Fourth Meal - Sashimi (2)

Yami ignored their surprised looks and turned around, waving her hand at them to follow her.

Since it was quite crowded in the restaurant, she brought them to the bar facing the kitchen which had a few seats together open.

After sitting down, both Amphi and Finn couldn't help looking at the kitchen through the bar window where they found three people cooking in there.

But their attention was quickly pulled away from the kitchen as Yami handed them menus and then she said, "You can order whatever you want, just call me when you're ready. Also, it's free refills for the water, so take your time."

Without waiting for a response from them, she headed off to serve another customer since they were quite packed today.

Finn and Amphi didn't have time to react before Yami was gone, but since she was gone, there was nothing that they could do except look at the menu that she had brought them.

When they read through them, they found that there were a lot of strange dishes that they had never heard of before. The few dishes that they had heard of were the ones that they had heard their parents mention.

These weren't dishes of the mermaid kingdom, but rather dishes of the human kingdom on land.

But according to what their parents had said, the dishes that the humans on land ate were made from creatures that were found on land. They didn't suit the mermaid taste palette, so it didn't taste good to them.

Since they had already heard this, they decided to ignore these dishes and continue looking through the menu.

Only when they reached the part of the menu that was about fish dishes did they stop.

After all, fish was the main diet of the mermaid kingdom.

But to their surprise, they hadn't heard of any of the dishes that were on the menu.

Especially the ones that were recommended the most, the raw fish dishes.

Raw fish was a concept that they were unfamiliar with because they had never eaten raw fish before. It was a concept that had been tried before, but the ones that ate the raw fish said that there was no real taste to raw fish, so there was no point eating it raw.

But in this place, they actually had dishes that were just raw fish…

They couldn't help wondering what kind of taste the raw fish of this world would have…

So both of them couldn't hold back their curiosity and decided on one of the raw fish dishes.

After calling Yami back, Finn ordered the sashimi plate for the two of them.

Yami just quickly took their orders and then headed to the kitchen.

While they were sitting there, they had nothing to do, so they decided to check the water that Yami had brought for them.

As mermaids, they had a high standard when it came to water. They needed it more than humans to survive, so they only accepted the best and purest kind of water.

This water that Yami had brought them, they couldn't help being surprised by how pure and clear it was.

Though there was one thing about it that confused them.

The yellow fruit that was floating in the middle of the water, what was that for?

"It's a lemon."

A gruff voice rang out from beside them that surprised the two of them that had been focused on the jug of water in front of them. But after being surprised, they turned to see a rough looking middle aged man sitting beside them with a smile on his face as he looked at them.

The two of them revealed embarrassed looks before calming themselves down. Then Finn asked that middle aged man, "What is this lemon?"

The middle aged man explained, "A lemon is a fruit from the land that has a sour taste to it. Since you mermaids live under the water, it isn't surprising that you haven't heard of it before, but I can guarantee that it makes the water taste better."

Finn and Amphi looked at each other before thanking this middle aged man for explaining this to them.

Then they both poured a cup of this "lemon" water for themselves and hesitantly took a sip. But after that first sip, they immediately chugged the rest of the water for themselves.

This taste was something that they had never tasted underwater before. This water was pure and delicious, but what made it even more delicious was the "lemon" that was put in it.

It gave it a slight sourness, but it also left a refreshing taste in their mouths, almost like the magic potions that they drank to purify their innate magic.

Then to their surprise, after drinking that cup, they felt the impurities in their body disappear.

This feeling, it was indeed like the magic potions that they took!

They couldn't help pouring a few more glasses and in no time, they had completely finished off the jug of water.

The two of them looked at the empty jug with hesitant looks as they wondered whether they should get another jug or not.

But while they were debating this, one of the other waitresses didn't give them that chance.

Seeing that they were out of water, she came over and took the jug away before coming back with another jug filled with the same lemon water.

Seeing this, the two of them looked at each other with bitter smiles before only drinking another cup. Drinking that much water was getting to them even if they were mermaids and they could feel their stomachs filling up.

It wasn't good for them to fill up on just water since they still had food coming.

They didn't know how long they would be trapped in that cave, so they needed to have some food at least.

Seeing them not chug the water for once, the middle aged man gave a laugh before saying, "It seems like you've had your fill. I felt full just watching the two of you drinking the water."

Both Finn and Amphi revealed faint blushes as they remembered what they had done before.

However, Finn was raised by the royal family and he had the manners of a royal, so he gave a slight bow to the middle aged man and said in a grateful voice, "Thank you for telling us about the lemon."

The middle aged man just waved his hand and said, "It's nothing, it's just a little advice for someone new. So how did you like the water?"

Finn gave a strong nod as he said, "It was delicious."

The middle aged man gave a laugh as he said, "It was delicious even for mermaids? Then that really is saying something about this restaurant's water."

Both Finn and Amphi couldn't help smiling in response to this.

The middle aged man then asked, "It really is rare to see mermaids since they don't make contact with humans in my world. Do you want to talk for a bit while waiting for our food?"

Finn and Amphi couldn't help asking, "Your world? Aren't you from this world?"

The middle aged man waved his hand again and said, "No, I'm from a different world from you, but I still came from the door just like you. That door not only connects to your world, but a bunch of other different worlds as well. Almost everyone in this restaurant is someone from another world, though there are also plenty of people from the same world."

Finn and Amphi couldn't help looking around the restaurant with shocked looks.

Indeed, when they looked more closely, they found that most people were wearing different styled clothes from each other. It was clear that they came from different worlds, or at least from different cultures.

Both of them couldn't help giving sighs as they realized that their worlds had suddenly been expanded countless times. There were all those different worlds out there other than their own…

They really couldn't help feeling like they were frogs at the bottom of the well.

The middle aged man revealed a smile when he saw this. He had felt the same way the first time he had been here, but slowly he had adjusted to it and had accepted this fact.

After thinking for a bit, he suddenly asked, "Are you royals?"

Finn was surprised, but he gave an honest nod in response before asking, "How could you tell?"

The middle aged man revealed a warm smile and said, "Well, it's pretty obvious based on the way you act and the way you dress, but you could also say that birds of a feather flock together."

Finn revealed a confused look, "Birds? What are those?"

The middle aged man's smile turned stiff before he remembered who he was talking to so he explained, "Well, birds are creatures that live above ground that can fly in the sky. They have something on their bodies called feathers and they come together in flocks based on the type, so the saying means that people who are alike come together."

Finn gave an understanding nod before saying, "Oh, so you're also a royal?"

The middle aged man gave a nod and said, "You could say that." Then after a pause, he asked, "I can also see that there's something troubling you. Do you want to talk about it?"

Finn hesitated a bit before giving a nod.

It was hard to find someone that could understand the troubles that he was facing. He could tell that there was something special about this middle aged man and that he was similar to him, so it was very likely that he was a human ruler.

So he was indeed someone that he could talk about his problems with.

So Finn took a deep breath and explained the situation with the mermaid kingdom.

After he finished, he asked, "What should I do?"

The middle aged man answered the question with a question, "Do you know why the tsunamis started?"

Finn was confused why he would ask this, but he answered honestly and shook his head.

The middle aged man didn't give him an answer, but instead asked, "Who do you think benefits the most from the mermaid kingdom being hit with these tsunamis?"

Finn fell into deep thought when he heard this and after a long period of thought, he slowly said, "You're saying that…someone deliberately created these…tsunamis? But why would anyone do something as terrible as that?"

The middle aged man didn't say anything as he let Finn think this through on his own.

Finn muttered to himself, "Benefits from this…The only ones who would benefit from this would be the humans, but we have a peace treaty and an alliance agreement, so why would they do this?"

The middle aged man said with a sigh, "Humans are more sinister than you think, but that can't be said about all humans. At the very least, I can tell you that you should trust humans less."

Finn knitted his brows, but after a while, he gave a sigh and said, "I understand. There are good and bad humans and the ones that we're dealing with are bad ones. I'll have my father investigate the humans once I get back."

The middle aged man just gave a nod without saying anything else since anything further than this would no longer be considered advice, but rather direct interference.

But then Finn asked, "What about the problem of the starving people? How do I solve that?"

The middle aged man knitted his brows when he heard this.

He really didn't have a good suggestion for this because he didn't know the situation of the mermaid kingdom. Even if he did, he would need a lot more data than just the situation since he didn't know anything about the terrain or anything.

But before he could say he didn't know, Yami came back with their food.

So he just said, "The food's here. Let's eat first and then talk."

Finn gave a nod before turning his attention to his dish. After all, he was curious how people could eat fish raw.

But when he saw the plate placed in front of him, he was shocked because this was unlike any fish that he had seen before.

In front of him was a plate of jewels that had been served to him.