CHAPTER 8 - Lorelei's Tears Dissolve Into the Lake

[yumemory]

[Location: Chief’s son’s room]

Bradley: Family, town, and even your fiancée be damned. Do you love this fish so much that you’re willing to give up everything? If that’s how you wanna do it, then I won’t say anything.

Bradley: But if you don’t have the guts to pull it off, you’ll only end up abandoning this fish. Then humans will eventually find it and kill it.

Bradley: What you’re doing right now is nothing but a quick-fix. There’s no use hiding it in a coffin-like place like this. A white elephant, basically.

Chief’s son: …...

Bradley’s harsh, straightforward, yet true words resound in the room.

Hiding it like this might work for now, but the clock will keep ticking. It will only be a matter of time before it gets discovered, and he will then have to make a heavy decision.

Perhaps the chief’s son thought of that too, because he only responded to us by remaining silent, his head lowered.

Bradley: ...I’m Bradley, the great bandit boss feared by everyone. I’m not letting my treasure slip away.

Bradley: Mithra. I’ll treat you later, so lend me a hand. We’ll loot this thing.

Chloe: H-Huh? Loot…!?

Mithra: Unlike Owen, sweets won’t be enough.

Bradley: Right, right, meat. I’ll let ya stuff your stomach full with that.

Mithra: Please do not forget it. < Arsim > 

The bathtub floated in the air after he cast his spell.

It then broke through the window and flew outside in the blink of an eye.

Mithra: Let’s go, Master Sage.

Akira: Whoa!?

 

[Location: Afternoon sky]

Mithra grabbed me and pulled me under his arms, then took off on his broom to follow the bathtub, with Bradley right behind us.

Bradley: Mithra, don’t you dare drop it midway!

Mithra: Are you talking about the fish, or the Sage?

Bradley: Both!

 

[Location: Chief’s son’s room]

Chief’s son: What… in the world…... 

Chloe: Hey… Are you sure you want to leave things like this? 

Chief’s son: Huh…?

Chloe: You cared about the fish so much that you hid it in your room, right?

Chloe: Even if we have to part someday…. If I were you, I’d be really sad to bid my farewell this way.

Chief’s son: …...

Chief’s son: ...Yeah. I don’t want it to end like this…!

Chloe: Then hop onto my broom! We’re chasing them!

 

[Location: Afternoon sky]

The bathtub, and Mithra who was holding me, soared through the sky at a high speed.

Getting cold sweat from the thought of being dropped, I looked up at Mithra with a sideways glance.

Akira: Mithra! What are you going to do with that fish?

Mithra: I don’t know. Bradley only told me to steal it.

Mithra: That said, do you think the fish is edible? 

Akira: Even if it’s edible, please don’t eat it…!

 

[Location: Lakeside Town, lakeside]

As we flew, we eventually made it to the lake once again.

The bathtub flying in front of us took a sharp fall, and plunged into the lake like a diving athlete.

(splash)

A large spray of water disrupts the deafening silence.

Snow and White: My goodness!

Arthur: A bathtub…?

Mithra: We found the fish. What should we do? Kill it?

Rutile: Eh, was that the fish?

Mithra: We stole it along with the package.

Figaro: What in the world? That was quite the racket.

The bathtub sank into the lake and disappeared. In exchange, the fish, which finally regained its freedom, flapped around, revealing itself.

Arthur: Is that… the strange fish?

Rutile: My, it is big!

Everyone was astonished at the sight of the fish. Its emerald green scales glistened brightly as it flapped in the water. 

Figaro: ...I see. So the one that’s transforming, is this.

Figaro looked like something clicked on him. The twins, who were standing beside him, nodded as if they also realized the same thing.

The three of them swiftly summoned their magical tools and chanted their spells at the lake.

Figaro: < Possideo. >

Snow and White: < Noscomnia. >

(splash)

Immediately after, waves started raging in the lake, as if a storm had suddenly hit it. It was moving so wildly it almost looked like it would split in half.

Akira: W-What are you doing? If you do that, then the fish will….

I was perplexed by what Figaro and the twins did. At that moment, Bradley appeared riding on his broom from behind me.

 

[Location: Afternoon sky]

Bradley: This is the end.

Bradley pointed his rifle towards the lake, and pulled the trigger.

Bradley: < Adnopotensum > !

Akira: …!

The raging lake glowed white on the impact of Bradley’s bullet.

With a crushing sound, a huge column of water rose up from the lake. If I were to get hit by it, there was no way I would survive.

Akira: (...The fish…!?)

I tried looking at the water as hard as I could to find the fish, but the tremendous aftermath was too much that I failed to find anything.

A little while later, I glanced at the lake again, which had finally returned to its stillness. I looked for the fish once more, but it wasn’t there. I couldn’t see or hear it, not even a small hint of movement like how it jumped around earlier.

Akira: (No way… Don’t tell me…)

Arthur and Rutile: ….

Rutile and Arthur stood at the lakeside with their eyes casted down ruefully.

Mithra: Why have you gone silent all of a sudden?

Rutile: Because… the fish…

Figaro: Oh, perhaps we gave you the wrong idea? Don’t worry, we didn’t exterminate it.

Akira: Huh? ...But just now, you attacked the fish…

Figaro: Sorry, sorry. I thought it’d be faster to show you than use words.

Figaro shook his head and lowered his eyebrows apologetically.

 

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