When we swam back to the wreckage of Queen Monika's Vengeance, the thousand-ish fish mermaids were all assembled near the giant squid. Leviathan's avatar was swimming sedately near his sister.
One of the mermaids detached herself from the group and swam our way.
"Hey, where do you think you are going, prisoner!" Medaya's haughty tone made me clench my hands. The desire to turn her into a pincushion of {Force javelins} was great but I held back. That wasn't me. Arista was no murderer.
Medaya's fishtail started blue-gray at the waist and became a deep crimson less than a handspan below. She had two long fins running in front and the back all along the tail with black stripes. The fins had some scratches and were broken in some parts, clearly lasting damage from a lifetime of fighting. Her caudal fin was in the shape of a butterfly's wings, also sporting large tears.
She caught me staring at her. "Like what you see, girl?" She flicked her tail provocatively. "Much better than the drab grays of you dolphins... hey, didn't I kill you?"
I raised an eyebrow, "Apparently, not."
She swam around me and I turned in place, facing her. "I did one point two million damage. How did you survive?"
"I'm really hard to kill. But why the surprise? Didn't you notice there was no Exp message?"
She scoffed. "Killing unawakened children doesn't give Exp."
I clenched my fists. She said that too casually as if it was something commonplace for her. I repeated as if it was a mantra, "Do not murder her. Do not murder her. Do not murder her. Do not murder her."
She overheard my mumblings and cackled, "Do you think you can kill me?"
That's it. I summoned a mace to my hand. "{Champion's Duel}. {Force Binding}. {Shadow Warp} {Flash Step}."
> You bludgeoned [Deep-Sea Raider] for (...) <---- It would be a new world record for a melee attack. I didn't care and just converted it into unconsciousness.
>
> [Deep Sea Raider] will be unconscious for 22 hours.
What the other mermaids saw was that I vanished and reappeared behind Medaya. She fell limp and I grabbed her by the waist, returning the mace to my item box. Some fish mermaids started to swim my way but Kraken moved a tentacle in front of them. Still not a murderer. Calm down, Arista. Do not murder the lot of them. Even though they sent your sisters to feed the zombie worms.
I rolled my eyes at the fairy. It's been some time since Nenandil gave in to those sadistic impulses of her.
Mom was surprised by my attack, "She's... Arista, what did you do?"
"I tried to tell you. I'm the one the elves call 'Old Soul', mom. I'm someone that has lived in this world several times. And I keep... most of my power from one life to the next."
"I see," She nodded, accepting my explanation without question. "You'll tell me all about it later."
"It's a promise, mom. And a Quest for you. Repeatable. Listen to the story of each one of my lives."
She froze for a moment, "How do you do that? {Royal Order}?!?" She stared at me with amazing glittering emerald eyes.
I kissed her forehead, "Mom, I've been a Queen once. And a King too."
She laughed. "A King?"
I grabbed the unconscious floating child-murderer and thought about my options. I wanted nothing more than vanish. Take my mother and Nenandil away from this reef, away from this conflict. Leave the mermaids to their own devices, worshipping their uncaring gods. Or I could take the reins and dominate the reef. Rule over the mermaids. Become a Queen again.
Fuck them. I sacrificed myself enough. This time, I was going to live for myself.
I turned to the only mermaid that mattered to me. "Mom, do you want to stay in the reef?"
My sudden question startled her. "What do you mean?"
"Why don't we go out on a trip? The conflict is over. We could see the world, swim the seas, explore everything? Meet new people or just get away from this mess."
"Arista. I understand your wanderlust. But the reef is our home. We can't leave and let our sisters to their own luck. Come, let's see what Lord Herald has to say."
As we swam to the gathering point above the wreckage, Nenandil sent me a message,
I did exactly that. We swam to the gathering, staying behind the two demigod avatars.
Leviathan and Kraken were talking to the fish mermaids. These two were basically big children playing with their toys. They were immature and cared as much for the mermaids' lives as a kid with a magnifying glass cared for ants. Even though they caused thousands of deaths, killing them would get me nothing but the enmity of their mother, the Goddess Meheia. And these two were just avatars of the real demigods.
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"During these trying times, we needed to cull the weak among you," Kraken lied like a presidential candidate. "Now, we need to join forces and rebuild our reef."
"For that, we are integrating both tribes. You are all reborn now. We will no longer separate between dolphins and fish mermaids," Leviathan added.
That could only end badly. People couldn't let go of their grudges like that. But that was the best path to avoid further bloodshed.
I was the target of more than a hundred glares from the fish-mermaids. Or maybe they were looking at the unconscious Medaya in my arms.
"To that effect, we are electing the strongest one among you to lead the mermaids ob both tribes. A [Mermaid Queen]," Kraken continued.
No, no, no, no. I placed another {Death Contract} on the cephalopod's gigantic brain to see if the message went through. It turned around and eyed me.
The squid... chuckled? The two demigods turned around and faced us. "Eathelin, the [Reef Huntress]. Would you become the [Mermaid Queen]?"
"Hey, why does the dolphin prisoner--"
**CRACK**
It happened awfully fast. One of Kraken's tentacles shot, wrapped around the mermaid that asked that and squished her skull as if it was a grape.
"Does anyone objects to our decision?" Leviathan growled. "Eathelin, my child. Would you become the {Queen}?"
I looked at my mother and mouthed "NO". She smiled and nodded. Then she bowed. "I'd be honored, our Lord Herald."
> By your birthright and with both Leviathan and Kraken's blessings, you were granted the Perk: Merfolk Royalty (very rare): You are part of the merfolk royalty. Your resource regeneration doubles when underwater. All merfolk and aquatic creatures' reactions shift one step in your favor. You gain 1 HP and 1 MP per level.
>
> You already have the Perk {Royalty}. Selecting a random aternative of the same family.
>
> You gained the Perk: Royal Privilege (very rare): When you made your Royal status clear, you are exempted of punishment for low justice crimes and can expect no more than some fine for middle justice crimes, regardless of jurisdiction.
>
> You already have the title {Princess}. There are no alternatives to bestow.
Damn, just what the doctor prescribed. I appraised my mom.
> {Queen}
>
> [Royal Reef Huntress]
>
> Level 59 dolphin-mermaid female.
>
> Dexterity ~60
And somehow they slapped a "Royal" in front of her Class. I let out the longest non-gormandizing groan ever uttered. Nenandil's belly was bobbing up and down and she had a redcap's grin plastered in her face. Guess she was finding it funny.
"Arista," mom called. She had the most beautiful smile, proud. The battered prisoner was no more. "No, Princess Arista,"
For her, I'd play along. I bowed, "Your Majesty?"
"Help me revive the reef."
I looked at her. "Okay, mom. From a former queen to another, here's a quest for you. First, you need to order me as you mean it. Like your every whim is an undeniable truth."
I activated teaching and went through some interactions.
"I gained a Skill!" She gushed. "I learned {Royal Order}! But I got no Exp this time."
I expected that. You can't use {Royal Order} on other royals, including the quest-giving aspect. Sorry, mom, I'll have to twink you the hard way. Pushing my thoughts aside, I grinned. "Excellent. Now, practice it as your life depends on it. Start making everything you say a {Royal Order}."
She acted haughtily, "Arista, revive the reef... Oh. It doesn't work on other royals."
"Second lesson. Learn the limits of your Skill, mom. But your wish is my command. First, let's pacify the mermaids."
We swam to the crowd of fish-mermaids. Their tails were... exotic. I couldn't find two of them with the same tails. Most of them resembled exotic ornamental tropical fish but there were always differences. Diaphanous fins, colorful fins, patterns, it was like the most exotic aquarium ever. No cartilaginous fish either. There wasn't a shark-mermaid as far as I knew. Even if it was, the rear part of a shark didn't seem so impressive. Maybe a hidden rank-up somewhere. As with the dolphin side, clothing was a bygone idea. They were chattering among themselves.
"Silence!" Kraken warbled. "Your Queen speaks."
I was amazed they'd sponsored our species. To have a racial royalty perk the species had to have supernatural sponsorship. At the level of a god or the five elder fairies, for example. Or two demigods, it seems.
As an improvised speech, mom nailed it. She spoke of the hardships all the reef suffered and how many lives were lost. Everything was fine until one jealous bitch rattled her jawbones the wrong way.
"Why does SHE gets to be queen?"
I raised my voice. "Because of the Heralds and I decided so. And if you want to be Queen, all you have to do is to defeat me. Medaya already failed. Who's next?"
Time to bully some spunky girls. The speaker raised her spear. I was behind her, bashing her to lights-out-land and transforming into my ice elemental form. Then the mermaids fell on me like a school of piranas.
I activated the Manastorm marking my mother as a friendly, ice aura, and {Wail of the Banshee}. The sudden drop in both temperature and HP made a few of them withdraw once their stun wore off. I turned off the Manastorm but kept the ice aura. The rest of the mermaids fled, shivering.
I touched the one I'd knocked unconscious next to me and she was so cold I had to seek a heartbeat to confirm she wasn't dead. Then I understood why the fishes lived on the warm side. They had poor body temperature control!
I had a few good reasons to beat the crap out of these mermaids, in order of least important to the most. First, they're annoying to the point of being obnoxious. Second, they stole my food. Third, they made Nenandil give them food. Fourth, I got half-Exp from knocking them out. It only happens when there's real killing intent on the other party. Which means they were trying to kill me. I needed some more Exp so I could bribe them all into submission. Fifth, they kidnapped my mother and attempted to drown her by not making part of her cage stay above the waves. Finally, sixth, they murdered hundreds of the dolphin mermaids.
Interestingly enough, my ice body or ice aura didn't freeze the saltwater around me.
"Anyone else wants a go with me?" I hissed at the ring of frightened fish-women around me. "Good. That's why she gets to be queen. And I, your princess. Now, {KNEEL}."
> Contested Charisma test passed.
But they didn't kneel. Seeing their confused looks, I flicked my tail and slapped my forehead with the bottom of my palm. It was anatomically impossible for a mermaid to kneel. Or sit. No, there were two that obeyed. They were on the bottom, kneeling with their shapeshifted legs. Good to know.
"I mean, {BOW} before your Queen!" Yeah, better now.
"And pledge your alliance to the Queen before us," the squid-Herald added, "Or be my food. I quite need a snack," she said and finished with a gormandizing groan.
I glowered with icy eyes toward the Kraken. She stood nonplussed and didn't withdraw her threat.
The mermaids, afraid of their (demi) deity, started a long procession of bowing and pledging. I placed a nonlethal geas on them so their pledges actually meant what their mouth said and some mermaids got hit by the no-longer-massive damage for a while until they submitted.
Meanwhile, I selected my Profession's abilities. My proficiency with [Diplomat] increased past 120 and I could pick a third ability.
> Mostly Harmless: Ignores (Proficiency/30) negative stages. <---- To offset the negative from God-Slayer and others.
>
> Strongarm Negotiations: After you prove to the target that a violent altercation will end up with their loss, you gain a tenth of your Proficiency as a bonus to negotiate. The target's reaction is lowered by one stage for half the duration of the deal.
>
> Diplomatic Retreat: If negotiations break into violence, add a tenth of your Proficiency to resistance tests and the score of all furtivity and evasion Skills for the duration of the encounter.
>
> Spell-Singer: For every 30 Proficiency, add 5% to the effect of your musical magic if you use your voice as a component.