It feels like my ears are about to burst, Laila thought. No, perhaps they’ve already burst. She covered her ears with both hands as if she’d been slapped and shook her head vigorously.
The first deep voice she heard was clear, but suddenly, with a buzzing sound, all voices became distant as if submerged in water.
Laila.
She thought she heard Eustar’s voice, but her vision turned white and she couldn’t see anything. As she frantically tried to move her body, Eustar grabbed her firmly.
“Laila.”
He didn’t shout loudly. At that moment, only one thought clearly came to Laila’s mind.
Yet, the confusion up until now—the ringing in her ears or the whiteness in her vision—disappeared as if it had been a lie. Laila blinked, slightly bewildered. Unfamiliar people were staring at her intently.
“Are you alright?”
Eustar’s voice was heard again. At first, it seemed to come from right behind her head, but he was standing holding her right shoulder.
“I’m… fine. I think.”
“Try walking. Do you feel dizzy?”
Laila took a step. But before she could take the next step, her knees buckled. She vividly felt her vision swaying and her body’s balance collapsing.
It was as if part of her had come outside, observing the rest of her falling. It seemed impossible, but that was Laila’s only impression.
“Oh dear, this won’t do. She’s getting terribly motion sick. Does anyone have an orange?”
“Ah, I have one.”
“Thank you.”
What orange? Laila thought, trying to clear her dizzy head. Orange, what was an orange again… Ah, yes, it was a fruit.
Orange-colored… You peel it to eat, right? She remembered reading in a book that it was deliciously sweet and sour. Although it was something she couldn’t even see in Rijikesu…
“Open your lips, Laila.”
Eustar’s voice was heard close to her ear. As if entranced, Laila parted her red lips. A firm finger slightly parted her soft lips and placed something small and hard on her tongue.
“Suck on that. It won’t taste good, but… suck on it until it dissolves.”
“What is…”
Laila was about to ask what it was, but the next moment she grimaced and covered her mouth. It tasted terrible! Just rolling it slightly on her tongue filled her throat with a bitter stench.
As she gagged, not only Eustar but also the others standing around frowned.
“Awful, isn’t it? I know. But suck on it completely. Your motion sickness will disappear quickly.”
Following Eustar’s words, the deep voice that was first heard spoke again.
“But don’t bite it. It’s hard enough to break a wolf’s teeth.”
Laila coughed without even being able to answer. This made her breath rough and the taste even more terrible. Now her nose stung too, and it felt like this bitter, astringent taste would never leave her tongue even after a hundred years.
“What on earth… What is this? Is this the fruit called an orange?”
“Fruit? Oh, no way. It can’t be compared to a real orange.”
“It’s quite an insult to oranges.”
The deep voice chuckled. His laughter echoed low and resonant, like throwing a heavy stone into a deep cave.
Eustar patted Laila’s back and said:
“It’s a medicine made in Tentinella. People who use a portal for the first time, or those who occasionally show adverse reactions to portal use, get severely motion sick. It helps settle motion sickness… It’s just called an orange because of its orange color.”
Then someone—it seemed to be a woman—said:
“It’s absurd to name such a thing an orange in the first place. It tastes like sucking on a rotten shoe sole dipped in mud.”
“Thanks for the unhelpful but vivid comparison, Yuan.”
Laila’s expression became even more contorted as she tried to suppress her gag reflex. She tried holding her breath, breathing only through her mouth to get rid of the taste or smell, but it was useless…
By the time she had sucked it all, the tip of her tongue was numb. But strangely, her dizziness had completely cleared, and she even felt a bit calmer. She felt slightly energized too.
“Are you alright now?”
“…I think so.”
Laila said, sticking out her tongue. Eustar patted her back comfortingly, as if he understood.
“The tingling sensation on your tongue will go away soon. The taste and smell will disappear completely too. Now, stand up. Let me introduce you to our colleagues.”
She looked around at the unfamiliar people and the unfamiliar interior with a slightly dazed expression. Not just the people, but everything inside was filled with things she had never seen before.
The walls seemed to be made of black stone, with occasional very thin threads of bluish light passing through them.
They weren’t flowing in just one direction, but in multiple directions, and she wondered if there was any special meaning to it.
Overall, the interior was a not-too-curved semicircle, and in each space, there were also things that looked like incomprehensible mechanical devices.
Eustar said:
“Laila, these are the members of Tentinella’s First Branch, Romul. This here is Byron, the head of this place.”
Laila had to lift her head to see the man’s face.
He was a man with broad shoulders and a uniform that fit his body tightly, very short hair and somewhat messy beard in contrast, and impressive deep blue eyes. He looked like an unnamed beast living in a deep forest, unnoticed by anyone’s eyes.
The man extended his thick hand forward.
“Byron Rogardus.”
“Laila… Laila Kristrad.”
The two awkwardly shook hands. Byron’s hand was so large that it completely covered Laila’s. Laila could feel very old calluses embedded all over his hand.
Eustar said:
“I’d like to introduce the other members one by one, but we don’t have time. Let’s save that for later…”
At that moment, a woman with curious eyes sparkling among the people raised her hand.
“May I ask one question?”
Laila remembered her voice. She was the one who had vividly described the taste of the strange motion sickness medicine called ‘orange’ while Laila was struggling to suck on it.
Eustar said:
“You’ll ask even if I say no, won’t you? Go ahead, Yuan.”
“Is she a real witch?”
At that moment, the whispers stopped all at once. Laila, embarrassed by the gazes on her, pressed her lips tightly. She tried to put strength in her toes, not wanting to appear weak, but her knees trembled faintly.
Byron said:
“Yuan, I told you not to be rude!”
“But sir…”
Then Eustar spoke:
“Yes, that’s right. She is the first and only, true witch bloodline. You all have eyes, don’t you? You can see it, can’t you?”
Laila was flustered, but Eustar’s attitude was nonchalant. Even more surprising was the reaction of the others to his words.
She expected them to show hostility and malicious glances right away, but the reaction Laila received was the opposite.
The woman named Yuan blinked her eyes and sniffled. Her nose bridge, marked with dark freckles, wrinkled playfully.
“Goodness, you’ve finally succeeded! After searching so desperately. Congratulations, Sir Eustar.”
“Congratulations aren’t just words. Bring some good alcohol or money.”
At Eustar’s jest, Yuan turned her hands over and looked around.
“Did you all hear that? This is our chance. It’s time for us all to fight for a raise. If I had money to give such a gift to Sir Eustar, I would have already turned it into alcohol!”
“Byron, make your members quit drinking. No, you should set an example first.”
Byron, who had been keeping quiet, suddenly glared at Yuan. However, Yuan remained calm and composed.
For Laila, the whole situation was bewildering… She knew this was Tentinella, the special knighthood of Sierou that she had only heard about. And that these were the knights of Tentinella.
But the rigid atmosphere Laila had vaguely imagined was not there. She didn’t know what rank Eustar held, but if he didn’t use honorifics even with Byron, who was called the head, then he must be of higher status…
“Is the portal ready?”
“We’re confirming the coordinates.”
Then a man standing in front of an unknown device said:
“The transfer will be ready in 30 seconds, Sir Eustar.”
“Good. Then we’ll hear the rest of the story later. Any separate matters to report, Byron?”
“Nothing at the moment. There have been large consecutive sinks occurring in the eastern part of the Diasgard Mountains recently, but the 3rd Branch is handling it for now.”
“I see. Send support if needed. Contact me too if anything happens.”
Byron nodded.
“Understood.”
Eustar gently took the still bewildered Laila’s hand and led her. And he brought her back onto the round circular platform where they had first arrived.
Laila, looking around, said:
“Wait, are we moving again?”
Eustar smiled at her.
“Don’t worry. You won’t get motion sickness this time. The distance is relatively close. And the medicine’s effect lasts for about a day.”
“Where are we going this time?”
Before he could answer, a blue screen-like thing overlaid Laila’s vision. It rippled… It felt like being submerged in water. Not only that, but her vision also wavered as if submerged in water.
“Coordinates confirmed. Departure point is Romul, arrival point is Sercita in Venalis.”
Venalis was the name of the capital of the Sierou Kingdom. And Sercita. Laila remembered that it was the name of the main god, the most important among the gods believed by the people of Sierou… Come to think of it, wasn’t Romul also the name of a god?
“Moving now.”
The voice was heard again from afar. As Laila was about to say something, Eustar’s hand wrapped around her shoulder as if embracing her. Her vision rippled, and she felt as if her throat was filling with water.
Male lead is a Love-Obsessed Merman
When he discovers she has gone, he risks everything to pursue her on land, enduring agonizing pain to transform his tail into human legs…
One-line summary: Male lead chases female lead. The male lead’s love is a bit sick, an invincible love brain.
Synopsis
During a voyage at sea, Jiang Yang accidentally captures a merman.
Servant: I heard that mermen are fierce and brutal.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman obediently rubbing her palm like a puppy: “You call this fierce and brutal?”
Servant: I heard that mermen have no human nature.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman with wet puppy eyes, obsessively calling her ‘A Yang’ like a childish infant: “You call this having no human nature?”
With great difficulty, she releases the merman back into the sea and returns to shore.
Who would have thought that in less than half a month, the merman, who should have been freely wandering in the South China Sea, would shed his scales, endure the pain of losing his tail, transform into human legs, and come ashore to find her?
He kneels at her feet, rubbing her palm, with merman tears rolling down: “A Yang, don’t abandon me.”
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