Ch.1167First Target

With my head and heart wide open, after a serious conversation, we finally became friends with the merman.

I knew his name, home address, family size, and even secrets he’d kept hidden—doesn’t that make us childhood-level best friends?

This was all thanks to Ophelia’s improved translation magic.

“It’s as I expected. They use language like us, but that alone isn’t how they communicate.”

Actually, should I say it’s thanks to the mermen who fully cooperated with improving the translation magic?

“This organ here—should I call it an air sac? They vibrate it to mix in resonant tones. Even the same word can have different meanings depending on the frequency or intensity of the vibration.”

Through several experiments, Ophelia had meticulously examined the mermen’s physical structure and racial characteristics, using this to decipher their communication method.

“That’s not all. Every time they speak, this part of the brain—the pineal gland—becomes unusually active. This means they’re using thought waves whenever they talk.”

“Thought waves? You mean they’re conversing with thoughts?”

“Exactly, you understand well. Speech, vibration, and thought waves. They combine all three to create complete sentences.”

Speech, vibration, thought waves.

For communication, any one of these would normally be sufficient, but the mermen’s language required all three to form a single coherent sentence.

“Isn’t that somewhat… unnecessarily complicated?”

In other words, it’s a filthily complex and inefficient method.

Combining three communication methods to form sentences—this was almost like something out of spy code systems.

“It’s probably because they’re half fish. Both vibrations and thought waves were originally means to communicate underwater where they couldn’t speak.”

Answering my question, Ophelia continued with a more detailed explanation—or more precisely, her own theories.

Apparently, they originally communicated through speech on land and through vibrations and thought waves underwater, but over time the distinctions blurred and mixed until all three methods merged into one?

It was similar to how humans might become so accustomed to using hand signals underwater that they eventually incorporate them into their conversations on land.

After hearing that analogy, it seemed plausible enough for me to accept.

—-

Ophelia completed a translation formula specifically for mermen, and we extracted various information about them through sincere conversations with the mermen who were “still” alive until then.

That’s how we became mermen experts.

“Their tribe numbers around ten thousand… surprisingly not that many.”

The underground mermen population was approximately ten thousand. All of them were combat-ready troops.

An army of ten thousand is considerable enough to be called a large force, but… it’s an absurdly small number for an entire species’ population.

“It must be due to geographical constraints. They say they can’t stay active outside water for long periods.”

However, since mermen couldn’t survive long away from water, they seemed limited in increasing their numbers here, unlike what might be possible in the vast oceans above ground.

Therefore, rather than blindly increasing their population, they focused on training every member as a warrior to strengthen their racial power.

Of course, even this approach had its limits, as they said their numbers had been declining recently due to attacks from other races.

Even if one merman warrior could match five members of another race, it meant nothing if the enemy outnumbered them ten or twenty to one.

So, they had planned to gather their scattered kin from various tributaries to their sacred place—essentially their capital—to wage a decisive war for their race’s fate.

These mermen were also heading toward that sacred place, they said. Unfortunately, they were captured by us before arriving and ended their sorrowful lives.

Well, they said that even if it hadn’t been us, they likely would have died encountering other enemies along the way. Mermen were a race with many enemies.

Werebeasts, vampires, shadow humans, nagas, rock monkeys, undead, spirit beasts, giants, and monsters. Some races I knew, and others I’d never heard of before.

“What the hell is a naga?”

“A snake with two arms, apparently? Think of it as a Dragonborn without legs.”

“And shadow humans?”

“Humans completely black from head to toe. They’re named that because they specialize in suddenly attacking from shadows.”

“Then what about rock monkeys?”

“Monkeys with stone-hard skin… from the description, they sound like some variant of trolls.”

“There really is everything down here. If all of them came up to the surface, it would be absolute chaos…”

Even with just humans, Dragonborn, dwarves, elves, and Werebeasts, conflicts and clashes were frequent. What would happen if more than half a dozen other races were added to the mix?

The chances of them peacefully integrating into the existing order were slim.

They would surely raise armies claiming to establish their own countries on the surface and clash with neighboring nations.

This would add one more source of trouble to kingdoms already in turmoil both internally and externally.

“What should we do? Should we eliminate them all?”

“No, that would be difficult no matter what. Who knows how many there are.”

So while it would be beneficial to eliminate them all if possible, it’s impossible to guess how long that would take.

Considering practical limitations, it would be wise to target only clearly dangerous and hostile races—especially those backed by demigod-level powers.

For weaker races or those less aggressive, it would be better to establish friendly relations or negotiate in advance to prevent future problems.

For this reason, the mermen were decided as the monumental first target for elimination.

They were strong enough to threaten surface kingdoms, hostile enough to throw spears at Lena upon seeing us, and had a powerful leader planning a great war.

Yet their numbers weren’t that great, so with luck, they could be annihilated in a single battle. There couldn’t be a better first target.

If there was one thing that bothered me…

‘What exactly is behind these creatures… or rather, what are they?’

It was the fact that they only referred to the powerful being they worshipped as “The Great One” without explaining exactly what kind of entity it was.

Enormous, powerful, fearsome, great. That was all the fragmentary information we could gather.

“There’s nothing useful here. I wonder if these creatures have even properly seen this ‘Great One’ themselves?”

“That’s possible. Even priests don’t necessarily worship gods because they’ve seen them directly.”

Fair enough, that could be the case.

Human tendencies vary widely, and the same applies to non-humans or those who transcend humanity.

Some enjoy openly receiving praise, while others prefer to conceal their true form and maintain an air of mystery.

If this “Great One” was of the latter disposition, mere patrol guards wouldn’t know its identity or characteristics.

“Perhaps it’s not even a merman.”

“Not a merman?”

“Enormous, powerful, fearsome, great one… doesn’t that description seem somewhat distant for describing a powerful member of their own race? Perhaps they merely share the same habitat, but are an entirely different species.”

“…That’s possible.”

Leonore nodded slightly.

Indeed, even I thought it was a reasonable speculation. There was no reason the entity worshipped by mermen had to be another merman.

Just as prehistoric humans worshipped natural phenomena or predators, as long as something was powerful and helpful, whether it was the same race or not wasn’t particularly important.

In the end, we wouldn’t know the true identity of this Great One until we met it.

“Their stronghold… what was it called, Emerald Lake? How long will it take to get there?”

“At our current pace, about ten days? If we flew, it might take only three days, but…”

That would broadcast our position to everyone. Not just to mermen, but to countless other races.

“How’s our food supply? Enough to last over ten days?”

“No problem. We also have provisions these creatures were carrying.”

“Then let’s walk. We can deal with any creatures we encounter along the way.”

So, after neatly burying the interrogated mermen, we walked straight toward the lake they had told us about.

“Humans…?! Why are humans…?”

“Who cares, just kill them!”

Along the way, we experimented with the effectiveness of the translation magic and the weaknesses we’d discovered through dissection on groups of mermen we encountered.

After ten days, we finally reached the stronghold of the underground mermen.

Emerald Lake.

Before a floating city that rose like a massive pillar—or iceberg—in the middle of a vast lake shimmering with blue-green light.