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Not An Isekai Story - Chapter 22

Published at 8th of March 2024 07:12:50 AM


Chapter 22

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Chapter 22: City of Underwater Marrydia [STAR]

 

Fresh air immediately hits my nose after stepping my foot on this place. And when I say fresh, I meant like crazy fresh! How is the air quality here even better than above?! There is a right amount of grassy and woody mixture along with the right amount of cold air that makes you feel so alive just from breathing it. I am literally breathing through my mouth and nose as it was so intoxicating. It was like coming out of a metro for the first time. Are the elves able to grow trees or plants down here? There must be a lot of greenery to get such fresh air here.

Come to think of it, why didn't I settle down here? Oh right, I am not an elf.

Why would the elves even build a city underwater instead of staying in their forest? Your guess is as good as mine. I seriously hope it is not due to some discovery about slugs.

Rose quickly went around exploring while leaving me behind. The ground is made of pebbles but it was perfectly even to walk on. I followed her as she looked like a child running around looking at everything that piqued her interest. I looked back towards the ship. It was being dragged by the very same chain to somewhere. Most probably to a shipyard or something to check on its status. But wouldn't that damage the ship? Alright, my mistake. Not only do they have circular ship pedals, they even have wooden wheels too. Why am I not surprised.

I followed Rose as she was literally running left and right checking out the place. I gave her a light karate chop to the head and told her that we are on a ticking bomb here. We need information on where is the Viking Lord's tradition is taking place. I hope that it is inside the glass dome. But how would a dragon fit in here?

As of luck, there is a huge signboard that showed the way to many locations. Ranging from parks to forestry and many other attractions. Am I really underwater right now or am I just dreaming? Why does it feel like I'm in some sort of amusement park right now? I ignored all the attractions and aimed for the taverns. We decided to head towards the closest one as we were getting really hungry after experiencing such a death defying experience. Never in my life did I lose so much calories just by freaking out and sweating.

We headed towards the closest tavern that was written on the signboard. This feels so surreal. Imagine a completely normal civilisation and the only thing that makes you realised you're underwater is when you look above. You would think there would be chaos or riot by now when you're in such a restrictive location but the elves just made it work. It certainly feels peaceful here as we were walking along. There were children running around playing with what looks like a colourful ball. Random elvish pedestrians were greeting us with a smile. A child even ran up to the father and sat on his shoulder. Yikes, the father is huge! Not to mention he was holding a hand drill.

Am I seriously underwater right now or is this all an illusion? Maybe I am just dreaming.

Walking along, we can see trees and bushes being grown here. It certainly have a very countryside feel to it despite being inside a city. Very amazing indeed. Rose was smiling all the way. It seems like she cannot contain her excitement of actually being here. Alright, if we live to see another day, we can stay here for a couple of days. No point rushing back when the journey here was so insane. A small breeze blew against us. Wow, how did the elves even made artificial breeze here? I looked at Rose while she fixed her hair exposing her ears.

thump

Huh? What was that? Did my heart skipped a beat earlier?

I quickly looked towards Rose. Hmm, nothing. What was that earlier? I find it hard to believe that my heart would skip a beat for her. Must be all the excitement or something.

We reached the tavern and headed in. Woah, almost everyone here are elves. We might be the only few humans that have actually visited here. I proceeded to the counter and asked for what is available. Hmm, all of them are healthy foods. Mostly roasted, boiled or steamed meals. Where are the unhealthy meals?! Sigh.

I ordered two sets of roasted jikenette and realised something too late. Do they even use the same currency as the West continent? Shoot.. I should have visited the bank first.

Thankfully the innkeeper was willing to accept our currency. She said that it was common for adventurers to rush here upon reaching. She was also willing to help us to change some of our currency coins into what they normally accepts here. Elves currency is higher in value as compared to the West but it does not mean that items here are more expensive. Surprisingly they use paper money and wooden coins here. Talk about potential fire hazards.

They call their currency as EVC. ElVenCoins or ElVishCoins, I guess? But either way, they have coins that is valued at ten, twenty and fifty which they call Shil. A single fifty shil is worth a copper coin. This means that one EVC is valued at two copper coins. A silver coin is valued at twenty five EVC while a gold coin is valued at 625 EVC. A little bit confusing I know, but I still got to eat. I made some small changes using my Western currency for the meal. I do not plan to stay here for long so there was not much point in me changing too much of them.

I won't lie, the elves really know how to cook their cuisine. Their roasted meal is definitely superior to my favourite tavern. The ingredients are fresh and succulent to eat. I won't be surprised that they have farms or something here. After finishing our meals, I spoke to the innkeeper about whether she knew about the Viking Lord's tradition. Glad she spoke human language as all I heard around me are elven language. She told me that it is actually a very famous tradition here. It was actually the first Viking Lord that approached the elves and proposed to build a city under the ocean. They were the first to discovered about mermaids and the Underwater Dragon King. Since Vikings often travel in the waterways more often than any other guilds, it is no wonder they discovered so many secrets about it.

I asked the innkeep on whether she knew on how the tradition came about. She said that it was the Underwater Dragon King that proposed this idea to the first Viking Lord. Legend has it that the Viking Lord at that time fell in love with a mermaid that happened to be one of the daughters of the Underwater Dragon King. Should the Viking Lord wish to be with the mermaid, he will need to prove his strength to the Underwater Dragon King.

How was it possible for the first Viking Lord to fight underwater last time? From what legend was foretold, the Underwater Dragon King agreed to fight above surface. It was many decades later that the elves discovered a method to breathe underwater. They made something called the bubble helmet which allows you to breathe as though you are on the surface. Over time, you will need to replenish your air with sort of portable pump. Alright, seems like there is a method to breathe underwater which means the tradition will most probably be somewhere outside of the dome.

But.. what about the water pressure? I doubt a little bubble can help prevents us from being crushed instantly. She said the entirety of City of Underwater Marrydia and it's surroundings are taken care by the Underwater Dragon King. With his powers, you will not feel as though you are in underwater at all. You can walk outside as though you are taking a stroll on the surface. No doubt the gravity is much lower than the surface as you are underwater.

Alright. Now all I need is the location of where the tradition will take place and when. She told us that the location was at the sacred ceremonial site which is located north of the glass dome and it is supposed to be taking place right now.

What?! Now?? Damn it, we seriously need to hurry there. And here I thought I can perhaps enjoy the atmosphere a little bit more. I asked for directions on how to reach the site and she said I needed to head northwards until I reached the northern entrance and then it is a straight way from there. I then quickly asked on whether there was any vacant room that we can check-in to store our excess items. I am not bringing around all of my other equipment into battle. Not only would I risk it breaking, there’s a chance I might have to abandon them altogether if the need to run arises.

Thankfully there was but only one room remained. It can fit two person so I said yes and never thought much about it. The innkeeper was kind enough to help us bring in our excess items so I quickly left it with them. As we were heading out, she reminded us to make sure to bring along our bubble helmets before we headed out of the dome.

We rushed all the way to the northern entrance while following directions from the signboard. Rose kept reminding me that we do not have the bubble helmets yet but that was the least of my concerns. It was not long until we reached the supposedly northern entrance. Upon reaching, a huge crowd could be seen. That is not good.

Upon enquiring with the gatekeeper, the entrance will only open in thirty minutes time according to their schedule. I told them that it was an emergency and I am needed at the sacred ceremonial site for the Viking's tradition. Sadly, they said that all entry and exit on foot have to be at a fixed interval time. This is to prevent the water pump and drainage from being overused and maintained properly between each interval. I must also be wearing a bubble helmet in order to exit the entrance.

Damn it. And here I thought that I can quickly head over there to help out. And I did not need a bubble helmet because of another breakthrough that I made in Alchemy. I did not spend that one month doing nothing while expecting John to meet me. I guess we have a little bit of time to spend. Might as well purchase a bubble helmet for the both of us to avoid any further delays.

Rose suspected something was up as I did not considered buying bubble helmets as a priority. You would think that getting a breathing equipment would be the main priority instead of rushing outside. I whispered to her that I discovered an alchemy recipe that will change the entire lifestyle here. Not only would it possibly rundown the entire bubble helmet company, it completely eliminates the restrictions of being underwater.

 

"Behold! The 'Potion of Fish Gill'," I told Rose.

She showed me a speechless expression. What? How is she not impressed by this potion? It will be extremely valuable for the upcoming battle not to mention one of my prized possession!

"Onii-chan, that is a terrible name for the potion. Why not just call it 'Potion of Water Breathing' instead?" she asked me. Oh, so it was the name she was not impressed.

"Hm, that is a pretty common generic name. I was looking for something more unique," I said to her with a thinking face.

"Alright, how about.. 'Mermaid's Breath' or 'Potion of Mermaid's Breath'?" she asked.

Woah.. that sounds... pretty good actually. I might consider it. I passed her a few potions in case she needed to provide to others during the battle. I made a considerable amount as it was not difficult to make nor was it expensive. It involves using a lot of slimy and disgusting ingredients that not many people is willing to explore in. I'll leave that to your imagination.

We headed to a merchant store located near the northern entrance. We assumed that we can purchase our bubble helmet here but as it turns out they were out of stock. It is always the closest merchant to each entrance that ended up selling out first. Ah shit, I am getting Deja Vu again like that time at the port on the surface. I told Rose to wait at the entrance and stall them if I ended up not being able to find any bubble helmets nearby.

I ran as fast as my feet can bring me. I am confident in my agility as it was the easiest for me to increase. Maybe I really did inherit from my father. I made quick enquiries with a few merchant stores and eventually found one that still had some in stock. Good thing it was not too far away from the entrance. Maybe I can check out what other items they have that might be able help out later. I made the purchase for two bubble helmets, a portable pump and some stat scrolls. Better to purchase them quickly before someone comes and snatch all the remaining helmets or something.

I did a quick browsing and seems like there was nothing of interest for me. Hang on, what is that? That looks.... beautiful. I asked the merchant on what is that item without taking my eyes off it. It looks like a bracelet with a beautiful green gemstone in the middle. I am not sure why I am so fascinated by this jewellery but I asked the merchant whether there was any magical attributes for it. As it turns out, there was some properties to it. It actually increases the user's perception and intuition. Aww, I was hoping it can perhaps turn back time or something. Perhaps it reminded me of Lily's emerald hair tips somehow. Should I even buy this? It doesn't even increase stats at all.

"Would you kindly allow me to take a closer look?" I said.

The merchant was kind and allowed me to view the bracelet closer. It is certainly beautiful. Silver bracelet with an emerald in the middle. It completely describes Lily as a whole. It felt like I was buying on impulse but something is urging me to buy it. Perhaps my guts is telling me something. I caved and bought it. Good thing the merchant was willing to accept some of my Western currency as I did not have enough EVC to fully pay for it.

As I walked out of the store, instant regret took over me. What am I even doing? I should be rushing back to the northern entrance quickly and wait with Rose. I sighed and kept the bracelet in my back pocket making sure that it is in a safe place. All my consumables are usually kept in my hip packs instead for easier access. This is to ensure only important items are kept safely.

I hurried back to the northern entrance just to made it in time before the entrance opened. Rose was looking worried towards my direction but grew brighter upon seeing me in her vision. I passed her a stat scroll as it has been a while since either of us had checked our stats. I sort of stopped bothering to check on my stats ever since I hit thirty five skill stats to unlock the second hidden spell. Usually only during alchemy testing do I use the scroll but I ignored the stats portion and only focused on the potion's effects.

Both of us blew on the scroll and waited for the result. Woah.. seems like our stats had increased significantly compared to the previous round.

 

Zen Hawthorne

Strength - 40
Skill - 38
Agility - 60
Constitution - 30

Rose Starr

Strength - 35
Skill - 45
Agility - 50
Constitution - 40

What the hell? Rose just need five more skill stats and she can figure out what is the last hidden spell from my gauntlets. Not that I will let her wield it. I poured a year of my life digging this up and I won't be handing it to someone else to use. Not even my little sister!

Her stats were always well-rounded. Her low strength stat is probably due to her using a rapier most of the time. She also don't do workouts that improve her strength. Perhaps she depends on her spells to boost her strength instead.

Sigh, I never knew how to increase constitution specifically. I certainly need to be more careful on taking damage as I will certainly die before anyone else does. I am certain even Lily's constitution is higher than me now judging from the stats we compared previously.

Ah, the entrance is finally being opened now. Time to head towards the sacred ceremonial site and save my potentially long lost cousin. Hopefully he is still alive right now and not squashed by the Underwater Dragon King. I put on the bubble helmet and made sure I was ready. My vision instantly went blurry and nauseating as it gave a sort of fish eye effect. Now all I need is to find a little sister. Oh wait, she is right at the side of me.

I nodded to Rose as we awaited for the water to fill the enclosed area after the entrance. I closed my eyes as water began filling up the enclosed area. There will not be anyone that will be saving any of us today. I am certain that there will not be any great powers hanging around to conveniently help us out this time.

Today, I am ready for whatever comes at me. This time, I will be the one saving people. Bring it on.





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