Chapter 143: Palace

But it was, if he could cultivate Water Spirit Trees on a large scale, he could stockpile the mature fruits for emergencies, no more worrying about droughts, if a fire broke out, the fruits could douse the flames.

“This way, we won’t have to worry about droughts.” Ethan murmured to himself.

“And if a fire breaks out, we can use them to put it out.”

Water attribute mages were rare in this world, having a reliable supply of Water Spirit Fruits could fill that gap entirely.

He absolutely had to get his hands on the Water Spirit Tree.

“Is there any more meat? I’m not full yet.”

“Of course, eat up, eat up.” Ethan smiled and roasted more for Mira, he had no idea how her slender body could hold so much food.

It wasn’t until her stomach was completely round that she finally stood up, fully satisfied. “I should get going, if you need anything, just say the word, consider it repayment for the delicious food.”

“Do you have more Water Spirit Fruits?”

“I have a few left, want them?”

“Yes, as many as you have.”

“Here.” Mira pulled ten Water Spirit Fruits from her bag and handed them over.

“I originally wanted to invite you to our palace as guests, but Her Majesty the Queen is currently…”

“Oh right, you mentioned your Queen is cursed? Not sick?”

“You heard that from the Turtle Tribe, didn’t you? It’s actually a curse, and only the liver of a Blood Rabbit can break it.”

“So that’s why you need the liver of a Blood Rabbit.”

Seeing Mira’s dejected expression, Ethan turned and walked back to the carriage, she watched him in confusion, not knowing what he was doing.

Ethan retrieved a box from the carriage and handed it to her. “What is this?”

“A Blood Rabbit’s liver.”

“Other things are useless, only… Wait — what did you say this is?!”

Mira’s eyes went wide, Mira was instantly rendered speechless with astonishment.

Ethan briefly explained the course of events, he had received the Blood Rabbit’s liver from the beastmen in the west, and then they had traveled all the way here to search for the Water Spirit Tree.

Mira listened, and tears welled in her eyes. “As long as you’re willing to give the Blood Rabbit’s liver to us, we’d happily offer the Water Spirit Tree with both hands!”

“Then I thank you very much, please, take this, and then—”

“No, no need, since that’s the case, why don’t you come back to the palace with us?!”

Ethan was instantly taken aback by her suggestion. ‘The merfolk palace is at the bottom of the sea, how exactly are we supposed to get there? Is there magic in this world that lets you breathe underwater?’

He looked at Pearl, Pearl shook its head — it didn’t know such magic either.

“It’s no problem, we’ve hosted many guests from the land before.”

“How do we get there?”

“Use this.” Mira dove into the sea and returned to shore holding a clump of seaweed.

“As long as you chew on this seaweed, you can breathe underwater.”

‘There’s actually something that magical?’ Half believing and half doubting, Ethan took the seaweed and popped it into his mouth to chew, a bitter taste instantly spread throughout.

Once the bitterness faded, Ethan took a deep breath, then slowly dipped his head beneath the surface of the seawater.

A miracle happened, he could actually breathe underwater.

“It really works.”

“Then shall we set off now?”

“But we don’t know how to swim.”

“That’s no problem — we can ask the Turtle Tribe for help, they’re just nearby, I’ll go find them.” Mira said this and dove back into the sea.

Taking advantage of Mira going to find the Turtle Tribe, Ethan and the others packed their things and parked the carriage in a safe place, by the time they finished packing, three massive sea turtles had appeared on the surface of the sea, waiting for them.

“Ohohoho, are you the benefactors who’ve come to save the Dragon King?!”

“A Blood Rabbit’s liver, we searched the entire west and couldn’t find one — to think you actually…”

“Benefactors, you are truly our great benefactors!”

“Dragon King? Not the Mermaid Queen?”

“That is an honorific we use for Her Majesty the Queen, as for the reason — it’s a long story. I’ll tell you all about it once we arrive at the Dragon Palace. For now, shouldn’t we hurry and set off?”

“Alright.”

“Let’s go.”

Ethan placed the Scythe of Gaia, the Holy Sword, and other essentials into his backpack, going into the water would definitely soak his clothes.

Just as he was preparing to change, an old turtle with a white beard handed him a packet of powder. “If you’re worried about your clothes getting wet, just sprinkle some of this.”

‘What is this?’ Ethan took the powder curiously, the old turtle explained with a proud smile.

“This is a special waterproofing powder made by my Turtle Tribe, sprinkle it over yourself, and you’ll be waterproof and fireproof for twenty four hours.”

“Isn’t that a bit too magical?” Zharok grabbed a handful, dusted himself off, and jumped into the sea.

Splash!

The seawater didn’t wet his fur, it struck something invisible and slid right off, as if deflected by a barrier.

The three old turtles smiled with undisguised pride.

“Truly magical, meow~”

“Yeah.” Ethan and the others sprinkled the powder over themselves as well.

Once everyone was ready, Mira smiled. “Please follow me, I’ll take you to the Dragon Palace.”

“Wow…” The underwater world opened up around them, and none of them could hold back a gasp of amazement, this was their first time seeing it so clearly.

“So beautiful.” Zharok, sitting on the back of a sea turtle, shouted.

Surprisingly, his voice reached the ears of Ethan and the others clearly.

“How is that possible?” Ethan remembered that sound traveled much slower in water than in air.

Mira caught his confused expression and smiled. “I cast a spell.”

“I see, I didn’t even notice when you cast it.”

“Our merfolk magic is very subtle.”

“Mira, I heard that merfolk are very skilled at singing, is that true?”

“Of course, most of our magic is related to sound, we learn to control it from a very young age, so we are all excellent singers.”

“I also heard that you use your songs to bewitch sailors and crash their ships on reefs, meow~”

“Those are all misunderstandings, my race has no males, so we can only seek mates from the outside world, sailors are the most common candidates, many who marry mermaids are simply unwilling to leave the sea.”

“So because those sailors never returned home, people believed they’d been bewitched — that their ships had sunk?”

“Exactly, it’s such a wrongful accusation, if anyone wants to go home, we always escort them back.” Mira puffed her cheeks in annoyance.

Zharok grinned at Ethan. “The legends where you’re from probably stem from something similar, right?”

“I wouldn’t know.” Ethan had never seen a mermaid on Earth.

One of the old turtles spoke up. “We’re almost at the Dragon Palace.”

“So fast?!” Zharok had expected a much longer swim.