Other than the fugitive marquis Viswenti, who worked at the Sea Laboratory, and the saltwater marquis Bluposi, who was building a city at the mouth of the Great Whirlpool River, the remaining five mermaids all dove into the sea with Liszt and swam toward the seabed secret realm—A Ke was concentrating on studying demons, so she did not accompany them.
The seabed secret realm was in the Shell Sea, in the waters between the Flame Archipelago and the Third Archipelago.
The mermaids were not slow swimmers, and after several hours, they successfully arrived at the seabed secret realm. The waters were roughly eight hundred meters deep, and the light was somewhat dim. Yet the secret realm resembled an enormous crystal dome, covering a stretch of seabed and shimmering with a faint seven-colored radiance.
Etenia stopped before the dome. "It's here, Your Majesty. There's nothing special about this dome—it's just an ordinary bubble. But some very strange force keeps the seawater outside. I tried compressing the seawater, but still couldn't force any into the dome."
"Have you ever entered the seabed secret realm, Etenia?" asked the fisherman marquis Gullveig.
"Not deeply. I only walked around for a while near the edge where the secret realm meets the seabed... Walking with a fish tail is truly too troublesome."
Mermaids had noses and gills behind their ears. They could breathe underwater and in the air.
However, mermaids had no legs and could only hop along on their fish tails. Not only were they slow, but their tails suffered severe wear, so mermaids almost never went ashore. In this regard, sea sprites held a great advantage. Like mermaids, they were beloved children of the sea; mermaids were powerful, but sea sprites could go ashore.
"You wait outside. I'll go in and take a look."