Chapter 3967: The Right Direction (Part 2)

Taken individually, these annoyances were a small price to pay to have so much fertile land and the Overlord’s support. As a whole, however, they were a cruel torture to the merfolk.

They hated the feeling of getting dirty while working the fields, the heat of the day, the cold of the night, and the sluggishness of their movements. Without the water supporting their supple bodies, the merfolk were clumsy and slow.

While a single stroke of their webbed limbs propelled them dozens of meters forward at astounding speed in the ocean, one step covered an insignificant distance on the surface.

The Blood Desert’s oasis had beautiful colors and delicious food, but that was it. As the excitement of novelty wore off, many merfolk had started regretting their choice to come to the surface and craved the cool embrace of the sea.

It was the reason fixing the Desert Heart was so important, and Salaark had asked Lith not to intervene too much. If a merfolk solved the problem and their people decided to settle on the surface as a result, they would have gone down in merfolk history.

If Lith solved the problem, instead, it would have been a footnote among his lesser feats, and the merfolk would have moved on to grumbling about the next item on the long list of their grievances.

Lith and the others had no idea how complex the situation actually was and took a nap at the end of the banquet. The sudden change of climate and time zone took a toll on everyone, but especially on the children.

Rem was still working on the Desert Heart when she was notified that her guests had woken up.

’Thank the sea gods I promised Lith I’d teach the swimming technique of my people to his little ones.’ She thought. ’It’s the perfect excuse to spend the rest of the day in the water without looking like a hypocrite.’

Rem was tired, drenched in sweat, and her head hurt. She was no Songster, and her magical abilities outside of combat were limited. Yet she had given her all to lead the other merfolk by example and not let them get discouraged by the endless issues they encountered.

Making the Desert Heart roughly reproduce a single merfolk song like Lith had done was easy. Making it echo a symphony of harmonious sounds without discordant notes from multiple songs overlapping at the same time was another story entirely.

Luckily for Rem, the Songsters were experts in their job, and with each progress they made, they grew more confident in their ability to bring the work entrusted to them to completion.

They had already reached the point where their pride as merfolk and professionals made failure a personal affront.

’Rem is right.’ The Songsters thought, each on their own. ’Our ancestors have left in-depth instructions about how to craft surface Sea Hearts. The problem is that most of the terms used to describe them belong to now-dead merfolk languages.

’If we understand to which modern word those terms correspond, completing the Desert Heart will be a piece of algae. Even if we don’t, I refuse to let Mogar know that while every single gods-damned race moved forward, we merfolk are the only ones who regressed!’

Rem left the dim light of the tent, and the scorching sun of the Desert welcomed her, forcing her to shield her eyes with her hands.

"Change your clothes before you meet my Featherlings. You are indecent." Salaark appeared out of thin air and pointed at the Rem’s desert robe. It was soaked in sweat and stuck to the merfolk like a second skin. "Also, you smell."

Rem looked down, discovering that she could see through the fabric that was supposed to cover her. She wore a special bathing suit underneath, but it was still unbecoming to anyone who wasn’t a beast.

Worst of all, Salaark was right about the smell. Another unpleasant surprise of living on the surface was that the merfolk had discovered that their sweat carried the stench of dead fish.

"You’re right, Overlord. I’m sorry." Rem gave Salaark a bow before jogging towards her home.

***

"Weird. Rem has never been late before." Lith shrugged. "I’ll wait for her on the beach."

"Yes, finally!" The kids shapeshifted their clothes into bathing suits and turned to their parents with an expectant look.

"Why are you looking at me like that, sweetie?" Elina asked.

"Aren’t you going to swim with me like always, Mom?" Aran asked.

"What? No!" Elina turned beet red in embarrassment.

’I’d rather die than show my almost naked body to a bunch of strangers.’ She thought.

Elina had no problem wearing a bathing suit in front of her children, but she would never do it even if just Jirni and Orion were present.

"You’re a spoilsport, Grandma." Leria clicked her tongue. "Let’s go, Mom."

"Go where?" Rena looked around like a trapped animal.

"To swim. Where else?" Leria asked.

"I can’t. Ask your uncle." Rena couldn’t throw her husband under the bus, but she had no qualms about her brother.

"What about you, Mom?" Leria asked Selia.

"I’m sorry, sweetie. It’s a mom thing." She replied.

’I don’t care about the swimsuit, but I don’t want everyone to draw comparisons between my body and the Verhens’.’ The huntress thought, her pride hurting at the mere idea.

"You can ask your dad, though." She nudged at Ryman, who shapeshifted into his hybrid form.

"The last one to the beach smells like wet dog!" Protector rushed forward, leaving everyone in the dust but Solkar.

The pup bit his father’s tail and let Ryman carry him to an honorable second place.

"Are you coming with us, Solus?" Lith asked while shapeshifting his clothes into swimming trunks.

"No thanks." She swallowed hard, doing her best not to stare like everyone else. "You take care of Aran and Leria. I’ll build a sand castle with the babies."

"That’s a good idea." Lith nodded, handing them Elysia and Valeron.

"Take Surin too." Elina said.

"And Dripha." Jirni said.

"And Solkar." Selia looked around for the missing toddler. "Where is he? Has anyone seen my baby boy?"

"You mean that one?" Lith pointed at the tiny Skoll happily barking on the head of the huge Skoll as he paddled through the water while chased by three smaller Skolls.

"Solkar, no!" Selia cried in worry. "What if he falls off the oaf’s head and drowns?"

"Yeah, right." Solus turned around and walked away with the babies and Menadion.

Selia’s words offended and outraged every merfolk within earshot. Protector wasn’t that far, and any merfolk could cover that distance from the shore in a heartbeat. With just a few words, the huntress had questioned their hospitality and skill as swimmers.

"I have complete trust in you." Selia said once she noticed the entire neighborhood glaring at her. "I’m worried because Solkar is very young and he can’t swim!"

"Really?" A young merfolk woman pointed at the Skoll pup as he paddled around his father and barked happily. "What about the wings?"

"What w-" The words died in Selia’s throat when Solkar came out of the water with a single flap before cannonballing on Lilia. "The wings! I forgot about the wings."

"We noticed." The merfolk snorted, shook their heads, or did both before resuming their afternoon activities.

"That ended well." Selia hid her face behind her hands in embarrassment.

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