Two days later they encountered another three frigates, each flying a purple flag with black insignia; they were Mathias' fleet that had deployed to hunt pirates.

According to his men, a rather notorious pirate was pillaging rich-looking large ships. They had minimal firepower and relied on speed to engage in melee. The ship's captain reportedly always brought fights to fisticuffs and hit like a troll, and the first mate used various types of swords at high speeds.

Either way, both of them and the rest of their crew were feeding fish in the depths.

Escorted by his fleet, Mathias returned to his territory on the largest island in the Alvan Sea. Currently king-less and ruled by four admirals, Mithandra's family home was on the island of Ailize. Her household was responsible for the south side of the island, and unlike bishops in the west whose authority was regulated and distributed evenly by the church, her family was the most powerful, controlling the trade routes with Incanta and the Ladria continent. Also unlike the bishops, the four admirals of Ailize got along fairly well, as Mithandra's sisters were married to the western and northern families, and the daughter of the eastern noble was married to her brother.

As they were slowly guided in to harbor by several small cutters, Kynos caught sight of a fast moving shadow, which emerged and became the strangest creature he had seen yet.

Its head was an oval, adorned with large oval eyes, with no nose and no hair anywhere. From the top of the head was a long fin that extended out behind its back into a tail. It had two legs that ended in flippers, and it had fins on the side of its hips and thin arms which emerged from smooth, sloping shoulders. Webbed, three fingered hands were attached to the end of the arms, and something that looked like gills could be seen extending from its cheeks down the the base of its neck.

Kynos thought it was a streamlined and beautiful creature, but he was on guard from force of habit.

“Those are merman,” Mithandra said casually, “they can't, or won't, talk, but they do trade with us. They can't breath air, seem to live in villages underwater, and nearly all of our aquatic fruits and deep-water seafood is from them.”

Kynos dropped his guard somewhat. “Merman?”

“Yes, the women are called mermaids. Because the trade from them is so important, it's the death penalty by drowning if anyone attacks them in any way. We trade land products back to them, especially crafted things.” Mithandra beckoned Axal over. “You might also be interested to hear that all of them can naturally use a little bit of water magic. They help us fight defensively when their homes are threatened.”

Mithandra's family had gathered by this point, and all of them were proud that an eight-year-old girl could explain things so clearly. Actually, they had been used to her genius from shortly after her birth, so none of them were too surprised. That also went for Mathias' sailors.

Looking away from the merman, who was pushing a net filled with large, ball-like fruits onto a boat nearby, Kynos took in the harbor and marine city that was Mithandra's homeland.

He wanted to try seafood, but more importantly, there was going to be cake. A giant cake.