"Did you find them?"
I asked Blair. We were in my laboratory since I had not visited the day before, and school started the next day.
"The necromancer or slaves?"
He had been busy establishing his own merchant guild, which would focus mainly on the potions and anything that I made.
He had already started to make money, and I knew in no time, my treasury would be filled to the brim.
"Necromancer, don’t tell me you forgot."
My voice went cold. Obtaining a necromancer anywhere depended on luck, as they were not welcomed in almost all kingdoms.
"No, why would I forget that? I did find him but getting him to agree has become a bit of a..... challenge."
Blair said, his eyes hesitantly avoiding mine. Things weren’t going my way today. Seraph refused to talk to me and now this.
"Do you know where he lives?"
I needed my own private necromancer since the academy seemed to be lagging behind in its findings. My next path of research absolutely needed a necromancer.
"He lives on the outskirts of the capital, a half-day journey in a small village. "
"He doesn’t want to come to the capital or he’s unwilling to do necromancy?"
I asked, those two were different problems to solve.
"Both actually, even if we go to him, I don’t think he will accept your offer."
I chuckled at his worried tone.
"Then we’ll just take him by force. "
"I really feel pity for anyone who refuses you."
Blair deadpanned.
"I get everything I want. "
I said nonchalantly.
"When do you plan to visit him?"
"Today won’t be possible. When we go on our school break we’ll leave at dawn."
"I’ll plan everything for our departure."
I nodded and waved him off. Since it was just the beginning of the merchant guild, there were a lot of things he had to do.
I turned around and walked to the operating room. He had fortunately gotten to me before I could enter.
"Is she already unconscious. "
I asked Luna who was organising the tools.
"Yes, but her dosage is more than the usual amount."
Luna answered.
On the table was the siren. After her routine engraving operation, I had left her to heal before I could study her body. The fact that her blood could merge with water perfectly, and the cells continue to function, was fascinating.
This meant that if almost all of her blood was drained and there was only a small amount of blood left in her body, her blood would perfectly replicate and eventually go back to normal. That was my hypothesis, I had not found a way to prove it, and I couldn’t risk losing my only experimental material from an impulse. I just had to bide my time until I could locate them.
"I want you to open where her lungs are."
I said, giving Luna instructions. She was always practicing her operation skills on slaves whenever she was free. I was confident in her skill.
I watched as she delicately cut through the skin until the sirens’ lungs were exposed.
"It’s smaller than I thought. "
I said as I took over from her. This operation was more about curiosity. I had read in legends about sirens taking human form but it seems our siren couldn’t.
I took a small sample of her lung and stitched the wound back up.
"Should I take her back to her tank?"
Luna asked me. The siren had eventually been transferred to her main fish tank from the static tank after I had engraved the obedience spell.
I had been doubtful that it wouldn’t work, but her brain and the human brain were basically the same except for a small thin layer over the brain that seemed to protect it from the excess water the body might ingest.
"No, this was a minor spell. I want to talk to her when she wakes up, it’s been a while."
Luna nodded and started to clean up the area. The siren’s eyes moved under her eyelids before she opened, then her yellow eyes met mine. She jolted up.
"Agh!"
Her hand came to her still healing wound, looking at it in confusion, before she noticed the bloodied gloves on the tray next to me.
"What did you do to me?"
I could see the usual fear in her eyes. A small blue light appeared on her hand and she placed it over the healing wound. The stitch started to heal at a visible speed until only smooth skin was left.
"Even healing mages aren’t this fast."
I said studying the healed area. Her tail twitched nervously the moment I leaned to observe the smooth skin.
"This is an exclusive skill, most sirens are born with it."
She said proudly before her face fell as if thinking about something.
My hand touched her smooth tail. At first, I had thought it would be rough and hard like a normal fish, but it was smooth just like normal skin.
When I had first tried to touch her, she had fiercely fought against me until I was forced to use the obedience spell to calm her down.
As she grew used to my contact with a bit of hard training, of course, she had settled down, and I wasn’t forced to use the spell.
"Can your tail change to human legs?"
This was a question I had been wanting to know, but it kept slipping my mind in my excitement to take samples from her.
"I’m not really sure."
She answered softly her eyes filled with uncertainty.
"Have you never left the sea?"
I asked curiously.
"Yes."
I nodded.
"Then how were you caught?"
I was curious about that since sirens are found in the deepest part of the sea.
"I was tricked."
"Really by who?"
I softly asked her lowering my voice as though she was telling me a massive secret.
"My second in command."
"What was your rank among sirens to have a second in command. "
She looked down at her hands and sighed shakily. I could see the tears starting to gather but she held back.
"I was the first general and the one who tricked me led some of the soldiers that were under me."
So she was betrayed. Those were the easiest to exploit.
"That must have hurt you a lot. How did he do it?"
I asked my voice filled with sympathy. She took a deep ragged breath and looked up at the ceiling.
"He said my sister had been caught by fishermen. She wasn’t, she was the one who pushed me in the boat."
Perfect, double betrayal.
"Do you want revenge?"
I tempted her. She was my key to finding more samples. Maybe I could get more from the underwater world.
"Yes, but my sister is destined to marry the prince. I cannot go against a whole nation that would be a fool’s gambit."
I took one of her soft hands, the small scales in her skin shining with my touch.
"I can help you, you just have to place your trust in me ."
Her eyes widened before she shook her head.
"A warrior cannot rely on someone else to fight their battles."
"But you’ve already lost the battle. There is no shame in asking for help only fools stick to their pride."
Her eyes looked at me in shock before what looked like realisation settled over her.
"Will you be able to help?"
She asked in a barely audible voice. Her hands trembled in mine.
"Yes, but first we have to find a way to make legs since I can feel their outline under your tail. Drying didn’t seem to work."
’Earth depiction of mermaid transformation has proved inaccurate ’
She nodded a smile gracing her face for the first time.
"My name is Nixie Moerene."
I smiled. My goal seemed to be achieved faster than I thought it would.
Sirens tend to hide their names they only tell their names to those they trust.
"It’s nice to make your acquaintance, Nixie, as you know you can call me Lucian Bloodmoor, may we work well together."
She nodded then smiled.
"Thank you."
"Oh no, thank you. If you want something you can ask Donovan or one of the slaves to help you. I’ll try my best to find a way for you to walk. It’s not really good to stay in the tank for long, no matter how large. I don’t have a pond in this estate, you’ll have to be satisfied with these accommodations until I find an alternative. "
"If I gain legs, will I be able to see the human world?:
She asked eagerly. I nodded my hand running through her hair.
"You can see it as much as you want."
Her eyes brightened some more from my answer.
"Then I’ll take you to see the sea, it’s just as beautiful, I know all the best places."
"How sweet you’re increasing my eagerness but let’s get you used to land first."