The Little Merman Demands Legs from the Sea Witch - Chapter 13
‘Is it really safe to keep such a dangerous person around until he can walk?’ she thought, stirring the stew in the pot with a ladle.
Then, an idea struck her.
What if she made the food taste so bad that he couldn’t bear it and decided to leave on his own?
Pretending to cook diligently, Iko dumped a huge amount of salt into the pot. She tasted the stew, and it was as salty as seawater.
“Delicious.”
…But to her surprise, when Kashmir tasted it, he reacted positively. Iko gave him a probing look.
“Isn’t it a bit salty?”
“Not as salty as seawater.”
It was a miscalculation.
As a merman living in the sea, he must be insensitive to saltiness.
‘Could he also be insensitive to sweetness? Should I add a ton of sugar tomorrow?’
As she watched Kashmir happily eat the stew, Iko began to plan new ways to torment him.
“Aren’t you going to eat?”
Kashmir asked when he noticed that Iko hadn’t touched her stew.
“I’m full. I already ate.”
“Really? Then I’ll finish all of this myself.”
Kashmir polished off the salty stew with satisfaction.
***
A month had passed since Kashmir had started living in the witch’s house.
During that time, Iko had tried making food overly sweet, bitter, and even burning it to a crisp. But every time, Kashmir ate everything, saying it was delicious.
It seemed to Iko that as long as the food was warm, Kashmir found it tasty. Truly, he had a hopeless sense of taste.
Chasing him away with bad food was impossible. Not only was it ineffective, but it also required her to prepare two meals a day, which was a hassle. Iko eventually gave up on using food to drive the merman prince away.
“Witch, what’s for lunch today?”
“Sandwiches.”
She also stopped speaking to him politely. She had thought he would leave in a week, but after a month of him staying, it started to feel like a waste to be kind and considerate.
“I don’t want sandwiches.”
“Don’t complain about the menu. You’ll eat what you’re given.”
Kashmir didn’t mind Iko’s attitude. In fact, he found it amusing that she no longer held back and was speaking to him harshly.
“I’ll eat whatever, but a sandwich doesn’t involve fire.”
“I’ll use fire to cook the bacon.”
“Then it’s fine.”
Kashmir enthusiastically agreed, raising his hand in approval. Despite having watched countless fires on the beach over the past month, he still loved them. Iko found him hard to understand. In fact, she couldn’t even grasp why he was so carefree in the first place.
He still couldn’t stand on his own two feet. Iko, who had thought he would be walking and running within a week, was now more concerned than ever.
But she decided to stop worrying. Worrying about this carefree merman seemed like the most pointless thing in the world.
“Witch, let’s cook the bacon.”
“Not yet. It’s not time for that.”
Iko picked up a watering can, saying it was time to tend to the garden. Kashmir, lying on the beach, splashed the water with his tail and sighed.
“You’re always so strict about your schedule. What a tiresome life.”
Iko glanced up from watering the plants to glare at Kashmir. He called her rigid and uptight, but to Iko, he was simply too indulgent.
His sleep schedule was erratic; sometimes, he woke up at dawn, and other times, he slept until midday. And every time he woke up, he would say the same thing.
“I’m bored.”
Yes, that same old complaint.
Living an unstructured life like that seemed far worse to Iko than her slightly tiring, well-planned one.
“Witch, I said I’m bored.”
“If you’re bored, practice standing on your own.”
Iko replied without even looking at him. She knew that if she gave him any attention, he would just keep asking her to entertain him, so she decided to be firm.
“I’m out of the potion.”
But his next words made her pause.
“I told you to drink it sparingly, only when you’re practicing.”
“I wanted to practice for a long time, so I drank it all.”
The potion that created legs only lasted for a day if the entire bottle was consumed. Drinking less would shorten its effect.
“No matter how long you wanted to practice, you couldn’t have been planning to do it all day. You should have saved some.”
“You can just make more for me.”
“It takes a long time to make. An hour, at least.”
“But you’ve gotten better at it, so it doesn’t take that long anymore, right?”
Iko pursed her lips, irritated that he had hit the mark. She hadn’t made the potion in front of him, so how did he know?
“Come on, I’ll pay you properly.”
Kashmir pulled out a scale from his tail and held it out. Iko squeezed her eyes shut and let out a long sigh before walking over to him. Kashmir looked up at her, grinning.
“You want this too, don’t you? It’s a good deal for both of us. Let’s trade with a smile.”
