The Little Merman Demands Legs from the Sea Witch - Chapter 8
Iko bottled the potion and headed toward the impatient mer-prince.
“It’s ready….”
As soon as she opened the door, she was hit by a sudden splash of water. There was no need to guess the culprit—it was definitely Kashmir.
“Why are you so slow? Hurry up, will you?”
Kashmir complained, splashing water with his tail. Iko clenched her teeth and exhaled through her nose, trying to keep her anger in check. Luckily, the bottle was sealed, so no water had gotten inside the potion.
“Do you know what you just did? The potion could’ve been ruined.”
“It’s your fault for being slow.”
What a self-centered jerk. As soon as I get the scale, I’ll kick him out, Iko thought, forcing a small smile.
“Here’s the potion you wanted, Your Highness.”
Kashmir reached for the potion but hesitated.
“You claimed you didn’t know who I was, yet now you’re calling me ‘Your Highness’?”
The slip-up was immediately obvious on Iko’s face. Kashmir’s lips curled into a sly smile.
“As expected, there isn’t a soul in the sea who doesn’t know me. Well, how could they not? With such a handsome face and a perfect body—”
“Drink it immediately after it’s made, or the effects will weaken,” Iko interrupted, lying to avoid hearing more of his bragging.
But when Kashmir reached for the bottle, she quickly pulled it back, extending her other hand instead—clearly signaling for the scale first.
“Give me the potion first,” he demanded.
But the merman didn’t hand over the scale so easily. His dark eyes were filled with suspicion as he eyed the witch.
“Then let’s exchange at the same time,” Iko suggested.
Kashmir agreed, but neither of them moved, locked in a silent standoff, not trusting the other.
After a long moment, growing impatient, Kashmir finally extended his fist. When he opened his hand, a shimmering scale was revealed.
“Take it.”
Iko, watching carefully, snatched the scale and handed over the potion. Kashmir frowned as he examined the suspicious-looking liquid.
“Are you sure this will work?”
“Of course.”
“If you’re trying to trick me, I won’t let it slide.”
Iko flinched. Since the potion had turned the right color as described in the book, it seemed she had made it correctly. But still, she wasn’t sure if it would last one hour… or just one minute…
“Your tail will turn into human legs, and after some time, it’ll revert back.”
Though when that would be, she didn’t know. Iko gestured for him to drink it quickly. Kashmir opened the bottle, casting one last suspicious look at the witch before deciding to gulp it down.
The taste was bitter and slimy, making it unpleasant to swallow. He wanted to spit it out immediately but forced himself to finish the entire bottle with the patience of a seahorse.
“I don’t feel any different.”
Despite having finished the potion, he felt no change in his body. Thinking he’d been tricked, Kashmir scowled, and Iko took a step back.
“You…!”
Just as he was about to accuse her, a sharp pain shot through the tip of his tail, as if someone were stabbing it with a knife and tearing it apart.
“I forgot to mention—it’s going to hurt as your tail splits into legs.”
Iko belatedly gave him the warning.
That witch! She’s just full of surprises, isn’t she?!
The excruciating pain, unlike anything he’d ever felt, was so overwhelming that Kashmir lost consciousness and collapsed.
***
Kashmir woke up to the soft sensation of sand against his cheek. Groggy, he blinked and slowly tried to make sense of his surroundings. His body felt terrible.
“You’re awake.”
A woman’s voice startled him. He looked around and saw Iko sitting five steps away under the shade of a palm tree, watching him.
After a brief moment of confusion, Kashmir finally remembered who she was and where he was.
“Congratulations,” Iko said.
Though her words were directed at him, she was also congratulating herself. The book had warned that the transformation would be painful, but she hadn’t expected him to pass out. And when he didn’t wake for a while, she had started to worry.
‘What if I made the potion wrong? What if something happened to the prince? Would the mer-king come to kill me?’
Iko had anxiously watched over Kashmir the whole time. Now that he was awake, she finally felt a sense of relief.
“You look a bit dumber than before, but maybe that’s just how you were all along.”
Kashmir glared at Iko, who casually insulted him while dusting off the sand from her cheek. Her politeness from earlier had vanished, now that she had secured the scale. She was quite the amusing witch, he thought, even if she was rude.
“Seems like the legs turned out fine.”
At the mention of legs, Kashmir quickly glanced down at his lower body. Sure enough, there were two perfectly human legs.
And between them, something else…
A part of the human anatomy that he quickly realized was new to him.
