in.

“For such a skinny girl, your belly does stick out quite a bit.”

“Owowowowouch!”

When did he get there?! At some point Rockmann had crept up behind me, and is now twisting the skin around my stomach. He’s not just twisting—he’s gonna rip my skin off! And he’s tugging right below where he kneed me in the ribs earlier!

Next to me, Ms. Weldy watches this, and her first reaction is to look down at her own stomach, hiding it with both hands, as if ashamed of something.

“Weldy, you’re different, not like this one. You’re so pretty, I want you to dress like that all the time.”

Ms. Weldy’s blushing all over at those words from Rockmann. “Goodness, Captain, really, whatever are we going to do with you?” She looks cute, getting all flustered like that, twisting and turning at the unexpected compliment.

Wait, did he just call me skinny? It’s not like I’m proud of it or anything, but I work pretty hard not to get all soft, you know? I exercise every day back at the dorms. “You freaking—”

“Nanalie, what happened to your shoes—or should I say, uh, ‘footwear’?”

“Oh, those! I think I left them over by the rocks.”

Nikeh’s pointing down at my feet. They’re completely bare. I’d felt my cloth sandals tugging against my feet every time a wave washed over them, so I’d taken them off for a moment—and it’s only here, back on the main part of the beach, that I realize that I’ve forgotten them back in that rocky area.

How stupid could I be? I should’ve realized I’d left them there from the feel of the sand against my feet.

“Later, girls. Take care of yourselves on the way home.”

“We will.”

“Thank you, Captain.”

While I was looking down at my feet, Rockmann had gone over to Nikeh and Benjamine. He’s giving the two of them nice, pretty cloaks to wear on the way home. Where’d he get those from? Pulled them out of thin air, maybe?

Ms. Weldy seems jealous of the attention he’s showing other women. She marches over to the three of them, saying, “Now don’t you two start getting the wrong idea about what’s happening here!”

Satanás walks up next to me, smiling bashfully and scratching the back of his neck. “That bastard’s always spoiling the girls, isn’t he?”

“You’re over here, asking me that like it’s the most natural thing for you to do—may I remind you that I am not a man? I am, in fact, one of those ‘girls’?”

“Oh, sorry. Just kinda slipped out, ’cuz, you know.”

I know? I know what, exactly?

Satanás has his arms folded, watching the three other women fawn over, giggle, and be upset by Rockmann’s antics. His clothes are still in complete tatters. Good grief, he hasn’t fixed them yet? He’s got a few, ah, revealing holes in his pants, so I cast a repair spell to seal them up, nice and clean.

All signs of wear and tear are gone in an instant. “Whoa, thanks!” he says, grinning.

I roll my eyes. It’s not like you couldn’t have done that yourself, dude. Does he not know when he should use magic? Or did he purposely leave those holes there?

“It’s kinda weird, though, don’t you think?”

“What is?”

“A cool guy like Rockmann’s being all nice to her and everything, but Benjamine likes me, yeah? What’s up with that?”

“Who knows? Benjamine’s one of the Seven Wondrous Mysteries of the world for liking you, in my opinion.”

Another one of those Mysteries is why she sleeps with such a damn hard pillow.

“You ever ask her why she likes you?”

Satanás practically jumps out of his skin as someone else joins our conversation.

“Ahh! The hell you doing, Noir? Creeping up on me like that...”

It’s Prince Zenon. He’s wearing the same low-collared, loose-fitting white shirt that Rockmann is, and it looks just as good on him. His legs are completely covered by his sturdy black pants, and he’s standing casually behind Satanás.

“It’s, just, whatever, man,” Satanás says, still on edge from the Prince’s sudden appearance. “I wonder though, you know? Like, if we were to get married, what life would, uh... Just forget I said anything, ’kay?”

“Did you just hear that word? I certainly did,” I say to Prince Zenon, covering my mouth with both hands, speaking in a stage whisper.

“I heard it too, for sure.” He’s got one hand over his mouth as well. His eyes are flashing with laughter as he watches Satanás begin to have a mini-meltdown as he realizes what he’s just said. “He’s finally able to admit it to himself,” the Prince says with a wry smile.

The two of them really are good friends, aren’t they?

“I-I-I like older women with massive breasts! That’s my thing! My first crush was on a neighborhood girl who had huge boobs!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. You know, my father once told me that when you really love someone, you say things like that, without even realizing it.”

“She’s right—the wet nurse who took care of me a long time ago said the same thing, Satanás.”

“Ah! You two, stahhhp!!”

Satanás keeps going on and on about how he likes this or that kind of woman, but frankly I don’t give a damn about his taste in women, so I just nod my head every so often, ignoring literally all of it. “Uh huh.” “Oh, sure.” “Definitely.” Time, however, is running out. “If we don’t hurry up and get to the shops,” I say, “it’ll be completely dark before we’re able to buy our souvenirs.” I stride over to Nikeh and Benjamine to get their attention. We agree to head into town right away.

The seven of us all gather together one more time. “Guess we’ll be on our way, then,” Rockmann says.

“Ms. Weldy, Prince Zenon,” I say to both of them as they turn to leave, “thank you so much for coming to rescue me.” I turn to walk towards the town with my three friends, and Rockmann begins walking with the other two back towards the castle—but I can’t bring myself to take more than a few steps before stopping. I can’t leave that unsaid. It’s too important. I whirl around shout at Rockmann from the top of my lungs:

“You just remember to be ready next time we meet! I will beat you!”

He stops and glances back at me over his shoulder. I hadn’t said his name, but apparently he’d known the words were meant for him.

“Remember? Remember what? I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget all that flab around your stomach.”

“Ahhh! You are the absolute worst, you know!” I can’t just let that go!

I stick my thumb in my mouth, bite down on it, and puff my cheeks out in frustration. He laughs once more.

Benjamine’s overheard some of our conversation. “If Nanalie’s belly is flabby, according to Rockmann,” she says, “then what in the world does he think about mine...?” She fidgets with her clothing as she looks down at herself.

“Don’t listen to them go at it!” Nikeh says, sighing. “It never stops, does it? Tit for tat, tit for tat, on and on...” She appears to be trying to get Satanás to agree with this, but he’s too busy pinching Benjamine’s belly to pay attention to anything she’s saying. Benjamine’s face goes beet-red. She’s pissed. Of course she would be. The hell is Satanás doing to her?

Rockmann calls out to me as I begin walking away from him again. “You done?”

Panicking, I say something so bizarre that not even I know what I mean: “I’m only going to say this once, so be sure to cover your freaking ears!”

“Don’t you mean he should ‘clear’ his ears?” says Nikeh, poking fun at me—but I’m not going to take back anything I say, not now, not ever, not even one word, so I take a deep breath and yell, with as blunt and flat a tone I can manage:

“THANK YOU!”

Whew. I hurriedly turn my back to him, having said my piece.

Nikeh’s eyes go wide. “Weeell now, isn’t this unusual? Minding your manners for once, are we?”

“From my point of view,” says Benjamine, “this is a big step for you, Nanalie! Nice work.”

“I dunno what you’re talking about,” I pout, blowing raspberries at them.

I’m an adult now, aren’t I? I have to at least say “please” and “thank you” when it’s socially required of me, right? I may have unintentionally gone further into this guy’s debt—two times this trip he did me favors—but he better watch out. I’ll clear that debt, AND beat him at something.

I don’t know when I’ll see him again—six months, a year, or two years from now—but I swear I will break those damnably long legs of his and sneer down at him as he squirms about on the ground.

Oh, hey, I just realized something about what I was thinking about, back at the Museum of Culture: the only person I can’t bear to “look down on me,” to condescend to me, is Rockmann.

I’m not sure I particularly like how he’s “special” to me in that way.

“Nanalie, do you really hate Rockmann?” Benjamine asks as we’re walking.

“‘Hate him’? Hmm, it’s more like I can’t stand him. He, though—he definitely hates me, right? I don’t even know if he thinks of me as human, come to think of it.”

“Has he ever said that he hates you?”

“Well, yeah, of co...”

“What’s the matter?”

“Of cou— Hm?”

I’m looking up at the sky, racking my brains. Benjamine edges her face a bit closer to mine as if she’s hanging on my every word.

Has he ever said that to me? Has he ever graced me with that magnificently unpleasant phrase, “I hate you?”

“Now that you mention it,” I say, “I can’t recall if he has or not. But, I’m sure, at least—”

My memory must be failing me, just this one time. If he really hasn’t ever said that to me...what have we been arguing, fighting, competing over, all this time?

“I hate you.”

I panic—just a little—at my inability to find those words anywhere in my memories.