"Please, don't worry. You can just leave it to us Valkyrie and the adventure" [Mile]
"Other soldiers will help us to. For now, you have other important issue to solve, am I right" [Bladel]
"Captain Bladel, Mile... Right, thank you for letting me go!" [Elise]
After the fight and leaving the clean up to the other, Sis Diana, Sis Qis, Mother Aries, Elise, Kara and I went to the adventure guild office, searching for case files of the strange mermaid appearing all over Achalasia. After searching through multiple files, even going as far as referencing old literatures and start arranging it according to time of appearance, something conclusive can be drawn
"Their last appearance was approximately six years ago, shortly after the appearance of the devil" [Kara]
"True. And looking at the report made by Saint Louis that he shared with the adventure guild in the past, it seems he actually spotted the said mermaid together with bunch of fairies, searching for a blue hair girl" [Aries]
"May I know the date of the report" [Diana]
"Of course, it was just after your debutante party, and right before that incident happened. It was spotted in the country adjacent to the New Headquarters. Similar report by Sir Crow can also be found, where the mermaids are said to appear inside of Kiserre, although he didn't see the mermaid at all" [Aries]
"Still, a blue hair girl..." [Elise]
"Why me? It could be anyone... right?" [Charlotte]
While I do have this feeling that blue hair girl might be me, I can't make any logical reasoning as to why it is. My earliest collection of my memory, it was with them for a short period of time before being saved by Brother Ash. Other than that, I can't remember anything, not even my parents or any of my relatives. How I ended up in the slum with them is also a mystery for me
Right now, Elise is trying to piece all of the information she got, together with her impression she got for me based on her memory. With no other lead, we let her takes her sweet time
"Charlotte, you said that the water behemoth talk to you right? [Elise]
"That, it sure does, though Mother Aries can't heard a word that behemoth said" [Charlotte]
"Hmm, could it be possible, that this is your second time around, no, in actuality, who knows how many times you have communicate with a sea beast?" [Elise]
"Huh? I'm sure not" [Charlotte]
"Well, actually you might have. Whenever we went to the Rock and Sea dungeon six years ago, you always, ALWAYS, know where are the mermaids. Every single time" [Elise]
"Now that you mention it..." [Kara]
Really? Why can't I remember it then? Mermaid, mermaid. I think I did remember it, knowing rather instinctively where the mermaids are, but as far as communicating with the mermaids, I'm sure I haven't done anything like that before
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
"Then how would you explain it?" [Elise]
"Don't ask me that. I don't know!" [Charlotte]
"Still, I don't think it was a coincidence. Plus, you have a high water affinity to begin with, maybe right now on the level of Mahsuri, if not, slightly lower. And speaking of Mahsuri, you're looking like a younger teenage version of her, is there some sort of connection that we don't know yet?" [Kara]
"Water affinity. Mermaid. Rock and Sea dungeon... Hmm... I wonder, I once asked Ash about the mermaid kingdom..." [Diana]
It seems like Sis Diana intuition is coming into play. All of us are waiting for her say, if there is a better lead right now, it would be her instinct that have guides us all, after all this year
"Ash once said that his teacher mentioning about the existence of the Mermaid kingdom" [Diana]
"And who is this teacher of him?" [Aries]
"I don't know, he never mentioned it to any one of us, but, we all know who Ash really was" [Diana]
"You mean someone from the other world?" [Qis]
"Close. Someone who received the goddess blessing, and in fact, he is quite close with the goddess, though not as Rumia level" [Diana]
"I see. So if we take into account that the teacher Brother Ash mention is the Goddess herself..." [Kara]
"Then our next destination should be, the Mermaid kingdom!" [Charlotte]
The Mermaid kingdom! It's only a legend as far as I know, but to think that an unknown underwater kingdom inhibited by the mermaids do exist!
"Let's go go go!" [Charlotte]
"Thing is, even Ash himself didn't know the location of the kingdom" [Diana]
That's a bummer... Just when I was hoping to go to the mermaid kingdom, an obstacle presented himself and block all the paths. How bothersome
"Can't we search the Rock and Sea dungeon?" [Charlotte]
"That's impossible. You yourself know it. That dungeon has 50 floors, with each floor depths are unknown to us. Plus, the deeper you go into the ocean, the stronger the monster become!" [Qis]
True, that will be almost impossible. While going through floor to floor inside the dungeon might seems instantaneous thanks to the dungeon's own teleportation device, in reality, the dungeon sea floors are uncharted territory. I'm sure I don't even see the full list of monster spawning around the Rock and Sea dungeon, and might never will
"Can't we ask the holy beast of water, Ice Dragon Reshir, or Mahsuri for that matter? They will surely know something" [Aries]
"They might, but those two are rather tight lipped, plus, we don't even know how to meet with the Ice Dragon without the help of Yuki-ona. Still, ghere isn't a reason not to ask them though. If they ignore us like they usually does, we just have to think of an alternative" [Diana]
True. There isn't a reason not to ask, other than the fact that God know how many times Mahsuri didn't bother telling us. She might be generous enough on her training, but when it comes to this kind of matter, she's awfully quiet