Chapter 135: Monster Musume Family - Second (3)

"You did it by agreement? The water business? With a mermaid?"

"Yes! Yes! That's right! We truly took care of the mermaid on the condition that..."

Eve's eyebrow twitched. The mermaids she knew were not such creatures. The merchant's words were getting on her nerves. Somewhere between curiosity and anger. Eve wanted to give this merchant a chance to prove his words.

"So you took care of the mermaid, and in return, you told her to give you her scales?"

"W-We really were protecting the mermaid! The cost of living to raise a mermaid, our finances couldn't handle it... Besides, it's not an aphrodisiac! It's a tonic! Selling tonics is legal, and we even received a business permit from the Amur Territory, didn't we?"

"You fucking bastards, do you have any idea how you'll die if you're caught in a lie, talking so confidently? Where the hell is there a mermaid who'd let you make a potion from her own scales? You fucking water business pricks sure talk a lot."

Eve raised her sword again. The merchant said with a pale face.

"Ah, uh... may I say one more thing?"

"What is it."

"You only sold water?"

Eve looked at Elsi again. Elsi tilted her head as if to ask what she was looking at and said to Eve.

"Right. That's it. Water business."

"Fuck..."

Eve clutched her head and sank to the ground. It was her own fault for thinking Elsi would know a difficult slang term like 'water business'. Elsi asked.

"Mermaid. Is there a problem."

"No..."

Eve gave a vague answer to Elsi, who was looking at her worriedly, then, feeling embarrassed for no reason, she yelled at the merchants.

"What the fuck are you bastards doing selling mermaid scale water and all this bullshit, fuck!"

"W-We were wrong! But we had no choice to make a living! Mermaids are expensive to manage!"

The merchants insisted until the end that they were being treated unjustly. At this point, Eve wanted to meet this mermaid herself. Just what kind of bitch gets taken care of by humans and even gives them her scales? Eve drew her sword and pointed at one of them. The man, thinking she was about to kill him, screamed and cowered. Eve scratched her head and said.

"You, where's that mermaid right now?"

"Ah, uh... at our house..."

"Bring her here."

"What?"

"I'll send you with two knights and Elsi, so go bring her. If you're lying, then fuck... Hold on, you guys wait."

Eve headed towards the red curtain inside the underground prison. The merchants, curious about what was behind it, craned their necks to see inside.

"Hup..."

When Eve pulled back the curtain, the wall surface was lined with dildos of all sizes. The merchants couldn't bear to watch the embarrassing sight and turned their heads. Eve took out the largest dildo and began to feel it over. The tip of the dildo was covered in round, bumpy protrusions like a hedgehog, and its thickness alone was larger than an average person's fist. The shaft connecting to the tip was as thick as a grown man's forearm, and its length was just a little shorter than Eve's leg.

The merchants began to fear what she would do with that dildo. Eve pressed a blue button and threw the dildo into the empty space. A field of blue energy unfolded around the dildo floating in the air, and it soon transformed into the shape of a muscular, blue man.

"Hiiieeeek...!"

The merchants freaked out and backed away as far as possible. The sight of it dangling its dildo was nothing short of horror. Eve pressed a button on the dildo and stepped back a little further. The moment she pressed it, the dildo-man raised his arms, slowly moved his hips, and then began to thrust his hips at a tremendous speed.

"Uwaaaaaaah!"

"Hiiieeeek!"

The merchants started screaming as they watched. It was because they thought they knew why she was showing them such a thing. Eve kicked the dildo to turn it off, then carelessly threw it into the room behind the curtain and said.

"I'm going to ask the mermaid, and if your story is even a little different, I'm going to shove that up your asses and turn it on. Got it?"

"Ah, aah...!"

From the mental shock of the bizarre scene just moments ago, one of them seemed to have lost his mind. He shivered and tried to stop his friend. But the other merchant seemed to believe there was still a possibility. Eve asked again.

"So, I'll ask one last time. You did it by agreement?"

"Yes, yes! That's right!"

"Good, fuck. You, come with me."

Eve grabbed one of them by the collar and dragged him out. Elsi asked.

"What are you going to do now, mermaid."

"Elsi. I'll give you two knights. Take this bastard and go to where the mermaid is. If you can bring the mermaid, bring her too. If you think this bastard is doing anything suspicious, kill him."

"Got it. But what kind of act is suspicious?"

"If he does anything shady, kill him, okay?"

"A shady act?"

"Fuck. Just kill him if you think he's suspicious. Got it?"

"Got it."

Under Eve's command, one merchant was dragged away. Eve looked at the remaining merchant and said.

"You, just fucking pray."

And so, Eve left the underground prison. She had no intention of starting some human rights movement for mermaids, but she believed she should at least save the mermaid she saw. As Eve went up to her office and was looking at some documents, a knight came up and spoke to her.

He brought a pile of documents and held it out to Eve. As Eve took the documents and looked back at the knight, he spoke.

"Madam. Didn't you say you were dispatching the Lord's escort guard, Elsi, and two of our knights?"

"Yeah, I did."

"The merchant in question is a resident of another territory, and since we're conducting an investigation within the territory, we need to send a criminal extradition request. Here is the form."

"My husband didn't tell me how to write something like this."

As Eve grumbled, the knight defended Lusius.

"He probably didn't expect something like this to happen. Uh, what should the merchant's charge be?"

"Illegal drug sales, illegal prostitution arrangement."

"Pardon? But... I'm sorry to say this, but selling mermaid-related materials is legal. If you write that and send it, the territory will likely refuse..."

"What nonsense. He lied that the drug had a tonic effect and got a permit from the wrong place. If that's not illegal, then am I a fucking mermaid revolutionary?"

The fact that Eve didn't bother adding troublesome charges like insulting the lord's wife, which could cause controversy, was her own way of being careful. In the past, she would have charged in abruptly, but you could say she had developed a sense of caution.

"Ah, my apologies. Then we'll proceed with that for now... But is it true that mermaid scales have no tonic effect?"

"None."

Eve stated flatly. Living as a mermaid, she had never seen a single mermaid hunter bring up such a story. There were many superstitions, like eating a mermaid's flesh makes you younger, or possessing a mermaid's eggshell lets you seduce the opposite sex, but this was the first time in her life she'd heard the superstition that mermaid scales have a tonic effect.

"Where did that rumor even start? I've never heard it before. Even my mom has no idea what 'Mermail Glass' is. To mermaids, scales are just scales. For you guys, it's like fingernails or toenails. You think you get a tonic effect from eating that?"

"Ah, well, the truth is... the rumor that our Lord has been bringing various kinds of women to his bed started after he married you, Madam, did it not?"

When the knight said that much and paused, Eve thought for a moment before opening her mouth.

"Choose your words carefully."

At those words, the knight broke into a cold sweat and continued.

"S-So, a rumor spread in the territory that mermaids... have some power to enhance sexual desire, and there was a time when the Lord was invited to a village feast, wasn't there?"

"Yeah. There was."

"At that time, there were people who saw the Lord roll up his sleeve and peel off a mermaid scale stuck to his forearm. So a rumor spread that if you stick a mermaid scale on your body or get physical with a mermaid, your sexual desire will increase immensely, and there are some people in this neighborhood who secretly want to get their hands on mermaid scales. It seems this rumor has spread to the surrounding territories, which is likely why they thought to grind up mermaid scales in water and sell it."

"...Crazy bastards."

Eve was at a loss for words. She was dumbfounded that such a rumor had spread through the territory without her knowledge. Since it was daily life for people to whisper amongst themselves whenever she went out, she hadn't even known that a strange rumor was spreading. The knight pointed to the remaining part of the document and asked.

"Also, how should we handle this illegal prostitution arrangement? I'm sorry to say this, but there are no laws regarding mermaid prostitution or the exploitation of mermaids..."

"The leader of Mermaid Island is my mom, so of course they need to get permission from my mom."

"Pardon?"

"You didn't know? My mom is the supreme leader of Mermaid Island. I guess they've picked a new temporary leader amongst themselves now, but whatever. All mermaids follow my mom's orders. But they're selling a mermaid without my mom's permission? Fuck, of course that's illegal."

The knight glanced once at Cellu swimming leisurely outside the window, then tried to persuade Eve again.

"Still, humans don't care about such things."

"Fucking bastards. Then I guess we'll just drop that and get them for illegal drugs and, what's-it, uh, fraud. What should I write down here?"

Eve pointed at the blank space and asked. The knight explained again.

"Ah, in that section, you need to write a more detailed reason for taking the criminal and a polite request. And finally, you just need to stamp it with the lord's official seal."

"Fucking annoying, really. My husband does this shit all the time?"

"Yes."

"Alright. Well, I'll write it and send it down. Wait downstairs with Elsi."

"Yes, Madam."

Eve scratched her head, wondering how to write a polite message. She didn't want to cause another controversy by suddenly writing a declaration of a territory war or a threat disguised as a peaceful handover.

Dragging it to a trial and wearing people out like last time was enough for one lifetime.

Aira asked.

"Shall I help you?"

"No. I have to do this myself."

Eve resolutely refused Aira's request and rolled the pen again. A peaceful evening in the territory. Everyone was happy, except for the one man wailing in the underground prison.