Is it wrong to try to meet someone in a dungeon?

"...?"

"Ah—... Bell, Bell, Bell..."

Seeing her puzzled expression, I pointed to myself and said my name.

After I pointed at myself a few times with my index finger, a bright smile bloomed on the mermaid's face, and she clapped her hands together with a "slap!"

"Bell!"

"Yes, that's right."

"I am Marie!"

I made her remember my name, and at the same time, I also got her to give me her own name.

Miss Marie the Mermaid is the one.

Although it's still not quite clear, compared to Winnie or Miss Rey, her communication skills seem a bit weaker? Should her speech and behavior be described as childish, or simply naive...?

I thought about what to ask next, and then—she slowly made a soft "plop" sound.

She bit her index finger, which was in her mouth, and held the bleeding tip to my nose.

"Bell".

"W-What is it?"

"Want some?"

Huh...?

My thoughts stopped, and I stood there dumbfounded, mouth agape, when Miss Marie shoved her finger into my mouth. Wait a minute!?

"Want to lick it?"

What did you say?!

"Try inhaling?"

Eee ...

In an instant, my whole face flushed red. Then the mermaid's index finger started drawing circles, rubbing and kneading my mouth. Wait, ah!? Don't move around in your mouth!? Her finger wrapped around my tongue…!?

My face turned bright red, I was sweating profusely, and I was having trouble breathing. In desperation, I tried to pull my fingers and my right hand off, but Miss Marie wouldn't allow it, hooking her fingers around my gums to hold me in place. It hurts so much! It hurts so much!

"hurry up~!"

She suddenly leaned forward, pressing her lower body tightly against mine, and my body stiffened like a stone. Even though she was a monster, being approached by such a beautiful girl... tears welled up in my eyes, and I couldn't help but do as she said.

I licked it, sucked it in... and swallowed the saliva that had accumulated in my mouth.

I licked her fingers with my tongue, and she didn't seem ticklish at all, just smiling. I was about to say it was okay and let go, but she said to me, "Just one more time!"

My face was burning hot, and my ears were practically smoking. This is no metaphor.

To be honest, this might be the first time I've ever been so humiliated. Even if it's not quite that bad, it's definitely third on my list of most embarrassing experiences in my life. Like accidentally seeing Miss Ais and the others taking a cold shower, or being pushed down by Miss Haruhime at the pleasure quarters—this incident is comparable in its destructive power…!

For some reason, the image of my grandfather's hearty smile as he gave a thumbs-up flashed through my mind.

(To outsiders, what we're doing seems even more outrageous than what couples do...!?)

New figures appeared in my mind. Fairy and Lily stood with their arms crossed and legs apart, Miss Ais stared intently at me, and then Miss Eina smiled at me with a completely unsmiling look in her eyes.

When my body inexplicably began to tremble violently... I finally noticed the change.

"Hmm, something's weird?"

Strange? I said, looking down at my hands and body.

The lingering fatigue and the physical strength depleted from the battle with Shan Yan have recovered a little...?

(No, this is... a full recovery?)

I couldn't hide my astonishment. There was no mistake, she had fully recovered.

Miss Marie squinted at me, who was speechless, before finally pulling out her finger. At the same time, I realized something. It was her "blood" that healed my body.

"Ah, it's 'mermaid blood'..."

That's a "dropped item" that appears on the rare mermaid. It can be used as a material for recovery items, restoring stamina, healing wounds, and even detoxifying without processing. Like the famous "unicorn horn," it's a rare and precious item…

So that's how it is. She was worried about my injured body and wanted to heal me...

"Um... excuse me, thank you."

I bowed my head in gratitude, and the mermaid "Heretic" returned my greeting with a sweet smile.

Just then... Miss Marie stared at her fingers, which were covered in sticky saliva. The moment I saw that, I grabbed her wrist.

I pulled up the hem of the "water crystal cloth" I was wearing and started scrubbing and scrubbing! I began scrubbing that finger at an incredibly fast pace. In front of the stunned Miss Marie, I blushed furiously as I wiped away my saliva. Finally, I shoved my finger and my entire hand into the water to wash it thoroughly clean.

Huff, huff...! My shoulders heaved as I gasped for breath. I had only just recovered my strength when I was already nearly exhausted and collapsed to the ground.

"Shall we go over there?"

“Eh…?”

"I don't like it here."

Miss Mary patted my shoulder, and when I looked up, I saw an uneasy expression on her face.

Following her gaze, I saw a shadowy figure, resembling a half-human, half-bird or a singing bird, fluttering in the distance overhead. It was likely newly born from the dungeon. Yes, even "heretics" can be attacked by their own kind (monsters)...

Indeed, the vast void here offers a wide view, making it an easy target for monsters. It might even be spotted by adventurers newly arriving on this floor from the cliff. Miss Marie expressed a desire to change locations, and I agreed.

"Uh, you mean over there? Over in the maze...?"

"Um."

Miss Marie was pointing to a cave on the northeast side of the Great Hollow. I can walk on land, which is fine, but she's half-human and half-fish, so it seems she can't... That's what I initially thought, but as I tried to decipher her gestures, I learned that there was a cave at the bottom of the waterfall pool, which seemed to lead to a waterway in the labyrinth. It turns out that the monsters that fell from the "Giant Azure Waterfall" could return to the interior of the cliff via this route.

Miss Marie jumped into the water, and I said goodbye to her before leaving the shallows. I looked up at the cherry blossoms as I returned to the Crystal Maze.

"Wait a minute... They said we'd meet up, but how do we do that? I don't even know where the waterfall pool leads to..."

I've come to a fundamental question: I'm stuck in the very middle of a complicated web of divergent paths, unsure of what to do.

Oh no, I should have discussed this properly...

Just as I was racking my brains in thought, I heard "singing".

"what……"

Her singing was smooth, beautiful, and melodious.

The collection of "la, la" notes without lyrics is by no means a monster's (or monstrous) song of destruction designed to deceive people.

Like the ebb and flow of the tide, or the ocean under the moonlight, it is a steady and gentle melody.

"A song echoes through the labyrinth..."

As if guided by this moving song, choose your path.

I didn't encounter any monsters along the way. After walking for a while, I came to a small cave. In my field of vision, I saw a mermaid sitting at the boundary between land and water, humming a song.

Bathed in crystal light like moonlight, she closed her eyes, her smiling face and humming a song, her beauty captivating and dreamlike.

"Bell♪"

The mermaid noticed me and waved. I snapped out of my daze and happily approached her.

There was no flowing water in the cave, but there was a pool of spring water, and Miss Marie sat on a crystal rock on the bank of the spring. She was surrounded by ice-like azure crystal, and I hurried to her side... and blushed again.

"?"

"Ah, no, that..."

I spoke evasively, my eyes falling on her unguarded upper body, especially her chest.

Regardless of what had just happened that prevented her from paying attention, now that we're face to face, no matter how she tries to avoid it, she'll see him/her. Even though his/her long hair, falling in clumps to the sides, partially obscured her view…

Miss Mary's chest was repeatedly glimpsed, making me blush with embarrassment, when she seemed to realize her mistake and clapped her hands again.

"Wait a minute!"

She jumped into the spring with a smile, and made me wait for a minute.

When she suddenly leaped out of the water, tossing her turquoise hair behind her, I hurriedly tried to cover my face with my arms, but noticed the object covering her chest.

"Shell, seashell underwear...?"

"Just like you guys, Bell!"

Miss Marie returned to the water wearing... well, a bra made of seashells and silk threads. Blue seashells clung to her blue breasts.

When she said "like us," did she mean the clothes? Well, this outfit does resemble Amazonian clothing, but... the seashell and pearl hair ornaments too... perhaps Miss Marie has taken an interest in the adventurers' attire and is imitating them.

How about it? How about it? The mermaid spread her arms wide to show me, and I smiled wryly, thinking she looked like a little girl, and couldn't help but chuckle.

(But then again... she really is beautiful, captivating all who see her, and she loves to dress up, so how come she hasn't been discovered by other adventurers yet...?)

Whether she noticed the meaning in my gaze or not, the mermaid smiled and began to fix her hair.

As if saying, "I always do this," she let her long, wet hair fall in front of her face.

Her green hair was soaking wet and clung to her face, obscuring most of her features, including her eyes. Although she wore a sweet smile, well… well, this wouldn't give her away… it was rather creepy.

Perhaps this is what the gods meant by "horror".

(He seems a little different from any other "heretic" I've seen so far...)

There are differences, like her clapping for me or calling out to me with concern.

She was innocent and naive, with childlike mannerisms and a boundless curiosity. And since she knew Mr. Reed, she probably wasn't a recent arrival from the underground city.

From the moment we met, I've always felt that she's different from Miss Lei or Winnie, and now I feel that even more strongly.

How should I put it? It's not like a "heretic"... but more like a "spirit" who generally considers themselves to have a weak sense of self.

"Uh, well then, Miss Marie..."

"Miss Ma Li? I am Ma Li."

"Uh, no, this is called a form of honorific, similar to a cultural practice among humans..."

"I am Marie?"

"...Mari."

She leaned her face closer, her innocent demeanor making it impossible for me to win an argument with her once again.

Seeing the mermaid girl's excited, giggling expression, my face has been red since just now.

"...So, Marie, let me ask you something? Mr. Reed and his group...are there any other 'heretics' on this floor?"

"Reed and the others, they've gone upstairs?"

I decided to talk to Marie in the same way I talked to Winnie, and she looked up at the crystal ceiling.

Above? Does it refer to the "middle layer"? Or... the surface?

I had my doubts, but I didn't press the matter further. I only knew that I wouldn't be getting help from Mr. Reed and the others this time.

"Ray and the others are always together."

"what?"

"I can't fly like the Songbird (Rey), nor can I walk like the Lizardman (Reed)."

"..."

"So, I'm always here in the water city, looking after the house."

As Ma Li spoke haltingly and clumsily, she pouted as if she were being difficult.

This was the kind of discontent unique to mermaids who couldn't move on land. Judging from her tone, she probably hadn't even met Winnie yet.

Ignoring my thoughts, Marie slapped her tail, which was lying horizontally on the land, and leaned out onto the crystal rock with her hands on her hands.

"Bell, shall we have a chat?"

Seeing that, besides her fellow countrymen, there was also a visitor like me who accepted her existence, Mary was overjoyed and wanted me to talk to her.

Her cheeks flushed red as she smiled, delighted to meet a guest for the first time. She truly seemed like a fairy.

If things weren't like this, I'd stay with her as long as I wanted, but...

"Mari, listen to me, okay? I want to go back to my companions."