Every Morning, My Mirror Saves the World - Chapter 20

Chapter 20

The instant they hit the water, Lars only had time to seize Ruiyin’s arm beside him. On his other side, Vigia, owing to her size, bounced off his open palm and then rapidly sank, dragging Galahad down with her.

In that moment, Lars gained a profound understanding of the saying, “Losing weight is a lifelong career for women.”

Almost the second they fell in, the mermaids in the sea surrounded them. These beautiful creatures floated around them as lightly as bubbles gleaming in the sunlight. Their silvery-white, gauzy tail fins swayed slowly in the clear seawater. Wide-eyed, their innocent, pure gazes curiously studied these two creatures without tails. Lars held Ruiyin with one arm while searching around in complete bewilderment, trying to find his bearings.

One mermaid tentatively reached out and touched Lars with fingers as delicate as rose petals. Excited, she turned back and communicated with her companions in a voice somewhat like a dolphin’s. It was as if a group of little girls were discussing pretty stones on the beach. Then she turned back, gazing at Lars and Ruiyin expectantly. Then she parted her lips slightly…

Two rows of stark white fangs, mottled with bloodstains, burst past the barrier of her lips. The little mermaid, head cocked, sprayed bloody foam as she enthusiastically called her companions over to take a look.

…Yes. There was always a “then,” and then there was no then after that.

The petite, lovely little girl, flowerlike as a stamen, instantly transformed into a rough, savage, meat-eating auntie saying, “Hey, buddy, will you sell your flesh for ten bucks a pound?”

Everyone who had never seen a mermaid, everyone seeing one for the first time, always held the most dreamy fantasies about the species. But mermaids seemed born specifically to destroy worldviews. Who knew how many people had narrowly escaped with their lives, only to have their dreams shattered, their hearts die, and never believe in love again.

“Huh?! Mmph…” Lars went pale with shock. Before the fangs could bite him and Ruiyin, he yanked out his sword and thrust it at the mermaid. The little mermaid nimbly dodged, giggling as she swam beneath Lars. One hand lightly stroked his ankle, and she began pulling him underwater.

“Let go of me!” Lars kicked hard. Raising his sword, he blocked left and right, resisting the mermaids’ entanglement. However, a knight accustomed to fighting on horseback was hardly suited to battle in the water. On top of that, one of his hands was still dragging the groggy Ruiyin. Before long, he was wounded in several places. The scent of blood spread through the water, further exciting these fierce carnivores. With one hand, he struggled to push Ruiyin up above the surface while anxiously searching in every direction.

By now, the sky had gone completely dark, and the purple moon provided little illumination. Out on the vast sea, there was very little he could see. The mermaids’ enormous silvery-white tail fins reflected the moonlight, and their beautiful faces remained as enchanting as ever. But beneath the water, many pale arms clung to him like the resentful spirits of sailors sunk to the seafloor, dragging him down with all their might.

Lars kept treading water while desperately fighting back the mermaids’ attacks. Yet he still could not stop himself from sinking. All he could do was stretch his arm as far as possible and push the unconscious Ruiyin toward the surface. It was as if he were lifting up his last hope: devout and unwavering.

And it was during this effort that Ruiyin woke.

Her muddled consciousness had not yet fully shaken free of the mermaids’ illusion, and with the scorching warmth of the boy’s arm pressed around her waist, for a moment she even had the false impression of comfort.

But the instant her eyes opened fully, she swiftly drew the dagger at her waist and stabbed back the mermaid reaching for her. She kicked water and swam a little farther away, then grabbed Lars by the arm with one hand.

“Ruiyin!” Lars cried in delight. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” she answered curtly. “Right now, we have to find a way out of here… Oh, these damned mermaids!”

Ruiyin and Lars suddenly sank hard, nearly going completely under. By reflex, she kicked with all her strength, trying to break free of the mermaids’ hold. It was only when the tip of her foot stepped on something utterly different from slick scales that she instinctively looked down.

A face that, even distorted underwater, clearly read as “bursting into tears” was clinging tightly to her and Lars’s hands. Add in the Lucky T mark beneath him, where the greatest number of mermaids were tangled, and this person’s identity was not difficult to determine.

“Galahad, let go!” Ruiyin said through gritted teeth. “Or you can kick those mermaids off. If this goes on, we’re all going to die here!”

“Pfft… cough, cough! I… I want to! But I… cough, cough… I can’t swim…”

Every time this guy opened his mouth, a powerful sense of collapse violently assaulted the entire team. Even Lars, the good-natured soul currently trying hard to save Galahad, froze for a second.

“Save me!” Galahad bawled while clinging to his leg. “I’ll definitely learn how to swim from now on… Wuuuu, Lars, you can’t learn from that She-Demon!”

Lars looked at Galahad in a dilemma. A moment later, he seemed to make up his mind. He drew the small dagger at his side, and then… solemnly handed it to Galahad, gazing at him with eyes full of hopeful encouragement.
Galahad said, “…Waaah, I can’t possibly shake them off on my own! Help me! I swear I’ll be useful to you! I… I…”

He frantically patted himself down for ages, then finally seemed to realize something. Overjoyed, he held up the pink sphere he had been clutching the whole time. “Look! I have Vigia! It’s already passed out, but with its size, it can definitely keep us floating on the sea! So please save me, I’m begging you QAQ!”

“Enough.” Ruiyin finally spoke, her face utterly blank. A vein at her temple throbbed as if it might burst through the skin at any moment. “Shut up. I guarantee that if you say one more word, even Lars won’t be able to stop himself from throwing you overboard.”

The purple moon gradually faded from the sky. When the first ray of dawn appeared over the horizon, a pink sphere finally drifted quietly to shore.

The sphere rolled onto the beach. Behind it, a dripping wet head of green seaweed followed and flopped corpse-like onto the sand. “I’m finally alive again… Thank you, Lord War God Xisaluo! I will follow you forever!”

The seaweed head was shoved three feet away by one hand. A female ghost with long, black, dripping-wet hair emerged expressionlessly from the water. “If I were Xisaluo, trust me, I would not hesitate to kick an ungrateful idiot like that out of the knights. Move over.”

The female ghost flopped corpse-like onto the beach right after the seaweed head. Then, as if sensing something was missing, she shifted three feet to the side and dragged a fourth object out of the sea. The black-haired boy rolled unconscious onto the sand. His body was as battered as his sword, but even so, his left arm was still protectively wrapped around the female ghost’s waist. As though he had sensed the sunlight, the boy with his eyes tightly shut let out a murmur before finally releasing his exhausted hand.

Ruiyin gazed at the boy’s bloodless face. Only after a long while did she look away. She pretended nothing had happened and looked up at the sky, her lips moving in an almost imperceptible curve.

“You worked hard, Lars.”

Galahad stood up and looked around in confusion. “How strange. There’s actually an island in the Sea of Roses? I’ve never heard of this place.”

“It’s not strange.” Ruiyin stared absently at the sky. “Even if you get lost enough to wander all across the world, there will always be one or two places you can’t reach.”

“No, that’s not right.” Galahad shook his head, his expression grave. “The central region of the Sea of Roses is surrounded by mermaids. Only airships can pass through. If there were an island here, it would be impossible for there to be no record of it even now. I think we’d better not get close to the central area. We should rest on the beach for a while, then leave.”

“We have to find somewhere to replenish food and water, and Lars’s wounds need treatment. More importantly…” She glanced at the pink ball that had not moved once since flopping onto the beach. “Just where can Vigia carry us if it turns into a flying dragon?”

“That isn’t a problem,” Galahad said smugly. “Once we pass through Mermaid Waters, we won’t be far from Sunan Continent. It’s a day’s journey by boat. As long as Vigia can hold out for three hours, we’ll definitely make it! Right? No problem, is there, Vigia?”

He shook the pink ball in his hands expectantly. However, it only shifted weakly on the sand and gave no response at all.

A bad feeling rose in Galahad’s chest. He tentatively poked it. “Vigi… eh?!!!!”

Galahad sucked in a sharp breath. Dumbstruck, he stared at the pink ball he had turned over. It really was a pink ball. No dragon head, no dragon tail, no tiny eyes, no chicken wings. It was a genuine, honest-to-goodness round ball!

“H-how…” Galahad stammered.

“This looks like… the waterproof toy Vigia plays with when it takes a bath.” Ruiyin frowned as she turned the ball over in her hands. “What happened? Wasn’t Vigia with you?”

“I-I-I…” Galahad tried desperately to remember. “I clearly… grabbed it when it fell! But how could… Could I have grabbed the wrong thing when I kicked it away? Or did I kick it off when it was clinging to my leg? Wait, let me think again…”

Ruiyin silently tossed the pink toy ball aside. “All right, no need to remember. You simply did to Vigia what we once wanted to do to you. Now there’s only one solution.”

“What?”

Ruiyin stood and calmly looked toward the woods on the island. “Find the Vigia you abandoned, or use your Silver Sword to chop down trees and dig out a boat.”

Galahad: “…”

Author’s Note:

Uh… sorry, I rolled back.

Ah, it’s been so long that I can’t get back into the groove. Let me first look for the dignity I abandoned in the Mermaid Sea…

Galahad: Selling out teammates is an ancestral tradition. Try it and you’ll understand. Thumbs up!