There had been a coup in Albahar.
Prince Bek had led it, seeing his chances of becoming Beast King dwindle.
While the rebellion had been stopped, Bek had managed to steal the Beast King's Emblem, a set of equipment only the Beast King could wear.
And it seemed like the Prostia Empire had been helping him from the shadows.
Allen's party needed to get into Prostia somehow.
They needed to retrieve the stolen Beast King's Emblem, which was a set of orichalcum knuckle guards, orichalcum armor, and Kuwatoro's Sacred Bead.
Peromus also wanted to get his hands on Makris' Sacred Bead, to fulfill his promise to Fiona and marry her.
Everyone had a reason to get into Prostia, but it was a hard place to visit, being an empire of mermen.
Other races needed a special pass from Prostia to enter.
With that pass, the owners would receive Aqua's Blessing and be able to breathe underwater like mermen, even down in the bottom of the ocean where Prostia was located.
Clebeur, a vassal country of Prostia's, also had the ability of giving out passes, but those did not have Aqua's Blessing, so it was useless for any race other than mermen.
Such were the situations surrounding them, so Clebeur's royal family and all the officers and knights present were shocked seeing Allen transform into a merman in front of their eyes.
"Allen, does that really change your race too?!"
"Yeah, just look at my streamlined and sleek body."
He showed off the new features of his body with a special pose, letting everyone see he was now a merman.
"Ohh! So cool!!"
"I know, I look so cool, right?"
Merle's eyes were twinkling, having learned a new pose to add to her repertoire.
"...Ah, Allen. Just make sure you don't stop being human though, I don't know how this might end."
Cecile was slightly bothered seeing Allen's new appearance and the pose he struck.
Shea had tried to request entry passes into Prostia through Clebeur before, but the empire had rejected any petition.
There was nothing more Clebeur could do to appeal the petition, so there was no way for them to enter anymore.
That was when Allen began to think of alternatives.
In the end he decided to show his friends a Skill he obtained but never really showed them.
(Okay good, I think this is really the best way after all.)
Allen was thinking of various means to enter into Prostia.
The plan he came up to was something he felt was an obvious solution, thanks to all the memories from his past life.
There were places that could not be accessed with ships or magic ships too.
Other places were accessible with the means of transportation available, but the people there detested humans.
At first, he decided to ask Larappa to develop a magic device that would allow them to breathe underwater.
But when it was completed, it ended up looking almost like a space suit.
Other mermen would be really suspicious if they wore that.
The next option he thought of was the Fish A's Special Skill [Mimic].
With it, they could even transform into sea dragons that lived underwater, allowing them to reach the bottom of the ocean.
Allen had done even more experiments with the Skill though.
Properties of [Mimic]:
-It allowed the transformation into any monster A Rank or less, within a one kilometer radius from the summon
-Allen decided into what to transform
-He could transform into any monster he saw before
-The effect lasted for twenty four hours
-It was possible to inherit the stats, Skills, and abilities of the monster
-Once transformed, one's original Skills and Extra Skills became unusable.
It was basically a complete transformation into a monster, getting rid of the human Skills and Extra Skills the user had before.
Allen could even turn the 5000 members of his army into White Dragons if he wanted.
(I don't think I would've ever wanted to become a merman if I wasn't in this situation though.)
Allen had focused on examining A Rank monsters, and had never thought of transforming into other races.
But now he and the party had a need to go underwater to Prostia.
He decided to try turning into a merman to see if he would be able to breathe underwater too, and it worked flawlessly.
He also discovered he could turn into any other race he encountered before as well, like beastmen, elves, or dark elves.
He had also fought at least three demons during the invasion of Rosenheim, including Glaster, which worked.
But transforming into a high elf or high dark elf did not work.
His theory about that was that those races were specifically blessed by the Spirit King or Spirit God, making it impossible for him to turn into one of them.
When he transformed into a demon, his Summon Skill became unusable.
He was not sure if that was because that skill tree did not exist amongst demons, or because they lived under different rules to the other races.
"How long will it take for the passes to be ready?"
(I hope it doesn't take too long.)
Clebeur's king had already said he could give them the passes.
Allen stared into his eyes, essentially telling him he could not back down on his word now that they could turn into mermen.
"Hmm, it shouldn't take very long if I start getting them ready right now."
He was still taken aback by what he saw, but he had no intention of going back on his word.
(So we can get the passes then. That's what I like to hear.)
There were multiple ways of reaching Prostia.
But this was the easiest and most efficient way.
Even if he could become a merman, he did not want to raise any suspicion by entering illegally.
"Thank you very much."
"Y-you're welcome."
"..."
"...D-do you need anything else?"
Allen was still staring at the king.
Considering the relationship between Prostia and Clebeur, the king's choice would certainly anger them, but it would seem minor compared to Allen's next request.
"To be honest, I have one more request."
Allen wanted one other thing different from the entry passes.
"You're the heroes that rescued my people from the Evil Cult, we'll do…anything in our power to help you."
(Oh? Nice!)
Thanks to Allen, more than a million people from Clebeur had been spared from the Pagan Worshippers.
He had obtained Makris' Sacred Bead as thanks for that, but the royal family still felt indebted to him.
"Then could you name us ambassadors of Clebeur when we enter Prostia?"
"Ambassadors…"
Hearing that, Shea was able to guess Allen's plan.
Even though they could appear as mermen now, they still had no real pretext to obtain the pass.
Receiving the pass was important, but they needed more to get anywhere in Prostia.
But being ambassadors could easily fix that.
"So you want us to enter Prostia as servants of Clebeur then, Master Allen?"
"Yes, that's exactly it, Sophie."
"I wonder how you come up with such evil schemes."
(It's human nature to be evil, Ciel. And I haven't gotten everything I want yet.)
Sophie understood what Allen's plan entailed.
Prince Bek seemed to have connections with Prostia.
Considering he was the crown prince for a while, whoever he was talking to in Prostia had to be in a high position as well.
Getting a basic pass from Clebeur might end up limiting the extent Allen could investigate.
Clebeur was a vassal country of Prostia, but being an ambassador would give them more freedom, though Cecile still felt annoyed with Allen's demands.
"Also, make it an ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary."
Clank
"Wha-?! E-extraordinary?!"
The king understood there were special circumstances so Allen's request did not sound too outrageous..
He was still trying to process that when Allen added even more conditions to it though.
"F-Father?!"
The king was in so much shock he sprung on his feet, sending his chair flying back.
That also affected the queen and Princess Carmin, who stood up and tried to calm him.
"Is that too much? I don't intend on doing anything that could harm Clebeur, so could you please consider it?"
Allen tried to speak a bit more slowly, calming and coercing the king.
The king placed a hand on his luxurious vest and took deep breaths to calm himself down.
The title Allen was seeking, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary, was the highest position for anyone dealing with foreign relationships for a country.
It was essentially on the same level as the leader of a country.
Allen was asking to enter Prostia with the same benefits the king would have.
The king was struggling to weigh his decision.
Allen commanded power over countless bees the size of dragons, and had killed hundreds of thousands of Pagan Worshippers and monsters in a few days.
He had also fought toe-to-toe with the Beast King in front of the representatives of a hundred countries, leaving the arena they fought in shattered and unusable.
If Allen overstepped just a little during his stay in Prostia, it would create a mess for Clebeur.
"Hmmm."
The king could not give an immediate reply considering the importance of that role.
"I sense unrest brewing in Prostia. I promise my army will do its best to protect you no matter what happens."
This entire issue was between Albahar and Prostia, and there had been armed presence already.
Prostia's men had directly attacked the Beast King's palace, without prior warning.
On top of that, they had aided with the theft of an important set of items.
If it was just a small portion of Prostia helping Bek, then everything would end once they were taken care of, but if the empire as a whole was aiding him, it was a different story.
Things would easily escalate to the point of an all-out war between land and ocean.
Albahar would be leading the attack.
The king recalled the message he got from Albahar through a magic device earlier.
The person tending to the device had said that the caller sounded extremely enraged.
Clebeur was always the first country that sprung to mind when one thought of mermen.
It was the only mermen country on the surface after all.
The attack had left Albahar's royal palace filled with blood, and the race for the throne had been sullied, so they were dead set on getting revenge.
They were angered enough to kill everyone involved with the attack, and their bloodlust was obvious even through the magic device.
There was a strong need to investigate in Prostia first, but Allen promised he would defend Clebeur no matter what happened.
"You want to be an ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary, right?"
"Yes."
The king hoped Allen would soften his decision if he asked again, but Allen sounded just as resolute as before.
The king took a deep breath and continued pondering what would happen to Clebeur, and how they should act in this situation.
"...If it's not too much to ask for, I'd like to go to Prostia with them as well."
"Wha-?! Carmin!"
In the end, Princess Carmin forced her way into the conversation.
