Chapter 17
Sharkrof said,
“Alright. I won’t laugh. But I’ll still be the one taking the orders. I’m going to become a helpful shark and win Miss Marina’s heart—especially before that sly Arthur Skipper does.”
Sharkrof affectionately rubbed his pale cheek gently against my shoulder, then quickly ran out from behind the counter.
I stared blankly at his retreating figure. My hand absentmindedly touched the spot where Sharkrof’s face had brushed against me.
No matter how many times I felt it, the sensation of his rough yet warm skin—reminiscent of a shark—never became familiar.
Time flowed by like running water. Several days had passed since Sharkrof first met Arthur, but he still couldn’t let down his guard.
Arthur’s words about coming back seemed to be bothering him.
“So now that guy knows I’m his rival. When he comes back next time, he’ll probably act very hostile to drive me away. I need to stay alert and prepare.”
Sharkrof said this while pacing back and forth inside the shop, deep in thought.
“But I don’t know what kind of method he’ll use to fight me. He’s not going to show up with a net, is he? I’m not confident I could stay brave if there’s a net involved.”
“I don’t think he’ll bring a net…”
At that moment, Phineas replied with a mischievous grin.
“A net? No way. If anything, he’ll bring something more certain. Like a harpoon gun.”
“A harpoon gun?”
Phineas added fuel to the fear, and Sharkrof’s already pale face turned even whiter.
Not long afterward, just as Sharkrof predicted, Arthur did return.
However, the duel involving nets and harpoons that Sharkrof feared (as expected) never happened.
Arthur appeared at the café as if nothing had happened.
Despite seeing a shark-man growling at him, he came back without even blinking.
As expected, despite his model-student-like appearance, he had quite a lot of nerve.
Of course, Arthur had a reason he had to come back.
To him, the story of the magical sea kingdom was valuable enough to endure the fury of a horned-up shark-man.
Arthur greeted Sharkrof and me with a cheerful smile.
In contrast, Sharkrof still looked extremely tense.
It seemed he suspected Arthur might have hidden a net or a harpoon gun somewhere.
“Why are you here?” Sharkrof asked suspiciously.
“Well, because I wanted to hear more about the sea kingdom.”
Arthur replied naturally with a smile.
“Mr. Sharkrof, after hearing your story about the sea kingdom last time, my curiosity kept me from sleeping. It’s the most fascinating story I’ve ever heard.”
“What?”
Sharkrof, who had been in a defensive stance, instantly lost his composure. The confusion on his face was so vivid it almost seemed tangible.
Apparently, this situation hadn’t been included in Sharkrof’s expectations.
“What the… Why is someone like you, a land person, so enthusiastic about the sea kingdom? That’s suspicious. What part of it made you so curious?”
Sharkrof asked, flustered.
“What part? Well, all of it!”
“All of it?”
“Of course! Everything about it sparks curiosity. A magical world beneath the sea. And the residents there having both human and fish features. On top of that, I’ve even met one of those residents in person. How could I not be curious about the sea kingdom?”
Arthur spoke excitedly.
“Well… I suppose that does make sense…”
Sharkrof’s voice trembled uncontrollably.
Unlike Sharkrof, Arthur continued speaking without hesitation.
“Of course it does. Mr. Sharkrof, I’ve had so many questions I wanted to ask.”
He wasn’t exaggerating when he said that.
Arthur began firing off questions with innocent enthusiasm that completely flustered Sharkrof.
It was obvious Sharkrof had never prepared for something like this.
You could tell just by looking at the bewildered expression on his face as he stood there with his mouth slightly open, unable to respond.
Arthur asked,
“How does sea magic work? Can you communicate with fish using magic?”
“No. We just eat those stupid fish. At best, we might keep some as pets.”
“Then do sea people take their pet fish out for walks like dogs?”
“What?”
“How do sea kingdom residents celebrate birthdays? You can’t blow out candles underwater. Actually, you can’t even light a fire down there—so how do you cook? Do you only eat raw food? Or is there something equivalent to fire?”
“There’s no fire, but the heat from underwater volcanoes—”
“Underwater volcanoes? That’s a clever idea.”
“No matter how clever you think it is, don’t even think about copying it.”
For some reason, Sharkrof straightened his back defensively.
“Since you can’t write paper letters underwater, how do you communicate with people who are far away? Do you use something like sonar?”
“What kind of nonsense are you talking about?”
“If a sea person has a child with a land person, would the child also have gills?”
“What? Having a child… How can you ask something like that in broad daylight in the middle of the city?”
Sharkrof shouted, his face turning bright red. In unexpected situations like this, he tended to become awkward and flustered.
“No, I was just asking from a biological perspective.”
“I don’t care what kind of ‘perspective’ that embarrassing question has.”
“And one more thing. Is it common for sea people to hide their identities while living on land?”
Arthur asked another question.
“Ah, of course. It’s not rare. We hide our identities and infiltrate society, carrying out numerous feats while avoiding the eyes of foolish land-dwellers.”
Sharkrof replied, trying to regain his arrogant attitude.
“I see. Just as I thought. I’ve been thinking that the fact sea people can’t reveal their identities publicly must actually be quite a loss for us.”
“What do you mean?”
“Personally, I prefer to keep interesting information to myself. But if the ability of sea people to transform into fish became known, it could be a huge help to the navy. That thought came to me because of something that happened recently.”
Arthur continued,
“Recently, an abandoned sea mine was discovered, and it caused quite a lot of trouble to dismantle it. They managed to deactivate it safely, but if someone with the keen senses of a sea person had been around, it might have been discovered much earlier.
In fact, in the past there were even attempts to use trained dolphins for underwater detection.
If they went as far as training dolphins that can’t even speak, then hiring sea people—who can communicate easily and freely switch between human and dolphin-like forms—would have been extremely efficient.”
“Using dolphins? Land people really are evil. I never thought I’d feel sympathy for prey. At least if it were me, I wouldn’t make them do such hard labor—I’d just bite them apart normally.”
Sharkrof muttered something terrifying with a strangely sympathetic expression.
“But even if sea people revealed themselves, no one would join the navy. The navy is the natural enemy of sea people. In the fairy tales told to sea children, they always appear as villains. They’re the ones who’ve constantly invaded the territory of sea people.”
Sharkrof said reproachfully.
The sight of Sharkrof speaking seriously about children’s fairy tale collections with such a stern face was quite ironic.
“I know. I was just imagining possibilities. Even though I’m a land person myself, I understand that if land people learned about the sea kingdom or its magic, they wouldn’t use it only for good purposes.”
Arthur said this to reassure Sharkrof. Then he changed the subject.
