"Easy boy. Easy." Kat tried to calm her dog down.


    The creature''s tail that looked like a half of giant fish could be seen from theke, approaching quickly to the shore. Gwen ran as fast as she could out of theke, then hid behind Leva''s back.


    "No, no, no. I can''t stand fish." Gwen hissed.


    "Huh?" Leva raised an eyebrow.


    "Alright, just focus on fighting that creature!" Gwen was starting to sound panicked.


    "Hey, we''re not going to fight him!" Miro eximed.


    And finally, the scaly creature crawled across the surface with both hands and tail. Kat, Leva, and Eric raised their respective weapons while Miro froze. Even though he had met this creature before, the big tall man still looked amazed.


    The half-fish paused, then raised his hands, a gesture that he hade in peace.


    "Put down your weapons," Miro ordered firmly. "If he really wanted to attack, he would have done it earlier, with more people."


    "Looks like he''s not dangerous. You guys better do what Miro says." I gave instructions to my colonists.


    They lowered their weapons, then the creature pointed at Gwen, who was still behind Leva. The creature moved its mouth, looking like it wanted to speak. However, like yesterday, not a single word could be heard. He tried again but to no avail.


    Meanwhile, Gwen, who had been peeking earlier, hid her body even more behind Leva''s back. The half-fish stretched out his hand as if he was about to reach for something, but he pulled it back after a few seconds. He then looked down with his eyes narrowed, looking sad.


    "Remember our agreement, Gwen. Please, speak to the Merman." Miro made a wish.


    "That''s easy for you to say." Gwen''s body was shaking, and I''m sure it wasn''t just because of her wet body.


    "Come on."


    "Just this once, Gwen." I also begged the woman. "This is just to calm Miro down. He will continue to annoy you if you don''t obey him. Don''t worry, I will ask Leva to apany you."


    Taking an unusually long breath, Gwen looked at Miro. "I will, but you have to promise not to disturb me while I''m naked."


    "Of course." Miro nodded with a firm motion.


    "So, what do you want to ask?" Gwen asked again. Seeing Miro, who looked shocked, the blonde woman sighed. "You''re so enthusiastic about me doing this. You must have a question or two for this creature, right?"


    Miro gulped. "Well, I just wanted to ask him, am I really a descendant of Mermans?"


    "What?" Gwen frowned.


    "Well, my mom used to tell me that Mermans are our ancestors. We were strong and brave and noble like them." Miro grimaced while scratching the back of his head. "It would be too long if I told you about their greatness...."


    "Hey, he''s leaving." Leva squeaked while pointing at the Merman who had crawled into the water.


    "Well, here we go." Gwen finally came out of hiding.


    "I know you''re terrified of fish, Gwen," I spoke to the blonde-haired woman. "But don''t show gestures or speech that might offend him. Don''t make an expression of disgust, for example."


    Gwen just nced at me and continued on her way. I then asked Leva to apany the blonde woman. If everyone had apanied Gwen, a misunderstanding could have urred.


    Since the Merman couldn''t hear in the open air, Gwen stood before him. The half-fish creature looked up to look at Gwen with its mouth open.


    The blonde woman looked into the creature''s ck eyes, sighed again, then knelt down.


    I could see that her body was shaking even more.


    In slow motion, Gwen grabbed the creature''s head. The Merman flinched slightly and opened his eyes a little wider.


    After that, Gwen pressed her forehead against the Merman''s and closed her eyes.


    "Hi, my name is Gwen. Who are you?"


    I could hear the voice, but I didn''t see Gwen open her mouth at all.


    No, I didn''t hear it. Gwen''s voice felt like it was inside my head.


    The Merman gasped. "What? What happened? Why can I hear you? Why do I understand what you''re saying?"


    A man''s voice also resonated in my mind.


    "Well, you could say I have some power." Gwen widened her smile.


    "Ah, you''re great...." The Merman closed his eyes too. "My name is Re''i, resident of Fin''ce, the kingdom that resides in thiske."


    "Hello, Re''i. If I may ask, why did you want to see me?"


    The creature named Re''i disyed a smile. His cheeks also started to blush red. "I sometimes get close to the surface of theke... Well, sometimes I want to be alone and away from the other Mermans, Gwen."


    "Well, I used to have a ce to be alone, Re''i," Gwen answered with a shrug. "So, one day, as you approached the surface of theke, you saw me by chance, huh?"


    "Yes, I identally saw you swimming. When I saw your beautiful body and movements, I was stunned, Gwen. I didn''t think that there was a creature as beautiful as you. I was speechless, couldn''t do anything, and just looked at you from a distance."


    Hmmm? Can this be considered stalking?


    Gwen''s mouth opened slightly. "And then?"


    "Honestly, I didn''t dare to meet you, Gwen. I was both scared and ashamed. After all, we are very different. We are in different realms. Maybe you''ll run away in fear if I show up. I don''t want to scare you. You might not want toe back here because of that." Re''i shook his head a little. The smile on his mouth had disappeared. "However, when I returned to my house, I couldn''t sleep because I kept thinking about you, Gwen. You make my heart flutter. I want to see you again, and over time the feeling grows. And finally, I decided to go to the top of theke again. Unfortunately, I haven''t seen you for days."


    "But, I finally met my friends, right?"


    "Ah, so they are your friends?" Re''i nodded. "Yeah, when I saw them, I rushed to the surface to ask you. Unfortunately, you didn''te. At that time, I thought that I would never see you again. Turns out I was wrong! Luckily I still decided to go up to theke to check again and didn''t really give up."


    "And now we meet.." Gwen widened her smile.