That day had started off like any other day. That was until a message popped up in Dungeon Founder.

“... okay. Wonder what is going on with that?” I asked myself, before getting up and heading for the CropFields to check up on Cailie.

 

---

 

“... so do you know anyone named Iremur?” I asked Cailie.

“... Yes. He is one of the best hunters in the clan. … and one of the males my sister enjoys the company of.” Cailie answered.

“One of?”

“My sister isn’t happy with just one man. … I suppose she is like you, but in reverse. … and she is a bit more forceful.”

“If she is forceful, then we are nothing alike.” I told Cailie.

“I know… Sorry to compare.”

“No. I understand. … but why do you think they’d send someone to the Hallow Prison? It isn’t like he is trapped like you were.”

“Probably to confirm that I’m dead.” Cailie said. “Maybe even collect my corpse.”

“... that sounds grim.”

“My sister is … she is a difficult person. But she does love me, I think.” Cailie said.

“Yeah, I think our views on love are quite a bit different. Abuse, no matter why it is done, isn’t love.”

 

“... I … I don’t know. I only knew my clan until … until we met. And it isn’t like the people in the Hero’s country were all that different. They only cared about me while I was useful. … other than Ula, but that is because you paid her to care about me. … and Marin. I think she really made me appreciate what love could be. … but I’m not sure.”

Marin? I think that was the owner of the herb store Cailie worked at when she lived in the Hero’s country.

“Love is a difficult thing. Honestly, without Lua, I think I’d still be stuck in my own head, not really knowing what I wanted.”

“... I … Yes. But now I have all of you. I have a new mother, Anemoi. I have big sisters like Gaia and Hegemone. I have a family that cares for me. … so I don’t need my sister anymore.” Cailie said, and I could hear the determination in her voice. 

 

“But because I have all of you, I know what my clan doesn’t have. They don’t have a good leader. My sister isn’t it. … At least I think so. And if she sent Iremur just to confirm if I’m dead, that is already proof enough.”

“... so, what do you want to do about it?” I asked.

“We need to confront my sister!” Cailie said.

 

---

 

Getting ready for the trip to the merfolks’ dwelling didn’t take all that long. I just had to prepare some nice deep sea swimsuits for everyone, as well as breathing devices.

… and backup breathing devices and then a backup to the backup.

Also for the crew that was coming, well, it is just Alice, Cailie and I.

Lua is busy with the dhampirs, so she can’t come. Wilma doesn’t really like the idea of being stuck underwater. And the beast-folk don’t really like the idea either, so it is just the three of us.

 

So after the three of us had our swimsuits, even if Cailie really doesn’t need one, we were ready to go. 

By the way, Alice had four different swimsuits, because she turned two of them into magical girl outfits. One of the two even had her with a mermaid tail and Cailie really liked that one.

 

---

 

On our trip over, we decided to stop by Lady Janina’s. She was basically on route and while I do go and meet with her real body about every two weeks, just because it is a great place to summon powerful monsters and have them ‘play’ with the dragons, the others don’t usually come with me on my trips.

 

Today I summoned out a bunch of Cyber Dragons and Cyber Dragon fusions.

The regular Cyber Dragon was a good opponent for the young dragons, while Laser and Barrier were better for the adolescent dragons.

Cyber Twin Dragon was a bit too weak to go against the greater or adult dragons, so I ended up summoning one with Power Bond, which gave it perhaps a bit too much power, as in terms of offensive power, it could match two greater dragons at the same time. Sadly it lacked in durability, so two on one the dragons were able to take it down.

Cyber End Dragon, even without Power Bond, was a good match to the greater dragons. With Power Bond, only Lady Janina could exceed its power. But a three vs one from the greater true dragons were still able to take down Power Bonded End Dragon.

It could have probably won the three vs one if I added Limiter Removal, but at that point, the chance of death gets a bit too high for my liking.

The battles came to an amazing end when I used Overload Fusion to summon out Chimeratech Overdragon. With 15 materials, the Overdragon came out with 12,000 attack and defense. I then added Armored Cybern to it to make the match even better.

… Sadly with all that power, Lady Janina still won. I still don’t understand her power. She is way too strong. Like she can punch out with Exodia, solo almost any of my God monsters, and now she took down a superpowered Overdragon.

I just wonder if anything can stand a chance against her. Sure I haven’t tested Vennominaga against her, but that might lead to her actually dying because of the Hyper-Venom Counters, and I’d really rather not kill her.

Like heck, for all I know, Monster Reborn won’t even resurrect her because she is that powerful. She could easily have an effect where she just can’t be resurrected.

 

---

 

The best part about playing with dragons is that when you play with them, they do you favors. So instead of using one of my B.E.S. ships to get to the island, around which the Nixie clan lives, we were on a few dragons.

Cailie had managed to snag herself a greater sky dragon for a ride, Alice had a fire dragon and I was on Lady Janina. Oh, and by the way, a sky dragon isn’t just a wind dragon. A sky dragon is a wind and light dragon.

 

The island was somewhat far away, well depending on who you ask, but in my opinion, being around 150 km [93 miles] away from the mainland is quite far. 

As we approached, I saw a few dragons take off from the island, and leading them was what appears to be a greater water dragon. With him were four intermediate water dragons.

 

The five of them flew up to us, as we came to a stop. Then the greater performed a mid-air bow to Lady Janina before speaking.

 

{আমি জানিনা, it is lovely to see you again. Did you come for a social visit or is there something you need?}

{No need to humble yourself, Prabhu Jala.} Lady Janina answered, and she clearly called the dragon with a name I could understand, since … Well, I understood the name. {I only came as an escort for Brian and his fiances.}

Oh? So Lady Janina is already calling Cailie one of my fiances? I mean, I have agreed to it, so it isn’t anything that strange. It is just that Alice and Lua still technically haven’t accepted her as a part of the harem, and they do have the final say.

 

{My Lady? Escorting someone? Who could be that powerful?} Jala questioned.

{Has no one told you about him? Brian, up front. I’m introducing you.} Lady Janina said, and I did as she asked. 

Lifting myself up from her back with Telekinesis, I levitate myself up to be next to her head.

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name is Brian Wood.” I introduced myself while using a bit of Wind Spirit Magic to make my voice louder. And since Cailie is a half-wind spirit, using Wind Spirit Magic near her is easy. 

{He may seem weak, but he is actually quite powerful.} Lady Janina said. {He wields his own unique form of summoning magic that can summon creatures that are almost a match to me.}

{... I … It is a pleasure, Sir.} The dragon quickly said after hearing Lady Janina’s statement. {My name is প্রভু জল, or Prabhu Jala as you may speak it. Please feel free to call me either.}

“As you wish, Jala.” I decided to go with what is something like his last name. Do dragons have last names? They only really have one name, but it is pronounced in two parts, right? So it is one name, two parts. “We came here in hopes of getting in contact with the Nixie merfolk clan. I hope that won’t be a problem.”

{So that is why I smelled a mermaid. Did you find a runaway?} Jala asked, before he looked over at Cailie. {... wait? I remember you. You are Amilie’s sister.}

 

Amilie, huh? So that’s her name. Good to know. … wait. Does it come from Aminah, as in the person who founded the Hallow Prison. Combine that with Lie, which is also in Cailie, to make Amilie. 

I wonder if that is somehow related to the fact that Amilie is the leader. Is the Ami name somehow required for them, or is there something more going on?

 

“Yes, she is.” I confirmed for the dragon. Cailie can’t understand him and without a System Support, I don’t have a convenient route to tell her translations. “I rescued her after she was banished and now we are back here to show her sister just how stupid it was to ever banish Cailie.”

{Banishment… I see. I do not take part in the politics of the clan, but please tell the girl that I apologize. Her voice is quite soothing to listen to, so I always enjoyed hearing her sing. Even if she never performed in front of me.}

 

I quickly told Cailie what the dragon said, and she blushed, likely remembering those times. I always assumed that she only became a singer in the Hero’s country, but apparently she was dipping her feet into it even before that.

 

Luckily I didn’t have to translate any more than that, as Jala changed languages from draconic to the merfolk language. Yes, he can speak both, he just didn’t realize two of us couldn’t understand him, because I did.

Cailie told him the story of how Amilie banished her and how she came to live with me. Jala looked a bit … I don’t think angry is the right word. Disappointed, hearing it. I know dragons have a strong sense of comradery, so maybe because of that.

Adding to that, Jala told us that one of the intermediates is currently guarding a secondary group of merfolk that broke away from the main group under Jala’s protection. The second group wasn’t that old, so it was likely started after Cailie’s second banishment, but we don't currently know why a second group was started.

 

With the story exchanged, Prabhu Jala gave us free access to the island and the surrounding waters, as long as we didn’t enter the caves owned by him and the other water dragons.

He then said that they would carry us to the island, so we moved from the dragons we had been riding over to the intermediate water dragons. The sky and fire dragons then headed back for the coast, while Lady Janina instead transformed into her humanoid form and also took a seat on the back of one of the water dragons. 

Apparently the adolescent dragon wasn’t quite ready to carry the Queen, as when he realized what was going on, he ended up passing out and Jala had to catch him before he plummeted into the sea below.