yemalu

"Have you lost your mind, Lady Aster? This is not something to joke about!" Emilia gasped.

I waved my hand, "It\'ll be fine… I think?"

Odeta also stepped up to me, "Sister Aster… I\'ve seen Sirens when accompanying sister Ardi before… Everyone who was affected really went crazy!"

Well… I\'ve at least heard the stories about them and I even know about the legends surrounding them too… Coupled with the fact that her normal singing voice was already enough to captivate us, I have no doubt that if she uses that magic of hers, she would be able to bewitch anyone that was fortunate or unfortunate enough to hear it.

I raised my hands to calm them down, "Calm down, calm down. Delmare doesn\'t actually intend to try and kill me with your singing right? You just want people to listen and enjoy your singing, correct?"

She nodded her head vehemently, "Of course!"

I know full well how she\'s feeling right now. Singing is her form of expression and her sisters all enjoy listening to her sing as well. She has the wish to perform for others so that she could spread that same joy to others too.

But now that she knew her talent was more like a curse instead, there was no way she wouldn\'t feel part of her dying.

I understand how she felt because I had somewhat of a similar feeling in my early days of writing as well.

The first time I tried to find a publisher I was basically laughed out of the place and told that the one thing I enjoyed doing the most was a complete waste of everyone\'s time and I would have amounted to nothing. They even called me a talentless trash that dreamt of impossible things.

It set me back for a long while before I found the courage to try again with a different publisher.

I dare say had I been rejected as harshly as the first time, I might have given up on it altogether but no, they took my manuscript and published my very first book.

Granted, those guys were only in it for the money and they didn\'t really think much of me back then but it still helped me get back on track again.

I want to be that second chance for her.

Why am I even doing this for her? I don\'t know… But there\'s no way I would stand aside and watch a fellow creator spiral towards self destruction like this.

I gestured to the other Sirens, "They can listen to her sing without being affected right?"

Emilia shook her head, "That\'s beside the point, Lady Aster… Sirens are naturally resistant to Siren magic…"

I pouted at her, "Ok, really. Trust me on this ok? Just let me listen to her sing, won\'t you? Her singing is really wonderful, right?"

The other four Sirens nodded their heads in unison.

"We really enjoy her singing," Cherith admitted easily.

"She would sing us to sleep on some nights and… And it was really nice…" Ephyra added shyly.

Allure also giggled, "Her voice truly is beautiful, just like she is~"

Diona sighed, "Nngh… Even I have to admit that she has all of us beat with her voice."

Delmare blushed from the praise, forgetting her sadness just for a moment.

I puffed my chest, "That\'s why I\'ll show you that I can hear her singing just fine without any problems!"

Odeta clapped her hands, "Ohhh! Sister Aster is awesome!!"

Emilia just narrowed her eyes at me, "Lady Aster… That does not make any sense at all…"

I waved my hand, "Oh just let me try, won\'t you? How about you bring me somewhere secluded so I can hear you sing? Then maybe one of you will also be there just in case I\'m wrong to wake me up from it? Assuming you can actually snap out of that trance?"

The Nekomata sighed, "A quick blow to the head would usually suffice I suppose… But before you go, could you just leave your money and Pack of Folding here just in case? I\'ll take reeeeeal good care of it~"

Well, I\'m planning on coming back anyway and if that stops her from protesting so much, fine.

I easily handed her my money pouch and the Pack of Folding which the money loving cat girl received while trying her best to hold back her drool.

Delmare wiped the tears away from her eyes, "I don\'t understand Miss Aster… Your friend has already confirmed it… Why are you even doing this?"

I giggled, "Ehehe~ I don\'t believe that someone who can make such delicious cookies could mean me any harm."

"Yes they can," Emilia spoke up from behind.

Oh shush! I\'m having a moment here!

Ok, I have not been completely honest alright? I\'m also not doing this completely out of the goodness of my heart either.

My boon [Tastes Like Agony] told me that she uses a very specific blend of salt and sugar to make those cookies and while the boon does tell me how to use that blend to make them, it doesn\'t tell me how to make the blend itself.

Thus I figured if I were to taste the blend directly, I could recreate it as well which requires me to get that from her.

Obviously I\'m not shameless enough to ask her for it while she\'s beating herself up like she currently is so this is the least I could do for her at least.

That\'s not to say I\'m going into this without a plan of course, I do have an idea on how to deal with her Siren magic.

I err… Just don\'t know if it will work… But it\'s all for the sake of the cookies!

Delmare sniffed before reaching up to undo her hair bun, allowing her long, vibrant, pink hair to cascade past her shoulders.

"We can go to my kitchen, but we\'ll need to swim there. Are you alright with that, Miss Aster?"

"Please, it\'s just Aster. And of course it is."

Allure pushed herself off the ledge to submerge into the water, "I suppose I could go with them just in case~"

Delmare nodded at her before pushing herself into the water herself, it was only then did I realise that her tail was also pink in colour, matching her hair.

She reached out her hand to me and I took it, allowing her to guide me to the pool of water where I slowly submerged myself.

Taking a deep breath, I dove into the water and was greeted with a giant underwater cavern way bigger than the cavern we had just been in.

Delmare wasted no time in pulling me along and I almost let out my breath in surprise as I was pulled forward at an astonishing speed, the Siren shooting forward like a torpedo and diving deep underwater.

No one told me that she\'d be swimming this fast!!

I was practically dragged through the water and all I saw was a blur as she swam even deeper into the underwater cavern, bringing me into what looked like an underwater tunnel that she also sped through.

She then expertly navigated through the winding tunnels while dragging me along behind her, not even pausing to think which route she should take when we came across any intersections.

My only thought while being pulled along was that anyone who couldn\'t breathe underwater would definitely drown down here with how big this place was.

If I had swam normally, I might have met a similar fate too.

Right as my lungs were starting to burn, she pulled me up and we emerged in another cavern, this one much smaller compared to the first one and definitely looked like a kitchen.

I sucked in lungfuls of air as I threaded the water to keep myself afloat.

"How did you get a stove?" Was my first question when I saw the cooking area that was lined with cooking utensils.

Delmare blushed, "Ah… Umm… Those drift here from the ships that sink around the area… I learn to use them through trial and error and also from the books that also drift here…"

I gasped, "You taught yourself how to cook? That\'s incredible!"

"Unn… It\'s really not that hard… We\'re also fine with eating raw fish as well but when I first started reading those cooking recipes… I figured I wanted to try making them myself…"

She swam towards the dry part of the cavern and leapt out of the water, sitting at the edge of the pool with her tail submerged in the water while her upper body remained on land.

"You can come up as well, Miss… Umm I mean… You can come up, Aster. I\'ll start a fire so that you can dry your clothes."

Too bad I wasn\'t proficient enough in Hydromancy to manipulate water directly yet.

I did as she asked and climbed out of the water, stripping myself out of my wet clothes to leave myself in my underwear.

That was when Allure also surfaced from the water, "It\'s so not fair that you can swim so fast, Del~"

Delmare wasn\'t listening however as her eyes were glued to me, the firewood in her hands clattering to the ground noisily as she pointed a finger at me.

"As… Aster? What is that?"

I looked down at what she was pointing at.

Oh… They\'ve never seen a futa before have they?

Whoops.