305 - Superhuman Strength and Chaotic Gods #5
"Hassan-nim, it seems it would be best to release this mermaid into the sea immediately...!"
Paranoy trembled uncontrollably.
He even went so far as to say that it would be better to return the Nymph of the sea he had captured back to the ocean.
The only time Paranoy, who shouts arrogantly at everyone, tucks his tail like this is when he feels his defeat is certain.
I know that all too well.
"I, I am Aeriol, the favorite concubine of the Superhuman Strength and Chaotic God Tritan-nim! If you touch me, Tritan-nim will raise a massive wave against this Delphi!"
And the reason for Paranoy's fear is likely because of that name, Tritan or whatever.
Who is Tritan?
Superhuman Strength and Chaotic God?
After Jabez of Superhuman Strength, is it Tritan of Superhuman Strength and Chaotic Gods (æªåäºç¥)?
I've felt this for a while, but people in this world seem to love giving themselves cool nicknames. Could this be that severe case of self-conscious over-inflation, chuunibyou?
Thinking that way, my nickname 'Samaritan' felt simple and nice.
If I had been given a title like 'Hassan, Prince of Darkness' or 'Dark Prince Hassan' just because my hair is black, I would have been embarrassed in many ways.
"Hassan-nim, we must return this creature to the sea quickly...! If we stay like this, we might incur the wrath of that Tritan fellow...!"
While I was lost in thought, Paranoy snapped me out of it with a sharp yell.
"What kind of guy is Tritan?"
"Do you know who the ruler of the sea is?"
"Isn't it Neptune?"
I recalled what I had read in an encyclopedia long ago. The one who rules over water and the sea in this world is a god named Neptune.
His majesty is said to be that of a powerful ruler, counted among the three Chief Deities along with Jupiter and Pluto.
Now that faith in Pluto has completely collapsed and is being suppressed, he is an absolute being who literally divides the world in two.
Living in Sodomora, he was a god I didn't have much contact with, but in a city adjacent to the sea like Delphi, his status is said to even surpass that of Jupiter, the King of Gods.
"What about Neptune?"
"Tritan is Neptune's one and only begotten son...! He is a young ruffian rumored to be terrifying and merciless...!"
"If he's Neptune's son, does that mean he's a demigod too?"
I thought about the countless demigods wearing numbers on their wrists.
Just yesterday, I faced Caesar, the son of a mountain god, and Jabez, the son of some river god, so even hearing 'son of a god' doesn't feel that surprising anymore. Humans are adaptable creatures, after all.
However, Paranoy was foaming at the mouth like a crab he's so good at catching.
"He is not a half-god, a demigod...! He is a boy-god...! Though he is a young god, his majesty is said to be truly monstrous...!"
If he's not a demigod, does that mean both his parents have the blood of gods? I felt a sense of wonder that another being like Luna existed in the world.
But thinking about it, it wasn't particularly strange. It must be common for gods to marry gods and have children.
So, to summarize Paranoy's words, this Tritan guy is the only son of Neptune, the absolute ruler of the sea? And this mermaid named Aeriol is Tritan's concubine.
And Paranoy and I dragged such a mermaid onto land and tried to shove her into a bucket.
Shit, thinking about it carefully, it seems we've screwed up.
"Let's send her back to the sea, Paranoy."
"That is indeed a wise decision...!"
"Wh-Where are you touching! I-I told you not to lay a hand on my body!"
"No, shit, how am I supposed to send you back to the sea without touching you?"
"That's for you to figure out! You idiot! Just try touching a single fingertip to me! Tritan-nim won't leave you alone! Tritan-nim is the strongest in this vast sea!"
The image of a fox riding on a lion's back would look exactly like this.
Paranoy often used me as a front to act high and mighty toward others, so perhaps attaching oneself to a strong person they consider superior and bullying other weaker ones is a racial trait of Nymphs.
The problem is that it works quite well.
So Paranoy and I had to rack our brains to figure out how to return this noisy and rude mermaid to the sea without touching a single finger to her.
But no method came to mind. No matter what we did, hands would eventually have to touch.
"Ah, screw it, should I just throw her?"
With that thought, I finally scooped the mermaid up.
"Kyaaaak! Where are you touching! I said, where are you touching!"
The mermaid flopped her small fins here and there, refusing to be caught in my hands, but with her slender strength, she couldn't beat me.
Having gone fishing in the sea and rivers with my father, I know well enough how to subdue a living fish.
*Pulteok, pulteok.*
"No, just stay still for a second."
"Wh-Why is this guy's strength so great! Hands off! You barbarian!"
I strode forward and stood on the beach. However, just then, something began popping out of the calm and quiet sea.
*Cheombang, cheombang-.*
It was colorful hair. To be precise, wet heads of hair. Seeing fin-like ears attached between those strands of hair, they were likely other mermaids.
This is bad.
Did they come to find her?
It was just as I was starting to feel slightly flustered.
"Aeriol! We sent you on an errand, and you were slacking off in a place like this again?"
"You useless thing, we let you join us because you begged to play, but you can't even do the work you're told! We had to do all the errands you were supposed to do because of you!"
"Someone like you doesn't deserve to enter Tritan-nim's Shell Box!"
"Don't you dare go around saying you're an acquaintance of Tritan-nim-! It lowers our standards!"
*Chwaaak, chwaaak-.*
The mermaids chattered noisily about something and sprayed sprays of water toward us.
"What the hell, what's this all of a sudden!"
Having been hit by an out-of-nowhere water-attribute attack, I was soaked head to toe and completely dazed.
The problem was that the streams of water being fired went beyond just getting my clothes wet; they were damn painful.
It was literally a Spear Wave.
"Kyaaaak-!"
The mermaid I was holding, Aeriol, was also hit by that attack. She couldn't withstand the intense stream of water and ended up screaming.
Even I, who has a decent tolerance for pain, found it painful, so for this mermaid with delicate skin, she must have truly wanted to scream.
If she gets hurt, won't that Tritan guy or whatever get angry? So I carefully covered Aeriol with the magic beast hide I was wearing over my head.
*Chwaaak, chwaaak-!*
"Ah, that was fun! Let's go now, sisters!"
"Aeriol, you just try coming back later! You won't be able to sleep tonight!"
Only after raising a spray of water for a good while did the mermaids each giggle and disappear back into the sea.
"What the hell was that just now. Was it a counterattack from nature being desecrated?"
Blinking my eyes, which were stinging from the seawater, I carefully placed the Nymph of the sea, Aeriol, into the water.
"There, anyway, go back."
*Chambang, chambang.*
Like a dolphin rescued after being stranded on land, she seemed very happy to be in the water, splashing around a few times before opening her mouth hesitantly toward me.
"...D-Did you hear that just now?"
"What. The sound of you splashing?"
"Ah, no, nothing. It's fine if you didn't hear."
"This Paranoy heard everything...! This creature was a Nymph being bullied...! Despite that, she lied saying she was Tritan's concubine...!"
But Paranoy, as always, latched onto the opponent's weakness.
Paranoy is literally a hyena of the wilderness. If he smells a wound or blood, he bites without hesitation.
"This creature will surely be tormented by other sea Nymphs when she returns...! The retribution for daring to act superior to this Paranoy! Serves her right...!"
"Gr, grrrr...."
Was it because of Paranoy's spirited provocation? Aeriol's expression as she entered the sea became even more serious than when she was pulled out onto land.
"I-It's not like that!"
And then, thick tears began to flow from those luminous blue eyes. But her tears shone with a mysterious silver light, like drops of mercury.
At that, Paranoy spoke in surprise.
"Nymphs' tears are incredible magic ingredients...! Among them, the tears shed by sea Nymphs are rumored to be incredibly beautiful, and it seems that's true...!"
"Hey, Paranoy-ya. She's a Nymph just like you, can't you get along?"
"That creature is one that lives in the sea...! She is a different species from a land Nymph like me...! Because they are closer to fish than Nymphs, they are very stupid creatures...!"
I don't know what it is, but there seemed to be something like regional prejudice among Nymphs. I gave up on trying to understand.
* * *
Even though I had released her back into the sea, Aeriol didn't return to her hometown or whatever. Instead, she slowly crawled back onto land and sat on the beach, lamenting.
"If I go back to the underwater village like this, I'll be scolded by my seniors! I have to take something, anything, as an achievement!"
Because of that, Paranoy and I had to sit on the beach for about half a day listening to this creature chatter away.
This girl, Aeriol, was a nobody, contrary to the grand claims she had made earlier. She wasn't Tritan's concubine, nor did she have the most beautiful scales or whatever.
The Shell Box, a fan club or harem-like organization for Neptune's only son, Tritan. She was the youngest in the hierarchy, in charge of various chores and errands. That was Aeriol's true identity.
She said the only time she saw Tritan was catching a glimpse of him from afar as he passed by.
I could finally feel relieved.
"What, so even if I touched you, that terrifying guy named Tritan won't appear and retaliate against us?"
"Th-That's right.... But someday it will be like that! Someday! I'll climb up the ranks and definitely give birth to Tritan-nim's son!"
A burning will that didn't suit a cool mermaid seemed to flare up. When I felt a slight sense of doubt, Paranoy explained, as if he had read my mind.
"Tritan is the successor who will follow Neptune...! Becoming the successor's wife and giving birth to his legitimate heir means becoming the Queen of the Sea...!"
Aha, so it's like the feeling of becoming the wife of a second-generation chaebol.
They say that what's more enviable than being a doctor is being the doctor's wife. Similarly, isn't what's more enviable than being a second-generation chaebol being the wife of one?
Then it's a self-evident fact that you can change your fortune even by becoming the wife of a silver-spoon brat who's called the successor of the sea and likely looks obnoxious for some reason.
So problems and power struggles occur in a harem in their own way.
Of course, from what I saw, there didn't seem to be much hope for this Aeriol girl. Isn't she a fool who got hooked by Paranoy's finger and pulled onto land?
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While I was thinking that, Paranoy said.
"Tritan is a fellow famous for deliberately instigating fights among his harem members and making them tear each other apart...! He says that only those who survive earn the right to be his wife...!"
"What an obnoxious guy."
"However, it would be good for Hassan-nim to follow that example...! In many ways, wise children are born from strong and wise women...! Making harem members compete is a very wise course of action...!"
I don't know why my story is suddenly coming up, but Paranoy often said things out of context.
So, while I was letting the story flow through one ear, the mermaid Aeriol, who was sitting next to us looking at the sea and sighing, spoke up.
"Even though I'm the youngest at rank 32, my feelings of love for Tritan-nim are second to none! I have a plan too! A plan to make the black sea blue!"
"What? What plan?"
I was startled, wondering if I had misheard. Didn't she just say she'd make the black sea blue? I grabbed Aeriol's shoulders, looked into her face, and asked again.
"Tell me more about that story."
"A-Are you not going to laugh at my story? You're not going to tease me for it being an absurd story?"
"Yeah, I won't tease you, so tell me. What the hell is that black sea thing?"
"You're the first person who didn't laugh at my words! You're a nicer guy than you look! You even saved me from the water spray earlier!"
At my question, Aeriol suddenly burst into tears. Silver bead-like things rolled from her eyes and tumbled onto the beach.
I carefully tucked them into my pocket so she wouldn't notice. Luna will like it if I bring them to her. Hehe.
Aeriol spoke to me while sobbing.
"...D-Do you perhaps like me? I'm sorry, but I have Tritan-nim, so I can't accept your feelings...!"
Dammit.
To be rejected without even confessing. I felt like I understood why Paranoy called mermaids stupid creatures. But didn't something like this happen once before?
Anyway, that wasn't what was important right now.
"What exactly is that black sea?"
"It's the Monster Snake's nest."