012 Mermaid Room

"Ouch! Damn it, what the hell was that just now?"

Kamiyagawa, regaining consciousness back in reality, groggily got up off the ground.

The moment of death in the game had happened so quickly that when his head had hit the ground, and he had felt a dizzying thud, he hadn't fully come to before he had passed out.

He lifted his phone and saw a big "Loser" character on the screen.

Kamiyagawa: ...

Well then, the previous death warning was just snarky, and now it's getting personal, huh?

What a new type of cyberbullying.

Kamiyagawa wasn't about to fuss over a pop-up in a game, though. He bent down and picked up the Substitute Paper Person that had just spawned on the ground.

He had been playing "Strange Tales" for several days now and was getting pretty familiar with much of its content and features.

Take the Substitute Paper Person, for example.

Not only could it replace a life in the game, but once used up, falling into the real world, it could also serve a purpose—to conduct an autopsy on oneself.

The paper was damp, corresponding to the end of the last game when he was dragged into the water.

However, Kamiyagawa was pretty sure he hadn't drowned this time.

On the body of the paper person, one could see numerous bite and tear marks. These marks were authentically recreated, bearing a striking resemblance to wild animal bites.

"That's right; it must have been those things that jumped out of the water and bit me to death." Kamiyagawa stored the paper person away.

Then he took out the newly acquired item, the Mirage Pouch.

The brownish pouch, faintly scented with a salty moisture like the sea breeze, was tied with a red string. It appeared only as big as a cross-body bag on the outside, but inside, it was much more profound.

It was identical to the one in the game.

Kamiyagawa opened the Mirage Pouch, finding only two pieces of the tiny dried salted fish remaining inside.

"The piece of salt-cured fish I took out got consumed... So, are the dark shapes in the game's artificial lake some sort of youkai with a penchant for salted fish?"

...

"Strange Tale, humanoid, aquatic, loves salted fish."

That night, after finishing his part-time work and returning home, Kamiyagawa began to google these keywords in an attempt to identify the true nature of the creature in the artificial lake.

However, perhaps because the keywords were too vague, he couldn't find any useful leads for a while.

On the other hand, in Japan, the variety of youkai and supernatural creatures was just too vast. There were so many kinds that there were even university courses devoted to studying youkai, focused on aspects of folk culture.

Amidst the countless supernatural beings, pinpointing one based on a few vague terms was proving quite challenging for a non-professional.

After a fruitless search, Kamiyagawa ended up browsing a forum.

A forum named "Strange Tales and Youkai Enthusiast Exchange" which had many active users, numbering in the tens of thousands, seemed mostly to be lovers of the supernatural.

"If I can't find it myself, why not ask the helpful netizens?"

With the mindset that there's no harm in trying, Kamiyagawa registered an account with the username "Honest Outsider" and posted a help thread in the forum.

[Honest Outsider]: "Newbie looking for help. Is there a type of youkai that lives in water, roughly humanoid in appearance, very fast, and very powerful? Possibly fond of salted fish?"

No one responded to the post.

Hmm... For a newcomer, it was pretty normal for a post to sink without a response.

Kamiyagawa didn't pay it much mind and put down his phone to take a bath.

If he really couldn't figure out what those things in the artificial lake were, he'd let it be for now. After all, he had no immediate plans to explore the lake's depths.

He couldn't even deal with the headless high schoolers on land, let alone think about going underwater.

The creatures in the water and the headless high schoolers were clearly not at the same level. When Kamiyagawa attracted the hate of the headless JKs and DKs, he could at least run a distance before dying.

But when he surfaced near the lake with salted fish, he was instantly killed by the monster in the water.

The beast in the lake was too fierce, and the water too deep; Kamiyagawa couldn't get a grip.

After taking a bath and washing and hanging his clothes to dry, Kamiyagawa returned to bed and picked up his phone, seeing a notification for a message reply on the forum.

When he clicked on it, he saw that a forum heavyweight with a Lv6 rank had replied to him.

The user's ID was "Purple Superior".

"Purple Superior": "Hello. Based on your description, there is one youkai that roughly matches the characteristics you've provided—the Sea Woman."

Beyond this answer, the user also thoughtfully posted several images below.

There were screenshots of online literature as well as a few photos taken with a camera of book content, all regarding the Sea Woman—

The Sea Woman, also known as the Sea Wife.

Legend has it that she is the wife of the great youkai, the Sea Monk.

The Sea Woman, with a fish tail and a human torso, is amphibious and often appears near the sixteen islands of Shimane Prefecture.

The illustrations in the material depict the Sea Woman as a mermaid while others... well, make her look almost like a water monkey?

In any case, the commonalities are fish tail and human form, with webbed hands.

The difference is that the former portrays the Sea Woman with a beautiful and unclothed young wife's appearance, whereas the latter depicts her as a monkey coated in wet, matted fur.

The Sea Woman is a marine youkai who loves to eat fish, especially salted fish, and often steals the fishermen's catches.

It's said that in order to thwart the Sea Woman, the fishermen would use many large stones to weigh down their nets, yet these heavy stones never posed a challenge to her; this type of youkai has surprisingly great strength, always effortlessly moving the rocks to snatch fish from the nets.

"Looks like it's the right one."

Kamiyagawa looked at the information provided by "Purple Superior" and thoughtfully bit on his thumb knuckle.

The only issue was that according to the information, the Sea Woman should be a creature that lives in the sea. However, in the game world, it was encountered in the man-made lake area of the school.

"However, there's an underwater channel at the bottom of the game's artificial lake, which might connect to some marine area. Perhaps you could use it to open a new map in the future."

Kamiyagawa first expressed his gratitude in the thread to the heavyweight "Purple Superior" for their help.

He then clicked on the user's avatar and opened up a private chat box.

"Honest Country Bumpkin": "May I ask you one more question?"

"Purple Superior": "Hello."

"Purple Superior": "You may."

Since "Purple Superior" had just responded to Kamiyagawa's post, they were still online and replied very quickly.

It seemed that they were a helpful heavyweight, loved and appreciated.

"Honest Country Bumpkin": "Is there a Strange Tale about a creature that outwardly looks like a headless student in uniform, either a JK or a DK?"

It took about seven or eight minutes before there was a reply in the private chat box this time.

"Purple Superior": "What you're describing is probably the 'Kitsune Child'. It is said to be a lower spiritual being born from the negative emotions of young students, very weak and not highly aggressive."

"Purple Superior": "It's quite obscure, with little presence in tales. This is about as much information as I could find."

"Seems like those headless high school students are called 'Kitsune Child'." Kamiyagawa mumbled to himself as he followed the knowledgeable "Purple Superior" heavyweight with a click.

That's why I love surfing the web.

Netizens know so much, and they talk so nicely.

But for the 'Kitsune Child' to be weak and not highly aggressive, is that even okay?

I, a young ghost and deity co-ruler, was pummeled to the ground and chaotically slain by them.

"Indeed, I am too weak, lacking in strength."

Decided, tomorrow morning I will go to the Sword Dao club to learn swordsmanship from the Red Demon!