The Little Merman Demands Legs from the Sea Witch - Chapter 12
Though Kashmir had failed to even stand on his first attempt, he was confident that he would soon be able to walk. After all, he was good at anything that involved physical movement.
However, he failed on his second and third attempts as well. No matter how hard he tried, there were no results, and he only ended up feeling hungrier.
Hearing the rumble of his stomach, Kashmir let out a long sigh. Even if he wanted to return to the palace, swimming with human legs was difficult.
“I can’t walk, and I can’t swim. What good are these legs?”
Just as he was starting to regret coming to the witch for this, a good idea suddenly struck him.
“Witch!”
Kashmir called out loudly for Iko. She hadn’t shown herself for hours, even though he had been struggling alone on the beach.
“Hey witch!”
But no matter how loudly he called, Iko didn’t answer, as if she was determined to ignore him.
“Are you trying to test my patience?”
Kashmir, lying on the sand and staring at the ceiling of the fishbowl, chuckled.
He had the most effective method to make anyone listen to him.
Thud. Thud!
Kashmir pounded the ground with his fist. The fishbowl began to shake, and a scream echoed from inside the house. Soon, a fuming Iko stormed outside.
“Why are you still here?!”
“Hungry.”
Kashmir ignored her question and stated his own need. He had come up with a great plan to solve his hunger and achieve his ultimate goal at the same time.
Why had Kashmir wanted to go to a human village in the first place? It was to eat and drink to his heart’s content—the delicious human liquor, and what he imagined would be equally tasty food.
In that sense, the witch’s house was an acceptable alternative. Since the witch was a human living in the sea, she must have human food. Surely, she had food and drink stored away.
“Prepare a meal for me.”
“Why should I? I’m not your servant.”
But the witch wasn’t about to give in to Kashmir’s demand for food so easily. Instead, she tried to chase him out, insisting that if he was hungry, he should muster the strength to go home.
“I can’t. I’m too weak from hunger.”
“Use what little strength you have and get out of here. You must really not understand this yet, but witches don’t do anything for free.”
Iko firmly refused to even give him a piece of bread.
‘What a miser.’
Kashmir clicked his tongue, then took off the pearl bracelet he was wearing and tossed it to Iko.
“Take this and serve me until I can walk.”
“How long will it take for you to walk?”
“If you don’t want to, give it back.”
Iko hesitated, holding the bracelet. It was tempting—enough to cover six months’ worth of food expenses, which made it hard to refuse.
‘But I really don’t want to wait on that prince. Still, he said only until he can walk. No matter how long it takes, it shouldn’t be more than a week, right?’
A week of inconvenience versus six months of comfort. Iko’s mental scales quickly tipped in favor of the latter.
“What would you like to eat, Your Highness?”
As Iko’s attitude suddenly changed, Kashmir, who had been lying limp from hunger, burst into laughter. It seemed that as long as he remembered how calculating she was, the witch would be easy to deal with.
Thinking she was easy made her mercenary nature less irritating. In fact, her quick shifts in attitude even became amusing.
“I hear humans cook with fire.”
“That’s right.”
“Witch, I want to see fire in action. Cook something using fire where I can watch.”
Iko frowned at his specific demand. She began to think that this week might be more troublesome than she had anticipated.
“For a merman, or rather, a merman prince, why are you so interested in fire?”
“Because it’s something I rarely get to see.”
Iko sighed deeply at the naive and simple answer from the prince. Annoying as it was, there was nothing she could do. She had already accepted his bracelet.
“As long as I use fire, you don’t care what I cook, right?”
Kashmir nodded in agreement.
Iko gathered some firewood on the beach and started a bonfire.
“Ooooh!”
Kashmir exclaimed as he watched the fire. Iko placed a pot over the flames. She chopped up large chunks of potatoes and carrots, added flour and milk, and began making a stew.
While Iko busily prepared the stew, Kashmir lay on his stomach in the sand, watching the fire. He was so close that his face was growing increasingly warm, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“Why are you watching the fire as if it’s the first time you’ve ever seen one?”
Iko asked, noticing that his face was turning red. He was even sweating, yet he didn’t seem to tire of watching the flames.
“It’s not the first time. I’ve seen ships burning a few times.”
“You didn’t set those fires yourself, did you, Your Highness?”
Iko joked. Though she had only known him for a short time, she figured she should try to keep things light since she was now serving him.
“How did you know? I’ve broken ships a few times just to see the fire. It didn’t always work, though.”
However, after hearing Kashmir’s response, the joke was no longer funny. Iko clamped her mouth shut, realizing just what he was capable of. A chill ran down her spine.
