The Challenge of the Masters

⊱⊰ 57: Regrets ⊱⊰

Arielle shot Lala a surprised gaze. For a second, she looked as if she was going to say something but held back.

"That's a lie." Malu glared at Lala. "Caris is not like that. She's way too shy to be dangerous."

As a short silence fell, Arisa wondered why such lies were being spread around, teaching even innocent children to hate those who were not like them. How could people look at Caris and say she was dangerous? Judging by her innocent appearance and shy personality, she looked more vulnerable than a threat.

"I'll think about your situation once we reach home, Malu," said Arielle, changing the subject. "You really made me angry by going to that forest alone. If your father finds out, he will have evidence to take you away from me. I don't want you to grow far away from me. Not you too."

Malu looked sideways. "I'm sorry."

"Let's go home," said Arielle, caressing Malu's hair. "Before the marine bus leaves us. I don't want to spend minutes waiting for another one. Time is precious."

Malu nodded and as the children started to swim, Arielle glanced over her shoulder.

"You want to see Caris, right?" she asked. "You can come with us if you want."

The team replied with a nod and followed her. Swimming around for a few minutes, Arisa noticed that the further they swam, the more buildings filled the area. Compared to the edifices she could see on the horizon, she saw that the houses here had a simple look with round and abstract shapes. She could see a small number of seashells and corals of different colors decorating the surface of those buildings.

As they explored the small town, crossing paths with different merpeople, they found themselves in an area that resembled a bus stop with a large clam-like seat. As they kept following the mermaid, Arisa's brows arched at the sight of the red and silver transportation in front of them. It really looked like a regular bus but with no wheels. Instead, it had two propellers stuck behind it.

Entering the bus, which was not that full, the team quickly had a seat behind Arielle and the children. As Arielle spoke with the children, Arisa examined her surroundings. She met a small number of passengers sitting on the other side of their transportation. Their appearance varied from half human and half fish beings to beings with scales covering their body except the face that had a few features resembling a human.

Arisa didn't drop her view from her surroundings, meeting the silver interior of the bus that had large windows on each side of the seat close to the surface.

"It's amazing, right?" asked Thelma, her voice quiet. "I wasn't expecting the underwater world to be so advanced. I honestly thought that the people of this world swam to reach a faraway destination. I thought the maximum thing they had as transportations were seahorses or some kind of friendly sea creatures."

Arisa glanced at Thelma who was sitting by her side. She saw how her high ponytail was floating around the water. It looked so delicate. She agreed with Thelma. Speaking of transportations, Arisa remembered the few carriages she saw along the way. In front of them, they had creatures that reminded Arisa of dolphins with long and soft dorsal fins.

"I'm guessing that's another reason why they look down on islanders," said Garoh, who was sitting on the seat behind them. "I don't remember seeing another type of transportation besides boats and bicycles. Not even in the Mother Island."

"You could be right," said Thelma, glancing over her shoulder. "They might find their transportations a bit primitive. If that's indeed true, it's really sad. Calling others savages just because their region and transport is not as advanced as them."