Hello there!

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“Hello there!”

“Oh my, it’s been such a long time since we last met. Have you missed me?”

Herbert strolled up to the water sphere with the easy familiarity of an old friend and sent a chat request to the siren princess hiding inside.

Come on!

Talk to me!

“Hm? Why aren’t you saying anything? Are you shy?”

“Didn’t we have such a wonderful conversation yesterday? Surely you haven’t already forgotten those beautiful moments?”

“Are you saying you’re asleep?”

“Oh my, do you know what time it is? Time to get up!”

How can someone your age still sleep at a time like this?

Three or four hundred is the age when you ought to be striving your hardest.

Get up and have some fun!

???

Freme, inside the water sphere, was furious.

“I’ve been ignoring you this blatantly. Can’t you take a hint?”

This princess has made her position perfectly clear, so how can you still not understand?

Gurgle, gurgle.

A few bubbles rose inside the water sphere in protest. Then Freme simply turned her back on him and altered the sphere’s form, making the water take on a frosted texture so that her figure could only be seen indistinctly within.

Herbert chattered away to himself without pause while continuously observing the water sphere where Freme was hiding.

Hiding, are you?

Do you really think you can keep hiding?

He removed the sword at his waist. Without even drawing the blade, he began poking the water sphere with its sheath.

The sphere appeared fluid, yet a thin membrane covered its surface. No matter how he touched it, it could not be ruptured; instead, a force that absorbed and dispersed his strength rebounded against him, canceling it out.

Receive, dissolve, never release.

Herbert’s purpose was not to forcibly drag her out of hiding—he did not possess that ability yet.

But ability was unnecessary in the present circumstances.

All he needed to do was be sufficiently annoying.

To give an example, was the difference in strength between a mosquito and a human being great?

Enormous.

They were not even on the same level; logically speaking, there was no comparison to be made.

And yet that mosquito, so weak that a human could crush it with a single finger, possessed the infuriating ability to drive people mad with irritation.

It could reduce human beings to hysterics, make them howl and rage through the night, break down, and shed tears of frustration.

I, Herbert, am a gigantic mosquito now.

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One particularly skilled at poking people with a needle.

He poked the surface of the water sphere with the sword sheath again and again, never tiring of it.

Poke.

Poke, poke!

Poke, poke, poke, poke…

All the while, he kept muttering and sending the mermaid princess invitation after invitation to chat.

At last, after ten minutes of Herbert’s relentless harassment, Freme finally surrendered.

“That’s enough!”

Splash!

Freme emerged from the water sphere with fury written across her face. She glared at him with her eerie, beautiful eyes and bared her teeth without the slightest concern for appearances.

“Are you ever going to stop talking?”

“Talk, talk, talk! Are you planning to talk forever?”

“Poke, poke, poke! Are you planning to poke forever?”

“Do you find this amusing!?”

When she saw Herbert nodding with a completely unrepentant smile, she felt the already-taut string in her mind snap completely.

Snap!

“Aaaaaah—”

Unable to restrain herself any longer, she clutched her head and released a piercing shriek. The sound sent fine ripples racing across the surface of the water sphere.

But just as the sound wave was about to reach a certain threshold, the piercing shriek vanished entirely. In an instant, the entire space fell into absolute silence.

Crash—

The water sphere floating in midair dropped to the ground. Like a water balloon filled to bursting and dropped from a great height, it shattered the instant it struck the floor, surging outward in all directions.

The siren hiding within it was no exception. Like a dead fish, she slammed heavily onto the ground.

Thud!

“…”

Freme glared at Herbert. Her mouth opened and closed, but no sound emerged.

She tried to rise, but the moment she pushed herself up, her strength failed and she collapsed again. Her magnificent fish tail began drying at a visible speed.

The prison was absorbing her magic at an astonishing rate.

Judging from her current condition, it would not be long before she suffered actual harm.

!!!

Freme realized this as well. Gritting her teeth, she stared at the boy lowering his head some distance away.

A legendary siren should never have been reduced to such a state. Even without water, she could control the water elements and magic in the air to float above the ground.

But this was a prison built specifically for every kind of nonhuman.

Whenever it detected magical fluctuations exceeding the permitted limit, the sealing arrays buried within the prison would activate.

Yes.

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In a sense, the prisoners held within the nonhuman prison could also be considered a type of sealed artifact.

They were powerful and dangerous. Any one of them, taken alone, would be enough to give another monastery a severe headache. Only the Mist Monastery would dare place them all together without a care.

There were two reasons they dared do so. On one hand, the Grand Archbishop was there to keep them in check, and he knew they were incapable of stirring up much trouble. On the other, they relied on these sealing arrays.

When the position of warden was vacant, the arrays operated automatically at their lowest setting and did not interfere excessively with the prisoners.

But once a new warden took office, control of the arrays naturally fell into his hands.

“…”

In the silent space, time passed slowly, and Freme’s condition gradually worsened. Her magnificent hair began to wither and dry.

Yet she made no attempt to beg for mercy. She simply lay sprawled on the floor in a posture devoid of dignity, staring expressionlessly at Herbert.

She had her pride. She would not bow her haughty head over a little suffering such as this.

Herbert, meanwhile, showed no reaction. He watched silently from beginning to end, the smile on his face never changing.

After several days of brief contact, Herbert had gained a slight understanding of the prisoners.

Valentina’s outward attitude was unpleasant, and her mouth was full of verbal barbs, but in truth she was warm-hearted beneath her icy exterior. She was constantly cursing him openly while offering him subtle advice.

Since she had shown him kindness, Herbert had chosen to treat her kindly in return.

He used food to win her favor and warmth to become her friend.

But Freme was different.

Although she had seemed exceedingly friendly when they first met, presenting herself as an approachable older sister, it had all been a disguise.

Murderous intent lurked beneath her hypocritically sweet smile, and her enchanting voice was steeped in malice. She had not even bothered with much deception or empty pleasantries; she had intended to drown him the moment she appeared.

Since she had shown him malice, Herbert had chosen to answer with malice.

This was merely a small punishment.

Just as Freme decided that the array would continue for some time and prepared to consume her source essence to keep resisting, Herbert raised his right hand. The holy mark on the back of it radiated dazzling golden light.

Crack—

Accompanied by the illusory sound of crystal shattering, sound returned to the space once more. Magic surged in rapidly, filling the parched void.

The instant she sensed the magic, Freme cast off her half-dead appearance. With a wave of her hand, she gathered a vast quantity of water elements, recreating several floating water spheres within a few breaths.

She placed her lower body inside one of them, leaving her upper body above the surface, and narrowed her eyes at the warden, whose smile remained unchanged.

“…Ha.”

A moment later, Freme laughed and nodded at Herbert.

“You. Very good.”

She drew a breath, then gritted her teeth and forced the words from her throat.

“Truly… very good!”

In response to her sarcasm, Herbert gave a slight bow and smiled politely.

“Thank you for the compliment. I think I’m very good myself.”