After I settled our visitors in the fused-ship barge and made sure they had all the amenities they needed, including a new wardrobe for the Queen - I had hundreds of dresses stolen from noble ladies all over the world - I put myself to work hard.
But before that, a quick debriefing on the background of this whole debacle.
Kohlrabi was a small nation on the south edge of the Scorched Continent. Feeling greedy, the second prince decided to throw a coup and take over the throne with the support of the military and most of the nobility, leaving the Crown Prince stranded on a neighbor ally.
His first step was to steal the treasury and assassinate the pregnant Queen - not his mother, she'd died in childbirth. She survived the assassination attempt and fled the kingdom with her supporters. he used the opportunity to pin the blame on the theft on the Queen, which made the King take his own Royal guard and chase her to my doorstep.
That left him as the only Royal in the Kingdom, which he promptly planned to take over by presenting a fake body of his own father with forged jewelry during his coronation ceremony. With the nobility's support, he would disguise his "conquer" the Kingdom, a necessary step to make the System give him the title. Meanwhile, the First Prince would be left without support and an army to mount an offensive to retake his birthright.
What the treasonous prince didn't expect was that the King would die before he could cement his position and conduct his takeover. The System made the exiled Prince the new King and that exposed the second prince's ruse, ruining his plans of a covert takeover.
Now with enough leverage to get a few nobles and merchants to support him in exchange for promises of advantages when he retook his birthright, the First Prince was hiring mercenaries to invade and retake his own nation.
That's what Kazuyran's spy network reported to me. I wrote an answer thanking him for the intel and sent the {Messenger Bird} back.
Then I stretched my arms and legs. That had nothing to do with me as Shallot told me she was likely to be killed by either of her stepsons. If she wanted the throne for herself or her children, I would go there and knock some good sense into their thick and treacherous skulls, using a few {Force Javelin} as the messengers.]
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No. My work was here, and I needed to create an archipelago.
using the rubble from the destroyed cathedrals along with gigantic boulders carved from the mountains in the continent, I made the foundations for the new islands.
They had to be big enough to hold water tables inside of them, separated from the ocean. That would allow the ground to soak in the plentiful rainwater we had here in this tropical climate, and create springs and streams to nurture the vegetation.
I created four larger islands surrounding the atoll like the letter "C", making it impossible to reach the main island where the mermaids lived without braving open oceanic waters and the treacherous currents or going through them.
We trained a batch of new mermaids to become [Reef-Tenders] and grow coral on the banks near the islands. That would give us more places to farm fish and also would work as a natural barrier for ships, as they would crash into the reef if they rammed it. I made sure to make a breakwater with rocks in their path to protect the delicate coral.
Ships would need to navigate a mini-maze to reach the islands once I was done with the fortifications. For the larger vessels, mostly military, they would need to wait for the high tide to cross.
There would be no fairy ring in the new islands. Doing that would be a bad idea. That didn't mean the fairies couldn't physically cross the distance and visit the island. In fact, a year later when there was solid ground above the ocean, the dryads, spriggans, and naiads came to help grow the island proper. Vegetation and trees grew ten times as fast with the fairies' combined help.
Not all my time was dedicated to smashing mountains and ferry stones, however.
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I asked our guests to help educate the mermaids. Queen Shallot repaid the favor of blessing his kids by taking as her personal quest to educate Adyra to become a proper [Princess].
We hosted our festivals. Now with surface people attending thanks to {Mermaid's Kiss} some of the girls that went out to work as mercenaries had - it helped a lot with rescuing drowning people - the party producers put their best to impress the guests.
Stories from both ocean and continent were told back and forth. The girls at the academy learned to fight with Shallot's captain of the guard, a dour and dedicated fellow. Kendel taught them how to defend and use a shield. Useful even underwater although ours were a frame with a thick mesh of bone, to let the water flow across the gaps. Marlowe taught magic... I mean, {Wizardry}. I taught everything else, from music to gardening, diplomacy, alchemy, and yes, non-wizardly magic.
The girls were encouraged to attend class with a quest here and there. Quests like "Score perfect marks on Marlowe's Basic Magic Diagram tests". Or "have perfect attendance for two months". To these low-level calves, issuing these quests demanded no Exp to me. I could spend centuries giving quests without doing anything to gain Exp and I would still have more than I started with because of the tithes.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
I also taught some mermaids to become [Teachers]. They would educate the next generation of mermaids, born from the semen vials I had stored or through natural means - sometimes the sailors from merchant ships went off for a nightly adventure under the waves, if you know what I mean.
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Two years after the iceberg fight, the guests moved to the islands, some of them having difficulty finding their land legs again. A village was born. The merchants came and traded. The village became a city as some sailors decided to stay. Tourists of all things came, as well as scholars and sages who were interested in knowing more about the mermaids.
Kidnappers too. The crew of a merchant ship thought it would be profitable to abduct some mermaids to sell as slaves or playthings.
I only found out about the kidnapping when they were already back on the mainland. I was with mom and Adyra when we got the news.
"We must rescue them," Queen Eathelin said. "And make a show of punishing the perpetrators. If left alone, this will encourage others to come and kidnap more of our kind."
"Right. Retrieve kidnapped mermaids, make a show. Punishment, shock, and awe," I said. "Gotcha, mom. I'll be back in a..."
I stopped because Adyra was giving me the puppy eyes. Or the Flipper eyes, more like it.
"I want to go! Please, let me help!"
Adyra grew a lot in the two years since her activation. I checked her Status.
> [Princess] Adyra of Atlantis
>
> Level 37 Dolphin-Mermaid [Wizard]
>
> Strength: 10 - Dexterity: 15 - Endurance: 20
>
> Mind: 30 - Willpower: 35 - Charisma: 25
>
> Magic: 40
>
> HP 4.125
>
> MP 7.917
A respectable Status for someone her level. The Attributes were rounded to the nearest multiple of five because I still didn't have enough to get the full values but that was enough.
"I think controlled exposure to the surface level will do her good," mom said. "And you are more than capable of keeping her safe, aren't you, Arista?"
I uttered a wry chuckle. "Of course. In fact, I'll let her do it. I'll just observe. But first, I need to make her some gear."
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With the amount of Energy I could use in a single day, I could enchant a ton of stuff. I went to my house in the refuge, greeted Vesper, and locked myself in the workshop.
First, if she was a [Wizard], she would need a spellcasting focus. To boot, she had the four basic elements and wood as magical affinities. I took a metacarpus from the red dragon's front claw. The long and thin bone could make a good staff. If carrying a staff with more than two meters in length was any good. No.
The proximal phalanx of its smallest claw worked better. I ground the bone to a good thickness and polished the base. The joint with the metacarpus was already concave and would hold a focus gem nicely.
For the focus gem, I picked a diamond. Diamonds were expensive back on Earth because a company decided they should shut down production going as far as barricading mines, and then launched one of the most successful marketing campaigns ever. They were also pretty and reflected light very well, but other crystals could do that. But here in Yznarian, diamonds were valuable because they could have any elemental affinity.
Rubies, Sapphires, Emeralds, and Topaz were the go-to single-element for Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind, respectively. Light and Darkness used Onyx. After some thought added, around the diamond, one of each elemental affinity gem. The seven gems would catch some light from the diamond's base through strategic openings at the bottom of the setting to glow on their own.
Rummaging through my pilfered gemstone collection, I found a hundred-carat diamond. It had a rectangular cut and was ridiculously large. The damn rock was the width of three fingers. I shaped some gold to hold the diamond and drilled holes to hold the setting in place. A bit of molten gold to create a good weld, and then to carve runes along the polished bone to enchant.
> Dragon Princess Staff
>
> Estimated price: 150 kingmetal coins
>
> Grants +100% damage and effect with all elemental magic.
>
> Grants +50% duration to non-elemental magic
>
> Grants +20 to all spellcasting skills.
>
> Grants +20 to Staff Combat Skill.
>
> Stores 50,000 additional MP. Can only be charged by internal generation.
>
> Generates 30 MP/hour.
>
> Hovers in place if dropped or if the caster intentionally releases it.
>
> If stolen, issue a {Royal Geas} to have it returned to the rightful owner. Soul score of 70 to resist and determine effects. Uses MP instead of SP.
>
> Can shed light as a lantern from the diamond.
>
> Indestructible
>
> If used as a two-handed weapon, deals 3d8+16 base damage.
>
> Material: Dragon Bone, Gold, Gemstones.
>
> Able to soul-bond. Can only be transferred willingly and without threat.
I made a set of jewelry granting her ten to all Attributes and another ten Points to Mind, Willpower, and Magic. An enchanted wizard robe for protection completed her set. Adyra's robes were light gray and had five colored bands along the sleeves and the outer trim to denote her affinities. Marlowe insisted it was a tradition among [Wizards].
> Mermaid Princess' Robes
>
> Value: 45 Kingmetal Coins
>
> Reduces damage by 66%.
>
> Self-cleaning.
>
> Self-repairing
>
> Stores 1,000 MP. Can be charged by anyone willing to donate MP.
>
> Generates 2 MP/hour
>
> Creates a barrier of Force whenever the user is struck by a surprise attack. The barrier of Force costs 100 MP, lasts for 0.1 seconds, and reduces base damage by 40.
>
> Material: Living Silk, gold thread, platinum thread. Level: 0
>
> This item set will grow and level up as the wearer or creator gains Exp. It will acquire 1 Perk every 3 levels.
Finally, a set of underclothes, shirt, trousers, and petticoats, all made of living silk along with black dragon leather boots.
> Dragon Princess Boots
>
> Value: 15 Kingmetal Coins
>
> Increases land movement speed by 50%.
>
> Grants +20 to Dodge Skill
>
> Never slips or skids.
>
> Material: Dragon Leather, Living Silk. Level: 0
>
> This item set will grow and level up as the wearer or creator gains Exp. It will acquire 1 Perk every 3 levels.
I spent as much time fine-tuning the resonance as enchanting the pieces to put it well under her limit. It must be perfect. One problem of having one's limit of item attunement was that enemies could cause a resonance backlash by making you "wear" another faulty magical item. A common tactic was to throw a necklace over the head, as necklaces are "worn" as soon as they are resting against one's neck.
Another problem was that enchanted items don't shapeshift along with the wearer. If there was such an ability, it was beyond my currently available ones. That's why I didn't use enchanted items myself. Too bothersome.
Decked to the nines, and wearing a few King's ransom worth of gear, Adyra stood before us on the shore of the fairy island. "How do I look?"
"Wonderful, my daughter," Eathelin gushed.
The mermaids watching from the water also squealed and talked loudly among themselves. Adyra'd just launched a new fashion trend.
"Okay, okay. it is time to go, little [Princess]. Here is your transport," I said and shapeshifted into the Quetzalcoatlus around the harness.
Adyra took her seat and we launched her into her first adventure.