Chapter 5
Sion was accompanied by Lilia to the bathroom.
All of them who had been dressed before were now exposed in all their glory.
Only Lilia, next to her, had a towel covering the front of her body. She looked somewhat embarrassed.
The explanation was that towels are used to wipe wet bodies, but as someone who doesn't mind having a wet body, it didn't feel right to Sion.
It was a strange group of people, Sion thought.
Is this what companionship and friendship are like?
Though she has spent 700 years in this world, she doesn't think she has ever had this kind of relationship with anyone.
First of all, it had been more than a hundred years since she had had a conversation with anyone.
She has not shared anything with anyone.
She had been confined to a small house in the middle of a vast ocean.
――I feel a little restless, though.
Sion can't help but smile.
But I suppose that's one of the good things about being a creature on the surface.
Understandably, they would want to pack a lot of things into a single day because of their short life span.
Mermaids have nothing to do except what is necessary for their lives, so most things are the same no matter when they do.
「T-The hot water seeps in and hurts......!」
「Nyawawawa...... is this a torture-nya!?」
Everyone was taking a shower while making a lot of noise.
It is a fresh sight from everything.
It was the first time for Sion to see a creature with legs naked. She is even impressed that the legs are like this.
The living environment of the things in the bath was so different from hers that she could not even imagine what they were used for.
You can only understand it when you see it in use.
「You have a very cold body, aren't you?」
「On the contrary, it is quite warm there, isn't it?」
Lilia's hot hand touches Sion's back.
She was touched by Mars earlier, so she is not surprised, but she is still amazed at the heat generated by the creatures on the surface. Although it doesn't go so far as to cause burns, the shock is close to that.
The heat of the will to move forward is different from her own, who had been protecting the dungeon in the undersea city and had done nothing, keeping her interest at a distance from the surface.
The heat generated by such a will is probably oozing out of her body, Sion felt.
「That......What are you doing? I smell something sweet.」
Hazuki and Nemu were using a round sponge-like object to rub something foamy on their bodies.
She seemed to be in pain from the sunburn, and her face contorted with each rubbing.
The smell was of flowers, but Sion had never seen them before and did not understand their quality.
She only barely knew the sensation of sweetness.
「We are washing our bodies. Don't mermaids wash their bodies, too? Well, if you think about it ......, maybe they don't need to. After all, they are in the water all year round.」
A mermaid's body does not get dirty.
As Lilia says, the environment is a factor, but it is also because there is little generation of waste products.
「I-I'd like to try that one too if you don't mind!」
「Of course I don't mind, but......is it safe to wash that? Um......Shouldn't you remove that slime?」
Lilia's gaze glanced toward Sion's lower body.
――The lower half of my body cannot even move on the surface.
I didn't think anything of it before, but now I feel inferior compared to these women.
I know it's simply a matter of optimizing for the environment, but .......
Then Sion remembers one of her abilities.
She had forgotten about it because she never had a chance to use it much.
「May I see your legs for a moment, Lilia-sama?」
「M-My legs? S-Sure, but If you could please not look here too much.」
Since her lower body was on the floor, Sion's viewpoint was low, and Lilia's crotch was just in front of her eyes.
She was covering her front with a towel, but Sion was curious about the base of her legs.
When she asked her for help, she turned red, removed her eyes from Sion's, and rolled up the towel.
There was a faint pinkish streak there.
When Sion touched it with her finger, it was softly swallowed and did not feel repulsive.
It was so soft that she wanted to touch it forever.
As she moved her fingers around, Lilia chopped at Sion's head and took a step back.
「Hmm!? W-Where are you touching!? Even if we are of the same sex, I won't allow you to go that far!」
「Eh, d-did I do something wrong?」」
「T-This is the genitals! Mermaids have it too, don't they!?」
「Ohh, so this is the intercourse organ of those on the surface! It's so different from mine!」
Everything about it tickles her curiosity.
Lilia seemed to really dislike it and was quite distant from her.
「Sion-san, you have a greater sense of distance than I do. ......」
「You were touching Nemu too-nyaa. It's the same-nyaa」
「Even I wouldn't have touched your pussy!」
It seems that Sion sense of distance is strange.
She had never thought of that until they told her, so she was slightly embarrassed.
Thinking back, she couldn't get along with other mermaids either.
She was sad to think that perhaps everyone thought so.
「By the way, what is this bulge here? It's the place where it splits in two.」
「T-That's the butt. That reminds me, you don't have one, aren't you. ......」
Sion's lower body is a perfect fish.
In other words, it is streamlined and not uneven(?) like humans.
「Fumu, fumu... ...... I think I understand most of it! Now then――」
Concentrate on the lower half of her body and she activates the magic.
「T-The legs are growing!?」
「Nyaa!?」
「Wow! Eh, awesome! What is that magic!?」
From the lower half of a fish to the lower half of a human.
No one would be able to tell that Sion is a mermaid by looking at her now.
「This is the leg ......! It's split in two, it's a strange sensation.」
Her first legs could only move unsteadily.
She was not used to supporting her weight with her lower body. She was not even accustomed to gravity.
She almost fell, and with Lilia's support, she managed to stand up.
But she was impressed.
She had never seen the legs properly, and one of her dreams that she had never been able to achieve had come true.
「――By any chance, did you use my legs as a reference?」
「Yes!」
Sion used Lilia's feet as a reference because of their similarities in height and body shape.
It was not a sexual interest, but an observation for morphological copying.
Morphological copying is almost a magic of copying, and if you want to, you can even copy the whole body,
It is possible because of the magical power of mermaids, and it is difficult for humans to master. It is a level of magic that can only be mastered with a 【Forbidden Magic Book】. Moreover, it takes a lot of magic power to maintain it. In other words, Sion was using this magic by reducing her life span.
「If you look closely, it certainly looks just like Lilia-san's!」
「It feels strange to have another leg of my own ...... and to be looking at it like this, especially around the g-genitals」
Lilia looks away with a face that says she can't bear to look at it.
「I've only mended the appearance, but the inside is still me. I'm going to adjust the legs by moving them repeatedly. Perhaps the joints and muscles are a mess.」
However, she is happy that she was able to mend the appearance at least.
She can walk around freely to some extent now.
「I wonder if I will be able to follow your adventures?」
――I want to have adventures!
At some point, Sion stopped being nervous.
It is a coldness of heart that most mermaids experience.
And many come to experience life by way of battle.
The death line is the quickest place to tell you that you are alive.
Sion, uninterested in fighting, has survived by collecting things on the surface.
Swimming around in the vast ocean and collecting the treasures is an adventure of sorts.
But she was tired of doing it alone.
Surrounded by time-stagnant collectibles, she felt that it was just nothing but emptiness.
She understands that the underwater city is in a critical situation, but she cannot seem to stop her curiosity.
Conquer the dungeon and kill the Sea God. And finally, save the undersea city.
As a mermaid shrine maiden, she knows what she must do.
Still, her personal desire is to just have fun.
Even though she has only been with Mars and the others for a few hours, she's more excited than she has ever been in her entire life.
That's why she wants to be with them more.
Because she is sure that they will take her to an unknown world full of surprises.
――I want to start over.
I want to continue my life with these people.
「Oohhh! I'm looking forward to the adventure with you!」
「Looking forward-nyaa!」
The two who were washing their bodies agreed for her to join the group in a very lighthearted manner.
Lilia seemed to be in the same boat, neither interrupting nor denying.
They seem to have a strong sense of camaraderie, still, Sion was surprised to learn that it might not be so difficult for her to join the group.
「It sure would help if you could walk on your own. Hmm, come to think of it, is there air in the dungeon ......? If not, it would be a problem before the attack, though. It's like we're all going to drown.」
「It's all right. I can use magic to create air. There are many situations where water is inconvenient, even for mermaids. For example, metals tend to rust in water. We place such items in the same condition as on the surface.」
「So we don't have to swim?」
「It would drive the water out of that space, so it's possible to walk. And there are places in the underwater city where there is air. It's gone now, though, but long ago we used to interact with other races. In those cases, we have prepared a space for them to be able to breathe. Somewhere along the way, those exchanges stopped, though ...... It's still in the ocean, after all, so it must be hard to come.」
Sion was aware of the submarines that Mars currently possessed.
To be precise, she had seen several of the same types.
A long time ago, a mysterious group had come aboard one of those submarines.
They were a group of people whose entire bodies were covered with loose-fitting robes and whose race was unknown.
They had no difficulty manipulating supernatural magic, giving civilization to the underwater city, and then leaving.
Sion's knowledge of the surface is the residue of what they passed on to the mermaids, the rest being gleaned from flotsam and jetsam and the rumors of the mermaids.
「Sion asked us to come with her, so I thought the air was normal and okay! Because if it wasn't, she wouldn't have invited us, would she? I bet Mars-san thought so too. That's why I didn't ask!」
Hazuki says to Lilia with a smug look on her face.
It's as if she's trying to stir things up(?).
「Y-You little ......!」
Gununu, Hazuki proudly mocks Lilia, who gets angry.
It was unbearable that both of them were totally naked. (?)
Sion found herself laughing loudly.
When was the last time I laughed like this? She doesn't think she has laughed for hundreds of years.
It is different from the ocean floor where everything is predictable. Everything is unpredictable. What I consider to be normal does not apply. That's because I'm interacting with other people.
――A warm feeling. I know this feeling.
Ah, I see, Sion remembered something that convinced her.
――This brightness is like the sun.
It is the warm light that I had seen from the bottom of the sea. It is the light of life that was felt only in the distance.
It is a light that cannot be created by a mermaid whose heart dies and repeats the same day after day.
And I had another thought. No, I realized.
Perhaps I wanted this situation.
A situation where I could escape from the role of a shrine maiden. That the end would come to the underwater city.
「Sion-nyan is also friend-nyan. But she's Nemu's underling-nyaa? That's the order-nyaa.」
Nemu in the bathtub beckons with a hand as if to say, "Come here".
Before she knew it, Nemu's chin rested on the edge of the bathtub, her whole body relaxed and floating in the hot water.
「Let's see... ...... Nemu-senpai? Was it? What did you call your predecessors on the surface?」
「! Senpai-nya!? That's it-nyaa! Nemu-senpai-nya!」
Nemu got out of the bathtub with a splash and came up to Sion with a very happy face.
Then Nemu patted Sion on the back.
「I-In that case, I'm veteran Hazuki,...... General Hazuki!」
「What are you the general of ...... putting aside if it were just Nemu, it would be a mess if everyone had a title」
If you were the general, what kind of title would the master have? Lilia chides Hazuki with a dumbfounded voice.
「Well.......We have a loose atmosphere like this, but rest assured that you'll fit in with us in no time. Mars...... Master's policy and we usually spend time together as friends rather than as fellow adventurers.」
She said her master wanted it, but Lilia's expression seemed to indicate that she herself wanted this relationship.
This sentiment was understandable to Sion.
A few moments of peace and quiet can be a source of sustenance for a long life.
The sharing of small feelings is more important than anything else.
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