Mnnnn!! These cookies are so good!!

They're not the best, but it does have a unique flavour to it! It's a nice blend of saltiness and sweetness which might sound a little weird but for some reason, it actually tastes good!

"Oh my~ You really like my cookies it seems~" The mermaid that offered me the cookies giggled. "Don't be shy! There's still more where that came from! Help yourself!"

I let out a squeal of happiness as even more cookies were offered to me and I quickly went ahead to start munching on them and enjoying the sense of euphoria it gave me.

"Isn't this great, Delmare? You always complained that we never eat your cookies~" Another mermaid giggled while her tail made small splashes in the water.

The mermaid, whom I now know as Delmare, rolled her eyes at the other girl, "Please, Diona, all of you just don't appreciate sweet stuff enough. How can my cookies be 'too sweet' all the time? I even had to add so much salt to it before any of you would eat it and I need to make a separate sweeter batch for myself!"

"Bleh, you just make them too sweet for anyone's taste."

Emilia cleared her throat to get their attention though I was still preoccupied with stuffing my mouth with those wonderful cookies.

"Apologies for my doubts, but are you sure that the monster in the tunnels won't come here?"

Another mermaid spoke up, "You don't need to worry. It seems like the monster is repulsed by our singing for some reason, so we are completely safe here."

Odeta tilted her head, "Eh? Why would it be? I thought that monster was attracted to sound?"

The same mermaid shrugged, "We don't know why either. In fact, we didn't even know there was a monster in the tunnel until the last group of people came here and told us about it. They were the ones who came up with the theory that the monster was avoiding our singing."

Emilia nodded, "I see… And you're unable to confirm the real reason why because you don't go to the tunnels anyway… Ah! I apologise for the late introduction, my name is Emilia and it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Odeta placed her hands on her hips and thrusted her chest out proudly, "I'm Odeta! Nice to meet'cha!"

There was silence for a while and I paused in licking my fingers of the cookie crumbs to look up to wonder what was going on, only to see everyone staring at me.

"Is there something on my face?" I asked.

Emilia coughed, "Ahem… The wonderful lady over there is Aster."

I gasped, "Oh! Hello! I'm Aster! Thanks for the cookies! They're all really delicious!!"

The cookies mermaid let out a soft squeal, "Ahhh! Finally someone who appreciates my sweet cookies! See? It's you guys who have weird tastes!"

The others ignored her while the one on the far left straightened herself to incline her head slightly towards us.

"It's very nice to meet you all. You can call me Cherith. I am the eldest here of this little group."

She had this very mature aura about her and she definitely looked like the big sister type, especially with that long hair that partially curled in front to cover part of her face.

The one right beside her also followed her example of inclining her head and I had trouble looking elsewhere since there were two really huge things hanging on her chest. Like seriously… I think those were at least half the size of my head…

"Good day to you all as well~ I'm Allure~"

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Oh, she's definitely alluring alright.

Ok, I'll stop…

The mermaid on her left was busy fidgeting nervously and had to be nudged by Allure to recover from her stupor.

"Oh! I'm sorry! Umm… I'm Ephyra! It's very nice to meet you! Umm… Is that alright?"

The others assured her that it was. I guess she's a shy one?

The next mermaid made a splash with her tail and giggled, her twintails shaking with her laughter, "Ehehe~ I'm Diona! That cookie loving dolt over there is Delmare, don't mix us up, ok?"

Delmare, the only one with her hair done up in an intricate bun, turned and puffed her cheeks at Diona, "How could you! You didn't let me introduce myself!"

Diona stuck her tongue out at her, "Bleh, isn't it all the same anyway? Now we can just get to the fun part! Tell us about the outside!"

Odeta, Emilia and I looked at each other before turning back to them.

"What do you mean by the outside?" Emilia asked.

Diona rolled her eyes, "The life outside of this island, duh! We've never been outside before!"

I tilted my head, "Didn't you say the waters here were connected to the sea? You can swim out whenever you want, right?"

Cherith sighed, "That may be true, Miss Aster, but the waters out there are much more dangerous than here… And we were told that there was an especially monstrous creature guarding the waters outside this island that would eat us the moment we tried to do so. That's why it's already a miracle you managed to get here safe and sound."

Well… We definitely did not meet any sea monsters out there so I guess it was asleep? Also… That Sariena willingly swam here with us as well, did she know about the monster too?

That meant that she might have been planning to dump us the moment the monster showed up and flee while we were occupied with it… Truly a devious mermaid…

Emilia turned to me, "Umm… What should we say?"

I shrugged, "I don't know? Shouldn't you be the one talking? You're the captain of a trade ship that has been all over the World."

The five mermaids gasped in surprise.

"Oh my… You're the captain of a ship? I thought the captain usually goes down with the ship?" Diona asked.

The Nekomata scratched her head, "Ah… We're not exactly shipwrecked, you see… More like we fell overboard. My ship should be looking for us right now actually."

Ephyra gasped, "Oh!! A real ship! Do you… Do you think we can see it?"

Allure giggled, her assets shaking noticeably with that action, "It would certainly be the first ship we've seen~ That would be really nice~"

Diona grinned, "That means there'll be more people right? Heh~ That's fun~"

"Do you think they'll have cookies too? I want to learn more cookie recipes!" Delmare cheered excitedly.

Cherith wasn't as thrilled as the other girls however and looked at us with concern, "But… The monster might attack your ship as well… This isn't good! We need to tell your ship to stay away from this island!"

Emilia thumped her chest proudly, "It's fine! My ship is the best in the entire World. It's faced against the biggest of monsters and lived to tell the tale. Who knows, we might even be able to slay this monster of yours!"

Well… Looks like her ship is a point of pride for her which is why she isn't trying to hide its capabilities.

Ephyra looked to the others excitedly, "Does this mean we would finally get to explore the waters outside of this island?! Oh, please tell me yes!"

The other mermaids also started to get excited about the prospect of leaving the island as well and were practically bubbling with excitement.

That was when Odeta spoke up, "Sorry… But could I ask why you didn't ask the others before you to take you away from here as well?"

Delmare tilted her head at her, "What do you mean, Odeta?"

"You said we weren't the first ones here, right? That there were other people who came before us as survivors from a shipwreck?"

Diona waved her hand dismissively, "Bah! Those people were no fun! They were male Mahuns and sure, they were nice at first, but later on they tried to take advantage of us just because they think we're some weak hapless girls!"

Allure nodded, "Those men kept looking at us like we're pieces of meat too and even when we warned them to stop, they just kept doing it."

Ah… I'm not surprised to hear that, honestly.

"What happened to them?" Emilia asked.

Cherith sighed, "When those men started to show their true colours, we simply dove back into the water and went to another cave on the other side of the island. Some of them tried to swim after us but…"

Diona rolled her eyes, "They can't breathe underwater and they ended up drowning in the underwater caves. We had to take their disgusting bodies to dump them in the sea. Ugh, it makes my skin crawl just thinking about it."

I noticed Emilia furrowed her brows slightly, "And those that didn't swim after you?"

The twintailed mermaid shrugged, "We don't know, but they left the cave and then we never saw them again. We assume they might have found a way off the island unless they chose to live up on the mountain. As long as they don't bother us, we're fine."

Emilia was really not looking happy right now and I even noticed her left hand was gripping her scabbard with her thumb pushing against the hilt.

"These men… Do they start acting weird because you offered to sing to them or something?"

Delmare gasped, "How did you know? Everyone really likes my singing so I would offer to sing to them and that's when they start being jerks!"

Emilia slowly reached her hand to rest on her katana, "You girls aren't Mermaids… You're all Sirens aren't you?"

Oh… Oh damn…