“Everything? What I mean is, did you happen to pull anything out with me? Gold coins, or a chest full of gold coins, or anything shiny like that.”

‘Unfortunately, you’re the only thing I pulled out. I didn’t see anything else. And even if I had, I probably couldn’t have gotten it. Just bringing you here alone nearly killed me.’

The other party raised both arms as if to prove it. The sight of those two slender arms, which looked flimsier than a pair of candles, left him with nothing more to say. That did not make the helplessness of losing his entire fortune go away, though, so Zikrat buried his face in both hands and let out a long, agonized groan.

‘What was that sound? Are you okay?’

No, not at all. The helplessness that had been boiling up from his gut burst out as a long, drawn-out sigh.

“Haaaaah…… D*mn it, I’m a complete pauper now.”

It might seem pointless to dwell on it now, but that ship had held half of Zikrat’s life. He had started sailing at fourteen, so it truly was exactly half. Zikrat muttered, practically wringing his own face.

“If I’d known it would come to this, I would’ve bitten the bullet and put it in a bank.”

‘Why would putting it in a bank be biting the bullet?’

Because I’m a criminal. Putting money I stole from honest, hardworking people into a bank would be the same as saying I want to spend the rest of my life in prison.

…He still had enough sense not to say that out loud. He was not sure whether she knew what a pirate was, but after a lifetime in the business of breaking the law, he knew that no matter how terrible the situation, it was always better to hide what you could for as long as you could. 

Zikrat brushed it off with a vague explanation that putting money in a bank was easy enough, but withdrawing it required a thirty-step process so complicated it was more trouble than it was worth.

“Enough about me. Let’s talk about you now.”

‘Me?’

“Yeah, you. What exactly are you?”

It had been bothering him this whole time. Zikrat lifted his face, reddened from the pressure of his own hands, and stared at the terrifyingly beautiful creature floating effortlessly in the water with nothing to hold onto, listing his guesses one by one.

“You’re definitely not human. Are you a hallucination I conjured up? Or a ghost who died at sea? Or could you be…… a siren?”

The most likely possibility was that he was suffering from a delusional episode brought on by the trauma of surviving alone, but he could not rule out the latter either. Zikrat simply did not have the imagination to conjure up something that beautiful.

‘What’s that?’

A siren was a female monster well known among seafarers, said to lure sailors to their deaths with song. He gave a brief explanation, and the other party’s eyes went wide.

‘No such species exists in this world.’

So that was not it. This confirmed once and for all that sirens were nothing more than a filthy fantasy invented by sailors whose lower halves had been rotting away after too many years at sea.

“What a shame. I thought I was getting a special experience before I died. So then what are you?”

‘I’m just a mermaid.’

Splash, as though to prove it, a wide, translucent tail fin smacked the surface of the water. Zikrat’s attention was stolen by the droplets that scattered and shimmered behind that beautiful hair, and he understood her words a beat too late.

“A mermaid?”

‘Yes.’

“A mermaid? The living, breathing cure-all, ah.”

No matter how out of it you are, you still have to know what to say and what not to say, you idiot. Zikrat bit down hard on the inside of his cheek, hard enough to draw blood.

‘Hearing it put that way feels strange.’

Fortunately, the ‘mermaid’ only muttered quietly and did not get angry. She even curved the corner of her mouth up slightly. The distance between them made it hard to see clearly, but it had definitely moved. Zikrat muttered stupidly again.

“I heard you’d been extinct for ages.”

He counted himself among seafarers, and even he knew a fair amount about mermaids. A treasure worth more than gold, said to sustain an entire ship’s crew from a single catch, a living miracle remedy. And yet, one hunted to near-extinction long ago through reckless sl*ughter, now a legendary creature seen only in book illustrations and works of art.

‘That’s what people believe.’

The mermaid answered without much concern, stretched her upper body out long, then suddenly dove under. For a moment, her bare female torso flashed white above the surface, and Zikrat’s eyes went wide. 

Born with a naturally robust constitution, his eyesight was sharp, and with those excellent eyes he saw it clearly. The protrusions on the mermaid’s chest had retracted inward.

He got as far as wondering whether they had atrophied because she was not a creature that nursed young, then Zikrat slapped himself across the cheek again. The opposite side from the one he had hit before. You’re every bit a sailor down to your bones, you disgusting bastard. While Zikrat chewed on curses and berated himself, the mermaid surfaced near a rock nearby.

‘Come over here and sit down. Talking from this distance is a waste. Meeting a human is a rare opportunity.’

The rock that jutted up and stretched out toward the sea looked genuinely good for both the mermaid who needed water and the human who needed solid ground. Zikrat trudged over, stealing glances at the mermaid who looked more at ease now than before.

“Got it, but could you do something about that, actually never mind.”

He had been about to ask if she could cover her chest, but then the obvious fact that a creature living in the sea would have no reason to wear clothes suddenly occurred to him, and Zikrat climbed up onto the rock without another word and sat at the edge. He was noticeably closer to the mermaid now.

‘Mm, good.’

Pleased, the mermaid smiled. Unlike a moment ago when he had been unsure whether she was smiling or not, a full, clear smile spread openly across her face.

Zikrat had a gut feeling. That no matter what beautiful thing he saw for the rest of his life, nothing would ever move him again. At the same time, he found himself deeply sympathizing with the humans of the past who had been so captivated by mermaids. 

Just keeping one in a tank to look at would be satisfying enough, and on top of that she could purify pollution and cure illness, so there was no way humans, who hunted ferocious beasts just for their hides to sell, would not have gone after them.

He was no exception. Stranded on this desolate little island as he was now, if he had spotted a mermaid from the deck of a ship, he would have had his eyes blazing and his nets ready to throw. 

One of her alone would let him quit this nauseating pirate life on the spot, so of course he would. Zikrat forgot his situation for a moment and stared at the mermaid like a grave robber who had just discovered a coveted treasure.

‘Are you okay? Your expression looks strange.’

The vulgar fantasy was brief. The mermaid tilted her head and looked at him, with no idea what kind of scheme he had been dreaming up. Her face looked so innocent and guileless, she seemed to have no idea at all that humans had driven her kind to the brink of extinction.

That’s why she saved me. Zikrat was certain of it. No one who knew how wretchedly humans had treated their ancestors could still extend goodwill.

If she had been a mermaid who knew the wicked history of humans, she would have grabbed some popcorn and watched him drown with great amusement. 

She would have cheered him on as the day’s VVIP for putting on such an entertaining show of thrashing about until the very end, then at most covered his face with a bit of sand as a reward for the fun. With her foot, or rather her tail.

Either way, what mattered was that he had survived thanks to the mermaid’s goodwill. Whether she wanted something in return, or it had simply been a day she felt like doing something kind, the result was that Zikrat was alive and had met a mermaid.

His waterlogged brain dried out and started spinning at full speed. What he needed to do in this situation was clear. First, hide the idiotic things his ancestors had done. Get close to the mermaid. 

Find a way to escape, and while he was at it, get some parts off her too. Scales, hair, something like that. They said every part of a mermaid was medicinal, so whatever he could get would be worth something.

‘This is a sign.’

A sign from the heavens to survive by any means necessary and turn the rough, grimy life he had lived so far into something a little more refined.

Zikrat, who had spent his life blaming all his misfortunes on the rotten world and crediting all his good luck to his own brilliance, found himself invoking the divine for once, and tried not to let his eyes gleam too obviously. The mermaid had been slowly drifting away.

“Just now I was squinting because the sun was strong. I’m perfectly fine. Completely fine and in a perfectly reasonable state. I understood what you said. Right, it’s only natural that a mere human wouldn’t know everything about what goes on under the sea.”

He would use her somehow to escape this place. With that resolve set firm, Zikrat’s voice softened. It was the tone he only brought out when dealing with women during his occasional stops on land. The men around him would mime gagging and call it greasy, but it worked well on women.

‘Why did your voice suddenly change like that?’

“What’s wrong with my voice? I’m just trying to get along with the person who saved my life.”

‘If you’re putting in effort, I’m sorry to say, it’s strange. It sounds like you’ve spread oil between every word.’

“……”

Unfortunately, it seemed mermaids had different tastes from human women. Zikrat dropped it immediately and went back to his natural, plain, blunt way of speaking.

“So where is this place?”

‘If I tell you, will you know it?’

“What kind of sailor doesn’t know maritime geography?”

Zikrat scoffed with confidence. Not knowing the sea routes while sailing was no different from choosing a slow death.

“This island probably doesn’t have a name, but what waters is it in? I don’t think we’ve come that far. Are we still within Granjo?”

‘This is a small uninhabited island floating in the open sea.’

“Hm.”

Zikrat stared at the expressionless mermaid and stuck a finger in his ear. He had definitely cleared all the water out earlier.

“I think I misheard you. What did you say?”

‘I said this is a small uninhabited island floating in the open sea.’

“……Just to be sure I’m asking, but is this some kind of joke?”

‘Yes.’

“Cut it out.”

‘Sorry. You looked so tense.’

He was at a loss. Zikrat warned her that it was not funny and told her not to pull a stunt like that again.