Chương 974: [922] - Y04.022 - Trouble Under The Sea I

The group spent their day relaxing within the underground area that made up the fort, the soft gentle glows of the ocean fauna lighting their way. Adam sat on the wall beside Vonda, their pinkies intertwined as their eyes gazed out towards the floating jellyfish in the distance, kept behind a thin net within the lake. A handful of mermen swam through the lake every so often.

The mushrooms upon the ceiling glowed faintly, though most of the light within the cave was brought by the glowing stones within the wall, which glowed not quite as brightly as daylight, but not quite as dimly as a lantern.

"It feels a little hard to breathe," Adam admitted, shuffling slightly closer to his wife, wrapping an arm around her waist, the pair cuddling closer.

"It is," Vonda admitted, leaning in towards Adam's shoulder, resting her head against his. She could smell the faint smell of his soap against his skin. Though she had never smelled him when he hadn't taken a bath within at least a day, the tales of how difficult it was for fae to sweat and smell was well known throughout the land, compared to the dwarves who always smelled of earth in some way.

They remained atop the fort walls, the pair embracing one another, while the guards stepped around the walls, glancing up towards the pair.

"Do you think they're married?" a guard asked another in the merman tongue.

"They might just be…" The guard narrowed his eyes towards the pair.

"She wears an amulet of Life's Rose."

"They said she was a Ray, but doesn't she look too young."

"How am I meant to know? All humans look alike."

"Here here." The guard shrugged, the pair continuing their rounds. Lucy contained herself within her room, not wanting to give the mermen any reason to kill her. Mara remained beside her, the pair trying to work the wood Jurot had brought them, each carving their wooden pieces slowly, doing their best not to cut themselves.

"We should have stayed in the Iyr," Lucy said.

"Do you miss them?" Mara half joked, deflecting Lucy's thoughts. The young demon smiled a small sad smile.

"I do miss them…"

'No… I can't stay in the Iyr just because everyone wants to kill me. How would they feel once they grew up?' Lucy continued to whittle away at her wood, blowing the dust away, clearing her own mind and her resolve, though she knew she'd need to speak with Mara more often to engrave the feeling within her heart. The next morning, the young Commander brought pieces of silk, each about a palm's size, and a look of annoyance on his face.

'To think I had to requisition more…'

"Living sea silk…" Morkarai said, before placing the silk against his throat before wincing, the silk beginning to unravel itself against his skin, kitting itself within, and then the side of his neck, the silk slicing up his neck before revealing lighter flesh beneath.

'I hadn't expected you to have this much influence.' Adam pressed the living sea silk to his throat, before the silk swiftly unravelled, slicing against his neck as though threading itself against his neck. Health: 91 -> 90 As it opened up his flesh, Adam shuddered, the hairs on his body standing on end as the alien sensation began to invade his body, before suddenly, the air cleared around him. He reached over to touch the sides of his neck, feeling the sore skin against his finger tips.

"The gills are near permanent," Morkarai informed.

"They will be removed once we are upon land once more. You may still struggle to breathe underwater, but you will not drown. It feels better than a Potion of Water Breathing." Morkarai winced as the recollection of the potion. The group then passed through the fort, towards the end of the cave, where a lake awaited for them.

The Commander bowed his head towards Morkarai, before leaping in, followed by the Prince, flanked by a pair of soldiers, before the last two soldiers remained, motioning with their pink tridents towards the lake. Jurot leapt in first, quickly followed by the rest. Adam and Vonda swam in the middle, feeling the water against their skin. Though Adam held his breath, he could feel his lungs pumping as the air filled his gills and entered his lungs, allowing his breath to last for much longer than he expected.

Eventually the group swam through the tunnel and emerged at the open ocean, where they could spot small communities of mermen all around, the light illuminating them, though much of the distance was dark, unseen. Adam shuddered at the thought of the dangers beyond.

"Come," Jurot's garbled voice called, the bubbled taking much of the sound with them, while the Iyrman half walked and half swam towards the carriage which awaited for them. The carriage was made of wood, as far as Adam gathered, with bits of metal and coral all along it. Adam glanced aside, noting the lack of a creature pulling it, though the reins fell downwards, beyond the cliff.

"It should not take long," Morkarai said, his voice dissipating barely beyond the group. The Prince sat within the carriage, awaiting his companions, while Adam waited for the others to enter first, before half swimming inside, hooking the pair of clothes up onto the hooks above, keeping him pinned to the seat.

'They've already invented seatbelts?' Soon the carriage shifted slightly, before floating forward, making its way through the sea. Adam glanced outside to see the soldiers each riding their fishes, unsure of what they were, though some looked liked large sharks with heads like hammers, though not quite like a hammerhead shark, but an actual hammer, while another was more dolphin like, like a spear.

"We should arrive at the city by the day's end," Morkarai stated, glancing out of the window himself, before quickly glancing away.

'I hope she will come live in the volcanoes.'

"Am I the only one filled with a sense of dread under the ocean?" Adam asked. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Adam, shut up," Lucy said, also feeling the trepidation within her heart, keeping her eyes glued to the floor.

"The soldiers will not allow a Prince to die," Jurot said.

"Yeah, exactly," Adam said.

"The only way we die is if the other nobles plot for it, or for any rebels to-,""Adam," Morkarai said, suddenly regretting taking this pathway to the underwater city.

'I should have followed through the official channels.' Adam reached over and held Vonda's hand.

"Don't worry, I'm here." Vonda smiled, noting the look in his eyes, though she couldn't help but worry. On the land, she felt comfortable, but now that they were within the ocean, a darkness filled her heart. She could feel the sickness within her, having not calmed now that she was under the ocean.

'I was never sea sick, but I did not spend much time on sea faring ships, or in underwater ships…' She thought back to the other world she had slipped through with Adam and the others, and how she hadn't felt sick in the underwater carriage in that world. While the sea carriage made its way through the water, several eyes stared at the caravan in the distance, watching it from behind their rocks.

'Boss?' a raider signalled to the other with a hand.

'No. Too big.' The raider eyed up the convoy. Though there were only a dozen warriors at most, considering their pink coral armour and weapons, and the flags atop the convoy, that of the Emperor's symbol, then a King's symbol, and finally, a Princess' symbol, it meant the convoy would have 'little treasure, much current,' as they liked to say. Karza glanced over to the side, wondering if she should mention the various figures in the distance, but she decided against it.

"You're finally introducing your beloved to me? I'll see if she's worthy of you."

"I would rather never you two meet since you'll only embarrass me as much as you embarrass your family," Morkarai replied, his arms crossed, his eyes closed as he stilled his heart.

"I'm only glad you aren't amphibious like a black or gold dragon, otherwise the amount of trouble you could cause…"

"Speaking of trouble…" Adam began, letting out a soft sigh, the bubbles filling the carriage. He remained silent for a long while.

"Jurot, should I be cringe?"

"It is your choice to make."

"Why didn't we bring Lanababy along? She should have come meet with her friend."

'Her friend?' Morkarai thought, unsure of who he was referring to.

'He did mention he knew someone from the Undersea Empire, but…' Jurot thought about the logistics of bringing Lanarot to the Undersea Empire. If the Rot family pushed for it, they could have forced the Great Elder's hands, but it wasn't good to rock the boat just because they could. It was then Jurot imagined Lanarot's face lighting up upon meeting the Princess.

'We can afford the tribute.' Many hours later, with the sea carriage passing by the villages and towns, they finally came to a stop. Adam couldn't spot anything on either side, but as they floated out of the carriage, Adam spotted the light in the near distance, revealing a layered city, with much of it underwater, but the fourth layer and higher near the centre free of water, still in the sea, but within its own bubble.

The buildings, carved from stone, marble, wood, and coral, numbered in the thousands, heading towards the inner rings. There were many walls within the town, though each littered with archways, with an even greater number of towers. There were many mermen swimming and moving up and about, not just going forward and back, but moving up and down through various arches. Adam could barely spot a faint dome of thread around the city.

Around the city, hundreds of mermen made their way about, tending to the fields of underwater plants, as well as underwater beasts, which sometimes floated up and around, kept at bay thanks to the net faint. Adam glanced back towards the carriage which had brought them there, only to see a giant whale creature which the carriage lay atop.

'Yo!' The Commander motioned a hand towards his soldiers, before saying something to the Prince, who nodded, while another group of soldiers approached, led by a much larger merman, easily twice as tall as Adam.

Adam wasn't sure of their gender exactly, noting most of the mermen looked vaguely similar, with some built differently to others, but in a way which was far more varied than even humans, from the shape of their hands and feet, the webbing between their fingers, the colour of their skin, to the size of their shoulders and tails, to even their own size, being anywhere between as tall, or short, as Adam, and taller than even Karza's half dragon form.

Morkarai nodded in response, allowing this new set of soldiers to lead them within, each wearing a tabard with the symbol of their Princess, that of a trident, but it was the specific design of the trident, the specific design of the circle and the symbols within, which were familiar to the mermen, and easily distinguishable to them. Adam only spotted a trident within a circle, corals forming from the circle, stretching their way to the trident.

Adam noted the pink coral armour and weapons, and how few the normal soldiers wore such weapons. He spotted other weapons nearby, each of made of coral or some kind of metal, but he wasn't sure as they were all pastel colours, from blue to pink to orange, and more. They were led to a carriage, which was pulled by six sea creatures, each like seadonkeys.

They were pulled through the city, with the various peoples looking out to them, wondering what the strangers were doing here, and who was flying the banner of a guest of the Princess. The palace was large, and was the most central building within the city. It was building with the highest base floor too, towering over some of the outer city buildings. Arches poked through the dome ceiling, allowing the mermen to pass through with ease, though several faint nets protected the layers within.

The group were escorted through the open path, Adam noting various items made of silver and gold, even gems all about, from lamps, to long ornaments that could have been lamps, to statues upon small plynths. Their steps echoed as they stepped through the land, their breaths no longer so laboured, able to breathe in air freely once more.

"Okay, I like these guys," Adam said, beginning to strip out of his clothing. He and Vonda had been brought to their own section of a marble bathhouse, the pair bathing within the water. Adam glanced towards his wife, who was looking fuller than when they had adventured the previous year, though he wasn't sure if that was true since he had only become familiar with her body recently. Adam glanced at his own body, wondering if he had gained weight too, especially since he hadn't been able to work out in some weeks.

'I should workout more often while I have the chance…'

"Hey, now," Adam said to the attendants, quickly dismissing them with a hand.

"I'll handle this."

"Adam…" Vonda said, flushing slightly. She had already begun to clothe herself, and though she had grown up with attendants assisting her as a child, it was rarer within Life's Rose, and after giving up her family name, she had no one to assist dressing her, save for her overly eager husband.

"I can't blame you since my wife is so beautiful, but this is my role as the husband!" Adam half joked, while the attendants gave him a quizzical gaze. A servant spoke up, and though Adam was about to reply he didn't understand, the necklace the servant wore glowed with every syllable.

"We must get you ready for the Princess."

"What?" Adam asked, blinking.

"We're going to meet the Princess?"

"Yes," the amulet glowed faintly, a moment after the servant had already stopped speaking.

'Uh oh,' Adam thought. He could feel Vonda's gaze upon his back, and though he normally would feel so eager to show off his strong back, the gaze upon his back was that kind of gaze. After all, Vonda knew Adam's penchant for killing nobles, and his annoyance when dealing with most royalty.

"I know," Adam said, glancing back towards his wife.

"I'll try not to kill anyone." The servant with the necklace blinked, head snapping towards another servant, their eyes full of shock.

'Did it translate the words wrong?'