I was correct. The lagoon had schools of little mermaid babies swimming around. Pods too but Queen Eathelin and I did our utmost to stop them from segregating. The crystal-clear scales of the tiny fish-mermaids glistened under the sun whenever it was out. A thousand of the tiny brats frolicking and playing hide-and-seek in the coral. Along with some fairies, that for some reason love children.

Differently from humans, mermaids were born mobile. They could swim from day zero. Things like cribs or playpens were just curiosities if they existed, which they didn't. I reached out and blessed them with the Fairy Goddaughter Perk only, which at that tender age cost me just an expenditure of Energy instead of a permanent decrease. I did lose thirty-five thousand when I granted perks to Callisto, but that was a necessary investment. We were now even.

Speaking of the noble lady turned [Queen] demoted back to [Princess], she was loving her new life. She eschewed the heavy court dresses and took to the life of a mermaid-like a fish took to the water. I think with all the nude chests we have around here, she lost that prudish shame that made her keep hers covered. The utter lack of males also helped.

In the months after I purged Virturia, news of the double defeat in naval battles spread like wildfire. The pirate captains lost their station when the King and his backers vanished in a week and were left without ship, crew, or their knighthood. The mermaid territory was regarded as cursed and ships did their best to avoid coming near.

That arrangement suited me just fine. The merchants I made deals with during my stay there would come around bringing trade goods in the next months. And it wasn't like I couldn't just go and purchase the things we needed. With their own coin, to be ironic.

Virturia was a rich country. Was being the keyword. Not only because it changed its name but due to a certain roguish character looting the nobles and the Royal coffers. I left a good sum back as I purchased food, grain, meat, fruit, and vegetables around the city to replenish what the mermaids ate during Eathelin's imprisonment but that sum was a drop in the ocean.

One curiosity was that the wealth was well-distributed. At first, I expected the Royal family to have the lion's share of the gold, but that wasn't true. Diabolism was an expensive hobby. Not only they needed to bribe all around for secrecy but also reagents, cores, and slaves to sacrifice. They weren't official slaves. Maybe hostages was a better term. They bought children from impoverished families that had too many and used them for their own wicked ends.

But regarding my sister, we arrived too late. No wonder there. The births were too close together.

The little calf was a spritzy one. It darted and shot around without remaining quiet for a moment. Her first interaction with mom was an accidental tail slap to her face because the tyke couldn't stay still.

"I'm sorry, mom."

"It's fine. You can bet I will be there for the birth of your daughters, though," she said while pretending to not be hurt. "But I forgive you. You were busy doing your divine-appointed job. The Heralds told me."

That's me. Yznarian's night cleaner. A dimensional janitor. I remembered an Atari game where you'd drop pots at spiders climbing up a building.

"Yes, but please don't mention it near Callisto. Her father and I decided to keep her ignorant."

"Anyway, this is Adyra, your sister," She said raising the little flake of starlight my way. I picked her up.

"Hello, Princess Adyra! I'm Arista, your older sister!"

Adyra squealed and pinched my cheek. Thankfully she wasn't strong enough to bruise my delicate skin.

"Right," Eathelin nodded but I could tell she was hurt because I wasn't there for her. "Go play with your sister. I must rest."

"Yes, Your Majesty," my use of the honorific was a blunder. It alienated her just a tiny bit.

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I was out in the lagoon, playing with the pod of mermaids. They would try to catch me while I shapeshifted into various aquatic animals or even turned into a water elemental to escape. Some sylphs, undines, and even a few dryads that took over water plants also played with us. The other fairy species didn't adapt very well to an underwater environment.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"You know, Arista, you should summon mom and the elders to bless your sister. I am sure they would be thrilled to bless the new princess," Nenandil suggested.

"Okay," I looked around. All eyes were on me. "Just to make sure, is there any witch, sorceress, squid-lady, or recluse mysterious dark fairy that I should invite and not forget?"

"You're rambling nonsense again," Nenandil warned me.

I summoned my Godmothers. It took about ten minutes for them to appear. Brenna didn't come as we were underwater.

"Ah!" Nephele squealed. "What adorable little critters we have here!"

Fairies loved children. At least none were abducted.

"Do you want us to bless these children?" Daphne, the elder dryad asked.

"I'm being selfish, but I originally intended to ask it for my sister," I said as I tried to catch the slippery gray-tailed girl.

"I'll be honest as well since you were so candid," she replied. "Your blood has taken on an exquisite aspect. I would very much like to taste it."

Dryads were carnal creatures. The tales of them luring men and mating with them were true, and so were the ones where the men became fertilizer after mating.

"I don't have five years to spare," I replied. "What is your offer?"

Doris swam next to us. Gawking at the water fairy, I finally caught the little brat.

"We wish for some of your MP and blood for Daphne's plants. And no, we don't have a debt in the tens of millions this time."

"I have tens of millions to spare, though," I said with feigned pride. "Is thirty million enough for you?"

Doris froze in surprise. "Such growth. Daphne, how much blood do you want?"

"Ten gallons."

I did some math. At one milliliter per second, that was almost a gallon per hour. Combined with my own regeneration, I could get it done in just a few hours. Of course, I wouldn't let the greedy dryad get her way.

"Two. I am offering you enough MP already."

"Eight. You are asking us to bless thousands of mermaids."

"Three. I still have nightmares of when you trapped me for five years while you engorged yourself. You broke our agreement back then."

"Five, and I'll get Brenna to create a separate dimension inside a tree hollow, just like she has in her glade."

"Five, and you'll do it twice. Once here, once in a special tree, you are going to plant for me in a special place."

"Six."

"Seven and you give me {Path Fusion III}."

"Eight gallons of blood and as much MP you generate while we take the blood."

I grinned, "We got a deal." That truesilver blood must be really sweet. To me, it tastes like normal blood.

We went to the island and I had the [Archmages] give me some privacy. I also tuned my Pain Resistance Skill to the maximum.

Eight gallons of blood would take a bit under six hours with Pandora in her Truesilver Blood aspect. I usually kept the little wisp invisible in her inert and aspect-less form. Once I activated its {Truesilver Blood} aspect, however, things went crazy.

"What is this?" Nephele asked. "A soul? Yes, but what a special soul!"

"It's called a [Wisp of Creation] if you bothered to appraise it," the level-headed Earth elder spriggan Daphne said.

"What a find!" Doris cheered. "Where did you get it? It looks so pure! And I think I feel a dash of divinity from it. It is the first truly indestructible thing I've ever seen."

I took the sphere-of-blood wisp from them, "Look, ladies. Keep it in your panties. Let's do it before I change my mind."

It wasn't nice but I've been through worse.

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The elder fairies delivered on their promise. They created a separate copy of the island in a pocket dimension that was accessible through a hole in a tree trunk near the middle of the forest. They also put a confusing enchantment over the fairy ring. Any mortal that wasn't part of the Atlantean Royal Family or didn't have a fairy godmother would get lost and wander around the shores, never getting too deep in the forest.

> You gained the Perk: Path Fusion III (ultra-rare): You can fuse up to four paths into one. Rarity of the fused path is based on the lowest rarity and increased by three steps. Traits above the limit of the new rarity must be dropped.

Before they delivered the second part of our deal, I had to get a special ingredient. I needed to go to Fulgen. With the fusion of MP and SP into Energy, the distance I could reach increased a lot. I could now use the fairy rings to cross over eighty-eight hundred kilometers or a bit shy of seven thousand miles. That was enough to cross the continents in the spots where they were closer to one another.

Since I was going to Fulgen, there was only one shape I could use. I would like to see the faces the elves would do.

I had to stop and rest for a day before I could do it again because the long jumps drained my whole Energy pool. I had to find a way to make fairy circles underwater if I were to cross the oceans expeditiously.

I landed on the small fairy circle outside the elven capital. A squad of guards hailed me.

"Who are you?"

I raised a hand to signal them to wait and took a deep breath. Burning that much Energy at once was mentally draining. Once I caught my bearings, I lowered my hood and removed the silk binding my hair. The light pink curls fell down my shoulders.

"Don't you know who I am, child?" I asked the guard. He looked young for an elf.

Pink hair on an elf's hair, if real and coupled with the right Title, could only mean the person was the real deal. The guard {Appraised} me.

"Your High..." He choked on his own words and gasped. "Your Majesty?"

"It IS her!" The other guard said. He knelt at once. "My life for Aiur!"

The other guards were quick to follow him. "Arise, defenders of Fulgen. Send word to my daughter. I have returned."

I could've sent a {Messenger Bird} but what's the fun in that?