Baby System: I'm the Beast World's Only Hope!-Chapter 185: Episode : I am alone.

After that sweet massage, Caspian had found a new activity to disturb Roxy with.

Whenever he came close, with his gills fluttering, Roxy knew he wanted a massage.

Roxy stood by the fire pit, wearing her royal silk robe, her hair tied up in a messy bun secured with a silver chopstick she’d found in the loot chest.

She looked less like a captive landwalker and more like the exhausted but fabulous manager of an exclusive boutique.

"So," Roxy said, crossing her arms and looking at the three figures floating in the entrance of the cave. "Let me get this straight. You told them."

"I did not tell them," Nimue corrected, flipping her impossibly glossy, vanilla-scented braid over her shoulder. "I merely existed near them. They saw the changes in my hair, and they demanded answers."

Nimue drifted further into the air pocket, looking smug. Flanking her were two other mermaids, both radiating power, danger, and intense skepticism.

To the left was Vespera. She was built like a tank, with broad shoulders, crimson scales, and a scar running from her ear to her jaw. She carried a trident made of black bone. She looked at Roxy the way a butcher looks at a particularly confusing cut of meat.

To the right was Thalassa. She was the opposite, slender, with scales the color of pale sea-foam and drifting, translucent fins. She was draped in so many pearls she rattled when she moved. She looked at Roxy like she was a dirty smudge on a window.

"This is the source?" Thalassa asked, her voice airy and high, like wind chimes. "This... squishy beige thing?"

"It is small," Vespera grunted, swimming closer to inspect Roxy. "I could snap its spine with one hand."

"Hey!" Roxy snapped, pointing a wooden spoon at the warrior mermaid. "Stay back."

Roxy was so defensive. But when she was surrounded by fish that could eat her, she had to be cautious, a friend can turn foe in a matter of time.

Vespera and Thalassa exchanged a look. They looked at Nimue’s hair, which was currently catching the light of the fire in a way that defied the physics of the deep. It was perfect.

"We desire the Gloss," Thalassa admitted, touching her own hair, which was frizzy and dull from the salt.

"Great," Roxy smiled, a sharp, capitalist smile. "But here’s the thing, ladies. I’m not running a charity. Surface Magic costs money."

"We have gold," Thalassa waved a dismissive hand toward Caspian’s pile of treasure. "Take it."

"I don’t want gold," Roxy said.

She held up three fingers.

"The price is simple. One: Rare ingredients. I want those King Sturgeon eggs Nimue talked about. And Blue-Crabs. And those thermal-spiced kelp leaves."

"Done," Vespera grunted. "I hunt the Sturgeon daily."

"Two," Roxy continued. "Information. I want to know everything about the Trench. The currents, the politics, the safe zones."

"Acceptable," Thalassa nodded.

"And three," Roxy looked at Vespera specifically. "Protection. If Caspian goes crazy, or if a shark gets curious... You back me up."

Vespera narrowed her yellow eyes. She looked at Roxy’s fragile neck. Then she looked at Nimue’s hair again.

"If our hair turns out like that, then it works," Vespera vowed, slamming the butt of her trident into the sand, "I will spear any beast that looks at you wrong."

"Deal," Roxy grinned. "Take a seat, ladies. The Abyssal Salon is open."

****

An hour later, the cave was unrecognizable.

The terrifying silence of the deep had been replaced by the universal sound of a girls’ spa day: giggling, splashing, and ruthless gossip.

Roxy was working on Thalassa, massaging the conditioner into the mermaid’s sea-foam green hair. Vespera was already done, sitting on the sand and admiring her own reflection in one of the mirrors, preening like a giant, deadly parakeet.

"So," Roxy said, working a knot out of Thalassa’s scalp. "You guys keep talking about the males like they’re headaches. Are they really that bad?"

"Bad?" Thalassa scoffed, rolling her eyes. "They are useless. All they do is fight and patrol. They have no conversation. You go to a male’s nest, and he just grunts and offers you a dead squid."

"And the biting," Vespera added, inspecting her claws. "Why must they bite the shoulder? It ruins the scales."

"Caspian tried to bite me," Roxy chimed in. "I hit him with a frying pan."

The cave exploded in laughter. Vespera threw her head back, her laughter sounding like grinding rocks.

"You struck the King??" Vespera howled. "And you lived?"

"He was confused," Roxy giggled.

"Typical," Nimue sighed, lounging on the clamshell bed. "Males have no nuance. They think ’Protection’ means ’Prison’ and ’Courtship’ means ’Ambush’."

"But..." Thalassa lowered her voice, a sly grin spreading across her pale blue lips. "Have you seen General Kaelor? The one who guards the North Ridge?"

"Oh, I have seen him," Vespera purred, her fins fluttering. "He is massive. His dorsal fin... it must be three meters high."

"Size isn’t everything," Roxy said sagely, rinsing Thalassa’s hair with warm water.

"In the Trench, it is," Vespera corrected. "A big fin means strong currents. And Kaelor... he has the stamina of a tidal wave. They say he can maintain the Mating Dance for three days without surfacing."

"Three days?" Roxy’s eyes widened. "That sounds... painful."

Even if I was going through Ovulation I could never.

Not even when I had a threesome with Kae and Zee, that didn’t happen. Oh wait, It did happen with Syris.

Roxy chuckled.

"It is glorious," Thalassa sighed dreamily. "But he is so arrogant. He would never let a female touch his hair. He thinks he is a god."

"They all do," Nimue agreed. "My brother thinks he is the sun and the moon. He struts around shaking his tail, expecting the ocean to bow."

"Speaking of tails," Vespera leaned in, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Is it true what they say about the Surface Males? The Beast Kings?"

Roxy paused. "What do they say?"

"That they are... soft," Vespera said. "That they bring flowers. And that they... wait for the female to say yes."

The three mermaids looked at Roxy with wide, fascinated eyes. The concept of consent and romance was apparently an exotic fetish down here.

"They do," Roxy confirmed, smiling as she thought of her mates. "They bring flowers. They cook food. They rub your feet when they hurt. And yes... they ask."

"Scandalous," Thalassa breathed, fanning herself with her fin. "Imagine. A male asking."

"I would get bored," Vespera decided. "I need a little bit of a chase. But... the foot rubbing sounds nice."

Just then, the water wall rippled, and everyone’s laugh died instantly.

Caspian shot into the cave. He was carrying a massive, dead Hammerhead Shark over his shoulder, a trophy he had clearly hunted to impress Roxy. He was pumped full of adrenaline, his chest heaving, his eyes glowing with the fierce pride of a provider returning to his mate.

"Little Landwalker!" Caspian roared, his voice booming off the walls. "I have returned! I have slain the Beast of the Grey Ridge! Behold my—"

He froze.

He dropped the shark with a wet thud.

He stared at the scene before him. His cave was filled with steam, the smell of lavender and vanilla, and three high-ranking female mermaids who were currently looking at him like he had just walked into the wrong bathroom.

Vespera, the General’s daughter, was braiding Thalassa’s hair. Nimue was eating a bowl of Roxy’s garlic-crab. And Roxy was standing there holding a comb.

"What..." Caspian stammered, his gills fluttering in confusion. "What is this? Who are... Vespera? Thalassa?"

Vespera looked him up and down. She looked at the dead shark. She looked at his messy hair.

"Your scales are dull, Caspian," Vespera critiqued flatly. "You look dry."

"And that shark is small," Thalassa added, wrinkling her nose. "Was it a baby? Did you rob a nursery?"

Caspian’s jaw dropped. "It is a Grey Ridge Hammerhead! It is twelve feet long!"

"Small," Vespera confirmed, turning back to Roxy. "So, about this conditioner..."

Caspian looked at Roxy. He looked at the women ignoring him in his own home. He tried to summon his Alpha energy. He puffed out his chest.

"OUT!" Caspian roared. "Get out of my nest! This is my territory!"

"Oh, hush, brother," Nimue waved a dismissive hand, not even looking at him. "We are customers. We paid. Go sit in the corner until we are finished."

"Paid?" Caspian sputtered. "You paid the pet?"

"She is not a pet," Thalassa corrected haughtily.

Caspian looked at Roxy, expecting her to run to him, to be awed by his shark, to seek his protection from these intruders.

Roxy just shrugged, holding up the bottle of oil. "Sorry, Caspian. Unless you want a massage and a gloss treatment, you’re kind of harshing the vibe."

Caspian made a sound like a deflating balloon.

He looked at the wall of female dismissal. He knew, instinctively, that if he attacked, he would scare his mate.

And the females were using this to their advantage.

Defeated, the King of the Pearl Garden walked over to the far corner of the cave. He sat down on a rock, pulling his tail in close. He picked up his bone spear and held it like a comfort blanket, staring sullenly at the dead shark he had been so proud of.

He watched Roxy laughing as she showed Thalassa how to use a mirror. He watched them touch and groom each other, a circle of warmth and connection that he was completely excluded from.

"They took the cave," Caspian whispered to the shark carcass, his voice heavy with a new kind of loneliness.

He looked at Roxy, who was glowing with happiness, surrounded by his own kind, yet further away from him than ever.

"Now," he murmured, resting his chin on his spear, "they have taken my female too."