...... (Captain's Diary)

I eventually got the sailors to drink the potion in their hands, even though I still didn't believe there were merfolk in the world.

Two rows of torches had been lit on the ship, one at intervals of four or five meters, one held by each sailor, and the torches were put down briefly unless they had to do some work that required both hands. But even with such a dense number of torches, it still can't add much to our vision, and through the thick fog, we can only see the fixed light around us.

It was not easy to move the ship on a calm, windless sea, let alone go backwards, and the sailors paddled hard, and I controlled the rudder, and it took a long time for the ship to change course.

We turned to the right, that is, to the south, in fact, from this time on, we were already lost, because we could not calculate how many degrees the ship had deviated, and it was not until tonight when I repositioned the course that I realized that the compass in my hand, I don't know when, had failed.

Of course, this is all for later, after all, there is an unknown threat in front of us, no matter how much I don't believe in the existence of mermaids, but looking at these mages with such frightened and inexplicable expressions, and the kind of countermeasures, it seems that I can't help but believe it. Before I knew it, that sense of urgency enveloped me in the middle of it as well.

On the gangway, there has been water holding torches, staring at the water, according to the long-term report, one thing is certain, under the water, there is indeed something that looks like a human swimming, from the water, only a vague gray figure can be seen.

Moreover, when the sailor was reporting, he said a message, the number of these guys under the water is gradually increasing, from the beginning of the field of vision for a long time to see one, to now there are sometimes two or three at the same time in the field of vision, and the frequency of each other's appearance is getting higher and higher, there are only gray blurred figures in the field of vision, never stopping.

Now it seems that they are just circling around the hull and not making any other over-the-top moves.

Although I don't believe in the existence of mermaids, I have heard many legends about mermaids.

They are said to be very beautiful and have sweet voices, and when a ship passes over them, they will surface and sing a beautiful song to lure the sailors, and eventually make the sailors lose themselves and jump into the water themselves.

But is this possible? How can there be such a wicked thing in this world?

The ship was still moving slowly, and the merfolk had been quietly following behind the ship. I thought, let's hope they're just some kind of fish we've never seen before, right?

Time flies, maybe two hours, right? Just as we had almost completely relaxed our vigilance on the surface, there was finally movement under the boat.

It was the sound of a dive, very clear, and what happened later proved that we were not mistaken.

After all, the fog was thick, the sea was windless and waves, and all that could be heard was the creaking of the huge hull being squeezed by the sea, and the crackling of wood on deck as the torches burned in the hands of the crew, the rattling of the long pulp as it paddled on the water, and the slight movement of some of the sailors as they worked.

Whether it was the crew sailors, or the magicians, they were all quiet, silent, except for these sounds, the range that could be detected by the ears was unusually quiet. In such a situation, there was a sudden and clear sound of falling water, which was as striking as a heavy object falling on the floor in an empty room.

Almost everyone heard it, and the sound of the sailors' work and the footsteps on the deck stopped instantly.

"What's going on?" I asked aloud.

After a long time, no one answered, let alone a voice.

To be honest, I was very unaccustomed to this poor vision, and at that moment, I even had the illusion that I was the only one on the boat.

Of course, this was only an illusion, because after a while one of the sailors shouted loudly: "Captain, there is a torch behind the ship, and it must have been someone who accidentally dropped the torch into the sea." ”

Suspiciously, I went to the aft deck and looked back.

Sure enough, there was a little hazy light on the surface of the sea covered by thick fog, exactly the same as the hazy fires around him, but it was very faint, and it seemed that it would be extinguished at any time.

After all, the place where the torch burned was wrapped in an oilcloth, and even in the sea, the torch could not be extinguished for a while, and after a while, perhaps the torch was extinguished by the sea, or perhaps the torch sank into the sea, and the starry light finally disappeared.

Many people confirmed the news to each other, and it seemed that someone had indeed thrown a torch into the sea, and the deck, which had been silent, was alive again.

But there is one question that has been haunting my mind.

No matter how big a torch falls into the water, there shouldn't be such a big movement.

But soon, I put this question behind me, after all, in such an empty and quiet environment, maybe a torch falling down can really produce such a big movement. Maybe this strange thought was just because I was too nervous. Yes, I must have been too nervous, I comforted myself like this.

I kept telling myself to take it easy, I didn't want this peaceful voyage to be affected by my nervousness.

But no matter what I tried to suggest to myself, the tension did not decrease, but grew higher and higher as time went on.

I always felt as if I had forgotten something.

It was about another half an hour or so before it dawned on me that I had forgotten something.

For so long, why haven't the sailors who patrolled the sea on the gangway come up to report?

Confused, I went to the side of the ship, and lay down on it to look down at the sea.

I shouted twice, but the sailor did not reply to me.

I turned my head and shouted to the deck to ask, but still didn't get any answer.

What about people?

From this vantage point there was no sea to be seen, and there was only a hazy gray mist in sight, perhaps the thick fog obscured the sailor's figure, I had always thought so.

But the sailor made no sound at all, as if there was no one in the place.

But at this moment, it suddenly occurred to me that I had a question, why was there only a gray fog in my eyes when I looked down from this position, and if the sailors were below, why was there no fire?

Until now, I was still skeptical of the mermaid's existence, and no matter how nervous I was, I had always regarded the originator of this emotion as this boundless fog, after all, only the unknown was the most terrifying.

I wondered, puffed myself up, and climbed down the gangway, one meter, two meters, until I clearly saw the sparkling sea, I realized that it was not only a torch that had fallen into the water just now, but also a person.

I sighed softly, intending to descend the gangway back to deck, which was not unusual, and I could understand the loss of a sailor in such an environment.

Maybe he didn't hold on to the gangway and fell into the sea?

Until, as soon as I sank up, I felt as if a hand was grabbing my ankle.

...... (Captain's Diary)