Chapter 151: The Adventurer

"Here it comes."

Having successfully entered the Ryugu Palace, Qiubai thought for a moment and ultimately abandoned the plan of wandering around aimlessly to search for the Hard-Shell Tower by himself.

This was because he suddenly remembered a much simpler method. Someone would provide him with a "guiding light" right to the mermaid princess's side, and the only problem Qiubai would face was the length of time he had to wait.

Now, the "guiding light" he wanted had arrived: a huge axe blade pierced through the water curtain surrounding the outer perimeter of Ryugu Palace, and then swept along an extraordinary arc toward a certain direction.

That simpleton who had his eyes on the princess was not only a pedophile but also a pervert. His method of proposing to the young princess and expressing his "love" was to regularly hurl various heavy close-combat weapons at fixed intervals.

Due to his special ability, no matter what distance he threw the weapon from, it would precisely head toward the mermaid princess's location, almost like a cruise missile. Therefore, by following this thing, Qiubai would naturally be able to find the mermaid princess.

"Is this sent by someone else who has designs on the princess... When all is said and done, is it always special abilities that are more attractive than looks and status?" Qiubai sighed inwardly.

He carefully followed behind the tomahawk-style cruise missile while keeping his Observation Haki fully open to avoid running into anyone in Ryugu Palace.

However, using a special ability to describe the princess was not entirely accurate; her power of summoning sea kings was capable of destroying the world. And since it was a "power to destroy the world"—which meant the power to rule the world—it was only natural that she would be targeted.

"Found it!"

With a loud bang, the axe struck precisely against the exterior of a building, and around it, a dense cluster of various weapons was already embedded.

This was undoubtedly the Hard-Shell Tower Qiubai was looking for.

"One, two?"

Qiubai's movements paused slightly. In his perception, there seemed to be more than one person inside the Hard-Shell Tower. Was someone keeping the princess company?

King Neptune?

No. Immediately afterward, Qiubai discovered what was actually accompanying the princess, and without further hesitation, he reached out and pushed open the heavy doors of the Hard-Shell Tower.

With a creaking sound, the heavy door was gently pushed open just a crack—a "crack" that, proportionally speaking, was wide enough for Qiubai to lie down and roll right through.

Reclosing the door behind him, an uninvited guest thus slipped into the completely private sanctuary belonging to the princess.

"Minister of the Right? No, who are you?" The princess naturally noticed the sound of the door opening.

From the princess's perspective regarding Qiubai's size, she thought the intruder was the Minister of the Right of Ryugu Palace, but unless her eyes were failing her, she would immediately realize that Qiubai looked somewhat different from a seahorse.

The princess's voice was very pleasant to the ear, sounding somewhat like Tessa Testarossa, but what caught one's attention even more was the mermaid princess's physique.

The sixteen-year-old princess was already a "giant" standing eight to nine meters tall.

"Well... this uncle is quite worried about your future."

These words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop them. The marriage prospects of the future most beautiful woman in the world were a notoriously difficult problem... The officially designated most beautiful woman in the world did not yet possess her future appearance. Although this statement sounded rather strange, that was simply the reality—a ten-meter-class princess still retained a bit of baby fat.

Immediately following that, Qiubai had a second realization: "Queen Otohime truly was a great mother."

Regardless of what Otohime had done, the mere fact that she managed to give birth to Shirahoshi was伟大 enough in its own right.

Princess Otohime was a goldfish mermaid, shorter than Taiga Aisaka but taller than Popura Taneshima, standing at around 145 cm. Then looking at the princess before him, uh...

May Queen Otohime rest in heaven.

The princess was entirely pink, from her hair down to her scales. She looked quite frail, completely lacking the commanding queenly aura of someone capable of destroying the world at a moment's notice. After an absolute stranger broke into her room and remained "indifferent" to her inquiry, her reaction was no different from that of any ordinary, shy, and timid little girl. That was to...

Cry.

"Wait, wait, Princess Shirahoshi, my name is Qiubai, and I'm an adventurer." Seeing a bucket's worth of water brewing in the mermaid princess's eyes, Qiubai hurriedly introduced himself.

This was, of course, complete nonsense. The Adventurers' Guild would surely state that they had never had such a member, but if Qiubai had introduced himself by saying, "My name is Shinichi Kudo, and I'm a pirate," the princess would probably have unleashed a torrential downpour right on the spot.

Then her crying would attract the security forces of Ryugu Palace, and at that point, it would be Qiubai's turn to cry.

"An adventurer?"

"Yes, and I also moonlight as a magician." As he spoke, Qiubai extended his right hand, rubbed his thumb and forefinger together, and a crystalline twig suddenly materialized. Then, colorful petals began to bloom piece by piece along one end of the twig.

Shortly after, the flower transformed into a butterfly.

The butterfly fluttered its wings a couple of times and ultimately morphed into a shark.

"Megalo, it's Megalo!"

Princess Shirahoshi finally let out an exclamation of surprise, and more importantly, the tears vanished from her eyes... One could only wonder what the "Ally of Justice" who originally invented this projection magic would think upon seeing his spell used to coax a crying child.

Well, it couldn't be helped. "Cuteness is justice," so isn't that why he strove to be an ally of justice in the first place?

The princess was happy, but Qiubai's heart ached. Projecting and materializing objects other than swords was a high-mana-consumption task for him; conjuring these few trivial shapes took more effort than projecting three A-grade noble phantasms.

Megalo was the third living creature in the room besides the princess and Qiubai. It was a shark and also Shirahoshi's pet... In the past, present, and future, it was the only one that stayed in the Hard-Shell Tower to keep this child company.

The princess picked up the shark figurine Qiubai had made, holding it as if it were a single grain of rice. In a sense, children were relatively easy to deal with, as you could arouse their curiosity while simultaneously eliminating their guard against strangers.

While carefully observing this trinket, seemingly trying to find any differences between it and the real Megalo, the princess asked, "However, Lord Qiubai the adventurer, why have you come to my room?"

"Well... this should be considered part of an adventure, I suppose," Qiubai explained dryly.

Going on an adventure inside a little girl's room—what kind of crazy whim was that? Such a notion in itself was adventurous and dangerous enough, wasn't it?

No, to be more precise... this was "bona fide" trespassing and a crime.

"You see, humans tend to be curious about what Her Highness the mermaid princess, who is said to be the most beautiful in the world, actually looks like," he added redundantly by way of explanation.

However, the naive princess seemed to actually believe this explanation. "Lord Qiubai is a human? Then where on earth have you been for your adventures?"

A princess who had been locked inside the Hard-Shell Tower for quite some time, a princess who had remained in the deep sea ever since she was born, was naturally curious about the outside world.

Qiubai lowered his head slightly, paused for a moment, and then said with a profound tone, "My adventures... most recently, they would be in a place called 'Sea Forest'."

Upon hearing those three words—"Sea Forest"—Shirahoshi's movements and expression froze instantly.