The Second Ariel

Nepris was genuinely terrified. The title "Master of the Silent Night Sea" was already formidable enough. Everyone who lived beneath the waves knew Captain Aige was not someone to cross; barring intervention from the deities themselves, this pirate crew was utterly invincible. Fortunately, they usually kept to their own territory and rarely engaged in actual piracy, at one point having slumbered for over a decade while the seas remained calm and peaceful. Although Aige was powerful, she did not have a reputation for wanton cruelty, and no one had ever heard of the pirates launching unprovoked attacks on defenseless undersea villages. They seemed to target only prey capable of fighting back, such as the bloodthirsty, berserk sahuagin, showing little interest in homebody races like the merfolk. Simply put, they weren't terribly frightening—to the merfolk, they posed far less of a threat than the ixitxachitl. Thus, Nepris maintained a healthy respect for the Silent Night Pirates without feeling truly afraid. Under normal circumstances, these undead wouldn't bother stirring up trouble for merfolk. The name Ultraman Tiga, however, was an entirely different story. Lately, that name had swept through the ocean like a tsunami. And that wasn't merely a metaphor. He had exiled an entire kingdom and carved out a brand-new sea, causing the global sea level to drop by nearly half a meter. Such a colossal shift in the waters had naturally shocked every undersea race. Inquiring everywhere, they soon learned this name, and the true wave came crashing down upon their minds. Excavating the land of an entire kingdom—was he even human? Oh, latest reports confirmed he wasn't human at all. He was a lich. What was more, this lich had raised an island upon the open sea and slaughtered an army of Githyanki. Twenty dragons and thousands of Githyanki had been reduced to corpses beneath a meteor swarm. Then he had captured all the overseas dragons, trussing up more than a dozen chromatic and metallic dragons on the beach to dry like dragon jerky. Those notoriously short-tempered dragons didn't even dare resist, clearly having been beaten into absolute submission. Never mind that the dragons might seem destitute; that was only because they were inept at diving, unable to best marine races underwater. But in the sky and on land, the sea-dwelling races were absolutely no match for them. Yet this lich had marched straight onto Dragon Island and battered over a hundred dragons into submission. As if that weren't enough, he had dared to provoke the Ryanians. Seven legends had joined forces against this lich, only to suffer a crushing defeat and limp home—news of which had already spread far and wide. A lich that wasn't even afraid of the Holy Light—what in this world could possibly deal with him? Aige had no taste for bullying the weak, but Master Ultraman possessed no such redeeming reputation. Rumor had it he had taken revenge on the tiefling kingdom because they had tricked him into signing an indentured servitude contract, and the result of his vengeance was exiling the entire kingdom. Other rumors claimed he had gone to negotiate business with the dragons, but when the great wyrms refused to let him skin them and strip their sinews, the lich simply captured them alive. Not to mention the Githyanki, whom the lich himself had let into this world, only to turn around and annihilate his own partners in crime. How ruthless! How wicked! When Nepris heard Anbaixiu admit his identity, his tailfins shook so violently that he nearly darted off to flee on the spot. Terrifying! Could this lich stop flying under the banner of the Silent Night Pirates? Why pretend to be decent?! Nepris was breaking out in a mad cold sweat—fortunately invisible underwater. He could only pray that the three hundred conches of pearl dew would appease this greedy lich, lest a foul mood drive him to wipe out the Blue Algae Tribe. They were merely a minor tribe without a single legend; they had no chance of withstanding the lich's horrifying methods. Watching the trembling Nepris, Aige couldn't help marveling. Anbaixiu's campaign to establish deterrence had been wildly successful; in all her years ruling the seas, she had never terrified anyone to this degree. After gleefully pocketing the pearl dew, Anbaixiu offered Nepris some comfort: "Don't be nervous. I don't eat merfolk. I'm not entirely sure how outsiders portray me, but from start to finish, I have always been a businessman. I came here today solely to discuss business with the merfolk." Nepris was so rattled that he was silently chanting prayers to Eadro. The atmosphere was ripe, and it was time to let this merfolk priest calm down. Anbaixiu steered the conversation back to the original topic. As Nepris composed himself slightly, he finally remembered that their initial purpose was to deliver intelligence meant for the merfolk goddess. He had just been so terrified by Anbaixiu's name that it had completely slipped his mind. Swallowing a few mouthfuls of seawater, Nepris suppressed his unease and asked, "Master Ultraman, may I ask what intelligence you have brought?" "Mr. Nepris, are you certain you wish to involve yourself in the secrets of deities? It's not that I look down on you, but I have dealt with many gods. To mortals, their whims and emotions bring troubles on the scale of natural disasters. If you aren't a great whale, you'd best not plunge into the whirlpool." Finding this entirely reasonable, Nepris hurriedly said, "I will inform High Priestess Ariel at once. Please wait here a moment." Having spoken his piece, Nepris launched himself forward like a torpedo, swimming away at the fastest speed of his life. Anbaixiu chuckled and said to Aige, "See? Isn't it done already?" Aige nodded in agreement. "You truly are capable. If I had come alone, who knows how long I would have had to wait." Her code name in the Elegy Poetry Society was Mute. She was naturally poor with words, and lately she had noticed that whenever she spoke, awkward silences ensued. She felt more and more ill-suited to communicating with others. If the merfolk tribe had turned them away, Aige wouldn't have known how to handle it. She couldn't very well batter down their doors before proposing a partnership; no matter how neutral Eadro was, the goddess would never tolerate such blatant provocation. Anbaixiu, on the other hand, was confident. As long as he could speak with Eadro, it should be simple to divine the goddess's thoughts. Catering to her interests would pave the way for negotiating a division of faith. At the end of the day, believers were merely currency to deities—and wasn't currency meant to be spent and traded? Yet in the midst of his smugness, Anbaixiu suddenly turned to Aige and asked, "Wait, what did that merfolk say the high priestess was named?" Aige blinked, recalling, "I believe he called her Ariel." Anbaixiu was so startled that he downed two conches of pearl dew in rapid succession. Could it really be such a coincidence? The high priestess of the merfolk was also named Ariel? Yet that wasn't entirely surprising. The name Ariel was exceedingly common in the ocean; sharing names was completely normal. Anbaixiu had assumed that the god backing Aeolus was scheming to usurp another deity's faith, meaning the chosen target had to be a key figure in a major power—making Princess Ariel of the Raging Tide Kingdom the likeliest candidate. But the high priestess of the merfolk was also named Ariel, making the status of both Ariels roughly equal. Could Aeolus's true target actually be this Ariel? Catching on, Aige remarked curiously, "Fascinating. Did you guess wrong before?" Anbaixiu said hurriedly, "Wait, let me think." The trouble was that the Goddess of Fate hadn't granted him any premonition regarding this matter, leaving him unable to determine which Ariel was the intended one. The merfolk were vastly more powerful than the Raging Tide Kingdom, and kuo-toa also lived in the sea. Contending for merfolk territory seemed much more logical; one couldn't very well expect the lunatic goddess's followers to march ashore. It seemed everything made sense. Blast it. He had unwittingly brought that Aeolus brat straight to his destination! Deities truly were never simple. A single misstep, and he had been played instead. Anbaixiu hated dealing with fools and lunatics most of all, yet he had run into both at once: Aeolus was a fool, and the kuo-toa goddess was a lunatic. Neither played by the rules, making it impossible to deduce their actions through logic. Yet Anbaixiu quickly regained his composure. Even if it was this Ariel, wouldn't that be even better? If the Raging Tide Kingdom was safe, nothing would stand in the way of Anbaixiu's alchemy factories. As for the struggle between the kuo-toa goddess and the merfolk goddess, what did that have to do with him? He could play both sides, peddling intelligence to make a tidy fortune! Wonderful. In fact, it was brilliant! The crushing burden named Aeolus was about to be dumped onto the merfolk, leaving Anbaixiu free to return comfortably to his role as a capitalist. With that thought, the world suddenly seemed broad and bright, and all his pressure vanished into thin air. "I'll go fetch that Aeolus brat. Hahaha! Helping him find his wife—that's no small favor!" Delightedly activating the teleportation array, Anbaixiu returned directly to Phil the fishman's ghost ship. When Anbaixiu found Aeolus, the brat was sprawled on the ghost ship prying off barnacles to eat. His teeth were certainly impressive, popping them shells and all into his mouth with loud, crunchy crunches. Seeing Anbaixiu return, Aeolus said in surprise, "Didn't you say you had a lot to handle? Why are you back so soon?" Anbaixiu said cheerfully, "I've learned news about Ariel." Hearing the name "Ariel," Aeolus grew instantly excited. Could he really complete the mission his Father God had given him so quickly? Aeolus rushed over to Anbaixiu, throwing his arms around him in a tight hug. "Good brother! You're my blood brother from another father and mother!" "Who taught you to say that?" Anbaixiu asked, bewildered. Aeolus replied, "I learned it from that half-rotten fishman. That's how he always talks to the undead on the ship. Why, is something wrong?" "Uh... well..." At a loss for words, Anbaixiu simply steered back to the point. "Tell me, Aeolus, is that wife of yours a merfolk?" Aeolus searched his memory, then said, "I don't know. I know what her face looks like, but I've never seen her lower half." At the time, Talos had only shown Aeolus an image of Ariel's upper body. Merfolk faces looked very much like humans', so Aeolus genuinely had no idea whether Ariel was a merfolk or not. "How could you not even know that?" Resigned, Anbaixiu confessed, "Then I can't say for sure. All I know is that there is a merfolk priestess named Ariel who might be the person you're looking for. I'm getting in touch with her people now, and when the time comes, I'll take you to see her." Aeolus eagerly said, "Yes, yes, yes, thank you so much! Good brother, I owe you so much." Aeolus was practically moved to tears. Right after being born into this world, he had been tricked into getting his head chopped off; if he hadn't met Anbaixiu, he would still be wandering aimlessly across the ocean. Anbaixiu had helped him so tremendously—he was practically the finest person in all the world.