Where is this place? What am I doing here? Why am I here? What happened to me? To be lost in the world, How could this happen to me? The Life and Death of The Last Water Nymph Chapter 5: The City of Sulsuk By Shinieris

It took two days before we reached the city walls.
The past few nights, we spent camping by the side of the road.
The locals graciously shared their rations with us.
Shwarze assisted by hunting wild game.
The meals were a lot better than the one I had at the inn.
The women taught me how to speak.
It was tough.
Not only was my tongue stiff, my vocal chord wasn’t responding.
By the time we parted at the Sulsuk’s South Gate, I was barely able to speak a few common words.
Shwarze praised me for being a good girl and patted my head.
He really saw me as nothing more than just a child.

Garulan thanked the men for helping them carry the loot.
The locals left the loot by the roadside as they headed for their own destination.
Garulan then hired a few alley rats to help carry the loot to the blacksmiths and armourers.
3 coppers were given to each of the boys.
6 coppers if they could carry double the load.
I couldn’t help but feel like they were being underpaid.
After all, it would barely even cover lunch for one person.
But why do they look so happy?
Maybe they also do this job a few times a day?
Some of the boys looked at me strangely as they carried the leather, swords, and helmets behind us.

Do I look strange?
Maybe it is because I don’t belong in this world?
Is that the reason?
Is there a way to tell that someone comes from a different world?

“Is something wrong?”
Shwarze asked.

I shook my head.
It was just me being too sensitive.
There was no need for Shwarze to be worried about it.
It was just me being silly.

Right before we arrived at a blacksmith, Garulan pulled Shwarze aside.
They whispered something among themselves.
I tried to listen in, but they were whispering in a very low voice.
After a short exchange, Garulan excused himself.
He said he had an important matter to take care of.
So Shwarze, the alley rats and I went to the weaponsmith by ourselves.
Thankfully, the alley rats knew the way.

Once we arrived in front of the weaponsmithy, Shwarze went in by himself.
He came out with a man in his fourties.
Shwarze pointed at the alley rats and asked, “How much?”
“20 gold, I’m not buying the boys.”
The shopkeeper said.

I was expecting Shwarze to argue, to haggle for a better price.
But instead, Shwarze said,
“Done! Boys, bring it in.”
The shopkeeper counted 20 gold coins and handed it to Shwarze.
To the alley rats, the shopkeeper said,
“Move it! Don’t block the road.”
Then he went in, followed by the alley rats.

A few of the alley rats looked at me again before they disappeared inside the shop.
What was that about?

“Nyrae, how about we go have lunch somewhere?”
Shwarze asked as he offered me his hand.
I took it.
And off we go, down a street called “Blooming Street”.
It was a street where flowering plants were planted on the sides of the street.
But instead of the sweet smell of roses, the whole street smelled minty.
Shwarze explained that the minty smell chased rats away.

But as we went further in, I smelled something else.
Something sweet.
Something nice.
Something calming.
Something familiar.

I let go of Shwarze’s hand.
I ran down a side street.
Ran through back alleys.
Slipped through crowds.
With Shwarze chasing me.
Until I finally reached it.

“Come come, have a look.”
The salesman urged the crowd closer.
“I present to you, the rarest of the rare.”
“The rarest thing you have ever seen in your life.”
“Something you will never see again if you live six more lives.”
“Something that nobles and kings will pay a handsome price for.”
“I present to you…”
The salesman removed the cloth on the table, revealing two bottles.
“The blessed waters of the last fairy spring!”

The bottles are full of crystal clear water.
Water that was very familiar to me.

I felt rage.
The salesman was Garulan.
The water inside the bottles was from my spring.
Garulan was selling the water from my spring!

“Aaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!”
I cried in anger.

Garulan saw me and his face paled.
Shwarze caught me from behind.
He told me we were going to eat the best fish in the city.
And that we should get going or the fish will run out.

I struggled.

It was no use.
Shwarze was too strong.
And I was too small and weak.
But it angered me greatly when I saw Garulan breathed a sigh of relief.

“Aaaaaaaa!!!!!”
It’s my spring!
As if in answer to my cries, the two bottles containing the water from my spring lifted itself from the table and flew into my hands.

Shwarze gasped.
Everyone else gasped too.
Garulan looked afraid.

“Isn’t that mind-movement?”
“That’s an incredibly rare magic, isn’t it?”
“It’s said to be a magic of the fairies, right?”
“Maybe the girl drank the water?”
“Maybe the girl was blessed by the fairy spring?”
“Which means it’s real?”

Everyone looked at me.
I hugged the two bottles to my chest.

Garulan gave Shwarze a signal to leave with his eyes.
Shwarze lifted me up and clutched me under his armpit.
“Ah ya, sorry gentlemen. We’re not supposed to be here.”
Then he fled, holding tightly to me.
I held tightly to the bottles as if my life depended on it.

Shwarze ran at full speed along a crowded street.
Zig sagging without losing momentum.
Weaving us through throngs of people going about their lives like usual.
Until finally he skidded to a stop in front of a restaurant.
The restaurant’s name was ‘Fish In Woodchips’.
We went in.

Shwarze asked what I would like to eat.
Of course, I kept quiet.
Not just because I couldn’t speak much yet.
But mostly because I was still angry.
Now I realized why Shwarze was being so nice to me.
They were both plotting to sell the water of my spring!

“Nyrae, how about this Smoked Sweet & Sour Alabaster Salmon?”
Shwarze asked.

I didn’t answer.
In my rage, I had forgotten the language lessons the women of the traveling caravans taught me.

“Oh, this set looks good. Marinated Redline Salmon – oh wait, can’t let you drink wine.”

I kept quiet.

“Oh, this is rare. A plate of South Sea Blood Mackerel, cooked in herbs. Well, we got a little money to spare. How about it, Nyrae?”

I simply hugged the bottles tighter to my chest as Shwarze moved his face closer.
When his eyes peeked around my long hair, I turned to the other side.
All the while, never letting go of the bottles containing the waters of my spring.

“Alright, that’s decided then. We’re both taking Blood Mackerel steak.”

I remained silent.
It was then that Garulan arrived.
I looked up when I heard his footsteps.
When our eyes met, he staggered a step backward.
Then he averted his eyes, looking at Shwarze instead.

Their facial expressing signalled that they were having some kind of conversation.
Shwarze kept raising his eyebrows.
Garulan kept making gestures with his fingers.
At first I thought Garulan was casting a spell, but he was not.
Garulan was using his fingers to signal an amount.

Are they talking about money?

Shwarze then made a face of disbelief.
Garulan took out a sheaf of papers from his jacket and placed it on the table.
Those papers looked thick, probably handmade.
On those papers were things written in red and black ink, with a red stamp at the lower right corner.

Shwarze took a look at each of those.
In just seconds, he cracked a grin.
One that reached from ear to ear.
He was clearly excited.

Too bad I can’t read.

“Nyrae, I’m sorry you had to see that.”
Garulan spoke as he sat down on the chair to my right.
“You know we are adventurers, don’t you?”

I remained silent.

“Adventurers aren’t the wealthiest of folks. Sometimes we had to take a loan. Sometimes, we had to forgo eating. If there is no job, there is no money. And not many would be willing to hire strangers.”
Garulan said, in a voice so soft and gentle, I knew he was lying.

“And now, with you around, money will be even tighter. You can’t do the work that we do. We can’t expect you to help us with our work. But we still need to cloth you, and feed you”
Garulan said, still in the same tone.

“Are you trying to say that I’m a burden?!”
Was what I wanted to say.
But strangely, what came out of my mouth was a melodious sound,
Angry and bitter, but without a word spoken.
Only a melody.

Garulan blanched and immediately closed his hand on my mouth.
Effectively silencing me.

“Shh! Speak common. You’ve learned human language, right?”
Garulan admonished.

“Garulan, what was that?”
Shwarze asked.

“I’ll tell you later.”
Garulan answered, his hand still on my mouth.
It was then that our meals arrived.

“Hey, is this...”

“Blood Mackerel.”

“Are you kidding me?”
When Shwarze shook his head ‘no’, Garulan continued.
“We can’t afford this! Well, actually we can now, but you didn’t know that when you made the order, did you?”

“No worries, we got paid for the loot.”
Shwarze said as he shoved some juicy fish meat into his mouth.

I was suddenly feeling hungry, with one arm holding both bottles tight against my chest, I grabbed the fork and put a little of the fish meat into my mouth.
Deliciousss!
The fishes that father caught after his shift was over was always oily, smelly and hard.
But this, it was like the meat simply melted on my tongue.
I didn’t know that a fish could taste so good!

“Oh? How much did you get for the lot?”
Garulan asked as his tasted his meal.
“20 gold.”
Shwarze said, to which Garulan spewed the contents of his mouth halfway across the table.

“Are you joking with me?! Those things could get us at least 30 gold! You’ve been swindled!”
“Really? Well, we got those without paying a copper, so we made a lot of profits I’d say!”
“Have you forgotten that we paid for transportation?”
“Hey, we basically made a fortune without breaking a sweat. So it’s fine.”
“What about my sweat! Those spells didn’t appear out of thin air, you idiot!”

I simply watched their bickering, while enjoying my delicious fish.
But it was so delicious that I finished it too quickly.
So I swapped plates with them.
It was absolutely delicious.
Heavenly. Yum!

*Hi all, here's another chapter of The Last Water Nymph. Any comments, whether good or bad are very welcomed. Thank you very much for reading.