They were getting closer. The mermaids, who were gracefully swaying their fins in the water, were quickly approaching Su'er and the others behind the blue-haired Siren.
Su'er felt his nerves involuntarily tighten. His hand had instinctively been placed on the bomb on his waist.
"Don't worry, Mr. Monkey," Think said softly, sensing his tension. "Nothing will happen."
"Huh?" Su'er asked in confusion. He could hear the certainty in Think's voice, but... why?
Without further explanation, Think just raised her hand and pointed to the front of the Unsinkable. The mermaids had stopped their forward momentum and were floating there scattered.
They were whispering to each other, curiously watching and guessing the existence of Su'er and the others. They were doing their own thing, and their carefree nature was fully displayed at this moment. However, in the next second, this chaos disappeared instantly, and even the distance between them became neat.
As if a lazy turn while basking leisurely in the beautiful sun on the beach, the Siren gracefully flipped their bodies in the water. The fish scales on their lower bodies reflected a dazzling light under the illumination of the glowing jellyfish that followed them. Their graceful body curves stretched as much as possible, swaying with the waves.
Just like the blue-haired Siren that Su'er and the others were already familiar with, some of these mermaids had bandages wrapped around them, but most of them, just like in Su'er's initial fantasy, were covering their bodies with seashells. The only thing they all had in common was the luminous and beautiful coral and pearl ornaments wrapped around their arms, waists, and necks.
Their already fair skin looked even more beautiful against these glowing ornaments, but what was even more eye-catching than their beauty was their movements. They had no fixed movements, but they had a unique kind of beauty. Following the rhythm of the water flow, blue-glowing jellyfish swam around them, and schools of fish that were summoned swam playfully between their fingertips.
"What... is this?" Su'er muttered to himself, mesmerized by this beautiful sight. However, a sound with an instinctive contrast rang in his ears.
Click.
"It should be a welcome dance, right?" Jibril was satisfied with the picture she had saved on her camera. This beautiful scene in front of her was something that even a discerning connoisseur like Jibril couldn't deny its beauty. This kind of beauty couldn't be preserved by simply collecting the Siren's heads.
Jibril had gradually discovered many different kinds of beauty, and they were all worth collecting as souvenirs.
"...Remember to give me a photo afterward," Su'er said speechlessly, looking at this Flügel who was acting like a real tourist in all aspects. "By the way, they really did forget, didn't they? There's a big hole right there."
Yes, what Jibril was holding was a digital camera—or maybe a magic camera would be a better name. All the functions were the same, but the principle was completely different. Even the 'click' sound was just for show. According to Su'er, it didn't feel right without that sound.
"Who knows?" Jibril gave a big yawn and put the camera into her mysterious space. "Why would you try to guess what an idiot is thinking?"
"..."
What she said was so logical that Su'er didn't know how to refute it.
His worries from before seemed to have become completely unnecessary. The Siren might really welcome their arrival. This hospitable and friendly race was so friendly that Su'er didn't know how to even describe them.
Their minds were not big enough to hold a boat, they could hold an entire ocean.
What a broad-mindedness... in all senses of the word.
"In any case~~~, these are our allies! No problem at all~"
"This is Su'er! This is Think! This is Jibril!"
"Everyone, let's give them another welcome!"
"Oh!!!"
The cheers were enthusiastic.
Not a single Siren objected to the crucial matter of forming an alliance. All the Siren who had followed the blue-haired Siren were happily swimming and cheering, following her words.
'Do they really know what an ally means?' Just looking at these carefree Siren made Su'er's eyebrows twitch.
"Jasmine... Although we are very grateful for your welcome, but... can you take us to see your queen first?" Su'er waved his hand, signaling the blue-haired Siren to come closer, and said in a low voice with a twitching mouth, "The matter of being allies should be decided by your queen, right?"
Jasmine Lorelei. This was the name of the blue-haired Siren who had been rudely captured by Jibril. It was a bit of a mouthful to say and was exactly the kind of name Su'er would expect an idiot to have.
"Huh? The queen?" Jasmine was slightly surprised. Then she inexplicably put her hands on her hips with pride and puffed out her chest, which trembled. "I'm the queen! So what I say is what it is!"
"...Huh?!?"
Su'er gasped and his voice shot up. "The queen?!"
He turned his head with a speed that almost twisted his neck. Su'er could even hear his bones creaking, but that was a small matter. At this moment, he just stared at Jibril, who was sitting in the back. This Flügel not only didn't show any sign of tension, but she was also laughing heartily.
So, I asked you to catch a Siren for me to see, and you directly caught their queen?!!
This is definitely a major diplomatic incident, hey!
And you, Queen! Did you really not feel any resentment or humiliation?!
Su'er kept looking back and forth between Jasmine and Jibril, and he felt like he couldn't understand this world anymore... or rather, he couldn't understand the Siren's thought process at all.
"Is there a problem?" Jibril half-lay on the back seat, turned her head, and said with a grin, "If you want to ask about something, their queen would know the most, right? Don't be polite~"
"...I thank you," All his emotions were condensed into one sentence. Su'er felt his breathing was not smooth. "By the way, Think, did you already figure it out?"
After finally learning this shocking fact, Su'er suddenly realized that Think's reaction was a little too calm.
"Oh, pretty much," Think nodded and continued, "I somewhat noticed something from the abnormal spirit reaction after she entered the water. I also thought that Monster-san wouldn't just casually grab a Siren."