In that sense, he had no choice but to be wary of Sante, so that’s what he said.

And it would be a problem if Sante would ever decide to play a wicked joke while he was distancing himself.

“Sante, what I intend to do is to remove all the hazards that could pose a threat to Ophelia’s safety.”

And one of the risks was Alei himself.

“Because you’re there, Ophelia wouldn’t be put in a difficult spot even without me there.”

And, that’s it.

Their conversation ended there.

The misunderstanding had been resolved, and Alei’s intentions were now clear. So, there was no reason to hover in the same place and stand there listening to the sounds of the forest.

In the end, Sante didn’t ask. But it was possible that he could have asked him once.

‘I heard that human relationships cannot be delineated by gains and losses just like that.’

For a siren, a relationship could involve just having a meal together today. It was just that much.

Tomorrow, it might not be possible to eat together anymore. If two sirens decide it would be better to hunt alone than to hunt together, then they could do without each other and cut off the relationship any time.

But humans weren’t like that.

Their relationships were much more complex than the simplicity of eating meals together once.

Sante couldn’t fully comprehend all this, but fortunately, he had accumulated some experience throughout all the years that he lived.

And, that said, he could acknowledge that there was a problem with Alei’s chosen method. It’s just that he couldn’t point out what exactly it was.

‘Seems like you’re very nervous.’

Eventually, that problem was revealed in this way.

Should he speak up about it, he wondered. He thought about it for a moment as he was looking at Ophelia’s face.

If it was another time, he would have directly told Ophelia exactly what he had heard. But this time, it’s strange. He didn’t seem to want to say any of it at all.

Sante stared at Ophelia for a moment, let out a light sigh, and then placed his fur cloak over her shoulders.

“You really don’t let anything slide past. It’s your own business, Ophelia, but you’re thinking too much.”

“Are you worrying about me?”

“Yes. I only bet on the winning side, so you can’t get lost in too many other thoughts and go the wrong way, right?”

In short, what he meant was that since she caught him after she said that she would provide him amusement, then it meant not stopping even for the indignity of it all.

“I don’t have such sadistic hobbies.”

“I’ve never heard anyone wish me luck like that.”

“It doesn’t feel bad to be your first time in that aspect.”

Opening the window widely, Sante sat back on the windowsill with the sunlight streaming behind him. The corners of his lips tugged up.

“There are so many things you’ve taken from me. I think this is enough as a payment.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Who knows. Think of it what you will. I’ll be off now—there’s so much work that my master’s ordering me to do.”

After saying so, Sante fell out the window. No, to be exact, he leaped from the window.

Replacing the muscular man who had just been there on the windowsill, a golden bird resembling an eagle appeared and soared through the air.

The bird was heading towards the coast.

He was about to meet Ariel, the youngest mermaid princess.

* * *

Of course, there was a reason why Sante went to meet Ariel alone.

It’s been a while since Ian had arrived at Ladeen, but he still hadn’t met Ariel.

And the reason was simple—it was because Ariel did not show up at all.

Even when Sante was out to meet her alone, if she so much as thought that a human’s shadow was approaching nearby, she would quickly hide back into the waters.

The cause for this was from a few days ago, and it was shortly after Ophelia caught Sante when he secretly met Ariel and offered her a chance to walk on land.

Instead of interrogating Sante, Ophelia simply asked.

“So, what was Ariel’s answer?”

“If you’re asking for the answer to that proposition, then I’m not sure. I didn’t hear her answer.”

It was something she didn’t expect.

She surmised that an answer would have been given, whether it was a positive or negative response. But he didn’t hear any answer at all?

But her curiosity was soon sated.

“When I met Ariel before, I ordered a hermit crab to call her, and it slipped up and told Ariel’s older sisters. As soon as they heard, they rushed right then. All of them with not a single one left.”

“All seven of them were there?”

“Yeah. I think it’s the first time I’ve seen so many mermaids at once in my life.”

No matter how much he thought about that time, Sante just ruffled his hair and smiled in vain.

Wasn’t it only natural that he’d react this way? For as long as he lived, he had never been bound by any laws or regulations, but there he was, getting caught by a group of mermaids. Had he ever imagined how sore that felt?

“Was it difficult for you to overcome them?”

“Rather than something like overcoming them, it would be better to say that the place itself made it difficult to win over them.”

“Is it because it’s hard for you to move in the sea?”

“That’s true as well, but have you ever heard that saying? That the water’s spirit is shaped like a mermaid.”

“I thought it was only a folktale.”

Or rather, a story that people would tell after they’d fallen victim to a mermaid’s enchantment, mistaking a mermaid for a spirit.

When Ophelia answered him with a tone tinged with doubt, Sante shrugged.

“Just as you’ve said, the spirit can only be found in folktales. But I brought it up because it’s no exaggeration to say that mermaids become like spirits when there is water. Especially in the middle of the vast sea where there’s no land visible on both sides.”

Besides that, Ariel was a lot weaker compared to her sisters. The first mermaid princess was quite wise because of how long she had lived, and then there was the fourth mermaid princess who was famous for specializing in various kinds of magic. It would have been difficult for Sante to confront them.

The first mermaid princess created a tsunami as tall as a three-story building as soon as she saw Sante, and then the fourth mermaid princess conjured projectiles made out of water.

“The mermaids aren’t hostile, but they aren’t weak either.”

After hearing this explanation, Ophelia could understand a little why Ariel was so afraid of her sisters.

But it’s not so good to hear because it would be difficult to meet Ariel now.

Ariel’s older sisters said that they had allowed her to meet the siren, but they were hovering around, cautious of any possible contact with another human again.

Thanks to this, Ophelia was facing some unintended hurdles.

‘Even if she won’t meet Ian, there’s something that?I?have to ask Ariel.’

She tried to solve it through words as much as possible, but as long as Cadelia was here and the temporary temple was being established, she couldn’t stay relaxed anymore.

Ophelia’s plan was about to start in earnest.

To restore Alei’s memories so that they could go to the magic tower.

Or, to find the location of the tower herself.

‘Alei said he regained many parts of his memories.’

Alei didn’t explain it to her in detail again this time, but he did reassure her.

“I remember a lot of things now, Ophelia. It’s a huge breakthrough, and I’m hoping that I can regain my memories a little more so that it’ll be completely restored.”

“How far back have you remembered?”

“Long enough that I can recall the place where I first met Sante.”

And that place was a room that only the lord of the magic tower could enter.

This also meant that his memories of the tower had returned. However, because all the things he could remember for now were limited to the interior of the tower, there wasn’t anything helpful in terms of finding the location. All he saw were many reefs and a huge expanse of water around.

Even so, there was no denying that this was such a significant development.

However.

‘You might not be able to find more memories here.’

Ophelia couldn’t be at ease just yet.

She turned around and walked towards her desk. As she removed some of the documents and books piled up on the surface, she saw a map with many signs written on it.

There was a drawing of the Maynard continent along with the several islands below it. But still, it was a map that had a little more focus on the ocean rather than the land, so it was rarely used unless you were a seafarer.

Of course, there was a reason for this.

This was because this map was not very accurate. Aside from the needed understanding of scaling, the ocean was difficult to record because it was unlike the mountains or the fields that were stationed to the earth. Thanks to this, this map was somewhat rough considering that it was made while the cartographer was on a moving vessel in the waters.

At the Milescet Empire, only skilled navigators would be able to read this map.

‘But not in the Ronen Principality.’

This limitation did not apply to Ophelia, who had once been the Grand Duchess of Ronen.