Chapter 113

On the east side of the island, a siren trading port.

Luosen was standing on the peak of a hill behind the port.

A rain‑shelter viewing platform has been built here; standing on it and looking out reveals an endless expanse of blue‑green sea.

Many combat speedboats can be seen plying the sea surface, many sirens flying in the sky, and schools of sea fishmen in the water.

The sea fishmen use ropes made from seaweed to drag their caught fish to the port for trade, exchanging them for many continental goods hard to obtain at sea.

For example, simple magical implements, pottery, roasted meat, clay paintings, clothing, ornaments, and so on.

Near the port there is also a fairly spacious white‑sand beach where many men and women can be seen playing and frolicking; they are the Sun Warriors and the sirens.

The way they play is direct and primitive; as they play they mingle together, with no shyness or restraint.

Their numbers are not small—over a hundred sirens are visible to the naked eye, and new sirens keep joining from time to time.

"At peak times during the day, over five hundred sirens may appear, and their number grows day by day—so many that even the Sun Warriors are hardly enough."

The situation was reported by Major Harry, who is now the commander of the East Sea Fleet, specially tasked with safeguarding maritime trade safety.

Luosen let out a light sigh: "The sirens' energy is really too abundant. Besides this, do they have any other hobbies?"

Because of the sirens, this beach has come to be called Pleasure Beach.

Besides the Sun Warriors, many insatiable men sneak over looking for fun.

They cannot be stopped; everyone is lovesick, and it even somewhat disrupts normal production and life on the island.

A young male voice came from the side: "My lord, there actually is, and it's not much different from us humans."

Luosen looked over and saw it was Frodo.

This person is a refugee from the Bohemian Duchy; thanks to his outstanding performance, he is now the Regiment Commander of the Sun Warriors, and his rank has been promoted to lieutenant.

He is indeed impressive.

By his own efforts he married three siren wives, one of whom is a siren minor lord, and he has tamed all three wives to be obedient.

Without a doubt, when it comes to dealing with sirens, he is an expert!

Luosen asked interestedly: "Please, tell us."

Frodo immediately stepped forward, performed a salute, and then said seriously: "My lord, the sirens' energy is indeed abundant, but this is mainly due to the harsh life at sea."

"You know, the seawater temperature is very low; swimming fast in the sea requires tremendous strength, and sirens with poor constitutions who swim slowly simply cannot survive in the sea."

"But not all sirens like staying in the sea."

"In fact, many of them also greatly yearn for the prosperity and tranquility of the land, but because of ancestral precepts and a natural fear of the terrestrial world, they are forced generation after generation to remain bound to the icy cold waters."

After a pause, he said: "My three siren wives, since coming to land, face many new novelties every day, and their love for those primitive pleasure activities has greatly diminished."

"Of course, they are still much higher than ordinary women, but compared to the sirens at sea, they are now far inferior."

Luosen listened attentively, feeling that the speaker was down‑to‑earth, uniting theory with practice—truly worthy of being a siren expert.

He then asked: "How many sirens are there approximately in the triangular sea area?"

Frodo immediately replied: "My senior wife is a siren minor lord; she once managed a sea area of several kilometers, under her command were fifteen siren sisters and a fish‑men tribe of about four hundred."

"She said that at the annual tide‑gathering festival, someone like her, a siren minor lord, could see about seven or eight hundred of her kind."

That means the triangular sea area probably has over ten thousand sirens.

Considering that the triangular sea area is an equilateral triangle with sides over 300 kilometers, its total area is roughly close to forty thousand square kilometers, considerably larger than Earth's Hainan Island.

With such a vast area and so few sea monsters, their distribution is quite sparse.

"What exactly is the tide‑gathering festival?"

"It is a gathering of the entire clan held on Hank Island's bay, about three hundred kilometers to the southeast."

"At the gathering, the Sea Monster Queen Lartelis will appear and bestow the azure blessing upon newborn young sea monsters."

After a pause, Frodo delivered an astonishing piece of news.

"My wife says that when sirens are born, they are no different from humans and can also bear many sons, but those sons do not receive the Siren Queen's azure blessing, so they are abandoned by their mothers shortly after birth."

"In the sea, an infant abandoned by its mother will drown within minutes."

The people in the rain‑shelter pavilion all exclaimed in shock, feeling that this tradition is truly shockingly cruel!

After everyone had calmed down, Luosen immediately asked: "Regarding the azure blessing, are there any other particulars?"

"Yes."

Frodo began to explain in detail.

"Each year at the tide‑gathering festival, the Siren Queen grants only fifty blessings; therefore, only fifty true sirens are born each year."

"The remaining children are either abandoned, but not thrown into the sea; instead they are quietly left to the child's father."

Having said that, Frodo turned his head to look at the crowd.

"Sirens do enjoy pleasure, but they are very selective about their partners, requiring them to be sufficiently strong."

"This is to ensure that their offspring are as strong as possible, so that they may obtain the azure blessing."

"In the past, they would stealthily approach the coast, use Transformation Technique to carefully disguise themselves, and meticulously seek out desirable men in order to propagate their lineage."

Luosen nodded repeatedly, thinking to himself: "I had thought they were a new race; actually they are just a group of poor women who fled to the sea to make a living."

He then asked: "If your wives marry you and never return to the ocean, will they be punished by the Siren Queen?"

Frodo shook his head: "No, otherwise they wouldn't dare do that."

Luosen understood: "In other words, the Siren Queen does not impose a restriction on free will for the sirens?"

"Exactly, but there is a constraint of power."

"Those sirens who choose to leave the sea will have offspring that do not receive the azure blessing, thus losing the power to soar over sea and sky, becoming just like ordinary people." "Many sirens fear this greatly, so although they yearn for land, they dare not take the final step."

"They worry that they will have no way back in the future."

Luosen nodded to show he understood.

The siren trade has been going on for almost a month; the sirens have shown a strong yearning for the land, yet only a few dozen have actually taken the final step.

To oppose an ancient tradition that has lasted hundreds or even thousands of years requires great courage.

Are there any other mermaids in the deeper sea beyond?

None, because they couldn't find enough food, but there should still be a mermaid tribe in the offshore area of the Eastern Golden Cape.

Exactly, my wife said that tribe's life is not good, their numbers are dwindling because they have been constantly chased by Levinde's slave‑catching ships.

For this reason, many mermaids have had to risk crossing the deep sea, traveling all the way to the northwest to seek refuge with Queen Lartelis.

This made Luosen's heart leap slightly; he immediately asked, "In other words, there is a group of mermaids who know the route from the Eastern Golden Cape to the Triangular Sea?"

Exactly.

What's in the deep sea?

Giant beasts, it is said there are two most terrifying kinds.

One is whales, giant whales; the largest are seventy to eighty meters long, and when they float on the sea surface they are practically as huge as an island.

Another is the deep‑sea octopus, with tentacles five to six meters thick, stretching to over a hundred meters long, its head unusually large, and it commands terrifying psychic arts.

Encountering a giant whale is no problem, because mermaids can fly; although the whale has a bad temper, it cannot reach them.

But encountering a deep‑sea octopus is troublesome; its terrifying psychic arts can easily knock them out, and they eventually become the octopus's food.

So, whether one can cross the deep sea depends largely on luck.

This news dimmed Luosen's just‑brightened mood a little.

Not to mention his current naval skill; even a warship of the White Continent would find these deep‑sea monsters extremely troublesome and could easily be capsized.

He couldn't help wondering, "Could this deep‑sea route possibly remain blocked for a short time?"

In his strategy, this route is extremely important, involving not only White Sturgeon Island but also the fate of Weilan Giant Island.

Because Weilan Giant Island currently has only one safe passage to the White Continent, and that passage is completely blocked by Aaron.

This is equivalent to having only one liberty in a game of Go.

With only one liberty, there is no room to maneuver; the throat is tightly gripped, the brave may struggle a bit but soon find it futile, and the only way to survive is to kneel and become a dog.

Only by gaining another liberty, becoming free on all sides, can one qualify to sit at the table and play cards.

Perhaps only when we eventually build truly sharp warship cannons will we have the ability to break through the blockade of these deep‑sea monsters.

But achieving that may not be a matter of one or two years; it could take five or six years, or even more than ten years.

In that case, we would surely miss many strategic opportunities.

Moreover, he might not have such a long period of development.

Because once his scale reaches a certain size, he can no longer stay hidden; if the trade route remains blocked, strategically it will be very difficult.

After pondering, Luosen continued to ask, "When will the next tide festival arrive?"

My wife said it's just a month away.

What do you think the mermaid queen's personality is like?

Frodo said: "Regarding this, I have asked many mermaids."

They all said the mermaid queen is a benevolent king, a humble king.

She teaches the mermaids to act discreetly, to minimize their presence as much as possible to avoid attracting the scrutiny of land‑dwellers.

Luosen chuckled: "Obviously, the mermaids have not heeded her orders."

Nowadays the mermaids are anything but discreet; mermaid trade is booming.

Frodo spread his hands: "After all, life at sea is hard, and everyone wants a good life; mermaids are no exception."

Luosen nodded in agreement.

In other words, as long as he, this landlord, maintains this enlightened attitude and continues trade, he can gradually win the mermaids' hearts, making the mermaid queen a lone king.

Is the mermaid queen then useless? No, she is useful, and very useful.

Because changing tradition takes time, especially this kind of bottom‑up change, which requires painstaking effort.

If he had a few years, Luosen could certainly win without fighting.

But what he currently lacks is time.

If he could directly cooperate with the mermaid queen and initiate change from the top down, not only would the speed increase greatly, but he could also gain a batch of powerful maritime allies.

Moreover, Luosen feels that the mermaid queen very likely knows how to pass through the deep sea safely and quickly.

Because in ancient myth, mermaids are the rulers of the deep sea, while the Triangular Sea cannot really be considered deep sea.

But can he achieve cooperation with the mermaid queen?

Luosen turned his head to gaze at the blue‑green sea, and many thoughts welled up in his heart.

'Looks like I have to take a gamble.'

Some things can be steady, like when he previously subdued the island rebels, because he held absolute initiative.

Some things must be gambled on, because strategic opportunities are fleeting.

Today we will conquer the mermaids—no, wait, it's the Triangular Sea.

(End of chapter)