Chapter 48

Translator: Cheonsa

Editor: notthepineapple

Chapter 48

　　As if trying to prevent my restless movements, Agares coiled his rough and long fishtail between my ankles, his arms going around my neck to pull me closer, allowing my head to rest against his chest. This intimate posture made me feel both embarrassed and nervous because I didn’t know when Agares would become a brutal beast again. Since I was actually staying in his lair, I was basically at his mercy. 

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　　Thus, I closed my eyes—pretending to sleep.

　　But Agares didn’t seem to have any intention of touching me for the time being. His chest slowly fluctuated with rhythm, and his gentle breathing, like a sea breeze, was long and steady, sweeping gently across the top of my head. One of his strong and wide webbed hands, similar to those professional basketball players, laid on my hand, as if we were two really close homosexual lovers. 

　　This guy really didn’t seem to be planning to do anything. 

I secretly turned my head sideways to look at him. His usual bright, intense, captivating eyes were closed at the moment. Dewdrops laced on his long eyelashes dripped down the high end of his perfectly bridged nose. He looked like a quiet and peaceful statue.

　　Agares seemed to be sleeping, and moreover had really fallen asleep. However, I didn’t dare to wake him up nor escape while he was asleep. 

There was no doubt I would fail. I was sure that even before I could pull my legs out from his big, deadly tail, Agares would already be awake. 

I closed my eyes again, took in a few deep breaths and tried to calm my stiff body. However, with the rare hormonal scent circling in the den, I was unable to fall asleep at all. My heart was beating fast and my entire body was covered in sweat. Just simply lying here unmoving made me feel like my physical strength was rapidly being exhausted. I only lay there for a couple minutes and my body had already betrayed me—

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　　 My stomach let out a series of rumbling noises.

　　”Ah… damn it!

　　I swallowed. I realized just now that I haven’t eaten anything for awhile. Agares was clearly startled by me and had opened his eyes. I felt a little embarrassed as I rubbed my empty stomach. “Hey… um that… I’m… hungry.”

　　Puzzled, Agares stretched out his arm and pressed his webbed claw onto my stomach. I stared at him anxiously. I really was starving and the only way to obtain food was through him. Agares, as if he had grasped my weak spot, looked at me as the corner of his mouth hooked up in a teasing manner, and chuckled. 

　　His webbed claw lightly pinched my chin, bringing me closer to his side. Baffled, I wondered what exactly he wanted to do, and soon saw him move his sharp pointed ear closer to my face, as if hinting at me to do something.

　　I immediately came to a realization—this guy was asking me for a kiss! To be more precise, he wanted me to do what I had done last time… lick him, as an “advanced reward” for getting food. This suddenly made me feel like I became a dolphin and his position had changed to become a domesticator. This merman was feeding me to tame me and so I need to obediently stick close to him. 

　　This is just too ridiculous!

　　I was stunned on the spot, but then my stomach disappointedly called out again and it was even louder than last time. The empowering feeling of hunger made me give up the little struggling strength left in my heart and reluctantly moved closer to give Agares’s ear a lick. But who would have expected Agares to take advantage of this small gain and swiftly move his cheek right below by eyelid. 

Cujgfr’r fsfr rdelcafv lcab j cjggbk rwlif jcv atf mbgcfg bo tlr wbeat vffqfcfv ja wf. 

　　How cunning… 

　　P megrfv oeglberis lc ws tfjga jcv mibrfv ws fsfr jcv ilmxfv atf rlvf bo tlr ojmf, yea lc atf fcv, tbkfnfg, tlr kfyyfv mijk bcmf jujlc tfiv ws mtlc,tlr olcufgr geyylcu ufcais jmgbrr ws ilqr. Llr fsfr rtlcfv nfgs jwylueberis, mifjgis j ilaaif fzmlafv —

　　Just thinking about this, you can easily tell how sexual of a scene licking a finger would be. If this went on, was I going to be forced to lick Agares’s entire body in order to get food? If so, I would rather starve to death! 

　　“Hey, you beast!” 

　　With a flustered red face, I glared at him. The other person, however, just simply opened his mouth, grabbed my wrist and licked repeatedly with his extended tongue. I was left at a complete loss and was petrified in place. 

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The tips of my ears were burning red. After allowing Agares to lick to his heart’s content, he looked up and gave me a meaningful glance before his fishtail stood up, throwing himself into a beautiful arc out of the cave’s entrance. Before I could even react, I was left alone in the darkness and the only thing that I could hear was a loud splash of water from afar. 

　　I held my aching chest and slowly crawled toward the edge of the entrance to see how he hunts, and my line of sight suddenly opened up to a wide  view.

　　This den was indeed situated on a precipice on the outer edge of the island, but the altitude was not that high. Agares could easily come up with a single leap. Not only that, there were many reef rocks in the surrounding that resembled stairs that reach into the sea.

　　As far as my eyes could see, surrounding me was an endless sea. With pure moonlight sprinkled across the sea’s surface, a clear and crystallized reflection of gleaming waves could be seen and it seamlessly connected together with the starry night dome. 

　　The sea breeze poured backward from below, blowing my clothes and hair as if I was soaring. The moon in the distance appeared so close as if it was within reach, making people feel like they were in a vast universe with their feet inside an empty spaceship, drifting silently in the long, endless, familiar Milky Way.

　　Witnessing such magnificent and mysterious beauty, I couldn’t refrain myself from relaxing and got rid of the troubled emotions in my heart. Momentarily, I forgot about time, forgot about my own sense of being, and became fully immersed in this vast world… until an arrow-like shadow broke through the sea’s surface and I suddenly came back to reality. 

        I saw a strong silhouette of a half-man half-fish streaking across, creating a graceful arc under the brilliance of the full moon. When splashing back into the water, the lights of the water splattered everywhere, creating a star-like image. However, instead of falling into the dark sea, it plunged directly into my heart, stirring up waves that were unable to calm down. 

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　My heart felt like water droplets were splashing into my throat, feeling all choked up. 

　　I stared at that direction in a daze for a long while before I reluctantly withdrew my eyes away. Otherwise, I would be unable to control myself from jumping into the sea and swimming alongside Agares. 

　　I reminded myself that I should explore the terrain of this cave without delay before his return, to prepare an early escape plan for the near future. Thinking of this, I slowly groped my way back into the cave. 

　　In the deep part of the cave, there were many hovering fireflies-like plankton, emitting clusters of light blue stars and specks. They had a good lighting effect, allowing me to see the structure of Agares’s den. At the center of the cave, there was a sunken pithole that went downward and it was filled with flowing water, similar to those natural public baths. I assumed that at its very bottom, there was a route that would lead straight to the open sea, or perhaps, the place where he usually slept in. 

　　I carefully walked around the edge, and unexpectedly found a second hole on the left side with an entrance that could fit no more than half a person. It resembled an oval window, however you can see that the inside was not very deep at all. With just a single glance, you could tell that it was a dead end with no other entrance or exit. I couldn’t help but notice that there were piles of things inside it, and stretched half of my body through to investigate out of curiosity.  

　　I realized straight away that these were all human belongings. There was a bit of everything, practically all miscellaneous things: canned sesame oil, large pearls, valuable ivory goods, red wine, baijiu, beer, etc. These were all common goods often found within Eurasia commercial trades. In addition, there were also equipment that were commonly used during sea voyages. There were a few that were used in the past, for example, a sextant and a navigation map made out of sheepskin. The oldest one there was actually a kind of monocular telescope that could only be seen in the 18th century and a steering wheel that seemed to have been broken off from a ship!

 　　Oh My God!  Just when I was feeling incredulous over everything that I just saw, I also caught sight of a dilapidated yet thick English dictionary—I believe this was the reason why Agares was able to speak English. He was truly one erudite merman…… 

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　　I randomly opened the old dictionary and saw that some words inside were specially marked with a ballpoint pen. These notations must have been left by humans who used it previously. I flipped around a few times and accidentally came across a folded letter tucked within. 

I opened the letter and tried reading it but I could only distinguish that there was a lot of handwriting within these densely packed words. I didn’t know which country this language originated from because the writing was indeed too messy, the penmanship was wilder and more unrestrained than my own, and not only that, after years of sea water erosion, it was truly hard to see what was written. 

　　I subconsciously hid it in the pocket of my pants because I was curious, maybe it contained recorded information of the last person who met Agares. 

　　These things were enough to prove that Agares was at least over 300 years old. These were the proof of his long period of ocean life. They were treasures he brought back, or possibly even souvenirs.<b> </b>

　　And I may not even be the first human to be brought back to his den… nor his first chosen “spouse,” after all, my age differed greatly from his. 

　　With my thoughts running wild, a sudden sour and bitter taste appeared abruptly in my heart, but I quickly forced myself to dispel these strange thoughts and continued to focus my attention on the Chinese dictionary. I flipped around the book freely as I wished, yet my heart was still feeling chaotic and was somewhat jittery. 

　　Damn it, Desharow! What’s the point of caring about this! Thinking about how to leave here in the future is the most important thing. How does that merman bringing home other humans have anything to do with you! 

　　My eyebrows knitted together and looked away in another direction. There appeared to be other entrances in this deep cave, but when I was about to exit the smaller hole I was in, I suddenly heard movement coming from the cave outside of where I was.  I quickly realized that Agares had returned, and I hastily tried to get out. Just as I was passing the small pool, Agares’s figure unexpectedly appeared at the entrance of the small cave, and having caught me off guard, I lost my footing and slipped, staggering backward into the pool. 

　　Damn it, so unlucky! 

　　I choked on a couple mouthfuls of water in a frenzy. Just as I plopped myself out from the water, I raised my head and my gaze happened to directly land on Agares’s face, making me almost fall back into the water in fright. However, my waist was agilely caught by Agares’s webbed claw, and had his tail circled around my legs, drawing my entire body directly upward from the pool into his embrace. 

In the dim light, I couldn’t see what Agares’s expression was, but I was panicking as I had been caught looking through his private collection. 

　　I know he must have figured out what I did just now, but I didn’t know whether he would be angered by this. So when his webbed claw moved upward toward my neck, I couldn’t stop myself from trembling, afraid that he would strangle me to death.  However, he just firmly held the back of my head and neck while he lowered his head closer to my chest and began licking it. 

　　I looked down stiffly only to find the bullet wound on my chest had reopened due to the large movement just now. I didn’t even notice the red blood that had already stained the front of my jacket. 

After Agares’s tongue had already carefully licked a full circle around my wound, he went to follow the blood trail and licked downward as well. He had bitten apart the seam of my clothing, wanting to continue licking down my abdomen. I quickly shrunk back my body and clutched onto both of his ears to hold back his tendency of moving down, “Hey… don’t lick anymore, I’m feeling much better!” 

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　　Damn it, if he continues downward, the thing below will once again react…

　　I gritted my teeth as I already felt goosebumps surfacing all over the areas where his tongue had touched. However, what I said had no effect at all. Agares, turning a deaf ear, continued licking downward, and the pair of satiny ears had easily slipped away, escaping my clutches. His tongue scraped across the bloody traces running down my abdomen causing my sensitive underbelly to twitch. 

　I could only use the sole defensive line—my belt, and held it tightly. In fact, I already knew staying with Agares alone will lead to unintended consequences at some point, but I didn’t want it to happen right away. My body right now can’t bear the torment from this beast! 

　　However, my defensiveness clearly produced the opposite result of what I wanted. Agares’s webbed claw on my nape moved down toward my pants. He lifted his eyelids and stared at me. My complexion instantly turned pale, and I let out a stutter, “N-no, I can’t.”

　　“Wet…you should take off cl…othing…”

　　Agares whispered each word intimately with a slightly commanding tone. Damp breath sprayed across my face, and the incoming strong hormonal scent wafting in my face caused my expression to turn dark.

　　“It’s okay, I can just wear it. It will dry up in a moment!”  

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

I loudly disputed and further tightened my hold on my belt. If it were any other man here, I wouldn’t mind showing my body, but in the face of Agares, what’s the difference between walking around in front of him without any clothes and jumping into a shark-infested sea! 

　　“Take off…” Agares drew back the corner of his lips, his tone was full of threat. 

　My back felt cold. 

　　In the end, the result of my struggle caused my pants to be torn apart into two pieces and my outer garment, in just three moves, were completely shredded from my body, leaving me wearing nothing but a pitiful boxer brief.  Fortunately, before Agares had the meaning of leaving me fully bare, my hand that was struggling to cover my crotch in great resistance managed to stop his incoming hand with great difficulty. 

　　I curled up like a shrimp and stared at Agares with endless anger and embarrassment, but I didn’t dare to retaliate. Yet under my fervent glare, Agares indifferently drew out a few fish from behind him. From its appearance, they seemed to be a salmon-related type of fingerling and were known for their high nutritional values. I also heard that their meat was very tender.

　　Feeling hungry, I involuntarily swallowed a mouthful of saliva. I couldn’t refrain from looking at Agares and was stunned when he used his webbed fingers to cut through its chest, disassembling the fish. Only when he tore off a long strip of fish meat and placed it near my mouth did I wake up from my daze.

　　In this situation, expecting to eat cooked food was absolutely impossible so without hesitation, I grabbed the food in front of me and tentatively gave it a little bite. 

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　　Surprisingly, the fish meat that entered my mouth didn’t have the expected strong fishy taste other than a faint salty flavor of seawater and a slight sweetness when chewing on it. This opened my appetite, and like a starving wolf, I devoured all the fish Agares brought back and enjoyed a satisfying full meal. 

　　Just when I was feeling fully satisfied from a full stomach to the point of burping, I heard several drawn out whistling noises coming from outside of the cave’s entrance. I turned to look, and shockingly in the middle of the sea, there were many merfolk emerging out of nowhere from the water with only their heads seen. I didn’t know why they were looking hopefully at Agares and me as if they were expecting something. 

　　TBC……

Hello!!! It’s my turn to translate the next few chapters! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Like I said before, the author loves to use heavy descriptions to help readers visualize. I hope I done a good job on it.

Please Note: All the pictures I used for Description comes from this song Called Starry Night, by my favorite Korean Girl Group, MAMAMOO

If you guys got the same feels as me, Please watch Starry Nights music video, you will get the the visual you need to imagine what Desharow was also feeling like! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FB2EoKTK_Q

Enjoy!

-Cheonsa