[70] Kidnapped Fish People

[70] Kidnapped Fish People

Chapter 70: Kidnapped Fish People

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Nighttime passed and the episode aired on TV and streaming services. The kids watched the episode together in the living room, sitting on the floor and eating popcorn, and I was forced to attend by Mem-Cho.

Most of it passed with us laughing at some shots and complimenting each other for genuinely good takes, but silence stretched every time scenes with me and another girl played. Eyes darted back and forth. Everyone wondered which of the three girls was going to be paired with me.

The other guys had their own girls by now; Nobuyuki had Yuki, and Kengo had Chloe – the ginger local whom he got pretty close to in this episode. Only Sen didn’t have anybody, his bad luck. On the other hand, I had three options – Akane wasn’t included in this before, but I kissed her forehead in this episode. Same with Mai, whom I shared a deeper kiss with.

Mem-Cho munched on popcorn faster under the gazes of others. They must be curious about what she felt right now. She was certainly jealous; it was obvious from the way she was eating. But she wasn’t as aggressive as a girl in her position should have been, thanks to our odd chemistry – along with our prior agreement from the beginning where I told her I was not interested in any relationship with my subordinates.

I felt bad for her. She must be so mad at me, apparently from the glares she shot toward me. ‘Goddammit, I knew walking the harem route wasn’t a good idea. This is so uselessly complicated and tiresome. Hah.’

By now, it had been a few days since I used the [Switch] to focus my personality to fit the Venerable persona. Since nothing irked me and I wasn’t actively trying to keep it up, on the contrary things from my other lives were becoming more prominent, like the tiger cubs who were descendants of my Trigathar persona. All of this made the Venerable persona slowly wear off and so I was returning to normal – to who I was in this world.

It was for the better too. Otherwise, I’m sure I would have done something bold and more complicated about this girlfriend-choosing situation.

‘Well. I’ll figure something out. It’s just a simple girl problem in the end. I’ve dealt with worse. Then again, they were easier to fix. Murdering fixed almost everything. I need something to distract myself.’

After the romantic ending to the episode where I kissed Mai Sakurajima, causing the room to be blanketed by silence, I stood up. Clearing my throat, I quickly fled the scene and went to sleep. I needed to rest for whatever I had to face tomorrow.

* * *

“I’ll be roaming the islands for a bit. That blonde woman from yesterday will be with me. When will the crew leave for the next filming location?” I walked to the table of adult men who were having breakfast, leaving my own group of teens behind after I finished my meal just now.

The production crew changed glances, but I was talking to the director in particular. The man took a bite of his steak and frowned as he chewed. Swallowing the portion, he hummed and nodded at me. “We’ll leave in the evening. Be back before then.”

“Hey, just like that-?” a few kids sounded incredulous that I was allowed an unsupervised trip just like that, and it took me by surprise too. I expected a bit more resistance and was thinking I’d have to reach out to the Producer old man to ask for permission.

Not that I was complaining.

I showed him a small smile and nodded. Then I walked out of the resort. Mem-Cho stared at my back; she knew where I was going since she was there when the situation unfolded. Despite everything that happened recently which made her mad at me, a hint of worry was present in her gaze as she watched me leave.

....

I knew where to find Quetzalcoatl, her presence was hard to miss when she wasn’t trying to hide it. She was inside the cave where I sensed the Mermaids yesterday. I walked into the forest and found the cave. There didn’t seem to be any traps of anything in front of the cave, and my senses didn’t catch any apparent traps inside it either.

I walked inside the cave, the shadows swallowed me. The walls grew wetter the deeper I walked inside. After a few minutes of walking inside, I was greeted with three paths leading inside. A maze? I could sense the Mermaids and Quetzalcoatl inside, but it was hard to determine which path led to those presences.

That meant, though few in comparison, there were still quite some buildings on the islands combined. Since Hawaii was 28,311 km2 in area, it would take me a while to search around. If I don’t find anything in the land, I’ll have to search the sea. Since they’re called pirates, it wouldn’t be odd if they were roaming the sea in a ship.

“For now,”

I allowed the wind aura in the area to carry me off the water and into the air. I blasted through the air, keeping myself clad around a blob of mist – acting like a cloud – as I jetted through the sky and searched for any sign of human life with my Jade Perception.

“Let’s fly around a little.”

* * *

The island had strange beasts that would be classified as either monsters or mythical creatures in the outside world. I didn't have any bad blood with them, so I let them be except for the few birds which mistook me for prey and died swiftly.

After roaming the sky for a couple of hours, I located an area with buildings that looked a bit better than the other buildings ruined by the monsters. It looked like it had been cleaned recently, though that'd have been hard to detect if I hadn't paid extra attention to the details.

But I did, and it was obvious that people were living in the quarters. Living may be a stretch, they were hiding there.

The mist surrounding me allowed me to get close to the buildings, which let me feel the energy of the people in there.

There were about a dozen people inside. And double that Mermaids. Given how the Mermaids' presence was clustered close to one another, they seemed to be in a cell. The human presences were walking in a pattern; they were patrolling.

As much as I wanted to drop down and blast the area, there were fish to rescue. So I had to take this silently and slowly. I didn't want the humans to blow the fish's brains out because of fear.

Also, I didn't sense any divinity from the bunch of mermaids. If the Princess I was supposed to save was the granddaughter of Poseidon, she ought to have divinity in her presence. But since I didn't sense any in the bunch below, it meant the Princess was not here. I had to capture the guards and make them spill where she was.

All the while making sure they don't get the chance to report to their backup. This is likely not the main group; there was no particularly strong presence here.

Nodding to myself, I gently flew near an open window where I didn't see or sense any guard. Calling forth my assassin skills from many lives, where I had to learn the skills for various reasons, I slipped into the building and landed on the floor softly.

Well, it was time to get into action.

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