Natsu and Happy happily swam through the seawater.
"My swimming skills seem to have improved!" Happy said, looking delighted as he moved through the water.
"That is also an effect of the medicine," Kashima explained at an unhurried pace.
"Which means I can have a proper race with Shameko now."
Erza and Kagura were already planning to race the shark beside them.
"Incidentally, that is not Miss Shameko..."
Shameko was the girl Kashima had said he was going out to meet.
"..."
Erza's silence was deafening. She had been calling this shark Shameko the whole time.
The shark smiled with narrowed eyes.
"My name is Mesami, but it's fine."
Lucy raised one finger.
"Speaking of which, I once read a fairy tale kind of like this."
Wendy picked up the topic at once.
"Was it a story about the sea?"
Lucy gave a playful wink and continued,
"That's right. It was about a boy who saved a bullied turtle, and the turtle repaid him by inviting him to an underwater world."
"And then? And then?" Wendy asked, her face full of expectation.
"Well, after that..."
Lucy's expression suddenly turned very strange.
"Lucy-san, tell us."
After Wendy urged her, Lucy finally told the truth.
"The boy turned into a jellyfish in the end..."
The reason she had made that face was because she had just remembered the strange jellyfish from earlier that tried to crawl into her mouth.
"What are you here for?" Kashima finally asked the question he should have asked long ago.
Raizel answered casually,
"We came here from the southern continent to travel."
Before entering Ermina, Ultear had already warned everyone.
Since this city worshiped the Water Dragon God Mercphobia as a deity, it would be best not to directly ask the residents for information or clues about him.
They should investigate quietly. If anyone asked why they had come here, they would all say they were tourists.
Kashima nodded.
"I see. Then enjoy yourselves in Ermina. This is absolutely a rare experience."
Raizel, Ultear, and the others swam away from the school of fish while moving through Ermina. As they went, Raizel used Super Archive Magic to probe the area.
"We tested the waters with the fish just now."
"They really do worship the Water Dragon God as a deity," Ultear and Mira said one after another.
When Ultear and Mira had chatted with the fish, they had casually brought up the Water Dragon God. Whenever the residents mentioned him, their tone was full of respect.
Erza and Kagura had been playing around, but they had also sounded out Mesami, and the result was the same.
Kagura added,
"These residents probably aren't evil either. Otherwise, they wouldn't have given us medicine that lets us breathe underwater."
Natsu, however, looked serious.
"But don't forget. Our goal is to defeat the Five Dragon Gods. Even if they hate us for it, there's nothing we can do. This is our job."
Kagura replied with a blank expression, "But Selene is one of the Five Dragon Gods too."
"Selene is Selene!" Natsu said immediately.
Selene was a companion who had fought shoulder to shoulder with them. Natsu could not bring himself to attack her.
Ultear rubbed her chin as she thought back.
"I remember Selene saying that if there was one Dragon God like her who wanted to live peacefully with humans, it would be the Water Dragon God."
Lucy's eyes lit up, and she raised a finger.
"Speaking of that, let's think carefully about what Elefseria said. His wording was, 'Seal all Five Dragon Gods!'"
"So basically, beat them?" Natsu asked.
"Seal" was a hard word for Natsu to understand.
Lucy thought for a moment and organized her words.
"'Seal' can mean a lot of things. It can mean subduing an enemy, or making them lose their power. It can also mean literally sealing them away or locking them somewhere."
"So?" Erza and Kagura both looked a little confused.
Lucy continued,
"In other words, he didn't clearly define what 'seal' means. For example, the Water Dragon God may have once been a violent god, but right now, he's being worshiped by the fish as a Water God, right? If we can talk to him and find a way to calm him down, maybe that can count as 'sealing' him too."
Wendy grew excited.
"So there might still be a peaceful solution!"
Lucy did not dare guarantee it and chose her words carefully.
"It's just a possibility."
Raizel leaned against the street and looked at Natsu, who stood there with his arms crossed and a bored expression on his face.
"Don't put 'this is so lame' all over your face, Natsu. It's way too obvious."
Erza laughed softly as well.
"That's right. You should understand better than anyone that not all dragons are evil."
"I know! I won't attack before we figure out what kind of dragon he really is. But if he dares hurt my friends, I'll definitely slay him!"
As he spoke, Natsu looked completely serious and punched the stone-paved ground.
"Since we've decided that, our first step is gathering information."
"Whether the Water Dragon God is an enemy or an ally."
"And what exactly is going on with this city."
Ultear, Erza, and Kagura spoke one after another.
Wendy timidly raised a hand.
"I have one question. If we ask around like this, won't we alert someone?"
At that moment, Lucy suddenly raised a finger and gave a playful wink.
"I have a good idea!"
Ultear and Mira, who already knew Transformation Magic, turned themselves into fish. As for Raizel and the others, who did not know Transformation Magic, Gemini helped transform them.
The result was that everyone became a fish with their own human head.
They did not really look like fish at all.
"I somehow don't think this looks like a real fish," Raizel said. He could not even turn his head properly to look at his fish body.
"Huh? Isn't this exactly like a fish?" Lucy said. "Look at Kashima and Mesami. There's no difference."
"Wait... the residents here really don't look like normal fish," Ultear and Mira suddenly realized.
Since both of them could use Transformation Magic, they had transformed into actual fish rather than the human-headed fish forms Raizel, Lucy, and the others had.
But Kashima, Shameko, and Mesami all looked like Raizel's group.
"In other words, the fish here may not actually be..."
"real fish!" Erza and Kagura immediately realized as well.
Only Wendy had no room to care about that.
Because she had turned into a jellyfish.
The same kind they had encountered on the road earlier.
Jellyfish Wendy burst into tears!
"Why am I the only jellyfish?! This must be punishment for blowing all those jellyfish away!"
Happy was crying too.
"First, fish turned into people, and now I've turned into a fish..."
Erza looked completely confident.
"There is no way this form will give us away!"
Natsu excitedly waved his fins.
"Let's split up and gather information!"
Cold sweat ran down Raizel's forehead.
"Do you all seriously think we won't get exposed...?"
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