A Good Dog, an Edgy Dolphin, and a Defeated Man

Can I sleep?

“Ay! We won!” Scolastica jumped as she saw the half-octopus slowly descend into the deep sea. When the fishmen realized their scary boss retreated, they gave Kousuke thumbs-ups, jumped back into the water, and looked happy. They must have been working under a black company’s CEO.

I wonder if this world knows the concept of monster spawning. Do the bosses die when they are murdered, or will they revive and appear again? That’s necessary for a game, but bothersome and dangerous for real life.

“HA HA HA!” Zaracas let his butt touch the floor and looked relieved. “Can’t believe I could withstand that many at this age.”

“Arf!” Ending his performance, Mochita shook his tail and looked satisfied.

Nah, probably the boss won’t spawn anymore, so let’s sleep, I’m sleepy.

Kousuke took a glance at Arabella before he closed his eyes. Arabella looked uncomfortable with the fishmen’s fluid over her clothes. But she smiled and seemed happy when the sky became clear. The threat was over.

Don’t you think I’m cool, my lady?

***

Mochita walked like a puppy that evening. He made small steps and swagged his hip. Then he stumbled on a painting of a pink-haired girl on the main deck. He bit it, lifted it, and looked around. But he didn’t find anyone.

“Hey! Hey!” Mochita heard someone call him from the water. Thus, he peeked at the water and saw a dolphin. Mochita was a very genius dog. To be exact, he had a miracle to understand other animals and humans, and those animals knew they could converse with him.

Although the dolphin said, “Hey!” the dolphin just made noises to human ears. That was also the case for Mochita when he said something to a human: he just barked.

Mochita put the painting on the floor and responded to the dolphin, “Hey, friend.”

“O, doggo, would you join our cause to enslave humans?” the dolphin said.

Mochita tilted his head and asked, “Why? Humans are friends.”

“It seems you like that painting of a pink-haired woman. You see, humans hate that kind of painting! It’s not up to their plate because her head is bigger than her body! That isn’t Romanesque at all!”

“I know humans love a painting for spiritual devotion, and it doesn’t have to be realistic as long as it conveys the meaning accurately. But it doesn’t mean they don’t appreciate another kind of painting.

Like this painting from a nation called Japan. It seems to have different rules. But nevertheless, I heard this ship’s captain say it’s cute.”

“What? No way! Humans love oppression! Because when you disagree, or even when you just breathe in another room, they are gonna shove their thing to you harshly! So we can’t converse with them, we need to enslave them!”

Mochita shook his head. “My friend. Sometimes humans roast each other. But there isn’t any ill intention. So we need to know who they are before interpreting.

And sometimes humans listen to others when the others know well how to deal with that human: can I be blunt, or is it more effective to be roundabout with this person, or let’s just smack his head? Humans are think tanks.”

“No, they don’t think! Because they have that thing called ego. Unfortunately, it's much stronger for any humans who breathe! 

And therefore, they constantly oppress and harm each other. We need to enslave them and teach them our way of peaceful lives. We, animals, are the necessary evil!”

Mochita shook his head again. “My friend. I think you need to touch the grass. Let’s distract ourselves with grass, and thus we might realize that humans can be very loving and they don’t deserve such punishment, except for my master’s fiance.

Maybe, we are the ones who do something wrong, therefore they become hostile.”

“Aaargh! Doggo, you sound like a human! How frustrating! How can I touch the grass on land if I’m a sea mammal?”

“Ah, right. Sorry, I’m wrong, my friend.”

Scolastica peeked out and smiled at the dolphin. “Ay! Whatcha doing?”

“Saintess! Let’s enslave humans!” the dolphin said.

Mochita pushed the pink-haired girl keychain toward Scolastica.

“Ay! Be grateful that I’m grateful to you! You found this cute thing. I must have dropped it during the raid.” She patted Mochita, and therefore Mochita licked her cheek.

No one knew at that time what made the dolphin become like that. But Mochita had proven his points through Scolastica’s response, so the dolphin understood and made his way to find grass on the sea.

***

The candlelight came into Kousuke’s vision when he woke up. He saw Arabella hold a quill pen, and sometimes she curled up her lips.

Is it fun writing or reading a textbook? Textbooks don’t have an anime girl on the cover, or the trick to murder people through “a god’s curse”: they don’t have something hooking like that, or like others.

Although some textbooks make an intriguing question at the opening of a chapter, usually it won’t be answered immediately, and there is much irrelevant information. Textbooks only need to give reliable information after all.

“My lady. What do you enjoy about writing a guidebook?” Kousuke asked.

Arabella halted her pen and answered Kousuke without looking at him, “It’s fun when we have finished something, or look forward to the outcome of our work: my people’s happiness.”

Ah, I see.

“Oh, right. You know, my female colleague always posts, I mean, shares paintings of male chests whenever they have time. Do you want me to strip my clothes?”

Arabella sighed. “My fiance. I think others worry about you. So, go outside.”

Damn it. She drives me out!

Thus, Kousuke walked to the passageway. He saw Adelina sleeping on the floor and hugging a broom. It seemed she helped to clean the deck because she felt guilty for throwing up. What a good person, unlike Kousuke.

Mochita was also sleeping, but he rested on Adelina’s body. Peacefully.

Lucky bastard!

“Ay! Ay! Smash it!” On the main deck, Scolastica ducked and tried to imitate what Kousuke did like a child. While Zaracas stretched his arms and legs like a starfish and slept near Scolastica.

“Are you not tired, Scolas Captain?” Kousuke asked.

“Nay! Me, give everybody a good rest after hard work!”

Kousuke gave a thumbs-up and walked to the poop deck. He sat on a stool and rested his chin on his cheek. I failed again.

Asking for a kiss was rejected. Holding hands was done due to pity.

Praise and dinner weren’t working. Being a knight in shining armor failed miserably.

And it seemed that being a cool man didn’t work either: she didn’t aggressively sit on me when I slept or stripped my clothes.

I failed again... What’s wrong?

Kousuke just stared at the sky for hours. The constellation was unfamiliar, but it was still mesmerizing. Then the dawn was near, and there was a huge arc of rock. And it formed a short tunnel to its other side under the arc.

Here we are... The Eye of Norma, the secret entrance to the World of Library.

“Ay! Ay! We have arrived!” Scolastica waved her hands at Kousuke, brimming with excitement. It seemed that after the raid, she began to trust any information from Kousuke.

Yeah, I think I don’t know how to make Arabella’s heart ba-dump ba-dump. It’s an impossible feat.

So I give up.

[End of “Romantic Seeds by the Sea” Arc.
Next Arc: “The Man Who Teaches Me Love, Even BL”]