How to get on the protagonist’s flower path

***

While we were swimming in the sea, an alert suddenly appeared before my eyes.

“What’s this?”

As I checked the fragment section, I saw:

[Current collected story fragments: 5] – Genius Commander of the Academy: 1 – ???? ??? ???? ?? (Locked): 4

I realized that a red jewel had been added to the portion filled with question marks, so I decided to leave it for now. Why do I keep getting things I can’t even read when I’d prefer something I can?

“Monsters really aren’t attacking us…”

I nodded at Nayuri’s words.

“Right? It’s strange.”

The pufferfish-like monsters seemed to be ignoring us, munching on nearby seaweed since we weren’t attacking first.

Sometimes, they would approach us out of curiosity.

We moved closer to the seaweed that the pufferfish monsters were eating and diligently collected the round fruits that were open.

According to the trickster, these hard, pearl-like fruits were called “Mermaid’s Breath,” and consuming one would allow a person to breathe underwater for two hours.

I admired the smooth luster of the fruits, which shone like real pearls, as I placed them in my pouch.

“I think we’ve gathered enough.”

Nayuri and I filled our pouches and returned to our group, where the trickster welcomed us.

“Good job.”