"Babble, whoa!" I didn't know what was going on, but I was anxious to explain to the guards, but the guards insisted on not letting us in, and even stretched out their tridents to drive us away.

Thankfully, help came.

"Oh, dear children, here you are." Thomasson came out of the palace, patted the guard on the shoulder, smiled and said something I didn't understand, and the guard immediately put away the trident, bowed to us, and invited us in.

"Please forgive the boys, it was my fault that I didn't have time to inform the guards of your arrival. Only mermaids with status are allowed to enter the palace, and obviously, the little guy does not have this qualification. Thomas smiled and led us into the palace, but he smiled reluctantly, his face full of exhaustion, and even some dried blood on his arms, as if he had just come off the operating table.

"You don't look good, what's going on?" I asked with concern.

Thomason sighed and said, "I'm sorry, it's not been peaceful lately, and many brothers in the clan have been attacked by other clans...... Oh look at what I'm saying to you, it's a day to be happy that our leader is back, and he will surely lead us in driving out the invaders. Well, children, this is your seat, and although it is a little further away from the main supper, it is relatively clean and you can't hear the loud music. ”

Music is indeed playing back inside the palace, accompanied by the beautiful singing of schools of mermaids, and on both sides of the road are several polished stone tables inlaid with shells and other ornaments, and various food and drinks are placed on the stone tables. Some of the merfolk were talking cordially with their companions over drinks, some of them were singing around the object of his sights, and for a moment, I almost thought I was attending a royal cabaret.

We were placed to sit in very remote corners, and if I didn't stand up, I couldn't see the main seat in the middle of the palace at all. The music faded to a faint level, and after a horn-like sound sounded, all the merfolk returned to their places, standing quietly looking at the main seat.

A male deep-sea mermaid held a scepter and swam out from behind the main seat, standing majestically in front of the main seat, and the lively atmosphere just now suddenly became solemn.

Even though I had my back to all the merfolk present, I could sense that their eyes must be filled with awe at this moment.

This is the leader of the Merfolk of the Deep Sea, Adrien.

With the exception of the Merfolk Lord at the top of the power, each Merfolk has a leader, who is the equivalent of the king of their clan. And the leader, like the mermaid lord, is not hereditary, but contentious, and only the most powerful mermaid in the group is qualified to sit in this position after a brutal fight.

Thomas once told me that Adrien had been in the position of leader for ten years, and you can imagine how powerful he was. And he's a very strict guy, he won't smile unless he's in front of his family, and once someone touches his bottom line, he'll become quite violent.

In short, this is a difficult object to mess with, and Thomas also warned me that I must be careful what I say and never make him angry. But after admonishing me, Thomas tapped me on the shoulder again, and told me not to be afraid of Adrien, for he was a good man.

Adrien pursed his lips and raised the wine glass in his hand, the liquid in the glass was red, this color was too much like fresh blood, if it wasn't for the release of me, it was just red wine, I would have thought he was tasting human blood.

After he put down his glass, the merfolk also drank the red wine in their hands, and then, at Adrien's signal, began the lively banquet tonight.

All sorts of food were brought to the table, but probably because of Shi's humble status, our food didn't look delicious, except for a few pieces of raw fish that weren't particularly fresh, and only a few shriveled fruits that lacked moisture. In contrast, sitting on the platform closest to Adrien, the food was quite rich, and the aroma came from a distance of more than ten meters.

It seems that there is also a strict hierarchical differentiation system in the mermaid race, and Shi is obviously the lowest mermaid.

"Eat Dawa." I didn't want to eat raw food, so I took the fork from his hand, and seeing that no one was paying attention, I secretly roasted the fish over the fire and handed it to him: "I remember that you like to eat grilled fish very much, so you can eat it first." ”

"Ahh He opened his mouth and took a bite, chewed it and swallowed it in a few bites, and then excitedly handed me a raw fish and asked me to continue to bake it for him.

It was probably the smell of the grilled fish that attracted the schools of fish sitting around us, and they all looked at me, and when they saw me as a human, they looked surprised without exception, but soon they accepted my storage very naturally, and the daring merfolk even secretly handed me raw fish, expecting me to roast it for them to eat as well.

They were all races opposed to me, and I should have rejected them mercilessly, but I beg your pardon, I was deeply touched by the warmth and friendliness in their eyes, and besides, they were not hostile to me (of course, I still do not understand why they were not hostile to me), and they were very sincere in giving us fresh fruits, and out of friendly coexistence, I took the raw fish they handed me.

Once again, the hierarchical system of the mermaid race was presented to me, some mermaids got whole fish, some were half-lived, and the mermaids sitting in the front row got grilled.

I don't dare to say anything big about the hierarchy of mermaids, but I'm a little dissatisfied that little mermaids like Shi haven't been treated well.

I couldn't help but give a few more fruits to the end.

Probably because our movement was too loud to attract the attention of the upper echelons.

"Chavaku, huh?"

The mellow male voice sounded loudly as if it were a guò megaphone, and the sound of the entire palace suddenly seemed to be cut off, and it fell silent in an instant, and not a single mermaid made even a heavy breath.

It's horribly quiet here.

As if he knew Adrien's temper, his eyes widened, his paws tightly covering his mouth, and after a few seconds, he foolishly freed up a webbed paw to cover my mouth.

I couldn't laugh or cry at Shi's behavior.

Because of our movements, we were the center of attention, and it was only natural that Adrien, who had discovered us, invited us to him.

Adrien spoke in the language of a mermaid, and although I didn't understand it, I could tell from his face that he was asking me for who I was. Thomason, who was sitting to the bottom of him, stepped forward and explained to him.

Then, again, I heard familiar human language.

"You're the human who saved our people?" Adrian's voice was mellow, and it sounded like an indescribable majesty.

In fact, it's not about salvation, it's just that we have common interests, so I didn't admit or deny it: "I think Thomason has sued you for my identity." ”

Adorion sat on the throne and looked at me condescendingly, and said with a grim expression: "You are very brave, young man. ”

"Thank you for the compliment." I frowned, and to be honest, I wasn't very comfortable with this type of conversation with obvious hierarchical differences, so my tone was a little stiff.

At this point, Sakura shoved his webbed paws into my hand, and even though his webbed claws were as cold as usual, I could really feel the warmth of his heart encouraging me.

Adrien was still expressionless, I couldn't tell his mood from his look, he was so elusive.

He beckoned downward, and immediately several deep merfolk slid in front of me, and I recognized them as survivors who shared our suffering, they all had injuries on their bodies to a greater or lesser extent, but they were quite mental, and it seemed that the injuries were not severe.

At Adrian's beckoning, they stood in a circle around me, and suddenly they collectively began to sing loudly, the song was soothing and melodious, and I was deeply immersed in the sea of singing. He tugged at my sleeve and explained to me as he gestured that this was a song used by the merfolk of the deep to express their gratitude.

To be honest, when I escaped from the institute with them, I didn't expect to be rewarded one day, after all, I always thought that merfolk were ruthless and cruel creatures, but now I feel a different side of merfolk.

It occurred to me that maybe merfolk weren't as ferocious as we thought, and that they were even friendly to humans, and that the so-called sacrificial game was just a misunderstanding.

Sals, you're crazy, you think merfolk are friendly creatures.

However, they know how to be grateful, they get along with me without knowing my identity, and they do not hurt me.

I'm going crazy with these two contradictory thoughts, and I need to calm down.

Just as the mermaid's singing was over, and they returned to their places, Adrien reassigned us to the front on the pretext that his men did not know who we were, so they had placed us in the back, and had them bring us better food and water.

However, just as I was sitting down with him in the place he had arranged, he suddenly stood up and shouted, "Wait a minute. ”