The Main Character is the Villain

It was an early morning, still free of any attacks. The port during ebb tide completely exposed the barnacles and moss, emitting the smell of sea mud. After receiving a send-off from the lord, we headed to the port and chose a boat about the size of a fishing boat to prepare for departure. Cellu immediately jumped into the sea to check our surroundings, and Eve also changed into comfortable clothes on the boat. The lord, who had come to the pier to see us off, spoke.

"Will the three of you be alright? Perhaps I should attach a few knights to you..."

"It's more comfortable for just us to go."

We had talked a lot with each other last night. Among those conversations, stories about the Whale Reef were included. According to Cellu's explanation, the Whale Reef had rough ocean currents and many hidden reefs around it, making it an unreasonable place to navigate by boat. For a place like this, it was right to push through with only a minimal elite crew.

"I understand. Then, I wish you success."

At my resolute answer, the lord nodded his head. His expression showed clear unease. Even to my eyes, our party's composition was perfect for stimulating anxiety. One sailor who had been near the Whale Reef. One priest. And two mermaids. The sailor in particular was already trembling at the thought of diving right into the middle of mermaids. I encouraged the sailor and spoke.

"You can go back if you are afraid, fisherman."

"N-No. My sons were all killed by those bastards. Those brutal mermaids..."

"Lamias."

"It wasn't mermaids, but lamias that did it. Do you understand?"

"Ah, yes..."

I had to do some language correction in advance from now on. I worked hard to redirect the fisherman's hatred toward the lamias. The lord watched us leave from a short distance away. The fisherman initiated the ignition for the boat, which moved using a magic stone. Because the territory itself was so wealthy, he mentioned that all the slightly more expensive boats used magic stones as a power source. Eve muttered.

"We should have just attached a magic stone to use instead of working the crew members. Then we wouldn't have needed to use so many girls."

"I agree."

Sticking only her head out from underwater, Cellu affirmed Eve's words. The boat was slowly moving forward. The lord shouted.

"Please be safe!"

I waved my hand at the lord and spoke to Cellu, who was swimming to match our speed.

"Wouldn't it be better for you to go in a bit later? It must be tiring."

"It's more comfortable for a mermaid to be underwater. Plus, we need to know where the fish-men will be coming from."

With those words, Cellu sank into the water with a gurgle. Following her, Eve also changed into an outfit comfortable for entering the water and jumped into the sea. The sailor was holding the helm, trembling uncontrollably. Was the thing making him tremble the excitement of being able to avenge his sons, or the fear of meeting mermaids? I spoke.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes. I'm fine. I'm actually even glad. To think I can personally exact revenge on those bastards, I'm extremely happy."

The fisherman said that and flashed a grin. Thanks to his skin, tanned black from a long time of sea work, his teeth stood out prominently. I smiled back at the fisherman and looked outside. There was quite a distance to Mermaid Island. The fisherman pointed to a small object that looked like a dot in the distance and spoke.

"That right there is the Whale Reef."

"It's surprisingly close."

"It only looks clear because the weather is nice. We have to ride the boat for several hours to actually get there."

"I see."

In reality, the boat was making a high-speed advance, but the reef showed no signs of getting closer. It was almost enough to make me fall into the illusion that we were endlessly riding on a giant treadmill. The fisherman silently operated the boat to increase the speed, slightly adjusting the helm to firmly hold our direction.

I held my mace and stayed vigilant of our surroundings. It was because I didn't know when or where the fish-men would attack. I could feel Eve and Cellu swimming in circles around the boat I was riding on. They were swimming to keep pace with the rapidly moving boat. I was reminded again of the saying that one should never face a mermaid in the sea.

Boom!

As soon as Cellu abruptly disappeared, a loud roar erupted. The water surface exploded as if a torpedo had gone off, sending a spray of water shooting upward. The fisherman was startled and collapsed onto the floor. I also grabbed my mace and looked in the direction the explosive sound came from.

Along with white foam, the bulging eyeball of a fish-man floated up. In turn, a leg, an arm, and innards floated up, evenly disassembled. I felt a wave of disgust and spat out a swear word.

"Fuck...! Cellu! Are you okay?"

"Heh."

Cellu popped right out and spoke while waving her hand. I also waved my hand back at Cellu and looked around again. With my field of vision, I couldn't spot the fish-men.

Boom!

Another loud roar rang out from a different direction. This time, a fish-man's arm came flying toward my direction. Amidst the spray of water, body fragments of a fish-man soared high before disappearing. The fisherman spoke.

"It doesn't feel like reality. It really doesn't..."

"Keep moving forward. Being afraid won't be of any help to my wives."

The fisherman touched the magic stone and pulled the helm forward. The boat, which had been gliding over the water like it was slipping, began to move with increasing force and roughness. It bounced and rattled over the waves as the sea breeze turned fierce. Water splashed from the surface where it collided with the boat. I could feel something rushing toward the boat from all directions. Webbed feet and suspicious weapons—they were the fish-men.

Boom!

Once again, one of the fish-men was utterly destroyed. Matching the fish-men swimming toward the boat, Eve stirred up a spray of water at high speeds to halt their charge. Amidst the continuous explosions, the fish-men floated up with their limbs disassembled. Their vacant eyes and wide-open mouths suggested they had died without even knowing what happened. In the spot where Eve had passed through, a thick green liquid floated up and then disappeared. Eve poked her head out from underwater, looked at me, and waved. I gave Eve a thumbs-up.

Fish-men were charging in from the opposite direction again. Cellu was moving busily to eliminate the fish-men, but this time there were too many. Over seven fish-men were rushing toward the boat all at once.

Boom!Boom!

The fish-men exploded like firecrackers. However, even with that, they didn't stop their speed. Two of them managed to avoid Cellu and succeed in colliding with the boat. Bursting through the water spray, they stopped against the wall of the boat and violently rammed into us. The entire boat shook as if struck by a torpedo. At the heavy impact of a Thud!, the fisherman grabbed the helm and cowered. I also lowered my stance to maintain my balance. The boat's speed dropped significantly, seemingly due to damage to its magic power source. I saw webbed feet grab onto the deck. Following that, a stupid-looking face climbed up. They climbed onto the deck and let out bizarre screams.

"Keuheuk!"

"Uwaaaaagh!"

The fisherman screamed at the sight of the fish-men. I swung my mace without delay.

"Quack!"

With a strange scream, the fish-man perished instantly. I shook off my mace and spoke.

"Keep moving forward."

I casually glanced toward Mermaid Island. It seemed a little closer than before. Cellu took a wide turn around our surroundings, and Eve leaped onto the boat. She squeezed the water out of her hair and grumbled.

"There are so fucking many of those bastards. I think I've caught almost forty of them already."

There had only been about a dozen sprays of water, but it seemed the number of those that died underwater was much higher. Eve pointed at Cellu, who had submerged underwater, and spoke.

"Mom is probably tearing a few of them apart right now too. I need to go back in as well. Fuck. I shouldn't have brought the scimitar. It's so fucking annoying."

After saying that, Eve threw off the scimitar strapped to her waist and jumped back into the water. As soon as Eve jumped in, small bubbles formed, and another arm of a fish-man floated up. I sat on the deck and waited for the fish-men to climb up. There weren't many fish-men who slammed their bodies into us like earlier. Fish-men who were missing an arm or had their faces beaten so badly they were on the verge of death were desperately clinging to the deck.

The fisherman, who had screamed once or twice, no longer even paid attention to this side. They said sailors were great at adaptation, and it seemed those words were true. Turning the fish-men climbing onto the deck into a bloody pulp, I looked at the reef. The Whale Reef was getting closer and closer. On top of the reef sat mermaids. They were looking at our boat and conversing with each other, seemingly a bit flustered. I saw a few of them jump into the sea and approach us. The panicked fisherman spoke.

"W-What do we do? Over there, th-those bastards..."

"Keep going."

Eve and Cellu were in the sea. I encouraged the fisherman and gripped my mace tightly. A few mermaids swam into the water, but before they could encounter us, they scattered and disappeared elsewhere. The closer we got to the Whale Reef, the more the fierce water currents harassed us. Eve and Cellu climbed onto the boat to avoid the water currents. Cellu spoke.

"It's annoying if we get swept away. I want to rest on the boat."

"You've worked hard."

I gave Cellu a tight hug as I said that. Eve squeezed the water out of her clothes and threw herself at me.

"Hug me too."

"Alright. Alright. You've worked hard too. Are there no more fish-men?"

"I don't think so. I took a spin with Mom just a moment ago and I don't think there are any more."

I looked at the ocean current that was winding around like a giant snake. Could the fish-men not withstand this ocean current? As if this kind of ocean current was nothing to him, the fisherman operated the magic stone and drove the boat forward. We were advancing toward the Whale Reef, narrowly avoiding the rocks in between.

The Whale Reef was a reef as massive as its name implied. Rather than a reef, its appearance was closer to a rocky island, looking as though a giant whale was embracing that rocky island. From various places on the reef, mermaids clung to the rocks and watched us. There were no mermaids who hostilely attacked us first.

I briefly relaxed my hand holding the mace and asked the fisherman.

"Have you ever been to the Whale Reef before?"

"No, I haven't. Because it's been such a terrible place since the old days, no one even comes near it. This is my first time too... Eek, please don't make me talk."

The fisherman was gripping the control stick and struggling with all his might. I asked Eve.

"They're tamer than I thought?"

"I talked to them a bit earlier. They recognized Mom and me."

The mermaids were all beautiful women without exception. Perky, firm breasts and well-shaped bellies. And beautifully shaped belly buttons that seemed to be their charm points.

"But mermaids are born from eggs, so why do they have belly buttons?"

"Who knows? Mom. Why do we have belly buttons?"

Eve asked Cellu. Cellu shook her head as if she didn't know either. The fisherman was bringing the boat close to the reef while we were having our pointless conversation. Through the opening where he maintained the gap without scraping the rocks by a hair's breadth, we jumped off the boat and stepped onto the reef. The rock, damp with moss and coral, was slippery.

"Hello~."

Eve leisurely waved her hand in greeting. The mermaids' faces were full of vigilance.

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