Otojoō looked at Ars full of hope, he nodded and she quickly approached Rachel, grabbing her hands, before introducing herself.
"I'm Otojoō, and I work as a middle-man, well in this case middle-woman, but i hope you will allow me to work as ambassador in Fishman island!"
Rachel, looking at this human female so eager to work in a different place, full of members of a different race, asked full of curiosity.
"Why!? Don't you like living here?"
Otojoō realized what she did might appear to be a bit rude, so she looked apologetically at Ars, but seeing Ars relaxed and not caring about her outburst, she looked back at Rachel and explained a bit slower this time.
"I do love living here, but my heart is in fishman island with my family."
Rachel looked at her bewildered, and questioned her.
"Why is a family of humans living on fishman island!?"
Otojoō realized she was in her human form and transformed into her mermaid form, deeply surprising Rachel. Otojoō then corrected her.
"Well, I'm a mermaid not a human, and my family are merman living in fishman island, but due to me dying and the consequences that would follow if people realized i got revived, i can't go back without a reason, so i was waiting for the opportunity to work as an ambassador there, so i may be near my family without them knowing. Of course I will come back often but just seeing them more often would bring such joy."
Ars added.
"You are defaulting, for example Big Mom had a child with a fishman."
Rachel nodded absently minded with her eyes on the transformed tail. Then she looked at her and asked.
"I didn't know mermaids could transform! How did you do it!? And that creature had children with most races… She doesn't count that much… But I get your point."
Otojoō just pointed at Ars, and replied quickly.
"His doing, you can ask him."
Rachel looked at Ars who nodded and explained.
"It's just a transformation, you will have them in the future."
Then Otojoō remembered something and asked Ars.
"Would it be possible to give the same transformation to Gluppy and Pecillia? I mean, I'm happy and proud of being a mermaid, but the ability to transform and easily move on land is very useful."
Ars looked at Gluppy and Pecillia, who were looking at him hopefully and replied happily.
"Sure just give me a few seconds and we can go there, but there is only one condition, you will have to sign a contract that forces you to not give any information on me or how you acquired such skill, and probably also the necessity of keeping the skill hidden if possible… I really don't want people coming to ask questions, and if they see you transform, they might realize who Otojoō is… And that would be a big problem for me. Understood?"
They nodded and Ars quickly took them to sign the document and to give them the skill they wanted.
While he was in his laboratory giving the desired skill to the 2 mermaids, Rachel and Otojoō talked outside.
At first they talked about their pasts, but soon Rachel started talking about the possibilities that trading with fishman island could bring.
"You know, even if you want to help them, you won't be able to give them super good prices on things they buy and vice versa, I doubt that they will give you really good deals, especially since they don't know who you are! Also what do you think are the best items to buy from fishman island to this kingdom. And by the way what is this kingdom's name? And how big is it?"
Otojoō nodded, and started to reply to her questions calmly.
"Let's start with the name of the kingdom, this kingdom is called the Nautica Kingdom. Secondly, we intend to buy seashell powder, some of its sweets and finally if I want to give a discount I will always ask your majesty Rachel or his majesty Ars, for approval."
Rachel thought about more questions for her to do, and one more quickly sprouted in her mind.
"And how do you intend to bring it back, especially if it's in large quantities, crossing the calm belt is risky, so someone strong enough would always have to go along with you."
Otojoō thought about it, it was true, to bring back large quantities they would need a ship with people strong enough to protect the crew and the cargo. Even if they didn't use the calm belts they would still need to have strong people, and this option was kinda hard considering Ars didn't like the idea of negotiating with the world government if given the choice. She looked at Rachel and replied a bit shy and embarrassed.
"I was so enthusiastic about living there with my family that I didn't realize that problem, so my answer to that question is, I have no idea."
Otojoō laughed a bit awkwardly and Rachel commented with a conflicted expression.
"I want to allow you to go there and do your job there, but it will be hard, maybe sometimes you will be able to go there on special occasions, but regular business will be hard, unless you come up with a solution."
Otojoō nodded, the moment the problem with the transport was mentioned she realized this too.
While they talked a bit more, Ars was finishing on his side.
Ars looked at the 2 mermaids that were now trying to transform from mermaid to human. But with no success, Ars laughed he also had problems with transforming initially, but now he could do it with just a thought. He looked at them and commented feeling amused by their frustrated faces.
"How about we go out so you can speak with Otojoō, since she has more experience in transforming and more experience in failing to transform. She might be able to give you a tip or two to facilitate the transformation."
They nodded at the suggestion, but Gluppy was more frustrated at Ars face than at failing, since she failed for the first time, Ars had been snickering and stealing glances at her.
He grabbed them and after confirming that everything that needed to be done was complete he teleported them out.
The moment they got out, Pecillia quickly moved towards Otojoō, and just as quickly asked what she wanted to know.
"Otojoō-sama do you have any tricks to transform into a human without difficulty? I've been trying really hard and I can't do it."
Seeing the little mermaid feeling sad, everyone quickly tried to cheer her up. Otojoō quickly picked her up and comforted the little girl.
"The only tip I can give is, to imagine something like a lever, when it's on one side you're a mermaid when it changes sides you transform into a human and don't worry, i also had quite a few difficulties at first. The first time is the hardest, after that it gets easier and easier, so I'm sure you will do well."
Rachel and Gluppy nodded, and Rachel asked, while Gluppy combed the little girl hair with her hand, both trying to distract her from the difficulty of transforming..
"How about we eat a cake to cheer you up?"
She nodded but didn't seem too happy, Ars laughed and told her with a warm smile.
"Listen, while you probably want to transform as soon as possible, don't rush it, you have no reason to rush when you have all the time in the world, just keep trying slowly and sooner or later you will manage to do it, and once you do you will be able to change freely, and with mastery the transformation will become quicker to the point you will be able to transform instantly whatever you want."
All the other 3 adults nodded at her, and she finally relaxed. Finally she looked at Rachel and said with a cute smile.
"Can I still have the cake!?"
Everyone broke off laughing, and Ars nodded. While they were eating the cake Otojoō and Rachel explained their difficulties to Ars, verifying if he had any idea of how to help Otojoō to visit fishman island more often. But like them he also had no idea for now. But he did think of something they didn't consider until now.
"While I currently have no ability that allows for any type of teleportation of goods, or at least I don't think I have… I would have to verify it better… You can always try to find an akuma no mi that could help. For example any akuma no mi with space type abilities, or an ability capable of miniaturizing something for easier storage."
Their eyes lit up, that indeed would solve their problem. Rachel looked at Ars and quickly asked.
"Can you quickly check if you have something like that?"
He nodded and searched for anything like that, but like he expected, fruits like those were quite sought after by big powers, maybe a few of the ones he had could be used to store objects after increasing their mastery for years but even then the amounts would be small. He looked at Rachel and Otojoō and said.
"I don't have one now… But I might have an idea of where I can get one, and I even know where a few of these akuma no mi are and who has them but most of them are in powerful groups I don't want to antagonize for such a simple thing. I will try to remember to try to find Capone Bege after the festival."
They nodded and finished eating. After that they went their own ways.
The moment he got back to his home and the other queens saw Rachel, they kidnapped her and kicked Ars out for girl talk.
Ars was a bit annoyed but he decided to use the time to check if any more documents he needed to review had arrived and confirm the necessities for the incoming festival.
That day, he actually ate alone and went to sleep early, for the first time since he got his first queen.
Ars felt a bit strange, but he accepted it.
The next day was going to be quite exciting, the little princesses were asleep when they came back so their meeting would happen tomorrow.
The following morning Ars got up first, before everyone and quickly went to review the festival preparations all over the city. At this hour there weren't many people up and working except for the guards that were about to change shifts when Ars got out to check on the preparations.
After he finished checking everything, he quickly decided that he could use the rest of the time to train, before it was time to wake up the princesses to meet their mother. He was thinking if they were going to recognize her or not, after all her appearance changed quite a bit since last time they met.
When it was almost time to wake them up, he quickly moved home to take a quick bath.
Once done he quickly moved towards the princesses room and woke them up.
"It's morning and breakfast is ready!"
They woke up but were still half asleep, Ars helped them change their clothes and took them to the dining room. There the maids were just putting the food on the table. Dawn and Solana, seeing the princesses, quickly came to help them sit, and helped them with the food. Basically they stood near them in case they choked or needed help with something.
The queens didn't take too long to arrive either. When they entered Rachel quickly spotted the 2 princesses, she quickly approached and was going to hug them, while already crying her eyes out.
The 2 little girls didn't recognize her, and Risa quickly put herself between her sister and this woman. She didn't even think that she was surrounded by her family and no one would hurt them.
Rachel was surprised but then she understood, her appearance had drastically changed since the last time they met. She smiled and said warmly.
"It's been a while since we saw each other, and then hugged her, following with pulling Rika in for a hug too."
At first they were confused, but then Risa's eyes opened wide, she recognized that voice, but the owner of that voice didn't look like this. She couldn't help but ask.
"Who are you?"
Rachel laughed, smiled between tears and replied.
"I'm the person who you are thinking of, it's just my appearance that has changed a lot since last time we met…"
Risa started crying and hugged her back, but Rika was too young previously and was feeling confused, Rachel smiled and forcefully pulled her in.
Everyone else stood there with smiles on their faces, watching this emotional reunion.