So I’m a Fish, So What?

I don’t understand. 

Why in the world did this happen?

Were my secret leveling sessions in the forest discovered?

I keep trying to find the answer in my memories, but I’m coming up with nothing but blanks.

There must be something I’ve overlooked, right?

I mean, Shun’s father, the monarch of the kingdom of Analeit wouldn’t just summon the duke’s eldest daughter for a casual chat, right…?

Maybe he found some cool accessory and wanted to gift it to his son’s best friend?

The efforts I spend taking care of my mermaid scale bracelet is obvious for all to see, after all.

… This is self-delusion, right? No way that serious king would specifically call upon me for a gift!

“Katia…? Were you also summoned by father?”

Ahhh, whatever! I don’t care about the reason anymore!

I have a Long Range Teleport ready in my offhand and a bit of magic inserted into my magic bracelet.

Mother is the only one who knows about the latter, but an educated court magician might be able to spot it.

As for the former, not a single human knows about it, I’m always using my Soul Mark’s ability to disguise my stats.

“Katia… Hey, Katia… Earth to Katia!”

“What– huh? Oh, it’s you, Shun. ‘Sup?”

“Don’t just ‘Sup me! Pay attention to your surroundings, you’re right in the middle of the hallway.”

His voice jolts me back into reality.

I finally regain some awareness, upon which I notice my current surroundings.

A long soft red carpet spreading from the beginning of the hallway to an exquisitely decorated door with some magic carvings adorning it.

A barrier maybe? Although I’m not sure if that room is the king’s study, it must be a room reserved for hosting VIP guests anyways.

Expensive paintings can be seen on the hallway’s pure white walls, along with exquisite chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

A very sophisticated decoration worthy of a kingdom’s castle, but it’s too luxurious for my taste…

For example, I’d rather put more emphasis on those magical runes instead of those expensive but useless chandeliers.

The magical runes might be more pricey, but they can at least function as traps and barriers, unlike those paintings that just hang there gathering dust.

“Ahhh, sorry for that. I’m just a bit nervous about being summoned by the king all of the sudden, hehe.”

“Do you know why we were summoned though?”

“How'd I know about that? I thought his highness, Prince Shun, would be the one to enlighten me this time.”

“No one told us, we were just asked to come here, me included.”

Feirune was summoned as well…? Now that’s strange.

What’s even more strange is that Sue wasn’t summoned with us… She’d be sticking to her beloved Oni-chan if she was.

I don’t like where this is going. The king seems to have called for only us reincarnations.

Making our way through the elaborate door, we find ourselves in a guest room similar to the one Shun brought me into at his Appraisal ceremony.

We each take a seat and start discussing the possible reasons why we got summoned.

“Maybe it’s about an engagement? Nah– cross that, it doesn’t explain why even Fei was summoned.”

“Whose engagement would it be anyways?

Silence ensues following Shun’s question as both me and Feirune are looking at him in complete disbelief.

“Hey, man… I’m not even gonna ask if you know how the concept of nobility operates, but… don’t tell me you haven’t read any fantasy mangas back on Earth?”

“No way, right? Even I read a couple of those back then.”

However, his puzzled expression seems to express nothing but more confusion.

“No no, although most of what I read were isekai mangas, I had my fair share of normal fantasy ones. I don’t see any similarities between those and the current situation though.”

“Then how can you not understand? You’re a prince, I’m a duke’s daughter and our relationship seems pretty close, y’know?! It’s the perfect recipe for a cliche engagement!”

How dense can this guy be?!

“Wha– what? It couldn’t be, right? I mean, we’re both–”

“Both what? Boys? Dude. Shun. While you, me, and Fei still remember me as Kanata from our previous lives, everyone else except for reincarnations only know me as Karnatia, Duke Anabald’s eldest daughter. It’d be odd if they don’t see us that way.”

Along with Feirune’s sagely nod, Shun falls silent for a few seconds before replying.

“Uhh, I guess you’re right, but are you fine with that?”

“Personally? I don’t really care. Since I was born in a noble family, I’ll have to fulfill my responsibilities someday. I can’t imagine getting married to a man though, so I was planning on coming out as a different sexual orientation, but I think both of us getting engaged is a better alternative.”

“Both of you can use each other as a shield. It’s not like any of us reincarnations can have a normal marriage anyways. I mean, look at me, I’m not even human anymore.”

The ground lizard is getting depressed for some reason.

Her suggestion coincides with what I had in mind though.

My responsibilities will be fulfilled, my reputation won’t deteriorate, and I won’t be forced into an unacceptable situation.

While the ideal situation would be for my parents to let me stay unmarried, it’s highly unlikely, so I can settle for the next best situation.

However, there’s one problem.

“How would we go about convincing Sue though?”

“Ah.”

You see, I reeeeallly don’t want the yandere bro-con to sneak into my room at night while carrying a knife…

We should leave this conversation for another time though.

“Anyways, I doubt we’re being summoned for an engagement this time, otherwise Fei wouldn’t be included as well.”

And also, we have guests.

My Presence Detection just caught two new presences moving in our direction.

The sheer amount of magic power radiating off of their bodies is a clear indication that they’re not maids as well.

The reason why we were summoned should be related to them, but I’m concerned about why they called upon only us three only…

Confirming my guess, the door was opened wide, followed by a man and a little girl entering the room.

The man was very handsome. However, I felt an almost instinctive disgust welling up inside me just by being in his presence.

As for the little girl–loli? Well, I felt nothing about her, as if something was telling me to not pay her much attention.

What caught my eyes though, was the fact that their ears were too long and their tips were sharp.

Elves. My mind came up with the answer almost immediately.

All of those thoughts went through my mind in mere moments due to Thought acceleration, after which I quickly imitated Shun and Fei’s shocked expression.

“Greetings, friends. I am called Potimas Harrifenas, and I have been sent to this fine kingdom as a goodwill ambassador of the elves. It is I who requested your presence here. It is a great pleasure to meet you.”

His words were said in a very indifferent– almost mechanical tone.

This man clearly doesn’t care about us nor does he want to be here.

So, the person who requested our presence should actually be the little girl standing beside him.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted when a very strong feeling of nausea came over me without any prior warning.

My eyes immediately  turn cold and involuntarily dart to the source of that feeling, the man who just introduced himself as Potimas Harrifenas.

Did this bastard really just use Appraisal on me?!

“Hmm, so you do have it.”

Saying something inexplicable, his indifferent eyes stare right back at me.

I don’t know why, but I can almost swear I saw a glint in his eyes when looking at Shun, but it instantly morphed into disappointment when it came to me.

“Oka, these two humans and the creature here have what we’re looking for. I’ll leave the rest to you.”

… Oka?

“All righty, then. Understood!”

“I’ll be on my way, then.”

“Thaaanks for your help!”

With sparing another glance at us, Potimas exits the room while leaving us with the little elf girl.

Such a rude bastard.

That guy basically came in, appraised us without permission, and then left.

It was pretty much window shopping if you substitute us for merchandise.

Leaving that behind, my eyes drift to the elf girl called Oka.

In fact, I had already connected the dots as soon as I heard her exchange with Potimas, but I’m still waiting for the final confirmation.

Shun and Feirune were still standing there, dumbfounded and confused about what had just happened.

I don’t blame them, but those two really oughta get some proficiency in Thought Acceleration already…

The silence doesn’t last much as the little girl introduces herself after taking in our faces for a couple of seconds.

“Now, now, let me see. I suppose we’ll start with introductions, shall we? My current name is Filimøs Harrifenas. So lovely to meet you!”

Current name, huh?

I’m unsure as to how I'm supposed to reply, to be honest…

Shun appears to be struggling with the same issue as well, as he looks at me in bewilderment.

“You know, if your teacher introduces herself, it’s only proper to respond in kind, I’d saaay! And who might you beeee?”

Yup, it’s her, all right.

Ms Oka– our homeroom teacher back on Earth.

She…. Well, let’s just say she was special.

“My apologies. I am the fourth prince of the Analeit kingdom, Schlain Zagan Analeit.”

I guess I’ll go with a normal aristocratic greeting since we haven’t confirmed our identities yet.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am the eldest daughter of Duke Anabald of the Analeit kingdom, Karnatia Seri Anabald.”

Copying Shun’s expression, I stumble to introduce myself to her.

Beyond my facade though, I’m intently inspecting her while staying on the lookout for any dangerous moves she might make.

I fail to understand how she found out about our locations, there’s a high chance there are some spies inside the kingdom.

My hands, which I hid behind my back while curtseying, were tightly gripping my bracelet while my Parallel Thinking skill was on overdrive in case I needed to teleport.

If she tries to injure or kill any of us, I’ll be teleporting everyone out with the bracelet immediately.

And if she tries to pull something else off, I’ll teleport outside and call for the guards right away.

I can’t trust any reincarnations without a long observation period, especially this one.

Elves tried to enslave a mermaid, which is potentially the race Tomoko was born as.

If my initial stance towards them was neutral, then slightly hostile after I heard mother's description of that massacre, then it has become very hostile by now.

The bastard that came with her made sure my favorability for elves dropped as much as he could after all.

“I see. A prince and a future duchess, huh?  How dreaaamy!”

… What’s up with her?

She just squinted her eyes and started shaking her head while letting out an Ufufufufu laugh out of nowhere.

Hey… this is getting creepy.

Sigh… I can’t deal with such situations at all.

Tomoko, come save me already!!

 

Unbeknownst to her however, somewhere in the vast ocean, a certain loli was choking on her laughter while watching her cracking facade.