Although the mermaid settlement was not truly a secret, very few wizards actually understood just how enormous it really was. From the view Julian had above it alone, he could already tell that it stretched for at least two miles in every direction from the trident-bearing statue standing at its center. Its inhabitants were not beautiful in the slightest, with fish tails below the waist and pale bluish skin over their humanoid upper bodies. Their faces looked far more like those of fish than humans, with bulging eyes and protruding features.-
Running along the sides of their torsos were six slits that opened and closed in unison. A good number of the mermaids had noticed when he first splashed into the lake, but until now they had paid him little attention. As he descended farther, however, they began hiding themselves away. Mermaids were not especially strong creatures, and because of that they had been bullied so badly by wizards over the years that they had become the timid species they were today. "Halt, outsider!" a shrill voice suddenly called from the side, and Julian turned toward the speaker. It was a merman with short green hair and a scar under his right eye, armed with a stone spear and a whip made of sea rope.-
Sea rope was an unusual woven kelp that possessed decent strength and moved through water without resistance because of the magic merfolk worked into it. Julian simply smiled at the merman. "I mean your people no harm." he said calmly once his language gift adjusted itself. His fluent use of the merfolk tongue clearly caught the merman off guard for a moment. "Then why do you seek entry into Azba?" the merman asked after recovering, his spear lowering slightly.-
"I was curious about your people's culture and craftsmanship, and I thought this would be the quickest way to earn your attention." Julian answered honestly. With the system currently unavailable, Julian had no desire to involve himself in anything even remotely connected to it, so he had decided to occupy himself with smaller curiosities like this one instead. The merman narrowed his eyes at Julian, searching for any hint of deceit or trickery, but found none, especially since Julian's wand remained holstered. "Stay here while I bring someone who may decide that." the merman said before swimming off downward in a specific direction.-
'So far this is going well enough. Hopefully I can learn something interesting from these people.' he thought while obeying the instruction and hovering where he was, about ten meters below the surface. It was not especially difficult, since he was slightly lighter than the surrounding water and only had to breathe in or out depending on whether he started drifting upward or downward. While he waited, he noticed the kraken that had nearly scared him witless the last time he had been in the lake approaching him again. Now that he had night vision and sharper eyesight, he was finally able to make out the creature's full body.-
It was almost the length of a football field from the tips of its tentacles to the top of its head, and it looked very much like a squid. The difference was that it possessed close to fifteen tentacles and had a slightly rounded head that was still cone-shaped, unlike an octopus. There was something deeply unsettling about how silently such an enormous cephalopod moved through the water. There was no disturbance at the lake's surface and no noticeable current from its movements. Even when the massive thing came right up beside Julian, he could not feel it moving at all.-
"I'll admit, that's actually a pretty impressive ability for a predator to have." Julian said, completely at ease since the creature had not managed to sneak up on him. He could have sworn he saw a flicker of disappointment in the giant eye staring at him, though it quickly seemed to shift into curiosity instead. "You're probably trying to work out why I'm here right now." Julian said, amused by the behavior of the huge yet gentle beast. Strangely enough, the kraken actually seemed to nod in response to his words. 'I really can't believe I'm having something close to a conversation with a monster that could probably kill me by accident.' he thought with amusement before explaining why he had come to the lake.-
A flash of understanding passed through the giant eye, and then the creature seemed to bid Julian farewell before swimming away. Almost immediately after that, the same merman returned, this time accompanied by an elderly-looking mermaid adorned with many beads and strings of polished stones. "I was informed of your reason for coming here. What do you offer in exchange for our knowledge?" the elderly mermaid asked, showing not the slightest trace of fear. Julian grinned. "What do you want for it?" he asked, excited by where this might lead.-