Episode 574
Episode 574
-Becoming close with a race as difficult as sirens wouldn't be easy. Giants weren't exactly the most sociable race either, but that was solely due to their physical characteristics. If one could endure those physical traits, there were few as simple and good-natured as giants. But sirens were notoriously temperamental. Among the many races dwelling in Einrogard's vast wilderness, the fact that few races got along with sirens spoke volumes.
-Then again, he had managed to befriend giants. The boy before him was a rare case—someone with an unusual affinity for forming bonds, having already befriended giants. Occasionally, mages like him appeared. Instead of subduing nature with cold intellect and powerful magic, they became its friends through warmth and kindness. Such mages were usually beloved by the spirits of nature—the elemental spirits.
'He's probably loved by spirits too?'
"Uh, well, I guess you could say I'm on good terms with them."
Lee Han subtly slipped his hand into his sleeve and pushed the baby basilisk deeper inside. The drowsy basilisk hissed in protest.
'So he's close with sirens too? That's fortunate. Go and relay a request for me. The giants need to pass through the tunnels—ask them to help prevent unnecessary clashes.'
"Yes. Understood."
Lee Han answered confidently. While his conscience pricked slightly when dealing with spirits, sirens were different. He was genuinely close with them.
Of course, their first meeting had been a bit... misunderstood. He had thought she was just another aquatic creature to capture for Professor Lightning Step's exam. But afterward, they had hunted mermen together and even weathered the Skeleton Principal's stormy picnic...
'At this point, we're definitely friends.'
Unlike with spirits, this was real friendship. Convinced, Lee Han descended into the tunnels.
* * *
"Is anyone here?"
-♪↗♪↗↗!
-♬♩↗↗↗!
The sirens, singing atop the cool stone slabs of the underground passage, shrieked and dove into the water the moment they saw Lee Han.
Splash! Splash!!
"Uh, I think you've got the wrong person! I'm not suspicious! I'm that first-year student from before!"
Lee Han called out loudly, wondering if they had mistaken him for someone else.
"The mage who helped hunt mermen with you last time!"
The submerged sirens swiftly flicked their fins, retreating to deeper waters. Their determination to get as far away as possible was palpable.
"You've got the wrong guy! The mage who worked with you during that stormy picnic when the winds and rain were raging! Don't you remember? The one who grabbed you by the neck during Professor Lightning Step's exam—"
Lee Han paused. That last part probably wasn't helping.
"...Don't you remember?"
Silence.
"Ah. Maybe the siren I met isn't here? If so, could someone pass along a message?"
Still silence.
Not a single siren responded or emerged from the water. Lee Han realized their wariness was stronger than he'd anticipated.
"Just pass along a message."
Silence.
"...If you don't relay my words right now, I'll fill this entire tunnel with lightning."
Lee Han resorted to intimidation.
The mark of Perkuntra flared on the back of his hand, sparks dancing along its edges. The sirens shuddered at the presence radiating from it—as beings with spirit bloodlines, they instinctively sensed just how powerful the spirit contracted to this mage was.
Of course, Lee Han had no intention of actually summoning Perkuntra.
'If a siren who knows me shows up, the misunderstanding will clear.'
These sirens might not recognize him, but surely one who did would—
Sploosh!
"!"
Not even a moment later, a siren abruptly surfaced.
She appeared so quickly that Lee Han wondered if she had been hiding underwater the whole time rather than coming from afar after hearing the commotion.
Her face was familiar—definitely the siren he had met before.
Lee Han greeted her cheerfully.
"Good to see you! How've you been?"
-......
"I said, how've you been?"
-......
"You don't have to answer out loud. A nod would be enough."
Still, the siren remained silent. Instead, she glared at him with unmistakable displeasure.
'Did I mistake her for someone else?'
Lee Han grew puzzled. Maybe this wasn't the siren he had met before. She looked familiar, but perhaps he was wrong—maybe she was a complete stranger.
"I was told the siren I met would come. If you keep being this uncooperative, I'll have to reconsider my approach. Stop messing around and deliver the message!"
He raised his staff threateningly.
At that, the siren slowly pointed at herself.
"...You?"
She nodded.
"Then why didn't you answer earlier?"
The siren shrugged.
Lee Han didn't understand but decided to let it go. He had more pressing matters.
"Siren, wait. What should I call you? Last time, I was too distracted underwater to ask."
The siren crossed her arms and stared at him, her gaze laced with disdain—the kind that questioned whether a mere human could even pronounce a siren's name properly.
"Ah. Your name must be hard to say."
When she still didn't answer, Lee Han took the initiative.
Among the Empire's rare and unique races, some had their own distinct languages and communication methods. After all, sirens communicated through song rather than common Imperial speech. Racial differences deserved respect.
"In that case, can I give you a human-friendly nickname? Something I can call you. Hmm. How about... Gainando? Gainando, maybe?"
The siren looked horrified and hastily pulled out a stone tablet.
Scrawling hastily in crooked letters, she wrote:
'Parthenope.'
"Parthenope. Got it. Anyway, Parthenope, given everything we've been through, I'd say we're pretty close by now. So I'm trusting our friendship to ask a favor."
-??????????????
Parthenope gaped, utterly lost. If it had been one absurd statement, she could have refuted it—but the sheer volume left her unsure where to even begin.
"I'm guiding giants through the tunnels. Can you help keep other races or monsters from interfering? If a fight breaks out, the whole passage might collapse."
The siren dropped her stone tablet.
Lee Han kindly picked it up and handed it back.
"Are you listening?"
Parthenope scrambled to write a refusal—but then hesitated.
Was this the kind of mage who would just back off if told 'no'?
-......
Absolutely not.
If uncontrolled giants came stampeding through the underground tunnels...
A vivid image of shattered, collapsing passageways flashed through her mind.
I'LL HELP!!!
"Thanks."
Lee Han smiled, pleased.
As expected, their friendship didn't disappoint.
Unlike those damn spirits.
* * *
-Ugh. Humans.
"Not a merman, but a type of merfolk. That's what Ikurusha said."
"What's the difference between the two?"
"Uh..."
"Too complicated. Let's just call them fish." The giants splashed their way through the locked waters of the underground passage. Though the water was quite deep, it was shallow enough for the giants to walk through. The sirens each took up positions along the spiderweb-like side passages branching off the main tunnel, ready to block any unexpected intruders.
-♬♩♩♩♩...
-♩♪♪...
As the sorrowful song of the sirens echoed, the giants recoiled in disgust, covering their ears.
"Ugh! Hate it!"
"Fish songs, so gross!"
'Is this an instinctive reaction?' Lee Han marveled at the giants' response. Though not as resistant as him, giants were famously tough. Yet, the sirens' song clearly provoked this kind of visceral reaction.
Of course, the sirens were equally displeased. As descendants of spirits who took pride in their songs, they had no reason to look kindly upon giants plugging their ears and shouting, "Ugh! So gross!" They glared at the giants with utter disdain.
"Can't you make the song stop?"
Parthenope, who was towing Lee Han's small boat from the front, helpfully offered a suggestion—by miming strangling herself with both hands. Lee Han immediately regretted asking.
'They really hate giants.' Unlike Lee Han, the sirens genuinely despised the giants, and there was nothing he could do about it. Meddling might just earn him their resentment too.
"Hmm... Would it be alright if I sang instead?"
-???
Parthenope stared at Lee Han in shock, unable to fathom what this mage was thinking. She even began to fear he might drink a transformation potion and try to blend in with the sirens. After all, crazy mages were capable of anything.
Noticing the look in her eyes, Lee Han quickly explained, "Not just any song."
Thanks to Bard Ifadur and the Skeleton Principal, Lee Han had diligently studied the foundational structures of music magic while traveling with them. Though his results weren't yet advanced enough to call it "magic," he could still sing a few effective songs.
"Since it carries magical energy, I thought it might at least partially block the sirens' song."
Parthenope didn't stop him. She merely nodded as if to say, "Go ahead and try if you want." Interpreting this as encouragement, Lee Han cleared his throat and began to sing.
"Once upon a time, there was an orc with a hoe,
The orc's field was drowned in a storm,
To the field we go, to the field..."
-?!
Parthenope was stunned. Incredibly, this young mage's song was overpowering the sirens' own! The magical influence of the sirens' song around the giants weakened, fading into distant echoes. She blinked several times and strained her ears, but the phenomenon remained unchanged.
"Mage! Mage!"
"Ah, is it working?"
"We'd rather hear the fish song!"
"The lyrics are too unpleasant!"
"No..." Lee Han was baffled by the giants' reaction. The fact that it worked was surprising enough, but he hadn't expected them to dislike it because of the lyrics. Why?
"The lyrics aren't good? Ah, maybe you don't know what this song is about. It's a legendary tale of an orc farmer who kept plowing his field no matter what disasters struck, teaching even demons to give up—"
"Hate work songs!"
"If the mage keeps singing stuff like this, we won't walk anymore!"
The giants stopped in their tracks and threw a tantrum. Lee Han felt wronged. 'It's a good song.' But since he knew the method worked, he just needed to change the song. He tried a few more memorable tunes:
-The song of the dwarf stonemason who never stopped swinging his hammer even as his fingers wore down (the giants booed).
-The song of the librarian who collected so many books in his mansion that even his bed disappeared, forcing him to sleep atop the piles (only one giant liked it)...
"Oh, there goes the knight, dying from an arrow, dying from a mace, dying from a sword, dying from a spear..."
-This song is great!
-This is what we wanted! Wizard, you're the best!
-The knight dies! The knight dies!
-The knight gets trampled to death! The knight gets run over by sheep!
"......"
The giants, clearly delighted, began enthusiastically singing along—even altering the lyrics themselves. Their booming voices, completely off-key and rhythmless, echoed so loudly through the tunnels that the sirens guarding the side passages clamped their hands over their ears and squeezed their eyes shut. Their expressions looked pained enough to make one consider ending their own life.
"..."
It would've been different with another song," Lee Han hastily explained to Parthenope. It wasn't his fault the giants only liked bizarre songs—if it had been the one about the orc farmer, maybe the sirens wouldn't have minded as much.