Those Who Shared the Same Misfortune

After listening to Thor's account, Floco closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he was still as relaxed as ever.

His reaction was different from what Thor had expected.

"I thought you'd be angry after hearing that. At the very least, I expected you to make some comment."

Floco waved a hand. "When the Green Scale Clan left this world, the mermaids who remained were all collateral branches with mixed bloodlines. Their status was already very low. Even if I'd still been in this world, they wouldn't necessarily have lived any better than they do now... Of course, their reputation might have been a little better on the surface."

Floco was practically a god to the Green Scale Clan. A god might care for his worshippers and people, but wouldn't care whether a particular group of them lived happily.

"Didn't you say this mermaid had your bloodline?"

Floco didn't mince words. "Reproducing is a basic need. Expanding the population is a guarantee of survival."

Thor didn't comment on Floco's lifestyle. Instead, he took out the contamination samples he'd collected from the mermaid Coral's tail.

A lump of flesh and a little blood.

"This flesh and blood came from a mermaid showing signs of atavism. Can you tell whether your bloodline is in it? There's also a mermaid with a much higher concentration of royal blood, but I can't get my hands on that one for now."

The lump of flesh was pale, but the blood was rather dark.

Floco scanned it with his Mental Power, then shook his head. "It has nothing to do with me. It's probably the bloodline of another member of the Green Scale Clan."

He said to Thor, "It doesn't matter. Like I said, the mermaids who were left behind all had mixed bloodlines. They