I ran over and did the same to Marcel and the rest of the crew.
“Master, the helm!” Liam yelled as soon as Marcel came to. “That’s a merfolk song!”
“Sorry, I spaced out! You lot, snap out of it! Get rowing! We can’t get swept up in the current!”
Marcel’s shout finally broke the spell. The men quickly grabbed the oars, rowing with all their might so that the river wouldn’t swallow us up.
Suddenly, a merfolk popped its head out of the water and blasted the ship with powerful enchanting magic.
“Ughhh!”
Everyone grabbed their heads, trying to resist. Marcel and Bal, who had only just shaken the enchantment off, were now on the verge of falling for it again.
Out of desperation, I pressed my nose into Liam’s ear, trying to replicate what Lord Reineke had done for me.
May this heal you!
Liam’s expression softened.
“Thanks to you, I can’t hear the song anymore,” he said with a smile.
In contrast, Lord Reineke’s jaw fell open. “What?! Lune healed you?! But you can only free someone from a merfolk’s enchantment if you share a very close bond with them!”
“Huh? So it won’t work on the others?” I asked.
“No. It should be impossible for the rest. I thought it’d work between Lune and me, but this...” the spirit grumbled.
I was panicking. “Then how do we protect everyone else?!”
Liam stood up, once more drawing the Eclipse Blade. The sword was jet-black, overflowing with Nott’s power.
“Brother, no!”
“Dark magic is able to cut through enchantments.”
“But still, you can’t do that! If you do...”
I tried to stop Liam, my eyes brimming with tears. He smiled, as though trying to soothe me.
“I know. But you’re more important to me than that, Lune.”
“Brother! Stop!”
With a sharp look in his eyes, Liam raised the Eclipse Blade, pointing it at the sky. His mana began flowing into the sword.
“Cut through this wicked enchantment, and restore peace to the ship!”
Liam drew a magic circle in the air. A gentle, purple curtain of darkness floated down from it, coating the ship. It soaked up the merfolk’s song, stopping it from reaching those on board.
“What?! One of them is contracted to the Lord of Darkness?!” a merfolk shouted, causing the rest of them to fall into mayhem.
Marcel and Bal stared at Liam, wide-eyed. The rest of the crew had no idea what had happened. Most commoners had no deeper knowledge of magic.
Liam looked away with an uncomfortable expression on his face. All I could do was press my hands together and pray.
Please, all of you, do not condemn my brother...
“Liam—” Bal began, but before he could finish his sentence, the ship suddenly lurched.
The merfolk had grabbed onto the rail. The upper halves of their bodies were human, and the lower halves fish. Their skin was pink like salmon, but their fingers were gray and webbed. They had pitch-black eyes with no eyelids.
Unable to use magic to charm the crew, the merfolk were resorting to force. As one, they began pulling the ship toward Paravento Rock.
“Lord Reineke, save us! Keep the ship afloat!” I screamed.
The fox leaped from my arms.
“I will grant your wish, Lune! O ship, heed my contractor’s words!” he commanded.
“Please carry us to the bank!” I prayed.
The bottom of the boat lit up in gold and suddenly surged upward, drifting above the water’s surface.
Marcel rose to his feet, scowling. He clicked his tongue and kicked the ship’s side with a loud thud, shaking the merfolks’ grip loose from the impact. The sound startled me as well, causing my tail to quiver.
“We can’t have the kids doing all the work!” Marcel shouted, flicking the bangle around his left wrist. “Holy sword, Joyeuse! Come forth!”
A large sword emerged from the bangle. Marcel drew a blackened silver magic circle on the water’s surface, then jumped down onto it before pointing his blade at the merfolk. But despite this threatening display, he wasn’t looking to kill the creatures—we had come out here to learn the cause behind the ship accidents.
“Lord Liam and Bal, protect the ship!” he ordered.
“Yes, master!” the boys responded in unison.
They split up, each standing on a separate side of the ship, vigilant against any merfolk that might try climbing aboard.
I smiled in relief when I realized that Marcel wouldn’t condemn my brother for his dark magic. An ex-swordmaster like Marcel would’ve had every right to punish Liam for using such forbidden arts, but he was turning a blind eye.
He...trusts Liam.
I was incredibly thankful for that.
Marcel subdued one merfolk after another, jumping onto their heads from his magic circle platform. The defeated merfolk were helplessly carried away by the current.
Soon only one was left assailing the ship—it seemed to be the leader of the group. Using a ring that emitted a silver light, Marcel bound its arms to its body with a magical chain and dragged it to the riverbank.
The captured merfolk had blue braided hair, and the bulge in her chest suggested she was female. I noticed a pendant shaped like a water droplet around her neck. Furious, she bared her teeth, sharp and jagged like a shark’s. I certainly didn’t want to be bitten by her.
The merfolk still in the river glowered at us and began shouting.
“Release our queen!!!”
“Give her back!!!”
Lord Reineke stepped onto the bank, growing to his giant form.
“You dare act as you please on my land?!” he roared, opening his mouth wide.
However, the merfolk queen continued to resist. Still bound in chains, she slammed her massive tail against the ground, causing a blast of pebbles to soar up and splash into the water.
“You wronged me first! Return my egg!” she demanded, glaring at Lord Reineke with her pitch-black eyes.
“Your accusations ring false. Why would I want to steal your egg?”
“Lies!!! The chains binding me now are proof, for my egg was stolen using the same magic! Few people in this world can use light magic!”
Lord Reineke turned his gaze to Marcel, but the man shook his head.
“It wasn’t me. My magic doesn’t work on the defenseless. It’d be impossible to use it on an egg.”
Marcel swung Joyeuse down onto a rock. A burst of blackened silver light flared up, but it harmlessly dissipated as soon as it reached the rock.
The mermaid stared at the chains around her with narrowed eyes.
“Maybe it was different. The light that stole my egg wasn’t silver but pure gold. However...”
The queen shook her shoulders, revealing a golden thread sealed within the pendant. The cord seemed magical.
“This golden string led us upstream!” she declared.
“So what? Are you using that as an excuse?” Lord Reineke asked with an irritated sigh.
“I sealed a fragment of the net that was used to steal my egg. We followed the net upstream, but the trail led to someplace not connected to the river, somewhere we cannot go. Give it back! Return my egg!” the queen demanded, slamming her tail down again and again. Being outside of water was taking its toll on her, as she was panting heavily.