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Chapter 64: Welcome Back Our King
An Jin listened to Little Silver and the mermaids talking about the auction price, but his eyes unconsciously fell on Jorens in the corner. He thought for a moment and wandered over to Jorens.
Jorens’ face was serious from time to time when he looked at An Jin. He noticed An Jin was very concerned about the clan, and the clan trusted An Jin very much. His eyes flashed with thought, if he told the king the truth, the king might agree to leave! Or, find a way to pack up the human and take him away too.
As he was thinking about it, he saw the king swimming towards him. His white and gray eyes lit up! He quickly scanned his surroundings, the rest of the mermaids still gathered to argue about the auction price.
On the shore, humans were staying in glass houses, although many people’s eyes fell on the pool, but the distance was so far, they could not hear the sound of talking. Good opportunity!
An Jin swam up to Jorens and asked in a soft voice, “Did you come to me before, to discuss the escape?”
Jorens nodded his head.
I’m sure it wasn’t because he had a crush on me, An Jin thought, embarrassed, thinking it was a good thing Jorens didn’t know.
Jorens was ready to open up, but when the king spoke again, he listened carefully.
An Jin noticed before that his mood seemed a bit low.
So he said, “You’re right to worry about what’s going on. But the mermaid’s tail is not convenient for moving on land, so it is difficult to leave. Even if you do, how will you live? I think it is best to maintain the present state for the time being. Mermaids and humans help each other, and when the mermaid’s memory becomes better later, they will be able to learn knowledge, be determined to be intelligent creatures, and live independently.”
Jorens eyes slightly opened, looking suddenly excited. The king was really thinking about his people! The king really cared about his people! He felt the gentle yet majestic aura of the king and bowed, his right palm pressed against his heart, his tone respectful and excited. “King!”
An Jin’s eyes widened and he looked at Jorens in surprise, he froze for a second and then reacted, he guessed, “Did you sense the heritage too?”
Jorens shook his head. “We sensed your presence while you were receiving the inheritance, and then immediately gathered our army to take you back to our home planet.”
An Jin was more surprised. “You are not a mermaid from Siao…you’re a mermaid of the mermaid planet?”
Jorens nodded. “Yes.”
An Jin was dumbfounded; although he accepted the inheritance, the mermaids around him also had a very unusual attitude towards him, but never called him the king. King, for him, was very vague, like a dream.
But seeing Jorens’ excited face and feeling the emotions of intense anticipation conveyed by Jorens, he had to face the matter squarely: he was the king of the mermaids.
But he was still puzzled. “Do you only identify kings according to their heritage? I know particularly little about the mermaids or the mermaid planet, and I can’t govern a country, so what use would you have for such a king?”
Jorens said seriously, “How can a king bother to govern a country? The elders will take care of the government. The king is the spiritual faith of the mermaids, and with the king, all the difficulties that the mermaids encounter will be solved.”
An Jin was suddenly stressed out. “I’m not that good.”
Jorens tone was firm. “No, you are the most powerful! I have felt your power.”
An Jin’s heart stirred, Could it be the water ability?
Jorens thought of the king’s treatment and was angry. “You suffered! Before we came, we didn’t expect at all that mermaids would be so belittled by humans! They actually treated you like pets! If you agree, I will contact the vanguard right now and take you and your kin away from them!” He looked at An Jin with a sincere expression. “Please come with us back to the home planet, Rabe, all the mermaids are looking forward to seeing the king.”
An Jin felt his anticipation clearly, and a strange wave of emotion rose in his heart. He was silent for a moment, thought calmly and then shook his head. “No, I can’t go with you.”
He had just agreed to marry Norman.
Jorens asked, “Is it because of the human you’re looking at?”
An Jin hmmed, not denying it.
The mermaid planet was foreign to him, more like a dream, but Norman was someone he had actually spent time with. He was worried about Jorens’ impulsive action and reminded, “You can’t take the mermaids directly either. The mermaids are very important to humans, so if many mermaids were taken away by you, the Siao military will never let it go, and you can hardly leave Siao Planet successfully.”
“As long as the same clan cooperates, we can definitely leave smoothly!” Jorens looked at the mermaids who were talking to each other and was a bit tired. “The reason I used the auction to incite them is that I am worried that they will not cooperate. King, as long as you are willing to leave, they will definitely follow you!”
An Jin shook his head. “I can’t decide for them. You can tell them what the mermaid planet is like, it’s up to them to choose.” He thought of another important thing and inquired, “They have a poor memory, is this the case with the mermaids of the mermaid planet?”
Jorens shook his head. “No,” his eyes dimmed and his face was serious, “but more and more mermaids, because the sacred tree withered, failed in their adult baptism, their tails could not become legs, and their abilities were greatly diminished.” He looked to An Jin and said with a heavy tone, “King, Rabe needs you.”
An Jin was still frothing at his previous words. “You mean that mermaid tails need to be baptized as adults to become legs?”
A shocked look appeared in Jorens eyes. “Don’t you know? In the heritage you received, there is no mention of it?”
An Jin wrinkled his eyebrows to think back. “I know that in adulthood the tail will become two legs, but also…will be divided into Tek mermaid and Aisa mermaid. After the contract, the two legs and tail can freely switch, and if not mated, can use spiritual force to keep the legs.” He looked at Jorens. “The heritage doesn’t mention exactly how tails turn into legs when you become an adult.” He added, “When I became an adult, it went straight to two legs.”
He thought he could change straight away as an adult. Suddenly, he remembered the huge tree in his mind when he received the inheritance, could that be the sacred tree?
Jorens explained, “You are the king and only needed to become an adult to receive the inheritance and receive the energy of transformation, but ordinary mermaids need to experience baptism to obtain energy!”
An Jin secretly thought, Changing legs and mermaid genes have nothing to do with each other?
Jorens looked at An Jin with a worried look on his brow. “King, you probably didn’t receive all the inheritance. You should also go back to the sanctuary and receive the baptism of adulthood.”
An Jin looked at his expression and couldn’t help but feel a little worried. “What will happen if you don’t receive the baptism?”
“A complete inheritance will give you great strength; an incomplete inheritance will affect your strength.”
An Jin froze, he didn’t seem to get stronger when he received the inheritance. No, he suddenly realized that he had actually become faster when he upgraded.
Although the speed of ascending to level four was about the same as ascending to level three, it was reasonable to say that the further he went, the slower the speed of upgrading, and the fact that his speed remained the same actually means that he had become stronger!
Jorens said again, “Please come back with me.”
An Jin thought about it, when the mermaid planet appeared, his previous concern about the mermaid’s problem could be completely solved: he could remove the impurities. Although he didn’t know what kind of strength the complete inheritance could bring, for him, the stronger the strength, the better. He could not help but look forward to the future with Norman on the street. The streets were no longer without fireworks, but everywhere there were snack stores and restaurants, and the aroma.
He asked, “What mermaids urgently need to solve is because the sacred tree withered, right?”
Jorens nodded.
Water ability did have healing powers, but An Jin was not so sure it would work. “I am willing to go to Rabe Star and try to solve the sacred tree problem, but not now.” He looked at the rest of the mermaids and continued, “I’ll go back when their memories are restored. As for whether they want to go back or not, it’s up to them to decide.” He paused and added, “Also, I will come back to Siao Planet. Of course, if the mermaids are in trouble, I will try to help if I can.”
Jorens was disappointed, but it was completely understandable. He thought, It’s not easy for the king to think about the mermaids without receiving the full heritage. He sounded expectant when he said, “Hopefully by then, the beautiful Rabe Star and a handsome Tek warrior will make the king change his mind and be willing to take up permanent residence on Rabe.”
An Jin was speechless. Is it okay to be so generous and say that you hope he moves on?
But Jorens didn’t mention going back to heal his memory, and it’s likely that the level of medicine on the mermaid planet was no better than on Siao. He asked Jorens about it, and it was true. He said to Jorens, “And don’t you call me king, I won’t settle on Rabe.”
Jorens said, “You are the king, it is meant to be. You can live anywhere you like, of course, I would prefer Rabe Star to be in your favor.” He bowed. “Jorens, the Second Elder of the Temple, is at your disposal. You do not approve of taking the mermaids directly, so what do you think we should do?”
An Jin pondered and then said, “I think we should approach the Star League in the name of the nation. The mermaids are important to the humans, and taking the mermaids away secretly could easily cause a war.”
“But those abominable human beings will surely be unwilling to let mermaids leave for selfish reasons,” Jorens said.
That’s why, at first, they just lurked instead of directly approaching. An Jin thought of the pristine gourds growing in his backyard and had a plan. “I have a solution.”
He had the ability to purify, to make the soil grow pure food, to make large quantities of pure seeds, and mermaids only benefited a small percentage of the population, but planting pure seeds would benefit the entire planet. He believed that all members of the Star League would choose the more beneficial seeds over the mermaids.
What’s more, according to the Star League law, with the existence of the mermaid planet, it was inevitable that mermaids would be judged as intelligent beings. Intelligent beings had autonomy and they could not disregard the opinion of the mermaids in vain.
Jorens instinctively trusted An Jin, and hearing him say that there was a way, he didn’t ask more questions and said, “I’ll have the vanguard contact the Star League in the name of Rabe immediately.” He said this, suddenly thought of something, and paused. “When we came, we hijacked Siao’s Starfleet, and also learned about the mermaid’s situation from their terminal.”
An Jin’s heart tightened. “How are they doing?”
“Contained, no one was hurt.”
An Jin breathed a sigh of relief, fortunately there were no casualties, otherwise it would have caused a war. He pondered for a moment that if they were released directly, the hijacked Starfleet would probably fight back and contact Siao’s army, so the mermaid vanguard might be in danger. He said, “Contact the Star League and Siao and explain that the conflict was accidental.”
—
Soon, news that shocked the Star League came out of nowhere—aliens were coming!
When the Star Alliance and Siao received the communication from Rabe, their first thought was disbelief. After all, the other party looked so similar to humans that they couldn’t tell they were aliens at all.
They even suspected that it was a star pirate or some criminal who secretly had plastic surgery and then disguised himself as a non-Star Alliance person and started over with a new face as an alien. The spokesman, Choya, listened to their doubts, cleanly adjusted the virtual screen to full-body mode, and then came on the spot to change his tail into two feet.
The Star Alliance and the Siao Military Department, except Norman, all froze.
Norman’s eyes moved slightly. “Mermaid planet?”
Choya nodded. “Yes, human.”
Norman inquired, “What is your purpose?”
Choya responded, “To recover our kin and meet our king.”
Norman’s brow furrowed.
Choya locked eyes with him. “Human, I know you covet our king, but the king has absolute freedom. You can’t force him or enslave him!”
The rest of them looked at each other, His Majesty coveted their king? The next moment, a shocked and seemingly deserved thought surfaced in the minds of all: the mermaid king was An An.
Of all mermaids, the most consistent mermaid king could only be An An. After all, the rest of the mermaids’ memories were not complete.
Norman said in a deep voice, “Yes, he has absolute freedom, and you do not want to force him to do what he does not want to do in the name of the king.”
The two men looked at each other, and the air seemed to be exploding with sparks.
After a while, someone beside Choya said something and he looked at Norman. “We are about to arrive at Siao Planet, please allow passage.”
“Once inside Siao, you must abide by the laws of Siao. For the safety of the people, it is forbidden to carry weapons, and the entire trip will be monitored by the military.”
Joya asked, “What about the mecha?”
Norman replied, “Unarmed.”
Choya sent a message to Jorens and after a moment nodded. “Okay.”
It didn’t take long for the six battleships to land quickly at the military airport, with waiting military personnel staring intently at the door. A line of people dressed in black came down from the corridor bridge; their appearance all very handsome. Their clothing style and humans’ were somewhat different. What they wore was similar to trench coats, but cross collar, hem to calf length, and feet stepped in leather military boots.
At the head was a very young, flamboyant-looking, white-haired man with sharp hair tied into a ponytail, walking quickly.
“Welcome.” The greeters reached out, muttering darkly, are these people really all mermaids?
“Major General Rabe Star Choya,” Choya introduced himself, reached out for a handshake, then said very cooperatively, “A locator.”
The greeters were worried they would resent it and were surprised at his initiative when Choya said, “I hope to see the king soon.”
All the mermaids were fitted with locator devices and sent to the palace.
—
After Norman finished communicating with Choya, he arranged for the military mermaids to go to the airport to pick up the mermaids from Rabe’s star, and then went to the mermaid center. Choya had been in contact with Jorens, and An Jin was next to Jorens, so he was well aware of how far things had gone. He wasn’t surprised to see Norman, a little happy and a little worried.
Worried that Norman was not happy, after all, he would make a trip to the mermaid planet later. An Jin swam to the edge of the pool. Jorens also followed.
Norman gave Jorens a faint look. “From the mermaid planet?”
Jorens and Choya looked alike.
Jorens nodded. “Yes, I’m leaving with the king.”
Norman looked at the little mermaid. “Leaving?”
An Jin nodded. “Yeah.”
Norman picked up the little mermaid and took him back to the palace. Jorens followed, but not in the same hover car as An Jin, he got into the escort’s hover car.
Before they parted, Jorens reminded in a whisper, “King, don’t forget what you promised.”
Jorens received a wash of stares from the escort. He wrinkled his eyebrows and put both hands on his chest. “I have a mate, and a son about the same age as you.”
The escorts had nothing to say. They’re just curious about the mermaid who could change his legs!
Jorens took out his own terminal hidden in his hair, took out his long clothes, wrapped them around, and felt comfortable and at ease as his tail turned into his legs. In order to lurk, he had been naked, it was really hard for him.
He glared at the guards and said in a cold voice, “What are you looking at? Show some respect for your elders!”
Norman carried the little mermaid to the hover car and put the little mermaid on the seat. An Jin looked out of the car. “What about my car?”
“Iroh will drive it back.”
Norman cupped the little mermaid’s chin and looked down at the little mermaid, his eyes were slightly sunken. “What did you promise him?”
An Jin immediately noticed that Norman was not happy and pulled Norman’s sleeve. “Don’t be angry.”
He told him briefly about Jorens.
Norman’s tone was low. “When are you going?”
An Jin said, “After the mermaids’ memories return to normal.”
Norman said, “You’re taking them away?”
“If they want to go back to the mermaid planet, I’ll take them with me.”
Norman wrinkled his sword eyebrows and reminded, “After the emergence of the mermaid planet, this operation, I’m afraid, will not be easy to make.”
An Jin was well aware of the importance humans attached to the mermaids, and understood what Norman meant.
The existence of the mermaid planet, plus complete memory, meant mermaids were likely to no longer rely on humans, and would even return to the mermaid planet, which was extremely bad news for humans who needed mermaids to provide spiritual power.
An Jin smiled at Norman. “I will represent the mermaids to have a meeting with the research institute and Siao executives. I am willing to make a deal with Siao with a message. I believe everyone will agree to continue researching this operation.”
Back at the palace, An Jin first went back to the villa to change clothes. Then he went to the palace main hall for the first time, and as soon as he entered, he immediately perceived many excited and eager eyes.
“Major General Choya of Rabe Star, meets the king.” Choya stood in front of An Jin and bowed in a very gentlemanly manner.
An Jin was not used to it. “You are welcome.”
Choya got up and looked at An Jin with undisguised admiration, and, as a mermaid who was always straightforward, added, “You are so good looking.”
“…Thanks.”
Norman looked at Choya with a scowl and took the teenager to the main seat.