Chapter 64. City of Atlantica

“Remember Indra. Do not let him wander off on his own! If he comes back and has slept with some random girls, we will be holding you responsible!” Genesis warned as the necklaces activated and everyone got teleported to different areas around the world.

“WOW! I can’t believe there are giant cities like this under water!” Ken shouted excitedly after he got teleported with Indra above the water kingdom of Atlantica where he was able to have the panoramic view of the entire kingdom from high above.

With an artifact provided to him by Indra activated before the pair got teleported. Ken was surrendered by a thin layer of barely visible air where the magic allowed the average human man to breathe air freely underwater and his body kept dry like he was surrounded by a personal layer of barrier magic.

While the merman girl was shy and reserved in school and even after knowing her for almost 3 years, Ken barely knows much about her but watching her swim around so gracefully and freely, it’s a different side that Ken never knew Indra had.

“I can see your gills! I almost forgot you had them since they aren’t visible normally. You also seem to be much more lively.” Ken commented as he watched Indra circling around him as the pair slowly descended towards the city.

“I breathe with my lungs on land so my gills are mostly hidden and barely visible. I do feel much more at ease when I am in water so I guess that’s why you think I am more lively.” Indra replied happily as she led Ken down deeper and deeper towards the seafloor as the panoramic view of the city slowly disappeared as the pair got closer.

Unlike a normal city that’s surrounded by walls, a protection spell around the city forces visitors and residents alike to go through the proper channel if one does not want to be detained by the constant guards on duty. Naturally, Indra led Ken to the front entrance of the city where the guards did not question the daughter of their god as she led Ken through without any issue as the pair headed for the castle in the center.

“Couldn’t we have teleported to the city instead?” Ken wondered as the pair watched the city go by inside of a seahorse carriage Indra flagged down to take them to the castle.

“Sorry Ken. I wasn’t sure if you would agree to come and visit so I didn’t ask my father for permission to teleport you inside the city walls. In fact, none of them even knows I brought you home.” Indra replied quietly as the pair arrived at the castle grounds.

“Indra! Welcome home. You brought your boyfriend with you!” Indra’s siblings rushed over to greet the pair as Indra led Ken into the castle gates.

“Are they your siblings? Wow. You all do speak something different! I have no clue what they are saying at all.” Ken asked eagerly as he greeted the welcoming merman princes and princesses.

Since Indra’s father wanted their kingdom to open up to the land dwellers. Just like Indra, her siblings also studied in the language of the land dwellers and with her guidance and books she brought back, they all spoke the land dweller’s language extremely well and were more than happy to practice what they have learned with the first non-merman they have ever met.

“Hello, Calidon, god and ruler of Atlantica. My name is Ken, I apologize that I do not speak the language of your kingdom and I would be forever grateful if you could allow me to stay here for the next two weeks so I could get to know your people and learn your culture.” Ken said politely after Indra led him to greet her father.

Tall, fit, handsome with flowing shoulder length ocean blue and green hair, glowing hazel eyes and the lower body of a fish and upper body of a human. Calidon sat upon his royal throne with his giant golden trident in hand looking royal and almighty, befitting of the title of a god that this kingdom of 20 million worshiped.

“You don’t have to be so formal! I have seen you plenty of times in the mirror for tournaments and know quite a bit about you from the tales my daughter has told.” Calidon replied happily in the language of the land dwellers.

After giving him full permission to not only stay within the kingdom but offered him free access everywhere within the castle grounds and giving him a beautiful room to stay in exchange for him to show up at the royal academy to hold some private lessons for the students. Ken happily agreed to the deal and promised to do his best to show the good side of the land dwellers.

“Your dad is so cool! You said he is super strong as well right? You need to get him to give me some lessons.” Ken said happily as Indra and a servant led the pair to where Ken will be staying so he could drop off his belongings.

“What is this castle built with? It’s pretty awesome!” Ken wondered as the pair walked around the castle.

“Most of the city is built with volcanic rocks from the surrounding areas and the castle and some of the rich will decorate with corals to make things more unique.” Indra answered as Ken nodded.

“Ken. Do you want me to stay with you at night?” Indra asked quietly as she blushed.

“Don’t let Alice and Genesis pressure you into doing something you don’t want.” Ken replied as Indra said nothing and the pair walked back to the living area to meet back up with Indra’s 6 siblings as they eagerly waited for Ken to return so they could chat with the human while showing him around the city as gracious hosts.

After being shown around the city as well as getting to know more about the kingdom from Indra’s siblings, the royal family held a large feast to welcome Ken where hundreds of noble and royal merman families showed up to the large ball room within the castle with extravagant food. Many beauties of the kingdom came up to chat and flirt with Ken and tried to gauge his interest in them even when there is a major language barrier.

“I don’t know what they are saying but I can tell from their body language that I am definitely popular.” Ken said with a grin as Indra came over to check on him after she fulfilled her duties as a princess to greet and show the guests proper hospitality.

“They are just interested in meeting the first ever non merman they have ever seen. I don’t think any of them are interested in you romantically.” Indra replied with a slight hint of jealousy.

“Come on Indra. You are a terrible liar. I can at least tell if someone is looking at me with just curiosity or if they are interested in something more.” Ken replied as he tried to chat with a few more girls unsuccessfully as new ones kept on coming over.

“Yet you couldn’t tell my feelings.” Indra whispered quietly as Ken’s attention was focused on greeting the other girls.

After partying late into the night, the guests eventually went their own ways and using his language barrier as an excuse, Ken turned down many girls who showed definite interest in him.

“I hope they are proud of me. It’s not easy turning down this many cute girls.” Ken proclaimed as he headed back to the living quarter of the castle with the royal siblings.

“You sure were popular amongst the girls. A bunch of them were wondering how they could get you to be interested.”Indra’s older sister Inaya commented.

“Right? And Indra was trying to pretend that they were only curious about me and weren't interested romantically.” Ken replied, feeling validated by Inaya’s confirmation.

“Our little sister is just a super shy one. I am sure she just doesn't want to compete against those more outgoing ones.” Ingrid added, another of Indra’s older sisters.

After arriving at the main hall of the living quarter, Ken wished the siblings a good night and headed to his room to turn in for the night after a long day of exploring and partying.

“Can I come in?” Indra asked as she knocked on Ken’s door when he was about to fall asleep.

“Indra! I was about to fall asleep without struggling even after turning down all those cute girls!” Ken complained as he opened the door to let Indra in.

“Sorry Ken. I just wanted to make sure you filled up the artifact before you went to sleep so you don’t run out of air in the middle of the night.” Indra replied quietly as she entered the room.

“Oh. Thanks for the reminder! Totally haven’t refilled the artifact.” Ken replied as Indra started helping channeling air magic into the bracelet artifact Ken had around his wrist.

“Do you want me to stay with you at night?” Indra asked quietly as she turned bright red.

“Depends on why you want to stay with me and what you expect from me. After spending some time with Rena in Ostrium, I realized that I never really questioned why a girl wants to be with me. I know I am shallow so any cute girl that’s nice to me, I end up falling in love with but I never questioned any of them why they wanted to be with me or if I am capable of meeting their exceptions. So I have decided to change!” Ken replied as he looked at the shy merman girl fidgeting around looking for words to describe her feelings.

“I was scared when I started at Dragonspire. I have never met a person who wasn’t a merman before or have I spent much time on land. I didn’t know what to expect and what I experienced in the beginning was making me question if my father’s dream of us coexisting with you land dwellers was a good idea.

I will admit that it was out of desperation that I reached out to you but it was thanks to all of you that I ended up able to enjoy a regular school life. At first I felt only gratitude towards you but eventually, I started getting jealous of the rest, especially Seraphina who was able to act so naturally around you and got so close even when I have known you for longer.

I guess I want to stay with you because I realized that you are someone who’s kind hearted, who’s always trying his best and I guess I expect you to keep on being a good person who will help when someone asks you for help.” Indra replied softly as Ken listened and wondered.

“Thanks for making it sound like I am a great person but that’s not really true at all. I am selfish, I really didn’t want to deal with the issue with Luke, I wished I didn’t learn about it so I could have stayed ignorant.

I only get involved in things when I have no choice like after what Luke did to Lovetta and even then. I don’t know if my actions were the right ones. Sure, Luke hasn’t bothered us lately especially since I haven’t been around much but who knows if this is all over or if he is planning something else.

I don’t think I am kind hearted like you are making it out to be but I will say that I do try my best even when things tend to backfire more often than it going my way.” Ken replied with a chuckle.

“I think that’s why I started to fall for you. You are honest with yourself. You don’t pretend to be someone you are not. And you are kind. You could have ignored things but once you get involved, you will try your best to come up with a resolution. We have known each other for 3 years now but I could never gather the courage to tell you how I have felt. After seeing how many girls are interested in you at the party, I don’t want to lose out again.” Indra said softly as she sat next to Ken on the beautiful bed made from giant clam shells.

“Well. What am I supposed to say to that? Not like I can resist a cute girl in the first place. Especially one that’s approved by the rest.” Ken replied with a smirk as the pair finally got intimate.

“Good morning Ken. Let’s get your artifact filled so we don’t have to worry or remember about it until night time. Sorry it’s such a hassle for you to be here.” Indra said softly as the pair got woken up by a servant knocking at the door.

“What if you were a merman that couldn’t breathe air. How would that work?” Ken asked curiosity as Indra got outside of the air protection that enclosed the pair throughout the night.

“You probably need to take a deep breath and try to get it over as fast as you can.” Indra replied with a small giggle.

“Jeez. Glad I don’t need to try that. No way I can enjoy it if I had to hold my breath and try to rush it.” Ken replied as the pair sat together to get the artifact refilled with air magic.

After getting set, the pair greeted Indra’s siblings, parents and grandparents in the dining hall as the entire royal family enjoyed a nice meal together where Indra’s mother Indigo made sure Ken was stuffed full before she allowed him to leave the dining table.

“I am already moving at like half speed here in this water world. If your mom keeps feeding me, I think I will leave here moving at a quarter of my normal speed.” Ken joked as the group headed for the royal academy in a magnificent carriage pulled by a pair of seahorses to fulfill Ken’s promise.

While school was on vacation in the underwater city like everywhere else, words spread fast that Ken, one of the popular regulars from the tournament is not only here in the city but will be holding special lessons with the students, when the group arrived at the academy with Calidon in the lead, the training facility was already packed full with excited students of all ages, waiting eagerly to see the first non merman in real life.

“Hello everyone! I am proud that this many of you showed up even when the academy is on break. As someone who wishes for us to eventually open up the kingdom and intermix the land dwellers. Please show your best behavior to our guest while also trying to learn from one of the most gifted from the surface.” Calidon addressed the students in their native language as Indra translated for Ken.

After a quick introduction, Calidon asked Ken to spar as the group of students watched eagerly to see what Ken could do in action.

“I don’t want to make it sound like I am making excuses but I can’t even get to half my regular speed with all the resistance here under the ocean.” Ken told Calidon as the pair got ready for the spar.

“Don’t worry Ken. We will just be having some fun. I have also heard from Indra about your boost training. While the pressure might be higher here, the impact on your joints are also greatly lessened so you can push your body while you are here to get some extra boost training in.” Calidon offered some tips as the pair got ready for the spar.

Unlike Ken who struggled to even move like a proper fighter even after fully enhancing his body, Calidon sped around the underwater arena faster than most could follow and with his golden trident, the merman easily overpowered Ken in both speed and power while also blasted the young man with powerful water magic.

“That was embarrassing! I could see him clearly thanks to the water trail but my body is literally moving in slow motion!” Ken complained to Indra and her siblings after getting thoroughly defeated.

“I might not have the techniques or expertise to help you advance in your training. But simply training here in this totally foreign and different environment will no doubt help you greatly.” Calidon told Ken, seeing the frustration from the young man.

While Calidon was more than happy to have Ken simply stay around for an hour to two a day to engage with the students at the royal academy. With his disadvantage in water, Ken was not even a match against Indra.

Getting fired up from his poor performance, Ken ended up spending the entire day training and sparring with the students while chatting and trying to learn the language of the merman so he could interact better with the locals.

“Thank you everyone for sparring with me. While I might not seem like much right now. Be warned, before my trip ends, I will make sure to thoroughly beat everyone here.” Ken said confidently as Indra translated his message to the students.

“You mean everyone except my father, right?” Indra questioned in the middle of translating.

“Come on Indra. You really think I am dumb enough to think I can beat him anytime soon?”

“Not dumb enough but maybe confident enough.” Indra replied while finishing up with her translation.

“It’s not confidence if it’s the impossible Indra, that’s called stupidity. Your dad is for sure holy level with his water magic and I couldn’t even tell about his physical strength from this different environment. There is no way I could beat him anytime soon.” Ken replied as the pair waved goodbye to the many students that stayed for the entire session before the pair headed back to the castle with Indra’s siblings for some much needed dinner.

“Eat up Ken! Make sure you let the chef know what types of food you enjoy.” Indra’s mom insisted as she kept shoving food onto Ken’s plate as the young man graciously accepted the food after a day of exhausting training.

After a fulfilling dinner, Ken entertained the entire family with his stories of traveling to the various countries, the sights he had seen, the people he had encountered while the family listened intently, asking Indra to translate the parts they couldn’t understand, asking Ken to describe things in detail that peaked their interests and chatted late into the evening before the family finally decided to turn in for the night.