I'm a Stingray?

Chapter 173: The deal

"Why do we need to talk?" Timothy answered as he had trouble figuring out where the sound came from.

"That attack wasn't a coincidence, everything is planned." Such a sentence didn't exactly sound shocking, but it felt especially odd how someone had to whisper just to express what seemed somewhat obvious.

After circling in the same spot a few times, he spotted one of the white-legged shrimp that portrayed attempts of someone hiding. This one was hiding about 5 meters away which was weird, because such a whisper would require a lot of work.

Swimming towards that shrimp, he spoke out. "How do you know that it was planned?"

Such a situation was a tad difficult to understand, the young one hasn't really caught up on what's going on. But the latter was quick to order around, "This isn't a place to talk, meet me where the pool was before you ordered men to bury it."

And then the white-legged one swiftly disappeared in the coral, took a few turns and joined the rest of the crowd nearby: which firmly made it impossible to follow the woman, especially for someone with a weak vision.

Thanks to the last thing that critter said, it became easier to figure out that it was a woman, full grown too. Gender didn't really matter here, it's not like romance was planned towards that lady. If that was the case, then this could be labelled as underwater pedophilia.

But such a situation didn't fail to peak curiosity. He has been living in this body for a while now, mostly handling the reef's problems. But for someone to whisper their way to schedule a meeting, this was definitely something he experienced for the first time.

So without putting into much thought, unable to connect any dots regardless of the many hints, he decided to go towards where the pool of holy-tar used to be.

...

Within a few minutes, he had reached the former pool. Normally it would take a bit longer, but he swam at full speed for the sake of reaching there quicker. Although his tail ached a tad bit through it, a full speed of 5 mp/h was doable.

But there was one thing he didn't really think through, a shrimp couldn't go equally fast. So he ended up waiting for a good 15 minutes more, before a faint white dot appeared on the corner of his eye.

It got closer in just a few moments and it immediately sunk in the main topic, stress in her tone. "Did anyone follow you?"

Such a question came in like a wave, it made the boy pull his face back because personal space was invaded a tad bit as well. "I don't think that anyone could swim as fast as me."

"Good. I don't have much time, we're being overworked like hell these days. And they will notice that I'm not there pretty quickly." That sentence was proven right once noticing how swiftly she was speaking.

So the young one saved her the trouble of any additional questions, instantly getting to the point. "Tell me, what's going on?"

Looking at the hero directly in the eyes, she revealed. "There is a traitor amongst the community. I heard him make a deal with some fool with green eyes, this attack was scheduled by the deal itself."

Although expected from these shrimp, this accusation was a bit too big. So a question had to be weighed in, "Are you sure about that?"

Uncertainty evident in her eyes, the lady slowly explained. "I heard him make a deal, but there were no other witnesses."

"Then you could be a big fat liar." Timmy replied almost instantly and fished out another reason, "You could be doing this to become someone important so you don't need to work."

Agitated, her whispers instantly became shouts. "You fool! I'm trying to save my friends and family from these greedy plans!"

Sensing a bit of reasoning in her tone but feeling offended by such a shout, he immediately replied with a shared shout. "Stop yelling or I'll kill you on the spot!"

Egotistic at best but it managed to tame the situation for the better, as the lady replied in a calmer tone. "There is no reason for you to believe me, but as our king you need to look out for your people. So you must look into this."

She was getting ready to leave but before doing so, another piece of information was revealed. "The one that you turned into a president has made a deal with these attackers. I did my part and now you can do whatever you want."

The little stingray had submerged into a bit of shock and a few pieces of the puzzle began to fit in. But before he could say anything, the lady continued. "Me and a few others will flee this place at night. We refuse to live where crazed fish could eat us at any moment."

But such a statement felt rough so she also asked, "Of course if you see it reasonable. Do we have your permission to flee?"

Although such a demand felt odd and his ego was hurt through it as well, this lady could be the most genuine one in the whole community of white-legged shrimps. Although the little stingray was still pondering over the information, this lady will likely not get in the way in the future regardless what decisions he would take.

So a simple blessing was given out, "You can go. They won't be able to hunt you down, I won't let them."

"Thank you." The lady answered and began crawling through coral, likely carrying conflicting feelings but at least something went her way today.

Meanwhile the yellow coated boy had a difficult time putting together just what the hell was going on. It wasn't a surprise that president shrimp would do such a thing, but the greatest question circled around why he would do it. The benefits would be pale.

Within a few minutes he decided, "It's time to figure this out my way."