Chapter 136: Mermaid Town (Edited)

Kanaloa floated silently above the village, her huge figure almost obscuring most of the village.

Fish lay on her tentacles and looked down, probably because he was underwater, there were no obvious paths through the mermaid village, which was a cluttered jumble of stone shells built into the bottom of the lake.

The only thing that had a sense of order was the square in the center of the village, surrounded by a large number of stone dwellings.

In the square stands a tall statue of a mermaid, carved in stone, just like the houses.

However, both the statue and the house appear to be very crude, and it is clear that the mermaids were not very skilled at carving.

In addition, some of the dwellings have garden-like facilities adjacent to them, presumably for the higher-ranking mermaids.

Others have one or two strange humanoids with horns and long fingers tied to the door, all sleeping on their backs.

The strange creatures were called Grindylow, a kind of magical creature that lived in the fresh water, but Fish did not yet know their name, but from their current state, Fish could guess that they were similar to the dogs that humans have.

The mermaids seemed to be on the same schedule as humans, so when Kanaloa arrived, they were all still sleeping.

But the Grindylow tied to the door, apparently sensing the ripples of Kanaloa's movement, opened their eyes in a daze and looked up to see Kanaloa floating silently above them.

Dazed or stunned, Grindylow awoke with his head tilted back, staring at Kanaloa for a long moment before letting out a terrified and strange scream that awakened the group of mermaids in the house.

Numerous mermaids with dark green hair and silvery white tails swam out of the houses in panic, human-looking, but with gray skin and sharp teeth, looking much fiercer than humans and riders.

Armed with spears as poorly made as their houses, the mermaids gathered in a defense of gray and silver, and hissed at Kanaloa in unison.

Fish could see at once, however, that they were weak.

[They can't understand what I said, so I'll send you here. With your skill and identity, it's unlikely that these mermaids will give you a hard time]

Kanaloa ignored the screams of the mermaids, let go of Fish and swam lazily away.

Fish looked at the group of half-human, half-fish, and after some thought, he too adopted cat-man form.

"Hi, guys!" (●ΦwΦ●)?

"Hello," a fierce-looking fish-woman swam out from the group of guards, approached Fish, blinked her yellow eyes and asked, "Fish McGonagall?".

Although it's a questioning tone, but the mermaid's attitude is very confident.

Clearly, the mermaids were aware of this particular little wizard, Fish.

"My name is Mercus and I am the leader of the mermaid clan." Mercus made a strange greeting to Fish, "Welcome to our tribe."

"Do I disturb your dream? It was Kanaloa who brought me here when she said you knew where it was easiest to catch small fish..."

Fish scratched his head a little, embarrassed.

"No, it's nothing," Mercus smiled, showing two rows of uneven, but sharp teeth, "We're glad we could help you."

He reached out and stroked Fish's head, then asked curiously, "Kanaloa, is that the name of the squid king?"

"Yes," Fish replied, "He says a human named Godric Gryffindor named him when he was put in the lake."

"Godric Gryffindor?!"

How could a mermaid living in the Black Lake not know who Gryffindor was, and besides, this group of mermaids living in the Black Lake had always been on record about the Squid King.

Mercus exclaimed in amazement, "So the Squid King has really lived for almost a thousand years? The legends of the clan are really true."

"I don't know about that, meow." Fish shook his head, then reached out and tugged Mercus' arm, "Can you take Fish fishing now, meow?" (●ΦwΦ●)?

"Of course, please follow me."

Mercus took Fish's hand, her silver tail wagging as she swam out of the village, and behind her, four sturdy male mermaids with harpoons followed at full speed, guarding Mercus and Fish.

The mermaids could not swim as fast as Kanaloa, but they were no slower, and were many times faster than Fish's blind flapping.

Fish, while remaining human, was guided by Mercus for a while, and unexpectedly discovered that the human body seemed to be better adapted to swimming, although the clothes he wore were a bit troublesome, and he could have swum faster if he had taken them off.

Before long, Mercus led Fish to an area of dense water and grass, and pointing to the grass in front of her, said, "There are lots of small fish in this area, and under the cracks in the rocks and the mud at the bottom of the lake, you can find all kinds of shellfish and crabs."

Fish didn't rush to fish, but instead grabbed his tunic and tried to take it off, but because it was in the water, Fish had some trouble getting it off.

Struggling to take off all his clothes except his underwear, Fish had not been so free for a long time.

As for his underwear, it was a rare habit that Fish had managed to keep thanks to Professor McGonagall's constant advice.

Leaving his clothes in the care of the mermaids, Fish swung his arms and legs and swam awkwardly toward the lush aquatic plants.

Although he had never swum in human form before, Fish had a good command of his body, so after a while he felt more comfortable swimming through the water and grass.

The human form was indeed more suitable for swimming than the cat form, and after adapting, Fish's swimming speed increased significantly, and with the addition of the acceleration spell, Fish was soon swimming as fast as a mermaid.

"Meow, hahahahaha!" ?(●ΦwΦ●)?

Fish moved quickly through the water and grass, in search of his prey.

Shellfish, mostly immobile on the rocks and mud, were never Fish's target; it was the fast-swimming fish he wanted to catch.

Soon, Fish encountered a school of silver fish that came out of the grass and, apparently spooked by Fish, scattered in all directions, like silver darts, and swam off into the distance.

The animals, such as bugs, fish and shrimp, were not as sensitive to Fish's animal affinity because of their low intelligence, and although they could sense a little closeness, they feared Fish more as a strange "big thing".

"Don't run away, meow!" ?(●｀?′●)?

Fish was desperate to catch them, so he paddled with his arms and quickly chased after one of the small fish.

But he still had too little time in the water to be as agile as he was on land, so although he didn't lose speed to the minnows, Fish never caught them.

When he did manage to catch one, it slipped out of his hand because his human palm had no claws to hold it.

"Do you need help?" said Mercus after watching for a while.

"No, I don't think so!" Fish stopped chasing the fish and took a moment to feel the time, "Fish had fun, but it's time for him to come back."

He swam back to Mercus, retrieved his clothes from one of the guards and struggled to put them back on.

"Thank you for your hospitality, I'll play with you again sometime!" (●ΦwΦ●)?

"The Merfolk will always welcome you." said Mercus with a smile to Fish.

After saying goodbye to Mercus, the leader of the mermaids, Fish passed through the other squids, found Kanaloa to say goodbye and was carried back to shore by her tentacles.

Using a spell to clear the water from his body, Fish bounced back to the castle.

Although I didn't catch the little fish today, I had a great time, and I'll be back tomorrow!