The Returnee Wants Peace

Although it was a beer bottle situation, Rosha wasn’t too flustered. This wasn’t her first time falling into water.

Rather, thanks to her previous experience, her mental simulations had paid off.

Splash!

Her whole body hit the water surface, and her vision turned white from the fierce spray.

If she were outside the water, she might have somehow dispersed the water stream gripping her arm, but in this special underwater situation, she had no choice but to be helplessly dragged along.

At times like this, she needed to keep her wits about her.

‘Control breathing, control breathing…’

Since oxygen in the tank depletes faster when breathing becomes rapid due to tension, she had to breathe calmly.

Within seconds, the surface grew distant and sunlight rapidly faded.

Rosha quickly looked around after resolving the ear pain from pressure by circulating magical power.

‘How far down are we going?’

A place so deep that the emerald lake looked deep blue.

By chance, she saw a pointed rock covered densely with coral in her field of vision. Though quite far, it looked quite menacing even from a distance.

But…

‘…It seems like we’re getting closer to that rock?’

Just as she was preparing for the worst, she suddenly felt enormous pressure on one side of her body.

The water stream had abruptly thrown her towards that rock!

‘Aaack!’

Seeing the corals rapidly approaching, Rosha hurriedly generated a golden protective barrier.

Crack crack crack!

The surface of the barrier was scratched and shaken violently, but fortunately didn’t break.

She quickly closed her mouth after exhaling a short breath from the impact. Somehow, she felt like she should play dead at this point.

As she went limp as much as possible, the water stream soon left her alone and disappeared elsewhere.

‘Phew, that’s a relief.’

It seemed she had saved her life for now.

As she inwardly felt relieved, her vision caught sight of people who had been dragged into the water with her, floating aimlessly.

“…”

The years they had lived, their hearts, their resolutions were slowly crumbling into the depths of the lake.

It was nothing short of a miserable death.

The problem was that she wasn’t particularly shocked by this.

This situation where everything crumbled under force was all too familiar. At the same time, she suddenly felt sad at herself for feeling relieved at surviving while looking at the dead.

‘How long will we…’

When will we be able to break free from these cursed trials?

Rosha carefully moved her magical power to lift the bodies of those whose souls had departed upwards. So that their acquaintances could at least properly recover their corpses.

After gazing at them for a moment, Rosha’s gaze soon turned downward.

Her eyes became quite fierce.

‘Although the situation has become a bit complicated… the operation with Hajin hasn’t been completely ruined.’

The grand plan to sever the connection between the trial and this world.

To do that, they first had to go to the merpeople’s city.

‘In this situation, going down is the right choice.’

Having come down to the depths of the lake in one go, going up would be inefficient. Although she was clumsy at swimming, she could still move using magical power.

Rosha glanced up at the water dragon rampaging near the surface and soon moved in the opposite direction from it.

It must have been quite deep, as only after swimming for a while did the faint lights of a distant city start to appear.

Along with strange movements of ocean currents.

‘I need to be careful as the currents around the city change rapidly.’

There must be a safe path, but she didn’t have the luxury to find it due to the remaining oxygen.

It was then.

—Not that way!

Along with a buzzing voice in her head, a presence she had ignored thinking it was a fish suddenly grabbed her wrist.

When she turned around, something like seaweed rising up was visible even in the dark view.

…Seaweed?

‘No, that’s not it.’

More precisely, it was a round head with plants growing underwater stuck in the ears and hair.

Long silver hair reaching down to the waist shimmered faintly, and below that, a tail resembling a fish moved gently.

At this point, it was easy to tell who it was.

‘…Thank goodness. You’re alive.’

It was Friel, the youngest princess of the mermaid kingdom and the protagonist of the linked trials.

* * *

Suddenly, the Friel she had met in the previous world came to mind.

Back then, Friel was the very image of a pampered youngest princess who had grown up in the palace knowing nothing of the world, with a very delicate nature.

So she thought she would still be the same this time…

But now something was different.

—This way.

Friel, who had sneaked into the outskirts of the city, pressed against the wall and gestured to Rosha.

The expression, filled with resolute determination, the pitch-black attire advantageous for stealth, and even the bold movements quite different from before when she had little courage.

Watching this, Rosha thought as she was dragged along limply with her wrist held:

‘I always thought she resembled me right after falling into the previous world… I’m glad she’s changed for the better.’

Like herself who had fallen alone in a remote place and didn’t know what to do, Friel must have been the same. But seeing her now skilled appearance brought about various emotions.

At that moment, Friel firmly grasped Rosha’s hand as she was about to carelessly brush her hair.

—Ah, don’t touch it! I went through the trouble of disguising.

She had stopped her from removing the seaweed that had been tickling her cheeks while stuck in her ears.

To mention it now, this ‘disguise’ of sticking bundles of seaweed in the ears and hair was something she had done reluctantly due to Friel’s strong insistence.

‘…Does she seriously think this will conceal us?’

Rosha, who couldn’t transmit brainwaves like a mermaid, grumbled quietly.

But somehow knowing this, Friel looked at her expression and immediately scolded:

—You just thought ‘Does she think this will conceal us?’, didn’t you? Light-colored hair reflects light and is dangerous.

Oh. How did she know?

Though it wasn’t much, it somehow felt like she knew Rosha quite well.

As Rosha looked at her with a dubious gaze, the mermaid grabbed her arm and pulled her close, opening her mouth.

A voice that seemed to be murmuring softly continued in Rosha’s mind.

—I don’t know how this will sound… but I’ve been dreaming for a very long time. A dream where this city crumbles, consumed by an extremely evil magical power from who knows where.

…What?

—It was a dream where not only the people I usually knew, but even my family attacked me without recognizing me. Although I dismissed it as just a dream, I couldn’t completely ignore it, and eventually the calamity I saw in my dream befell reality. And to even meet you like this…

Friel looked at Rosha’s wide-open eyes and smiled faintly.

—It must sound strange, right? But in the dream, many humans I had never seen before helped me, and among them… I think you were there too.

Thoughts rose like clouds.

If those words were true… it strongly suggested that those who appeared in Hard Mode might have some memories from Normal Mode.

‘I have more than one or two things to ask.’

But without a ‘breath bubble’, she couldn’t speak, so it was incredibly frustrating.

As if knowing Rosha’s feelings, Friel hurriedly led her.

—A human who lives outside water will need a breath bubble. There’s a breath bubble rock near our destination, so come this way.

Rosha obediently followed the mermaid.

The merpeople’s city was dark.

There were occasional lights, but most were turned off, and the navy color of the lake, almost black, was not just gloomy but even eerie.

They carefully passed by houses of various colors built with stone, shells, and coral.

‘Those must be the merpeople who have turned into demonic beasts.’

Occasionally, merpeople without consciousness wandered around the city. Being aquatic creatures, their senses were keen, so they had to be especially careful when passing nearby.

But somehow…

‘The numbers seem fewer compared to before…?’

It felt strange that infiltrating the city was easier than expected.

At that moment.

—Ah!

As if sensing something, Friel moved her tail faster.

The background whizzed by, and the ‘palace’, presumed to be their destination, rapidly approached. As the distance shortened, Rosha could roughly make out the situation.

Those presumed to be Friel’s siblings were fighting against merpeople who had turned into demonic beasts.

‘Huh?’

At this point, she couldn’t help but feel suspicious.

‘What’s going on? Why do they all look fine?’