Here for a Vacation, Maybe? / Irene Gets Sold Off

Irene extended her hand, and Mizuki shook it back.

"Just call me Mizuki, that's the name I'm most comfortable with."

Mizuki's hand felt very comfortable to hold; just holding Irene like this gave her an indescribable sense of comfort, as if some bad things inside her body were being expelled.

"Try to avoid staying up late, Miss Irene. Your health is the most important thing."

"Thank you, but no one could get a good night's sleep if they took on such a heavy responsibility, right?"

"That's not necessarily true. Look at those other ones."

Mizuki pointed at the Doctor and Exusiai. These guys showed absolutely no urgency in negotiating; they were already planning where to go for fun, Ho'olheyak was even taking pictures.

"..." Irene never expected the talks to develop in this way. The boy in front of her, who was not much taller than her, was actually the one who led the entire Seaborn the Brood and the Sea Siren Clan, and he seemed to take this peace talk very lightly.

"I know you must have been very busy with these peace talks, whether to show sincerity or to put on airs, I really have no intention of doing anything to you Iberia."

With Mizuki's current power, he wouldn't even need to send the Sea Siren and the Seaborn; a single rainstorm would suffice. He could make that rain fall throughout Terra, and make it rain for a whole year without stopping.

"Is it true that Seaborn will never wage war against Iberia again?"

"Of course, Seaborn actually had contact with you hundreds of years ago, but a major event happened before that activated Seaborn's fighting instincts."

The Black Sunny Doll) on the Mizuki umbrella swayed gently, its smile unchanged.

"Seaborn are very simple creatures. The continuation of their population is the most important thing. They are also a link in the food chain. It doesn't matter whether you catch them or eat them. But if you are going to exterminate the entire Seaborn the Brood, then you might as well take a look over there?"

Mizuki pointed to the sea in Tide Stone Town. Irene glanced at it subconsciously, then couldn't help but widen her eyes.

Under the sunlight, the vast and boundless sea appeared crimson, like blood.

Even the once gentle and sunny Mizuki had changed, giving off an inexplicable chill.

Chapter 163 Are they here for tourism?

Years later, when Ellie talked to herself and the daughter of a certain blue jellyfish about that afternoon when she hosted Mizuki, she still couldn't help but sigh that she was really too young back then.

"Are they really here to negotiate?"

Irene doubted her own eyes, even feeling like a fool, as if a crow had flown over her head, cursing as it flew. "Idiot, idiot."

This is clearly about the future of Iberia, about decades of struggle and bloodshed, but these guys are acting like they're on vacation, even having a barbecue on the beach, they're practically wearing swimsuits.

"Luckily, I was wearing over-the-knee boots."

Standing on the beach, with the ocean right in front of her, Specter felt little desire to jump in. She suddenly felt that it was better to be by Mizuki's side. Ever since Mizuki removed most of the Originium Concentrate from her body, Specter felt that she had become somewhat lazy.

Ah, I still miss the days when I had schizophrenia. When I was mentally ill, I had the energy to do anything.

"I should have known better than to wear this."

Skadi took off her boots and shook off the sand inside. In the end, she simply stopped wearing shoes altogether. Looking over there, Exusiai had already taken off her sneakers and even tore her pantyhose down to her calves. She ran a few laps on the beach, but found the water too cold and ran back. Texas did the same, but she was drying her wet tail over there.

Miss Doctor is clever; she's wearing sandals and isn't uncomfortable at all. Ho'olheyak is probably the most uncomfortable one. This girl, who has never been to the beach before, is wearing high heels and is suffering terribly. Now she's just staying by the barbecue stall and not going anywhere.

What did you do to make them so afraid of you?

Miss Doctor glanced at the serious judges and the somewhat bewildered Irene; the young Little Bird clearly hadn't expected today's meeting to begin with a beach barbecue.

However, it was clear that all thirty-odd people were very nervous. Mizuki must have done something just now, but in the eyes of the Doctor and the others, he simply pointed at the sea and didn't say a word.

"My nickname is Uchiha Mizuki, you get it?"

"Fine, trying to fool me with my old story? I'm Uzumaki Doctor, you know... Oh right, I almost forgot your illusion magic is really strong."

Unlike any Originium Arts, Mizuki relies more on biological means to create illusions for others, directly interfering with the opponent's nerve senses and distorting the five senses, including sight, hearing, and touch.

"Mizuki, do you know about Aizen?"

"I don't know him."

"Then I'll tell you his story another day."

Although it's unclear what exactly Mizuki showed Irene and the others, the Doctor could guess it was just to scare them. After all, Iberia had put on quite a show, so Mizuki naturally wanted to temper their arrogance, otherwise Iberia might easily take advantage of the situation.

Before setting off, Kal'tsit wrote a letter to Carmen and asked the Doctor to bring it over. The Doctor was very curious about what it said, but dared not peek, because Mizuki would definitely tell Kal'tsit honestly that this girl loves to reveal everything!

On the other side, looking at the letter from Kal'tsit in front of her, and then glancing at Mizuki over there, Carmen couldn't help but take a deep breath, thinking to herself, "What on earth is all this?"

Dario glanced at it curiously and found that the paper only had one sentence written on it, or even just a few words: He is my lover.

[Kal'tsit, throughout all these long years, what have you been striving for? Has anyone ever stood shoulder to shoulder with you?]

If one day someone truly walks beside me, he will be someone I can entrust my entire life to.

The letter in her hand was indeed in Kal'tsit's handwriting. Carmen and Kal'tsit had known each other for many years, ever since he was just an inquisitor. It seemed that Kal'tsit's appearance had never changed since then. Carmen even thought that she was probably immortal and that she might not change much even after thousands or tens of thousands of years.

Kal'tsit is trustworthy, a quality built over decades. After the Great Silence, the Inquisition decisively chose to abandon the monarchy and become the command of Iberia. At that time, Kal'tsit wrote dozens of letters offering numerous suggestions and methods for dealing with the Seaborn. She continued to provide advice on many occasions afterward, helping Iberia in many ways.

If it was written by her, Carmen would believe it three-tenths of the time, and the remaining seven-tenths stemmed from his sense of responsibility to Iberia.

"Hey, grandpa, aren't you coming for some barbecue?"

Miss Doctor waved to Carmen, Dario, and the others, holding up several skewers of barbecue. These ingredients were all brought by the Sea Siren. When they heard that Mizuki was planning to have a barbecue by the sea, the girls immediately got excited. They would never go hungry, no matter where they went.

Vegetables are a bit of a problem, but seafood is absolutely no problem. We go right into the sea to catch fresh seafood, from small oysters to large Seaborn... um, Seaborn?

"You can't eat this!" Mizuki tossed the bewildered Seaborn cub from the Doctor's hand back into the water, then looked at her three cubs. "Don't bring back any strange food. Ordinary people can't suck lava!"

Miss Sea Siren, carrying a bucket of lava as a hot drink, nodded hurriedly, thinking to herself that land dwellers are just too fragile; it's just a sip of lava.

Watching Sea Siren #999 chugging down that bucket of lava brought from the underwater volcano, while obsidian kept growing from its tail, the Doctor felt like she had discovered a path to wealth. Obsidian, it must be said, is quite lucrative in Terra.

Mizuki has over three million Sea Siren under her command; one ton of each would be enough to make Rhodes Island rich. Sigh, ever since she took over Rhodes Island's finances, the Doctor feels like all she thinks about every day is how to make money for her family. With offices all over the place and low-priced treatments, doing charity work also requires capital.

"Mizuki, why do these girls like to drink lava? Doesn't it burn their mouths?"

"These girls are made of water. If you throw a bucket of lava into them, they'll at most boil, they won't know what it means to be scalded. Look, she can even use herself as a hot pot."

Watching the Sea Siren, her body steaming, skewer a skewer of raw meat directly to her chest, even the Doctor couldn't help but shudder. But Sea Siren are made of water, so only water splashed out, not blood, and she didn't feel any pain.

"Oh dear, the seasoning hasn't been added yet."

Sea Siren #233 patted her best friend on the shoulder, and Siren 999 suddenly remembered that it was true. She was too eager to show off after meeting Mizuki and had forgotten that you need to add broth to hot pot.

She rummaged through the bag and pulled out a packet of hot pot base she'd bought from Great Yan. She tore it open and shoved it into her mouth. The steam emanating from Sea Siren 999's body seemed to carry a chili flavor. The Doctor and the others were so surprised they couldn't close their mouths. You can cook hot pot like this?

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it. For them, the only hot drink they can find in the sea is lava. It's just something new to try anyway."

Mizuki didn't tell the Doctor exactly how many volcanoes these girls had sucked up. Anyway, as far as he knew, these girls' attitude towards underwater volcanoes was basically one of sustainable exploitation. More than three million Sea Siren were searching for volcanoes all over the sea, and there weren't enough underwater ones to suck up. It was said that recently they had set their sights on the land.

I remember Eyjafjalla studied volcanoes. I hope that she and the other geology students in Terra Mizuki n't have a mental breakdown after discovering that their half-finished graduation theses have been stolen.

Of course, it wouldn't be accurate to say they sucked the volcano dry. After all, the Sea Siren didn't actually eat the lava; they just ate it and turned it into obsidian. Oh, and by the way, the energy was absorbed by the Sea of Life. As for the consequences... Mizuki thought these girls weren't her own children.

"Dad! Want to try some?"

Seeing the hot pot skewers that Sea Siren handed her, Mizuki thought for a moment and then opened her mouth to bite into them. Then, as expected, she frowned. This thing can't just be given to anyone to eat.

Is it delicious?

The Doctor was also curious about this novel way of eating, but she knew that magma wasn't just high temperature.

"It tastes like sulfur the moment you take a bite; I don't recommend trying it."

"Never mind then." Miss Doctor lay back down in her chair. "Ah, I should have brought my swimsuit."

Upon hearing this, Exusiai n't help but glance at the Doctor's chest, which was practically an illegal mountain of breasts. In the end, she couldn't help but feel relieved that the girl hadn't brought a swimsuit; everyone here was a busty monster!

Irene deeply sympathized with this. When she saw Skadi, Ho'olheyak, and the Doctor standing together, she almost broke her Dao heart. If Mizuki knew what this girl was thinking, she would probably be very grateful that Typhon wasn't there. That girl was 155cm tall and had an incredibly good figure.

Muelsyse had been pestering Typhon for days, wanting to know how this girl grew up. In the end, she got the answer from the Doctor. All she could say was that the Sarkaz genes were really strong; very few Sarkaz girls on Rhodes Island were flat-chested.

"Cute Little Bird, won't you come and join us?"

"Eeya!"

Irene was startled by the sudden appearance of the Specter, completely ruining the image she had just painstakingly created.

She didn't know why, but she felt that Specter was very dangerous, many times more dangerous than Mizuki. After all, although Mizuki had shown some power before, she was still very kind now. But Specter's eyes looked like he wanted to eat her alive from the very beginning. She even almost suspected that this woman, Aegir, had some kind of special fetish.

"What a lovely voice. Come on, didn't we want to talk peace? You can't just stand here forever."

Since Specter didn't do anything too outrageous, Irene couldn't, and shouldn't, make a move. Dario's eyelids twitched; he had a feeling this group wasn't there for peace talks or a vacation, but to kidnap someone.

"You two come too. Since this is a peace talk, we should talk amicably. If you don't like it or are worried about it, you can grill it yourself. But I don't recommend the volcano hot pot."

Mizuki also invited Dario and Carmen. He knew that Irene was only a representative of Iberia's youth and goodwill, and that if they really wanted to negotiate, they would have to rely on this old man who had some connections with Kal'tsit.

Carmen didn't seem to have any reservations or grudges like the others might have. She picked up the skewer of grilled meat from Mizuki that looked unappetizing and took a bite, chewing it several times.

How does it taste?

"It tastes much better than it looks."

That's the truth. People who aren't familiar with Mizuki really wouldn't dare to eat anything he makes casually. It's not even fair to say it's colorful; it's more like a patchwork of black colors with a hint of purple. Let alone looking at it looking poisonous, just glancing at it is terrifying.

But it really tasted delicious. Carmen could almost feel the vitality of the meat when she took a bite, and she even felt lighter after that bite, wanting to eat more.

"I used to be an apprentice in a restaurant. Although I've forgotten a lot of things, cooking is something you can get through with practice. I learned how to grill from Dossoles, and I also learned bartending from someone else."

Mizuki couldn't help but talk about his past, which didn't sound like a boast at all. Carmen raised an eyebrow. Although she knew that Mizuki, who had come all the way from the inland, must know a lot about Terra, she didn't expect that he had been to so many places. He probably knew more about the situation in Terra than most of the Inquisitors.

"Actually, I feel like you Iberia are really unlucky." Miss Doctor couldn't help but shake her head. "You ended up with the Aegir as your neighbors, and you even have a bunch of Deep Sea Cultists working as traitors."

These words were somewhat offensive, Skadi and Specter couldn't help but roll their eyes, but they didn't argue with the Doctor because they knew a lot. The Sea Siren even admitted that the Abyssal Hunters were initially sacrificed, and there were also members of the Church of the Deep within Aegir, with Seaborn specifically tasked with delivering messages to them.

Upon hearing the news, the two women's expressions were no better than Gladiia's. They had always regarded Aegir as their home and home, and the duty of Abyssal Hunters as their mission, but now it felt like they had been fooled.

But after Mizuki's encouragement, they quickly recovered. At worst, they could just accept that once a daughter is married, she's no longer part of the family; Mizuki would support them for life.

Carmen and others also felt offended. The Church of the Deep had indeed been rooted in Iberia for a long time, and it was only recently that it suffered a significant blow due to the existence of the Church of Life. After all, these openly benevolent and down-to-earth Sea Siren were truly powerful, far superior to the Church of the Deep, which could only develop in secret.

People all yearn for a better life. The Inquisition can't provide that, which is why some people turn to the Church of the Deep. But does the Church of the Deep really have a good life? Not necessarily, and not everyone is filled with longing for the life form that Seaborn.

So now that the Church of Life can give them a good life, a life that people should live, these Iberia will naturally come to believe in Izumik. This is a very real issue.

"What are your terms?"

Carmen asked, a question he had never understood. Mizuki only said he would give Iberia benefits, but didn't say what benefits he wanted, and besides, the benefits he offered weren't obvious.

"Our conditions are: allow the Sea Siren to trade freely and build facilities in Iberia. Of course, this will be discussed with you in advance."

Miss Doctor became Mizuki's mouthpiece, trying to persuade the Sea Siren to accept benefits on his behalf. Although Mizuki and the Sea Siren didn't care, there was no other way; if they didn't believe her, she might as well take advantage of it.

Chapter 164 Irene, Sold

This was a meeting Carmen had never experienced or imagined. The Doctor was indeed fighting for various rights for the Sea Siren, but from Iberia's perspective, these conditions were... nothing special, and even quite beneficial to them.

After all, the various facilities and ports built by the Sea Siren were for Iberia; they used them extensively. All they needed to do was cover maintenance and berthing costs. Wouldn't they be human if they didn't dare take advantage of such a good opportunity?

"So that's all the conditions? Simply allowing these Sea Siren to build ports and reside in Iberia isn't a problem."

Carmen pondered for a moment before speaking, after all, he couldn't understand what these Sea Siren were thinking all day long. They could have gotten so much more benefits. The Inquisition had even considered what to do if the Sea Siren demanded to join Iberia or even share power and territory in all thirty-six negotiation plans from beginning to end.

However, this level of cost is less than one-tenth of what was originally expected, and it doesn't even amount to being painful.

"That's enough. They prefer the sea and don't need much money or power. It's just that you've never really understood them."

After learning that the Sea Siren's personality was basically based on her and Exusiai, with a small amount of Specter, the Doctor guessed what kind of personalities these girls had. They were fearless except for phone calls from their parents. Mizuki had unquestionable authority over them, and the Sea Siren liked him very much. These girls would do anything they were given, and because the Seaborn could now share information, they had inherited a lot of Mizuki's experiences and skills.

These three million people helped Iberia with post-disaster reconstruction, partly to allow them to have more contact with terrestrial civilizations, and partly to help Iberia recover quickly.

"Please say anything else. It's clear you're here more for tourism than for peace talks."

Carmen had lived for over a hundred years and had seen it all. Her mindset and knowledge far surpassed those of younger generations Irene. From the very beginning, Mizuki and the others had no intention of coming to negotiate. To be honest, even if the negotiations failed, it wouldn't have any impact on the Sea Siren Representative's life. The Iberia didn't have the ability to launch a counterattack from the sea.

"That's straightforward." The Doctor toyed with the glass in her hand, as if it contained fine wine rather than juice. "I need Iberia to contain the situation on Bolivar's side."

"..."

"We don't need you to start a war or do anything else." Miss Doctor waved her hand. "Just put some pressure on the surface. The situation in Bolivar is chaotic with three factions entrenched, but you've ruled there for over 130 years. Find an excuse to put some pressure on them. You don't need to know the purpose."

"That might not work." Carmen shook her head again. "Apart from the local Bolivar self-defense forces, the other two groups have backers. You can't sway them with just words."

"It's alright." The Doctor's expression remained unchanged. "Columbia is on our side. We just need to make sure they're obedient enough. I don't want to see too many unnecessary casualties."

"Then we need to support the local Columbia self-help forces." Carmen thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

This was certainly not because he was senile or had designs on Bolivar's territory; he simply keenly sensed the Doctor's intentions. This person wasn't after Bolivar, but merely wanted to use Bolivar for something, but he couldn't refuse.

"Shall we toast to peace?" Miss Doctor gently raised Mizuki's glass; the grape juice looked somewhat similar to red wine.

Carmen didn't mind, lightly clinked glasses with hers, and then drank the cola in her hand. How to put it... it wasn't bad. Compared to all the possibilities they had guessed before, it was hard not to agree. There was no way around it; the other party was offering just too much.