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Parker turned red and fell silent, so I turned to face the mermaids.

“It seems my foolish senior disciple has caused you trouble. Please allow me to apologize on his behalf.”
“Oh, no, no—fufufu.”

Why does she look so happy about that?

“Isn’t it lovely, having fellow disciples?”
“It’s wonderful.”

The mermaids happily splashed their tails, but I had no idea how to respond.

Personally, I wanted to get straight to the point and ask questions, but they didn’t seem suited for such businesslike conversations.
Since no one would interrupt us here, I decided to take it slow and match their pace.
But first, an apology.

“Parker isn’t a bad guy, but he’s frivolous and easily misunderstood. I hear he said some rude things, so I’d like to apologize on his behalf. I’m sorry.”

The mermaids hurriedly waved their tails from side to side.

“Not at all! Parker is a very sincere person—he’s helped us so much.”

I couldn’t believe my ears.
Sincere?

“But didn’t this guy tell you something like, ‘You can just join the Demon Lord’s Army halfway up’ or something?”
“He didn’t say anything like that?”

The mermaids tilted their heads, puzzled.

“We refused the Demon Lord’s offer, but Parker still lent us a great deal of help. He’s a very earnest person.”

Earnest? Him?
I couldn’t believe it, but the mermaids went on.

“Parker exorcised the spirits that haunted these reefs. Thanks to him, we’ve been able to settle here.”
“If he hadn’t come, we’d still be wandering aimlessly across the open sea, losing more and more of our kin.”

From what they said, it seemed the mermaids had been living as drifters until recently.
They weren’t migratory, though—they seemed more like a hunting-gathering people who preferred to stay in one place.
Parker apparently cleansed the reefs and islets of ghosts for them.

“The souls of those who die at sea drift between the waves, seeking land. That’s why many lost spirits wash up on small islands and shoals.”

Parker said, glancing upward before hiding his face again.
So that’s what he’d been doing while gone.

When I stared at him, Parker scratched his skull awkwardly.

“Ha ha ha, looks like I’ve been caught slacking! But hey, it was great practice for exorcism! There were so many of them!”
“Parker.”
“What?”

I smiled and said.

“Thanks. You did a good thing.”

Parker flinched instantly, leaning back against the railing.

“Stop that—praise is cheating! You’re embarrassing me!”
“No, no. Helping other demons is in line with the Demon Lord’s policy. As her vice-commander, I’d be remiss not to praise you.”
“W-well, you know, I was just hanging around after negotiations ended…”

Apparently, he wasn’t good at taking compliments.
I decided to push further.

“As your junior, I’m proud to have such a fine senior.”
“O-oh? Well, uh, let’s focus on negotiating with the mermaids, shall we?”
“A noble senior indeed. I can’t help but respect you.”
“S-stop it…”

He slumped down against the deck and went still.
This trick might come in handy later.
I’ll have to tell Marlene about it.

With the troublesome senior silenced, I turned back to the mermaids.

“The truth is, the humans are suspicious of you. They think you might be attacking ships.”

The mermaids immediately grew restless.
There were legends about them manipulating water or cursing ships to sink, but from what I could tell, they didn’t seem powerful enough for that.
It was the same with vampires and beastmen—humans had vivid imaginations and liked to dress everything up in mystic flair.

“We don’t attack human ships. Sometimes we sing the ‘Go Away’ song to make them leave our territory, but that’s all.”
“Actually, we’ve been hearing rumors that humans have been capturing our kind.”

What? Why?
That’s when Parker sat up with a clatter and explained.

“I remember this from when I was human—people think merfolks are immortal. They don’t seem to age, after all.”

And since they were all female, humans saw them as something mysterious and sacred.
That belief led some unscrupulous humans to hunt merfolks, thinking they held the secret to eternal youth.

“It’s true that our appearance doesn’t change much, but in truth, our elders simply can no longer swim freely. The sea is full of predators, after all.”

The mermaids spoke sadly. Though they looked in their teens or twenties, they said some among them were already in their forties. I couldn’t tell at all.

“There are countless monsters in the sea. We rely on our speed and songs to drive them away, but if neither works, we get eaten.”

So, when they grow older, mermaids retire early and stay hidden in reefs, looking after the young and teaching them to sing. They simply stop appearing in front of human eyes..

Apparently, male merfolks existed too, but they specialized more in speed than in singing. They were the hunters, busy catching fish and shellfish.
However, many never returned from their hunts, likely attacked by sea monsters—so males were always in short supply.
As a fellow male, I couldn’t help but feel for them.
It seemed merfolks weren’t nearly as mystical or graceful as humans imagined.
No wonder Parker felt sympathy for them.

“The younger merfolks are fast swimmers and strong singers. But in our previous waters, many of our peers suddenly vanished.”
“They weren’t the type to wander off. We think they were attacked—by humans or monsters.”

Their faces darkened.

“We have no power to fight humans, nor do we wish to. So we’ve been wandering in search of safer seas.”

I see. And that’s when this frivolous skeleton showed up.
Their previous waters were near Belrüsa, they said. Fearing humans, they moved elsewhere, but the reefs they found were infested with ghosts they couldn’t drive away, even with song.
Apparently, that area was east of Belrüsa—near the route from Belrüsa to Lotzo.

Both humans and merfolks swore they weren’t attacking the other.
If both sides were telling the truth, then a third enemy must be involved—one targeting them both.
But what was it? A human, or a monster…

“Say, Parker.”
“Yes?”

I recalled something from my master’s library during my apprenticeship.

“Are there any sea monsters that could prey on both merfolks and ships?”
“Hmm… maybe. There are giant beasts on land, so there’s probably something big out there in the sea too.”

He shrugged, then seemed to remember something.

“Come to think of it, while I was searching for the merfolks, I got lost in a thick fog.”
“Fog?”

He explained that while sailing with his skeleton crew, he’d been trapped in fog for days.

“The wind and tide both stopped. The fog was so heavy it just… hung there. I thought something was off, so I used an illusion spell to hide the boat.”

Ultimately, nothing happened, and the fog eventually cleared up—and that’s when he met these merfolks.

“It was strange, though. Hard to explain…”

Right, because he’s bones.
Even if a monster saw him, there’d be nothing to eat. If something did approach, it probably ignored him.
Still, that was worth keeping in mind.

“For the time being, we fully understand your situation. We’ll go talk to the humans. If possible, I’d like you to come along.”

The mermaids exchanged uneasy looks.
As I expected, that was asking too much.

“By the way, do you have a leader?”
“No, not really. We don’t fight, so it’s hard to decide who’s best amongst us…”

They could just vote, but they really did have that demon-tribe mindset.

In any case, I should return and discuss this with Garsche and the others.
And maybe contact Lüenheit while I’m at it.