Chapter 225 – Pilgrimage.

“Tebrani. It’s been a while since I cleaned this.”

Krikaliev looked at the food brought by the mermaids, listened to the fish, and was tapping it with a dagger he had pulled out from somewhere. As soon as I hit it obliquely, the scales that touched the blade fell off and poured down to the ground.

“Isn’t that a fish that humans value, right?

Priyazen looked at the situation and spoke at the entrance of the cave with his lower body submerged in water.

“Ah! Let’s eat rice comfortably!”
“Chii, can’t we just watch?”

She took the other mermaids and withdrew while grumbling at Krikaliev’s torch. She caught a glimpse of her pink hair, but Usher was trying not to pay attention to her. It was only after the mermaids disappeared that Usher felt her choked breath and stiffened body return.

“So, would you like some?”
“There’s no such thing as poison, right?”

Usher looked outside the cave, where the mermaids had disappeared and became quiet. Krikaliev shrugged his shoulders and handed him the dagger he was holding so that the back of the sword could be seen.

“Now, take a look.”
“Why is the knife suddenly…”

When he saw the dagger he handed him, Usher realized something strange. At first glance, it looked just like a dagger made of iron, but the way it reflected the light leaking into the cave and the burning bonfire as cleanly as a mirror was somehow strange. He borrowed Donar’s dagger and tried it, so he knew how strange it was.

“Why is this so shiny?”

After being taught by Donnar, I had heard that daggers were deliberately made of dull objects. The dagger was used for various purposes, but it was the reason why it was used especially for surprise attacks.

“This is a different purpose than that kind of knife. The reason why the surface is so shiny is because it is plated with silver.”
“Silver?”

Certainly, rather than iron, it had a luster similar to that of a silver coin I had seen from time to time.

“Isn’t silver expensive?”
“It’s expensive, but it’s cheap compared to other precious metals. If possible, it’s convenient to carry one of these.”
“Why?”
“It’s not that simple, because when something like poison touches silver, it turns black.”

After hearing his words, I looked at the dagger once again, and I couldn’t see any black spots anywhere.

“Precisely, only specific poisons can be identified, but most poisons currently used can be filtered out with just one.”
“What if it’s poison that won’t take it?”
“Don’t worry too much. Poison doesn’t work on a body like this anyway. The only poison mermaids can use is paralysis poison. If you can’t move, I’ll help you.”

Only then could Usher feel a little relieved. Krikaliev took the dagger again and started trimming it, and as he stared blankly at it, he finished trimming it before he knew it and put a skewer in the tevrani and grilled it. When the flame flickering on the hot tongue touches the skin of the fish with traces of scales, it cooks to a golden color and paints new scales on it. The smell of fish being cooked reaches his nose, and his stomach, which had just eaten a few berries for breakfast, gurgles.

“What, are the mermaids starving?”
“It’s not like that.”

He recalled the food Luboshi had brought with a bright smile. When he recalled the figure, he felt a little queasy, but he felt sick to his stomach.

“It’s not that I can’t eat it, but I brought it all raw.”

The mermaid’s house was full of water, so there was no place to light a fire or tools.

“Then eat it now. It’s almost done.”

Soon after, he accepted the freshly cooked tebrani placed on a flat stone and handed it to him. He did not hesitate to stab it with a fork and put a piece into his mouth, noticing the savory smell rising up. It was admirable to see the crispy crust on the grilled surface and the tender meat dripping in the salty juice and melting away.

“And.”

Krikaliev, who ate the remaining half, asked as he chewed, admiring the taste.

“Is it delicious?”
“I think it’s the most delicious fish I’ve ever eaten.”
“Well, it’s a fish that’s worth it. Most people who can’t eat it for the rest of their lives would buy it with money.”
“Yes? How long has it been?”

When Usher ate mindlessly and questioned, he touched his chin and seemed to be thinking.

“I think the most expensive tebrani sold was around 49 gold coins.”
“Eh, is this so expensive?”

Usher almost spit out what was in his mouth. While he was staying in Parz, he knew that the value of gold coins was much higher than that of Lantua. And yet he spends so many gold coins?

“Yes, basically, each character is worth about 5 cents, so if we assume that each character adds about 4 gold coins, this is about 17 gold coins. If we put it up for auction, we might get more.”

After hearing that, I felt burdened by what was in my mouth. It’s definitely delicious, but it feels like a thorn that isn’t inside is stabbing your mouth. Why did the mermaids hand over such a precious fish?

“Never mind, eat. A fish is a fish. Someone will eat or catch it anyway, and now it’s more important to fill your stomach.”

In the end, Usher ate all of Tevrany.

“Anyway, now that I’ve got this free time, I guess I’ll have time to teach you.”

Listening to Krikaliev after dinner reminded me that he had claimed to be his teacher.

“But why are you a disciple?”
“What do you mean?”
“The price of saving Belka.”

Now that I think about it, he didn’t have to urge Usher to become a disciple. Besides that, there was a price to use him as much as possible. With a little thought, he could have used him to make money, and he could have pampered him without having to pay. But I wondered why he said he would teach him in return. No matter how you think about it, isn’t Krikaliev’s loss huge?

“Being my disciple won’t be such a light price for you.”
“Why?”
“At least for those who claim to be knights, accepting disciples is the same as entrusting their names and futures to them.”
“What do you mean?”

Hearing those words, I just couldn’t believe it.

“To put it simply, when knights meet publicly, there are times when they ask each other’s teachers. What do you think you should answer then?”
“…Do I have to give your name?”
“Okay.”

Usher then seemed to know what he was talking about. If that ever happened, he couldn’t name Donard. It was just that, but Usher didn’t know what to say about this stuffiness that clamped on his chest. It was when silence filled the cave and tried to choke him.

“Hey, isn’t there something I need to do soon after I finish eating?”

What Priyazen, who had come to the entrance of the cave, said in a sullen voice.

“Hi-go. I never thought I’d teach my son how to love.”

The place where they arrived after her was the center of the village where her mermaids were gathered. The water rising shallowly in a wide space like a plaza also taught that the owner of this place was a mermaid. Priyazen asked puzzledly at the lamentation of Krikaliev, who had gathered there and was staring at the mermaids who were staring at them, showing off their colorful scales bathed in the sunlight.

“Why? Have you ever had no experience of mating?”
“It’s weird when you say it in their words, so just say it as a romance, these guys.”

As he touched his forehead and shook his head, the mermaids looked at him with sparkling eyes.

“So you’re saying you’ve never been in a relationship?”
“Wow! Then how about demonstrating with me?”
“Ah, that’s mean! Then me too!”

Usher looked puzzled at the sight of the mermaids waving their fins or raising their hands, wanting to actively demonstrate. Many of them had their eyes on him, so Krikaliev shouted as they were hiding using the horse that followed them as a shield.

“Keep quiet! If you thought that would happen, you did it a long time ago. Ugh.”
“Ummm, but if you don’t have that experience, can’t you tell me why humans do that?”

Watching the other mermaids nod at Priyazen’s words, it was time to wonder if Usher had taken the deal wrong.

“Be quiet. Even if you don’t have experience, you can explain at least.”
“I don’t trust you…”
“Let me ask you one thing. What do you guys think about dating?”

As soon as he asked the question, the mermaids each opened their mouths to speak, but Krikaliev raised his hand and pointed at one of the mermaids.

“One by one! One by one! Yes, there you go!”
“Hmm, I think I caught a glimpse of what humans did before. Are you kissing?”
“It’s hard to call it a relationship with that alone. It’s mainly something you do to someone you have affection for.”
“But isn’t that what we do often?”
“Okay, so it’s not that different, is it?”

As the mermaids make a strange noise, he lets out a sigh.

“If it was that simple, wouldn’t humans be like you guys?”
“Um, that’s right.”
“Come to think of it, there were quite a few people who said they had never done it before, right?”

The mermaids barely seemed to understand Krikaliev’s words.

“Anyway, dating doesn’t end with simply kissing or touching your body.
“Eh, then aren’t we the same?”

But that thought was short-lived. Unlike Usher, each of the mermaids was busy talking with a sullen look on their faces.

“If you like it, you can catch it and mate with it, right?”
“Huh, then have you ever asked the other person’s opinion?”
“Eh, it seems like they like it when they just mate.”
“Yeah, doesn’t that mean we like it because we sow seeds?”

Usher seemed tired of listening to the mermaids. I was fed up with how on earth you could say something like that casually. Wasn’t it a mistake to accept the deal?

“If nothing else, I can say this one thing for sure, but your thoughts right now are not different from those of criminals in terms of human standards.”
“To?”

For the first time, embarrassment appeared on their faces.

“Well, I can’t say that there aren’t people who have been captured by you who like it, but there must have been a lot of people who said no to you. What did you guys do at that time?”
“Weren’t you just pretending to hate it?”
“Yeah, but I kept planting the seeds.”

After all, Usher didn’t seem to like them.

“That’s the most dangerous idea. Anyway, thinking that the other person will enjoy it because it feels good is no different from completely ignoring the other person’s intentions and crushing them.”
“It’s okay, but.”
“I thought you were pretending to swim because you were so slow?”

It was while Usher watched in amazement as the confusion spread across their faces. Suddenly, a pink light caught my eye. The red eyes that soon met were trembling slightly, and the face was dyed pure white like the first time I saw it. She soon noticed her averting her gaze, but she didn’t particularly care.

“First of all, do you know what humans think of you and say that?”
“That, I don’t know.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“That’s right. He must have died of exhaustion before he could even speak.”
“…What do you think?”

In the end, one of the mermaids cautiously raised his hand to ask, and Krikaliev answered calmly.

“It’s a monster that eats men. If it was on a street you often pass by, it would have survived even after the subjugation order was issued.”

It was as he said. It was because they were no different from monsters, whether they were beautiful or not.

“Now, wait, we’re not really friendly with monsters, are we?”
“It’s the same for us being targeted…”
“That’s not what’s important. No matter what you think of monsters, your actions are no different from monsters. That’s all.”