Novel All
CH.345 SC: Cailie
CH.345 SC: Cailie
[Cailie POV]
“Cailie, you are up next.” My manager told me.
“... alright.” I wasn’t that excited to sing, but even if I wasn’t, I’d still sing with all of my heart. I know a lot of people had come to hear me sing, and I wasn’t going to let them down just because singing wasn’t my favorite thing.
Today, I was going to sing two songs. One was something I was taught for my first singing test, and I liked it enough where I didn’t mind singing it on the stage. The other was something I wrote mostly myself after I saw Brian in the audience of my performance.
… Well, I didn’t really see him. I just thought I did. Because when I asked my manager to bring him over to my room, I was told that no human had sat in that section of the audience. I even asked Ula about it later when she contacted me, and she told me that Brian had not been in the city, so it couldn’t possibly be him.
But still, concert after concert, I kept seeing him in the audience. Every time, I asked my manager if he had actually been there, but every time, I was told no. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to quit singing. But I also wanted Brian to hear me sing before I quit. So I did what I thought might bring Brian here. I wrote a song about us. About how we met. It was something I didn’t want to sing in front of anyone else, but when my manager heard the song, she said I just had to sing it, so it became the second song I sang at the concerts.
And it was liked. Too much. I had known this even before I ever agreed to become a singer, but the more emotion I put into my voice, the more my voice affects others. It was a curse and a blessing that I was left with.
I suppose I should tell you how that curse came to be on me. It all started that one day, when my sister had finally had enough of me.
“I’m sending you to the hallow prison as a punishment.” My sister said.
“B-B-But why? Wh-wh-what did I do?” I was just barely able to stammer out.
The hallow prison was a place where only the worst of the worst would be sent. There, you’d have to suffer all alone, until you manage to earn your freedom. That is what I knew of it at the time.
“Exactly. You haven’t done a thing. All of the jobs given to you. Undone. Someone else will always have to do them for you. You. Are. USELESS!” My sister said. “So I’m sending you to the hallow prison. I hope it will turn you into someone that can actually do something, instead of just hiding away.”
“B-b-but… what if I .. die?”
“Then that will simply prove that you are useless.” My sister said. Her voice was colder than anything I’ve ever heard, and I think I finally realized just how fed up with me she really was.
“I-I-I … what about father? Did he..?”
“He gave me the permission to do this. I even conversed with the Great Prabhu Jala, and he agreed that perhaps this will be a good learning experience for you.”
“T-t-the Great Jala?” Even the Great Dragon that guards us agrees that I’m useless. I … maybe I should just …
“Do Not shorten his name.” My sister said. “You do not deserve to.”
“I-I a-a-apologize.”
“Do you have anything more to say?” My sister asked.
“...” I didn’t respond, just weakly shook my head. If both father and the Great Dragon agree that I deserve this, then I do. So the least I can do is not argue about it any more.
After a ritualistic banishment, I found myself in the hallow prison. It was nothing but a small cave, with a small pedestal at the center of it. In short, a dungeon. I’ve been to a dungeon once before, as we had a dungeon back at home. It was located under the island of the Great Dragon, and us mer-folk often entered it so we could get tributes to the Great Dragon from there.
But I only went into it once. When my mother transferred the position of the Dungeon Master from herself to my sister, making my sister the leader of our clan. I still remember how scared I was. All of those monsters. I just wanted to run and hide, but we kept pushing on.
The core of that dungeon was a lot larger than the one at the hallow prison. It was large enough where you would need both hands to carry it, but the one at the prison would easily fit into one hand.
At the prison, I had a lot of time to think. … but I still didn’t know what to do. I quickly realized how I could get out. I’d swim out to the lake, catch fish and bring them to the core. Once I get enough, I will be set free.
But I also needed to eat, so I needed enough fish for both my food, and to feed my return. And catching fish isn’t as easy as it sounds. They are so fast, and I only had a long dagger as a weapon. I wasn’t even given a trident or a harpoon. It would be difficult to get that much fish fast. But this was my punishment, so I was going to do that.
… I wish that optimism would have kept up. Or maybe it was good that it didn’t.
At first, I caught my fish myself. By hand. I needed around one per day for my own food, and I caught anywhere from 2 to 5 more each day to feed to the core. But if I did it this slowly, it would take forever. I needed at least a thousand fish to go back home, so even if I caught five fish each day, it would still take me too long to get home. I would go crazy being alone for that long.
So I did what I thought was the best. I began attacking the land-folk fisherman. They always had these big nets full of fish, so if I made a small nick into one, I could get a lot of fish at the same time. It accelerated the number of fish I get, and I was getting ten times the fish I was when I was doing it myself.
But the land-folk didn’t seem to like what I was doing. They came in with guards the next time, and those guards would jump into the water as soon as I tried to cut the nets. I did manage to cut the nets, but I couldn’t move the fish from them into my own pouch, so it was worthless. At least they couldn’t get to me in the dirty waters.
I was afraid I’d have to go back to hunting myself, but I didn’t give up. Day after day, I attempted to cut their nets and get as many fish as I could from them, and while my speed did reduce a bit, I was still better doing this than when I was hunting by myself.
Until that fateful day.
I still remember those metal monsters. They followed me to my cave, to the hallow prison. I really thought I was going to die. That was until I saw two land-folk exit the metal monsters.
“No. Don’t Come! You’ll be trapped as well!” I yelled at them. This is a prison, they shouldn’t come here. But it doesn’t seem like they understood me, so I kept yelling “Leave!” and “Away!” at them. Until one of them split into two. The water spirit that had blessed him had separated from the man. I had never seen it happen before, but I’ve heard stories. During the history of our clan, a few of us have been blessed by water spirits. This land-folk was just like they had been. Someone with a water spirit’s blessing. Feeling that I had no other choice, I spoke to him.
When he showed me his Founder’s Terminal, I remember being terrified. I thought he was a prisoner like I was. But he wasn’t. He was a Founder, like great Aminah had been. And then, without asking for anything in return, the man gave me a huge pile of monster corpses. I absorbed all of them into the core, and just like that, I was able to return home.
It could have been the happy ending, but it wasn’t.
After I got back home, my sister congratulated me. She was so amazed that I got back home that quickly, and was ready to throw a celebration for me. … only until she heard how I got out. When she heard I was helped by land-folk and got out without suffering my proper punishment, she got extremely angry. The angriest I’ve ever seen her. She used a whip made with Water Magic to beat me, despite me begging for mercy, and in the end, she sent me right back to the hallow prison, saying that if I cheated my way out again, she would end me.
I was right back where I started before the human. Actually, I was even worse as the progress I made before his arrival had been lost and I was injured from the whipping. I was really at rock bottom.
I didn’t know what to do. If I was like this, I would never be able to catch all the fish I need to return. I knew there was only one way out. I needed that person’s help again. The human blessed by the water spirit. So I swam around the lake, close to the shore, trying to spot him. And perhaps because I was lucky or maybe it was fate, I found him and got help. He and his companions helped me out of the water and healed me. It felt so nice. He came with me back to the hallow prison, and somehow he was able to free me, without sending me back home.
The two days I spent with him were so amazing. I never knew how nice land-folk could be. Back at home, it was just us the Nixie clan, as well as a small clan of lizard-folk that lived on the island. I’d never seen a human, nor their town. They really had a lot of things we just didn’t have.
But it was also painful being with Brian. Because he didn’t live in the water, I was struggling a bit. Thankfully Brian, Alice and Lucia could all use water magic, so they helped me stay moist.
Then came the day I separated from Brian. I knew he couldn’t keep taking care of me forever, and I was ready to move on. I think I had finally realized what my sister was trying to teach me. And Brian was going to take me somewhere where I could show what I had learned.
We used some sort of an airship. I had heard about them from the Great Dragon, but I’d never seen one. It was really amazing. And it moved even faster than the Great Dragon. … thought maybe the Great Dragon didn’t move at maximum speed when he gave us a flight on our fifteenth birthday.
Brian took me to a strange place in the middle of a huge forest. It had a few treants around, so I was a bit scared, but Brian showed me that they were under his control so I got out of the airship, carried in his arms. Brian explained to me that this place was his dungeon and he could control the monsters in his dungeon, that is how he controlled the treants. I never saw my sister or mother control the monsters inside the dungeon close to our home.
Brian then magically made a bunch of things appear and gave them all to me. It included a bracelet that would keep my body moist when I wasn’t in water, but I also got clothes and a wheelchair. Though Brian said he would take the wheelchair back after I no longer needed it.
With all of that gotten, we again entered the airship.
The next time we stopped, we were above a huge city. It was so large I didn’t know how you wouldn’t get lost in there all the time. I then thought I got us into trouble, because a group of bird-folk came to our airship, but Brian reassured me that it was his fault. But with the help of the bird-folk, we were able to get to the city.
I almost wish I never entered that city, as that is where I had to say goodbye to Brian. And that led to my days of living in the Hero’s country.
My first days were full of excitement and many new things. With some help from Miss Ula, I was asked to try out many jobs to figure out what was suitable for me. Because I lacked any good skills, my job would have to be something simple. I knew I had one skill that could help me, but I refused to use it because I didn’t deserve to have it.
Charming Voice. It was a skill I obtained when I returned home from the hallow prison. I don’t know why I got it, and I actually thought I couldn’t even use it, because it didn’t work on Brian or his companions. But in the city, it worked. If I wanted, I could sweet-talk my way out of trouble using that skill. But it felt wrong, so I never used it.
Until I found a job I liked. It was working as a herb dealers' assistant. And she taught me that the herbs grow better if you speak to them, hum to them or sing to them. So I began using my skill to hopefully make the herbs grow well.
But because of that, someone heard my singing and I was drafted to join a talent agency. At first I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it, but then I thought about Brian. I wanted Brian to be proud of what I had done in this city, so I began to sing in front of people. At first I was extremely nervous, but because of my Charming Voice, no one would focus on my mistakes, so I calmed down. But using that skill was also a mistake, as those that heard my song would want to hear more. The agency called me an overnight star. But I knew the truth. Like in the hallow prison, I had cheated. If my sister was here, she would beat me up.
But I also couldn’t stop. Not until Brian came and heard my song. That was what I decided, even if I would have to cheat.
It wasn’t always fun, but I had the determination to go through with it. Until the visions began.
I hated the visions more than anything else. I know what I saw, but what I saw was just my imagination. My wishes, my hopes. It wasn’t real.
Until that one day. After my second song, as I was showing my gratitude again, I saw him again. Brian. He was sitting in the audience with Miss Ula. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen an illusion of Brian next to Ula, who had actually been in the audience. But just like the times before, I knew that Brian wasn’t real, so I quickly dove into the water so I could escape my own hallucination.
Only for Brian to really appear in my dressing room just a bit later.
It felt amazing seeing him again. No. Feeling him again. I saw him plenty in my dreams, but I could never touch him, feel him, smell him. Having his arms carry me. It felt amazing. I’d missed it, without even knowing I’d missed it. I don’t even remember a lot of what happened that evening, as I was on cloud nine. But I do remember asking something from Brian. I asked if I could go with him. Go on adventures with him. And he said yes. He allowed me to come back. I had done my punishment and I was no longer useless.
From now on, I will never be useless again.
The next day, I left the city. Being held in Brian’s arms, we teleported out of there. I didn’t know Brian could use teleportation magic, but it was Brian, so it wasn’t that strange.
After the teleportation, for just a second, I saw a strange room. It was like it was made of metal, and I think it had a dungeon pedestal in the center. The core on it looked very large, and it shone in a rainbow of colors. But just as I was trying to figure out where we were, we must have teleported again, as a new place came to my vision.
It looked like an office. It, like the last room, had a dungeon pedestal with a large core on it. But this one didn’t shine that rainbow light. The room also had a few desks, and one person. He was quite scary-looking, as he was tall and dressed in a black cloak.
But Brian talked to him so casually, so I calmed down. Apparently the scary man was named Endymion, or Endy for short, and he worked for Brian. And this room was Brian’s office on HomeBase. I didn’t really know what this ‘HomeBase’ was, but Brian just called it his home. And from now on, it would be my home as well, as long as I wanted so.
Brian pushed me around in the wheelchair, showing me around HomeBase, while also introducing me to anyone we came across. HomeBase seemed like such a wonderful place. It was even better than the Hero’s country, and everyone called it the best place to live.
The fantastic building looked like a mix of the big buildings I’d seen in the Hero’s country. Brian called it the Citadel, so maybe it was some sort of a fortress? I really liked the magic circles floating around the Citadel, as they reminded me of the Sage’s tower at the Hero’s country. On my first days at the Hero’s country, I’d swim close to the tower and just look at the magic circles floating around it. I wonder if I’ll do the same here?
From the introductions, I gathered that two, no make it three, types of people live here. First there was Brian and his close friends. I already knew all of them, as they had been with Brian when we met for the first time. It was a shame that Miss Alice wasn’t here, as she could speak with me naturally, but I had also been learning the language the land-folk use, so maybe I’ll soon be able to speak with anyone.
The second group of people living here were Brian’s workers. They seemed to all be beast-folk who Brian had saved from different situations, and now they had moved here to work for Brian. I think it is quite strange that Brian, who is a human, has no humans working for him.
The third group were the avatar dolls. That is how Brian called them. He showed me a few of his ‘cards’, and said that the avatar dolls are the monsters on the cards being brought to life. They were also the instructors of the other workers, as the spirits held in Brian’s cards were almost like legends. His cards held the spirits of warriors, sorcerers, great beasts and even dragons. That is what he told me.
By the end of the tour, Brian brought me to a room he said would be mine from now on. There, a small girl with bright blue hair, as well as a pair of horns coming out of her head. Brian told me that she is a human-form of a dragon, and that her name is Nudyarl, or Nudy. She was going to help me get situated today.
The room Brian gave me was a much nicer version of the room the talent agency had given me. It had floors slightly covered in water for easy movement and a deep pool. It also had an attached bathroom where I had a separated bathtub. I don’t really know why Brian would give me a bathtub, as washing my skin can be dangerous, as it will clean away the protective layer I have on my skin. But Brian explained that he had special soap for me that wouldn’t wash it off, so because of that, I had a bathtub. I didn’t even know soap like that existed. No one in the Hero’s country told me about such a thing. The only part of us that we, mer-folk, would clean is our hair. And even that was rare, so having my own bathtub and special soap felt strange.
But if Brian wants me to wash myself, I will do just that.
That evening, I exited my room in a new wheelchair Brian had made for me. It was strange that he called it a wheelchair, even though it had no wheels. It worked with magic, and would levitate above the ground. It was also large enough where my tail comfortably fit on it, and wasn’t dangling like it was with the previous wheelchair. I wonder how Brian could make something like this that fast? Or had he made this beforehand? And if he had, why would he?
Using the floating wheelchair, I headed for Brian’s room. There was something I wanted to ask him before I went to sleep. I knew the way there, as Brian had shown it to me when he was giving me the tour, and he even said I could come and bother him if anything was wrong.
So I did just that. After knocking on the door of Brian’s room, the door opened by itself and Brian invited me in.
His room was… it was something else. It was a massive room with an equally massive bed. But I suppose someone owning a place like this should have a bed that size.
Brian himself was dressed in some sort of pajamas, so he was probably about to go to bed.
“Cailie, did you need something?” Brian asked.
“... yes. I wanted to ask something.” I told him.
“Alright, ask away.”
“... did you take me here because of my voice?”
“... no? Why would I?”
“... so you don’t know about my Charming Voice?”
“Oh, so you do have something like that. Is it an extra skill, or unique?” Brian asked.
“... what?”
“I did realize you had a voice based skill during your concert.” Brian said. “I just wasn’t sure what skill it exactly was. So is it an extra skill or a unique skill?”
“... extra.” I answered. “But… aren’t you mad? I … I used that skill on you. And made you bring me here.”
“Well, not really. I’m almost unaffected by that skill actually.” Brian told me.
“... how?”
“Level difference, most likely. It does make your voice sound a bit more beautiful and you voice carries a bit of mana when you use it, so I can tell when you are using it, but I can tell you that it doesn’t really affect me any more than that.”
“... are you angry?”
“No. I’m not. Cailie. You have done well, and I’m not angry. I’m happy that you finally have some determination. You know what you want, and you aren’t afraid to go for it. And I want you to keep living that way, okay?”
“... alright, I will. … can I start right now?” Cailie asked.
“Yes. Go for it.”
“B-B-Brian! I love you! Would you also love me!?” I blurted out.
…
…
…
Brian took a while to respond, so I got a bit scared. He was rejecting me without words, wasn’t he? Just as I was about to turn and float away, he spoke to me.
“It isn’t so simple, Cailie.” He said. “... come here.” As he said that, my wheelchair began to move even though I wasn’t moving it. I ended up right next to Brian, who had sat down on a chair.
“If it was the old me, I’d have refused you.” Brian said. “But ever since Lua and Laura opened me up, I’ve been … well, more open to the entire harem idea. So I don’t want to reject you. I think you are lovely and I wouldn’t mind having you as my girlfriend and maybe even my wife. But it isn’t just about me anymore.” Brian told me, before he spoke up. “Lua, you can come in now.” He called towards a side door that I thought led to a bathroom or maybe a walk-in closet.
From it, in walked someone I hadn’t seen all day, even with Brian showing me around, but I did know her. She was the water magician that traveled with Brian, Miss Lucia, or Lua.
“Cailie. I’m already in a relationship with Lua. And not just her. Also with Alice.” Brian said. “And while I don’t mind you joining in, it isn’t just about me. It is about them as well. The two of them have dealt with their differences and have agreed to share me. So if you can convince the two of them that you can work with them, I will accept you with open arms. … but if not, then I hope you can find someone else to love you. Is this fine?”
“I … I … I’ll do my best. Thank you, Brian. You as well, Lua.”
“Good. Now I think it is about time we go to sleep. I’ll take you back to your room.” Brian told me.
He took a hold of my floating wheelchair and teleported us back to my room. He then lifted me onto my bed, before putting the wheelchair into its dedicated spot.
“Good night, Cailie.” Brian said.
“Good night.” I responded, and then Brian disappeared from my room, probably teleporting back to his room.
I … I may have overcome my feeling of uselessness, but now I have a new bigger challenge ahead of me. Alice and Lua will be formidable opponents, but I know I can overcome them and earn my spot by Brian’s side.