The Merfolk Are Increasing

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.

April, x785.

Maintaining eye contact with the mermaid lying on the ground for a few more moments, Alfonzo decided in the end that he did not see her. So, he continued driving towards his mansion's front gate without a care.

"I know you can see me!" The mermaid shouted angrily in a high pitched voice. "Now, get over here and help me!"

Hearing the scream in the distance, Alfonzo exhaled a sigh.

"I know I'm gonna regret this." Alfonzo muttered as he stepped on the brake. "But I really can't just leave her there… Even if it's against my better judgement."

["Yeah, leaving a girl in such a place is beneath us."] Bedlam added. Though, it was obvious he would rather leave the mermaid where she was as well.

Once the Escalade came to a stop, Alfonzo opened the car door. Then, as he stepped out of the vehicle, he created a parasol made of thin metal and closed the door behind him.

After a few moments, Alfonzo stood before the pink-haired mermaid and looked down at her while she glared up at him in return.

"What took you so long?" The mermaid asked aggressively.

"*Sigh* I should have just went home…" Alfonzo said under his breath.

"What!?" The mermaid shrieked. "Help me out of this rain immediately. Then, dry my tail. After that---"

"Slow down, sweetheart." Alfonzo said while narrowing his eyes. "I don't know who the hell you think you are, but that's not the way you ask someone for a favor. Oh, and don't forget the magic word when you try again."

"How dare you!" The mermaid shouted. "Do you have any idea who I am? I'm Lunar Edomae! A songstress famous throughout the continent, as well as the daughter of the head of the Edomae Group. Just for seeing me like this, I should have you put to---"

"Sorry, but that threat won't work, either." Alfonzo replied, his eyes narrowing even further. "I'm already betrothed to someone from your race, so I have every right to know your secret. So, say another word about it, and I'm leaving you here."

Hearing that, the mermaid fell silent. This was the first time her true form had ever been exposed in front of a human, so she did not know what else to do. On top of that, she was famous all over the continent. So, when she saw that Alfonzo was about to ignore her earlier, her attitude turned aggressive.

"*Sigh* I'm sorry." The mermaid said, lowering her head apologetically. "I've never been in a situation like this before… and I panicked. Please, can you help me?"

This time, it was Alfonzo's turn to fall silent. Never in his wildest dreams did he think that the girl in front of him, Lunar Edomae, would lower her head in apology or ask for help politely. And with so much sincerity, as well. It was all so far outside of his expectations that he did not know how to respond.

"Hey, is someone there?" A voice echoed from the Seto Family's mansion, breaking the awkward atmosphere.

Looking in the voice's direction, Alfonzo and Lunar saw Shark Fujishiro poking his head out from the mansion's front door.

'Damn, I actually forgot about this guy.' Alfonzo thought to himself after catching sight of the shark merfolk. 'I haven't seen him in such a long time, I thought he went back to Akane Beach to continue working for the Seto Group.'

As a matter of fact, Shark Fujishiro had been banned from going to the town and interacting with its people after Sun found him standing over a child, who had fallen and scraped his knee, with drool dripping from his mouth.

Afraid that he would one day end up eating one of the townsfolk after losing control of his instincts, he had been confined to the Seto mansion. Though, the original plan was to send him back to Akane Beach as Alfonzo thought. However, because of his strength, he was kept on as the mansion's guard.

"Hey, Fujishiro!" Alfonzo shouted, waving his hand under his parasol. "I found a girl from your species laying on the ground out here.

"One of my species? A merfolk?" Fujishiro mumbled to himself as he stepped out of the mansion. "But why are they out here? Such a pain?"

'He still has that same weird ass speech pattern…' Alfonzo and Lunar thought simultaneously.

Meanwhile, as Fujishiro made his way over to the two, Alfonzo expanded his parasol to cover Lunar as well.

"So, what are you doing here?" Alfonzo asked, already having an idea of the answer.

"I heard Sun was living here." Lunar replied, shifting her gaze back to Alfonzo. "And I wanted to see her."

'Hmm… Since she spent much more time alone after Sun came with me, did she realize that Sun was her only friend and actually mellowed out because of it?'

["That's how it looks to me."] Bedlam replied. ["Besides that, she should be seventeen or eighteen now. Surely, she has matured more than what would have been shown in the anime, right?"]

'Yeah, you're probably right.' Alfonzo replied.

"I see." Well, Sun is at the guild right now." Alfonzo said. "She planned on waiting out the rain. So, she won't be back for a while."

"*Sigh* I guess that makes sense." Lunar replied. "I should have done the same thing."

Seeing the regret on Lunar's face, Alfonzo's heart softened a bit.

'Maybe she won't be as bad as I thought she would.' Alfonzo said to himself.

["Only time will tell."] Bedlam replied. ["But you should be careful. I could definitely see Sun trying to add her best friend to your harem, too."]

Just the thought of having Lunar in his harem made Alfonzo shudder involuntarily. Although Lunar seemed like she would be much easier to get along with than her canon counterpart., Alfonzo did not even factor her into the equation

'Yeah, no thanks.' Alfonzo replied mentally. 'Two doting fathers-in-law are enough for me. And I really don't wanna add that budget Terminator to the list.'

["Hahaha… Yeah, I get it."] Bedlam replied with a hollow laugh.

At that point, Fujishiro reached Alfonzo and Lunar's location. And as he did, he quickly took shelter from the rain under Alfonzo's metal parasol.

"You still look delicious as ever?" Fujishiro said while gazing at Alfonzo hungrily.

"Bruh… Although I know what you mean when you say that, that sounds pretty gay." Alfonzo said with a blank expression. "Not that I have a problem with anyone's sexual preferences. But I'm not into that shit, personally."

Immediately, Fujishiro's hungry gaze turned into a dumbfounded one. Then, after processing what Alfonzo said for a moment, he was broken out of his thoughts by a stifled giggle from Lunar.

"I'll eat you?" Fujishiro shouted as he lunged at Alfonzo with his sharp teeth bared.

A moment later, however, Fujishiro's forward momentum was forced to a stop when a metal rod appeared between his jaws, holding his mouth open. ON top of that, thanks to Alfonzo's magic, it stayed in place despite Fujishiro's body moving forward.

"I'll pass." Alfonzo said nonchalantly. "For now, we have more important things to take care of. Let's get Miss Edomae inside and into some dry clothes. And while you do that, I'll go back to the guild to pick up Sun, Gozaburo, Ren, and Masa."

Unable to speak or even move from where he stood, Fujishiro could only acknowledge Alfonzo's words with his eyes.

Seeing Fujishiro's acknowledgement, Alfonzo removed the effect of the metal rod being anchored in place. Then, he bent down to pick up Lunar.

"Excuse me." Alfonzo said as he picked up Lunar and carried her in one arm like a small child.

At the same time, Lunar could not help but blush at the close contact with a male other than her father. And her face stayed that way until Alfonzo put her down on a couch in the Seto's living room.

"Okay, I'll be back soon." Alfonzo said, turning towards the front door. "Fujishiro, make sure she gets into some dry clothes. Since she should be around the same height as Sun, if not a bit shorter, her clothes should fit."

Then, Alfonzo glanced back at Lunar from over his shoulder.

"Though, they might be a little loose in some areas." Alfonzo continued.

Following Alfonzo's line of sight, Lunar looked down at her chest, and she could not help but bristle with anger.

"What are you looking at, you damn pervert?" Lunar shrieked while covering her chest defensively.

In response, Alfonzo only shook his head with a light smile on his face.

"Anyway, get her some dry clothes." Alfonzo said once again. "And a towel so that she can dry her tail would be good, too."

"You hear that, Maki?" Fujishiro shouted.

"On it." A high pitched female voice echoed from further inside the house.

'Forgot about her, too.' Alfonzo muttered internally.

["Well, after what you did to her, it only makes sense that she hasn't shown herself in front of you since then."] Bedlam replied in a mirthful tone.

In fact, ever since Sun was engaged to Alfonzo, Maki had always followed Sun around secretly. And although Alfonzo knew about it, he did nothing. Someone of Sun's background having a bodyguard was not out of the norm, after all.

However, after Sun had sex with Alfonzo for the first time, Maki actually tried to assassinate Alfonzo in his sleep for tainting Sun's purity. It should go without saying that her plan did not succeed thanks to the danger awareness Alfonzo had cultivated after his run in with the Leviathan.

So, as punishment, Alfonzo put Maki in a small cage and dangled her in front of Happy for several hours, nearly scaring the little hermit crab merfolk to death.

On a side note, most merfolk are terrified of cats. An exception to this fear being Masa, who seems to be as cool as a cucumber in all situations.

"Anyway, I'm gone." Alfonzo said. "I'll be back in about half an hour."

With that, Alfonzo left the house under Lunar's angry glare while smiling lightly.

Then, just as he said, he returned half an hour later with the entire Seto family.

"Lunar!" Sun shouted as soon as she entered the living room while dashing towards her friend. "It's been so long! How are you? What have you been up to?"

A moment later, Sun pulled Lunar, who was sitting on the couch with her legs back in their human form, into a hug. However, Lunar was unable to respond to Sun's rapid fire questions because Sun was smothering her with her bosom.

At first, Lunar tried to push Sun away feeling jealousy over Sun's explosive curves. Unfortunately, thanks to Sun's increased strength from all the training she's done as a wizard, her attempts were futile. As a result, Lunar could do little more than flail her arms. However, as time passed, her struggle lessened due to a lack of oxygen.

"Sun, Sweetie, I know you're happy to see Lunar, but if you don't let go, you're going to kill her." Ren said while smiling wryly at her daughter's enthusiasm.

"Huh?" Sun exclaimed in confusion as she glanced back at her mother. Then, she looked down at Lunar, who had fallen limp in her arms.

"Ahh~~~~~~! Lunar, are you okay?" Sun asked in a panic as she released Lunar from her embrace. Then, when Lunar did not respond after a moment, she began shaking her violently. "Hey, Lunar, stay with me!"

"*Sigh* She really might kill her…" Ren said in an exasperated tone.

"That's actually quite ironic." Alfonzo muttered with a wry smile. "She might be the first merfolk in history to die from suffocation."

Luckily, Lunar came back to the world of the living after a few moments.

"Well, I'm gonna head home." Alfonzo said with a yawn. "After my quest and all that driving, I'm pretty tired."

"Yes, I heard Erza talking about your quest." Ren replied with a smile. "You deserve a rest."

"Okay, see you later, Alfonzo." Sun said energetically. "I'll stay here and talk with Lunar for a while."

"Yeah, get out of here and get some rest, Kid." Gozaburo said with a shit eating grin.

It was obvious to everyone in the room that Gozaburo just wanted Alfonzo to leave so that he could spend time with Sun without him being around. Still, considering that he did not insult his future son-in-law, he had made a lot of progress.

"Alright, see y'all later." Alfonzo said as he turned around while waving at the group from over his shoulder.

"I'll see you to the door, Alfonzo." Masa said, following Alfonzo out of the living room.

Eventually, the two men reached the mansion's front door.

"You really didn't need to see me out, Masa." Alfonzo said as they reached the entrance.

"Actually, I wanted to warn you about something." Masa replied in a slightly unsure tone.

"Oh, go ahead." Alfonzo said.

"Well, it's about Miss Edomae's father..." Masa said, his tone becoming more uncertain.

"Don't tell me, he's just like Gozaburo?" Alfonzo asked playfully.

"That's… one way to put it." Masa replied. "Like the Boss, he's quite the enthusiastic father. Even if he doesn't show it outwardly like the Boss does. And seeing as Miss Edomae has come in contact with you, he will undoubtedly find out and come to… test your metal, excuse the pun.""

"I see." Alfonzo replied with a nod, expecting Masa to say something along those lines. "But since I have no interest in his little girl, it shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"*Sigh* That might be a problem in itself." Masa replied. "He may take issue with the fact that you're not interested in her, thinking that you don't' find her beautiful."

"So, a damned if I do, damned if I don't situation, huh?" Alfonzo asked with a chuckle. A moment later, however, his eyes narrowed as his gaze sharpened. "Well, if he gets out of pocket, he can catch a bitch slap just like Gozaburo did a few years ago. And since I'm a lot stronger physically than I was back then, it will probably hurt like a mother fucker."

"I guess that's true." Masa replied with a smile.

"By the way, Masa." Alfonzo said.

"Yes?" Masa asked.

"Do you have any experience with wielding Tonfa?" Alfonzo asked.

"It's not my best weapon, but I can use them." Masa replied with a nod. "I'm no worse with Tonfa than I am with a sword. Being able to use any weapon in any situation is a staple in my line of work, after all."

"I see." Alfonzo said with a wide smile. "Then, do you think you could help me improve my tonfa technique?"

Masa smiled in return.

"I would be happy to offer my assistance to Mis Sun's fiancé." Masa replied with a smile.