As Lucien and Donna take an important step in the new stage of their relationship, Nea and Maya argue on top of the big magic turtle.
"They are demons, after all." Nea states.
"But something is different now..." Maya makes a thoughtful expression. "I've heard a lot of stories about the Seven, but never anything like that."
Nea sighs. "Look, I can't judge anyone, but at the end of the day, they report to the Demon Race leaders, so no matter what their intentions are, Hell will be the one giving the final word, which possibly won't be good for small races like ours."
"But Mom…" Saria approaches Nea. "You already promised to give Lucien a chance to prove his point."
The Mermaid Queen caresses her daughter's face. "Yeah, I did it because of Claire. She was a good friend of ours while it lasted... but you know Mira and Kamala can't beat us, let alone those humans of humble origins."
Saria can't help but feel bad for Lucien's wives. She believes they are at a considerable disadvantage for fighting her group, yet something in her mind tells her that they could end up just as shocked as she was after fighting Lucien.
"..." As she believes her mother always does the best for their people, Saria can only sigh.
"Don't be so sad, okay?" Nea smiles at her daughter. "You should enjoy the time you still have with Claire; I'm sure they'll leave this world when they have nothing else to get here."
"Alright, I'm going to do it." Saria responds and then prepares to fly towards the Sea Devil.
"Wait." But then Nea makes a strange expression. She looks at the Ghost Lady and then hands the sword to Saria. "I feel like she's restless… suffering… I think she needs his energy."
Saria's heart breaks into pieces due to her sister and mother's situation, but on the other hand, she's glad Lucien can help Kaisa. However, she can't help but wonder what will happen when he leaves, and nothing can comfort the tormented soul within the cursed sword.
"I'll talk to him." Saria picks up the sword before flying towards Lucien's ship.
Nea looks at her two daughters with a concerned expression. She is willing to sacrifice her life at any time for them, but she can't help worrying about their safety when she doesn't be there anymore.
"We live and die for our family..." Maya comments. "And I wouldn't want to miss the opportunity to have an absolute protector for them."
"Demons, my friend..." Nea sighs. "They are demons, and demons only protect their interests."
Maya respects Nea a lot and understands why she thinks that way. Any smart person would also doubt the intentions of demons; yet, she can't help but hope because at the moment she loses hope in people, an immortal life will be eternal torture and not the wonderful adventure she's been living so far.
Likewise, Nea knows she can't stop Maya from trying to see the best in any person as she is so kind as most Mermaids.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"The same goes for you, my old friend," Nea speaks to Maya. "If you really like that girl, enjoy time with her; once we're done here, I'll kill Tyrion, free your daughter and the Nagas, and then the demons will probably leave this world."
Maya smiles and puts her hand on Nea's shoulder. "Don't you want to come too? I feel a delicious scent coming from that ship… I bet they're having some kind of feast to celebrate the family reunion."
"That's what it looks like..." Nea smiles. "But I think it's best to keep some distance from them now. Our relationship probably won't be amicable after they lose the competition, although I hope I don't need to hurt any of them."
"Alright then." Maya nods before flying towards the Sea Devil with a hungry and expectant expression. "I really need to eat something good; when my belly is empty, my head doesn't think straight."
Saira is the first to arrive at Sea Devil. She lands on the deck and notices some of Lucien's wives preparing a huge table in the center while his sisters are still on the big sofa.
Claire's annoyed expression makes Saria curious, mainly because her sisters and some of the other girls have the same face.
"What happened??" She asks, but the girls remain silent. "Why do you look like someone who's had their food stolen? Is the banquet over already??"
Before the girls can say anything, she looks around while stroking the Ghost Lady's hilt. "Where... he..."
"..." Lucien's sisters don't want to say anything as they are so angry that he left them to give all the attention to Donna. Of course, they're happy for her, but having the influence of Greed, Envy, Gluttony, and the Bloody Rose messing with their feelings, that reaction is inevitable.
Daisy, who is lighting some magic candles on the table, can't help but smile. "I've seen that expression on Rose's face... it usually happens when Lucien is paying attention to other girls instead of her."
"Oh, is this about jealousy?" Saria can't help but laugh. "You need to see your face right now, Claire! Hahaha..."
"..." Claire is as embarrassed as she is jealous.
Maya lands next to Saria and smiles at the girls. "I thought nothing could make Naomi more upset than hunger..."
"..." Lucien's sisters remain silent as they are distraught, but for the Sins, that's an abundance of pleasures.
Gluttony can't help but materialize her body and teasingly smile at Maya and Saria. "You came because of this good smell, didn't you? I know it because I've never felt a scent this good!"
"I didn't know the women on this ship could make such fragrant food!" Maya sniffs the scent of food in the air as she makes an expectant expression.
"Yeah, the food smells delicious..." Saria agrees with that, but her special Mermaid sense makes her feel weird vibes from Gluttony.
Daisy can't help but shake her head. "She's not talking about the food."
"Really?" Maya is confused as no matter how long she has lived, she is still very innocent. "So, what's it about?"
Gluttony's teasing expression gets increasingly naughty as she gazes at Saria. "The Mermaid Princess knows what I'm talking about, as do most of the women on this ship."
"I do not know anything!!" Saria quickly exclaims as she can't stop remembering Lucien's scent.
"Hmm??" Maya is even more confused, and the other girls get embarrassed for her.
"Maya." Then Daisy calls her while opening a wine bottle. "You have to taste it, Valencia has been hiding such a treasure from us for the whole journey."
"Oh, it really looks like a treasure!" Maya joins Daisy to drink wine, leaving the girls with their embarrassing subject.
But Saria definitely doesn't want to keep seeing Claire's jealous expression or Naomi's teasing smile. "Hmm, where is that snake?? I'd like to see her expression now..."
"You mean Kamala?" Scarlett asks as she walks towards the table to drink some wine too. And just as Saria nods, she points to the hallway. "She's in the kitchen trying to prepare some food for Lucien."
"Kamala is cooking?!?!" Saria is shocked. "I never imagined that such a spoiled snake could even make stone soup."
At that moment, Cassidy walks out of the hallway carrying a large tray of roasted chicken that she has just prepared with Maggie's help. "Well, at least she is trying..."
As soon as she notices the delicious chicken in the tray, Naomi's stomach makes strange noises. As one of her abilities gained from Gluttony, she can feel the mana in foods with incredible precision, and that chicken is a special creature, raised with mystical plants by Valencia.
Naomi can't help but jump off the sofa and try to steal the chicken from Cassidy's tray. "This looks delicious!!"
*Whoosh*
But Cassidy turns her body quickly, avoiding Naomi's movement. Despite their different power level, only one of them has the benefits of Lucien's demonic energy, which makes them equivalent in agility.
"We won't start eating until Lucien arrives." Cassidy comments as she continues avoiding Naomi's advances.
"This might take a while..." Sloth materializes her body and comments in her usual slow tone.
Amelia and Claire sigh at the same time as Sophia seems to be sleeping cuddled up with little Ko; Lucien's scent in the little tigress' fur helps her to have sweet dreams.
Saria also can't deny that she's already missing Lucien, so to distract her mind, she thinks about provoking Kamala. "I'm going to see how that spoiled snake is doing..."
She goes toward the hallway, but when she enters it, she hears a loud moan echo.
"AHHHHHH~~!!!"
"Woah!!" Saria can't help but be shocked as she imagines how loud that moan went to break through the ship's walls and echo so loudly in the hallway.
She quickly walks through the kitchen door and is shocked again to see the girls cooking and chatting cheerfully. She looks back and keeps hearing the loud moans coming from the hallway, which makes her think maybe she's the only one hearing those moans so loud.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"Isn't anyone hearing these moans??" She asks.
Kara shrugs while decorating a big cake with flower-shaped candy. "It's nothing out of the usual"
"Really??" Saria can't believe those moans are usual for the girls.
Astrid laugh. "I think Donna is being a little noisy..."
"You're noisy too!" Olivia laughs, too, as she teases Astrid.
"You're the noisy one!!" Astrid tosses one of the meatballs she's preparing at Olivia.
"You don't want to admit the truth!" Oliva counterattacks tossing a spoonful of white sauce at Astrid while laughing.
Saria is caught in the crossfire and quickly has to dodge some food attacks while also giggling due to that joyful atmosphere. She can feel that all the girls there have so much affection for each other, like real sisters.
"You have to get used to some crazy stuff if you're going to become part of the group..." Aria comments as she offers Saria a fragrant rice ball. "Try it."
She takes the rice ball and eats it. The rice is so soft that it dissolves in contact with her saliva while the taste of special herbs spreads through her mouth.
"Hmmm..." Saria closes her eyes to focus on that taste and enjoy it to the fullest. "So delicious!!"
But after a few seconds, she opens her eyes and looks at Aria with a sorry expression. "It was truly wonderful, but... I'm not really part of the group, you know."
"Oh, it doesn't seem right…" Aria kindly smiles. "I mean, I've seen how he looks at you, and you look at him the same way..."
Madelyn approaches Saria and smiles at her too. "And you don't need to be embarrassed, it happens more often than you think... and well, once he looks at you like that, there's no going back; or you become part of the group, or.... well, I made my choice, so I don't know what the other alternative is like."
"A life of constant regret?" Olivia asks.
"How could you live without such annoying sisters?" Astrid asks before tossing another meatball at Olivia.
"You dirty manticore!!" Olivia laughs as she goes back to tossing food at Astrid.
Saria again has to dodge the food attacks, and without realizing it, she ends up bumping into Kamala, who is trying to prepare an artistic seafood salad.
"Hey!!!" Kamala gets upset when some scallops fall off the tray, destroying a part of her effort. She quickly looks aside and gets even more upset to see Saria. "You???"
"Forgive me!" Saria instinctively apologizes but regrets that when she notices Kamala. "Don't cry, snake princess; I bet that wasn't really good anyway."
Kamala pouts while she can't handle Saria's provocations. "What do you want here, fishface princess??"
"You that have a fish face! And a snake too! That's a fish snake!!" Saria also doesn't quite know how to handle Kamala's insults, especially now that she's more concerned about her look than ever.
For both of them, they are like rivals, fighting for the same space in the group. But the other girls can't help but laugh, as they are acting like a lot like them.