In the meantime, I noticed that the asparagus on the steak plate and the vegetables on the salad plate were untouched.
“Why are you only eating meat? Eat some vegetables too.”
“I’ll, I’ll eat it later.”
“You’re not a picky eater, are you?”
Though we had family meals together, we didn’t pay enough attention to each other to know that he disliked vegetables.
“No, I saved it to eat later.”
Carlott fumbled with the vegetables on his plate, making an absurd excuse.
Then he suddenly put down his utensils with a serious face and asked me.
“Sister, do you know?”
His intention to change the subject because he didn’t want to eat the vegetables was obvious, but I deliberately played along.
“What?”
“The guys who attacked us last time, who were they?”
My expression hardened at those words.
Whether it was Carlott’s trick or not, the issue of eating vegetables became nothing compared to this.
“Who are they?”
“Father ordered Yanxi and me to investigate. Who’s behind those guys?”
“Yeah.”
“One of the bodies, ah.”
Carlott stopped talking, faltering in his words. I urged him to continue.
“Keep talking, Carl.”
“So the bodies, no, on them was a reaction to magic addiction. All of them except two.”
“Magic addiction?”
Magic addiction.
It was a different kind of addiction from poisoning.
Magicians, who use magic, typically have an affinity for magic, so it doesn’t matter, but those exposed to it for a long time sometimes show a reaction to magic addiction.
Usually, it manifests as fatigue, with no apparent signs, and often improves within a few days if one keeps a distance from the magician.
That such a reaction had occurred meant…….
“It’s related to the magic tower?”
“Correct.”
“Which magic tower?”
“I don’t know that.”
The attack occurred at a crossroads heading to the South Magic Tower.
But the fact that the attack was related to the magic tower, was this really a coincidence?
Memories of the sudden attack came flooding back.
Carlott and I were the two who were there, and Carlott was the one who was mainly attacked, but that was because he had stepped forward.
Clearly, their target had been set.
Specifically, they were after me.
“Why me?”
In the original work, I diligently acted foolishly without any mishap until Estel appeared.
Yet, I ate well and got along well. I was weak, but still.
But now, the fact that I was attacked meant that something was definitely changing as I changed my attitude.
The person who would benefit by removing me.
Who could that be?
[Star Icon][Star Icon][Star Icon]I pondered the flow of the original work.
Three years until the original work began.
I intended to gather money and become independent, but the story changed if there were forces wanting to kill me.
If I became independent, I couldn’t naturally expect Duke Ferdia’s protection, so it was the same as facing the world unarmed.
Being killed simultaneously with independence?
“There’s no way……!”
In order to ensure my safe independence, I needed to find out who was after my life.
Since there was a magic tower on the Dragon’s ship, it was a good time to look into it.
The problem was that the magic towers in the east, west, south, and north directions each had an independent nature.
They were all called magic towers, but they could not be lumped into one group.
First of all, I had business at the West Magic Tower, so I planned to go there.
After summoning the limited escort Reian, we got on the carriage.
“Where is the destination?”
“The West Magic Tower.”
“Understood.”
Reian, a model of an escort, didn’t ask unnecessary questions. I liked his serious and reticent manner.
I looked at Reian, sitting across from me.
A man who sometimes looks at me as if seeing someone else.
The Mercenary King called a hero.
The benefactor who saved my life.
And, the only person who knows my secret.
“Can I trust him?”
Strange. It should be normal to feel anxious about someone knowing my secret, but I felt rather relieved.
The fact that there is someone who really knows me in this indifferent world.
That must be why. Why Reian felt comfortable.
“Reian, I have a question.”
Reian, who was staring out the window of the running carriage, turned his eyes to me.
“Yes.”
“Does the Sky Hawk Mercenary Group take requests to find people?”
“Sometimes.”
Normally, requests to find people are handled by the information guild, but at least I couldn’t use it.
The information guild mostly belonged to the hidden realm, and its master was none other than Duke Ferdia.
If I put in a request, it would end up in Duke Ferdia’s ears.
Even if it’s not their main business, if the mercenary group can find people, it’s good news for me.
“Have you ever heard of the name Estel?”
I threw out the question and watched Reian’s expression change.
It was an attempt to gauge his reaction before making the request.
If Reian happened to be a reincarnated being like me in a book, he would not be unaware of Estel, the main female character of the original work.
“I haven’t heard of it.”
But Reian’s expression showed no change.
It was a calm face, as if he had really never heard of it.
Having failed to gauge him, I had no choice but to talk about the request.
“Then look for a person named Estel. I will match the reward money as much as possible.”
“I need more information about the person.”
“She has brown hair and a walleye. She’s probably a year or two older than me.”
“Is that all?”
“Yes, that’s all……. ”
The starting point of the original work was a year before Estel was adopted by Ferdia, from the orphanage.
The story began when Estel, who would be homeless if not adopted when she reached the age limit, was miraculously adopted by Ferdia.
‘에스텔이 어디에 있었는지 그 이전에 나와 있지 않았다.’
그게 원작에 나와 있었다면 찾기 훨씬 쉬웠을 것이다.
이미 내 목숨을 노리는 사람이 있다는 사실 만으로, 여기는 더 이상 책 속 세계가 아니었다.
또 다른 변수가 될 수 있는 에스텔의 위치 정도는 알아 놓는 게 내 목숨 보전에 도움이 될 것이라는 판단이 들었다.
“찾아보겠습니다.”
“부탁해, 레이안.”
의뢰를 끝마쳤을 즈음, 마차가 멈춰 섰다. 어느새 서마탑 솜니아 지부에 도착한 것이다.
레이안의 에스코트를 받아 마차에서 내린 나는 곧바로 마탑 안으로 들어갔다.
“레이안. 여기서 기다리고 있어.”
입구 근처에 레이안을 세워 둔 후 내가 향한 곳은 접수처였다.
이왕 여기까지 온 김에 지금까지 해독제를 판 추가 수익을 투자한 후 조사를 시작할 셈이었다.
접수처에 도착하자 이전과 다른 담당자가 나를 반겼다.
“어서 오십시오, 서마탑 솜니아 지부입니다. 무엇을 도와드릴까요?”
“투자하려고요.”
“아, 투자하시려는 거군요. 혹시 상품 설명이 필요합니까?”
“아니요. 이전 투자처에 전액 투자할게요.”
재방문이니만큼 투자처 설명이나 이름 확인 같은 과정은 필요 없었다.
담당자도 별말 없이 내가 내놓은 돈을 가져가 계약서를 작성했다.
“완료되었습니다.”
“감사합니다.”
“조심히 가십시오, 리리 아르……? 자, 잠!”
레이안을 오랫동안 기다리게 두고 싶지 않아 서둘러 입구 쪽으로 향했다.
뭔가 등 뒤가 소란스러운 것 같은데, 사고라도 터졌겠거니 하고 걸음을 재촉했다.
북적거리는 인파 속에서 겨우 레이안을 찾아 그 앞에 섰을 때였다.
아까의 소란스러움이 마탑 전체로 퍼져 있었다.
“레이안. 무슨 일이라도 있대?”
“사람을 찾고 있다고 합니다.”
“사람?”
“네. 리리 아르셀이라고.”
“그렇구…… 잠깐, 누구라고?”
“리리 아르셀.”
낯선 듯 익숙한, 내 거 아닌 내 거 같은 이름.
‘……저, 저요?’
Male lead is a Love-Obsessed Merman
When he discovers she has gone, he risks everything to pursue her on land, enduring agonizing pain to transform his tail into human legs…
One-line summary: Male lead chases female lead. The male lead’s love is a bit sick, an invincible love brain.
Synopsis
During a voyage at sea, Jiang Yang accidentally captures a merman.
Servant: I heard that mermen are fierce and brutal.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman obediently rubbing her palm like a puppy: “You call this fierce and brutal?”
Servant: I heard that mermen have no human nature.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman with wet puppy eyes, obsessively calling her ‘A Yang’ like a childish infant: “You call this having no human nature?”
With great difficulty, she releases the merman back into the sea and returns to shore.
Who would have thought that in less than half a month, the merman, who should have been freely wandering in the South China Sea, would shed his scales, endure the pain of losing his tail, transform into human legs, and come ashore to find her?
He kneels at her feet, rubbing her palm, with merman tears rolling down: “A Yang, don’t abandon me.”
_____
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