101. A Fishmonger and the Little Mermaid Are a Fine Line Apart
101. A Fishmonger and the Little Mermaid Are a Fine Line Apart
It was deep night.
The bright yellow moon floated in the sky,
and a few clouds drifted distantly as the sound of waves crashing on the far shore mingled with a faint, drifting song.
"La...lala...la...."
A song that made me unconsciously hum along.
The song, carrying a watery-blue magic, drew me toward the beach as the sea seemed to whisper, and I found myself humming along without realizing it.
A desire to succumb and sink beyond those waves welled up inside me.
And, naturally enough,
"Chrono, come to your senses."
"I know that without you saying it."
That song was the song that all the Sirens sing.
Logically speaking, there was no way a song could be heard from the empty sea beyond, right?
Minerva glanced quietly at my face as if checking whether I was truly alright, and then approached me to say...
"If it gets truly difficult, please tell me without fail."
"If it gets difficult, what are you planning to do?"
"Before you get captured and become a prisoner of the enemy, I will personally knock you out and take you away."
"....Okay."
You just try getting charmed yourself.
At that very moment, I'll strike the back of your head and knock you out.
We made a promise to each other, agreeing that whoever got charmed first would be knocked unconscious and dragged away.
"...But what if we're both charmed?"
"There is supposedly a certain procedure to falling to the Siren's temptation. We would likely be able to recognize that stage in each other, so at that time, we'll simply flee."
"But won't we be unable to run away if we've already fallen to the temptation?"
"That point is not a worry."
Minerva answered with a very refreshing smile.
"Chrono, you have Mars and Ur, don't you?"
"Uh......"
"I do not think a person who already has a girlfriend would fall to the charm of a mere monster born from the Abyss."
"....You're not just giving me a backhanded compliment, are you?"
"Who knows."
A voice that somehow carried a hint of emotion.
Anyway, Ultimately, this meant that while you might fall to the charm, I absolutely could not.
'Well, I don't plan on getting charmed anyway.'
It felt like the standards were strangely only high for me, but that was probably just my imagination, right?
...
..
.
More time passed, and it was low tide.
We advanced toward the Siren's dungeon we had seen during the day.
"La~ lala~~~"
"Heuheung....heung...heuheung....♬"
"...Chrono, that..."
Minerva slowly pointed ahead of the dungeon.
Just as Minerva thought, several Sirens began to show themselves in front of the Siren's Cave.
Figures sitting on rocks and singing.
Figures combing their hair with a coral comb.
Even Sirens that seemed like sisters embracing each other, splashing water, and playing pranks.
"They... from looks alone, seem no different from people."
The strength in the rapier held in Minerva's hand weakened.
A loosening of her grip. At the same time, an 'emotion' began to rise in her eyes, as though trying to treat them as persons rather than the killing intent to dispose of monsters.
"Yeah. Exactly as you said."
Exactly as Minerva expressed.
Right before my eyes, the Sirens moved just like people.
Laughing and chattering. Gazing at each other and sharing affection.
Had it not been for the fish tails attached below them, you would have believed them to be humans without a doubt───
Taaang!
"Kyaaak....!"
──Ultimately, because they were not human.
"K...Chrono?"
"I'm going first."
I got up from my spot first and aimed my gun at the Sirens.
"Th...this is for my second daughter!"
"Dieeeee!!!"
The Sirens, who had been brightly laughing and chattering moments before, instantly changed.
Every single one of them bared their killing intent in their eyes, sharpened their claws, and lunged at us.
But even if they lunged, what could they do?
Chabak! Chabak!
"Sure enough, fish are just fish."
Their lower halves were fish.
They would have been faster if they crawled on the ground using their hands.
I immediately turned my gun and planted a bullet in the Siren's forehead.
Tang!
"Uh...Sister....!"
Taaang!
"Even the youngest...!!"
There was no difficulty in aiming.
After all, no matter how fast they came, they were just fish crawling on the ground.
Unless they entered the water right away, their limits were clear.
"Now only you remain."
"Ah....eu....aeut.....!"
The last remaining one.
I aimed my gun at the last Siren remaining on the beach,
"Wait, just wait a moment please!"
"....Why? You want to finish her off?"
Minerva spread her arms and blocked me.
"Th...this, this is wrong. No matter how I think about it, this is wrong!"
"Wrong? What's wrong?"
"This....this is just slaughter!"
Bbaaeek.
Minerva appealed with emotion.
I looked at Minerva quietly and asked.
"Minerva, do you know the promise we made a while ago?"
"Promise...? The promise...... was, definitely...."
Minerva flinched.
The moment her eyes wavered as reason and instinct crossed paths, the Siren behind Minerva's back hugged her tightly.
"P...please save me!"
"Huh? Eh....eut...?!"
I didn't know why she was grabbing her chest while begging to be saved,
but in any case, the Siren knew Minerva was her lifeline, so she clung to Minerva with a desperate voice.
"I'll never come here again! I won't even dream of revenge or anything like that! So... I'm begging you...!"
"....Chrono."
"Tch."
Yeah.
Honestly, I had expected this.
That was because this was already an event that had occurred once in the game──probably back then the event was like this, right?
[Will you kill the last remaining Siren (the second daughter) in front of your party members watching?]
[Y/N]
...Since it was obviously a choice where your affinity would drop if you said you would kill her, I had no choice but to let her live and release her back then.
And next?
'Right after that, I got the hatchery ending.'
Since I already had that information, there was no mercy at the tip of my gun.
However, so that Minerva wouldn't misunderstand me, I asked the Siren across from me.
"Are you feeling wronged because your family died?"
"....Dying happens all the time. So I don't resent you."
"Then you won't resent me if you die by my hand?"
"Ah, aaah! I will resent you! Even if I become a ghost, I will resent you!"
Her opinion flipped back and forth like a coin.
This alone already gave a clear picture of her character, but Minerva still hadn't come to her senses and instead embraced the Siren, starting to defend her.
No, it wasn't just defending.
"Chrono! Please don't play such pranks on this child!"
"Goodness....."
...Should I really just strike the back of her head?
To put an end to this situation, I threw one question at the Siren.
"What's your reason for coming outside?"
"....A walk. And because I get the feeling of wanting to sing on deep nights."
"Then, is it okay if I pick a song too?"
"Euhng....?"
I switched Agape into a keyboard.
The chord to play was B Chord. The difficulty to choose was──Master grade.
'Having played it so much, my hands are a bit used to it now,'
so a song I could essentially play from memory was born.
I turned on every mod and played Agape.
"Woaaah....."
"...Chrono.."
The Siren marveled at the performance flowing from the keyboard, while Minerva looked dumbfounded.
[B Chord-Expert]
[Full Combo]
[ALL Perfect]
[98,997 (SSS)]
"Hoo....!"
A clean Triple S score that was the result of repeated learning.
At the same time, [Power Chord] activated from Agape──deleting stress and mental-type debuffs.
"...How's that? My performance."
"Big Brother... want to be my husband?"
"Not interested. Minerva. How was it for you?"
"It was a splendid performance as always."
Yeah?
Sounded like you listened well from beginning to end.
...Then there was even less reason to hesitate.
"Minerva, how does that fish you're holding in your arms look right now?"
I asked Minerva once again.
"Chrono, I say again, this child is not a fish head, but...."
Although Minerva was still rebuking me and trying to defend the child,
"......Ah."
Only then did Minerva realize.
"Sister?"
"....I see. So that's how it was."
Her eyes had completely regained their reason.
Minerva drew the sword at her waist and stabbed it straight into the Siren's stomach.
"Keheup!? Wh...why.....?"
".....Haaah."
The Siren collapsed in Minerva's arms, vomiting blood.
Minerva let out a small sigh and slowly rose from her spot.
"...Chrono already knew, didn't you?"
"Of course I did. And you knew too."
"Kkeueueung.....!"
Minerva had said it.
The Siren's song contained 'charm'.
That if you kept listening, you would become bewitched before you knew it.
And true to those words, we were already bewitched.
"From where... were we charmed?"
From where?
"Obviously from the very beginning."
"Huh...?"
A flustered look.
It wasn't strange at all.
"We had been listening to it all along even before seeing the Sirens, remember?"
"Ah."
The song that had been drifting along the shore.
Having already heard that, we couldn't help but be afflicted with charm.
But if you peeled off that charm and faced the Sirens with a sober mind?
"....The Siren's charm is beyond imagination."
"I'll agree with that."
Gleaming, bumpy scales and skin.
Webbed hands and gills carved near their lungs.
Their eyes were fish eyes, and their hair was so fully saturated with salt that it was rough enough to be used as sandpaper.
In a word, fish.
And the hideous faces of ugly anglerfish at that.
But if you fell to the charm, if your eyes were veiled by the curtain of the moon, even these ones became precious, cute, and lovable maidens to be cherished in this world.
"Besides, isn't there a saying?"
Women are all about the lighting, the alcohol, and the atmosphere.
Standing on such a romantic shoreline under the moonlight, charmed, and looking at those things, of course feelings that weren't there before would inevitably arise.
"And the men who develop those feelings, a hundred out of a hundred, probably all act the same, right?"
"Huh? What do you...?
....No way...?"
A meaningful look.
Instead of answering, I nodded my head.
"...Oh my god."
Beyond the Siren's nest,
there exist fishmongers and possibility insects that are breeding with the fish.
As an aside,
"Now that I think of it, didn't a few people from the Athena Guild go missing too?"
".....Oh, Main God."
Protect me with your almighty light.