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Year 16 AL, Mermaid Mischief


After some searching in the heart of Port Natalia, the trio of Ilias's Prophet, the Sixteenth Monster Lord, and a bag-toted Kitsune finally found a somewhat suitable place to find a meal. The small pub was aptly named: Marvelous Mermaid Bar N' Grill!

It was a normal enough-looking establishment with what looked to be a bit devoid of people going in and out - presumedly because of the attack on the Mermaid school - so it seemed to be the obvious choice for a rest stop. Luka pushed his way in through the front door with Alice in tow.

The inside was mostly wood-textured, giving the pub a somewhat rustic feel. On the walls were various nautical-themed decorations like ship knick-knacks and ocean paintings, some of which naturally containing a Mermaid or two within. Speaking of, Luka noticed that the entirety of the floor staff was made up of Mermaids.

Mermaids that seemed none too shy about showing off their bodies.

Indeed, the waitresses filing around whether they be old or young, short or tall, all of them wore tops that only seemed to cover the bare essentials. And if Luka was being honest, some of them didn't even do that much. The young Hero fought down his urge to shudder, 'Just keep your cool, Luka. The Mermaids here live peacefully with the Humans, nothing bad should happen.'

Yet he just couldn't fight away the bad feeling growing in his stomach...

Quickly, a tall Mermaid with short pink hair and wearing a bright green top shuffled over to them, a wide and inviting smile on her face. "Welcome to the Marvelous Mermaid Bar Grill, table for two I assume?" She asked, looking between Luka and Alice with her teal eyes. Luka raised a finger, "Actually, there's three of us. A-And could we have a booth, please? P-Preferably towards the back, if you don't mind."

The Mermaid gave a quick nod, "Of course, follow me." The pair were brisky lead towards the back, where an inkling of worry started to worm its way into Luka's mind. It was subtle, but the young Hero noticed that some of the Mermaids they passed seemed to look him over just a hair's breadth longer than what could be considered professionally necessary.

Luka gave a quick sigh and shook his head, 'Maybe I'm just looking too much into it?' The purple-haired boy thought, hoping that the looks he was getting weren't being done because of any lecherous thoughts.

Soon the young Hero and the disguised Lamia arrived at their booth, Luka carefully sliding his traveling bag the pink-haired Mermaid placing their three menus down on the table. "And I'll give you two a couple minutes to look these over. Just give any of us a holler if you need anything, m'kay?~" The Mermaid finished with a wink not-so-subtly aimed at Luka, before sliding off.

Alice gave the Mermaid a snide look as she disappeared, only dropping the expression once turning her attention to the menu lying on the wooden tabletop. Luka was about to do so as well but stopped and looked down at his traveling bag. The young boy reached over and unzipped the bag fully, revealing the curled-up ball of silver fluff that was Kitsu the Two-Tailed Kitsune.

The fox hopped out and unfurled beside Luka, much to her own hesitance. Her squinting red eyes looked around the place before she scooted to the side opposite Luka. The young Hero frowned as Kitsu put distance between the two and grabbed her menu. The young Hero ever-so-slightly leaned closer to the fox, "D-Don't worry about prices, th-the meal's on me!" He proclaimed with a small smile, trying to make the Kitsune more comfortable.

Kitsu's red eyes flashed over to him, the orbs widening a tad bit in surprise. "Oh... O-Okay." She replied unsurely, before returning her attention downwards.

'It's a start, at least.' Luka thought. While the Two-Tails had been a tad bit antagonistic at times, she really didn't seem to be unpleasant. The only real issue he had with her was the Kitsune's strange aversion to Humans and her insistence that Lona had been his Love Slave.

Reserving himself to possibly work on getting the Kitsune to see Humans in a better light in the future, Luka turned his pale blue eyes to his menu and he grabbed the paper to read it over carefully. Skimming through, he quickly found himself at the page of entrées.


Marvelous Mermaid Bar N' Grill!

1) Fish N' Chips - A vintage favorite, our fried Cod and steak fries never fail to satisfy! - 3G

2) Catch of the Day - Straight from the ocean to our grill, and then straight to your plate! Catch varies day-by-day, ask your waitress for more details. - Price may vary.

3) Mermaid Burger - Deceptively juicy, but wholeheartedly flavorful. Nothing beats a good homemade Mermaid Burger with our signature steak fries. - 5G

4) Fish Tacos - Looking for spice? Then look no further! Three of our soft tortillas stuffed with Grilled Mahi-Mahi, specially made cilantro-lime slaw, and Pico De Gallo. The only thing hotter than these, are the staff that serves them! - 7G

5) Crab Legs - Can't have a proper seaside grill without a pair or two of these! Boiled and buttered to perfection, these are a fan-favorite! - 10G

6) Surf N' Turf - The classic pairing of our locally caught Shrimp and tender Filet Mignon is a must-have! Seared with garlic rosemary butter and served with creamy mashed potatoes, there may not be a better was to have the best of both worlds! - 15G


Luka hummed softly to himself as he looked over the list. It wasn't a particularly large assortment, but each item had something that interested the boy's appetite. He placed a hand on his chin as he mulled over his choices for a moment. The young Hero was so deep in thought that he didn't notice that Kitsu had been scooting closer to him until she grabbed onto his sleeve and tugged.

He turned to find the uncertain gaze of the Two-Tailed Kitsune, who held her menu in her other hand. Luka raised a brow as the fox began to mutter, "I-I don't really know what to order... I've never had any of this before..." Luka's eyes widened in understanding, "Oh, okay. Here, let me help you choose." The Two-Tailed Kitsune slid her menu towards him - despite the fact he already had one in his hand - and the purple-haired boy re-evaluated each choice, trying to figure out which would be best for the silver-furred fox.

'Let's see, Surf N' Turf would probably be a bit too much for her, Crab Legs even more so...' Luka mused, '...Fish Tacos might be too complicated flavor-wise, and Catch of the Day is too uncertain.' His search left him with the last two meals: Fish N' Chips and the Mermaid Burger. Luka bit his lip and reached up to his chin once again as he bounced between the two last options.

"I think..." Luka began, removing his hand from his chin to place a bare finger on the menu. Kitsu's red eyes followed the boy's hand, which landed squarely next to Fish N' Chips. "...That this might be the safest option." The young Hero settled on the first menu item, surmising that it would be the best option for the silver-furred fox.

Kitsu leaned over a bit, squinting down at his pick before nodding a bit. "A-Alright, sounds good, I guess..." The Kitsune finished shakily before leaning back in her seat next to Luka. Satisfied with his work, the purple-haired boy returned his attention to his menu. 'Now, let's see here. What do I want?' Before he could make up his mind, the sound of a plate clattering onto the table drew his attention up once more.

Before him, now sat a bowl of what appeared to be garlic-cheese biscuits.

Luka had to take a moment to examine the food, before looking at the white-top-wearing Mermaid who had deposited it. She was shorter than the one from before and had shoulder-length dark-blue hair. "Here ya go, freshly baked biscuits!" She proclaimed, much to the boy's confusion. Luka raised a finger, "Um, w-we didn't order these, ma'am."

The blue-haired Mermaid waved a hand, "Oh, they're on the house..." She began before a very playful look came to her bright yellow eyes. "...Anything for our customers, especially the cute ones~" Luka jerked as the Mermaid leaned over, giving the boy ample view of her cleavage. "So, have you three made your selection yet?" The purple-haired boy grabbed at his hair while turning to Alice, who was very blatantly glaring at the Mermaid from over her menu.

The disguised Lamia was quick to order first, "I want an order of the Surf N' Turf and the Crab Legs." Luka gulped as Alice all but hissed out her order, the boy easily sensing a certain unease coming off of his traveling partner. From his side, Kitsu placed her hands on the table and leaned forward, "I want the Fish N' Chips!" She declared, Luka feeling a bit of satisfaction with the fox actually taking his recommendation.

Luka himself bit his lip, taking one last glance over the menu. Finally, he turned and faced the blue-haired Mermaid who had apparently never taken her eyes off the boy. The young Hero twitched under the Monster's yellow-eyed gaze, moving to grab his menu. "I-I, uh, w-want the F-Fish Tacos." He decided, handing his and Kitsu's menu over to their waitress.

Meanwhile, Alice immediately reached over to grab a biscuit, stuffing it into her mouth somewhat aggressively after she all but flung her menu across the table towards the Mermaid who was quick to grab the menu and shuffle away.

With a sigh, Luka took one of the biscuits himself, followed closely by Kitsu. Taking a small bite of the biscuit, Luka glanced about the room again. All around, he saw men, women, and Mermaids all mingling together inside the restaurant. It was still somewhat surreal to see Monsters and Humans interacting so openly and normally, but the young Hero couldn't help the smile that came to his face.

He continued his scanning of the room, before noticing something a bit worrying.

Standing towards the back of the pub by the doors that Luka presumed would be the kitchen area of the restaurant were three Mermaids, two of them being the ones that had served them thus far and a third one he didn't recognize peeking out of the door to the kitchen. This third Mermaid had bright blond hair and dark blue eyes, though the most striking detail was the fact that she appeared to be only wearing an apron.

The taller pink-haired one was looking over at the boy while the shorter blue-haired one was whispering something to the blonde Mermaid. Upon meeting his gaze, the pink-haired Mermaid gave the boy another wink. Luka's heart throbbed sporadically, and he was quick to look away from the three Mermaids to grab another biscuit.

"So..." The voice of Alice suddenly cut in, "...You said you wanted to go to San Ilia next?" Alice asked with a tone not at all hiding her discontent. Luka was sheepish in his reply, "Well, yeah. I-I figured that it would be nice to meet the King there since I'm a Hero."

Alice shook her head, her white hair and flowers swaying lightly as she did. "That seems awfully boring. Plus, a place like that probably has terrible food." Luka was a bit confused about how the disguised Lamia could infer that San Ilia would have terrible food, but he couldn't question it as the Two-Tailed Kitsune beside him made her opinion known. "Aaaand, a place like that would have nothing but Humans crawling around!"

A loud and annoyed scoff came from Alice's mouth at Kitsu's interruption, "What difference does that make to you? Aren't you supposed to be gone by now anyways?" She turned her suddenly steeled gaze to Luka, "Right?" The young Hero raised his hands up in defense, "E-Eh, I'm sure th-that once we reach a good stopping point that-"

Swiftly, the two Mermaids from before came to their table with plates in both of their hands. The pink-haired Mermaid deposited two plates on Alice's side of the table while the blue-haired one made to do the same for Kitsu and Luka, very deliberately leaning over the boy as she placed his and the Kitsune's plate onto their side of the table and making it to where her barely covered breasts were practically right in front of his face.

The now red-faced Luka tried to look anywhere but right in front of himself all the while, though the blue-haired waitress took an awfully suspicious amount of time doing so before finally backing away. The purple-haired boy looked down at his plate, his face scrunching up as he noticed something off: He had an extra taco on his plate.

He raised a hand at the two Mermaids, "Um, e-excuse me? Th-The menu said that there were three tacos, but I have four?" The pink-haired Mermaid had to be the one to reply, as her blue-haired partner was too preoccupied with her sudden giggling fit to respond, "Oh, that's just because one of our cooks thinks you're really cute."

Luka watched incredulously as the two Mermaids retreated, the blunt confession leaving him without words. The blushing Hero looked back down to his meal, tentatively reaching out to grab a taco from the platter in front of him.

Crack

Both Luka and Kitsu jumped as Alice quite violently snapped a crab leg open with her hands alone, the sickening sound resounding loudly throughout the room. The young Hero and the silver-furred fox looked to the disguised Lamia, who began to huffily scrap out the crab meat with a small fork. Luka felt a familiar pull on his sleeve once more and he turned towards a perturbed-looking Kitsu.

"I-Is that normal?" Kitsu whispered, spurring Luka to side-eye Alice, who was quite angrily ripping more legs apart, sending pieces of crab shell flying off the table in a very undignified manner. The young Hero grimaced at the display, not too sure how to approach the situation. Luka leaned over to the silver-furred fox and whispered, "Don't worry about it, just try keep your hands on this side of the table." Kitsu nodded and went to eat her own meal while trying not to acknowledge the ensuing chaos across the table.

Luka reached down and grabbed one of his Tacos, finding himself pleasantly surprised to find that the admittedly strange combination of flavor meshed quite nicely.

The younger Hero turned to look at Kitsu and felt himself grow even more glad as he noticed that the silver-furred fox was happily munching on her Fish N' Chips. 'Well, at least some of us are able to enjoy the meal...' Luka thought, his pale blue eyes watching as Alice - quite ferociously - was now tearing apart her Filet Mignon with her hands, forgoing the silverware entirely.

"E-Erm, Alice?" The young Hero's traveling partner paused, her golden eyes slowly rising up from her plate to face the boy. Luka fidgeted with his fingers as he continued, "N-Not to - um - tell you what to do, but y-you might want to slow down just a bit." Alice blinked a couple times before looking down at the table, which was covered in discarded crab shells. She then slowly lowered her Filet Mignon onto the plate.

"...Sorry." The disguised Lamia muttered quietly, picking up and cutting the rest of the food with the silverware to save face.


Eventually, the trio finished their food, while Alice took it upon herself to put the remaining cheese biscuits out of their misery. Indeed, everything had seemed to stabilize. "I-I'm glad you suggested this, Alice. I feel much better now." Luka said, lightly patting a napkin against his mouth. The disguised Lamia actually smirked at the boy's words, "You really should listen to me more, you'd be surprised about how many things I'm right about."

'I kinda already listen to you all the time.' Luka thought, but he found a smile coming to his face either way. As important as his quest to defeat the Monster Lord was, he would be a liar if he said he didn't prefer side-tracking like this. Even Kitsu seemed to be much more comfortable now, having scooted closer to the boy at some point. All-in-all, things seemed to have settled down for the moment.

That was until Luka saw the pink-haired Mermaid sliding back over to them.

'Well, at least it's just one of them this time.' Luka observed, tentatively reaching into his pocket to get his money ready. The Mermaid was holding a small slip of paper in her hands, but what caught the young Hero's attention was the rather mischievous glint in the approaching waitress's bright green eyes. Luka steeled himself, he was ready for whatever was about to be thrown his way!

The Mermaid reached the table and surprisingly, she swiftly and quite purposely slid the receipt on the table towards the young boy before hurriedly leaving once again. He watched the pink-haired Mermaid leave with a slow blink, 'Huh, that worked out better than I thought it would.' Luka reached over and grabbed the small piece of paper with a hand.

At first, all seemed normal as he read it over. The small piece of paper laid out their meal and their prices, which Luka diligently placed the proper amount of gold down to pay for. However, as he was folding the receipt up, he noticed something written on the backside of the paper...

Luka felt himself shiver uncontrollably before turning the small piece of paper over, seeing a small message undoubtedly written for him:

"Come back after hours if you're wanting an extra special three-course Mermaid dessert!~"

The purple-haired Hero's eyes widened, and he very violently crumbled up the paper and shoved it in his pocket, much to Alice and Kitsu's confusion. "Oka-aay guys, I-I think it's about t-time we go!" The now bright-red Luka stuttered out, getting up and walking away from the booth. Alice and Kistu both gave him a perturbed look before leaving the booth after him, the trio moving for the doors.

Luka ignored the fact that all three of the Mermaids were giggling from the back of the restaurant as he burst through the front doors of the pub with Alice and Kitsu in tow, making sure to speed-walk away as quickly as he could without causing too much of a scene before stopping a few meters away.

Traffic outside the Mermaid restaurant seemed to have died down some as the day became later, the previous bustling crowd at nearly half what it was before. The young Hero glanced up to the somewhat cloudy sky, noting that the sun was about three-quarters into its journey already. Which meant that evening would more likely than not be approaching soon.

"It looks like we'll probably be better off finding somewhere to stay for the night." Alice said, following Luka's gaze to the sky. The purple-haired boy nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I think s-so too," Luka started, still fighting off the last of his embarrassment. "But before we go anywhere else, I was wanting to see if there was a place where I can get new gloves." He finished his statement by lifting up his hands, which were still bare of coverage.

As much as he hated the idea of forgoing his Father's gloves, the fabric had become pretty well stained with his blood after his battles in the Cave of Treasures. Truthfully, he could probably still wear them anyway, but he figured that running around with bloodstained clothing wouldn't be very Heroic. So until he could get those properly cleaned, he'd need to find a temporary replacement.

Alice took a step closer, "Well, as much as I'd love to watch you window-shop, I'll let you tend to that while I get us a room somewhere." Luka gave his traveling partner a questioning look, "Eh, so how will we find each other afterwards?" Alice merely crossed her arms as she replied, "Just wait in front of this restaurant when you're done, I'll find you there."

Luka gave her a nod, "Alright, sounds good." He turned to Kitsu, "So, Kitsu, do you want to go with me or do you want to go with-"

"-I'll go with you!" The silver-furred fox quickly cut in, not even trying to be subtle about her aversion to the disguised Lamia. Alice smirked, "Hmm, smart choice." She said, an edge of menace leaking through her tone. From the way Alice spoke, Luka couldn't help but imagine that he had just inadvertently saved Kitsu from being viciously dunked into the waters surrounding Port Natalia by his traveling partner.

Without further ado, the trio broke up into two groups. Alice going one way while Luka with Kitsu in tow going the other way. The pair began circling the heart of Port Natalia once more, this time with the goal of finding any place that looked like it would sell gloves. As they moved amongst the crowd, Luka noticed from the corner of his eye that Kitsu was getting a bit uneasy.

Upon closer inspection, Luka noticed that the silver-furred fox's ears were folded down, and her two tails curled around her almost defensively. All-in-all, the Kitsune was looking as though she wasn't doing too good. The young Hero was a bit lost as to why Kitsu was acting this way at first, but when he noticed that the fox's wary gaze was looking at the Humans around them, he began to get an idea.

'The crowd must be making her anxious.' Luka's mouth formed a tight line at the thought. He wasn't the most comfortable in crowds, but he could manage well enough by keeping his head down and just pushing through. However, Luka could tell that Kitsu was having more trouble than he was right now.

Luka glanced down at his traveling bag for a moment, but quickly shook his head. 'I don't know if it'd be great for her to just hide out in my bag for the rest of the day. That can't be good for her spine.' He bit the inside of his mouth for a few seconds, his mind searching for some sort of solution. Luka's eyes suddenly locked in on the silver-furred fox's hand and a very risky idea came to mind.

Thinking back to his own personal experience, Luka remembered how holding someone's hand - usually his Father's - would help calm his nerves. However, while that had worked for him as a child, there was absolutely no knowing if that would comfort Kitsu at all.

But if there was a chance, he might as well try.

With a mental plea that his actions don't result in some sort of violent reaction, Luka steeled himself and reached out, grabbing Kitsu's hand with his own. The fox gasped and immediately whirled around to stare wide-eyed at the young Hero, stopping them both in their tracks. "Wh-What the heck are you d-doing!?" Kitsu questioned, her red eyes looking at Luka in accusation.

Interestingly enough, she did not pull away.

Luka gave an apprehensive smile to the shorter Monster girl, "I-I just figured that, s-since you looked upset, that I'd t-try to make you feel better?" Kitsu's face dropped, "...By holding my hand?" The young Hero wavered under the fox's red-eyed stare as he got the feeling that he had made a mistake.

"Uh... yes?" He replied a bit lamely.

The Two-Tailed Kitsune eyed him for a bit longer before her red eyes widened, apparently having only just now realized that they were still holding hands. With a jerk, Kitsu broke the contact. "W-Well don't do that! People might s-start to think things about us if you do!" The silver-furred fox proclaimed, holding the hand close to her chest as though the act of merely touching him was dangerous.

Luka raised his hands up while he gave her an apologetic look, "O-Okay, okay. I'm sorry, won't do it again." He said, awkwardly turning away from Kitsu and continuing his quest to find some gloves. 'Guess I should've expected a reaction like that.' Luka thought, ultimately choosing to drop the matter entirely in hopes that he hadn't made things too uneasy.

With the Two-Tailed Kitsune shadowing him, the purple-haired boy began to scour Port Natalia for a store that may help him with his bare hands. Turning his head side to side, Luka glanced over the stores with purpose until a certain question came to his mind. "S-So..." The young Hero started, "...I don't mean to p-pry, but I imagine you don't plan on staying with us much longer after today?"

Especially when considering Alice's increasingly hostile behavior towards her and the Kitsune's overall aversion to Humans, Luka expected the silver-furred fox to quickly agree with his assumption. However, he was surprised by Kitsu's complete lack of an answer. Luka glanced over to the Monster girl, who seemed to be troubled by something.

Luka frowned, swiftly finding himself compelled to find out what was bothering the young fox, but a sudden voice rang out from the crowd.

"LUKA! Hey, Hey! Over here!" The purple-haired boy blinked, not sure if he was hearing right. 'That can't be her... Can it?' Luka glanced around for a while before he felt Kitsu grab his sleeve. He turned to the silver-furred fox, who pointed to a wooden merchant stand that was positioned right between two neighboring buildings. "Er, I think she's the one you're looking for?"

The young Hero's pale-blue eyes followed her pointing finger, his gaze locking onto the Blue Slime bouncing behind the counter. Luka gawked at the sight, instantly recognizing the Monster girl. "L-Lime?" He exclaimed, pacing up to the merchant stand with bewildered eyes.

"Yup, it's me!" Lime exclaimed with sparkling green eyes, still unable to stop her bouncing much to Luka's discomfort, as her unprotected assets were still on full display. The purple-haired Hero scanned Lime's merchant stand, noticing that the Blue Slime seemed to be selling one item and one item only: Boomerangs.

Luka hummed, looking up at the sign above him to confirm this.

Lime the Slime's BoomeЯangs!

"Like what you see, Luka? And I'm not just talkin' about myself, I'm talkin' about these babies!" Lime said with a coy but proud smile, gesturing down to her shelves of boomerangs. The young Hero looked back down to the counter to look at the Slime's wares. Luka slowly nodded as he looked over the array of wooden boomerangs, which actually seemed to be quite professionally made.

"U-Uh, yeah, I think they look pretty good, Lime. Did you make them all yourself?" The Blue Slime wore a large grin as she crossed her arms beneath her very generous bust, "Of course I did! Boomerangs are my passion, didn't you know?" She asked, to which Luka quickly shook his head, "Uh, no, I-I didn't."

"Oh..." Lime said, her arms dropping at his answer. "...Well, yeah, it is my passion. So much so that, just the other day, I decided to become the World's first Boomerang Sales-Slime!" Lime exclaimed, her green eyes gleaming with delight. Luka mirrored the Monster's expression with a grin of his own, "Wow, that's great Lime! How many have you sold so far?"

At that, Lime's smile very slowly disappeared, "Eh... I-I haven't sold any actually." She whispered out in shame, looking down at her stand's counter with a dour look. Luka frowned at the uncharacteristic display, "Oh, I'm sorry, Lime." He said before placing a hand on the Slime's Boomerang stand, "Well, I'm sure business will pick up soon."

The Blue Slime shrugged half-heartedly, "I hope so..." She mumbled before raising her gaze up to the young Hero again, this time her gaze noticing the presence of Kitsu standing just behind him. Lime squinted her bright green eyes at the fox, "...Hey, who's that?" Luka blinked before realizing who Lime was referring to. "Ah! Yes," He started while gesturing to the silver-furred fox, who gave a somewhat awkward wave. "This is Kitsu. She's traveling with me at the moment."

Lime gave Kitsu an energetic wave, "Hello!" Luka turned to Kitsu while motioning back towards the Blue Slime girl, "And Kitsu, this is Lime. She's... uh..." The young Hero paused as he attempted to find a proper description for the Slime. "...She's a friend of mine." He finished after a moment.

"Uh-huh..." Kitsu trailed off, looking at Slime's merchant stand with half-curious eyes. She looked over the boomerangs for a moment before turning her attention to Luka, a disarmingly coy expression coming to her face."...So is she just a friend, or is she another one of your love sl-"

"-Don't s-say it!" The young Hero hissed, swiftly cutting off the Kitsune. Luka's face burned a bright red as Kitsu actually began to giggle at him while he attempted to push past the teasing. "S-So, Lime, d-do you know any places around here that sell love - erh, I mean - gl-gloves!?" The Blue Slime hummed in response, placing a hand on her chin while leaning over the counter. Luka felt his face heat up as the Monster girl's breasts were on full display for him to see, but the moment of distress was brief.

"Hmmm, I do think I have a friend who can help you." She said, before raising to full height. "But I'm horrible at giving directions, so I'll just take you to her place myself!"

Luka nodded, the last of his flustering fading away. "S-Sure, lead the way!" He exclaimed, which spurred Lime to happily bounce out from behind the counter and grab the purple-haired boy's arm! "Wh-Whoa!" Luka exclaimed as the surprisingly strong Slime girl nearly yanked him off of his feet completely, dragging him further into Port Natalia.

With Kitsu hurriedly following close behind, Luka was led by a surprisingly quick-paced Lime through a dwindling crowd of Humans and Mermaids. In no time at all, the trio came up to a small corner shop of sorts. Lime let go of the young Hero's arm to present the store to Luka and Kitsu. "Here it is!" The Blue Slime proclaimed while lifting her hands up towards the place, "Mink's Mermaid Merchandise!"

The Prophet of Ilias and the silver-furred fox looked over the rather shady-looking shack with questioning looks. It wasn't exactly dilapidated, but it certainly looked like it had been a while since it had seen any type of repair.

"Alright!" Lime exclaimed while clapping, bringing Luka and Kitsu's attention to herself. Without further ado, The Blue Slime shouted an enthusiastic "Let's go!" before whirling around and loudly ramming into the door. Lime paused, finding that the door would not open. Luka and Kitsu watched on as Lime started jangling the doorknob.

"Huh... That's not good." The Blue Slime muttered under her breath as she realized that the door was locked.

"Uhh, I dunno about this." Kitsu remarked, side-eyeing Lime as she continued fiddling with the door. Luka glanced down at the concerned-looing silver-furred fox, unable to fully disagree with the sentiment. "Ehh..." Luka started while pulling lightly at his hair, noticing that the Blue Slime was now very loudly messing with the doorknob. "...Lime? Is everything alrig-"

SNAP

"U-Uhh..." Lime mumbled, taking a moment to stare down at the now-severed doorknob in her hands.

Unable to see that the Blue Slime had just accidentally broken the doorknob off, Luka and Kitsu watched in confusion as Lime whirled around with a large - and very nervous - smile on her face. "Ha-Ha-Ha... Eh, alright, w-we can go in now!" She proclaimed, pushing the door open and holding it open for the two while quite purposely blocking their view of where the doorknob should be.

Luka and Kitsu glanced at each other at the same time, neither of the two very confident at all now. The young Hero stepped forward, silently volunteering himself to venture forth first. Lime's shaky smile grew as the boy passed, the action being meant to encourage him, though it didn't inspire much assurance for the purple-haired boy.

Kitsu very - very - begrudgingly shuffled after Luka, her pouting face unabashedly giving away the fact that she did not want to go in. Once Kitsu had passed through, Lime followed close behind after the two went inside.

In all fairness, the inside of the shop was significantly more homely than the outside. Almost too homely, as the shop owner's wares were quite literally scattered about much in the way a person might have their personal belongings lying about in their home on any regular day. Case in point, many tables of different shapes and designs littered the single-roomed store before them, each one having a seemingly random collection of knick-knacks and trinkets lying on top of them.

At the very back of the room was a counter with a register, behind that being what appeared to be a door leading to the shop's backrooms.

Lime, who was very nervously glancing to said door at the back of the room, suddenly turned to face Luka. The Blue Slime looked uncharacteristically fearful as she addressed the young Hero and his Kitsune companion, "Hehe, I-I'm gonna go find Mink. So just go ahead and take a look around!" She said before sliding to the back of the store and leaving through the door behind the counter, silently giving thanks that this doorknob did not break at her hands.

The young Hero watched Lime disappear with a shake of his head before facing Kitsu, "Alright, let's see if there's any gloves here." Luka said as he began scanning the commodities, to which Kitsu weakly shrugged her shoulders before following him further into the small store. Beyond the many tables inside the store were racks upon racks of clothing. Luka eyed them with a somewhat curious gaze, but none of the racks happened to have any gloves hanging from them.

With a look over his shoulder, Luka took note of Kitsu eyeing the tables in the middle of the room. The various jewelry and other trinkets were on full display, but only one item in particular caught the silver-furred fox's attention, Luka couldn't tell much from the distance but he could make out something long, thin, and silver lying on the table. Luka craned his head just a bit to get a closer look at what the Kitsune was examining but his attention was quickly moved from her as a loud noise resounded through the air.

CRASH

Luka and Kitsu both froze as the violent sound was followed by some distant and muffled shouting, one of the two voices distinctly being Lime's. After a few more tense moments, the voice of Lime could be heard yelling, "I-I said I was SORRY!"

The Blue Slime then emerged from the door behind the counter after her yell, pausing only to hurriedly push the door shut behind her and turn to look between Luka and Kitsu for a moment. She chuckled nervously while moving out from behind the counter and began approaching the pair, "Hehehe, I-I kinda forgot that Mink's Mermaid Merchandise is usually closed right now. But don't worry! Mink will be out here to help you in just a few seconds!" Lime informed, which caused the purple-haired Hero to tilt his head at Lime.

"Cl-Closed?" Luka questioned, looking back to the front doors in a panic. "Wait," He started while turning back to the Slime, "Did you break in just now!?"

Lime was slow to reply, her bright green eyes full of panic. "Uhhh, n-no?-"

BANG

The sharp rap of a door colliding with a wall rang out throughout the room, causing the whole trio to flinch. Lime was first to recover and flashed Luka a brittle smile, "Heh, w-well I gotta go back to my Boomerang stand so... see ya!" The Blue Slime exclaimed before trying to leave. However, she was stopped by the loud thud of the door at the back of the room being thrown open.

Luka, Lime, and Kitsu all turned to the opened door at the back of the room, hearing a shuffling noise coming from behind the counter. At first, he was only able to make out what appeared to be a black bandana poking out from behind the counter, two tuffs of the fabric waving around like ears as the figure reached the end of the counter. Then, the figure emerged, showing herself to be - unsurprisingly - a Mermaid.

She was short, being even shorter than Kitsu, but her fierce bright green eyes caused Ilias's Hero and his Kitsune companion to remain quiet. The lightly tanned Mermaid bounced as she shuffled near, the action lightly swaying her shoulder-length light-gray hair. However, to Luka's discomfort, that was not all that shook...

...As her chest did not match the petiteness of the rest of her body.

While Luka would never - ever - admit it out loud, he was quick to notice that this Mermaid's particular proportions were so completely and ludicrously huge for her height that if he wasn't seeing it for himself right now, he'd think it impossible. But it was inarguable, for beneath the Mermaid's gray crop top was a chest so large that each breast rivaled the size of the Mermaid's own head.

'Just... keep eye contact.' Luka thought to himself, clearing his throat with a cough while steeling his resolve. 'Don't look down... do not... look down...'

The Mermaid eventually stopped pacing forward, stopping a few meters away to fold her arms beneath her sizable bust. She dressed down Lime with an intense glare as the Blue Slime kept her own guilt-riddled gaze on the floor. The air was quite thick with tension, a tension that Luka stepped forward to try and dissuade.

"U-Uh, hello! My name i-is Luka, y-you're Mink, correct?" The purple-haired boy asked, his question causing the Mermaid to focus her intense glower onto him now. "Yeah, that'd be me." The Mermaid replied, though her tone was significantly tamer when addressing the purple-haired boy.

Luka cleared his throat a second time, his nerves a bit frazzled now. "Ah, g-great. S-So, erm, do you h-happen to have any gloves, b-b-by chance?" The young Hero asked while having to push through his stuttering.

Mink nodded, "Mmm-Hmm, 'course I do." The Mermaid answered before nudging her head towards the side, "Right over 'ere, follow me." Luka silently followed Mink as she led him across the store, Kitsu trailing a bit behind the pair with little enthusiasm.

Eventually, they came to a small collection of shelves, many different pairs of gloves being on full display. The green-eyed Mermaid watched with a sideways glance as the young Hero looked over the gloves, giving light hums as his pale-blue eyes scanned over the assembly of product. He was a bit taken aback as Mink unexpectedly spoke up, "Hey, I need to deal with some other business real quick. Just meet me up by the counter when you're done, m'kay?"

A shiver went up Luka's spine at the way Mink stressed "other business" and he gave a shaky reply, "O-Of course." The Mermaid gave a nod and shuffled off to where Lime was no doubt still waiting. It was then when Kitsu, who had been keeping her distance from the irate Mermaid, moved back towards Luka as Mink left.

"I think your Slime friend is about to be throttled." The Kitsune bluntly observed. Luka grimaced at her words, having gotten a similar feeling himself by the way Mink was acting. "W-Well if things start to get bad, I'll step in to handle it." He said, pausing a bit before turning to the collection of gloves once more.

Luka began picking through the various gloves, his pale-blue eyes running over them once more. 'White would be too easy to stain... Don't really like leather... Fingerless is a no-go...' The purple-haired boy frowned, finding that each pair of gloves was just not quite right for him. Truthfully, he really just wanted a pair that at the very least resembled his Father's, but there seemed to be no light-brown gloves anywhere.

"How about these ones?" Kitsu's voice spoke out, bringing Luka's attention to the silver-furred fox. In her hands were a pair of wrist-length black gloves. The young Hero eyed the articles with a good deal of uncertainty, but he reached out and took the gloves from Kitsu's small hands to inspect them further. They felt just a tad bit lighter than his Father's gloves and were not nearly as worn out either.

But were black gloves really a good fit for him?

"Er, I don't know about these." Luka said, his eyes looking from the gloves to Kitsu. The Two-Tailed Kitsune raised an eyebrow at the boy's comment and pointed at the gloves in his hands, "You haven't even tried them on, how would know if you like them or not yet?" It was a logical point, one that prompted Luka to raise the gloves up once more.

The young Hero began to gingerly pull the black gloves over his hands, only partly aware of how Kitsu was watching on intently while he did so. Once getting the gloves on, Luka gave his fingers an experimental flex. The young Hero blinked, finding himself surprised at how these new black gloves actually seemed to fit his hands more snugly than his Father's had.

Luka gave Kitsu a small smile, "Hey, these are actually pretty comfortable!" He declared, to which the silver-furred fox crossed her arms as she grinned with pride. "Of course they are! They're the same type I use when I practice my Ninjutsu!" The purple-haired boy paused upon hearing what Kitsu said, taking note of Kitsu's mention of the unfamiliar term. He opened up his mouth to question what the silver-furred fox had just mentioned, but his chance was cut off by a sudden interruption via an enraged Mink.

"DAMN IT LIME!"

Luka and Kitsu both visibly jumped at the yell and looked towards the front of the store where the uproar had come from, Luka in particular looking very worried. 'That can't be good!' The young Hero thought as he dashed towards the front of the store where Mink was in the middle of berating Lime.

"Ya've done it now, you dunderhead! I can't believe you broke off the whole freakin' doorknob!" The Mermaid yelled, her face red hot from anger as she spoke. Lime, who was now holding the doorknob in a hand, was nearly in tears it seemed as she tried to explain herself. "I-I-It was an h-honest mistake, I-I promise! I didn't mean to br-break it!" Lime wailed while waving the item around.

Mink, however, did not seem to be having it.

"I don't wanna hear it, yer gonna be paying for this big time, ya understand me!?" The light-gray-haired Mermaid exclaimed with a strong point of a finger, effectively ending the conversation. Mink turned away from the defeated-looking Slime, stopping only when seeing Luka and Kitsu standing before her. The Mermaid's anger fizzled some under the duo's anxious expressions, "Erh, I'll be at the register when you're ready..." The disheveled Mink said, before sliding off to the back of the store.

Luka watched the Mermaid leave for a moment before turning his attention to Lime. He eyed the doorknob that the Blue Slime still had clutched in her hand, "Lime, why'd you break that for?"

Lime frowned, messing with the item in her hands for a moment before answering. "I-I didn't mean to, I j-just thought it was stuck or something..." Lime's gaze fell to the floor, a sad frown coming to her face. "...I-I don't think I could even pay for it. I don't have a lot of money..."

The purple-haired Hero looked over the despondent Slime for a moment and couldn't help but feel bad for Lime. Luka didn't really know her all that well, but he could tell that she hadn't broken the door out of any sort of malicious intent. He mulled over the situation for a moment, wondering if there was any way he could possibly help mediate the situation.

Luka addressed Lime with a nod, "Well, I can try talking to Mink if you want? Maybe I can work something out." The Blue Slime immediately perked up at his words, "R-Really? You would do that for me?" Lime asked with hopeful - and tear filled - green eyes as she slid up to the young Hero.

Truthfully, Luka wasn't really sure if he could fix the situation or not, but he'd rather try and fail than not try in the first place. After all, if he could help the Four Bandits turn a new leaf and if he could help bring peace to Happiness Village, then he could certainly solve this issue with little trouble.

In theory, at least.

"Yeah, I-I can do tha-AH!" Luka's words were turned into a shout as Lime practically snatched him into a tight hug. "Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!" Lime yelled, pulling the purple-haired boy up against her body. Luka grimaced from the hug, not from the pain of its tightness, but from the fact that he had to awkwardly crane his head away to keep his face from being completely smothered by the overjoyed Slime's bust.

Eventually Lime let Luka go and he stumbled back a bit, a light blush growing on his face as he gave a stuttered reply. "Y-You're welcome, L-Lime." The purple-haired boy turned to Kitsu, who had been watching the two with a bit of surprise. He stepped towards the silver-furred fox to ask, "Kitsu, do you mind waiting here with Lime while I go talk with Mink?"

"Sure." Kitsu said with a shrug, allowing Luka to leave the Kitsune and Slime behind to make his way up to the counter where Mink was waiting.

Luka took off the new gloves on his way to the counter and found himself compelled to stop as he passed by the table Kitsu had been at when they first entered the shop. He gave a quick look over his shoulder, finding that Kitsu and Lime were now chatting amongst themselves. Quickly, he scanned the table before finding what the Two-Tailed Kitsune had been inspecting earlier. Luka reached down and picked up the item in question.

He could now see that the thin silver object was actually a decorative hairpin, one side ending with a small red flower and matching red ribbon.

Luka hummed to himself while turning it over in his grip, contemplating the accessory for a moment longer before deciding to hold on to it as he continued towards the front counter. The purple-haired boy braced himself as he neared the counter at the back of the store but was left a bit confused as he found a tense-looking Mink awaiting him.

However, even as he drew closer, the green-eyed Mermaid seemed to not notice him as she stared down at the wooden countertop while massing her forehead in frustration. Luka couldn't help but feel bad at the sight, moving a bit more carefully towards Mink now.

Upon reaching Mink, Luka lightly tapped a finger on the counter before her. The Mermaid was broken from her thoughts at the sound, raising her green eyes up to meet Luka's pale blue ones. The purple-haired Hero's face scrunched up just a tad as he noticed that the dark rings beneath the Mermaid's eyes.

"Aye, sorry 'bout that." Mink said to which Luka simply waved away the apology and placed his selection on the counter before the Mermaid. Mink eyed the items for a few seconds as Luka started unzipping his traveling bag, before she finally declared, "That'd be eight gold." The young Hero couldn't help the surprised look he gave Mink, not having expected such a low price.

While pulling out his money, Luka started to converse with the Mermaid, "S-Sorry if I'm prying, Mink, but you seem to be a bit out-of-sorts?" The light-gray-haired Monster huffed at the question as her frustration was briefly reignited, "Well, my doorknob being freakin' busted is one of the reasons why." Luka flinched at the Mermaid's swift reply, the answer itself making him feel as if his question may have been somewhat redundant now.

"I truly am sorry for that, Mink." He said while sliding his payment across the counter. Mink was quick to grab the coins, not needing to stop for even a moment to verify that it was the correct amount as she turned to her register. "Don't know why you would be, ain't your fault." The young Hero leaned his arms onto the counter, taking a bit of satisfaction in being tall enough to comfortably do so. "Well, it kinda is. I asked Lime for places that sell gloves, and she led me here first."

Mink paused as she opened her register, seemingly to take his words into consideration for a moment. "Hmmm..." The Mermaid hummed before closing the drawer and facing Luka with an uncompromising look in her eyes, "...While I 'preciate her trying to help my business, eight coins won't be fixin' that doorknob anytime soon. So she'll be havin' to pay up either way."

Luka scrunched up his mouth as he thought about his next course of action, but really, only one option remained. "How much would it cost to fix?" Mink was taken aback some at the question but was able to give him an answer, "It would be fifty gold."

The young Hero was unable to hide his shock, his pale-blue eyes quick to widen at the price. "F-F-Fifty!? Oh my..." He trailed off, shaking his head as the Mermaid's words began to set in. 'Fifty gold is way more than I would've thought. I want to help Lime, but that'd be an awfully big hit in my own budget.' Luka thought with a deep frown, bringing a hand to his chin as his gaze fell down to the counter.

Mink watched the troubled boy as he deliberated, her heated gaze softening at Luka's somber face. The light-gray-haired Mermaid gave a light hum as she gave the young Hero a look over. He was a bit on the small side - though to be fair, so was she - and didn't seem to be very experienced, but he definitely had a certain innocent aesthetic that had its own allure to it...

...He'd be better than most she sees around Port Natalia, at least.

With a plan now set in her mind Mink loudly and purposely cleared her throat, the noise jostling Luka from his musings. "Erm, ya see, there are... alternative payment options available." The Mermaid said as she very deliberately leaned forward onto the counter, her more-than-amble breasts being accentuated even more than they already were.

However, the presentation was completely lost on Luka, who perked up at her words instead of her actions.

"R-Really? H-How would that work?" Luka asked enthusiastically.

Mink paused, quickly looking past the boy to where Lime and Kitsu were to see the Monsters looking over one of the tables in her shop before glancing back up at Luka again. "It'd be best if we go over this in my office." The Mermaid nudged her head in the direction of the door behind her, even that small action causing her chest to jiggle some.

Luka turned his attention to the door in question, a brief pang of apprehension hitting him for a moment. His gaze slowly came back to the Mink, "Ah, i-if you say so..." The young Hero said, spurring the green-eyed Mermaid to spin around, dropping back behind the counter and moving quickly for the door. Luka was much slower to move, grabbing the gloves and hairpin to stuff into his bag before meandering around to the other side of the counter.

On this side, the purple-haired boy saw a small step stool right where Mink had been standing earlier. He felt a twinge of sympathy for the Mermaid, knowing quite well the battle of being height-deprived himself. Mink promptly opened the back door, looking towards Luka expectantly. The young Hero gulped, the apprehension he felt earlier returning in spades.

The purple-haired boy's eyes looked over nervously to Kitsu and Lime, who still seemed to be preoccupied with looking over the store's wares. He looked back to Mink, who didn't have that same concern. Instead, she gave the same head tilt towards the door, her large breasts swaying once more from the effort. Luka hesitantly paced forward, craning his head around the doorframe to peer inside the room. His face froze, his mind reeling at the sight before him.

Offices usually didn't have beds on the inside, that much he was sure of.

"E-Eh, i-is this y-your office?" Luka asked, a heavy amount of doubt in his tone. Mink was quick to give a blunt reply, "It is now." With a heavy amount of reluctance, the young Hero stepped inside of the "office", Mink following close behind before shutting the door.

Click


Sorry to end it here, but this chapter was getting far longer than what I intended. You can probably guess where this'll be going, though. Suffice to say, I also did not intend for this update to take so long but a great many different things caused me to not have that free time.

Including, but not limited to, digging up a trench to get to a waterline.

Either way, this chapter will probably be seen as a much slower affair, but I wanted to have a bit more of down time and fluff before we get to nighttime. For when night does fall, things will start getting more interesting again as Luka visits Heaven once more...

...Where a very troubled Ilias will be awaiting him.

Proud Parent: I can confirm is that Cherub Wormiel will be thoroughly brutalized by Luka when she meets her end. In terms of fights, it will end up being one of the worse.

Deadinside378: Thank you very much!

espioll: The only part I will confirm is that the being from Luka's nightmare was something that resides in Heaven.

As for Luka and Lazarus's first meeting, it will prove to be one of the more upsetting scenes of this fanfic for sure. It will end up causing a radical mental shift in Luka, in particular.