LN Exclusive: A Sea Date with Platy

As our days passed peacefully and quietly, I managed to get some rare alone time with Platy.

No orcs, goblins, Miss Astres, or other demonesses. No Veil, either.

“It’s kind of unusual, isn’t it?” she says.

It really feels like we’re a married couple when our thoughts are one.

Currently, we are standing on the shore just outside the settlement.

It’s where we first met.

Platy has reverted to her mermaid form and is leisurely soaking her body in the water.

“Ahh... This is great...”

She looks as if she’s taking a bath in a tub.

Platy is originally a mermaid, a species meant to live underwater, but she transformed herself using a magic potion to live on land, all to suit life with me, her husband.

In order to spend time with me, a land-dweller, she has made drastic changes to her lifestyle.

“Do you find it comforting to be in the water than on land after all?”

“Hm?”

Platy giggles, as if she has read my question’s intent. 

“It’s the same either way. The humanizing potion I made is of the highest quality, completely changing my body and not leaving any of my mermaid nature. So, I’m just as comfortable living on land as you land-dwellers.”

She’s such a thoughtful wife.

I’m the luckiest man alive to have her as my partner.

In fact, there is no shortage of examples of how my settlement has developed thanks to her knowledge, magic, and care.

That’s why I’ll continue to cherish Platy, who has been a great help.

...Now, as for today’s mission...

“Sorry for making you accompany me on this,” she says apologetically, but it’s no big deal to me.

I’m going to go diving with her.

“Here, chew on this,” she says again, holding out a strip of marine grass.

Is this seaweed?

It’s fine and thread-like, yet entangled in something mucus-like and slimy.

I chew on the seaweed as told.

And as I chewed and chewed and chewed...

“Whoa!”

Suddenly, I feel something strange.

I try going underwater.

I don’t feel suffocated.

Does this magic seaweed help me breathe underwater?!

“It’s an underwater breathing formula for land-dwelling people that I’m working on. It’s still in its early stages, and it only works while you’re chewing on the seaweed, so be careful not to swallow it.”

Gulp.

“Yup, I got it! Globobobob!”

“I just told you not to swallow it; you’ll drown!”

But I can’t answer you if I don’t swallow!

“Just use hand signs or something to communicate! Here—a new one! There’s not that much left, so be mindful of that!”

Okay, I gotta keep in mind that as long as I don’t swallow it, I should be good for the rest of our venture.

* * *

And so, this is how Platy and I went into the water together.

I have seaweed in my mouth, so please don’t expect me to talk for a while.

I think it’s about time to reveal the purpose of this trip.

Recently, a sea monster has been lurking in the waters near our settlement. And a vicious one at that.

Thanks to it, the sea has become much more dangerous.

Platy, who sometimes dives into the sea to get materials for the hyper fertilizer, is troubled by this.

She said, “If only Brother Arowana is here, I’d let him do this. But he’s not here to hang out of all days!”

He’s allowed to be busy sometimes, you know.

After all, he is the prince of the mermaid race.

Besides, we should take care of as much of the trouble as possible ourselves.

That’s why I leave the fieldwork to Orkubo, Miss Astres, and the others, while Platy and I will go on a grand adventure in the sea!

It’s like a date, but much more exciting!

“Since Veil, Orkubo, and the others came to live with us, we haven’t had the chance to be alone together, so as I said before, it’s a nice change of pace.”

For real.

I’m going into the deep sea with my mermaid wife Platy.

The water is surprisingly clear and clean and would make a good scuba spot.

Unfortunately, the area around our settlement is not warm enough to be called a tropical sea, so there are no colorful fish or coral reefs.

It’s a pity.

“So, the monster in question...”

(I know of monsters on land spawning in dungeons, but in the sea, too?)

As I frantically tried to communicate this to Platy with a weird series of movements, she replied, “Of course, they’re the same. There are dungeons in the ocean, and sea monsters can be found there.”

According to her, sea dungeons are mainly divided into underwater cave dungeons and trench dungeons, and these two can be generally lumped together as cave dungeons.

“It just that monsters are more prevalent in sea dungeons than on land dungeons, so you often run into them even outside their territory.”

Ba-herring G, a herring monster and the main ingredient of our field’s hyper fertilizer, is also said to be encountered just by swimming around.

Gakihitode, a starfish monster known as the sea janitor that helps keep our settlement’s toilet clean, is also said to have a large population outside dungeons even though it can't move around on its own. Mermaids tend to collect them due to this.

“These kinds of monsters are beneficial to people’s lives, so it helps to encounter them here and there, but the monster in question this time attacks and preys on ba-herring G and gakihitode, which is a huge problem.”

It’s a vicious monster that has started to lurk in this area, right?

If that’s the case, you and I will work together to drag it into a watery grave!

“Well, speak of the devil. There it is.”

Already?!

It’s true that something amidst the surrounding water is emitting this dense bloodlust.

“The blood I drew from the monsters on land worked extraordinary well. The sea monster has an acute sense of smell, after all.”

When did you do that?!

The monster approaching us, lured by the smell of blood, has a long, slender, and snake-like body...

Is this a moray eel?!

“It’s a sonieel.”

It looks very much like a moray eel, but it’s still a monster, huh?

Wait, no.

The moray eel is one of the deadliest sea creatures.

It is feared by everyone.

The fact that it’s also a monster here makes it even more powerful and vicious.

Anyway, we’re in a pickle!

“Sonieels are ten times more atrocious than its original counterparts, the moray eel! They will bite and tear apart anything that moves, but it will also bite and tear apart anything that doesn’t move!”

So, they tear apart everything anyway!

“It’s definitely in the top five creatures you don’t want to meet underwater. That’s why I want to get rid of it as soon as possible. Let’s go!”

Platy, whose lower body is a fish, moves swiftly in the water.

The sonieel, which spots and recognizes us as either enemy or food, wades through the water and attacks Platy, to which she responds with a quick dodge.

She then hurls a test tube at the monster’s head, momentarily vulnerable after its attack. 

“Graaaaaaaah!!!”

The contents seem to be an explosive potion that generates intense flames, sending it in every possible direction.

I wondered what’s the point of using such a thing in the ocean is. But it’s a mermaid’s special concoction, and it burns even underwater. In fact, it mixes with the water and burns with more vigor than in the air.

The rest is up to me to deliver the final blow.

I pull out the evil holy sword Dreischwartz, which I had brought with me, and decapitate the sonieel.

The potion’s effects are also starting to diminish as if it had become too weak after mixed with the water for a certain period.

I guess Platy also took into consideration not to spread the damage beyond the target.

“...Well that was over quick. Way to go, Dear!”

True. We were up against quite the intimidating foe.

Normal adventurers or soldiers would’ve suffered many casualties before felling it. 

The fact that Platy was able to take it down without any trouble was more her credit than mine.

She wasted no move dodging the moray eel’s attack and hurling that potent potion.

As Miss Astres and the others had said, Platy is a merprincess and an expert potion compounder famous even outside of her nation.

I wonder if her abilities are also the strongest of her race?

“Okay, now that we’ve finished our business, let’s go home.”

Wait a minute.

It’d be a waste not to take the moray eel back with us after defeating it.

“We’re taking that with us?! With how fierce it was, I doubt it’d taste any good!” 

Still, there must be a good way to prepare it.

Exotic cuisine is a process of constant trial and error!

...Huh?

The seafloor is turning black.

Normally, it would be white with sand and rocks, so what’s the cause of the blackness?

“Seaweed,” grudgingly says Platy. “Some seaweeds are as vigorous as weeds, and they multiply and quickly. It’s a real nuisance and is useless for potion compounding.”

She even went as far as deeming them worthless.

But to me, they look familiar, like wakame from my world...

* * *

“Land, sweet land!”

I went ashore and swallowed the seaweed, finally allowing me to talk.

I’ve also got the sonieel’s body and some wakame (?) that I picked up from the seafloor. 

“You’ve brought yet more dead weight back home with you...”

Platy, who had come ashore with me, had taken her humanizing potion.

“We’ll see if it really is useless after this.”

I prepared pots and cooking sets on the shore for such an occasion.

First, I used the evil holy sword to cut up the monster’s body and threw it with some random vegetables into the pot.

Then, I add fresh water and boil it.

This is not an attempt to stew the eel’s meat, but to make a delicious soup stock.

On the other hand, I wash the wakame in water and chop it into small pieces with the sword, along with some green onions.

Then I mix in the eel stock and bring it to a boil.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

And...

“Done! Otherworldly wakame soup made from moray eel stock! It’s delicious!”

Well, I haven’t tasted this version yet, so I don’t know if it’s good or not...

“Really? Is it really good?”

As expected, Platy was skeptical and drank the soup with trepidation.

Then...

“Delicious!”

Ten-tennen.

The moray eel soup seemed to be to her palate’s liking.

“The seaweed is so crunchy and delicious! I thought it was just a useless ingredient!”

It’s nice to see something that was thought useless being put to good use.

I guess I’ll be diving into the sea to collect them more often.

They can be preserved in salt, and I’d like to eat a lot of them now to prevent myself from early hair loss.

“While we’re at it, let’s bring this home to let the others have a taste!”

“Good idea! That way, their respect for you will go up again!”

And just like that, our precious time passed in the blink of an eye.

* * *

“Lord Saint! Lady Platy!”

“Welcome back!”

It seems someone came to greet us.

It’s Miss Astres, Batemy, and Belena.

The three of them rush toward us.

“?!”

And then, after getting close enough, they make an abrupt stop.

Platy, unbothered by their arrival, continues to savor the wakame soup.

“You guys came at the right time! Give this soup a try! Dear made it!”

“We appreciate the kind offer. But...”

The three girls’ gaze focuses on one spot.

“Lady Platy... Um, a question, if I may...” timidly but resolutely says Miss Astres.

“Yes, what is it?”

“Why are you naked from your lower half?”

After we returned to land, Platy transformed into her human form by drinking the humanizing potion.

What happens, then?

I’m personally used to seeing her switch between her two forms, but anyway...

Drinking the potion leaves her naked from the lower half of her body.

As she’s a mermaid, she’s not accustomed to the terrestrials’ custom of wearing clothes down there.

“Oh! Whoopsie-daisy. I forgot to put some clothes on. Tee-hee!”

I’m so used to seeing her like that even I forgot to tell her.

Platy’s smooth legs, cute and round bum, and most strikingly, that.

“‘TEE-HEEEEEEEEEEEEEE’?!”

However, the demonesses, who have lived on land all their life and are familiar with the manners of land-dwellers, are beyond shocked.

In any case, they cover Platy’s lower body so that I can’t see it.

“Huh? What? What’s the fuss about?”

Platy still has no idea what’s going on.

“Lady Platy... You seem yet oblivious to our social etiquette. But the way you’re ‘dressed’ right now... Well...”

“Yes?”

Miss Astres bashfully whispers into Platy’s ear.

And then Platy’s face turns red as well.

It’s as if Miss Astres’ blushing face transferred onto her.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” screams Platy.

That day, she finally learned what being naked meant to us land-dwellers.

* * *

Ever since that incident, Platy never dared to expose her bottom half to anyone when changing forms, leaving me secretly half-relieved and half-disappointed.

==========

happy valentines day everyone!

you read that right, it's an exclusive chapter! ive been thinking of posting this chapter specifically on this day cause yknow...

also, i realized late i had this was scheduled a day later, oof

this one's from volume 1 of the light novel :)