"Smack!"
Then came a thunderous sound-the sound of an enormous slap.
"Ohhh! I get it!"
After taking a slap, Jig wore a look of sudden realization on his still-bleeding, bruised face.
"Even the reaction's exactly the same! So Lia's a fish too?"
Meanwhile, the delicate young mermaid had both arms wrapped tightly over her chest. Her face had gone bright red, and the mist in her eyes was gathering into tears that looked ready to spill at any moment...
"Um... please don't eat me, and don't bully me either..."
Her voice trembled even more than it had before, making her sound all the more pitiful.
"Eat you? Did this weird fish eat your legs? All right! I'll help you!"
After hearing the young mermaid's words, Jig pointed at her beautiful tail. As he spoke, he reached toward it, frightening her into quickly hiding it behind her.
"Ah! Please... please don't do that..."
The beautiful mermaid gave a startled cry, but Jig, who still wanted to reach out and grab her tail, was hoisted into the air...
"Hey, didn't you learn your lesson when Lia came last time? I already told you, she's a woman."
Barn had activated his Mind's Eye earlier. Though he couldn't make out her features, her shapely figure and distinctive fish tail had already told him what his apprentice had "caught"...
"That weird fish ate this person's legs, Master Barn! I just wanted to help her!"
Dangling from Barn's grip, Jig spoke with complete conviction, still trying to reach toward her with an earnest look on his face...
"Clang!"
Wearing an expression that said, "I don't know this kid," Barn knocked him on the head and said,
"She's a mermaid! A beautiful female mermaid, admittedly."
Ignoring Jig's baffled expression and the lump that had inexplicably appeared on