"Route, no. ”

Jeger, the leader of the shark people, followed Rita and swam east with the current, and asked strangely, "Where are we going?"

Rita turned around and said, "Most of the merfolk chose to settle their abode on the north shore of Waiheke Island. Now, where I am taking you, is our place of residence on the coast. ”

Jeger was confused: "What should you do if you live, on the coast, on the coast, on the sea, on the sea, on guard, on grazing, on food?"

Rita replied, "Except for a few merfolk warriors who stay on the border line and are responsible for reconnaissance, there are very few people in the mermaid's waters who are willing to live and graze. ”

Jeger said contemptuously, "Mermaid, lazy. ”

Rita said unconcernedly, "You would be right to say that we are lazy, we have focused on trade and seafood rather than grazing and planting. ”

"I don't understand trade, seafood. ”

Rita swam the tail of the fish, looked at the shore in the distance, and said softly, "When you get to the gathering place of merfolk, you will naturally understand everything I said." ”

Jeger glanced at the merfolk's back, closed his mouth, and said no more.

Half an hour later, Rita swam with Jeger to the north shore of Waiheke Island, where the merfolk lived.

Surfing the surface and looking at the hundreds of exquisite stone buildings built on the shore, Yeger opened his eyes and said in an incredible tone: "You guys, live, on land?!"

Rita didn't answer Jeger's question, and raised her arm and waved at the merfolk village.

"It's the patriarch, the patriarch is back!"

In a burst of cheers, dozens of heavily armed merfolk warriors swam to the shore and pushed open the sluice-like wooden gate.

Passing through the sturdy and massive gate, Jeger swam into a large waterway three meters deep and five meters wide, filled with cement.

This long waterway leads to the hinterland of the merfolk village, and is divided into countless smaller waterways that lead to each house.

Just as Jeger was looking at everything in amazement, the merfolk in the village also spotted the uninvited guest.

The ugly and vicious appearance of the shark man immediately caused a riot and panic among the mermaids.

The merfolk children were immediately taken home by their parents and locked in the gate, while the merfolk warriors took up arms and shouted at Jeger and his people.

Rita raised the trident in her hand high and smashed it into the water, splashing and making a huge noise that made the merfolk in the village immediately calm down.

"Quiet!" said Rita, "I invite these neighbors to come and be a guest!

Seeing the merfolk look like they were facing a great enemy, Jegg shook his fins, bared his teeth, and said to Rita in a mocking tone, "Merfolk, cowardice. ”

Ignoring Jeger's provocation, Rita continued to swim along the village's waterway until she reached the largest building in the middle of the village, where she stopped fishtailing.

Jeger looked at the building built on the water, and unconsciously opened his mouth wide.

This elegant, beautiful building is white throughout, with windows made of clear crystal and curtains made of pearl tassels.

In Jegana's modest memory, this building rivals the temple of the legendary ancient god of the sea.

Two mermaids swam out of the room, opened the tassel curtains, and bent down to greet Rita respectfully.

Rita handed the trident to the squire behind her, and said to Jeger, "My neighbor, here we are, this is my home. ”

"You, home, here?" was a mixture of surprise in Jeger's words, which turned to shock as he followed Rita into the building.

A large pool-like pond is located in the center of the room, surrounded by handrails and a shallow pond that allows mermaids to climb to the floor of the room.

On the surrounding shore, with custom-made sink sofas, roaring flaming fireplaces, and beautiful and delicate harps, Jeger began to feel that his eyes were a little insufficient.

Rita swam to the marble couch, half submerged in the water and half built on the shore, grabbed the armrests with both hands, and rolled over and lay down in it.

The smooth touch and cold temperature made Rita let out a sigh of satisfaction.

"Jeger, do you remember those old days?"

Rita's question made Yeger turn his head and say suspiciously, "In the past?"

"I still vividly remember that eleven years ago, the volcanic eruption that erupted under the sea destroyed nearly sixty percent of the pastures of our two races. In the month that followed, merfolk and shark-people experienced one of the worst famines of my life. ”

"Among the merfolk tribe, in order to save food rations for children and young people, large numbers of old people spontaneously left the group, and since then, they have never returned. Rita took a glass of freshly squeezed juice from the maid and said with emotion as she drank it, "Among those people, there is my grandmother." ”

Turning her gaze to Jeger, Rita continued, "I've even heard of such a tragedy in the shark-people community. Due to the lack of food for the family, the parents had to let their children draw lots, and the young sharks were taken to the dark bottom of the sea far away from the group. To prevent the children from swimming back, parents would even tie their tail fins to rocks with seaweed and leave in spite of their cries. I've heard that you used to ...... at the beginning."

"That's enough!" Yeger angrily slid his fin and yelled, "Don't want to, listen!

Rita looked at Jeger's angry appearance and smiled.

She drank the juice from her glass and whispered, "We're all fools." ”

"What?"

"I say, we're all fools!" Rita raised her voice, "Our people, for generations, have believed in the ancient god of the sea, Krakosh, and obeyed his holy commands to hide from everything on land. In the end, we are like beasts that drink blood, surviving for a long time!"

Jeger opened his round eyes, slammed the water hard, and roared, "Blasphemy, old gods, guilty!"

With an eye that bordered on pity, Rita looked at Yeger and said slowly, "Okay, let's not talk about the gods, let's talk about the present. Look around, this is the life of a mermaid right now, what do you think?"

Jeger looked around and said angrily, "Weird!"

Rita put down the cup in her hand and clapped her hands.

Soon, dozens of merfolk warriors carried heavy wooden boxes and slowly swam into the room along the waterway.

Placing the wooden boxes on the shore of the room one by one, Rita ordered them to be opened under the bewildered gaze of Jeger.

Seafood sausages, in each large wooden box, are full of large seafood sausages.

Looking at all this in front of him, Yeger gasped, he didn't know arithmetic, even if he didn't count it, he knew that the food here was enough for his people to eat for a long time.

"25 wooden boxes, 7,500 seafood sausages, if you save a little food, it is enough for two weeks' rations. ”

Jeger slowly climbed ashore, put his hand into the box, excitedly rummaged through the food, and said, "Food!

Rita smiled and said, "So many rations, do you know what I got in exchange?"

Jeger raised his head and looked dazed: "What?"

Rita took out a small leather bag from her bosom, opened the seal, and unfolded it flat, containing pearls one or two centimeters wide.

"The creatures of the land, who seem to be particularly interested in such things in the sea, are willing to exchange their rations for these pearls. ”

Jeger glanced at the pearl and said disdainfully, "Bah! garbage! I have, bigger, brighter!"

Rita poured the pearls into the palm of her hand and said with a smile: "A hundred such pearls can be exchanged for these rations in front of you." ”

Jeger was stunned, and didn't move for a long time.

It was a long time before he asked in an uncertain tone, "Garbage, in exchange, rations?"

"It's true, 100 of these pearls can be exchanged for 25 boxes of rations. ”

Making sure the other party wasn't joking, Jegg shook his fins and laughed happily: "Land, creatures, stupid!"

Rita laughed along with him, "Jeger, let's work together." You and your people are responsible for collecting the garbage in the sea. It doesn't have to be pearls, coral, chalcedony, ores, gold, precious stones...... These things that cannot be eaten can be exchanged for food with those landers. And we, the mermaids, are responsible for helping you sell garbage and bring in food, what do you think?"

Yeger lowered his head and thought for a while, and suddenly asked, "You, why, don't you go, collect, garbage?"

Rita shrugged, "You know, the merfolk are not a warlike race, and we can't be as brave as the shark people when it comes to predatory creatures and other threats at the bottom of the ocean. Therefore, merfolk are more suitable for bargaining with terrestrial people than gathering. ”

Jeger nodded, agreeing with the statement.

Rita clapped her hands and laughed, "Since you agreed to my proposal, then we should swear in the name of the old gods and officially conclude an agreement of cooperation." As a sign of merfolk sincerity, we are willing to give these 25 boxes of food to the shark people. ”

Jeger grabbed the wooden box with both hands, as if he was afraid that Rita would regret it, and hurriedly said, "Conclusion, oath! now!

Half an hour later, the merfolk who had made a pledge of cooperation watched as the shark man dragging the wooden box swam farther and farther away.

A mermaid swam up to Rita's side and said with a smile, "This is great, we are all worried that no one will eat those sausages, and now someone has finally helped us move away." ”

Another maid followed: "At first, I felt that it tasted good, but then the more I ate it, the more I got tired of it, and finally no one wanted to touch it at all, so I could only watch the food pass its expiration date." ”

"Moreover, the value of those 25 boxes of food is only 10 pearls. If those idiot shark people really trade 100 pearls, we'll make a lot of money!"

Listening to the discussions of the clansmen around her, Rita said expressionlessly: "You idiots who only have food, drink and merry in their heads! Do you really think that cooperating with shark people is just to make money?"

"Patriarch, could it be that there are other reasons?"

Rita turned her head around, looked to the west through the window, and said slowly: "In a little while, with the spread of the Black Plague, more and more sea races will come to join the Dragon God. Until then, we need to find a reliable ally to deal with the ensuing disputes. ”