Transmigrated to the Interstellar Era to Raise Mermaids GL - Chapter 24

Deep in the ocean, Orsha contacted Gano again.

“I am about to molt. It will take about three to four days.”

“That’s wonderful, Your Highness! Allow me to report the current situation: the action team has assembled. We have obtained a license from an Administration repairman and will immediately dispatch a spaceship to pick you up once you have finished molting. We will cut the satellite monitoring signal before passing Cizer Planet’s security defense system. After picking you up, we estimate it will take twelve hours to reach the exterior of Prince Anglu’s palace. We believe neither His Majesty nor the Prince’s side will be able to react in such a short time.”

“Twelve hours…” Orsha murmured to herself.

After capturing Anglu, she would no longer need to hide her tracks and could directly send a large military spaceship to pick up Hojia and Sam and return to Mus Prime Star.

She would only be gone for one day at most.

“Has Hojia’s school been arranged?”

“Rest assured, Your Highness. I have secretly completed the enrollment procedures for her as you instructed. She will attend Louise Women’s College. This school has excellent facilities, single dorm rooms, is friendly to alien students, has a strong academic atmosphere, and a very high proportion of students who choose to pursue further education after graduation.”

Gano did not dare to be careless in the face of the information Orsha typed out and transmitted.

A few days ago, when she received a long string of coded messages, she thought Orsha was going to give some important instructions and quickly decoded it with her subordinates.

The decoded content turned out to be: find a higher education institution on Mus Prime Star for the administrator of Cizer Planet, Hojia, that fits her educational background, has single dormitories, is non-discriminatory towards aliens, has a good academic atmosphere, and ideally, where everyone is completely focused on their studies.

Although her subordinates’ expressions were quite something at the time, Gano remained completely unfazed.

She knew the Princess was fair in meting out rewards and punishments; this was simply a reward for Hojia.

“Louise Women’s College…” Orsha frowned.

She knew this school. It had a good academic environment because it was remotely located and had strict curfews. It was also far from the palace and the military barracks.

Moreover, letting someone who liked women enter a women’s college was like putting a rabbit in a carrot patch—deliberately tempting her to not focus on her studies, wasn’t it?

That was not good.

Orsha suddenly thought of her alma mater, the Saint Mura Imperial Academy. This prestigious institution was founded by the Lasea family at the inception of the Empire. Initially, only Mus Star nobles could attend, but in recent years, it had begun recruiting students from across the galaxy and was located right on the aristocratic street in the Imperial Capital.

“Have her attend the Saint Mura Imperial Academy.”

“Huh?” Gano was a little confused. “But non-noble-born individuals need to pay a large sponsorship fee to enter the Imperial Academy… Hojia’s…”

Could His Highness be planning to pay this money for her?

“She has money.”

Orsha’s hand paused for a moment before she continued typing: “I gave her my flash scale.”

Seeing the sudden shift in expression on the faces of the subordinates who decoded this signal, Gano was also a little flustered.

The flash scale was the exclusive symbol of the Mus Star noble blue-tailed merfolk. The person gifted a flash scale received a portion of that noble’s authority.

For example, they could withdraw the noble’s bank deposits, freely use all of the noble’s estates, and even command the noble’s private subordinates to do their bidding.

For example, she herself would have to obey Hojia’s orders from now on.

T-t-this… under normal circumstances, this was something only given to parents, children, or intimate partners!

Just as Gano wondered if the signal had been translated incorrectly, she saw a newly deciphered signal: “Go prepare a Deed of Gift for me to sign and then tell Hojia how to use the flash scale.”

“Your Highness!”

Gano couldn’t sit still anymore. She had thought all those scenes in the surveillance footage were just acting, but she never imagined the Princess would actually turn the pretense into reality and develop feelings for Hojia.

She advised with an agitated voice, “Her Majesty the Empress will absolutely not agree to you being with a lowly Earthling. You must control yourself! Think of Duke Jonathan back then…”

Clack. Orsha simply turned off the radio.

Nonsense! She was just worried about Hojia, and finding a reasonable excuse for herself not to go ashore.

But she had already started molting, and she could feel the pain spreading from her tail, bit by bit, into her internal organs. She truly was not in the mood to explain.

Perhaps because the maturation time for this molting was too short, the pain was much more intense than last time. Orsha lay in the seashell, gripping the soft cushion beneath her with both hands, trying to empty her mind and enter a state of sleep.

After what felt like an eternity, her nerves, which had been tormented by the pain, slowly became numb, and various hallucinations began to appear before her eyes.

One moment, she saw her mother’s cold expression; the next, her sister’s pitiful appearance; and then, in a blink, it turned into Anglu’s gloomy look…

But no matter how the faces in front of her changed, Orsha couldn’t see the face she wanted to see the most.

That soft-featured, pale, and delicate face was adorned with a pair of dark, moist eyes. When she smiled, it was like cherry blossoms fluttering in the bright April sky—not dazzlingly bright, but permeating every corner of the air, filled with a refreshing and clear vitality.

Orsha bit her lip hard, the beads of sweat seeping from her forehead quickly dissolving into the water, but even the coldest, darkest seawater could not counteract the intense burning sensation of her skin tearing open.

It hurt, it really hurt too much!

She couldn’t think of anything else. It felt like she had returned to the ignorant young girl who had just hatched from the egg, wanting nothing more than for someone to appear by her side, gently embrace her, and sweetly coo to her with a silver-bell-like voice, telling her, Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. I’m willing to share this pain with you. You don’t have to endure it alone…

But why couldn’t she dream of that face? Did she know she had been lied to? Was she angry and hiding? Had she turned to adopt another poor refugee…

The agony of molting mixed with a heart-wrenching pang of sorrow. In her daze, she repeatedly whispered: Hojia, I’m hurting… Hojia, where are you… Hojia…

She longed to see her again.

Orsha’s mind also became utterly confused amidst the intense pain. Some of her delirious pleas were transmitted through the intermittent sound waves into Sam’s ears, making Sam, with all his tentacles, anxiously pace around outside the seashell.

He knew the Master would be in pain when she molted, but he never expected the pain to be so intense this time. She was forcing herself not to scream or cry, and the only mournful sounds she couldn’t help but make in her unconscious state sounded even more tragic, making Sam’s eyes well up with tears out of distress.

What to do? What to do?

He wanted to open the seashell to see what was happening inside, but the damn giant seashell was firmly shut, not allowing even a single strand of seaweed to get through. Sam was so frustrated he wanted to lift it up and throw it onto the shore!

Hearing the Master intermittently calling Hojia’s name, Sam forced one of his overheating brains to calm down. After a moment of thought, he quickly swam towards the beach.

Hojia suddenly woke up in the middle of the night from a nightmare.

She wiped the sweaty beads from her forehead and subconsciously glanced out the window at the dark, boundless sea.

She felt that Orsha had been a little strange when they parted tonight. She usually dove into the sea without ceremony, but today she had seemed unusually reluctant to leave.

Her clear, calm voice seemed laced with endless loneliness, and her gentle, affectionate eyes were like thick, undissolvable frosting. She had even taken off her most beautiful scale and given it to her…

It felt like she was saying goodbye, which led Hojia to have a nightmare where she couldn’t find Orsha no matter how hard she searched.

Hojia opened her palm and looked at the scale that shimmered with a silvery, moist glow in the darkness of the night. The more she looked, the more uneasy she felt.

Although there were many things she didn’t understand, she wasn’t deaf or blind. She could tell that this thing was valuable.

She suddenly regretted quickly backing down after her confession last time. It left her mind in a turmoil, constantly guessing: was Orsha doing this out of gratitude for her adoption, or did she also have a little bit of feeling for her?

Even the slightest possibility was enough to keep Hojia wide awake.

She simply sat up and looked at the little turtle lazily sleeping in the water tank, saying, “Little Emerald, I envy you so much! If only I were a marine creature, I could dive into the sea now to see her. I wouldn’t have to just sit here doing nothing, even though I know her mood is off.”

Little Emerald didn’t even bother to open his eyes, lamenting in his heart that he was stuck with a foolish owner who would eagerly help count the money after being swindled.

Just then, Hojia’s peripheral vision caught sight of something dark wiggling by the window. Startled, she screamed and jumped up to turn on the light.

It turned out to be a dark brown tentacle that had opened the window and reached in, with Sam’s large head outside the window, face-to-face with Hojia.

Hojia walked over, clutching her chest, and said, “It’s you! I thought a huge python had climbed in just now. You scared all the hairs on my body to stand up!”

Sam frantically waved his tentacles at Hojia: “Master is sick! She keeps calling your name! Come with me to see her!”

Unfortunately, they couldn’t communicate. Hojia looked at the tentacles constantly waving in front of her and laughed, “You’re such a big glutton! Running all the way here in the middle of the night to ask for snacks!”

Seeing Hojia turn around instead to look for food in the cupboard for him, Sam immediately spun in a panic: “I didn’t come for food! The Master is in so much pain she’s almost dying! Hurry up and come with me!”

Little Emerald, whose sweet dream was completely ruined, angrily said, “Stop yelling! Even if you shout until your throat is hoarse, she can’t hear you! Only I have to suffer!”

“That’s right… she can’t hear sound waves, so I’ll just take her directly into the sea!”

Sam extended a tentacle, preparing to wrap it around Hojia’s waist.

“Wait!” Little Emerald suddenly stood up and angrily said, “If you take an Earthling directly into the deep sea, even if she doesn’t drown, she’ll be crushed by the water pressure!”

“Ah… what should I do then?” Sam’s tentacle stopped mid-air, completely at a loss.

“What a waste of such a big body!”

Little Emerald rolled his eyes and said, “Go open the third cabinet door on the left, take out the diving suit inside, and hold it out to her. She’ll naturally understand!”

Sam immediately complied.

“I don’t have any dried fish left, so I got you some beef jerky and nuts…”

Hojia walked back to the window with a plate of snacks and saw Sam holding the diving suit in front of her with two tentacles. She instantly understood.

“You want me to put on the diving suit? Is Orsha still very sad, and you want me to go down to the sea with you to comfort her?”

After Little Emerald reluctantly translated the message next to her, Sam quickly extended another tentacle and tapped twice in front of Hojia.

Of course, a person in extreme pain would be very sad! He was heartbroken just listening to it!

“Okay! I’ll go with you right now!” Hojia immediately began to put on the diving suit.

While she was still fastening the suit’s buttons, Sam impatiently wrapped a tentacle around her waist, directly lifted her out of the window, and gave Hojia another experience of flying through the air.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don’t rush, don’t rush! Let me finish buttoning up!”

“Aah! Sam, don’t lift your tentacles so high! I get so nervous being this far from the ground!”

Splash. Sam plunged into the sea with Hojia.

Hojia’s vision quickly became completely dark, and her ears were terrifyingly quiet. Fortunately, the diving suit quickly lit up with automatic sensing lights, supplying oxygen to the interior while withstanding the increasing water pressure, not letting her feel the slightest discomfort.

Interstellar-era technology is indeed advanced!

Hojia sat on Sam’s tentacle and rapidly descended into the deep sea. She had no time to look at the increasingly bizarre and peculiar marine creatures around her. Instead, she anxiously stared at a wristwatch-like alarm on her diving suit.

“Sam, slow down! Give my alarm some time to react! If it turns red, it means the water pressure is too high, and I can’t descend any further!”

Unfortunately, there was no one nearby to translate, and Sam, who couldn’t understand, was single-mindedly rushing downwards. Luckily, by the time they reached the seabed, the alarm light had only changed from green to yellow, not red.

This meant that wearing the diving suit at this depth was safe, but leaving the diving suit would be extremely dangerous.

Sam stopped in front of a giant seashell much larger than himself and placed Hojia on top of the seashell.

Hojia looked around and didn’t see Orsha. She pointed at the tightly closed mouth of the seashell in front of her and asked, “Orsha lives inside this?”

Sam understood and nodded.

Thinking this was Orsha’s home, Hojia first gently patted the seashell and called out, “Orsha, I’m here! It’s Hojia!”

There was no movement.

Hojia called out a few more times towards the inside of the seashell, but still received no response.

Sam, however, was in a frantic rush. He heard Orsha’s confused sound waves again and extended a tentacle, attempting to grab the seashell’s mouth and pull it apart.

Unfortunately, the soft tentacle against the tough, hard shell meant Sam was grasping at straws, unable to find a place to exert force.

Seeing his frantic appearance and the unresponsive seashell, a sense of unease gradually rose in Hojia’s heart.

Did something happen to Orsha?

She felt around on her body, pulled out the utility knife from the diving suit, and inserted the tip of the knife into the thin seam of the seashell’s mouth, prying it open with all her strength. Her face instantly flushed red.

But Hojia’s strength was incomparable to the gigantic seashell; the small gap remained completely motionless.

Suddenly, Hojia felt her shoulder lighten. Sam, using the gap, flattened his tentacle as much as possible and squeezed it inside. He then took the knife handle from Hojia and pulled hard, straining to pry the edges apart.

So, not only is he soft and springy to the touch, but his body really can stretch and contract like putty—round or flat, extremely malleable!

Seeing that Sam had finally managed to pry open a large gap in the seashell, Hojia quickly jumped inside.

Using the sensing light on her diving suit, she immediately saw Orsha lying at the bottom of the seashell.

Her eyes were closed, her golden hair was spread out, and she was tightly clutching the mattress with both hands, looking utterly miserable.

Oh my god! What happened to her?

Hojia quickly swam to her and was instantly stunned by the sight before her.

Orsha’s entire body was covered in a thin, transparent film, like a cicada’s wing. As her lips constantly trembled, some of the membrane was peeling off her neck inch by inch, revealing the even whiter and more delicate skin underneath…

Hojia was horrified. She didn’t even dare to touch her, only calling out in front of her, “Orsha, Orsha! Are you okay? Can you hear me? I’m Hojia!”

She looked at the person in front of her, whose face was ravaged by pain in her unconscious state, and her eyes couldn’t help but redden as she called out.

“…Hojia?” Orsha heard the name. She faintly opened her eyes, saw the hazy figure in front of her, and managed a weak smile.

That’s good. I finally see this face. But why does this person still look like she’s about to cry even when I’m dreaming?

Seeing her weak and powerless smile, Hojia felt even sadder. She stammered, “Orsha, are you… are you molting? Are you in a lot of pain? Is there anything I can do for you?”

Orsha’s consciousness gradually cleared with Hojia’s call. She suddenly realized that this wasn’t a dream—Hojia was really right in front of her. She abruptly grabbed the hands that were hovering helplessly in front of her.

A buzz sound went through her. She heard Hojia’s crying in her mind.

“Waaah? What should I do? She seems to be in a lot of pain! How can I share her suffering? I really want to hold her and comfort her, but her new skin is so delicate. I’m afraid touching her will hurt her more! What on earth should I do?”

That’s great.

Orsha instantly sighed in relief. She couldn’t even feel the pain anymore. The fact that she could directly read the consciousness of a non-marine creature meant her mental power had grown stronger.

It also meant the old skin was about to completely shed from her body.

She glanced at Hojia, who was covered from head to toe in the diving suit, and quickly unbuckled her clothing: “Get out, get out of that suit immediately…”

“Huh?”

Hojia was stunned. She subconsciously blocked the hand opening the last buckle and didn’t even realize the words were transmitted directly into her mind: “I can’t! I’ll die without the diving suit!”

No…

She was too weak now to control the other person’s consciousness…

But she didn’t have time to explain.

“Trust me, you won’t be harmed.”

Feeling the last inch of skin about to shed completely, Orsha weakly closed her eyes and murmured, “I’m in so much pain. I want you to hold me…”

She suddenly felt herself being embraced in an incredibly soft hug.

Orsha immediately wrapped her whole body tightly in Hojia’s arms. Opening her eyes, she saw Hojia’s puffed-up cheeks and bubbling mouth, and lowered her head to kiss her.