*Brrzz*
…
*Brrzz*
”… Hmpf, zzz…”
*Brrzz*
The morning started off quietly. Imai had gotten so much more sleep lately, instead of spending night after night struggling to close an eye. Personal issues. Anyway, his clock rang violently, and his head was but a couple of feet away from it, so the fact that he overheard the buzzing like a deaf dude was abnormal. It required more than sound to wake up the dazzling star mage of Sabertooth; it took one whole Sei and his bunny feet (Sei was an alien species, and Imai had yet to unravel his biology and gender, thus just referring to the organism as he) kicking Imai’s cheek for him to slowly wake up to a vibrating feeling in the head. This morning was… calm to say the least. He was in his bed, still. That was a good thing, since he used to wake up at the corner or atop his dinner table across his bed. Despite how important it was to get his sleep, he had a theory that could explain the course of events…
But it’s okay, because he woke up in the end. And when a guy is woke, then he should eat and go see what quest is available down at the hall. Imai wasn’t even present in the real world - he had slept in his bedroom located in Yggdrasil. It meant that to get to the hall, he had to do some epic parkour shit like flopping out of bed, fixing his porcupine-looking hair, discreetly hiding the fact that an energetic lad such as himself also needed to wash his clothes like the man of his own house, brushing his teeth and reappearing in the guild hall in front of the quest board. A lot of sliding down branches and vines had to be made to get here.
It was weird that Kenna-nee wasn’t around now. Maybe she had woken up earlier like last time and already gotten out to complete her own quest… darn it, he should’ve woken up earlier! Stupid clock would have it later today! He narrowed his eyes over the papers stuck on the board, and he came across a certain paper mentioning a warning about mermaids near the shores of Hargeon Town’s beach. The paper contained following:
’From: Christopher Calum
Dear sorcerer/sorceress reading this paper. It has come to my attention that a lot of mermaid sightings have taken place at Hargeon Beach by the other inhabitants as well as sailors and lifesavers. I have found evidence of their undoubted presence, and despite not exactly having physical proof of this, I have also encountered one up until now. They showed ill intent towards us and threatened to drown all visitors unless we leave the shore to them and never approach it again. I told one of them to wait for a wizard to negotiate things with, and with all my power, I convinced them to wait. They’re rumored to be incredibly dangerous, and I fear for my neighbors that even one of them would be hasting and oblivious enough to throw their life away unknowingly by accident, despite my warnings. I need you to convince these mermaids that we live and thrive here at the shore, and that we can’t leave our stable and safe lives because of their own prejudice. If they won’t consider, any means necessary, if you ask me.
I beg you. I have a reward of fifty thousand jewels ready if you succeed.’
Now, Imai had read about mermaids, and he too knew that they were dangerous. They would sing and lure people into the sea and let them drown or join them as slaves… wait, that was sirens. Weren’t mermaids sirens? Were sirens mermaids?
That was enough to keep Imai’s head busy until he arrived at Hargeon Beach in his blue trunks and flipflops. He had ditched his headband and let his hair feel the soft wind of the sub-tropical climate that he loved. Despite the contents of the paper, many people were present at the beach; he was kind of sticking out with his telescope having its long feet attached to the sand and him looking through it to spot any mermaids. Why were people still here… maybe their lives really depended a lot on the beach.
Awaiting mermaids to appear did take longer than he thought. Hell, Imai even went to sleep next to his telescope, resting his back on the warm sand. Sei was with him the entire time, usually hanging on his back, but when he just blatantly fell asleep as if he hadn’t slept in years, she couldn’t help but play ‘small Imai’ and look through the telescope himself.
And thus, people laughed and enjoyed their beach time. Whistles could also be heard in many directions…
WC: 803