I was saved by a woman who was sinking in mud.
The woman who saved Nina and the other person is pushing our canoe.
“Thank you so much, um, are you a Naga?”
In response to my question, the woman burst out laughing cheerfully.
“Hahaha, no, I’m a Melusine. Because I’m good at swimming, right? It’s a shame but Nagas aren’t that fast in the water. They’re fast on land though.”
This must be the Melusine tribe the Boa Orc was talking about. It certainly seems different from a Naga. After a while, we saw another canoe that had been rescued earlier stopped ahead. A man who seemed to be her companion was nearby. It seemed everyone was safe.
The man saw us and started pushing the boat alongside us. However, Elana was nowhere to be seen.
“I’m glad everyone is safe. By the way, what happened to Elana? Did you leave her behind?”
“I’m here.”
She just poked her head out from the edge of the boat. I was relieved; in my haste, I had forgotten to check everyone. Seeing Elana, the Melusine leaned forward and peered at her.
“Eh, what is that? What on earth are you? You’re an Arachne, right? A Centaur, a Naga, and uh, what was it? A Ty… a Satyr! But I’ve never seen you before! Hey, do you sometimes shed hairballs?”
The two Melusines burst into laughter looking at Elana. It wasn’t a mocking laughter, but rather they found it incredibly amusing.
“Haa… I guess you could say I’m a bit of a special creature. Of course, I don’t shed hairballs or chase mice.”
Hearing that, the two simply replied with a “Hmph.” Then the man turned to me and started talking.
“By the way, where are you guys heading? You’re adventurers, right? Should I send you over there? To that place with a lot of humans. You came from there, right? It’s a bit far though.”
“No, we’re travelers. So we don’t know much about this area.”
The woman was laughing merrily again.
“Haha, I see. The rivers around here connect to the sea, and when the tide comes in, the water level rises all at once. Well, it expands our range of movement, so we’re happy about it.”
I told them about meeting the Boa Orc and our destination. The smiles vanished from their faces.
“Ah, is that so? Hey, are you guys really not adventurers?”
“We really aren’t. We were suddenly attacked. So we had no choice but to drive them away. Well, I didn’t do it. I tried to, but I got hit. I think it’s still a bit swollen.”
Perhaps they half-believed me, as they started laughing again looking at my face.
“Kukuku, it was probably that Centaur.”
“No, it was the Naga next to me. Or maybe that strong-looking Dark Harpy. It certainly wasn’t this young man.”
With the two laughing behind me, I wanted to say that I had tried a little.
