134 Ch. 134 'Merylin'

Niken got up and walked out of the inn, following the song's source that had hypnotized her. Her gaze was blank as if someone had controlled her mind. Niken herself was completely unaware she had walked out of her room and was now approaching the lake where several mermaids were waiting for her arrival.

When Niken stood right in front of the barrier that prevented humans from getting close to the lake, Niken raised a hand. Her indigo magic circle appeared and now reformed into a dagger.

Niken directed the dagger towards the barrier, causing a rift big enough for her to pass. Once her feet have stepped over the boundary, the hole behind her has entirely sealed again.

The dagger from Niken's magic circle had disappeared. Then, she walked over to the mermaid, who was still singing to her. Niken's steps stopped as if Niken began to regain consciousness.

'Go! Get away from there!'

Unconsciously Niken tried to order her body to run, but her body would not listen and standstill.

Niken shuddered in horror as one of the mermaids swam up to her and held out a hand towards her. The mermaid invited her to jump into the water, making Niken try her hardest to take over her body.

However, her efforts were in vain because now her feet move forward into the water.

The deeper she stepped, the deeper her body sank. Niken tried to call Kazuto through mind-linking, which also turned out to be futile. Either if Kazuto really couldn't hear her or someone broke their mind-linking connection.

Just as Niken's head fully sank into the water, the mermaid that appeared on the surface also dived down, carrying Niken's body into the unknown place.

The next morning, Niken woke up with a frown because many voices whispering disturbed her sleep.

"Is she a human?"

"No. She's a wizard."

"But she doesn't look like a wizard."

"You are right. Her hair is black."

"But she's lovely. Isn't she?"

Niken felt her hair being combed by a hand, making her startled and awake from her slumber.

She quickly shifted her buttocks back till her back hit into the wall, making her unable to escape from probing eyes.

Who are they? Niken looked at them with a probing look.

Purplish blue hair, blue eyes like the ocean and... tail?! They are all mermaids!!

Where is she now? What is this place??

Niken glances around and just realizes she's underwater, and she can breathe??

"Where is this? Who are you?"

"You don't recognize us?" asked one of the mermaids. "We are mermaids, and you are lucky you fell in our lake."

Fell? When did she fall into the lake?

Niken tried to remember what happened last night, and she remembered one of the mermaids hypnotized her and pulled her here. It looked like the mermaid has lied to her.

Are they all deliberately lying to reduce her alertness?

This voice! This voice is exactly like the voice of a mermaid calling out to her!

Niken glanced at the new mermaid with a curious look. Just like other mermaids, the owner of this voice also has purple-blue hair and blue eyes. But the difference, Niken could see there was a golden color in the mermaid's blue pupils and a golden tiara on her head.

"Your Highness Merylin, take a look. She is awake."

"Oh really?" the mermaid called Merylin immediately swam closer to Niken, making Niken avoid her cautiously. "Hey, don't be afraid. We will not eat you."

So they would eat later?

"That doesn't mean you won't let me go, right?"

"Ah?"

"Didn't you all bring me here to make me your food?"

Niken was confused by their surprised looks. Niken gulped nervously as the mermaids looked at each other then...

"Muahahahaha,"

They all laughed out loud as if what she was saying was the funniest thing they had ever heard. Niken was dumbfounded, seeing their laughing at her. Is her guess wrong?

"You're so funny. I am the princess of Mermaladia, the mermaid kingdom on this lake. My name is Merylin. What is your name?"

"..." oddly enough, Niken didn't feel an evil aura from the mermaid who was looking at her curiously. This actually made her very confused. "My name is Niken."

"Niken? What a strange name. "

"Merylin is also a strange name."

Merylin chuckled, hearing that. "How about your hands?"

Niken immediately pulled her hand away when Merylin was about to hold her hand.

"Hey, you're hurt, that's why we brought you here. Why are you looking at us like we are going to kill you? That really offends us, you know."

"Ah, that..." Niken didn't know what to say.

Aren't all mermaids an evil spirit? Aren't they a human eater? Why was the treatment of the mermaid in front of her so contrast from what she had heard?

Niken glanced at her left hand, which was now wrapped in bandages. There were reddish spots that indicate her hand was injured. She wondered where did she get this wound? As she recalled, she did not fall or fight with someone. Then where did she get this wound?

"Come on, it's time for me to do the final healing."

"The final healing?"

"You fell off a cliff. Your hands are pierced by sharp rocks and crash into some corals so that some bones crack."

Niken widened in horror at that explanation. It must hurt a lot if she had a fractured bone.

"You have been unconscious for a week, and your healing process is almost complete. Only the wounds on your hands have not healed. Come here. I will cure you now."

Niken still did not believe Merylin's words completely, but at least for now, she did not feel any evil intentions from this mermaid princess. She reached out her left hand and let Merylin open the bandage.

Niken could see Merylin creating a magic circle from her index finger and then pointing it towards her wound.

"Are you a wizard?" asked Niken in surprise.

"All spirits could use magic, including us. Instead, we are curious about you. You don't look like a wizard, but why do you have magic?"

"Is there something wrong with my appearance?"

"A lot. Are you perhaps in disguise? That's why you fell from the cliff?"

"..." Niken was unable to overcome this confusion.