Chapter 169 Awkward Situation
What was supposed to be a tense situation where Mira and her group fought to the death due to one of the mermaids being impaled turned into something… much more disturbing. At least from Maria's and Celaine's point of view.
Their minds were having trouble keeping up with what is going on and the image of Mira being kissed by a mermaid kept replaying in their minds, causing them to get all flustered.
"Haa… Haa… Please impale us with your large rod as well, Goddess!!" The other four mermaids said with flushed expressions, causing Mira's face to warp in disgust.
Their tone and expressions almost make Mira not even want to kill these masochist mermaids. She's experienced perverts and disgusting people before, but it's always been the other way around where men are trying to dominate her instead of women begging to be dominated.
'This is nothing like those stories or legends about mermaids. Where is the kind that lures unsuspecting travelers with their beauty and voices, only to end up killing them? These are just a bunch of perverted masochist freaks! If anything, they are trying to lure me in just so I can kill THEM!!' Mira thought to herself.
"Umm… Mira, why don't you just let them go? I would really like to avoid causing trouble in a place like this, at least for now." Celaine muttered while Maria nodded.
"Right!? I know that they kissed you without your permission, but they don't hold any ill will towards you. If anything, they seem to hold a bit too much affection for you that it's disturbing. Plus, you don't even like men anyway, so what's wrong with having all of these beautiful women wanting you? Hehe." Maria joked, but silence reigned in over the area after they heard what she said.
…
Everyone was currently staring at Maria with wide eyes, as it seems she doesn't really fully understand the situation. Even Mira was looking at her like she just got betrayed.
"What?! Are you serious?! Goddess is only interested in beautiful women instead of those disgusting pigs known as 'men'?! Does that mean we can begin procreation?!"
"The Goddess is interested in me, even going so far as to call me beautiful? Hehehe. I knew she was just being shy! As long as I can have the Goddess' children, I can die without regret!"
"So the Goddess pierced me to show her affection?! Cough… Hehe."
The mermaids each had a similar reaction to Maria's words that seemed to only make things worse.
"Dammit, Maria! Are you fucking braindead?! Keep your damn mouth shut from now on before you start making things worse!! I'm also thinking that it's time to resume your poison immunity training after we leave this place!" Mira yelled.
"Wha-! Nooo! Please, anything but that! I'll even jump back into lava!!" Maria complained, but everyone just ignored her.
The mood started to become a little awkward now and even the thought of killing these mermaids was fleeting from Mira's mind.
Mira can also see that some of the surrounding mermaids are starting to hear all of the commotions and are wandering over towards them.
That coupled with the somewhat weird atmosphere made Mira give up on killing them for now as she really just wanted to leave.
She took her scythe out of the mermaid that was currently laying on the ground and looked around.
"We're leaving," Mira said these two words, walked over to her companions, and started dragging them to the exit.
But, the 5 mermaids, including the injured one, dashed towards the exit with fierce looks, preventing them from leaving.
"At least stay here for two, no, one week before leaving. I promise that I'll make sure your stay here is worthwhile, plus I still haven't properly apologized for doing something so unsightly earlier. We mermaids are generally a peace-loving race and only kill for survival. You three are also probably tired from your journey seeing that your bodies aren't meant for swimming like ours. So at least allow us to do this much to make up for what I did." The mermaid leader's tone seemed to take a 180 as she said with a serious expression.
"Thanks! We'll take you up on that offer!" Celaine and Maria exclaimed without hesitation before Mira could reject them.
They'd rather stay here and rest than go back into that hell known as the ocean. Anything is better than traversing through the water in a pitch-black environment, not being able to breathe, and constantly fighting difficult sea creatures for hours or even days on end.
They didn't realize how exhausted they are until now, but it hit them like a train. The only thing they want to do now is sleep and have a nice hot meal.
Plus, if the mermaid leader is going to give them apology gifts then that's just a plus, but of course, those will be Mira's.
? Mira wanted to reject but got interrupted again.
"Great! I promise that I will provide you with the best services and will not allow any of those other bitches to lay their hands on you!"
"Oh! I almost forgot to introduce myself. My name is Coralia and I'm the guard captain for our little settlement!" Coralia introduced herself to Mira and her group.
"My name's Maria, Mira's best friend! Nice to meet you!"
"Celaine. Their traveling companion."
The three of them introduced each other and seemed to connect right off the bat.
"Oh! So her name is Mira! Nice to meet you Goddess Mira and I apologize for my rude behavior by embracing your lips. We mermaids are a race that is very affectionate with our salutations. It isn't odd for members of our race to caress each other on the first meeting or even go a step further if the two have a good affinity. I apologize if we offended you and please allow me to make it up to you." Coralia said full of sincerity as she deeply bowed in front of Mira.
Everything she said was true as mermaids do have a different culture compared to other races.
Mira understood that races generally have their own cultures, but she very much dislikes this one.
At the end of the day, she can only curse her bad luck for coming across a place with such a disturbing culture and blame herself for being too beautiful.
She understands how divine her appearance is as it's pretty much the only reason she's on this quest for revenge anyways. Not only that, but most of her problems in the past have stemmed from her beauty. It's just now during this life, her beauty is on a whole other scale.
Mira didn't know if she should praise for being blessed with such beauty or curse at it. Well, at the end of the day, all she can do is sigh and vow to keep getting stronger as almost everything can be prevented as long as you have strength.
"Very well. We will be staying here for the next week. I don't want what happened earlier to happen again or only death will follow. I'll be waiting for your apology gifts as well, don't disappoint me." Mira said in a tone that was a bit more domineering than usual.
Since she can't take her anger out on these bastards, and even if she did they'd probably only beg for more, she can only vent her frustration like this and take it out on Maria after they leave this place.
Just thinking about dumping Maria in a bath full of poison is raising her spirits a bit.
"Yes, Goddess Mira!" Coralia said with a face full of excitement, but her true goal is to leave a good impression with Mira, hoping that she will bed her.
"Stop calling me 'Goddess'. I don't want to attract more attention than necessary." Mira said in an exasperated tone.
"Okay! I will only call you that in private!"