There is another thing that has changed dramatically since Prati came to our settlement.
　This is worth mentioning.

　That's the toilet.

　If you can get in, you can get out.
　It's a physiological thing.

　How to deal with excrement is the second most important issue after food, clothing and shelter.
　I couldn't leave this as a matter of course.

　And the truth is, what did I do with the toilet until now....

　.........
　........there's the ocean, near there.

　They flushed the toilet directly down the toilet.
　I've heard that old sailors used to do this, and the mother sea is so big that it can easily take a little pollution.

　There are all kinds of components swirling around in the ocean, and if those components can grow plankton and other microorganisms, and small fish eat them, and then bigger fish eat them, and then I can catch the bigger fish, and that completes the food cycle, that's a good thing, isn't it?

　When I told him that, Prathi got super pissed off.

"It's not like that!

　I got down on my knees and apologized.
　I got down on my knees and apologized profusely.

"I hate that kind of insensitivity of land people!　The food cycle in the ocean is completed by sea life alone!　Don't pour the filth of another world into it without permission!
'Yes, sir!　You're right!　I'm sorry...!

　I'm rather unable to disobey her anymore.

But, well, the land people aren't as neat as you and the other mermaids, so it can't be helped. Hold on a minute.
?
I've got a surprise for you.

　And so Prathi dove into the sea, once again as a lower body mappa.
　Then he came back with something.

'Here's a must-have item to solve the toilet situation!

　BAM!　And.
　Something in the shape of a star that Prathi holds up.
　That's.....

'Starfish?'
A starfish-shaped monster, to be exact. Like the Ba Herring G we caught the other day.

　So it's no ordinary starfish.
　Monsters are put to good use in this world.

"This starfish is a monster called the Little Starfish. "This starfish is an omnivorous creature, unlike most starfish, that will eat anything it can get its hands on.
...Is that okay?
Yeah, so be careful when you grab them. They'll bite your fingers.

　It wasn't all right.

I'm going to put this thing in a tub or a box or something and fill it with water.

　As Prathi said, he prepared a few brat starfish and a tub of water.

'This completes your toilet,'
What?

　This is a toilet?
　That's just a tub of water.
　With a few starfish in it?

Would you like me to demonstrate?

　Prathi pressed a small knife-like blade against his arm.
　As it is, he draws a line in a swoop.

''Okay!''

　Then a straight cut is made on her white skin, and blood spills out in trickles.

I'm not going to be able to get it right.　What's going on?
It's okay, don't worry. A wound like this, just put some medicine on it...

　When I applied the ointment, the wound on my arm disappeared without a trace, as if it was a lie.
　Mermaid medicine is awesome.

　On the other hand, the starfish tub in question had blood flowing from the wound and the water inside had turned bright red.
　The picture was a bit frightening.

　The water in the vat all red.

　Perhaps it was her purpose to do so, but what was the point of doing so?

'Because ... you can't actually do your business. In front of your eyes.
?

　It didn't make sense for Prathi to blush again, but there was a dramatic change that couldn't be bothered with that.

　The water in the vat, which had turned red with blood, became clearer and clearer in an instant.
　The process, I wondered, took less than a minute.
　To my surprise, the water in the vat had completely regained its original clarity.
　I could clearly see the starfish sticking to the bottom.

'This is the effect of the little starfish. You must have been surprised.

　'These nasty starfish eat even the smallest organic matter floating in the water,' said Prati.

These nasty starfish suck up all the microscopic organic matter floating in the water and eat it, as well as the excrement of the larger creatures. These nasty starfish suck up all the microscopic organic matter floating in the water, including the excrement of larger creatures. In this case, I used blood as a substitute...!

　Okay.
　If they can absorb the blood and add it to the nutrients, then the excrement is just as good.

　In the land of mermaids, these starfish are valued as the "cleaner of the sea" and are always available in every home for sewage and garbage disposal.

The starfish absorbs all the waste and stores it as nutrients, but it only divides and multiplies. If there are too many, you can boil them to death and use them as fertilizer, just like Ba Herring G. Or you can tear them up and use them as bait for fishing.

　A dream material that can be put to good use no matter how you look at it.

　Thus, a clean toilet was added to our settlement.
　I didn't want to leave them in the hut I'm currently bunking in, so I decided to build a more compact hut some distance away and put a tub with a starfish in it to make a private toilet.

　Normally, we should store the excrement for fertilizer, but we already have a powerful fish manure called Ba-Herring-G.

　So we immediately adopted a toilet for the starfish. We are glad that our life became richer by one more thing.

　Prathi has also taken up residence completely, and their shared life has become the norm.
　Those days went on for a while.