Chapter 121: Searching for Mermaids (1)
Baran Duchy.
A place where most of the territory bordered the southern seas of the continent, a land filled with countless legends of mermaids passed down through generations.
Originally, it was a duchy under the kingdom, but as the port city gradually developed, it distanced itself from the kingdom's influence. Later, the Duke of Baran offered a significant amount of jewels to the kingdom, securing its autonomy and transforming it into a duchy.
Nominally, it was still part of the kingdom's territory, but in reality, the kingdom held little sway over it.
'Well... From the perspective of Seyra, the kingdom's guardian dragon, this place would still be considered an area she must protect.'
Because of the political intricacies of human affairs, it was technically another country. Thus, I refrained from openly identifying as a knight. Instead, I purchased some simple goods in a nearby town, disguised myself as a merchant, and secretly entered the Baran Duchy.
'It's true... There are plenty of artworks and ruins related to mermaids here.'
Among the numerous stories about mermaids, one tale stood out the most.
A mermaid princess rescued someone who had fallen off a ship that had been wrecked in a storm.
By sheer coincidence, that person was a human prince (though some versions claimed he was a prince exiled from the kingdom's line of succession, while others said he was the heir to the Baran Duchy. Given the location, the latter seemed more likely).
The mermaid princess fell in love at first sight with the prince she saved. Desperate, she made a deal with a sea witch, offering her voice in exchange for legs so she could walk on land. However, the witch's spell not only took her voice but also swapped her upper body for that of a fish, leaving her with human legs but losing her beautiful upper body.
It was said that the prince, obsessed with her stunning legs, ignored her fish-like features, kept her as his concubine, and had children with her. These children inherited their mother's fish-like upper body and human lower body, becoming the ancestors of the aquatic humanoid species known as fishmen.
'That prince must've been something else… How did he deal with the fishy smell?'
Fishy odors are known to come from the gills, so every time the mermaid princess breathed, the smell of rotting fish would waft up. For the prince to endure that smell and still have sex with her, either the princess's legs were exceptionally alluring, or the prince's sense of smell was completely deadened.
In reality, monster ecology suggests that fishmen did not originate from such hybrids but evolved separately. However, their legs coincidentally resembled human ones.
'Come to think of it, I remember debating with Levin once: if you had to choose between a mermaid with a fish's upper body and human legs or one with a human upper body and a fish's tail, the former might be better since at least the upper body would have a hole you could use...'
But tales of mermaids like this were just ancient stories now.
Over time, rumors spread that eating mermaid flesh boosted stamina. This sparked a surge of illegal hunting boats capturing mermaids. Coupled with ocean pollution from the Baran Duchy's development, mermaids retreated to deeper waters. Though the duchy eventually regretted their actions and tried to bring the mermaids back, it was too late—they had vanished into the far reaches of the sea.
According to Professor Pandel, mermaids weren't a distinct race to begin with but rather a myth born from sailors mistaking marine mammals seen from afar for creatures with human upper bodies and fish tails.
While Professor Pandel wasn't always correct, this theory had become the prevailing view in academic circles.
Species like lamias and arachnes, which resembled humans, were said to have been cursed by gods, transforming into monstrous forms, or to have evolved by coincidence to resemble humans.
'If evolution by coincidence was possible, then mermaids could've appeared too, right? Or is the human upper body just too impractical for underwater life?'
I wasn't an expert, so I didn't dwell on it too much.
"What's your business here?"
"I'm a merchant from the kingdom. I came to purchase mermaid eggs."
I handed a trade permit stamped with the seal of Seyra, the guardian dragon, to the border guard.
Using a magic-reactive ring, the guard verified the document. As expected, the ring glowed a normal golden hue, confirming the permit was genuine.
'Of course, it's authentic. The permit itself was personally issued by Seyra, the guardian dragon, even if its contents might contain falsehoods.'
The use of Seyra's seal on trade permits and important documents signified that the document was guaranteed to be truthful under the eternal name of the dragon. Even though the permit contained misleading information for the sake of my mission, it still felt odd.
"It's not the season for mermaid eggs. You've arrived early. Trying to secure stock ahead of time?"
"Haha... When you lack power or wealth, you have to at least be diligent."
"Well, that's true. Just don't cause any trouble while you're here."
"Understood."
I had no intention of causing trouble here.
Though my pocket held a mana saber, using it would mean the mission had gone sideways, so this was no time to resort to violence.
According to the trade information provided by Frederica, mermaid eggs were typically released in the fall. During that time, merchants from across the continent would swarm the duchy, turning everything into chaos.
Arriving in summer as I did meant I came during a period when acquiring mermaid eggs would ordinarily be difficult. However, my true objective wasn't to buy the eggs but to uncover whether real mermaids were used in their production or if, as officially stated, they were made from ordinary fish. Thus, it was better to investigate now, while they were still being cultivated, rather than during the harvest.
'I haven't pinpointed the location yet.'
I knew which trade groups distributed mermaid eggs to the market, but the production sites were still unknown. My goal was to locate the exact production sites. If I couldn't find them directly, I'd have to trace them by investigating the trade groups that dealt with the producers.
'Well, with a full pocket, my heart feels at ease.'
When performing missions as part of the Magic Knights, I would usually present the insignia of the Magic Knights and have expenses covered by the kingdom's budget. However, this was the foreign land of the Baran Duchy, and now, expenses weren't covered by the kingdom but by the personal wealth of Seyra, the guardian dragon.
Incidentally, Seyra reportedly accumulated wealth over centuries by receiving a formal royal salary she never spent. Thanks to Frederica's persuasion, Seyra had recently invested heavily in the establishment of a large-scale homunculus workshop, which became a massive success, multiplying her fortune tenfold.
'No wonder. I thought the sale of homunculi would end up being classified as human trafficking, but instead, it teetered on the edge of illegality and was finally declared lawful in the last trial...'
The kingdom's highest judge was Seyra herself. While she claimed to handle all matters impartially, it seemed she couldn't afford to let her own investment go down the drain and had made a convenient ruling.
Now that the homunculus business was booming, it was beneficial for everyone, including me. Instead of receiving a meager budget, I was given a purse full of silver coins, which felt much more reassuring.
'It'd be better to gather information at night. For now, I should kill time until the sun sets.'
Thanks to the ample funds, I rented a villa overlooking the coast. Judging that this mission might take a while, I even bought a fishing rod to enjoy some leisure time.
"They say you can catch plenty of fish here, don't they?"
By early autumn, the place would be crowded with merchants flocking to purchase mermaid eggs, leaving no space to breathe. But in the midsummer off-season, the villa's surroundings were empty, allowing me to fish comfortably alone.
"So, you just hook the worm onto the fishing line and..."
I'd never fished before in my life. Growing up in the inland plains, the creeks flowing alongside farmlands were the deepest bodies of water I had ever seen.
Even in the capital, although a river flowed nearby, it was separated from the Magic Knights' activity zones and was strictly off-limits under the pretext of protecting the water supply. It wasn't exactly a place one could casually visit.
For someone like me, this villa with a clear view of the ocean was a novel experience. Despite being a long-term mission, I found myself oddly excited.
"So, you cast the line far out like this and just wait, right?"
Securing the rod in place, I sat down on a chair I'd set up beforehand and waited.
Five minutes passed.
"Why isn't anything biting?"
After ten minutes, I started shaking the rod around to lure the fish, but there was still no sign of anything nibbling at the bait.
"Am I doing something wrong?"
I changed the bait, shaking the rod more vigorously to tempt the fish. But it seemed like the fish in this area were either too clever or completely uninterested in my efforts. None took the bait.
After about an hour of flailing the rod around, all I got was an aching arm and no fish in sight.
"In stories, they talk about catching fish left and right, making it seem so easy..."
But that was just fiction. After all, if characters in a story spent an hour blankly waiting for fish, the readers would probably rage.
Realizing fishing wasn't for me, I decided to pack up the rod, head back to the villa, and drink instead. That's when I heard it.
"Help... me..."
It was a faint voice, so weak that an ordinary person wouldn't have caught it. It was the voice of a girl.
'Where is that coming from?'
"Help... meee..."
The barely audible voice, on the verge of fading away entirely, came from below the coastal cliff where I'd been fishing.
'The merchant who rented me this villa did warn me not to approach the cliffs because they were dangerous...'
But rescuing someone was a different matter entirely.
The cliffside was as treacherous as described, with steep slopes that seemed fit for mountain goats. The rocks, eroded by waves, crumbled at the slightest touch. Yet, as someone trained to overcome rough terrains, I saw it as nothing more than a playground.
Swoosh!
I leaped down lightly, infusing mana into my hands to brace myself. Pressing my body against the cliff, I used friction to slow my descent.
'This is manageable. I'll land here...!'
Thud!
Calculating the distance to the sandy shore, I stepped on a protruding rock to reduce my speed further, landing in a low stance to minimize the impact.
Training as a knight typically involved performing such stunts while wearing armor. Doing it barehanded made it much easier.
"Where are you?"
"Over... here..."
Even as I got closer, the girl's voice was so faint it was almost drowned out by the sound of the waves. It was clear she'd suffered a serious injury or was completely exhausted.
The voice came from a nearby sandy shore. There, I found a young girl with pale blonde hair tangled in a discarded net, her lower body completely ensnared.
"Help... me... please... someone..."
"Stay still for a moment."
I couldn't use the mana saber to cut the net without risking burning her lower body. Instead, I drew a sharp dagger meant for cooking fish and began cutting away the net.
"Ah... no, you can't..."
"Don't worry. I'll be careful not to hurt you."
Ensuring the blade wouldn't cut her legs, I carefully severed parts of the net and tore the rest apart with my hands. As I freed her bit by bit...
'She's hurt badly.'
Under the net, her skin was covered in shallow cuts, as if she'd struggled to free herself, only to have the net dig into her flesh.
Although the wounds were numerous, they weren't deep. If treated promptly, they wouldn't leave scars.
But what struck me wasn't the injuries—it was the scales covering her lower body instead of skin.
'Huh?'
For a moment, I thought her legs were tangled with a fish caught in the net. But as I quickly cut away the last clump of the net and freed her...
"No... please, don't look..."
What emerged was a fish-like tail. The net had concealed the connection between her human upper body and the fish scales forming her lower half.
A human upper body with a fish's lower body—there was only one thing this could mean.
"A mermaid?"
The legendary mermaid was standing—or rather, lying—right in front of me.