Chapter 20
“You’re beautiful, Sunbae…”
Ender, kneeling and gazing up at Harriet in admiration while murmuring softly, looked far more beautiful. His black hair dampened with sweat, and his red eyes that looked directly at Harriet resembled jewels. Harriet leaned slightly against the backrest and slowly closed his eyes.
Knock knock-
At the sound of someone knocking on the door, Harriet’s snow-white eyelashes fluttered, revealing his white pupils, and Anschel entered.
Lately, Harriet felt something was a bit strange about himself. He felt odd when thinking about Ender. Before, Ender had been uniquely precious and cute, and Harriet wanted to indulge all his whims, but lately it was different. Not that Ender wasn’t precious anymore or that Harriet didn’t want to indulge him—that’s why it was so strange.
It had already been a week since Ender was assigned and came down here. Anschel was constantly surprised at how peaceful and leisurely this rural village was, and no matter what Ender did, he never strayed more than ten steps from Harriet.
Whenever Harriet turned around, Ender was always there. Like a dog that had learned to “wait,” Harriet would burst into laughter, call him over, and give him candy.
Each time, Anschel would look at the two with complicated eyes.
This was because he had once seen an officer who gave candy to Ender immediately fall into the sea. Fortunately, there were no merpeople in the sea, so the officer emerged like a drowned rat and barely managed to climb back onto the ship.
At that time, Ender McGuire flashed his emotionless, deadly red eyes and warned with a look reminiscent of the grim reaper:
“Don’t give me that trash.”
Though Ender was stronger, the officer and Ender technically had the same rank. It was such a brazenly insubordinate response that even Anschel, who was watching from the side, shuddered.
But now, Ender clutched the candy Harriet gave him in both hands as if it were a precious gift.
“I’ll enjoy it, Sunbae.”
“Mm.”
Anschel had noticed before that Harriet treated Ender as if he liked candy. When he asked about it, that was indeed the case.
“Ender likes sweet things.”
Anschel was shrewd enough to quickly identify who really had authority here. Though his own rank was higher, he emphasized that Harriet was the person in charge and had more years of service, asking Harriet to speak comfortably with him. Harriet was troubled at first, but when Anschel pleaded, he nodded in agreement.
“…”
Anschel knew that Ender absolutely hated sweet things.
“I suppose so…”
Thinking that saying the wrong thing here could ruin his life, Anschel didn’t rush to interject.
With a sigh, he held the profiles of Ryan and Angela in his hand. Harriet’s information was classified and impossible for Anschel to obtain, but he had relatively easily acquired information on the other two.
Ryan had been demoted here because his animal communication ability often caused him to lose his mind or become incapacitated during battles with merpeople. But occasionally he was sent to headquarters to identify spies with transformation abilities. Otherwise, he mostly patrolled with the village chief or ran small errands for the elderly.
Angela was a super-strength type esper. She could transform her body into steel and her physical abilities easily exceeded the average. In other words, she had the ability to knock out a tiger’s tooth with one finger while laughing.
Although she boasted quite an outstanding ability among her peers, she had voluntarily been demoted to this rural area because she disliked war. He found out that whenever she went to headquarters, her peers would mock her behind her back. But she didn’t seem to mind much.
Anschel had previously witnessed Angela jokingly crush a drink can to the size of a finger joint with just one finger, and he resolved not to mess with her.
After she destroyed a building when a cockroach appeared, she, like Ryan, was staying in temporary accommodations provided by the military.
And there was one deserter.
“There’s a deserter, I see.”
“Yes… he left because he was bored. He was quite an interesting fellow.”
Harriet smiled slightly and brought a mug of cocoa to his lips. The cocoa with ice floating in it looked very bland.
He took a sip of cocoa while wondering why it tasted so plain. Then he suddenly looked up and asked Anschel:
“…Where’s Ender?”
“He went out urgently today to receive something. He said he’s been waiting a week for it.”
Anschel said casually as he flipped through papers. Harriet nodded and leaned back against the sofa. He just blinked while receiving various reports from Anschel.
It felt like he was working after a really long time, so Harriet lowered his drooping eyebrows even more and signed documents with an expressionless face. Supplies, firearms possession permits, identification cards for ability users, and so on—ever since Ender arrived, an endless supply of items had been provided from companies sponsoring him.
Ender was a huge advertising entity that all companies in the world paid attention to. The decorative gun Ender carried around generated tremendous sales as if it were the latest trend.
Even the car Ender rode in became an object of admiration among people. Ender was a walking advertisement, and people were enthusiastic about everything the hero used.
“Soon, for the presidential election, Colonel Ender will receive an escort order—”
Before Anschel could finish speaking, BANG!!! Someone came in. Startled, they turned to see Angela urgently carrying something in.
“Chief!!”
Ryan entered behind Angela. Ryan came into the office, holding a tiger cub with a red ribbon in his arms, catching his breath.
“Gasp…”
A slight blush appeared on Harriet’s expressionless face. The small tiger lying quietly in Ryan’s arms was too cute. But upon seeing Harriet, the tiger growled, creating many wrinkles on its face.
When a dejected Harriet put his hand down, the tiger snuggled in Ryan’s arms and pretended not to know, sniffing disdainfully.
“Water, please!!”
Angela laid down the person she had been carrying on the sofa. Anschel jumped in surprise and pulled out a gun from his waist. His expression gradually turned pale.
There was only one species in the world with such vivid blue hair. Hair like the sea itself… a merperson.
When Anschel pointed his gun at the collapsed merman, Angela lightly grabbed it and broke it as easily as snapping a reed.
“…”
While Anschel was too dumbfounded to speak, Angela said seriously:
“This merman… is actually…”
“…”
“He says he’s a prince.”
“…”
Surely she didn’t break her superior’s gun for such a reason, Anschel thought in shock, unable to say anything. Meanwhile, Harriet had taken a tumbler from the refrigerator and limped over to place it against the merman’s lips. The merman, who had been withering away with dried lips, swallowed a gulp of water.
“Hahaha! I pay my respects to you kind human offspring!”
The merman laughed brightly. His eyes sparkled with a bluish hue. He only regained his senses after drinking two more bottles of water from the tumbler.
Whether he knew or not that he was currently in an enemy base, he was laughing very heartily.
“I am Prince Ann of the Northern Clam, a prince of the merpeople living in the north.”
Surely “Northern Clam” wasn’t part of his name…
Anschel’s hands trembled at the fact that a member of the merman race that had killed his parents was right in front of him. This place was where the southern sea merpeople had been dealt with by the military.
Could it be that the prince himself came for revenge?
But capturing him would mean a perfect victory for the military. It was almost like capturing the leader of the merpeople. He had heard that even among merpeople, there were tribes that were worshipped like gods. They were the royal family of the sea and were known to have the strongest abilities among merpeople.
“I came here following my friend’s dying wish.”
Prince Ann of the Northern Sea Merpeople spoke with a seemingly very good mood.
Dying wish? Could it be the dying wish of a Southern Sea merperson?
Anschel was tense, calculating how to deploy his ability.
Bam-
If only the door hadn’t opened so abruptly again. Damn, a military base office door shouldn’t open so easily! Thinking that he would have to install security devices starting tomorrow, Anschel saluted the person who entered.
“Colonel Ender!”
He was about to quickly report about the merman in front of them. But Ender just glanced at the blue-haired merman, who looked as if he contained the sea, and went straight to Harriet.
Ender had two photos in his hand. Though they were just photos, they emitted an unusual aura. Harriet noticed Ender and smiled slightly as he asked:
“What’s in your hand?”
“I finally received it today.”
Ender handed the photos to Harriet with a shy smile. All the tension and focus that had been on Prince Ann of the Northern Sea shifted to those photos.
The photos showed something round and opaque against a black background. It resembled something you might see in a science class. Harriet tilted his head.
“It’s what I received from you last time, Sunbae.”
“…Ah.”
Harriet recalled what he had done with Ender in the sky during their outing last week. Suddenly, his nape felt stiff.
‘What is this feeling…’
Harriet muttered as he looked at the photos.
“Is this a photo of my sperm?”
Whoosh-
As soon as those words came out, an even colder atmosphere than when the merman introduced himself descended.
‘Ah…’
‘Please…’
‘Just…’
Not only Angela and Anschel’s expressions, but even Ryan holding the tiger wore a chilly expression. Harriet abruptly stood up and limped away somewhere.
Everyone’s eyes seemed to say, “Even Harriet is avoiding this?”
“Sperm? Is that a human offspring?”
Prince Ann of the Northern Sea casually interjected. It is the origin of humans, but… everyone remained silent. They didn’t want to reveal to the merman that Ender McGuire, who had taken the sea from merpeople, was such a person.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
