Chapter 7 Part2 (2/2)

The merman looked at the tender eyes of the girl. He saw from them the girl's compa.s.sion; they were still full of hope. He secretly smiled to himself. A mortal was being sympathetic to him; of all of creatures. If these people were really vile, what was this girl showing him, then?

“Thank you,” said Managat. “What you said is true, Eda. I have to try to find a way and help.”

The girl was smiling once again. For the first time, the merman called her name and was no longer any honorifics. “Don't be sad any longer then. Come, eat.”

Roselda opened her paper bag. It has something inside and Managat believed it was some human diet. But the smell it gave off was really amazing and for a merman it gave a different feeling to him. When they were under the water, their sense of taste was their primary sensation. But over here, in the surface, it’s different.

“Try it,” the young girl grabbed a piece from inside her bag. Its shape was round and elongated, and on its top were three long holes. In those holes, the merman could see something purple, its stuffing.

He took it with wonder.

“We call that bread,” Roselda said. The amazement was virtually visible with the merman's reactions. “That’s really delicious. Try it.”

Managat hesitantly drew the thing that the girl called 'bread' near to his mouth but then he stopped. He turned to the mortal.

Roselda laughed. “Don't worry; it has no poison.” She also took out some bread from the paper bag and ate it.

He might be hesitant but the merman was still able to take a bite from the bread. It's hard but also soft at the same time. He couldn't understand how it could be like this but he was enjoying its taste. He bit once more and another one. He didn't even notice that he has eaten the whole thing.

Roselda was enjoying as she watched Managat's reactions. On his face, the trace of great fascination with what he's eating was deeply etched. He seemed to have just tasted such a wonderful food for the first time.

“Lady―Eda,” he corrected himself, “do I have dirt on my face?”

Roselda laughed once again. “There’s none, Managat. You're just fun to watch. Here, it’s all for you.” The young woman handed over the paper bag which was accepted with great gus...o...b.. young merman.

“Rabalya!”

A masked merman rushed into the dark room. His body up to his tail was filled with marks, while on its head rested a huge head of a decapitated snake eel. He looked like a monster at first glance.

“Well, your suspicions are correct; Head Maayo has really contracted a serious illness. The Dalit-Kamingawan. It's the talk in the whole kingdom.”

The mermaid took something from one of the container present there and then approached a wicker vessel made from mosses. That vessel gave a shadow of light. She threw inside the thing she was holding and the light from the vessel intensified.

“It's starting, Askala,” she said, looking at the merman that just entered. “But I still couldn't understand how it was done. It’s contradictory to my investigations. I’m sure there's got to be accomplices.”

She wandered her eyesight around inside this small and dark room. In the dim light, one can find different shapes of containers and vessels stacking from the floor up to the very top. Inside these were various ingredients and materials for a particular cure. She spent a few years to gather all of them, but many were still missing.

“Watch vigilantly, Askala! There's worse to come!” She said gravely.

She hoped she's not yet too late. She have to gather the three final ingredients as soon as possible, she reminded herself secretly.

TL: Ohoho..what? I don’t have any postscript here? Oh, okay. XD

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