CHAPTER 541: CHAPTER 541 - NEW CITIZENS FOR MARAHUYO

The teleportation was quick and I was quite glad that I have gotten over the queasiness from teleportation after doing it multiple times for the last year. As I appeared in the vicinity of the plaza, I was surprised with the sheer number of people surrounding the area I appeared in.

I walked out of the huge group and the elders managing Marahuyo immediately approached me. They bowed respectfully and whispered to me that the newly arrived merfolks did not dare to claim any of the empty houses or go anywhere else since they got teleported here. The group wanted to first meet with the leader of the sanctuary and be assigned with their rightful places.

I smiled and shook my head in helplessness as these merfolk really are something. I don’t know if they were shy, stubborn or simply prideful that they do not want to follow instructions from others if they were not the leader. The people that gave them instructions are already the elders of this place.

Just when I was thinking about how I would handle this crowd, I suddenly remembered something amiss. I looked at the elder in confusion and asked, "Where is Marius and what is he doing right now? He should be able to control this crowd since he was technically the one that invited all of them here."

The elder sighed and responded, "He is currently inside the meeting hall. He has been there since he arrived. He is with two other people and they seem to be having a silent fight with their eyes of some sort."

As I heard the elder’s response, I suddenly felt a very bad headache coming in. I clearly know who the other two merfolks the elder is pertaining to, the one that were having a silent staring fight with Marius. Here I thought that maybe they are childhood friends or maybe colleagues since they seem to know each other. How did it even get to this point when I made sure to teleport them separately?

I clicked my tongue but instead of going to the meeting hall immediately to be a peacekeeper between the trio, I turned around to meet everybody else in the plaza. I introduced myself briefly as the owner of the sanctuary which made everybody’s eyes widened in surprise. I simply responded with a smile and continued giving my instructions on how we will manage the accommodations. This time, they followed without any complaints and chose whichever house they feel like occupying.

I called on to the other citizens and asked for their help to set up the community kitchen so we can all prepare and have a meal together to foster a better environment for the upcoming meet and greet. Upon hearing my request, they quickly went on their way to call the others so the setting of the kitchen can be done more efficiently.

While they are preparing the kitchen, I went towards the sanctuary’s storehouse to make a bit of an inventory dump on some of the seafood that I got from the ocean as well as some of the excess food ingredients that I got from the Vacarro estate. I made sure to only put those items that can’t be harvested from the forests around here. This should be enough to last them for at least a month or so and should give more variety to my citizens’ food options.

As I left the storehouse and went back to the plaza center, I saw that the men have almost finished setting up the community kitchen. I also saw some of the merfolk men curiously looking at the area where the other citizens are currently busying over. There is no issue with watching since I know that our cooking tools are a bit different to the ones they use in Ceryneia and some of these things are made using modern ideas from earth so it is normal for them to be curious.

I stood in front of one of the countertops and started filleting a huge fish that I just pulled out of my storage. Since most of my diners today are from the ocean, I decided to make some fish stew with a tomato soup base to make the fishy taste a bit milder for those that aren’t used to the seafood diet.

I also decided on baking some fresh bread, cooking some wild grains, grilling some wild boar meat and also roasting a few wild chickens for variety. I also instructed the others to prepare some fruits and cold drinks for everyone. With that in mind, I started delegating tasks to everyone so that we can all get to eat soon. Everyone is already used to teamwork so the instructions were followed correctly and quickly.

The whole preparation, cooking and serving only took an hour as the other merfolks also volunteered to help out with smaller tasks while watching how I cook the dishes. They said that they are curious about how people from the dry lands prepare their meals with ingredients from the ocean.

Once the meal was done, I asked everyone to call the others who are not in the plaza so we can all eat together and also meet each other. Of course, the invitation included the trio that are having a silent staring fight at the meeting hall.

Upon hearing that there is food to eat, almost everyone immediately went out of their houses, carrying their own bowls and cups. I only took a small bowl of the stew, a piece of bread, a few slices of fruit and a glass of water. I don’t feel like eating a lot today since I will have to deal with some drama in a bit.

It took roughly five minutes for everyone to gather around in the plaza. I thanked everyone for entrusting their futures to me and Marius. I also did a quick thanks to the gods of this world for giving us bountiful harvests and good weather today.

After the short thanksgiving speech, I told everyone that they can eat and mingle freely to know more about their new neighbors in this sanctuary. With that, everybody took their food and looked for a place to sit. I did the same as I chose to sit on the ground under the shade of a tree.

As I was eating and observing as everyone ate, laugh and talked in the plaza, the trio arrived in a hurried manner sporting cold faces. They were trying to walk faster than the other but they still weren’t talking to each other.

They walked towards the front and took their own servings of food and afterwards, they started looking around and obviously they are trying to find where I am seated. Well, I already have an inkling who is going to win based on the length of time this one particular man has spent with me. When you stay near a person, you just become more keen with how they smell like, the sound of their voice and just their presence itself so he has an advantage.

I was watching the trio in amusement just as the other people in the plaza are also watching them as if they were like people who are acting in a comedy. Just as expected, Lir suddenly ducked and sprinted across the plaza towards my direction without being noticed by the other two. They were still looking around, trying to find out where I am.

Lir smiled at me as he saw me then he comfortably sat next to me under the shade of the trees then started eating. He just looked at the other two men who are still spinning in the plaza, trying to find me amongst the hundreds of people, with a smirk on his face.

While we are waiting for the two to figure out where I am, Lir asked me where my house is and I simply answered that it was the villa in the northernmost part of the sanctuary. His next question was quite direct as he asked if he can stay with me in my house. I looked at him with one eyebrow raised and then I answered a blunt and curt, "No".

His eyes widened and his face became pale from my answer. He really looked like he was about to cry too so I added, "That area has my house and then 8 smaller houses bunched together. You can choose one of the houses nearby but you can’t stay in mine. You can bring your family with you."

Upon hearing that it was not a full no and I still let him near me, he used his hands to grab the side of my face. He then turned my face towards him and gave me a kiss on the lips like it is as normal as the soleia rising every the morning. This was the exact scene that was witnessed by Levi and Marius as they finally found me and walked towards where I and Lir was.

As for the guy that created this issue, he simply returned to eating his meal, ignoring the stunned gaze of Levi and the glare of Marius. I sighed at the fact that I would have to deal with jealousy again in this place. I honestly thought that I will finally have some peace after I relocated my three very pregnant and jealous husbands to Tadhana but I was wrong.

There’s another trio taking their place. I thought there was just two but with Levi’s reaction with Lir kissing me, it was a dead giveaway that he likes to join this jealousy-fueled rivalry too.