The First Beach

Isabelle then looked at him, laughed, and said, "Thanks for the words, but you should save it for someone your age."

And Gen said, "I only spoke the truth."

"Okay. I like you, Gen. Why don't I introduce you to one of my daughters?"

"I don't see why not. You can never have too many friends."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-one."

"I have a daughter younger and a daughter older than you. Which one would you like to meet?"

"What are they like?"

"They are beautiful. They're not on my level yet, but as they get older, time will work its magic."

"All right, but I meant personality."

"Oh, I'm sorry. They are two great girls. The younger one has her clothing store and is the best water temple guide we have in town. The older one is the leader of the adventurers' guild."

Gen then went into shock, and Isabelle realized that. She then asked, "Gen, is everything all right with you."

And Gen then woke up and said, "Yes, everything is fine, but can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"What are your daughters' names?"

"Well, you'd better ask them their names when you meet them in person, but it's okay. The youngest is named Briny, and the oldest is named Zoe. Beautiful names, don't you think?"

"Yes."

"How about I introduce them to you tomorrow? They will both be at the event. You can even come with me to watch the event from the special area."

Gen then shook his head and said, "There's no need."

"What do you mean no need, Gen? You don't have to be shy. I bet the girls will love you, and no one will say anything about you, knowing you're my guest."

"That's not the problem. I'm going to participate in the event."

"You're going to participate? Why didn't you say so before? Do you already have a guide for the event?"

"Yes. My guide's name is Briny."

"You hired Briny? Great, now you just need to meet Zoe. What did you think of Briny?"

Gen then started thinking, remembering the first time he saw Briny, and then said, "Well, at first, I thought she was a very nice and friendly girl, but after a few minutes, I started to think she was an extremely evil person, and now I think she's a good person."

Isabelle then thought for a while and said, "Well, I can understand nice, friendly, and a good person, but evil .... unless you met her at the clothing store. Is that where you met?"

"Yes, but I didn't know it was her store."

"Most people don't. She likes to work as a saleswoman sometimes, so she avoids saying she owns it so she doesn't get treated differently."

"Hmm, got it, but there is one other thing I need to tell you."

"What other thing?"

"I already met your other daughter, too."

"Really? How did you two meet?"

"Well ... I'd better leave it alone."

Isabelle frowned and said, "What do you mean, leave it alone, Gen? You can't just release information like that and not say anything. Now I'm curious. You're not going to make me wait until I meet Zoe so I can ask her what happened, are you?"

Gen then widened his eyes and said, "No! That's right, let me tell you."

"Good. You can start."

"Well, the first time I met her was on the beach ..."

Gen then told Isabelle how he met Zoe on the beach and then how he met her again when he wanted to talk to the leader of the adventurers guild. He told all the details of what had happened, and Isabelle was highly focused on what he was saying.

After a while, he said, "That was it. After that, I started wandering the streets of the city looking for somewhere to spend some time, and then I ended up meeting Pria, who brought me here."

And Isabelle said, "I get it. You mean you got interested in Zoe?"

Gen then widened his eyes and said, "Huh?! Where did you get that from?!"

And Isabelle laughed and said, "You just said you were looking at her body, Gen."

"But that's because Briny planned it. Didn't you hear that part?"

"Then why didn't you look away or something like that?"

"Well ... at the end of the day, I'm still a man. I tried to be polite and asked to change places, but since Briny refused, I was within my rights to look."

"Hahaha, to me, that's an excuse you tell yourself so you can look without feeling guilty."

"And maybe it really is."

"Hahaha, you really are very funny, Gen."

"Thank you."

Isabelle was then about to say something when suddenly, a light began to shine very brightly above them. The two then looked and saw that one set of stars was shining much more brightly than the others.

Isabelle then said, "Well, it looks like it's time to find out which beach the temple will appear on."

And Gen said, "Is that the constellation of Aquarius?"

"Yes."

"How does it choose which beach the temple will appear on?"

"You better see for yourself, or I might take the fun away from it for you."

"Okay."

The light continued to get stronger with each passing second, and then suddenly, like a wave on the sea, the light came from the stars toward the city. It passed through Gen and Isabelle, through the dome, and then through the city of Tólis. After a while, it came back and formed an image of a beach, and when Isabelle saw it, she said, "The first beach. This is the beach that Aquarius' father took him to as a child. It looks like this year's event is not going to be easy at all."

"Is there something special about the event being at the first beach?"

"Well, the first beach is rarely chosen for an event, but they say that whenever it is chosen, the event becomes much more difficult than usual."

"What do they mean by that? You don't know for sure?"

"No, I don't know. After all, the last time the first beach was chosen was during the time of the empire."

"What? Are you serious?"

"Yes. It looks like this year's event will attract more tourists than we were expecting. I'd better let the people who are organizing everything know, otherwise it's going to be chaos when people start arriving."

The walls and ceiling then came back up, and Isabelle stood up and said, "Well, the show is over. Let's go."

And Gen said, "Okay.", and then stood up.

The two of them then headed toward the elevator, and when they arrived, Isabelle pressed a button beside it. After a few minutes, the elevator arrived, and they both got in. It then started to go down quickly, and on the way down, Isabelle said, "Gen, I've enjoyed talking to you. I hope we have more opportunities like this in the future."

And Gen said, "I also enjoyed talking to you, Queen Isabelle."

"You don't have to call me Queen Gen. After all, you are also a King."

"Ok, Miss Isabelle."

"Miss? How about just Isabelle?"

"Well, I wouldn't feel comfortable calling you that."

Isabelle then turned her face away and said kind of sad, "Too bad, I thought we were friends."

Gen then thought for a while and said, "Ah, okay. Isabelle then."

She then turned to him, smiled, and said, "Great, hahaha."

The elevator continued to go down, and on the way, Gen and Isabelle kept talking.

After a few minutes, the elevator stopped, and then the doors opened. As it opened, two women were standing in front of the door waiting for it to arrive, and then one of them said, "Mom, how was it? Which beach is it this year? I have a group to guide, so the sooner I know, the better."

And then the other woman said, "I also need to know so I can make arrangements in the guild."

Isabelle then said, "Calm down, both of you. I'll explain it to you in a moment.", and then she turned away and said, "Well, Gen, as you can see, I'm going to be very busy from now on."

And Gen said, "No problem. I'm pretty tired myself after all I've done today. I'm going straight to the inn to sleep."

The two women then looked at the person Isabelle was talking to and got a fright when they saw who it was.

Briny then said, "Gen! What are you doing here?"