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She had completely forgotten. It was no exaggeration to say that the space around the tank was now awash with water like a lake that had overflowed its banks. It caused one of her feet to give way under her weight and she slipped. Lil floundered for a moment before falling towards Ed without hesitation. Ed, who was still squatting, toppled under Lil’s body weight. Her lips and front teeth slammed Ed’s forehead so hard that it for sure had to hurt, but it apparently didn’t matter to him.

“What do you call this, a kiss of respect? Was I that commendable?”

Lil struggled with a blushing face, trying to escape Ed’s arms, but her hands kept landing on his chest or shoulders. Ed’s upper body was bare, so whenever her palms touched him, she felt his damp skin, making it impossible for Lil to come to her senses.

Ed opened his mouth.

“Goe.”

Lil’s struggle came to a halt and she looked down at him, who, unlike her, was completely calm.

“…What?”

“It’s Goe, Goe. An ancient language.”

“..?”

‘Of course, there were civilisations in ancient times, so they must have developed some kind of language as well. But that never crossed my mind actually. I didn’t know there was an archaic phonetic language system, and I sure as hell didn’t know that there were still humans in this modern world who could speak it…’

Ed raised his upper body with Lil still in his arms.

“Apparently, the mermaids still use Goe. It makes sense. Goe was the language that the gods used to communicate with the humans.”

“You… what are you…?”

“I’m a Navy officer and a spy for the fleet who enjoys perverted behaviour. I’m carrying out Admiral Retiro’s confidential orders, which by the way are to board a pirate ship and harass the Captain. And if the Captain’s in danger, this spy will take the bullet instead, also if the Captain meets a captured mermaid, this spy will do whatever the Captain wants him to do to free it.”

“…”

Ed noticed that Lil couldn’t give up the gun she grabbed halfway through his speech. In response, she only bit her lip and remained silent.

“I tried sign language at first, but…”

“…Sign language?”

“Oh, it’s talking with your hands, like this.”

Ed made motions with his hands in front of his chest. Lil actually wasn’t unaware of the term ‘sign language’. 

‘I learned systematised sign language for military purposes in Lebrun, and there are also independent signs among sailors…’

Lil yelled as she no longer wanted to be treated like an idiot.

“I know that!”

“Ah, yes. Well, when you think about it, it’s rather absurd to imagine any other sea mammal with such meticulous hands, right? Take whales or sea lions for example; through time, their fingers and nails have long become vestigial. But mermaids are different. Orsay created mermaids out of envy of the children of the earth gods, us humans. Of course, she wanted them to be able to communicate with herself and the ancient humans. So, sign language evolved into a very natural way of communicating, because both races had wonderful limbs called arms. Mermaids and ancient humans could thus communicate through sign language and the ancient language Goe. However, mermaids couldn’t speak outside of the water, and humans couldn’t talk underwater.”

“So then the mermaids and the ancient humans weren’t able to communicate in Goe?”

“Oh, that’s…”

“..?”

Ed stopped talking and glanced at her, raising his eyebrows toward his forehead and gently narrowing his eyes.

“Well. I don’t want to tell you now.”

“..!”

Then, as if to block any response from her, he quickly added.

“Anyway, I couldn’t speak underwater, so I had to pull the mermaid out of the water. Seeing that it reacted calmly, it must have understood?”

“What did you say?”

A hint of arrogance appeared on his handsome face. The way he wrinkled his lips when he grinned slowly revealed it. It was hard for Lil to accept, but this look suited him as if he was used to wearing it. When Lil suddenly realised his breath was touching her lips, she instinctively held her breath out of shock, causing her heart to throb. The discomfort in her chest felt like she had been beaten with a bat.

“I delivered your message.”

Lil hurriedly pulled back, discovering that the centre of Ed’s forehead was noticeably red. She recalled having her lips touch that part, so those were clearly the marks she had left with her front teeth. Lil pushed herself out his arm that was still holding her.

“Let go.”

“Oh, I’m afraid you’ll slip again. One kiss of respect is enough.”

“…”

“It was the Captain who tumbled upside down, so I don’t know why I’m the one being treated like this. I should be the one who’s offended.”

“…I was careless. I’m sorry.”

“…”

Lil flicked his exhausted arm away after her bland apology.

“You’re telling me about respect again and again, but in the end you keep being attacked by me… Doesn’t your forehead hurt a lot? It looks like it.”

“Hurt by your soft lips? It was a very affectionate attack.”

When Ed even tried to touch her lips, Lil jumped to her feet and brushed off her clothes, pretending not to have seen Ed’s gesture. Drops of water splashed from her wet clothes as she creased her brow. 

‘That guy speaks and acts like that without hesitation. He indeed should’ve been offended, but instead, he smirks as if he had been waiting for this moment.

Besides, I don’t think his true personality isn’t like this. When I’m watching, he appears to be modest, but I know he doesn’t even want his collar to be touched by the rest of the crew. Given his reluctance to make contact even in the slightest way, I’m confident he’s a young aristocrat from a respectable house. If Marenzio had put his lips on his forehead, would he act like this? No, they would’ve been at each other’s throats immediately. No matter how bizarre a bond was created between Ed and me, this is too much.’

“It’s disturbing when you talk like that. You keep saying two things with one mouth, so I don’t know which one to believe.”

“Can’t you even joke?”

“Hurry and get up. Have you forgotten what your original purpose is?”

“Yes, indeed.”

Ed turned his gaze to the tank and held out his palm to Lil. Lil however didn’t know what to do with it, so she looked down at the back of his head, speechless. Ed spoke without looking back at her.

“Key.”

“…Oh right.”

Lil handed him the key that Jacques Poussin had given her. It was the key to unchain the iron ball. Ed, still seated, was handed the key, but suddenly grabbed her by the wrist. She was surprised and tried to jerk her arm since she thought it would be better for him to re-enter the tank instead of her.

“What kind of…”

Before she could continue, Ed turned his head and looked at Lil’s arm. Lil followed his gaze instinctively. She had marks on her wrists and forearms as if she had been whipped. The next moment, Ed spread out Lil’s palm which was so red that they were even purplish. Ed soon got up from his seat with a strange look on his face.

“It’s the same for me, Captain, I also don’t know what to believe, your words or the way your body looks.”

However, Lil quickly pulled out her hand and completely ignored his words.

“Are you sure that the mermaid understood you?”

With Ed still having a strange look on his face, Lil turned her gaze towards the tank.

“You can’t ignore it. Mermaids’ intelligence is on par with humans. Besides, they know they have the upper hand in the water. It won’t go out of its way to kill me anymore.”

“By the way, when I saw it, um… it reacted strangely. After hearing you, didn’t it seem like it was flustered?”

“Of course. Wouldn’t you be surprised if the first mermaid you’ve ever seen speaks to you in the Imperial language?”

“Well, that’s true.”

“I’m not sure about this, but it’s highly likely that since ancient times mermaids have only lived in the places designated by Orsay. It might also be it’s first time to see a beast called a human, or to see a ship, and more so, to encounter another being that spoke its own language. Just as humans distinguish themselves from animals, a mermaid could also distinguish itself from this newly seen beast. They must only have seen us on murals, right?”

Lil asked back as Ed went to pick up the balsam.

“Murals? What murals?”

“Remember your arms, Captain? We humans have free arms, so we can do all kinds of things, such as using tools. Wouldn’t the same be true for mermaids? What else would you hold if you hadn’t held tools with that exceptionally delicate hand of yours? I wonder if there’s a city under the windless nest and if so it probably has a longer history than human civilization. If you look at it that way, you can reasonably guess that there’ll be murals or rocks with writings on them. Of course, there may be other objects that can be written on with characters besides rocks.”

“…”

Lil stared at Ed as he sat on the edge of the tank to re-enter. Ed continued as if he knew what her expression looked like without glancing back at her.

“I told you, it’s not just medicine I learned from Imperial Clairaut. I heard these sorts of things, too.”