Episode 574

-Getting friendly with a tricky race like the sirens isn’t easy.

Giants weren’t exactly an easy race to befriend either, but that was mainly because of their physical traits.

As long as one could get past those physical traits, there were no gentler folks than giants.

But sirens had extremely cranky dispositions.

Among all the various races living in the vast wilds of Einrogard, very few were actually close with sirens.

-Well, you even got along with giants.

The boy in front of him was someone with rare affinity, who had even befriended the giants.

There were occasionally such mages.

Rather than subduing nature with ruthless wisdom and powerful magic, these mages became friends with nature through warmth and a kind soul.

Usually, such mages were loved by the essence of nature, that is, the spirits.

-You’re probably loved by spirits too, right?

“Uhh, well, yeah, I guess you could say so.”

Lee Han quietly slipped his hand inside his sleeve and tucked the baby basilisk in deeper. The basilisk, who had been dozing, hissed in protest.

-Being friends with the sirens is good news. Go deliver a message for me. The giants are going to pass through the tunnel, so ask them to help prevent any unnecessary conflict.

“Yes. I understand.”

Lee Han replied confidently.

He felt a twinge of conscience when answering on behalf of the spirits, but not for the sirens.

He really was friendly with them.

Of course, there had been a bit of a misunderstanding at first.

He’d thought they were the aquatic creatures he had to catch for Professor Lightningstep’s test.

But after that, they’d defeated a Mc together, and also weathered the skeletal principal’s stormy picnic together…

‘That means we’re definitely friends.’

Unlike with the spirits, they really were close.

Lee Han went down into the passage with confidence.

• * *

“Excuse me?”

-♪↗♪↗↗!

-♬♩↗↗↗!

The sirens, who had been singing atop the chilly rocks of the underground passage, screamed the moment they saw Lee Han and dove into the water.

Splash!

Splash!!

“…Uh. You must be mistaken! I’m not a suspicious person. I’m that freshman from last time!”

Thinking maybe the sirens had mistaken him for someone else, Lee Han called out louder.

“I’m the mage who took down Mc with you last time!”

The sirens in the water quickly kicked their fins and moved to deeper waters.

It was clear they were determined to get as far away as possible.

“You have the wrong person! I’m the mage who worked with you during the stormy picnic! Don’t you remember? That time, for Professor Lightningstep’s test, I grabbed your nape…”

Lee Han paused mid-sentence.

That wasn’t a story that would do him any favors.

“Don’t you remember?”

Silence.

“Ah. Maybe the siren I met isn’t here? In that case, please deliver a message.”

Silence.

The sirens remained silent and hidden in the water.

After repeatedly calling out, Lee Han realized just how cautious the sirens were.

“Just pass on the message, please.”

Silence.

“…If you don’t deliver the message right now, I’ll fill this underground passage with lightning.”

Lee Han resorted to a show of force.

When the mark of Perkuntra flashed on the back of his hand with sparks, the power in that mark made the sirens tremble.

As fellow kin of spirits, they instinctively realized just how overwhelmingly powerful the mage’s summoned spirit must be.

Of course, Lee Han had no intention of actually calling Perkuntra.

‘If a siren who knows me comes, this misunderstanding will clear up.’

The sirens here didn’t know Lee Han, but if one who recognized his face appeared, the misunderstanding would clear…

SSSHHHH!

“!”

In no time at all, a siren poked her head out of the water.

She’d appeared so quickly that it felt like she’d just been hiding in the water—not someone who heard the news from afar.

She looked familiar, so Lee Han recognized her as the siren he’d met before. Lee Han greeted her cheerfully.

“Hey. How have you been?”

-……

“Have you been well?”

-……

“You don’t need to answer verbally. Even a nod will do.”

Even so, the siren didn’t answer.

Instead, she just glared at Lee Han with a deeply dissatisfied look in her eyes.

‘Maybe I’m mistaken?’

Lee Han wondered if perhaps this wasn’t the siren he’d met before.

Maybe he just thought she looked familiar, but really had never met her…

“I asked for the siren I met, didn’t I? If you keep being so uncooperative, I have my own ideas. Don’t play games and deliver the message quickly!”

Lee Han warned, aiming his staff.

At that, the siren very slowly pointed at herself.

“You?”

Nod.

“Then why didn’t you answer at first?”

The siren shrugged.

Lee Han didn’t get it, but let it go.

There were more urgent matters.

“Sirens, wait. How should I address you? Last time I was too distracted underwater to ask.”

The siren stared at Lee Han, arms folded.

There was a note of contempt in her gaze.

It was contempt for a human thinking he could even pronounce a siren’s name.

“Ah, is your name difficult for me to say?”

When the siren didn’t respond, Lee Han decided on his own.

Among the Empire’s rare or unique races, some had their own distinctive language and ways of communicating.

Sirens, for example, used song instead of common speech.

One needed to respect such differences.

“Then may I give you a nickname for humans to use? Just so I can address you. Hm. How about Gainando. What do you think?”

The siren grimaced and quickly took out a slate.

In hasty, squiggly writing, she wrote ‘Parthenope.’

“Parthenope. Got it. Anyway, Parthenope. I think we’re pretty close now after what happened last time, so I’m going to trust in our friendship and ask you for a favor.”

-??????????????

Parthenope opened her mouth and gaped, not understanding what he was talking about.

If it was nonsense, she could argue back after hearing just one line, but with so many at once, she didn’t know where to start.

“I’m going to bring giants through the passage. Could you help keep the other races or monsters from coming near? If there’s a fight, the tunnel could collapse.”

While writing, the siren dropped her slate.

Lee Han helpfully picked it up and returned it.

“Are you listening?”

Parthenope hurried to write “no way.”

But she stopped.

Would this mage just back down if told no?

-……

Absolutely not.

If uncontrolled giants suddenly rushed the underground passage…

An image of the ruined and shattered tunnel flashed before the siren’s eyes.

I’ll help!!!

“Thanks.”

Lee Han was pleased with Parthenope’s answer.

As expected, having gotten close paid off—the siren’s response did not disappoint.

A total change from those spirits!

• * *

-Eugh. A fishman.

-Not a fishman, a kind of mermaid. That’s what Ikurusha said.

-What’s the difference?

-Um…

-It’s hard. Let’s just call them fish.

The giants waded through the flooded underground passage.

It was quite deep, but not so much that giants couldn’t walk across.

The sirens each took up posts at the spiderweb-like side paths next to the passage to block anyone else from entering.

-♬♩♩♩♩…

-♩♪♪…

When the sad songs of the sirens were heard, the giants grimaced and plugged their ears.

-Ugh! I hate it!

-Fish songs feel awful!

‘Is that an instinct?’

Lee Han was amazed by the giants’ reaction.

Giants were famous for their resistance, if not as much as Lee Han himself. That resistance must’ve caused this reaction to the siren’s song.

Of course, the sirens found the giants just as unpleasant.

As proud descendants of spirits, they could not stand seeing the giants plug their ears and go, “Ugh! This feels disgusting!”

The sirens stared at the giants with scorn.

“Can you make the singing inaudible?”

Pulling Lee Han’s ferry up ahead, Parthenope kindly showed him a gesture—miming choking herself with her hands.

Seeing this, Lee Han regretted asking.

‘They really hate the giants.’

Unlike with Lee Han, the sirens truly hated the giants, and there was nothing Lee Han could do about that.

Getting involved might only breed resentment against him as well.

“Um… is it okay if I sing instead?”

-???

Parthenope looked at Lee Han in horror.

She couldn’t figure out what he was thinking.

She began to fear that maybe this crazed mage would drink a transformation potion and sneak among the sirens.

A mad mage was capable of anything.

Sensing the worry in her gaze, Lee Han explained.

“It’s not just a normal song.”

Minstrel Ifadur and the skeletal principal.

Wandering about with the two, Lee Han had worked hard to learn the rudiments of music magic.

He hadn’t had enough success to call it “magic” yet, but he still could sing a few songs with real effects.

“Songs with magic in them can sometimes block a siren’s song, even if just a little.”

Parthenope didn’t stop him. She nodded, as if to say “go ahead if you want.”

Thinking her nod meant encouragement, Lee Han cleared his throat and sang.

“Long ago, there was an orc with a hoe, the orc’s field got flooded by rain, to the field, to the field…”

-?!

Parthenope was startled.

To her amazement, this boy’s song was repelling the sirens’ song!

The influence of the sirens’ song around the giants faded, echoing into the distance.

Parthenope blinked and listened again, but nothing changed.

-Mage! Mage!

“Oh, does it work?”

-Better the fish songs than this!

-The lyrics are so unpleasant!

“Wait…”

Lee Han was flustered by the giants’ reaction.

He was surprised it worked, but even more surprised they disliked the lyrics despite the effect.

Why?!

“Aren’t the lyrics good? Ah, maybe you just don’t know what the song’s about. It’s about a legendary orc farmer, who never gave up on his field even through every natural disaster, making even the devil quit in the end—a lesson of perseverance…”

-No work songs!

-If you keep singing that, we’re staying right here!

The giants stopped and whined.

Lee Han was aggrieved.

‘It’s a good song, though.’

But since it worked, all Lee Han needed to do was change the song. He tried a few more memorable ones.

The song of a dwarf stonemason who kept swinging his hammer even after his fingers shrank (the giants booed), the song of a librarian who collected so many books that her bed disappeared and she had to sleep on piles of books (only one giant liked it)…

“…Oh, now the knight is going, shot by an arrow and dies, hit by a mace and dies, stabbed by a sword and dies, struck by a spear and dies…”

-Good song!

-That’s what we want! Mage, you’re the best!

-The knight dies! The knight dies!

-The knight gets trampled! The knight gets killed by sheep!

“……”

The giants liked it so much they changed the lyrics themselves, and sang happily, off key and off beat, so loudly the passage echoed.

The sirens, guarding the side paths, covered their ears and squeezed their eyes shut.

They wore expressions of pain so intense it looked like they wanted to die.

“…It would’ve been different with another song.”

Lee Han made excuses to Parthenope.

It was just that the giants only liked weird songs; if he’d sung that orc farmer song, the sirens might’ve found it decent.