Xyrin Empire

The sun was shining brightly, and the breeze was gentle, over the shimmering Fairy Lake, a beautiful Mermaid Princess leapt high from the water, her vibrant fishtail reflecting a golden radiance in the sunlight, also, the princess was holding a fishing line in her hand...

I and a few others, including Lin Xue, stood like stone statues by the lakeside, with the fishing rod still tightly gripped in my hand. It was this tough piece of interstellar alloy that didn't even bend after catching Isana. Isana's gaze followed the fishing line in her hand to the fishing rod, then extended to my hand, and she exclaimed "Ah!" in surprise.

"Splash!"

A splash of water erupted. It turned out that Isana herself had let go of the fishing line, the whole person... the whole fish... the whole mermaid fell back into the water, with some water spraying onto my face, snapping me out of my stupor.

"Oh my! Isana! What are you doing here!"

I was shocked, dropping the fishing rod, looking at the Mermaid Princess floating in the water with only her little head visible, her face contorted.

Alright, perhaps some of you aren't quite familiar with this person, who doesn't usually appear around here, but I'll remind you: The world of Azeroth, one of the Salvation Army's leaders, the mage leader of the Naga Clan, appearance-wise, she's a mermaid.

Just like most of the Salvation Army officers who are pivotal leaders in the Azeroth but hold important military positions, Isana usually lives in Shadow City, of course, in the residential area of her clan. The Naga Clan's community is the most special part of Shadow City, it's not a cluster of buildings, but an enormous saltwater lake. Isana herself provided a lot of valuable suggestions when we were establishing this saltwater lake, and with a bunch of people from home who wished for chaos, we eventually established the place like a marine ecological museum, complete with underwater beaches, Beck, corals, sunken treasure chests, and even anchors. If it weren't for my desperate persuasion at the time, Lilina would have even considered stealing the remains of the Titanic and sinking them there, similarly, Qianqian had the idea of placing the Stabilizer in the Naga Clan's area, which I also objected to relentlessly.

Ahem, off-topic. What I meant to say is, Isana the mermaid should have been practicing synchronized swimming in the saltwater lake of Shadow City, what is she doing here?

And she got fished out by someone — speaking of this scene, doesn't it have a sense of déjà vu? This is the fable adaptation that ruined lives years ago that Qianqian came up with!

"I thought it was that Cu Chulainn guy disturbing my sleep again," Isana didn't have her entire head underwater, with bubbles gurgling below her nose, "Was planning on slapping him in the face with my tail, turns out it's you all."

Having interacted a lot with the Imperial High Level, Isana speaks quite casually with us when she's off-duty; she knows this group in front of her doesn't like formalities.

"So you're saying this is not the first time you've been fished out today," I was unsure whether to laugh or cry, how do I always encounter such bizarre things, surrounded by people who attract bizarre situations...

"Five or six times, mostly by Cu Chulainn, and once by that white-haired Emiya, his fishing skills are terrible but oddly patient, I'm so fed up that I'd help them catch fish and put it on their hooks, and when I'm in a bad mood, I'd grab onto the fishing line myself and slap them in the face... Hmm, I planned on doing that just now."

Isana answered honestly, her big eyes swirling around us: "Lady Goddess isn't around?"

I remembered, this mermaid in front of me obsessively wanted to keep Dingdang as a pet.

I knew Cu Chulainn liked fishing by Fairy Lake, and Red A somehow became his fishing buddy, the duo are regulars by the lakeside, you'd see them fishing here whenever they have free time. But I never thought their fishing would have anything to do with Isana, based on the expression of grievance on this Mermaid Princess's face, it's evident that frequent sleep deprivation has led to a build-up of resentment from disturbed private life. Sure enough, as you're sleeping, people constantly use an iron hook to hook your hair, how can you not hold a grudge? I've heard about Cu Chulainn's Luck Value, even while walking on level ground he could accidentally stomp on a Spark Source dropped by Aliens to Earth and end up in a fight with the whole Cybertron; let alone the idea of him "actively" provoking a sleeping Mermaid Princess — once he casts his rod I can guarantee it'll definitely land on Isana...

"Speaking of which, you haven't told me yet, why aren't you staying in your saltwater lake in Shadow City, what are you doing in Avalon? Have you settled down here?" Sitting back on the large stone by the lakeside with Qianqian and the others, I asked with curiosity, Isana meanwhile swam over to the shore, leaning on the stone's edge as she twisted her hair: "Recuperating."

"Recuperating?!" I exclaimed in shock, sizing up the somewhat restless Mermaid Princess, "The Salvation Army's out on a campaign recently? You, as a military officer, got injured? How come no one reported any war news?!"

"No, no battle," Isana hurriedly shook her head, scratching her wet hair shyly, "I went out to play, and ended up in an accident."

I was stunned, "Went out to play? Accident? Where?"

Shadow City even had traffic accidents? Doesn't this ruin the reputation of Imperial Technology.

Turns out Isana grew even more embarrassed: "Not Shadow City, I snuck out, although I remembered the citizen management regulations at the time, I was using Invisibility, but still collided underwater six hundred meters deep in the South Pacific..."

I was momentarily left in shock: "With whom?"

"With a nuclear submarine..."

Everyone: "..."

"And so you're recuperating here." Lin Xue looked at Isana with an admiring gaze, "Why didn't you go to the Life Temple? In that place, as long as you're not dead, even a door guard can resurrect you to full health."

"The water quality here is good," Isana finally revealed, "and the fish are stupid, besides some annoying people fishing, everything is more comfortable compared to Shadow City, so I... temporarily stayed here."

Turns out, this fellow camped here under the guise of recuperating due to the fine water quality, silly fish, and elegant environment around Avalon Fairy Lake. Of course, this is understandable, given this area is top-notch within the Imperial Capital Zone's Paradise, even the so-called "Holy City" of Shadow City, pure environment-wise, doesn't match up to Avalon. Isana is sensitive to the aquatic environment due to being a Naga (of course, I always call her a mermaid for visual purposes) Clan, and naturally wants to linger here. But then again, anyone can linger in Avalon, even a Subordinate Commander from the Revenge Army can temporarily stay here, yet someone like Isana can't, she being a Senior General of the Salvation Army, and an Official Level member of the Military Integration Department, must adhere to relatively strict military management regulations, clearly prohibiting Official Level members of the Military Integration Department from casually leaving the centralized residence — she could only use recuperation as an excuse to sneak some leisure.

This little ploy won't fool even me, much less the old hands at the Military Integration Department, but it seems now that they are turning a blind eye to this mermaid, someone who almost grabbed Lady Goddess as a pet at first meeting, no doubt everyone has gotten used to her eccentricity.

As for the tailgating accident, Isana explained it in a few words, it boiled down to her playful personality playing its tricks, as everyone might recall, many moons ago during the first Azeroth inter-racial leadership meeting, she nearly tackled Dingdang in front of leaders of different clans and the Divine Envoy, such boldness is not something a simple fool can pull off.

And a few days ago, this lawless Mermaid Princess skated close to violating the Imperial residents management regulations: She went to the Outer World for an afternoon.

Isana claimed it was to experience the beautiful sights of the South Pacific, and additionally taste the salinity of the Earth's seawater — regarding this second reason, I find it quite regrettable.

The result of this trip was dire; she collided with a nuclear submarine, despite being a Senior General of the Salvation Army possessing good physical condition, yet she couldn't match up with the Imperial Soldiers, resulting in her tumbling around, sad disarray of losing some scales, and was ordered to write a three thousand-word reflection, as for the nuclear submarine probably had no major issues, there haven't been reports on a deep-sea nuclear leakage in the news over these past few days...

Isana recounted her unfortunate experience honestly, then suddenly jumped out of the water with a splash, placing her tail before us: "Look, it's here, scraped by the submarine's propeller, three scales fell, and then their submarine rose urgently — I was teleported back to Shadow City."

I looked at the fishtail in front of me, spotting a rather cute pink cross-bandage, extra-large, blending humorously with the slick shimmering fish scales.

"Underwater specific," Qianqian muttered while reading the small text on the cross-bandage, "what a strange thing indeed."

Isana tapped her tail twice against the large stone at the shore, somewhat troubled, "It was bought from a private clinic in East District, claimed it stays adhesive underwater, while the doctor recommended me to eat light these days, trying to avoid having water touch the wound..."

Lin Xue immediately burst out laughing, then looked sternly into Isana's eyes: "When you get back, hold that doctor down and give them a hundred and twenty slaps, no need to be polite!"

"Why?"

"That quack told a fish to keep its wound away from water!" Lin Xue exclaimed with a pained expression.

Everyone: "..."

Since Isana temporarily became a resident of Fairy Lake, everyone's fishing plans had to be put on hold, but we still had grilled fish to eat: Isana demonstrated to everyone how a mermaid lives in nature, using her tail to smack the fish senseless, resulting in a pile of fish as big as a small mountain.

"Feel free to eat these, they've been appearing in the lake recently, and they taste pretty good," the Mermaid Princess said cheerfully.

"How can we accept this so casually." I rubbed my hands, looking at the fresh fish Isana had knocked unconscious, not recognizing a single species among Fairy Lake's offerings!

"What's the big deal," the Mermaid Princess said with a wave of her tail, causing a splash, her face resentful, "These guys have no respect for the Naga, it's one thing to gawk at a newcomer, but they even buried my face in sand. Lately, I've had to wear a dive mask to sleep— can you imagine a Naga sleeping with a dive mask? Well, since this opportunity presented itself, please help me eat some, maybe they'll behave a bit better."

After Isana complained for a while, she simply sprawled out on a rock by the shore to sunbathe, planning to taste the grilled fish later, while a few of us started discussing how to cook these delicacies from Avalon.

Honestly, my cooking skills are decent, I can do several dishes like braised pork ribs, chicken stew with mushrooms, pickled vegetables in clay pot, and spicy beef stew, although occasionally I might accidentally turn noodles into mush. Qianqian's skills are about the same as mine, and she's more inclined towards Master Kong: obviously, our skills are useless outside instant noodles, Sandora was raring to try, but when I saw the sauce she took out burn a hole through the stone block in front of her, I figured it's better to eat raw.

Mercury Lamp doesn't even count, her job is to wait and eat: with those little arms and legs of hers, even if she could roast something, I'd bet she'd end up roasting herself while flipping the fish.

"Alas, finally it's up to Miss Lin to take charge."

Finally, flipping the fresh fish on the grill, Miss Lin said with clear pride in her voice.

I looked at Sandora to prevent her from sneaking in to eat the raw fish she was eyeing with impatience, shooting an astonished glance at Lin Xue: "Ding-dang, how come you know how to cook now? Didn't you say you never touched this stuff growing up?"

"You can learn if you don't know how," Lin Xue said smugly, giving me a glance, "I only recently learned to cook and the first thing I learned was barbecue: the technical content is quite simple to start with, today you're lucky being the wood you are, able to taste Miss Lin's cooking."

I intently watched Miss Lin, and next to me, Sandora once again murmured wistfully to herself, "To capture a man's heart, you must first capture his stomach..."

Lin Xue's face flushed red, making her look utterly surprise-worthy, but what I really wanted to say was: Sandora, you went wrong in the tech tree from the start, you need to capture my stomach, not eliminate it...

This afternoon's meal was the most entertaining one I'd had in a while, even without Anwina's culinary masterpieces, without the comfort of home dining rooms, and with only Miss Lin's rather unpracticed grilled fish as the main dish, it offered a sense of joy that couldn't be found elsewhere: having a picnic by Fairy Lake isn't something just anyone can do.

The happiest eater was Mercury Lamp, who had never had such an outdoor family picnic experience. The novel experience had this little doll beaming for the entire afternoon, and her face was even colored like grilled fish. The most content eater was Qianqian, who was delighted by the fun and carefree atmosphere, and the most unfortunate was Lin Xue...

Once Sandora devoured even the third fish with bones and iron forks in one fell swoop, our Miss knew her disaster had begun.

Finally, when Lin Xue was so exhausted she began sticking her tongue out, Sandora realized she might have become a disaster herself, wiped her mouth, polished off the last few grilled fish, and went alone into the depths of the forest. My long-standing wish was finally fulfilled: Sandora had gone self-sufficient and learned to forage in the primordial forest.

I dare not imagine what she had eaten, but by the next afternoon, there were reports from a Heroic Spirit to the temple that the Fairy Forest might have suffered a meteorite attack...

Having finished this little woodland picnic and said farewell to the Mermaid Princess who was leaping back into the lake to continue teasing Cu Chulainn, we were on our way out of the forest, only to bump into Lilina and Dingdang coming from the opposite direction, chattering enthusiastically about something. Apparently, Big Sister and the little ones had already gone home, and after concluding some "blessing" ceremony, they had wandered a bit in Demon Town before deciding to check out Fairy Lake at Dingdang's suggestion.

"Dingdang blessed two little kids, oh!"

The Little Goddess immediately hopped onto my shoulder upon seeing me, eagerly clutching my earlobe, "It might not be quite according to procedure, but it should count as a blessing."

Surely everyone knows, for the Life Goddess, intelligence is always the arch-enemy— it turned out even after the blessing ceremony was over, Dingdang still hadn't recalled what was in her Bible!

Lilina, holding my sleeve, beamed with pride: "But I think I did pretty well today. I'm indeed a theological genius, managing a blessing ceremony flawlessly without any reference material. I first gave each of the two kids a bunch of luck-changing beads, then chanted the Diamond Sutra, let Lady Goddess fly circles around their heads, etched a cross on each of their cheeks, and finally blessed the newborns with fragrant herbs..."

Lin Xue and I exchanged eye rolls as we listened, and upon hearing the part about using incense from this little girl, we couldn't hold it anymore: "Using incense too? Are you offering sacrifices?"

"I just threw in everything that looked mystical," Lilina clapped her hands, "Cornelian, bellflower, mulberry, star anise, Sichuan peppercorn, garlic cloves, and cumin, finally sprinkling half a bottle of cooking wine..."

Sandora rubbed her belly, "Why do I feel hungry again?"

I grabbed Lilina's ear and almost lifted her: "You're preparing it for cooking, aren't you!"

Lilina jumped up and down, screeching and wailing, "But I couldn't recall the blessing procedure at all! I'll just write this recipe— I mean, ceremony into the new Bible!"

I reckon it won't be long before this girl expands the recruitment range of the Goddess Sect to New East.

"By the way, are you going to Fairy Lake for anything in particular?"

As Lilina put Dingdang back on her head, getting ready to head to Fairy Lake and saying goodbye to us, Lin Xue curiously asked, but as soon as she finished the question, her expression subtly changed. Grabbing my hand, she started walking out of the forest, "Nothing, you carry on, Wood and I are just heading back."

Dingdang didn't notice Miss Lin's unusual behavior, but simply gave us a goofy smile, gesturing exaggeratedly, "Dingdang made a new kind of fish a few days ago, it's a bit dumb but quite beautiful, Lilina wants to see the fish with Dingdang..."

I had barely heard the "fish" before being scared witless, immediately slinging Mercury Lamp over my shoulder, turning around to run!

Lin Xue's scream startled countless birds and beasts out of their forest concealments: "Retreat now!!" (To be continued. If you like this work, please vote for it on Qidian.com, your support is my greatest motivation.)