READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 118.1
For Those Struggling With Summer Fatigue, Oral Rehydration Solutions Are Best
“…Are you okay?”
At Yuuri’s question, she gave no reply.
Lying collapsed in the hallway was a woman with long, light-blue hair. Face down on the floor, her face was hidden, but her fair limbs extending from a breezy pale pink sundress were beautifully pale and unblemished. Her skin was pristine, untouched by the sun. She didn’t seem like an adventurer at all.
But for Yuuri, that wasn’t the concern. He already knew she was pale and resistant to tanning—it was nothing new. What mattered was that she was lying unconscious in the hallway. With no response forthcoming, Yuuri reluctantly resorted to his last measure. He pulled a thermos from his school bag, opened it, and began pouring herbal water over her.
Instead of splashing it all at once, he carefully poured it over her body in a steady stream. Soon, her pale fingertips twitched. Noticing this, Yuuri stowed the now-empty thermos back in his bag and pulled out another, repeating the process.
After emptying three thermoses’ worth of herbal water, the woman’s upper body finally stirred. Slowly, almost sluggishly, she raised herself, revealing a flawlessly beautiful face that seemed almost artificial, now looking up at Yuuri.
And then—
“…Can I have some to drink as well?”
“Sure, here you go.”
With trembling fingers, she reached out and asked Yuuri for water. He handed over a fresh thermos without any fuss. Neither of them acknowledged the fact that she was soaking wet. She took the thermos in her pale, bloodless fingers and gulped its contents down. She must have been parched, as she emptied the rather large thermos in one go.
Sated by the herbal water, she let out a small sigh of relief. At that moment, she looked her age, with an innocent expression. Though tall with long limbs, her slender frame and delicate features made her appear somewhere in her mid to late teens. In reality, she was 17, the same age as Yuuri, so her appearance wasn’t deceptive.
“Ireis, were you collapsed again? You really need to stay hydrated, especially you.”
“…I know. I do know, but…”
“But?”
“No matter how much I drink, I just can’t keep up…”
Tears welled up in her deep blue eyes as she began to sob softly. Yuuri patted her head, comforting the girl—still sitting, unwilling to stand.
Her name was Ireissia, though most called her Ireis. She was a trainee with the Scarlet Lynx, a group of adventurers. Despite her frail and girlish appearance—and her less-than-impressive physical strength—she was a bona fide adventurer. Her chosen job, however, was bard, a rather niche role.
But Ireissia wasn’t human. She looked like a pale young girl, but this appearance was the result of a unique ability her species possessed to mimic humans. Her true form was entirely different.
This was evident as her guard dropped, and from beneath her sundress, her pale white legs transformed into light blue fins, which flopped about.
“Ireis, your fins are showing.”
“Ah! Oh my goodness…! I’m so sorry, Yuuri! How unbecoming of me!”
“It’s fine. Want more water?”
“No, I’m fine for now.”
Blushing furiously to the tips of her ears, Ireissia quickly sat down, hiding her flopping fins beneath her sundress. She covered her face with both hands in embarrassment, an image that, combined with her delicate looks, would have seemed irresistibly charming.
Unfortunately for her, Yuuri wasn’t one for romantic notions, leaving the atmosphere wasted.
“Being a mermaid sounds tough. In the summer, wouldn’t it be better to stick to water or cooler places instead of land?”
“If I do that, I’ll never become a proper adventurer.”
“But you’re not aiming to be a treasure hunter, are you?”
“To become a bard who sings of countless tales, I must master survival skills!”
Declaring this with a determined expression, 17-year-old Ireissia radiated conviction. She was a mermaid girl entrusted to Yuuri by a certain acquaintance. Her refined manner of speech wasn’t an affectation; it was simply the dialect of her people. For her, this was normal speech.
Mermaids came in all types, including rough-and-tumble ones and tough seafarer types. Yuuri couldn’t help but think he’d rather not meet those kinds. It would shatter his image of mermaids.
In this world, mermaids usually have a fish’s lower half. They can breathe both in water and on land, and when they reach a certain age, they can transform their tails into legs, allowing them to live on land.
However, most mermaids rarely leave the water because they’re highly sensitive to heat and dehydrate faster than other species. Summer on land is a perilous environment for them.
Even so, some mermaids, like Ireissia, travel far and wide as bards. But with her tendency to collapse from dehydration, many privately doubted her chances of succeeding as a bard—a widely known secret.
“Well, enough about that. For now, let’s rehydrate you properly.”
“I already had some water, didn’t I?”
“Just water isn’t enough. You might get anemic.”