At least according to Riku's childhood memories, an Imanity in his thirties could already be called an old man. The cold, the wind, and the hard work had left undeniable wrinkles on the Imanity of this world even in their prime.
"You... did cry..."
"Okay, okay, I cried, I cried. Is that good enough?"
For some reason, Schwi was very insistent on this matter, and Riku could only go along with her.
Suddenly noticing that the air bubble surrounding him was quickly fluctuating along with the water currents, Riku looked up with curiosity, scanning his surroundings. Not long after, he saw the Siren queen gliding in the water and landing next to him.
"Yay~~~, it's~~ so great~~~ our city~~!" As if a child, Jasmine quickly spun around in the water, and the gold jewelry on her body clinked with a crisp sound. She was cheering.
"As long as Your Majesty likes it, that's all that matters. Is there anywhere that needs to be improved? There's no need to be polite, you can just say it directly," Riku said with a smile, stroking Schwi's vermillion hair.
Yes, this beautiful city was the result of the joint efforts of Imanity and the Siren over the past ten years. Well, it was indeed very strange to include these people in the conversation who had lived in ordinary stone caves for countless years on the seabed and had no intention of building a capital for their own race. But the birth of this city's new appearance did have the Siren's own contribution, and it was a large part of it.
After all, Imanity can't use magic, let alone in such a deep part of the ocean. Without the protection of magic, they would probably be crushed in an instant.
With the city ideas and concepts primarily provided by Su'er, Riku and other Imanity supplemented and modified them based on the actual situation on-site. Then, by using games to entice the Siren to participate in the construction of their own city, although the progress was slow and took a lot of effort, this beautiful city was finally built.
"Hey, hey! Riku! Riku!" Jasmine, who had swum over to Riku's side at some point, was constantly patting his shoulder. "Let's have a baby!!"
"?"
"?"
The suddenness and speed of the topic change almost made Riku lose control of his facial expression. His face was quickly twitching. Although he had already been mentally prepared for the strange ideas that this Siren queen often came up with after knowing her for so long, hearing something like this suddenly was still a bit too much.
"You see, you're so smart, so our child will definitely be very smart, and they will definitely be able to lead the Siren to become stronger! Ah~ that's right~, if we have a child, you can also stay at the bottom of the ocean forever, and we can all play together... Uwa! What is this feeling??!"
Jasmine, who was still counting on her fingers and talking, suddenly couldn't help but shiver all over. Bubbles of all sizes floated upwards along with her movements. She felt a great terror as if her life was being threatened, as if she was being stared at by a fierce sea beast. And this sea beast—following that chilling gaze, Jasmine saw that Ex-Machina who always spoke very little.
The silvery-white mechanical wings had spread open at some point, and countless light circles were spinning at high speed in her bright yellow eyes. The temperature had risen. Mari felt the surrounding water temperature had directly risen by a few degrees, and it was still rapidly rising!
"Now, now, that's not necessary, Your Majesty," Riku, who saw this scene, said with a dry laugh. He rubbed Schwi's hair hard with his other hand, and the temperature that made him feel extremely pressured finally stopped rising.
"Huh? Are you really sure?" Disappointment was clearly on Jasmine face. This Siren queen was genuinely regretful. "I really like you, you know?"
The temperature rose, it rose again.
"Ah, I'm really sure," Without his initial panic, Riku just smiled and ruffled Schwi's hair even more. He looked directly into Jasmine eyes and said, "I already have someone I like."
"Aww~~~~" Jasmine whined with a disappointed, drawn-out voice, and she pouted sadly, muttering, "It's fine~, I don't mind~"
"Hahaha, thank you so much for your affection, Your Majesty, but one person I like is enough for me," Riku said with a light chuckle, shaking his head. "Please just finish the rest of the things according to the promise you made with Su'er. That way, my mission will be complete."
"Aww~~~"
She neither agreed nor refused. Jasmine eyes were rolling around. However, Riku, who had been with this Siren for so long, could guess what her simple mind was thinking with just one look.
"Your Majesty, are you thinking that as long as you don't fulfill your promise, I'll have to stay here?"
"Uwaaaaa! H-how could I?! How would you know—aaaa I mean, absolutely not!!!"
Riku's sudden words clearly startled Jasmine. The blue-haired Siren waved her hands frantically and said a bunch of nonsense that no one could understand, but in the end, she suddenly relaxed her entire body and drooped down.
"Okay, okay, I'll finish it. Seriously..."
Her voice was full of resentment. Such a cute reaction made even Riku laugh more heartily.
"Don't worry, when the plan is successful and the war is over, Schwi and I will come and visit you often. You won't feel lonely."
"Oh!! You promised!"
Cheering up easily because of one sentence, Jasmine turned around and happily waved her hand. With a flick of her tail fin, she swam to a more distant place.
"Then let's go quickly! Today should be the time to send down the largest batch! We are working hard!!"
Leaving this sentence behind, the Siren queen led the way and swam in one direction.
"...Ah, I promised... that when everything is over..."
Watching the happy blue figure gradually become smaller, Riku was still muttering his answer. Suddenly, he felt that the hand he was stroking Schwi's head with was grabbed. The small-bodied Ex-Machina held his palm with both hands, her cheeks slightly puffed out.
"...Riku... changed heart..."
"...kill..."
"...Leaving aside whether you can stop using the phrase 'changed heart,' when did you pick up this strange tic of 'kill' from Miss Think?!"
Riku's voice suddenly rose.
"Riku... like..."
"I don't like it at all!"
"Really?"
"Really!"
"Annoying... let's go..."
"...Why are you rushing me like this..."
While bickering with each other, Riku and Schwi also quickly traveled through the seabed, catching up with the blue figure in front of them.