The merfolk kingdom was located deep beneath the ocean, so this crystal palace was naturally completely submerged in seawater as well. Yu Deng was so confused that he momentarily forgot how to breathe underwater, opening his mouth and blowing out a string of bubbling sounds.
After Yu Deng asked that question, the scale became even hotter. Its edge also lifted slightly, faintly revealing something hidden underneath.
Yu Deng widened his eyes and worriedly placed his palm over the scale, trying to press it back down.
"Ulysses, your scale really looks like it's about to fall off…"
Yu Deng sat on the edge of the seashell bed while the merfolk floated in front of him. After Yu Deng stroked and pressed the scale, Ulysses, who had originally been letting him freely handle his tail, suddenly swished his tail and leaned forward, grabbing Yu Deng by the wrist.
Yu Deng immediately couldn't move.
"Eh? I haven't finished wiping it yet." He stubbornly turned his head, trying to look at the scale from before. "Hmm? Your tail is already clean… But your scale is coming loose, and there seems to be something strange growing underneath it."
Could it be some kind of tumor or something? No, wait, could merfolk even develop that…?
Yu Deng couldn't figure it out, but he was extremely worried about it.
His quest target couldn't have anything happen to him!
The clueless little princess still hadn't realized how serious the situation was. His several questions were practically pouring oil onto the fire in Ulysses's heart.
The smooth, firm muscles of the merfolk's upper body tensed as he slowly said, "I'm not sick… No, rather, this is a unique part of a merfolk's anatomy."
Yu Deng didn't understand. He blinked in confusion.
"A unique part of your anatomy…?"
Wasn't it just a fish tail? Could there really be some other special structure?
Looking at the slow-witted little princess, the merfolk suddenly curved his lips into a smile. His sea-blue eyes restrained emotions that were far too dark and turbulent, making them appear almost black.
"Looks like the little princess doesn't know much about merfolk… Would you like to touch it again? Then you'll understand."
The merfolk's voice was deep and pleasant, with a magnetic quality full of temptation. He spread his tail out in front of Yu Deng again, silently tempting him to touch him once more.
Confused by the merfolk's attitude, Yu Deng's curiosity got the better of him, and his fingertips landed on the scale again.
The warmth of his body passed through to the scale and instantly spread throughout Ulysses's entire body, making the merfolk's heart pound heavily.
Under the little princess's gentle touch, the merfolk's reaction became even more obvious. The scale lifted about half a centimeter, and the thing underneath it also emerged slightly.
Yu Deng finally saw what this "tumor" actually was.
He stared down blankly for several seconds, then raised his head and met the fierce and handsome merfolk's gaze for a moment before finally realizing what was beneath the scale.
Beneath that scale was actually the merfolk's… intimate part.
Yu Deng's beautiful little face instantly flushed crimson. He pushed Ulysses's tail away and stammered angrily, "Y-You should have said it was that sooner… You bad fish, you pervert!"
He had actually thought the merfolk was sick, only for it to turn out to be this!
"It seems that telling Your Highness the Princess about something like this right away would have been even more impolite."
The merfolk's voice carried a gentle note of apology, but there wasn't the slightest trace of regret in his eyes.
"Little Princess, I'm very uncomfortable right now. Could you help me?"
The now-clean fish tail pressed against him, and those sea-blue eyes stared fixedly at Yu Deng. The merfolk was being utterly straightforward in asking for sex.
Yu Deng met the merfolk's gaze and belatedly realized what exactly he was asking for.
Of course he couldn't agree to that! Not to mention that they had only just met… He had just left the dragon territory, and the giant dragon leader Oriel had exhausted him for two whole days. He still hadn't recovered!
"I don't want to…" Yu Deng turned his head away and pushed the fish tail aside. "You're a bad fish. I don't want to help you do, do that kind of thing!"
The merfolk's pupils became almost slit-like, making his eerie, cold, inhuman aura even stronger. It was as though in the next moment, he might drag his beloved princess into a lightless abyss and mate with him.
"Is it not allowed?" the merfolk sighed softly, sounding rather regretful.
Yu Deng shook his head. "No. Earlier, when we were on the surface, you promised you wouldn't scare me or bully me again… And I'm so sleepy. I want to sleep."
Yu Deng's voice lingered slightly at the end, sounding almost exactly like a spoiled, aggrieved whine. The merfolk fell silent for a moment, then chose to suppress his merfolk instincts under the little princess's gaze.
"All right. I'll take Your Highness the Princess to rest."
The merfolk took Yu Deng's hand and led him to another luxurious and spacious room. This was the room belonging to the merfolk leader.
"You can rest here. Is that all right?"
The shell bed in the room was enormous. Its outer shell was deep black, while the inside was lined with fine velvet and seaweed. Yu Deng nodded and clumsily climbed inside.
The merfolk lowered his eyes and looked at Yu Deng curled up on his bed. His thoughts suddenly became peaceful. He began to sing softly, soothing the little princess who had just entered the deep sea.
Yu Deng really was sleepy. With the merfolk's lullaby soothing him, he quickly drifted off into a dream. Just before he completely fell asleep, Yu Deng felt as though he had forgotten something.
—He had forgotten to ask about that strange fish, and what exactly Ulysses's identity was for him to be able to live in the palace.
...
Outside the palace.
The merfolk kingdom, which should have quieted down for the night, was unexpectedly bustling. They were discussing what they had witnessed that evening, their emotions unusually excited.
"I heard the leader brought back a human? How can those cunning, hateful humans enter our kingdom!"
"Is it the king's prey? The king has never seemed to hunt humans before."
"You've got it wrong. That human was carried back by the leader, and that human is incredibly, incredibly beautiful! I don't hate him at all!"
"Me neither. When I saw him from afar, I actually wanted to smile at him."
"Ahem, allow me to remind you all—that's the little princess of Sturitt."
Yu Deng knew nothing about the merfolk's discussion, nor did he know that the merfolk leader had spent the entire night lying beside the shell bed, watching him.
Yu Deng slept in the merfolk leader's bedchamber, and by the time he opened his eyes, it was already the next day.
Still bleary-eyed, Yu Deng opened his eyes and stared blankly at the floating seaweed blanket in front of him for several seconds before finally remembering that he was now in the merfolk kingdom deep beneath the sea.
"Good morning, Your Highness the Princess."
"Huh? Good morning." Yu Deng turned his head and saw the merfolk beside him. "Ulysses, I want to go outside and look around. I haven't seen what the merfolk kingdom is like yet."
The merfolk didn't answer immediately.
He gazed at the little princess's beautiful face as certain gloomy, obsessive emotions continued to grow and spread within his heart.
He wanted to give the little princess every pearl and gemstone. He wanted to hide the silly little princess away in the crystal palace where no one could see him—especially those covetous males.
"Ulysses? Are you listening to me?" The spoiled little princess wasn't very patient. He knitted his brows and urged him, "Can't I go outside and look around?"
There was hardly any difference between this urging and acting spoiled. The merfolk immediately cast aside those gloomy thoughts.
"You can. But the little princess needs to change clothes first."
"Hm?"
A mermaid maid had already brought in the clothes the little princess needed. The merfolk leader personally helped Yu Deng change. His cool fingertips landed on Yu Deng's shoulder as he gently undid the soaked dress.
With the merfolk's help, the white dress that had become transparent after getting soaked was removed and replaced with a gorgeous sky-blue long dress that kept the snow-white skin beneath from being seen by others.
After changing into his new outfit, Yu Deng went outside the palace.
The merfolk kingdom looked much livelier during the day than it had the previous night. Yu Deng saw all kinds of colorful merfolk tails, as well as schools of different fish swimming between the buildings, their bodies shimmering with faint, ethereal light. The territory of a fantasy race really was beautiful enough to seem unreal.
When Yu Deng swam out of the palace, every merfolk on the street turned to look at him in unison. They were first stunned for a moment by the little princess's beautiful appearance before remembering to greet Ulysses.
"Leader."
"King."
Ulysses nodded faintly.
Listening to the way the merfolk addressed Ulysses, Yu Deng finally realized that his quest target was actually the merfolk leader.
Wait, in that case, hadn't he been tricked again…? After all, this guy was the merfolk leader. How could he possibly not know the way? Hadn't the queen said that the merfolk were going to visit the Kingdom of Sturitt?
Yu Deng turned his head and accused him, "Ulysses, you were lying to me yesterday, weren't you… You definitely knew how to get to the land."
The merfolk leader admitted it without the slightest hesitation.
"Mm. I seem to remember how to get to the land now."
Yu Deng was dumbfounded by the way this shameless bastard could admit it so calmly. After a long moment, he finally scolded him, "You're really, really bad!"
The merfolk's eyes were filled with a sick, gloomy affection and possessiveness that he could barely conceal. He chuckled softly.
"All right, I'm a bad guy. But you have already come to the merfolk's territory. Without the merfolk's protection, humans have no way to breathe in seawater, little princess."
Those words should have counted as a threat. But the merfolk's tone was gentle and soothing, with a hint of anticipation, so it didn't sound like a threat at all. It sounded more like he was coaxing the little princess into staying a little longer.
Yu Deng glared at him for several seconds before angrily huffing and turning away, refusing to look at him.
There was nothing he could do. Who told this guy to be his quest target?
Meanwhile, the viewers in Yu Deng's livestream room remained just as enthusiastic as ever.
[Baby, your livestream finally started again, hehe. The little princess in the sea is so pretty too.]
[Who else noticed how Baby's long hair spreads out in the water, his eyes all dewy and watery? He's even more mesmerizing than a siren…]
[But in this instance, Baby's livestream room keeps flickering and going black.]
[Are the fantasy races especially bad at controlling themselves? They're bullying Baby all day long, aren't they? (angry!)]
The merfolk in the distance had been watching for quite some time. Finally, one of them mustered up the courage to swim over and greet Yu Deng.
"Your Highness the Princess?"
Yu Deng followed the voice and looked over. He saw several young female merfolk, with a strange fish-headed person behind them.
"Hmm? Hello!"
After greeting the little princess, those merfolk quickly swam away under the leader's displeased gaze. However, the fish-headed person remained in the distance, observing Yu Deng.
Yu Deng met the gaze of this strange fellow, who had a fish head but otherwise human-looking limbs. After a few seconds of silence, he asked the merfolk leader, "Who is he? Why does he look like that?"
"Hmm? He's a friend of some merfolk," the merfolk leader answered.
At that moment, Yu Deng heard a system announcement.
[Ding. A second player has triggered the hidden quest. Other players, please continue trying.]
Huh? Someone else had triggered a hidden quest?
Yu Deng thought about it and figured it was probably his knight—the very clever guild leader of the Candlelight Guild, Song Shiyu.
Thinking this over, Yu Deng continued swimming toward the central district with the merfolk leader accompanying him.
Suddenly, Yu Deng heard a high-pitched scream from a merfolk. The sound waves caused the surrounding seawater to churn.
Yu Deng abruptly turned around and saw several merfolk's tails twitching violently. Their sharp fingernails had grown long, and their eyes were blood-red. Not far away, a strange school of fish was rapidly swimming toward them. These fish weren't as large as the squid-like creature from last night, but they were just as grotesquely ugly.
Yu Deng: "!?"
The school of fish was incredibly fast. The neat streets instantly became shrouded in darkness as the seawater churned violently and waves surged, carrying an unbearable sense of despair and suffocation.
Yu Deng's vision darkened slightly. He seemed to hear an ethereal yet anguished moan in his ears.
However, he soon felt much better because the merfolk leader had cast a protective spell around him.
"Your Highness the Princess, don't be afraid. I'll deal with these fish."
Ulysses's expression darkened. He leaped forward and plunged into the school of fish, sending wave after wave crashing out and killing the strange fish darting everywhere. He then used the waves to forcibly restrain the merfolk who had suddenly grown sharp, elongated claws and fangs.
Amid the chaos, Yu Deng caught sight of the fish-headed person. The other party pulled out a familiar defensive shield from the system shop and hid in a corner beneath it.
Oh.
So that was actually a player.
Fortunately, the other party didn't seem to be an extreme-type player, but rather a self-preserving, lazy player who just wanted to survive.
Yu Deng turned his gaze away.
The situation around him was still chaotic. Yu Deng saw a little mermaid girl in front of him being surrounded by the strange fish, several of them biting at her fish tail. The little girl let out a miserable cry.
Yu Deng lowered his head, unable to bear watching. After hesitating, he took out his scepter and innocently waved it toward the little girl.
He didn't know whether the scepter could actually attack, but he wanted to help the little mermaid.
The scepter swept gently through the water, and a gentle force landed on the little girl's fish tail. The strange fish instantly shattered into pieces.
The little girl looked up at Yu Deng with tears in her eyes and gave him a grateful smile before quickly swimming away.
Yu Deng tightened his grip on the scepter and turned to look at the out-of-control merfolk, unsure of what to do.
These frenzied, uncontrollable merfolk seemed somewhat similar to the situation with the dragons…
By this point, Ulysses had almost finished dealing with the mutated fish. He left the few stragglers to his subordinates before swimming back to Yu Deng.
Seeing the scepter in Yu Deng's hand, Ulysses fell silent for a few seconds before asking softly, "Is this your authority, Your Highness the Princess?"
The treasure of the Kingdom of Sturitt, the little princess born beneath holy light—could he really help the merfolk?
Authority?
Yu Deng hesitated and shook his head. "I don't know, but I guess it counts…?"
After all, the description of his item did say that he possessed the authority of the princess. And when he had checked his items yesterday, he had even discovered that he now possessed part of the dragon leader's authority.
Thinking of this, Yu Deng called out to Ulysses.
"I'm not really sure whether I can help you, but I can give it a try."
The merfolk leader didn't hesitate to believe his beloved little princess. He wrapped his arms around Yu Deng from behind.
"Your Highness the Princess, please do as you wish."
Yu Deng nervously gripped the scepter and silently focused on what he wanted before raising it.
A few seconds later, pale golden light flashed and spread over the merfolk.
"I don't know if this can heal them…" Yu Deng looked at the merfolk lying across the streets. "It should at least be somewhat useful…"
As the seconds passed, just as Yu Deng had hoped, the merfolk's eyes slowly cleared.
Phew…
Yu Deng had only just breathed a sigh of relief when the merfolk leader suddenly swept him into his arms, almost instantly returning with him to the palace.
"Huh? What are you doing?"
Ulysses's eyes burned with emotion, his chest filled with overwhelming joy. He murmured softly, "Little princess, thank you for helping the merfolk just now. You truly are the treasure of the continent of Eralzea."
Yu Deng had already become somewhat immune to this kind of praise. After thinking for a few seconds, he asked, "So what was happening just now? And that strange creature from last night—is it also like these fish today?"
The merfolk leader was silent for a moment before saying, "Yes. Something has gone wrong with this ocean. It causes creatures that enter these waters to undergo changes. This is the predicament faced by the merfolk."
Yu Deng remembered the fish-headed player and then thought about the deformed marine creatures. His thoughts became a little clearer.
He seemed to know what predicament the merfolk race was facing.
The dragons' predicament was that they would fall into an uncontrollable, violent state, while the merfolk—or rather, the creatures living in these waters—were facing a much more obvious form of mutation.
Merfolk would uncontrollably undergo certain changes. Ordinary fish would mutate. Even humans who entered these waters would undergo changes.
So far, the human kingdom, dragon race, and merfolk race were the three races he knew of that had encountered problems. If all their problems could be summarized in one word, it would be…
Mutation.
Beautiful things becoming terrifying.
Mysterious fantasy races losing control and even undergoing mutations.
Yu Deng struggled to think through all this, then suddenly froze.
If that was the case, he had also entered these waters.
Would he grow a strange fish head too…?
Ugh, that would be so ugly. He didn't want that!
Yu Deng hurriedly touched his cheeks. When he found that all his facial features were still there, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Eh, wait.
Maybe he had relaxed too soon…
Yu Deng kicked his legs experimentally and suddenly froze.
Why couldn't he feel his legs anymore…?
After staring blankly for a few seconds, Yu Deng carefully asked, "Ulysses, if these waters are causing everyone to mutate, will humans entering the seabed also undergo changes? Like growing fish heads and tails or something?"
"In theory, that is possible. However, even if you grow a fish tail, you wouldn't truly become a merfolk," the merfolk patiently explained. "That state is called a pseudo-merfolk. It only manifests some characteristics of merfolk and doesn't last very long."
After hearing the merfolk's explanation, Yu Deng's hands began to tremble slightly.
He grabbed the edge of his skirt and lifted the long hem.
The long, slender, snow-white legs Yu Deng had just had were nowhere to be seen.
In their place was a light-blue merfolk tail.
The scales of the tail shimmered with gorgeous shades of blue. Unlike the sharp fins of an adult merfolk, its fins were soft and fluffy, resembling delicate gauze.
Realizing that this was a merfolk tail, Yu Deng unconsciously slapped it once.
…It was incredibly, incredibly cute.
Ulysses: "...!"
Yu Deng: "???"
It really had mutated…
His eyes widened as he reached out and touched his new tail.
It felt cool and smooth, like precious gemstones. But the tail seemed rather sensitive and couldn't really be touched. Even a casual touch made him feel like shivering.
Yu Deng seemed to hear a click inside his mind, as though System 01 had taken a picture.
"Your Highness the Princess, your fish tail is beautiful."
Ulysses had given him the highest compliment among the merfolk.
Ulysses's fish tail slowly moved closer, instinctively wanting to wrap itself around Yu Deng's tail.
Yu Deng was completely flustered. He grabbed the merfolk leader's arm.
"But, but my legs are gone…"
"Don't be afraid. This is only temporary. Your Highness the Princess's legs haven't disappeared."
Although Ulysses said this, he couldn't help feeling a little regretful.
The little princess with a merfolk tail was simply too adorable.
What a pity it could only last for such a short time.
The merfolk leader had already moved closer. His fish tail was much longer than Yu Deng's and a size larger.
His long tail pressed against the little princess's light-blue tail and slowly coiled around it.
Yu Deng gave a tiny shiver.
Their tails were touching through their scales, so how could it feel so cool and ticklish…?
What a strange sensation.
"D-don't stick to me like that. It's weird…" Yu Deng slowly leaned backward, trying his best to escape the merfolk leader's coils.
Seeing the little princess's tail was so sensitive and delicate, Ulysses became even more excited.
Yu Deng was extremely unaccustomed to his new appearance.
When he still had legs, he could at least kick them a few times in the water to maintain his balance. But after growing a merfolk tail, he had completely lost the ability to figure out how to stand or swim.
Yu Deng's center of gravity tilted backward. He instinctively tried to move his legs to keep his balance, only to end up flapping his tail.
"Mm??"
The little princess who had suddenly grown a merfolk tail was completely inexperienced. He clumsily tried to control his tail and swim, but had no idea what he was doing.
He began flailing around wildly. His tail curled into a loop, the tip pointing upward, while his whole body nearly curled into a ball and lost its balance.
Yu Deng tumbled backward, carried toward the palace entrance by the gentle waves.
Yu Deng blankly hugged his fish tail.
"?"
Waaah, he's floating away!