Chapter 554: What Bad Can It Do?
Chapter 554: What Bad Can It Do?
As Lucien makes clear his relationship with the Naga Queen and Princess, shocking Claire and the Mermaids, he also receives a mental message from Mira.
'It's done...' She reports and then pauses before completing the sentence in a slightly shy but very proud tone. 'Hubby.'
'Come on to meet your sister-in-law.' He responds.
'Alright.' She breaks the huge green barrier, drawing the attention of the Mermaids.
They've barely recovered from the shock due to everything they've learned about Lucien, and yet, they get surprised again when they see hundreds of Naga bodies falling behind the barrier.
[What?!?!] They don't understand why the Naga Blackguards who arrived along with Lucien and Mira would kill other Nagas.
Mira and Kamala swim towards Lucien, passing through a Mermaids corridor and leaving the Blackguards and half of the Nagas troops who were defending that outpost behind.
They arrive at the front of the group, and while Kamala peeks at Claire with a curious expression, Mira quickly glances at Lucien before speaking to Saria in a respectful tone. "Princess..."
Before Saria can think of anything, Mira points to the bodies of the Nagas, still slowly falling to the bottom of the ocean. "Consider this one of the first proofs of my good intentions, every soldier who still had any bad intentions or resentment of the Mermaids was executed for treason."
"Treason?" Saria asks.
"Exactly, attacking the Mermaids goes directly against my policy…" She feels she's said something wrong and then looks at Lucien before correcting. "Our policy, I mean."
The Mermaids are really happy with that statement; however, Greed is more upset and tries everything to change the course of things.
'This woman must have seduced your brother too!!' She tries to convince Claire to mess up any chance of peace between the Mermaids and the Nagas. 'You can't believe these people have good intentions!'
'Shut up, Greed!!' Claire is upset by the constant complaints. 'I need to find out what these women want from my brother before I decide what to do.'
Saria, on the other hand, can see how Mira looks at Lucien, and by being a very sensitive creature, especially when it comes to understanding the feelings of others, she quickly realizes how much the Naga Queen likes him.
She looks at him with a cheerful smile. "You are really unbelievable..."
Lucien almost gets shy due to the special way Saria's eyes sparkle when she gazes at him. But as he has a lot of work to do, and he also wants to spend time alone with Claire, he can't enjoy time with the beautiful Mermaid Princess right now.
"Can we continue this conversation at a place more..." He looks around and notices that all the Mermaids are gazing at him in the same way. "Private."
"Yeah, of course." Saria tries to stop thinking only about Lucien and focuses on the current situation. Then she looks at Mira with a respectful expression. "The Naga Queen herself has come to the battlefield to speak with me, so I have to provide at least a suitable place for us to discuss the future of our peoples."
Mira nods, also respectfully but without losing that royal posture that Lucien so admires.
Then Saria looks at Ramla. "Help the Nagas clean up this mess, and remember, these people are not our enemies."
Ramla doesn't hide her dissatisfaction and concerns about that, but she follows Saria's orders. And that's not really difficult as the Mermaids can feel that the Blackguards and other Nagas have no bad intentions toward them, which makes their cooperation pretty natural.
"Let's go this way." Saria swims to the surface towards the east while holding the Ghost Lady tightly.
Mira and Kamala follow her after Lucien nods at them, but Claire still holds his hand. Lust remains in his soul as she listens to Greed's complaints.
"What are we waiting for?" Claire asks.
He then swims towards a group of Mermaids, and Claire notices a woman with beautiful black wings trying to save a big white tigress from the caresses of dozens of Mermaids.
Even with bloodstains stuck to her fur, the Mermaids are fascinated by Oya and ignore her complaint faces as they pet her. Mama tigress wishes she could at least roar, but she doesn't know how to use her energies to make her voice sounds underwater.
She knows her master doesn't want her to hurt any Mermaids, so they can feel she has no bad intentions toward them, making her a cute big cat vulnerable to all kinds of petting.
The same goes for Helena, who tries to save Oya but has trouble avoiding the Mermaids who are fascinated with her wings.
"Come on, girls..." Lucien's voice sounds above them, drawing everyone's attention. "Helena and Oya are bloody warriors, so you don't want to mess with them."
No matter how much the Mermaids find Oya and Helena amazing, they are obviously more fascinated by Lucien and his charm. Yet, they also feel his royal draconic aura, which makes them feel a lot of respect and even be a little afraid of him.
They swim back, making way for Oya and Helena to go to Lucien. Both are courageous women, but they've never been in a situation as bizarre as that, which makes them hide behind him.
Lucien smiles at the Mermaids while Claire looks at Oya and Helena with a thoughtful expression. "Your friends?"
He takes her and Helena's hands, making them shake each other's hands. "This is my sister, Claire..."
She smiles honestly, and Claire tries to look friendly too, but Lucien's next words make her freak out again.
"Helena and Oya are your sisters-in-law." He explains.
More wives? Claire should think, but another question seems more urgent. "Even the tigress?!?!?"
"!!!!" Oya tries to say that she's not just a 'tigress,' but she forgets she doesn't know how to talk underwater, so she just gulps down some water before quickly closing her mouth and looking at Lucien with an embarrassed expression.
He strokes her head. "Oya isn't in the Sky Realm yet, but she already has a demi-human body and is much smarter than many humans, as well as being my loyal companion since the beginning of my journey."
[A demi-human body??] Claire is confused about how Oya can have a demi-human body before the Sky Realm. And Greed can't feel Envy's energy inside her body due to it being nearly drained.
"Let's talk more above the surface." Lucien speaks as he swims after Saria, followed by the girls.
The group comes out of the water, and Lucien instinctively takes Claire in his arms to fly with her while Helena has a hard time flying with mama tigress.
"W-w-what are you d-doing?!?!" But Claire despairs when it gets harder to control those unfamiliar feelings.
"Hmm??" Lucien doesn't understand what's wrong and stops in midair.
She is embarrassed that she is the only one who sees a problem with them continuing to hug even in that strange position. "It's not that... I just... ah... no, it's nothing... I just didn't expect us to fly and you have these wings..."
He smiles. "I know, it's a little strange... I'll explain everything to you. But I figured Greed didn't want to expose her presence, and by flying, we'll reach Saria faster, you know."
"Yeah, yeah..." She tries to look away and change the subject to keep him from seeing her face turning redder and redder. "This thing about the Sins having to stay hidden because it would be hard to explain about their presence sucks..."
So she gazes at his wings. "Although you really look like a demon already..."
"That's because he really is a demon." Lust materializes her body in front of Claire and speaks in a proud tone. "And I don't need to hide my presence like a malicious rat; I just wanted to give you some space and not draw all the attention to myself."
Claire is first surprised by Lust's transcending beauty, which awakens in her some jealous feelings she didn't even know existed. But then she gets confused about what she said.
"But how can he really be a demon??" She asks.
'If you have the same father, isn't that obvious?' Greed's voice sounds in her mind.
"Your mother?" She thinks aloud as she looks at Lucien. And at the same time, she tries to remember his mother, but only a curvy silhouette and red hair come to her mind, making her even more confused.
"We have a lot to talk about, sister." He comments as he flies towards the other girls
Lucien keeps a considerable distance from Saria as he tells Claire all the 'details' he avoided when telling his story earlier. He doesn't hide anything from his beloved sister, and she is shocked by many things, including his almost certain connection to Aylin, the most famous Dragon Queen.
But they don't have much time to talk as after fifteen minutes, Lust warns him of a big Mermaid Army ahead, possibly more than a million of them.
"There is also a gigantic and very powerful creature!' She reports."
"The Leviathan???" He quickly asks.
"Not." She answers. "This creature is between the eighth and ninth layers of the Immortal Realm, but it's complicated to describe Its power precisely as it is enormous and must have unbelievable brute strength."
"Don't worry; it's Marini, Saria's guardian." Claire quickly explains.
"Guardian? What kind of Guardian?" Lucien asks.
She smiles and points forward. "You will see..."
On the horizon, Lucien begins to see small tents appear over the sea, hundreds of thousands of them. And in the center, something that looks like a giant floating rock.
But as he gets closer to that place, he notices that in front of that rock, a big head is half-submerged in the water.
"A giant turtle?" He thinks aloud as he can only describe that creature as a turtle with a giant shell made of rock.
"Yep, that's Marini," Claire responds. "She not only protects Saria and the other Mermaids from other giant sea creatures, but she also provides us with a nice place to travel on with her huge shell."
The group approaches Marini, who represents the center of the vast Mermaid army camp. The Mermaids prefer to set their tents above water as they like to regularly breathe fresh air and know that the Nagas are more efficient the deeper into the sea they fight.
Above the shell of the giant mystic turtle is like an open-air palace with a large pool in the middle. The place is very beautiful and luxurious as the castle of any usual royalty member.
Lucien also notices some luxurious tents on the turtle shell, protecting a human bed and other furniture, certainly for Claire.
But there are also some luxurious chairs around the pool, where Saria is with Mira and Kamala right now. The water in that pool magically glows, making it clear that it is exceptional.
The group lands in front of the pool as thousands of Mermaids watch from afar. There are also some Mermaids on top of the gigantic turtle. They are Saria's personal servants who are now carrying trays of food and drink as they fly.
"Oh, you have a Moon Tiger!" Saria makes an amazed expression when she sees Oya. Yet, she is also surprised to notice Helena's wings. "And an... angel?"
"Fallen Angel." Helena corrects in a respectful but also proud tone.
"Ohh..." Saria doesn't really understand what that means, but she notices that Helena has the scent and energy of Lucien all over her body. [His wife too?]
Then she looks at him and is shocked when she realizes his clothes are dematerializing as he enters the pool, making her freak out.
"Hh-ey! H-hey! HEY!!!! W-hat are you doing?!?!? T-this is toooo..." She can't even speak properly as her brain tries to fight her body's desire to see Lucien's naked body.
He stops after taking a few steps into the pool, wearing only his underwear. "I just wanted a swim in this pool..."
"..." Claire and Saria can't say anything as they are too focused on enjoying Lucien's perfect body. Lust, Oya, Helena, Kamala, and Mira also don't miss the opportunity to enjoy that heavenly view.
"Swim…" Saria seems to be having a hard time processing what's going on.
"Yeah," He nods. "Can I?"
She quickly nods. [Why would I stop you from swimming in my pool... naked.]