Even when it was time to eat, Mercer just sat on the ground with Merumi on his lap; he refused to let her sit on the ground and Merumi didn't try to free herself either.
In fact, they even slept like that, despite Merumi feeling a bit ashamed, because she liked how Mercer treated her.
The others on the ship didn't bother with them as they were busy with their own duties.
"Mercer, why is there a farm inside the ship?"
During their exploitation of the ship, they found a farm that was placed inside the ship. The farm had artificial light and weather powered by formations, so it didn't feel different from the outside.
"I don't know. No one mentioned anything about this farm before. We need to report it to master later."
Merumi also nodded to Mercer's words. Of course, Yale knew about the farm since the first day because it was there to provide a supply of vegetables even in the midst of the ocean. Yale's group had a lot of food in their storage artifacts, so they didn't need the farm, but they still harvested it when it was time because they didn't want to waste food.
Fortunately, the formations were in charge of everything else, so they didn't need to work as farmers, they just needed to pick up the vegetables.
However, although Yale told the others about the farm and Julie knew about it from the start, no one told Mercer about it because they didn't want him to worry about the farm nor did they want him to waste his free time helping there.
"This place is quite beautiful; can we rest here?"
Since Merumi asked to rest, Mercer sat down.
"Aren't there any beautiful places where you live?"
Mercer was quite interested in the ocean and thought that it should be far more beautiful than the farm.
"There are, but... I always lived confined without chances to explore on my own. I only escaped once to help my brother, during which I saw a lot of beautiful places, but I almost died at that time."
She didn't have time to check those places since she was in a hurry to help her brother.
"I am sorry... In fact, I am similar to you. I never left my clan before meeting master, and if I hadn't met him, I would have died long ago."
That lack of freedom was the main reason for both of them liked so much exploring. Although they were still confined inside the ship, at least they could move freely inside the ship which was far better than their previous situations.
Both of them under the farm's artificial sunlight was quite a beautiful scene, but there wasn't anyone to appreciate it.
"Mercer, do you like me?"
Merumi's sudden question shocked Mercer, but he managed to recover his calm and answer.
"Yes, I like you."
Merumi smiled after hearing that.
"I am a mermaid. I don't have legs, nor I can walk... Can you still love me despite this?"
Merumi really fell in love with Mercer after because he treated her like a princess since the moment they met; she was still a little girl, and she never met anyone else of her age before, which made it easy for Mercer to find a place in her heart.
However, she didn't know if Mercer just liked her as a friend, as an interesting mermaid, or he truly loved her. In fact, she didn't even know if Mercer understood love.
"I don't mind that you are a mermaid! I really love you!"
Mercer and Merumi were just kids, so they were quite impulsive when it came to love, based on things they had read on books.
After hearing Mercer's reply, Merumi's face blushed, and she softly leaned her head on Mercer's body.
"Then..."
Merumi was about to ask Mercer if she could consider him as a boyfriend when she screamed in pain while a light started to surround her body.
"Merumi!"
Mercer was worried to death when he heard Merumi scream.
"This should be something the matriarch did to my body..."
Merumi was young but not a fool, the only reason she could feel a sudden pain, was that the matriarch did something to her body.
"Mercer, I don't know what is happening to me, but you should let me go and flee. I don't want you to be harmed."
Merumi didn't know what was happening to her, but she feared that she would explode or something like that and that Mercer would also die.
"But..."
Before Mercer could say anything else, Merumi kissed him stopping his words.
"I am really happy that I met you before dying. Please live a happy life."
Merumi said that after ending the kiss and she used all her remaining strength, which was weakening every second, to use her arms to send her body through the air, hoping that Mercer would be able to avoid being harmed.
"It will end like this? My first love will end in tragedy? It was interesting in books, but I don't want to experience a tragedy myself. However, I am too weak, and I can't do anything."
Mercer thought those words while he was unable to move from the shock of the situation; he didn't understand what was happening, nor did he know how to solve it.
"Mercer, until we return, you must take care of her."
At that moment he remembered his master's words before departing.
"That is true, Master entrusted her to me, how can I let something happen to her without doing anything? Moreover..."
After thinking that, Mercer finally moved and jumped to catch Merumi who was still in the air.
"There is no way I can have a happy life if I let you die in front of my eyes!"
Mercer shouted while catching Merumi's body before the light around Merumi's body expanded engulfing the two of them and making them disappear from the Storage Space.
Before his body disappeared, Mercer managed to hear a thank you from Merumi's weak voice.
At the next instant, Mercer didn't feel any explosion nor mysterious power; he just felt as if someone had put him inside a pool without notice and his body was sinking.
"I am under the water. I can't breathe."
Mercer was too weak to correctly enduring while being under the water for a long time since he was still at the Mortal Rank, but suddenly he noticed that he could breathe despite being under the water
"What is this? Right, where is Merumi?"
Mercer didn't have time to wonder why he suddenly was able to breathe under the water; he looked around until he found Merumi floating ahead of him with a light surrounding her body. That light was one of the two only points of light in the room.
Mercer swam until Merumi's body and noticed that although she was unconscious, and her face was pale, she was still alive.
From where Merumi's body was, Mercer could see a pearl shining with a reddish color that remembered him the color of blood. Mercer felt that the pearl was the main reason for Merumi being in that state.
Mercer tried to move Merumi's body, but despite her body's being floating, Mercer was unable to move it.
"I need to do something about that pearl first. Maybe that is the World Sea Pearl that master was trying to recover."
At that moment Mercer remembered another part of the words told by his master.
"After your playtime ends, you will need to work hard."
Mercer finally understood that his master predicted that situation and entrusted it entirely to him. Thus, Mercer also guessed that no one would appear to help him and Merumi, most likely because that wasn't possible.
"I need to do it myself."
Although Mercer didn't understand why his master chose him and not someone stronger to do that job, he didn't mind because he wanted to be the one saving the girl he loved. Especially, since he saw that Merumi was ready to die as long as she didn't harm Mercer in the process, he felt that only he could do that job.
Mercer swam towards the World Sea Pearl, and some of the reddish light entered into his body provoking a lot of pain; if it weren't because all the stats of his body were perfect for his rank, he would have exploded.
Despite the pain and knowing that if he continued, he would explode, Mercer continued ahead while stopping the suppression of his breakthrough.
Due to that, he immediately stepped on the Novice Rank while absorbing the reddish energy as a substitute of the formations that usually were used in that situation.
The reddish energy was extremely violent, but somehow Mercer managed to turn it on his own energy without too many difficulties. In fact, that was the reason why only Mercer could save Merumi.
The mermaids with a pink tail had a special capability called Mermaid's Blessing that could be used only once in their lives on someone of the opposite gender that was from a different species.
That blessing gave the target some abilities like breathing under the water or being able to absorb the mermaid's life force that the World Sea Pearl was emanating after absorbing the blood of the sacrifices made for the matriarch.
However, using the Mermaid's Blessing was a serious matter because it could become lethal for the mermaid. If the target who received the Mermaid's Blessing stopped loving the mermaid or died, the mermaid would also die.
Mercer unknowing that he had obtained such a precious blessing, but he didn't stop until he grabbed the World Sea Pearl with his hands despite the terrible pain that he was suffering.
A lot of wounds appeared on Mercer's body, but he managed to endure the energy without exploding while he returned to Merumi's side after grabbing the World Sea Pearl with his hands.
The reddish light of the pearl disappeared once Mercer neared Merumi and then it changed to a pink light that entered on Merumi's body. However, Mercer saw that the pink light didn't seem to harm Merumi as it made her face recover its usual color and her expression relaxed.
Besides that, the originally black hair of Merumi changed into pink hair like her tail, but Mercer didn't mind about that as long as she was safe.
The World Sea Pearl remained floating near to Merumi's body like if it had found a suitable owner.
Even after Mercer hugged Merumi with his left arm, and advanced towards the huge door that was in front of him, the pearl, which continued emanating that pink light, followed at his side.
"I need to break this door to exit."
Mercer wasn't too sure of how his strength was at that moment since he had leveled up far too quickly until the Apprentice Rank due to the energy of the World Sea Pearl.
A Frost Claw appeared on Mercer's right hand for the first time, and he started to attack the door, but it didn't seem to have any effect on the door.
"I am finally able to create a Frost Claw, but I am not used enough to use something like this."
After thinking that, the Frost Claw turned into a long Ice Sword. Mercer's control over the water improved a lot since he received the Mermaid's Blessing making that he could change water into ice easily.
"Break!"
Mercer used his whole strength in that attack which even created Sword Qi and made him advance to the master stage in swordsmanship in one go.
The door wasn't too sturdy from inside since that chamber wasn't really a place to imprison others, so it broke after receiving that attack.