The Developer Reborn As Archmage

The place they were guided to was a small cluster of buildings that had seen better days. The central building, which was a large three-story cylinder, was the house of the elders.

Merfolk furniture was flat pillows and low wooden tables. Three girls offered them the best seats, nearly crawling on the floor out of respect. Every merfolk that they met along the way shriveled and bowed in their general direction. It was religious respect that Darya was totally unfamiliar with, but she couldn’t help but notice the fear in some of their downcast eyes.

The only ones that were visibly excited by new people in their village were children under three feet tall. They were harshly disciplined by adults to bow and show respect. Some even threatened them with consequences.

They were keen on pointing at the little boy who was being carried by Seris as an example. Regardless of threats, children flocked behind them curiously and followed them all the way to the hall of elders, where they kept peeking through the curtains and windows at regular intervals.

I’ve never been on a vacation where I’m treated like the star animal from the zoo! Are Dovarists this rare in these parts?

The closest that she ever got treated this way was when she visited rural China back when she was coordinating with a studio during the early days of Vainfall development. That was mostly because she was there to spend money as a rich tourist, not really about the religious respect of this level.

Seris took the opportunity to fix the cut on the boy’s cheek while they waited for the elders to arrive.

“This is at least a week old. Why did no one treat you?” Seris asked him, rubbing her thumb on his cheek. “See, you can’t even feel it anymore!” Green mana sparked from her skin and mended the wound as if it never existed. The boy stared at her blankly without opening his mouth.

“Well, whatever. Run along now,” Seris said, placing him upright. The boy didn’t move. He kept staring at them.

One of the three attendant girls stepped towards him, obviously embarrassed by his actions. The boy dashed next to Darya and crouched as if to keep himself hidden.

“What’s wrong with you?” Darya asked, gesturing at the girl to stay away. She jolted as if she’d been threatened with a gun and stood flat against the wall.

The boy quietly stared at her with a softer expression this time. Getting healed had changed his opinion of them.

“Can you speak? What’s your name?” Darya asked. She wasn’t good with small children or babies. She always talked to them like she would talk to anyone.

The boy started doing hand signs, pointing at himself.

Oh, he can’t speak. I feel bad now.

She patted his head, running her fingers through his wet, sticky hair. “That’s alright. You can stay.”

“You didn’t understand what he said, did you?” She asked Seris who had been watching the interaction.

“I know the basics of sign language, but I don’t recognize those signs,” Seris said curiously.

They were interrupted by shuffling footsteps from the entrance. Three old women and one old man walked in, accompanied by several young girls dressed in white. The elders had skin similar to shriveled trees. It seemed as if Merfolk turned more fish-like with age.

The three old women had coverings over their mouths, and they wore at least twenty bead necklaces each. They stayed at the entrance, crouching low on their knees.

The old man was the oldest person Darya had ever seen. He had pale blue skin and white hair. He wore an oversized grey robe and a giant necklace made of iridescent shells.

He stared at Seris with his eyes turned to narrow slits. The attendant girls dressed in white quickly arranged a sitting pillow for him.

“Eleven years, it has been. May the light bless us all,” the old man said, bowing as far as his old bones allowed. Darya wanted to tell him not to do that, but she knew that wasn’t appropriate. She had to play her part of the Dovarist priestess.

“May the light bless you and your people, elder,” Seris said in a lethally sweet voice. It made some of the attendant girls wobble.

She’s really good at this.

“What brings you to our poor village, priestesses?” the elder asked.

“We were heading towards Galtea and decided to check the places nearby,” Seris said. “We’re quite new to being priestesses. We were curious about the merfolk since we haven’t met many of you before.”

“How splendid,” the elder said, clutching his necklace. “The light has sent you to us in a time of need!”

“We’d like to hear more about your history and your current troubles. We have a seal of providence. The high church can assist you if we write to them.”

We have a seal of whatever? I didn’t even know that.

The elder and the entire room gasped at this proclamation. Some of the girls burst into tears.

“Our troubles began in the same history you wanted to know about, young priestess,” the elder said, looking at the floor before him.

“I’m very curious about the Greybone towers and the islands at the center of the crescent,” Darya joined in. She wanted to steer the conversation where they needed.

“It makes for a great tale, priestess!” the elder said, clapping his hands once. Some of the attendants hurriedly vanished, likely to bring beverages.

“…And that’s where all merfolk troubles began. I was a child when—” the elder suddenly noticed the boy sitting next to Darya.

His narrow eyes widened. “I-is that Lurim?!”

“Y-yes, great elder. H-he came with the priestesses!” one of the girls said eagerly.

The elder’s hand went to his forehead. “Wh-where have you been, my boy!”

“Huh?” Seris looked at the elder. “Do you know him, elder?”

“Wh-where did you meet this boy, priestess?” the elder asked Darya in a panicked voice.

“Near the pier,” Darya said. “He came at me with a wooden sword. I almost tripped over him.”

“The pier! attacked a priestess! The foolish runt!” the elder howled.

The boy shrank closer to Darya, trying to hide behind her again.

“Not a big deal, elder. Don’t need to yell at him!” Darya said with a smile. “He was wounded on the cheek. Luckily, she’s practiced in mana healing,” she gestured at Seris.

“W-wounded!” the elder closed his eyes, squeezing his forehead. “That boy’s been missing for a week!”

“Missing in your own village?” Darya asked.

“He’s a Frin! He’s been hiding in the water somewhere. We couldn’t find him!”

Darya pulled the boy from behind him. “He can breathe underwater?” she asked excitedly. The gills weren’t on his face or neck. They had to be under his shirt, perhaps on the ribs.

The boy let her handle him, but he was apprehensive about the elder.

“You call the gilled ones Ferins, right?” Seris asked the elder.

“Y-yes, priestess. This boy Lurim is a Ferin,” the elder said, trying to regulate himself.

Darya pulled Lurim next to her and wrapped an arm around him. “Alright, merfolk history lesson later. Tell me, what’s the deal with him? Who is he? Why was he missing?”

“This boy’s distantly related to me. He has no parents or family left. I had him here in my house, but he escaped the first chance he got. We’ve been looking for him for a week now!” the elder said, extending his hand. “Lurim, come here at once!”

Lurim didn’t seem to want to do anything. He shrank further into Darya’s side, his pout deepening.

“You’re talking in weeks?” Seris asked the elder. “He became an orphan recently, this poor boy? What happened, elder?”

“Oh no, he’s never had parents. His father disappeared at sea. His mother died shortly after the poor thing was born. He had his sister up until now, but then…” the elder’s lips rolled inwards.

“Oh no,” Seris said. “Is it too much to ask what happened?”

Darya looked at Lurim with a confused look. Something about this situation didn’t add up. A missing boy had ambushed her with a wooden sword. Nothing this elder had said so far explained the logic behind this toddler’s action.

“Lurim, why did you come at me with the sword?” she asked in a voice that she believed was sweet enough to coax a child. It came out a bit dry. She wasn’t built for this after all. The boy started doing signs again. Darya looked at the elder. “What did he say?”

“No one knows, unfortunately. The only one who knew how to talk with him was his sister; she was taken.”

“Taken?” Seris leaned forward. “By?”

The elder shook his head. The attendants around him shriveled as well, averting their eyes as if they didn’t want to think about it. “It is best left up to God now, priestess. May she find peace.”

Darya leaned forward to take a good look at this old man. She couldn’t tell what emotion he had just spoken with. His voice was shaky, and his face had turned to a wrinkled mess a long time ago. “You said taken. Not dead. Who took her, and where?”

“Nothing good will come of it, priestess. Nothing anybody can do now. As I said, it is up to God.”

“Like hell it is,” Darya said, startling everyone around her. Even Seris jumped an inch off the floor. “Last I checked, I’m the one talking to God. Not you. I’ll decide what God’s going to do.”

The elder started coughing as Darya stood. “H-humblest apologies! Priestess, I didn’t mean to suggest—!”

“I’ve had enough with this,” Darya said, making sure not to hide her displeasure. A villager had been taken, and the elder was hell-bent on being vague about it. Looking around, she pointed her finger at the nearest girl. “You, Girl. Kneel. Tell me what happened.”

The girl fell to her knees as if she’d been shot through the heart. She muttered some religious phrase about atonement before she started speaking, keeping her forehead firmly on the floor.

“…she was taken by Golans, priestess. They took her, and our master Lam went looking—and he hasn’t been back and—”

“Golans. Who is that?” Darya asked, ignoring the other half.

“Th-the Golan pirates, priestess. F-forgive me, I forgot you aren’t from here—” the girl mumbled.

“That’s enough!” the elder shouted, making the girl squirm.

“That’s most certainly not enough,” Darya said sternly. Seris was stuck alternating between the elder and Darya.

“Seris, do you know these pirates she’s talking about?” she asked.

“There can’t be pirates in the Red Crescent,” Seris said, standing up. “They’re all RCMF, under the banner of Galtea.”

“Hm. It looks like we can’t avoid them after all.” Darya looked at Lurim. She didn’t feel anything special towards the boy. She didn’t like him or hate him, but the thought of nobody else being able to understand his signs was hard to come to terms with.

Second life or not, that’s the type of soul-crushing shit I won’t be able to live with if I didn’t at least try.

Horrible things happened to people on Earth all the time. She had seen them on the news. She had felt things about them, but they were always happening to other people. She was a lead developer with a fat salary. The best she had ever done about anything was donating to charities. She never knew if a cent went where they were supposed to, but she felt pretty good about herself.

She was a good person.

Things were different in Vainfall. This was her world. She had been reborn as someone who could do things in it.

She had one more question to ask the elder. Somehow, the question was valid for her current problem and the kidnapped girl problem. “Is there a Seer in this village?”

“No. Not anymore,” the elder said, swallowing hard. “He left us, he won’t be coming back.”

“M-master Lam would never leave us!” The girl on the floor said, raising her voice for the first time.

“This master Lam, is he the one who went looking for the girl? He’s the Seer?” Seris asked.

“Y-yes, priestess. He went looking for her. The girl was from his tribe.” The girl said.

“That’s enough!” the elder shouted. “We don’t want more trouble!” His fear seemed to transmit to others in the room. Everyone was shaking.

A bunch of pirates can scare them this hard. What are they?

Things had aligned either way. They needed to find a Seer, and the girl was in the same direction as the Seer was. Darya bent over and grabbed the elder by the robe. “Tell me, elder, why do some pirates scare you more than God?”