When Yoshino had landed in this time period, she’d ended up in the mountains of Triharan. She’d immediately started hunting monsters and traded their spoils for money. After that, she used [Teleport] to warp from town to town. She had her smartphone on her, so she could’ve contacted us at any time, but she couldn’t resist taking a look around a past version of the world she knew.
She went from Triharan to Strain, then to Allent, then to Panaches. She spent a day in each of these nations before finding herself on an island.
It was a small island called Arosa, which was located between Panaches and Palouf. It was part of a small handful of islands in the region. The inhabitants of the island were very kind and welcomed Yoshino with open arms. But then something strange happened. A group of unusual monsters emerged from the sea and began to attack the locals.
According to Yoshino, they were humanoid Fishmen. Their bodies were coated in scales, and they had fins on their backs. They also had sharp teeth and gills on their necks. There were ten of them in total, and they mercilessly set themselves upon the villagers.
By the time Yoshino had realized what was going on, a few of the people had been clawed or bitten by the Fishmen. She was quick to act after that, though. And once she’d taken out a few of the invaders, the rest of them retreated back into the depths.
Luckily, none of the villagers had died, but the ones who’d been bitten ended up collapsing with a fever, and then their bodies began to change.
“Change? How do you mean?”
“Scales started spreading out across their bodies from the wounds...and webbing appeared between their fingers and toes... It’s like...”
“Like they were turning into the Fishmen who attacked...?” Sakura said, her words eliciting a nod from Yoshino.
In zombie movies back on Earth, being bitten by a Zombie typically turned you into one too. But the living dead of this world didn’t have any such ability. They were just shambling corpses.
“I wonder what kind of bite can mutate the body in this way, I do...”
“If I were to guess, it’d have to be a curse of some sort,” Leen replied to Yae.
Curses were typically imbued by ancient spells, but certain monsters had similar characteristics. The most obvious curse-inflicting monsters that came to mind were Basilisks, Cockatrices, and Catoblepones. They all had the ability to petrify their enemies. These Fishmen might have been monsters like that.
“Are there any Fishman-type monsters in this world? I’ve never heard of them.”
“I’ve heard of Merfolk, but none with that kind of mutating ability. It could be a type of monster native to the other world.”
Leen had a point. The Reverse World would obviously have creatures unique to it, just as the regular world did. Now that the two worlds had merged, there’d be some degree of crossover. And logically, it’d be much more likely to see flying or sea-dwelling monsters show up all over the place rather than land-dwelling ones.
“Anyway, we need to help the villagers! You can use [Recovery] to cure their conditions, right?!” Yoshino pleaded with me as she grabbed my arm. Tears welled up in her eyes. She sure was a kind girl... She barely knew those people, yet she was begging so fervently for their lives.
If their mutation really was caused by a curse, then my spell would be able to handle it. Besides, I just couldn’t say no to my daughter’s tears.
“All right, let’s go. Tell me exactly where the place is, Yoshino.”
“Hurray! Thanks, daddy!” Yoshino smiled wide and gave me a big hug.
Sakura reached out and gently stroked at the girl’s hair. She was a lot more loud and expressive than her mother, that was for sure... But honestly, I was quite glad. I always thought kids should be full of energy.
Elna nervously came running up to me and said, “I’ll come too! I can use [Recovery] as well!”
Oh yeah, I forgot about that.
I was thinking of just going myself to keep my kids out of harm’s way, but...I’d sort of forgotten about the Fiendrake and Gigant encounter we’d just been through. My children weren’t so fragile, after all.
“Sure thing, Elna. I’ll be counting on you.”
“A-Ah, okay! I’ll do my best!”
“I know you will, attagirl!” Elze came over and hugged Elna from behind, giving her a tight squeeze.
“Ahhh... She’s so cute! My little girl’s so cuuute...”
“M-Mother... You’re embarrassing meee...” Elna looked at me as she said that, seemingly pleading for help, but I firmly agreed with Elze.
Right after that, Yoshino told me exactly where Arosa Island was. I elected to teleport there first and open up a [Gate] after making sure it was safe.
“All right, let’s go.”
“Mhm...”
“Okay!” Yoshino exclaimed as she held her arms out. I grabbed her right, and Sakura grabbed her left. We could all use [Teleport], so we didn’t actually have to hold hands, but Yoshino insisted.
She triggered [Teleport], and the scenery around us immediately transformed into that of a calm beach.
It was almost dusk. The emerald sea in front of us gently lapped at the sands, while the calm breeze kissed my cheek. It was a veritable tropical paradise.
The beach was lined with houses on stilts, and I could even see some waterfront cottages by a pier a short distance away. The sight called the Maldives or Tahiti to mind.
“This way!” Yoshino yelled as she gestured toward me and Sakura.
We followed her into one of the stilt-houses. Inside, a woman was resting atop a simple straw bed. She had black hair and looked to be in her forties. I immediately noticed a bite wound on her right arm, and sure enough, blue scales were spreading out from it to her shoulder. Her fingers definitely looked like they were webbed too... Just as Yoshino had said, she was gaining fishlike features.
“Auntie Mau! I brought my daddy!”
“What’s that...? I told you to run, child... You silly girl...” the woman gave a weak smile as sweat beaded across her brow, her voice barely a whisper. She was still conscious, but she appeared to be teetering on the edge of delirium.
“Auntie Mau let me stay with her, and she fed me when I was here. Please help her!”
“Yeah, don’t worry. I’ve got this. [Recovery]!”
I cast my spell and touched the woman’s arm. The scales immediately faded away in a flash of light. Just as I’d suspected, it was a curse. I also cast [Mega Heal] and [Refresh] on her for good measure.
The color slowly returned to her face, and her eyes snapped wide open.
“How do you feel now?”
“My arm... It’s healed... There’s no pain at all. How did you do that?” Mau asked. She looked absolutely astonished as she traced her arm with her fingertips. She was all better now.
“Are you okay, aunty?”
“Mhm, I’m fine. Thank you... Your daddy’s an amazing man...” Mau said. Then, she smiled as she reached out to stroke Yoshino’s hair, which made a little smile creep over the girl’s face.
That was one person safe, but I still needed to heal the others. And so, I walked out of the stilt house and cast [Gate]. Elna led the charge, and soon enough, everyone from the castle’s reception room followed through the portal behind her.
“Hm? You’re here too, Ende?”
“Allis insisted we come...”
I shrugged as I looked over at Ende’s family, as well as my own wives.
...You guys aren’t gonna have anything to do here without Healing magic, you know?
“Don’t worry, I’ll prepare food for the villagers. They’ll be exhausted after this ordeal. Arcia and the others can help.”
“Sure thing!”
Lu and Arcia began busying themselves, and I certainly couldn’t complain about their intentions.
[Recovery] helped reverse unusual bodily conditions, but since the curse’s progression varied by person, it would be better to treat everyone individually rather than all at once. Thankfully, I wasn’t the only person here who could cast it.
“All right, Elna. You start casting [Recovery] on anyone who needs it. If you’ve got other Healing spells, feel free to use those if you think they’ll help. Same goes for you guys.”
“O-Okay, got it!” Elna said as she nodded firmly.
There were five people here other than me who could use Light-aspected Healing magic: Linze, Sue, Leen, Elna, and Quun. We all split up and began to heal the afflicted villagers. The others were helping Lu and Arcia, using Earth magic to build an oven to help cook. Melle and the rest of her family waded into the ocean to spear some fish.
“That should be everyone...” I mumbled as I let out a sigh and sat down on the beach. It had taken a while, but all the villagers were finally cured. Just after I yawned, Yoshino appeared and tugged at my sleeve.
Hm? What’s up?
She was with Sakura, and they both implored me to follow. I went after them and found three dead Fishmen crumpled in a heap. Their bodies were scorched in various locations. Presumably, they were the ones from the earlier attack.
“Did you do this, Yoshino?”
“Mhm. I have Fire and Wind magic, so I used compound spells.”
Fire and Wind? I thought Sakura had Water and Darkness, though. That’s totally different from what she’s got. Anyway, putting that aside... Compound magic, really? That’s some pretty top-tier spellcasting.
“Do you have any Null spells other than [Teleport], Yoshino...?”
“Mhm. I have [Absorb] and [Reflection].” Yoshino promptly replied to Sakura’s question. That meant she had three. Pretty impressive, really.
Wait, no... Quun has [Enchant], [Mirage], [Program], and [Modeling], so that’s four... Elna has [Multiple] and [Boost]... Plus, [Absorb] and [Reflection] are both anti-magic abilities, so they kind of overlap. Then again, [Absorb] is more about sucking up magic, while [Reflection] diverts it, so it’s not exactly the same. Either way, that makes her pretty much impossible to beat with magic... That’s wild.
I looked over the Fishmen. They looked like no Merfolk I’d ever seen before.
I guess it’s a new kind of monster? But...what’s this strange feeling I get when I look at them? Don’t tell me...
I toggled my divine sight and immediately scowled at what I saw.
“What’s wrong, daddy?” Yoshino asked.
“[Apport].”
I used my magic to pull out the Fishman’s heart. A baseball-sized octahedron manifested in my hand. It was the same thing I found within the wicked devout’s Gollems. The same device that had been used as a stand-in for their G-Cubes had been beating within the Fishman’s chest... Well, it wasn’t entirely the same, but it was close enough. The one embedded in the Gollem had been blood red, while this one was deep blue. But, just like the red one, there was a hint of muddied divinity flowing from it.
“What is this...?”
“The work of those annoying wicked devout folks, I think...”
But what did they have to gain by attacking this island? I didn’t think this place was especially important. Maybe they hadn’t targeted this island specifically? It could easily be that they’d sent Fishmen all over the place just to attack whoever they found. But what would the point in that be? Why did they have such an infectious curse?
“Hup...”
“Ow?!”
I was crouched over the corpse, lost in thought, when Sakura suddenly karate-chopped me in the head.
What was that for?!
“You look too worried... It’s bad for our daughter to see you concerned... Que será, será... Whatever will be, will be...”
I guess you’re right. Not much we can do right now.
Sakura suddenly began to sing.
Oh, hey. I know this one...
“Oh, I know this song!” Yoshino said before she started to sing along with her mother.
The song had the same meaning as the words Sakura had just spoken... “Whatever will be, will be.” It was the main theme song of an American movie from the 1950s, performed by the actress who starred in it. The song ended up getting translated into Japanese and became pretty popular.
Sakura and Yoshino both sang in perfect harmony, their gentle voices echoing across the beach.
Wow, I’m surprised Yoshino can sing so well. No, wait...it actually makes a ton of sense.
The newly healed villagers ended up walking over and asking me about the song.
The two continued singing for quite some time, and soon enough, the entire village had surrounded them. Their voices were utterly bewitching.
When they finally stopped singing, they were met with a round of applause. Sakura didn’t show much emotion in response, but Yoshino kind of hid behind her mother’s leg out of shyness.
“Food’s ready!”
I walked over to the stone-magicked table on the beach. It was lined with all kinds of dishes cooked up by Arcia and Lu.
...Wow, that’s a lot.
The recovering villagers thanked everyone for the help and dug right in. They certainly weren’t in any condition to cook for themselves, so it was likely a very welcome meal.
Before joining them, I shoved one of the dead Fishmen into my [Storage]. I figured having Doc Babylon, Tica, and Flora take a look at it later on might be helpful. Looking into its genetic makeup could yield some answers, after all.
I didn’t know what these wicked devout were planning, but they’d made my daughter cry... That alone was unforgivable.
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