Arthur's father, Tom, had been a lighthouse keeper, while his mother had been the previous Queen of Atlantis. It was the most traditional story of a rich girl and a poor boy, except the ending had been a little better.
At least Arthur's father had not died until Arthur reached adulthood, and had taught him a few skills for making a living in human society.
Mercy Harbor sounded like a pretty cool name, but it was actually just a small seaside town with a population of maybe a little over two thousand. By United States standards, that was already quite a lot.
In places like that, it was often customary for sons to inherit their fathers' trades.
If the father went out to sea to fish, then the son would work on a fishing boat once he grew up. If the father ran a restaurant in town, then the child would inherit the restaurant in the future.
The high-EQ way of putting it was family tradition. The low-EQ way was that there was not much room for growth.
But not every American liked squeezing into major cities like Gotham. At least, no mentally normal person did. Their attachment to their hometowns was actually even stronger than China's.
After all, the land in their rural hometowns belonged to them privately. Whether they sold it or left it unused, neither was as good as living on it themselves.
That was basically how it went. After Tom had been killed by Black Manta, Arthur took over as the lighthouse keeper of Mercy Harbor. As a mixed-blood, he also felt safer on land.
On land, he could drive, drink, and light fires to grill fish. None of that was possible in underwater Atlantis.
So even after becoming King of Atlantis, he returned to the