A village, huh?

Phew, I don’t know if I could handle  another dungeon. 

Taking a look behind me, it looks like I was being overly dramatic about the ‘cliff’.

The separation from the kelp forest and the village was a hill.

Albeit a pretty steep hill, but a hill nonetheless. It seems when I was evacuating after my ‘failed’ second experiment, I built up quite a bit of speed. This speed combined with the geography made me fly like I was flung out of a cata- no a slugapult. 

How embarrassing…

My physics blunder aside, the village in front of me was truly amazing. I’d seen plenty of remote villages during my special op missions but none like this.

Well, duh. None of those were in a fantasy world submerged under the sea. But that’s besides the point.

This was my first proper look at civilization in this world and I was quite pleased. 

It was definitely a sight for sore eyes. The place just sent a warm feeling to the heart.  

The houses showed a difference in social class. The ones near by me were obviously for the lower class, as they were on the outskirts of the town. The materials used and the design of the building seemed to get more extravagant as you progressed to the center. 

Usually, such social divides would be distasteful, but it didn’t stir up any negative feelings as I looked. The houses close to me were made mainly of what seemed to be driftwood and hardened seafloor.

Regardless of the materials, the houses looked nice and well kept, having shells embedded within the walls. Something told me that the extra décor was brought by other members of the village. I got the prenotion that everyone was content with their lives within the settlement.

This guess of mine was swiftly confirmed true. 

When I first arrived in front of the village, the sun was just beginning to rise. As I began to venture into the settlement, the townsfolk began to stir, ready to begin their day. 

I saw the children from different parts prance around with their friends, massive grins plastered on their faces. The adults chuckled and conversed among themselves as they tended to their fields or headed into the forest.

What shocked me was the diversity of the village inhabitants. While they were all obviously beastfolk from the ocean, Sea-kin if you will, the amount of different species present was staggering. 

There were what looked like shark people, tuna , trouts, and tang people, just to name a few. Snail, there was even a blobfish person. And they all seemed to get along swimmingly, even though several of the species the people seem to be derived from would prey on others, they were doing the exact opposite. 

I noticed even couples that were seemingly happy regardless of their species or gender.

Seeing such a great thing, my face scrunched up in disgust as I recalled the people of my old world. Oppressing and condemning others for things like their skin color and their sexual orientation. Even as a trained coldblooded killer, it was frustrating to see.

Yet to think, after dying and being reincarnated, travelling through hell itself, and a forest full of danger would I be able to see such a glorious sight. 

Basking in the warm atmosphere, I trudged along towards the center of the town.

At the center was what I assumed to be the village head’s residence. But if someone told me it was a castle of some high ranking aristocrat, I would believed them.

It was large and grand, towering over the houses that surrounded it. But it didn’t stick out like a sore thumb, but rather complemented and enhanced everything surrounding it. 

The building itself was made of pastel coral and other minerals. As I mentioned, it totally looked like a castle.

Upon further examination, I could tell that it wasn’t the home of some snobby noble. Now that I think about it, wasn’t Auntie Tia an Archduchess? Maybe seafolk are just better than humans and the nobles aren’t bad either?  

Useless thoughts aside, there were no guards, and the villagers seemed to freely enter and exit the building. 

In addition to that, there was a section on the smallest wing that seemed to be inhabited. 

By that I mean, the rest of the building looked to be used commercially but that one small section had things like chairs and tables set up as well as what looked to be a sign on the entrance. 

I couldn’t read it so I’m not absolutely sure, but I assume so.

If the vibe I was reading from this village was correct, I think that the villagers probably built this building for their village head. But the village leader, being the humble and nice person they presumably are, declined the building, saying that it was too grand for them. 

Pestered by the citizens, the head probably gave in, but stubbornly took the smallest wing, declaring the rest for the town as a whole. 

Sounds pretty plausible to me.

My train of thought suddenly came to a screeching stop as a loud bell began to ring.

I looked around at my surroundings, to see the village in chaos.

Adults sprinting around, scooping up children into their arms. Older children leading younger ones towards houses. 

I continued to observe, trying to locate the source of disorder.

Then I saw it, or more accurately, them.

A group of ten fishmen clad in black clothing and armed with daggers approaching the village from the kelp forest. They totally looked like ninjas. Oooh wait.

Finjas! Get it, fin and ninja? 

Pretty clever, huh?

Anyways, as the finja slowly stalked up towards the village hall, a thought struck me. 

What’s the point in wearing all black and trying to be stealthy if you attack in daylight?

Doesn’t that defeat the point?

I was once again pulled out of my unnecessary thoughts, as one of the finja lashed out at one of the fleeing children.

The woman running with the child acted quickly, covering the kid and taking the dagger in his place.

The weapon scored a deep gash in her back, and the assailant in the moved forward, apparently ready to finish her off.

I felt a flame of anger lit within me, seeing the scene happen before me. 

Originally, I planned to not get involved in the issue, as I had no real connection to the village.

But after seeing the finja attack a woman and a child, along with the feeling I felt from observing the inhabitants, I couldn’t sit still.

So I attacked! 

I condensed a bit of my recently recharged mana and formed a really small Acid Javelin, one the size of a needle and shot it at the head of the finja. 

The newly dubbed Acid Needle flew swiftly through the water, colliding with his forehead. It melted through his skin, then his skull, and finally his brain. He didn’t even have time to react, as his body hit the floor, blood seeping through the hole. 

The rest of the group suddenly trained their eyes on me, and then pounced all at once.

I sent out another round of Acid Needles, hitting each one in a different vital point.

One in the heart, another through his gills, in the stomach of another. They all fell simultaneously. 

As the fruit of my labor in my past life as an assassin, it seems I have little problems killing humanoids. But these guys seemed complete novices. They just seemed plain dumb. 

As I contemplated the lack of skill of my opponents, I looked over the wounded woman. She was laboring in her breathing but it seemed that she would be okay. A big sharkman suddenly walked over and scooped her into a princess carry with one burly arm. He grabbed the hand of the child and walked off, but not before silently bowing to me… a slug. 

Shaking away the surprise that I felt, I realized that those ten finja might not be the entire assault.

I began hurrying from my position around the south wing of the hall building towards the west. 

I arrived to see another ten of the fishmen in black impaled by some sort of rock structures.

From there, I scurried to the east, only to find ten more of the finja dead, from the looks of it to suffocation.

Finally I sped to the north wing, which was the one that I guessed was home to the village head, to see another group of beastfolk dead, this time twenty. It was a combination of the rock spikes and the choke-outs this time.

However, corpses were not the only ones waiting for me at this location. Standing by the dead men were two beautiful ladies.

One had long orange hair with white stripes dashing through it cascading down her back. Her crimson eyes twinkled as she gazed at me with a wild grin. She was the shorter of the two, but she was obviously a mature lady.

The taller one had a stony face, seemingly expressionless. Her hair was cut into a shoulder length bob that looked like it was made of the same coral as the big building.  Her eyes shone with a pretty bronze luster.

Upon my arrival, the two beauties shared a glance. The orange haired one giggled a bit, before being smacked on the head and scolded by the stony one.

The orange haired adjusted her facial expression and they both turned to me.

“Amaih moeia ma oohaji jahrish.” they said as they bowed forward.

…

“...”

Lulla

Hiya guys! How's everyone doing? Hope you are well. Not to toot my own horn, but I think this is the best chapter I published yet, I'm quite proud of it.  Anyways, we have this week's poll winner, the Reaper, Maua! In lieu of the next artwork to be posted, I'm going to go ahead and do Kna'Ve. Sarkin and Meister, as of the time of this posting, have combined for a grand total of three votes in two polls. Kna'Ve on the other has amassed 28 votes. So in this week's poll I have a question for you guys, regarding how I approach the story in the near future. I would appreciate any feedback.