The young mermaid gave Dunn and the others a puzzled look, then plunged into the sea with a splash and vanished instantly.
"Damn it! She got away!" Annie stared in frustration at the distant sea as it gradually settled.
At the sight of Annie's reaction, Dunn could only look exasperated. "What else did you expect her to do? She's obviously a mermaid kept by the owner of this place. If you want to die, don't drag me into it!"
Annie came to her senses at his words and chuckled sheepishly. "Sorry, sorry! I got a little carried away seeing a mermaid! Didn't you ever dream of keeping one when you were little?"
In this world, practically every child of a noble family heard stories about mermaids growing up, especially now, in the Age of Exploration.
For these noble children raised on mermaid fairy tales, keeping a mermaid was a dream most of them shared.
As for elves, who were in the same category as mermaids...
Ten thousand years ago, the rampant slave trade had so enraged the Elf Empress that she invaded the Old World and slaughtered its people. Since then, no one in the entire Old World had dared keep elven slaves for a very long time.
At least, no one dared do so openly.
That battle had also established the Elf Empress as the strongest being beneath the stars. Though no details of the battle had circulated, people speculated that the Wizard Speaker had been given a thorough beating by the Elf Empress.
Otherwise, the ever-domineering Wizard Council would never have issued a ban on buying and selling elves.
"Who... are you?"
Just then, a clear, lovely voice reached their ears.
Dunn and Annie looked toward the voice and saw the young mermaid from earlier poking her head