His Breeding Obsession

There’s flying and beastly white and yellow waste everywhere, whether it’s in a narrow alleyway or a carriage path.

 

‘I guessed it, but it’s worse than I thought.’ 

 

Mirania, who had just passed a half-demolished mansion and turned onto a fork in the road, frowned at the tingling sensation.

 

She’d been through the same experience three times already on the way here, so she knew what was happening to the soles of her shoes without looking.

 

A realization came naturally.

 

‘No one is acting as a caretaker.’ 

 

On the surface, the situation was created by the lack of a caretaker, and on a deeper level, by the lack of order.

 

This was not the street I remembered.

 

Even with so many people, the streets were clean a hundred years ago.

 

Sometimes there was vomit and filth, but the next day the streets were clean.

 

This was because there were humans in charge of cleaning.

 

That’s it. Merchants selling their items.

 

Gardeners tending to the city’s flower beds.

 

Carpenters repairing broken buildings.

 

‘That is the order of the human world.’

 

Her mind flashed back to the moment when she’d marveled at the cleanliness of the human streets despite their seemingly disorganized movement.

 

Order in the chaos.

 

Consistency in contradiction.

 

…The city that was.

 

The already tarnished, foul-smelling streets complicated her gaze.

 

Connecting all of this with Grecan made my heart sink to the bottom of the pit.

 “How will I ever be able to deal with this?” 

The words that slipped past her closed lips were a worry.

 

Scuffing her shoes against the now clean floor, she continued walking.

 

It wasn’t a particularly destination-oriented walk.

 

‘I chose this outing because I’m frustrated with Grecan, and I’m equally frustrated with myself.’ 

 

Mirania’s face grew darker the longer she walked.

 

The groans of the ravaged land grew louder. She was familiar with the diminished vitality of nature.

 

And she thought she knew.

 [The High Lord is a scary man.] [There is nothing to see, not even Grecan now.] [Mirania, you’ll never guess what’s been going on for a hundred years.] 

I thought I knew what was going on, but it turns out I didn’t.

 

But she couldn’t help laughing. Her desire to explore further dropped. Just as she was about to take a heavy step along the path.

 “Two buckets today, and if I don’t meet my quota, I won’t be able to return home!” 

Mirania looked up. They were at the waterway. 

 

The smell of fishy water lingered in her nostrils.

 

Turning to go back, she climbed onto the bridge and spotted a man hunched over on the opposite riverbank in the distance.”

 

‘Human?’

 

He was dressed in shabby clothes with tattered sleeves. The man pulled up a rickety chair, stuck his butt in it, and pulled out a fishing pole.

 

He puts on the hook and bait and casts it away. The sequence of actions was as natural as the flow of water, but not fast.

 “Ew, it’s slow!” 

The man grumbling behind him was also poorly dressed.

 

He was cleaner than the man in front of him, but his sleeves were frayed, and his cheeks were hollow from lack of food. There was a long gash across his chin.

 

Blue scales sprouted from his temples. Evidence of an immature transformation, common among the beasts.

 

As I got a little closer, the voice grew louder.

 “Catch me something, I’m hungry.” “I can’t catch a fish, not a barrel, not even two buckets to be honest, and I’m not capable of it, and if I did, the mermaids would come with their tridents.” “I’m a mermaid.” “Yeah.” “But we should still catch half a bucket, so we have something left over to fill our bellies after the payment.” 

The mermaid man slumped down beside the human man, his face grim.

 “If only I could do something nutritious…” “If you eat something nutritious, you’ll be able to restore your gills, and then you’ll be able to go into the water.” “But you need to eat well for that, so stop talking and focus on fishing! If you were a slave who could do things in the first place, you wouldn’t have to resort to these crappy tools!” “Don’t keep hitting me. My rod is shaking, and it’s a good thing I have this, because without it, I’m not catching anything.” “…” 

Unable to find anything to say, the mermaid man fell silent with a disgruntled look on his face.

 

Mirania walked toward them. The mermaid man’s head snapped up at the sound of her footsteps, and wariness flashed across his face.

 

‘Mermaids.’

 

They were the most numerous race, for they existed wherever there was water.

 

Mirania regularly interacted with them in the rocky seas near the continent.

 

As the dominant species of the sea and freshwater, catching fish was as natural and easy for them as running was for humans.

 

The fish they brought back were of high quality, with plump seeds, and were popular with the clan’s chefs.

 

‘The mermaids were thought to have disappeared from the second continent.’

 

Wherever there is water, mermaids are said to be found, but the land of humans was an exception.

 

The hearts of the mermaids contain the energy of the sea and freshwater. They are the elixirs of the heavens and the earth, and are the objects of the eyes of the crippled humans who seek them out for their health benefits.

 

They were once a race on the brink of extinction.

 

The man before her was unmistakably a mermaid, though the scales on his face were blurred and cloudy.

 

The fact that the mermaids, thought to have disappeared, walk the land so boldly could only mean one thing.

 

Humans have fallen. The beast has taken their place.

 

The mermaids would be one of them.

 “…Is there any trouble over here?” 

The man looked up.

 “Never mind. It’s just a passerby.” “What?” 

‘What kind of passerby is so suspicious?’

 

Unlike the dumbfounded man, Mirania was relaxed, as if she had been on a vacation.

 “I unintentionally overheard the conversation.” “I thought you were listening in…” 

Ignoring the murmur, she pointed nonchalantly at the fishing rod.

 “Is that what you do for a living?” 

And so the conversation began.

 

Thanks to them, Mirania learned a few things. These were tramps who lived on the streets and made their living fishing.

 

The mermaid man was known as

‘Donaty’

and the human as

‘Donnie’

.

 “Donnie is my slave, though the master-slave relationship is tenuous.” 

Then it happened.

 “Donaty!” 

Someone shouted from across the waterway. Glancing over, Donaty jumped to his feet.

 “The captain wants steamed fish today! If you mess up again today, he’ll rip off all the scales from your body!” “Yea, yes!” 

Donaty shouted in a booming voice, then dropped his pretense as the man passed by and sank back in his chair.

 

The human man sighed,

“Tearing off all your scales, now that’s one way to offend someone.” “That’s the way they are.” 

The mood was a little darker than before.

 “Do you sell your catch at the market?” 

Donaty, looking as though surprised she was still there, replied dryly.

 “We don’t have that here.” “Then?” 

Donaty’s shoulders suddenly hunched, and he glanced around quickly.

 

When he saw no one else, he lowered his voice to a whisper.

 “You sound like you don’t know anything, and you should probably run.” “Huh?” “Some mean bastards are running rampant around here, and outsiders get stripped down to their underwear if they’re unlucky. You know, we fish, and if we catch anything, it’s mostly to give to them.” “Why?” “Why what?” “I mean, why do you give them the fish?” “Oh, it’s to live here. They have a tight hold on the houses around here, and we have to pay tribute to living here, usually twenty fish a week. After that, there’s nothing left for us to eat. But dang it, we never catch anything.” 

Mirania rolled her eyes.

 “Do the officials let it stand?” “Officials’?” “You know, like… representatives of the lord. Someone who collects taxes or prosecutes criminals.” “…” “If there is such a person… is there no such person?” 

The mermaid man narrowed his eyes. Mirania couldn’t help but look even more dumbfounded.

 “I don’t know what you’re talking about. As far as I know, there are no such people.” 

‘It’s not even a rural area, it’s the empire, and it’s become a lawless zone?’

 “The imperial court. Aren’t they involved?” “Why would the imperial court get involved? The imperial court has no interest here.” 

Donaty looked as if he didn’t know why Mirania was sighing.

 “Donaty.” “Why?” “You should start by asking who she is.” “Oh, I was going to ask that.” 

Donaty, annoyed with Donnie, glanced at Mirania.

 “Who are you?” “I told you I was just a passerby.” “Where are you from?” “The imperial palace.” “What?” “From the imperial palace.” 

The two reacted dramatically. 

 

Donnie’s mouth dropped open in disbelief, and Donaty said,

“Whoa! If you’re from the Imperial Palace, you know the High Lord, right?” 

He jumped in his seat.

 

‘Was he really a man?’

 

Mirania’s face twitched.

 “Who?” “The High Lord, Grecan, the great leader of the wolf clan!” 

He clenched his fists at his sides. His eyes were wide in anticipation, and his haggard cheeks were even more noticeable.

 “…We know each other.” 

Mirania was a step too late.