The Old Man and the Mermaid

Adhering to the principle that he would never tell a lie and at most only conceal the facts appropriately, Aigle answered his friend frankly.And it worked out pretty well, because Royce apparently took him at his word.

"You really can't tell a lie. I've known you for several years. No matter how you say it, you won't become a liar in just a few months." Royce rubbed his chin suspiciously, "But your expression does look very weird—could it be that you are actually hiding some adult play in the room..."

Aigre raised his hand and clasped the back of Royce's neck, forcing him to bow his head. After he begged for mercy for a while, he relaxed and said, "You need to wash your brain."

"We are all adults, so this kind of topic is fine?" Royce rolled his eyes, grinning and rubbing the back of his neck, "You brat, you have too much strength, what are you eating to grow big?"

"You need to exercise." Aigre told him with a calm expression, "My fighting skills were developed slowly after I went to the academy. If you are willing to study hard, you may be able to surpass me in a few years."

"You're joking." Royce sneered, "You were already good at fighting before you went to the academy. I've heard of that. You just met a wonderful guy in the academy." Mentor, and then under his guidance, he slowly became more good at beating people."

Aigre searched for the memory of fighting in his mind, but the first thing he remembered was not the scene when he was studying with his instructor, but the two fights with Mr. Mermaid not long ago.

That's a real fight.Aigre sighed inwardly.

When fighting with Mr. Mermaid, he didn't need to recall the fighting etiquette and skills he had learned. The only thought that stayed in his mind was just wanting to win.

Although he seems to be unable to beat Mr. Fish.Unexpectedly, the land not only lost to the sea in terms of area, but also in terms of fighting.

what a pity.

Royce looked at him for a long time, and finally couldn't help raising his hand to make gestures a few times: "...Your expression looks like you were beaten severely by a group of people in the alley, and then because of the beating One of the group of people who killed you is as weird as your sweetheart?"

Aigre: "..."

What a metaphor.Aigre raised his hand and rubbed his forehead, deeply thinking that in the current living environment, he is not the only guy who likes to open his mind.

"I just remembered the scene when I fought with others before. I lost it, so I am a little regretful." He said, "If there is a chance in the future, I hope to win back."

"I can't see it." Royce chuckled, "I thought you just liked fighting, but now it seems that you not only like fighting, but also enjoy the thrill of conquest."

The thrill of conquest.

Aigre recalled that when Mr. Mermaid had a conversation with him last time, he did not mention too deep a topic about the hunting of mermaids, and felt that his mood became a little agitated for no reason, "Yeah, I am a little competitive occasionally."

"...What a strange guy."

They went to the market together, and after buying a bag of dried fish, they also stopped by the commercial street in the center of the town.Aigre did need a new set of cleaning tools, which he didn't hide from Royce.And even though the room had been kept quite clean by him, it was not suitable for guests to live in. After all, he never thought that Royce would come to this island with the professor.

After purchasing the equipment, Aigre went back to the lighthouse alone, put the things away and made sure that Mr. Mermaid had left, then carefully cleaned up the room, and returned to the town to find Nice, who had moved to a new place of residence. Teach them.

Mr. Mermaid, who has always been missed by Aigre, has been wandering in the shallow sea area to enjoy the cool sea water in the afternoon even under the constant smog of the sun.

He had just left for a while, preying on several larger sea fish in the sea a little further away from Dusk Island.In the past few days, he thought the fish was a bit tedious at first because of the sudden departure from the delicious meals provided by Aigre, but as the days passed, he had adapted to this violent and fast life again. Habit.

Mermaids have always been terribly adaptable to the environment, so even if Aigre would never invite him to dinner again, he would not give up the food that was delivered to him because of this.

After all, as far as it is now, no matter what happens, it can't be a reason to stop him from living.

After a full meal, he slowly and leisurely returned to the vicinity of Twilight Island, just in time to see Aigre walk out of the lighthouse again.

Mr. Mermaid doesn't know exactly how deep the relationship between Aigre and these friends is, but it seems that it is a very common etiquette in human society to treat friends attentively when they visit from afar.He couldn't understand this special emotion and politeness, but he was willing to understand Aigle himself, so he didn't mind letting himself be bored for such a period of time.

It happened that although he tried to take a nap for a while before, he didn't get enough rest, so at this time, he simply returned to the place where he used to lie down and take a nap.

This kind of life is intoxicatingly comfortable, and the taste is even better than any kind of wine he has tasted before.

Like... he never spent those long, boring times alone.

He closed his eyes and had a good sleep without dream disturbance.When he opened his eyes again, the sea water had become extremely dark, and the last ray of light in the sky had been pulled deeply into the sea level, waiting for the next morning to come again.

The mermaid stared at the sea water above for a moment, waiting for a group of slow-moving fish that were always clustered together to move away, then got up and tossed in the sea water, rushed out of the sea, and drove the sea water Draw a graceful arc in the air above the sea.

To his surprise, Aigre was sitting on the beach and staring in his direction, his eyes still as gentle as ever.The young man looked drunk, his eyes slightly drunk, but Mr. Mermaid didn't pay much attention to this detail now.

——He didn't notice the young man's aura.

If it weren't for the fact that Aigre had no hostility towards him at all, the unsuspecting behavior of jumping out of the water would immediately put him in danger.

This was a mistake he had never made before.

After the mermaid fell into the sea, she closed her eyes and let her thoughts clear up again, and then she resurfaced and came to the beach.

"Good evening." The young man gave him a friendly smile, and then handed him the things in his hands, "Sorry... I talked too much with my friends at dinner, so I drank some wine, and I may talk now Not very clear, I hope you don't mind."

Mr. Mermaid smiled when he heard Aigre's somewhat vague accent, took the thing and took a look.

This is a transparent plastic jar, which contains some small dried fish that Mr. Mermaid has seen in some magazines and supermarket promotional posters.The practice of this kind of dried fish is not particularly difficult, but it is said that the taste is not bad.

He raised his head and saw Aigre nodded with half-closed eyes, then unscrewed the lid and took out one of them to taste.

This is not... ordinary salty.

Mr. Mermaid felt a little surprised.As far as he knows, too much salt can make humans feel dry mouth, and need to replenish water to suppress this dry mouth feeling, so generally speaking, they don't use too salty things.

But the taste of these small fish is really quite good.

Mr. Mermaid raised his hand and patted the back of Eigre's head to express his thanks. When he was about to turn his head to write something on the ground, he saw Aigret fall backward quite simply.

The mermaid quickly grabbed his arm to prevent him from falling directly on the beach. After seeing the relaxed expression on his face, he let go of the momentarily raised heart.

...alcohol is a wonderful thing.

Mr. Mermaid looked at Aigre helplessly, feeling very complicated.Although he himself loves alcohol quite a lot, it seems that this kind of thing does bring some harm.

hazards in various senses.

Fortunately, Aigre didn't really fall asleep like this, but opened his eyes again after being pulled up by Mr. Mermaid.He frowned, feeling a little headache, so he raised his hands and rubbed the sides of his head a few times, and apologized at the same time: "Sorry... I didn't expect that I would drink so much—let alone that I would drink so much." so much."

It's true, you smell of alcohol like you've spent the afternoon rolling in a barrel and then have to run to the toilet the rest of the night.

Mr. Mermaid slandered, but still kindly raised his hand and patted Aigre's shoulder twice.

"Mr. Yu, would you like to hear about some interesting things I have encountered recently?" Aigre showed a rare and cheerful smile, and asked in a gentle tone, "I just talked a lot with my friends, and I want to share it with someone .”

Mr. Mermaid nodded in agreement.

"I actually seldom do embarrassing things, but last time it was quite interesting." Aigre smiled and closed his eyes, and said, "Let me tell you, it's about underwear."

Mermaid: "...?"