Marinus swam and Luca swam behind him. The changeling was like, bewitched by the sea creatures around him, and he reached out to touch them every so often. When they didn’t swim away, Luca would giggle.

They kept swimming underneath the surface. They were closer to the shore, and they couldn’t risk being seen by humans. It was strange for Luca to eat raw fish. He was used to the fruit that the system created for him. But Marinus caught it for him and even bit off the heads, so the boy had no choice.

They swam by a mermaid village and Marinus couldn’t resist the temptation. He had to say hi. Mermen and mermaids usually lived separately. They only came together for mating. But male children remained in the mermaid villages until they became 18.

Luca was drinking in the sights. So far, he could see apartment buildings in the shape of coral reefs in the entire village. They didn’t have doors, rather open holes in the shape of doors and windows. When he asked why the mermaids needed buildings at all, Marinus send him a funny look.

“We are not savages, Luca. Every mermaid is a lady. Every lady requires her space. Mermen don’t have houses and apartments, though. We are always migrating from one mermaid village to the other.” Said Marinus with a laugh, and Luca nodded. He felt weak, though, and so they swam to the highest underwater mountain and reached its peak.

The peak was a nice surface. Marinus lifted Luca on top of it and the boy released his transformation. He breathed deeply, and he smiled when a seagull landed on his chest.

“I don’t have fish for you.” Said Luca to the bird. “But if you want to be friends, I welcome you. Marinus, what are you going to do now that Alba ran off with the life-extending rings?” Asked Luca.

“I will search for her.” Said Marinus. “Someone in the village must know where she went. I refuse to believe that she died in the dungeon.”

“And if she refuses to give you the rings? What then?” Asked Luca, now petting the seagull.

“I will spread the word that she doesn’t keep to her deals. She will become a pariah in merfolk circles.” Said Marinus.

“The system wouldn’t have cared about that.” Said Luca. He had lived so long by himself with no hope that he didn’t dare to hope now. “But you don’t need to look after her. I have a life-extending ring. And there is something you need to know about them. They stop aging.”

Marinus imagined Theanore dying as two-year-old centuries from now and cursing him for never being able to grow up. He gulped.

“Will it be safe for you to take it off? My fiancé, Theanore, is brilliant when it comes to enchantments. Maybe we can find a way to enhance it.” Said Marinus. Maybe they could put less mana during the different stages of the enchantments or more? Can life-extending rings even be recreated? Surely, for how else were there so many?

“Yes, it is safe. I will start aging again, but not too quickly. Marinus, I will need to stay on this rock for three days to replenish my mana.” Said Luca. The seagull gave a caw and it flew away.

“I will come over to check on you from time to time. If you are certain that you have nothing against letting Thea and I study your ring. I have to warn you; we might end up destroying it.” Said Marinus, suddenly afraid that Luca will take back his offer.

“Go ahead. Now that I can look forward to a human’s life, a full one if I have anything to say about it, I have no regrets. I spend a hundred years imprisoned. If I can spend just as many free, then that is ok.”

“Ok, Luca. I am going to the village to get you something to eat. You stay here.” Said Marinus.

“Where else can I go, friend?” Asked Luca as Marinus dived in the water.

Marinus hadn’t known how much he missed the deeps and the villages of the mermaids until human settlements became his reality. He went through the market. He still had a coin pouch around his neck, full of pearls, the preferred currency of the mermaids.

Furthermore, he passed through a stand with a tuna with a chain around its tail. He shook his head when he saw it. He could pay for it, but it was too big to eat by two people. He neared the mermaid manning the stall and smiled.

“Hello, good lady. Do you have smaller fish for sale?” While Marinus could hunt for his meal, but the waters around the village were property to the mermaid chief, whoever she was. Marinus didn’t want to steal when his aquafarm produced enough pearls to trade for food and the like.

“Sure do. I have cod and mackerel. One pearl per ten.” Said the mermaid and Marinus looked around. He saw some bags next to the penned in space where he suspected the fish was.

“And how much for a bag? Are they bottomless?” Asked Marinus, and the mermaid nodded.

“They are bottomless, but you will have to be careful of how much you can carry. They can tear if you put too much in. A bag is half a pearl. Do you want five fish and a bag?”

“I do. Two bags and ten fish, actually. Five placed in each bag. My friend and I are on a long journey and I want to make sure we don’t spend too long hunting. Say, do you want to be supplied with bags that have more than one enchantment? Let us say- bottomless, lightweight, earth to get it to last longer, and water, so the fish can be prepacked inside ahead of time.” Asked Marinus. If he could expand the business to the village, then he stood to get genuine merfolk items as a trade.

“Do I? I do. But it is not possible.” Said the mermaid sadly.

“Alone, I can enchant up to two enchantments. With my fiancé, I can make four. Take me to your enchantment fountain and I will show you.” Said Marinus. “But first, let me get this fish to my friend. He must be hungry.”

The mermaid agreed, and she escorted Marinus to the rock. When they found Luca, he was sound asleep and the two merfolk remained by his side, speaking about the prospective business venture.