Chapter Ten: If Foolishness Had a Color, It Would Surely Be Blue

“Haa... Mayuna, I told you not to cast magical buffs on me.”

Ruby, who was slumped over the table, yawned, reluctantly lifted himself up, and complained. He desperately wanted to keep sleeping, but his brain insisted he’d had enough rest, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t fall asleep again. All of this, of course, was thanks to the exploitative archmage.

“You pulled another all-nighter for your research, didn’t you? Who knows how long you’d sleep otherwise? The auxiliary spell ‘Sleep Compression’ is pretty useful, isn’t it?”

Mayuna flashed a smug smile. Ruby’s day-night reversal had been ongoing for ages, and she wasn’t one to let things slide. She simply forced her magic directly onto Ruby’s brain to aid his rest. Only someone of her caliber would dare use such a mental spell; a lower-level mage might accidentally kill someone attempting it.

“You’ve deprived me of the pleasure of sleeping.”

Ruby wanted to explain to Mayuna how wonderful it felt for ordinary people to enjoy a deep sleep after exhaustion, yet now even that simple delight was denied him.

“Who cares? I’m your creditor now—make me a cake, one strawberry and one chocolate, not a piece less.”

The craving in Mayuna’s stomach was roaring. She desperately wanted to understand why everything Ruby made tasted so exquisitely delicious, and why these pastries never conflicted with meals. She could easily have four meals a day, and her taste buds had long been conquered by the soft, fragrant sweetness of his cakes.

“Hold out your hand.”

“Oh.”

Obediently, Mayuna handed her right hand to Ruby, watching as he gently touched her forearm and upper arm.

“You’ve gained one and a half kilograms.”

“Huh?”

“When you first came to my house, you were frail but not thin from illness. Your weight and figure met the standard for a normal woman. But now...”

Ruby regarded Mayuna with a rather regretful look, and the branch atop his head quietly opened its single eye. Three eyes fixed upon her, and the room was unusually silent.

“I don’t believe it. How can you tell from a touch? Do you have some superpower?”

“I’ve never made a scale because of my own experience, but Drakon can change forms. Want to try?”

Ruby offered. Drakon called himself the ‘Invisible Blade’ because he could transform into any shape of weapon; as long as he knew the inner workings, making a scale was child’s play.

“Drakon and I have a grudge—he definitely won’t honestly tell you...”

Mayuna still refused to accept her fate. At this moment, she looked like someone clinging to the edge of a cliff in desperation, and Drakon’s single eye was curved with barely suppressed laughter.

“No matter if you’re an archmage or a goddess of light, any creature that eats and drinks daily without exercise will get fat. Think about your recent behavior.”

Mayuna began to reflect on her daily routine: waking in the morning to demand breakfast from Ruby, lunch made by Ruby, afternoon snacks prepared by Ruby, dinner cooked by Ruby, and the rest of the time spent lying on the soft sofa reading... Hmm.

What difference was there from being useless? Wasn’t this a bit too lazy? How had the mighty archmage fallen to such a state?

Ruby had no idea what Mayuna was thinking. He didn’t persuade her about what she ought to do, but instead went to prepare food—after all, it wasn’t him getting fat.

“Fine, I’ll give you a day off. Not because I care about my weight... Did I really gain weight?”

Unwilling to accept it, Mayuna reached out and touched her abdomen. Her expression changed instantly; the once smooth, flat stomach now felt unexpectedly soft. She hurried to grab Ruby, who hadn’t gone far, and looked at him pitifully.

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“So, why are we fishing?”

This resource-rich little mountain was no exaggeration. Mayuna and Ruby now sat by the shore of a lake, fishing. The lake was neither large nor small; if you squinted, you could just make out some small animals drinking on the opposite bank. Mayuna’s question came because she could easily use her magic to blast all the fish out—why waste time on such a slow activity?

“Fish meat has much less fat than other meats, is rich in protein, provides vitamins, and aids exercise.”

Ruby wasn’t about to argue with Mayuna, whose mind ran toward violent solutions. He calmly explained the benefits of fish, seeing fishing as an enjoyable process in itself.

“By the way, this water is remarkably clear. It rivals the rivers in the imperial capital.”

Mayuna dipped her hand into the lake, marveling. The capital’s water was purified day and night by countless mages using cleansing spells; how could a mere mountain boast such water quality?

“Of course. The water here has long met drinking standards. The water we use daily is piped in from here.”

Splash.

Just as Ruby spoke, a huge dark shadow flashed through the clear river. It lingered under the water for a moment before suddenly surging up and attacking Ruby.

“Defense spell—‘Mana Barrier’!”

Mayuna hadn’t expected an attack; her body instinctively summoned a hard, transparent shield to protect both Ruby and herself.

Smack.

A cringe-worthy sound rang out as the attacker slammed into the barrier. Pressed against the shield was a flattened face, mouth and nose squished together. From Mayuna’s perspective, it was thoroughly revolting.

“Aqua, I told you not to jump me like that.”

After the mana barrier dissipated, the attacker fell to the ground. Ruby, helpless, put away his fishing rod—the bait tied to the line had vanished.

“What—what is this! Why was there a mana barrier? I thought you had no magic!”

The attacker, named Aqua, propped herself up with her arms and managed to sit, rubbing her swollen nose and grumbling. Her features were lovely; blue eyes and hair as bright as the sky, with pale blue fish fins on her ears. Her bare upper body was covered only by two shells over her sensitive parts, and her lower half was a sky-blue fish tail.

“You’re of the sea folk—a mermaid?”

Mayuna, well-traveled, immediately recognized Aqua’s species. On closer look, the earlier disgust faded; after all, her chest wasn’t large enough to inspire jealousy.

“Eh, a woman? Waaaah! Ruby, you promised to have children with me, so why is there another woman by your side?”

Only now did Aqua notice Mayuna next to Ruby. She flapped her fish tail and squirmed to Ruby’s side, grabbing his clothes and sobbing, her tears turning into lustrous pearls on the ground, which Ruby picked up one by one.

“A lot has happened. Mayuna, this is Aqua—as you see, a mermaid.”

“So the legend is true: when a mermaid weeps on land, her tears become pearls! But aren’t mermaids supposed to live in the Endless Sea? Why are you here?”

Mayuna curiously eyed the pearls in Ruby’s hand. The Endless Sea was far from here; unless this mermaid could fly, she’d surely have perished crossing the continent.

“Good question. One day a huge tornado blew across the sea—I thought it looked fun, so I swam right in. When I woke up, I found myself here. He healed my dozen broken bones. Eh-heh.”

“If I may, you didn’t fix the damage to this mermaid’s brain.”

Mayuna’s expression turned subtly odd. Tornadoes in this world weren’t natural phenomena; they were true ‘dragon winds’, elemental hurricanes whipped up by wind dragons on the move. Their power could shred the flesh of beasts below level six. This mermaid thought it was fun and went straight in—clearly not the brightest.

“That’s congenital.”

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PS: Please bookmark and recommend! Recently, there’s been a new trend for booklists—following the current, I ask for booklists as well!

PS: If Aqua were the heroine, this book would be set in a world of fools. Sadly, she’s not; the author was just too lazy to come up with names. And speaking of blue, is there any name more fitting?