The walk was quiet when they bailed out of the painting shop, they were surprised to see the dark sky. How long have they been in there? It honestly felt like at least 20 minutes.

This factor, however, didn’t shake the duo as much.Thư walked home quietly along with little Dương soundlessly floating beside her; both of them speechless for words.

If we see this from an outsider’s view, the genre could have somehow changed from comedy-fantasy to horror-fantasy.

Once the night dims in it’s light, a masked maiden roamed the town with her ghastly aura, the sound of her footsteps taunting anyone who heeds it, she pulls the string of children’s imaginations and unleashes their greatest fear.

Yeah, that could be a whole ass story to scare off kids, she smiled behind her mask.

“ Dương, since it’s getting dark, would you like to continue our exploration or go back? “.

Noticing that the merman wasn’t properly responding, Thư looked over and gave him a mini flick to the forehead. The lad’s blank face quickly reverted to one of surprise, his small body jerked, stopping the fish tails in its track.

“ Aiya! That hurts, why did you do that? “, Dương glowered at her as he rubbed the red mark.

“ You didn’t answer my question so I thought.. “

“ Well, you could have yelled my name or something “.

“ You’d prefer me screaming at your face than lightly flicking you? “

He looked at her in disbelief. “ Did you seriously call that ‘light’? “.

“ It was light in my point of view. “, she crossed her arms and turned her head to the front. Completely ignoring Dương’s little scoff.

“ You are unbelievable! “.

“ You haven’t answered my question yet “.

Their bickering cleared the air with a playful atmosphere, for the moment, they forgot about the charming painter and his painting. The nightly zephyr gently lifts her brown locks, ruffling the white pants underneath her blue five pieced-shirt. She lifted her head and greeted the moon, looming over the both of them with it’s faintly young light, her eyes resonating like casted reflections on a dark pond.

Dương was quick to ruin that peaceful moment.

“ Are we just going to ignore that painter and the fact that he knew what you look like? “.

Anh Thư let out the biggest sigh of her entire life, “ Did you really have to bring that up right now? “.

“ When am I supposed to bring it up then? You haven’t answered my question, by the way. “

Behind the mask with it’s calm facade, hiding her true emotions away from the world; veils a conflicted expression,“ I supposed he was one of the town folks when I first fell ….. “. The flashbacks of events were hazy and not very vivid as she wanted it to be, too many faces, too many voices, Thư couldn’t remember if she saw someone with silver hair.

Someone like that would have stood out among the crowd.

Dương thought it was strange as well but he accepted her answer for now, figuring that if anything happens, they can always handle it tomorrow. Despite meeting his master for a short time, he still holds a large amount of hope and anticipation for her.

“ Let’s go back home, it’s getting late “.

Another day passed with its unity and soon, the sun will rise to his throne and conquer the world once again. This time it was Thư's turn to wake up early, a rooster’s crow symbolizes awakening, the morning sun illuminated her dark orbs to translucent honey. She turned to see a sleeping merman, snoring quietly as his face was one of peace. The thought of screaming into his ears and scaring him to death, quickly vanished from her head.

I’ll give him some more time to rest while I get ready for the day.

With that, her delicate build sat up from the bed and headed towards the bathroom. The amount Dương had to pay for this place was extravagant, if anything he was the one who took care of her needs, from foods and drinks to a spacious place to stay. Thư never asked where he got all that money from. The warm, streaming water enveloped her bare skin as she bathed herself with hushed voices, trickling sounds coated her ears, her finger wavered underneath it’s stream.

Every flicker of her fingers sent crystallized water to float midair, she morphed them into dolphins, her faint giggles echoing across the room as she watched the dolphins play various tricks on her.

“ Saintess?... “, Dương’s soft voice startled her as the water dolphins quickly fell back to their original form. She probably has been in here for long enough now.

“ I’ll be finishing soon! Wait for a bit as I get changed. “, Thư called to her little guide and stepped out of the streaming bath.

“ Alright then. “

Dương was sitting on her bed, his tails flapping occasionally out of habit, randomly braiding his golden hair. He looked extremely small, it wouldn’t be abnormal for someone to accidentally sit on him. The merman quickly lifted his head the moment he heard the bathroom door open, his body jumped up and he flew towards his master with great eagerness. “ So, where would you like to go today? Explore the town? Eat new food? Hunt the charming painter down- “.

“ Actually, I would like to go around and earn money. “

Dương froze for a second before staring at his master, “ I’m sorry, you would like to earn money? “. She nodded.

“ You don’t even need to worry about money, I mean, I got it covered. “

“ I know but I feel bad. “

“ You don’t have to feel bad, this is my responsibility anyways- “.

“ Yeah but I want to have my own money too. “, she pleaded with him.

He gazed at her, troubled and conflicted, for a few minutes as if coming to a decision, he sighed. “ Okay...I guess you can make your money.. “, Dương said reluctantly and she quickly clenched her fist in delight.

“ But how are you going to earn money? “, her smiley expression stopped. Thư slowly set her fists down and looked at him.

“ Well...do you know any ways? “.

“ Um.. “

He had a hand on his chin, pondering.

“ The town folks do offer small tasks, I mean they don’t pay a lot, but it should be a good start for you. “

“ I suppose so..Then, let’s go and ask around if anyone needs help! “.

It has been 2 days ever since they first settled here, Thư quickly grew used to the bustling environment. The market carried a sense of nostalgia with the scents of fish, wet vegetables, and raw meat.

I guess I can find some similarities here with my old world. Anh Thư ambled through the streets with arms behind her back.

“ Dương. “, the merman was sitting on her shoulder witnessing the sight of dead, chopped up fishes on food stalls. The moment he heard his name, he immediately gazed up at his master.

“ Yes? “.

“ Are you alright? “

She noticed how his face turned from shades of white and purple, his small hand visibly trembling. Thư stopped in her tracks to realized where they were in: A fucking fish market. “ Oh shit! I’m sorry, I forgot. Let’s get out of here. “, Thư gently held the shivering merman in her palm and hurried away.

The pair managed to pass the fish market, she turned her head to every direction just to make sure there’s no dead fish in sight. Once the coast was clear, Thư slowly agape her fingers. “ It’s all good now. “, Dương peeked out a bit; his tiny hand holding onto his master’s fingers for dear life. He flew up slowly with his tails and nodded.

“ Okay...back to our original business. Let’s go around and see if there’s any jobs- “, they were stopped in front of a massive sign.

IN NEED OF ASSISTANTS, 3 CASH COINS AN HOUR.

It was a rice dumpling store, an old lady tirelessly sat on the floor, wrapping and tying the dumplings onto bamboo sheets. From experience, Anh Thư has seen her aunties huddled together to make rice dumplings, also known as Zongzi. A treat usually eaten during the Duanwu Festival, though she was a mix of Vietnamese and Chinese, her dad’s family leaned more on the Chinese side.

She nodded to Dương before entering the small food stall, he followed her close behind. The old woman wiped the sweat away from her forehead. The moment she catched a figure entering her shop, she quickly stood up and bowed. “ Hello and welcome, how may I serve you? “.

Anh Thư awkwardly bowed back to pay respect. “ I saw the sign outside your store. “

The woman glanced at her before she smiled, relieving the fine lines on her old face. “ Are you perhaps here to assist me? “, Thư gently nodded to her pleasure.

“ That’ll be such a big help! This old one can’t take up most of the work like I did in the past anymore.. “

Thư almost forgot the fact that she had a mask on, this means she couldn’t just smile or chuckle things away. Her social skills sucks at this point, not gonna lie. “ Auntie, if there’s anything I can help with, do tell me “.

We’ve got a serious problem.

Anh Thư stared at the deformed bamboo wrap, who knew it would be such a hard task to wrap this goddamn thing up. She cursed at herself as the old woman carefully took it out of her hand and lightly folded it, step by step, this was the fifth time she had messed shit up now. Her body tensed up in discomfort, she could never bring herself to look at the old lady.

What if she thinks I’m stupid, what if she thinks I’m incompetent, what if she thinks I’m just making things worse, what if she-

Dương gave her a little pat on the shoulder as encouragement. “ Saintess, it’s okay. We all learn at our own pace “.

“ You fold the bamboo sheet and gently fill it up with rice, make sure you don’t put too much or too little, then you can add the egg, pork, mushrooms, and yam. Finally, you wrap it up and tie the dumplings with the strings I had given you “.

After many attempts with adding too much rice and forgetting to put important toppings. Thư imagined her ancestors peering over her right now with disappointment, perhaps screaming and screeching at her stupidity.

“ You really are bad at this, saintess “.

“ ....... “

Tears flowed out of her eyes as she held her first successful Zongzi on her hand like a treasured gem. Dương blankly watched as his master dramatically wiped her face with great emotions. When everything was all wrapped up, the pair quickly huddled around the boiling pot, all the total amount of 65 dumplings steamed neatly inside.

The kind old woman paid their amount, Thư felt like it was too much and offered to give back some coins. It was the typical tug of war between giving back and giving the coins away, at last, Anh Thư accepted out of respect. She bowed respectfully before exiting the small shop.

“ Saintess, should we keep going or are you tired? “.

“ I still have some energy for a few more “.

They walked from places to places offering help, most of the time it was cleaning the dishes, or serving food. She thanked her mask again for the 6th time of this story. Dương had his own way of making things easier for her with a snap of his finger, he wiped the plates and pots clean.

The best part of having powers is that you get stuff done a lot quicker, they lose track of how many stores they’ve been in. Thư stretched her arms as she let out a small yawn. “ Dương, I feel like- “, she was interrupted by the sound of her stomach rumbling loudly.

“ Why do we keep getting interrupted today.. “, Dương sighed as he shook his head, “ Let’s take a break and eat something. “

Slurping of fresh noodles and seasoned steam from the broth filled their empty stomach. Anh Thư scooped small strands of noodles, making sure Dương ate the right amount of food he needed. If someone was paying attention, they would call her a mad person. She managed to catch an interesting conversation from a group of people next to her table.

“ Did you hear that the youngest daughter in the Nguyên family went missing? “

“ Really? “.

“ Yeah, they said she was last seen by the river at night. “

“ The river? You mean, THAT river? “.

Curious but nervous, she turned around to pat a waitress’s arm. “ What river are they talking about? “, before the waitress could answer her question, one of the men spoke up.

“ They call them The Âm Phủ River (Abyss), used to be a place for fishermen and tourists. The old river was always full of fishes and beautiful water sightings, however, recently there’s reported cases of disappearances. Most of the victims are children from the age of 5 - 10 “.

“ Do you know what caused these strange disappearances? “.

The man looked around and leaned in closer to her, his hushed voice placed near her ears, “ People speculated that a vengeful water spirit was said to haunt the rivers at night, luring children, and dragging them to their death deep down the water “. He returned to his seat and continued talking to his friends.

Anh Thư stared at Dương and he stared at her back, she stood up from her seat and walked towards the man and his group.

“ I could help get rid of this water spirit with a cost “, everyone stopped to look at her. The man scanned her for a moment.

“ The Nguyên family is willing to pay someone a large amount of money for their daughter’s body “, he told her and she nodded before stepping out of the restaurant.

Everyone watched the mysterious masked woman after making such a bold statement, confidently walked away. In reality she was panicking inside with Dương’s ‘Are you for real right now’ agonizing her with deep fear.

“ Yes I am for real, can you shut up now.. “, she whispered.