The Ugly Duckling Of The Tiger Tribe-Chapter 279: It’s too quiet

"We’ve only ever seen them in their mer form, swimming with the waves," Robin explained. "They never come out on land, unless to sit on our meeting spot."

And yet they’ve been able to keep such a lasting relationship. How marvelous.

"Anything else?" I asked. "Strange habits? Spooky antics like magic?"

"Magic?" Robin tilted his head, confused. "What’s that?"

Hm, guess magic is a strange word for him.

"You know. Do they perform miracles or perhaps do things that seem impossible?" If I explain it like this, help be able to understand clearly, right?

Robin’s face lit up. "I don’t know about that, but there is something they have that is peculiar to them. Their voices."

Please elaborate. When you say voice, do you mean they talk funny or...?

"They have the most beautiful voices I have ever heard. When they sing, it feels like floating on air and all your worries disappear. But they are picky. They only sing to those they like. We were lucky. I don’t think any other race has actually heard them sing."

I felt a spark of excitement in his tone and the excitement reached me as well.

’Beautiful voices?’ I wondered if they sounded like the K-pop idols back home. I could definitely go for some live music after months of living in this primitive world with no real entertainment.

Damar, however, didn’t share my enthusiasm. He caught the look on my face and scowled.

"Ari, don’t get distracted," Damar warned, shifting the weight of the cub basket. This was the first thing he had said in a while. "The mer-folk use those songs to lure prey into the water. It’s a hunting tactic."

I flinched. "Wait, like sirens? They drown beasts?"

Robin shook his head quickly, waving his hands. "No, no! That’s just a predator’s myth. They would never harm an innocent beast. They are kind souls."

"Yeah, maybe to sheep who they already certify innocent," I muttered. "But what about everyone else?"

I think the sheep aren’t the only ones who have heard the mer folks sing. It’s just... They’re the only ones who’ve actually lived to tell the tale.

Should I be worried now?

I looked at Damar who kept his gaze firm and unwavering, and then at the sparkling blue horizon up ahead. Kind souls or sirens, which were the mer folks?

"Let’s just keep our eyes open," I said. "And our ears plug if they start getting too melodic."

I was starting to get hungry, and do you know what I was craving? Fish. Yeah, I wanted sushi. But I can say that having sushi at the home of a fish tribe was a very easy way to provoke them, so let’s not do that.

"By the way, Robin," I said as we drew near the blue sea. "I heard your tribe is very good at sewing and making sewing tools."

"Ah," he brushed the back of his woolly back shyly. "Yes, but I don’t think we’re all that."

"No need to be humble. Just grant me a request once all this is over."

"A request?"

"Yes, a request. I just need some of your newly made sewing tools. As well as..." My eyes fell on the wool on his head. "...well, some sewing materials."

I don’t know if he got what I was saying but he accepted without hesitation.

"For the one who saved our tribe, that’s the least we can do." I smiled.

"Perfect."

The closer we got, the more the air of salt and sea hit me. This was the salty sea Noah talked about last time, and if this dried up, we’d probably get a lot of salt. But we’re not here for salt. We’re here to investigate.

The sand under my boots felt different from the dirt in the forest. It was hot and loose, making every step a bit of a struggle. But I kinda liked the feeling.

It almost felt like being at the beach.

I’ve never been to the beach, alone. On our field trip, there was a beach, so I had the opportunity to walk on the loose sand. I loved the sand, loved the waves crashing, but it was not a place I wanted to be in with so many shining stars.

Now, being back here, it felt like I finally had the opportunity to enjoy the beach.

But this, too, was not the time to enjoy the sound of waves and the feeling of sand under my feet.

I looked at the vast blue water stretching out forever.

"It’s too quiet," Damar said. He had stopped gliding and was looking at the waves.

I stopped too. He was right.

Usually, a beach should have birds crying or the sound of things moving in the tide pools. But there was nothing. Just the steady, dull thud of the waves hitting the shore.

Robin pointed toward a cluster of large, flat rocks that jutted out into the water. "That is what we call the Singing Stone. That’s where they usually show up to greet us. We would bring them gifts of mountain fruits, and they would splash the water to show they were happy."

And I was sure there was a lot of cuddling mixed in. I meant, who could resist touching the wool of these creatures? That’s probably why the mer folks like them so much.

We walked toward the rocks. My heart was thumping. I felt like a detective in a movie, looking for that one clue that would blow the case wide open.

"Robin, stay back a bit," I said. I didn’t want him getting caught if something jumped out of the water.

As we stepped onto the rough, wet surface of the stones, I noticed something strange. The rocks weren’t just wet from the tide. There was a weird, sticky film over them, like dried spit or old sap.

I knelt down, ignoring Damar’s hiss of warning, and touched it.

It felt slimy. And it smelled... bitter. Not like the sea, but like crushed weeds.

"Damar, look at this," I said, showing him my fingers. "This doesn’t look like it belongs in the ocean, right?"

Damar was an expert with herbs so he’d know better than me what this was. He leaned in, his nose wrinkling.

"It’s a plant. A ground-up herb. It’s used in the deep forest to make traps. If you rub it on a cage, the beast inside becomes sluggish."

I looked out at the water. If someone had dumped a ton of this stuff into the water near the rocks, any mer-folk coming up to say hi would have basically been drugged.

"So they didn’t leave," I whispered. "They were sedated."