He and It Chapter 4: The King’s Pearl (4)

Chapter 4: The King’s Pearl (4)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: KarateChopMonkey

 

Not every mermaid was blessed with a soul mate, but a mermaid with a soul mate had a special gift.

The red thread from the soul level would entangle the two partners for life, birth and death, pain and joy, love and hate… They were bound together inseparably, like a vine climbing another vine, a river coiling around another river.

In this regard, Raperth was very lucky, as he was still in his infancy, he knew that he was destined to receive this rare gift; but he was also unfortunate, in a great war of the Abyssal riots, the palace collapsed, and his newborn soulmate was lost in the chaos, never to be seen again.

At that time, Raperth was too young, like a young white shell with no threads, so young that he couldn’t understand how cruel it was to lose something. All he remembered was his mother rubbing his ear fins sadly with her wrist and holding him in her arms, and his father vowing to get him back the love he deserved, while Raperth just hung around in the midst of all the pitying and strange looks, sullen and frustrated.

Later, the fish cruising north and south reported all the news they knew, and the anadromous whale sharks sent back to the king’s court in the abyss the unfortunate judgment that Raperth’s soul mate had most likely been taken by a human ship.

The distance made it impossible for him to find out his mate’s location, and the world was so big, where would he start looking?

That day, the royal palace was sad and Raperth was willing to pray or mourn for his soul mate. No matter what, he had to make the thieves pay, so he made a vow that one day he would kill all those humans who had participated in the thieves’ acts, and from that moment on, no human ship would ever leave the Drake Passage unharmed.

Time passed like a weave, and Raperth began to leave the soft scales of infancy, becoming stronger and more indestructible, until every ounce of pain and discomfort he experienced came from his soulmate.

As the stronger party in the bonded relationship, the mermaid could empathize with any pain that came from the weaker party and sync vaguely to his lover’s position so that he could respond in time — a valid tradition of protecting the pack.

This was a good thing, perhaps, because his soulmate was still alive. But those feelings were too faint and fleeting, like a drop of water dissolving into the ocean, and even he couldn’t locate them clearly in greater detail.

Until three months ago, when things took a turn for the worse.

At first, it was a dull pain in his heart that caused Raperth’s eyes to snap open from sleep, causing him to start thinking about the cause with confusion and anxiety. The dull pain didn’t last long, but at a certain moment it exploded into a great, suffocating pain, a fierce contraction in his heart.

…So many tears, he even heard a distant cry, so hoarse and mournful, as if a young bird was forced to fall from its nest in the middle of winter, falling into the snow and ice, stumbling and struggling, begging for forgiveness from an unknown fate.

Raperth tore at his chest and roared with rage, his fishtail blasting the stone pillars that supported his nest, causing the whole court to stir. All attempts to stop the pain were ineffective, for it came directly from the torment of the soul.

With this pain, Raperth was finally able to pinpoint the location of his soulmate, and before the first rays of the morning sun shed a smoky golden light, Raperth made a decision.

Whether out of tradition or for his own consideration, he needed to find his soulmate. The principle of the deep sea was that whoever dared to bare his teeth to the mermaid, the mermaid would tear his skull; whoever dared to reach out to the mermaid, the mermaid would plunder his flesh and blood. No one could break this iron rule.

And so Raperth, full of bitter hatred and fierce feelings, embarked on an expedition to find and bring back all that was his.

Now he woke up from a coma caused by his injuries, and opened his eyes to find himself in a completely strange prison.

Perhaps this has happened to his soulmate? Well, the little human should know something.

Raperth stared at the person in front of him and waited patiently for a reply.

Jiang Mian was dumbfounded.

The sound of a pleasant, clear chirp echoed like a winding flute, and the mermaid was talking to him!

“I…” He stammered for a moment, “I can’t understand… What are you saying?”

His gloves were stained with fish blood, and he gestured sharply with his ten fingers, “Your language, I—”

The water sparkled and Raperth’s ear fins flicked slightly several times. Oh well, communication is ineffective.

He wasn’t very disappointed, though. How old was the human? So thin and tiny, and still a pup by the looks of it.

Lucky for you, cub, you have a nice voice and do little movements like a cutie… Although it’s a bit odd to see them moving in such a flexible way without webbing between your fingers.

Well, but he’s still cute… 

The IQ is rather average for land folk, and the language underwater is difficult for you, isn’t it?

“Keep communicating with it!” The command from the experiment station perked up, “Induce it to send more signals!”

Jiang Mian really gave birth to the feeling of having a wolf in front and a tiger at the back. He looked at the deep and evil face of the mermaid, it was really hard to imagine how such a mythical generation of creatures could appear in the world of ordinary people.

“What you said…” Jiang Mian used his thin white index finger, pointed awkwardly to his lips, then placed it on his ear and shook his head, “I don’t understand.”

Raperth suddenly flicked his fishtail, pulling himself upward by more than a meter in a natural direction. The heavy alloy shackles hit under the water with a sound like muffled thunder, startling Jiang Mian and putting the heavily armed guards behind him on alert.

But Raperth did nothing, he just looked at Jiang Mian through the feeding port, feigning curiosity, his gill lines on both sides gently opened and closed.

Mermaids were experts at reading body language, a skill that was commonly used on the battlefield, and if they wanted to, mermaids could even read any deaf person without ever learning sign language. Raperth, however, had no intention of showing that he was watching — or rather viewing — the human’s clueless demeanor with interest.

[What’s your name, human?]

Jiang Mian looked into his eyes, and through the blurred, wavering ripples of the mermaid’s gaze, which was hauntingly focused, he hesitated, sat down, and asked softly, “What’s your name? I don’t suppose ‘Raperth’ is your real name.”

Like him, the mermaid couldn’t understand human language. Of course, he didn’t need Raperth to understand, all he needed to do was make as much noise as possible to get the mermaid’s attention.

Raperth tilted his head. In such a short time, the human had actually calmed down. A moment ago, he looked urgent, anxious, awe-inspiring, a little fearful… and sad, a mix of these emotions filling his every movement. Now, he just looked a little helpless, a little frustrated, and more at peace, like a windless current, fluctuating peacefully around the reef.

He was talking to him carefully, softly, but not in the fearful kind of careful, but… 

Raperth’s ear fins tickled, and he couldn’t help but shiver with a peculiar sensation.

The human attitude, which he had only seen in those elders who faced their young, was more like a gesture of pampering. No older mermaid had dared to speak to him like that since Raperth had grown more than two yards in length.

[You’re protecting me… why?] Raperth asked, basically muttering to himself given the language barrier, [Can’t you see that I’m way older than you?]

“‘Raperth’, this name… We picked it for you, but what do your companions call you?”

Jiang Mian knew that he was completely in a chicken-and-egg situation, and there was a whole experimental station full of people gathered around to listen carefully to the movement of their conversation, but he really couldn’t help himself.

People were creatures who needed to communicate with the outside world, and in the three months since Jiang Pingyang left, his previously small but solid social chain had been broken very thoroughly, and apart from Ted, only a few people were willing to treat him with an undifferentiated attitude.

Once Fabian’s intention to liquidate was revealed, his formerly smiling and kind colleagues were more perceptive than any animal that excelled in avoiding harm. In addition to books, Jiang Mian needed someone to talk to who wouldn’t speak ill of him, who wouldn’t sneer, who wouldn’t push back indifferently, even if the other person was just a mermaid who he couldn’t talk with effectively.

He gazed at Jiang Mian, his gaze so intent… and Jiang Mian couldn’t resist the temptation.

“Hell, did you guys see that?” A researcher in the experiment station lowered his voice, “It looked at him like it was looking at a damn lover.”

“More like looking at a damned prey.” The person next to him retorted, “It’s just a beast, a terrible beast. No tiger, lion or leopard is as cruel as it is, stop your fantasy.”

[Maybe it’s because I’m in chains and my wounds are still fresh?] Raperth speculated languidly, the sound waves resembling a short song, [Obviously, the land people have full confidence in this cage, right?]

Jiang Mian asked, “So, why did you suddenly swim up here, because you wanted to observe me?”

[Sing for me, maybe I’ll play coral for you.] Raperth looked at him, [If you don’t know how to sing… Well, you should sing, you sound like a ball of fur, have you ever seen a sea hare? That kind of fur.]

Jiang Mian and Raperth looked at each other in silence for a while, and he relaxed a lot and wasn’t so afraid — although he was still very emotional. As his reason returned, he realized how awkward the situation was, and Jiang Mian let out a helpless laugh, “No, this feels so stupid, we don’t understand each other’s language at all, I have no idea what to say to you…”

“Go ahead and make it speak mroe.” The experiment station immediately issued a strong order, “Until we call it off.”

Jiang Mian paused, and Raperth stared keenly at his frozen movements. The tiny lump, the one stuck in the human ear, had just made another subtle noise, what was that?

“Would you like something to eat?” Jiang Mian sighed as he grabbed a fresh piece of fish from the trough once again, as he had earlier, and did his best to ignore the eerie emptiness that burned up from his stomach as he slowly reached over, “Perhaps, I could…?”

Raperth’s nail-like eyes finally moved away from Jiang Mian’s face as he gazed at the approaching fish and couldn’t help but narrow his eyes.

If the person who did this was a mermaid, then he would evaluate the other person’s behavior as bold and transgressive, because in the world under the sea, only two mermaids who were soulmates of each other would eat from each other’s body parts.

Hands, lips, pectorals, tail fins… And more parts, the mermaids who loved each other would put food on them to feed their beautiful lovers.

These were offerings, allegiances, and enticements, usually initiated by the male to the female as proof of their everlasting and devout love.

——But humans?

——Unikely.

[Even without a soulmate, I won’t take food from the hands of a land-man, little human.] Raperth grinned, revealing his sharp white teeth, [Because you’re not qualified…]

He suddenly stopped.

… Soulmates, yes, soulmates.

It was perverse, making Raperth snap to attention, what was he doing?

He had been lazily conversing, observing the human’s mannerisms, enjoying — he hated to admit it, but he did enjoy the soft whisper of the human. He was twitching his ear fins and gazing intently, talking too much, killing too little, and acting too little. He was actually having a go at teasing a land folk, forgetting all about the passage of time… He had come to land to find his soulmate, how could he be so lax when he was on important business?

Jiang Mian was sensitive to the change in atmosphere, his outstretched arm stiffened, the fish clutched in his palm, frozen into a cold, heartless blood sludge.

Somehow, the calm atmosphere of the conversation suddenly disappeared. The air was as cold as a blade, making his sweat stand on end. Raperth’s eyes were no longer curious, and the only soft, humane emotion was gone, and he was back to being the cold and scary top predator.

The mermaid closed his thin lips and swam backwards indifferently, his beautiful, roiling silk fins suspended in the water.

“Things aren’t quite right…” Ted muttered, “Something’s not right! Call him back…!”

The mermaid lashed his tail, and with his strength, the alloy chains boomed loudly, bursting into a series of explosions that crashed into the four walls and wailed.

Jiang Mian was simultaneously shaken by the sudden change and fell to the ground, his eardrums buzzing. The red light above his head flashed wildly, and the sirens blared so loudly that the experiment station was in chaos, and a large number of guards with guns rushed in.

“Wait, don’t hurt him! It’s a normal stress reaction, he didn’t hurt me!” Jiang Mian scrambled up on his hands and knees and shouted, “This is normal, he didn’t mean to do this*! Wait, no!”

The appeal was ineffective, in the confusion, he was forced down the stairs by several pairs of strong arms, the feeding port quickly closed, a huge high-voltage current instantly running through the grid, just like a shocking thunderbolt in the room, glaring in the refraction of the bullet-proof glass, it was like a thousand suns shining. The punishment was too hard and too fast, Jiang Mian closed his eyes tightly, his retina still burned with the burning red aura.

“Have you gone mad?!” He closed his eyes, blue veins protruding from his slim neck, and hissed to the point of breaking his voice, “All experiments have a margin for error! What’s the difference between this and killing everything?!”

But his voice was drowned out in the ear-splitting whine of electricity. Dr. Fabian, wearing goggles, looked down at Jiang Mian’s desperate struggle in the hands of the guards, and waved his hand.

He looked at the fading thin youth, his ears seemed to hear the other party’s desperate out-of-control cries, and at the thought of this, the German couldn’t help but pleasantly hook the corners of his mouth.

Then he turned his head comfortably and looked again in the direction where the mermaid was.

Fabian’s smile gradually solidified at the corners of his mouth.