Shea and the other girls followed Princess Rapsonile to a guest room.
As they moved, she continued swimming, since she had no feet to use to walk.
Allen watched Princess Rapsonile swimming in front of them, looking through the eyes of a Bird G summon hiding amongst Cecile's clothes.
"Please enter."
They entered the guest room, as Princess Rapsonile indicated to them.
It was a rather large ville near the palace, and the room was lavishly furnished.
There were other daughters of nobles kept there together with Princess Rapsonille.
The windows were blocked with iron bars, and there were knights stationed all around the building.
It could be seen that the servants and noble daughters had been serving the princess for a long time already.
And only Princess Rapsonile had the lower body of a fish in there.
If they were being treated badly they would have probably considered escaping a long time before, but they seemed to simply be under supervision and not allowed to leave.
"So, what did you mean, saying you'll rescue me?"
"Let me explain where we came from a little before we get into that."
(Shea is staring a bit too much.)
Shea's eyes were fixated on Princess Rapsonile's lower body while Sophie answered.
Allen had instructed them to talk about themselves a little before mentioning anything else.
While tea and snacks were being served, Princess Rapsonile began to understand the situation.
She had been confused at first, hearing them mention Albahar and the coup Bek staged, but now she was slowly beginning to understand.
"So all that was going on too."
"Yes. We came here looking for Bek. But he's not in the palace, so we thought maybe you might know something that could help us."
Knowing Bek's whereabouts was important, so they would not rescue the princess straight away.
And Shea and the rest would be suspected for it, since they would be the last ones seen around there.
They could not make any risky movements until they had found Bek and retrieved the Beast King's Emblem.
"Thank you for coming. But it's been quite some time since I've been thrown in here. I haven't really been informed about much during that time, so I'm sorry I don't have any information to offer."
Hearing that there were other members of royalty amongst them, Princess Rapsonile spoke with a bit more reverence.
But she did not know anything about Bek.
Sophie and the rest were silent.
They had come all the way here to talk with Princess Rapsonile.
When the servants came yesterday and told them to visit the palace, they decided that Allen and Peromus would try gathering information in the palace, while the girls went to the princess.
There was only so much that could be learned from the Fish D summon.
It was time to go into the field and gather info themselves.
"We feared that might be the case."
They had anticipated that outcome.
Allen had checked the villa before, but did not feel like there were any traces of Bek there.
Still, Sophie looked downcasted, hearing there was nothing new to learn there.
"I'm really sorry. Is there anything else I could help you with?"
Princess Rapsonile felt like there might be other things related to the palace that she might know. Shea pondered what to ask for a bit before speaking.
"Was that splendid tail a blessing from the Goddess of Water Aqua?"
Shea had been entranced by the mermaid tail for a long while.
"Huh? Well, yes, that is indeed the case. The Prostia Family is part of the Sacred Fish Makris' bloodline after all."
She sounded really proud of it, something Shea could relate to as a fellow princess.
"I knew it! That's so magnificent!!"
Shea's eyes would not stop sparkling.
(I guess this is another example of a god's bloodline deciding royalty. And that's why Ignomas is so interested in making her his spouse.)
Allen continued watching through his hidden summon, understanding why Shea was so excited.
He remembered there were some cultures that venerated their royalty like deities in his past life.
They believed their rulers were those closest to the gods, eventually making them the same.
Some myths of how cultures started also involved gods like that.
In a way, that was how they made the people treat royalty as superior beings.
There were actual gods in this world, so it made even more sense for such beliefs to exist.
Shea had told Allen how Albahar was founded before as well.
A thousand years ago, there was a child born between a beastman and Garm.
It was said that the half-god born from them was so powerful that a single roar made armies of ten thousand soldiers shake in fear and could be heard from miles away.
That was how beastmen left their life under Giamut, founding the kingdom of Albahar.
Cecile and the others felt like Shea had noticed a similar story related to the princess' tail.
"There's a reason why my body looks like this. It's a continuation of the Tale of Prostia Empire…"
Now the princess' eyes were just as twinkly as Shea's.
Prostia's prince had turned into the Sacred Fish Makris, but his story continued after that heartbreaking tale.
Diadora, the woman Makris loved, was already pregnant with his child.
They had consummated their love before Makris went off to fight the unsealed beast.
(Wait, I thought it was a legend of unrequited love? Was the story changed somewhere?)
Makris had turned into the Sacred Fish, sealed the beast again, and left Patlanta.
Some time later, Diadora came to the emperor, claiming the child in her arms was Makris'.
The child born between Makris and Diadora had the lower body of a fish.
Prostia's emperor assumed that that was part of the miracle Makris had asked from Aqua.
It was then decided that Makris and Diadora's child would become the next emperor.
After that, anyone with a strong link to Makris' bloodline would have a fish tail.
(I see, and Makris became powerful after becoming Aqua's servant.)
It was similar to how Dogora had become stronger after he became Freya's apostle.
There were two types of people who served gods, servants and apostles.
-Apostles would carry the god's name and make it known. They would receive less power, but maintained their human form.
-Servants essentially became the god's slaves. They obeyed any and all orders from a god, and received much more power. Often they would become Sacred Beasts though.
Those were the two categories of people who made pacts with gods.
It all depended on how much they would have to serve the god afterwards. Servants had a heavy duty, but apostles not so much.
But in exchange servants obtained a large amount of power.
Makris had become Aqua's servant, in exchange obtaining the power necessary to banish that evil beast from attacking Prostia.
The reason why Ignomas was keeping Princess Rapsonile captive was also because of Makris' bloodline.
If Ignomas had a child with her, then everyone in the empire would recognize his family as their rulers.
Shea realized that Ignomas' plan for Princess Rapsonile was based purely on her body.
"Hey, do you have any questions?"
Cecile whispered to the Bird G summon hiding in her clothes.
"How about whisper whisper"
Allen whispered to her.
Drescalay had not sounded like he ever had much respect for Ignomas, due to his peasant birth, so he was ignorant to many facts.
So Allen wanted to ask Princess Rapsonile a few things too.
"Was there anyone who got close to Ignomas before the rebellion started?"
Cecile asked the question.
"Hmm… Ignomas had always been ambitious, but many people were still shocked he would go this far."
"So he changed, is what you're saying?"
(I've heard commoners will often change the moment they become nobility.)
It was common for people to change depending on their position and rank.
"Maybe it was Professor Sinorom? Though he arrived at the palace more than a year ago."
(Hm, that weird merman.)
He was a merman wearing white robes.
He had not been present in the throne room earlier, but he was often hanging around Ignomas.
"Sinorom?"
"Yes. He was brought here because of his excellent research of magic devices and other magic though…"
Saying that, Princess Rapsonile paused, trying to find the correct words to express herself.
Sinorom had a certain suspicious air to him, which the princess could not properly convey.
He was obsessed with research, and his subordinates would often say he was mad, or a weirdo.
But his ideas had produced impressive results in the past.
Hearing about his maddening obsession with research made everyone feel a sense of deja vu, their eyes focusing on the Bird G summon hidden in Cecile's clothes.
(Wha-?! Stop being so rude, continue asking questions!!)
The Bird G summon began ruffling around the clothes, prodding Cecile to continue.
She first squeezed the summon, warning Allen to not make too much fuss.
"I also heard weird stories about him and Ignomas spending an unusual amount of time together."
Now that she thought about it, many of their actions had been strange.
"Was it strange for a researcher like that to hang out with the commander of knights?"
Cecile asked, questioning Sinorom's actions.
"Basically yes. Every time they were questioned about it they would be evasive and say they simply discussed how to make the knights stronger too."
They were left alone because both were important assets to Prostia too.
(Sinorom, huh. That's one more thing I'll have to keep an eye out for.)
Sinorom was clearly one of Ignomas' closest aides, together with Agiley.
Allen had seen Sinorom and Ignomas together countless times through his Fish D's eyes.
It was worth investigating a bit more.
"Who would've thought something like this could happen during the important ceremony when the Sacred Fish Makris visits us. I can hardly stay still just thinking about it."
During the lengthy conversation, the princess' feelings started to surface.
"I'm sorry you're going through this."
The princess covered her face with both hands, and Sophie tried to comfort her.
(She has a point. Makris is supposed to come by during the Songstress Contest next month.)
Makris was swimming around the empire for the rest of eternity, and next month he would pass through Patlanta.
The annual Songstress Contest event was held at the time when Makris passed by the capital.
"I wonder if the Sacred Fish Makris will do anything against Ignomas."
Cecile felt like things could get better if Makris saw Ignomas as an enemy for usurping the throne, and judged him accordingly.
"That won't happen. The Sacred Fish Makris has never touched a merman in more than three hundred years."
According to the princess, there had been multiple internal conflicts during the last three centuries, but Makris had never done anything about it, not even once.
Makris simply protected mermen from outside forces.
"So the Sacred Fish Makris simply watches over everyone equally."
Sophie said as she petted the Spirit God Rosen's head.
Sophie felt like Spirit Kings and Gods were in a similar position to Makris.
(So Makris will be here in a month. I wonder if that was intentional or just coincidence.)
Sinorom was clearly suspicious.
Bek would not turn up no matter how much they searched.
And the Sacred Fish Makris would be in the capital in a month.
Maybe everything was connected somehow.
But there was still a lot of missing information so it was hard to say for sure.
Allen's group would need to think of their next steps to gather the knowledge they needed.
