‘Where did she go?’
I looked around, but only Nereus, myself, and the employee who had followed Nereus were there. Besides, the place where I stood was a dead end—one couldn’t leave without passing by me.
“Lala, Lala. What’s that book?”
“Oh.”
I wasn’t imagining things, was I? Did she quietly disappear before I could notice? Did she leave without a word? I tilted my head in confusion before holding up a fairy tale book to show Nereus.
“I want this one too.”
“Is this why you came all the way here?”
“Yeah.”
The employee standing behind Nereus looked a bit flustered, mumbling, “How did she find that?”
‘Roughly speaking, the bookstore’s fairy must have helped me.’
I had no idea what it was exactly, but since pondering over an unsolvable mystery was pointless, I decided to just treat it as a fairy and feigned ignorance.
“Anyway, Dad, did you pick a notebook?”
“Of course! I chose one that suits my dear Lala perfectly. Look at this.”
Nereus snatched a green notebook from the employee, who had been holding it carefully, and placed it in my hands.
‘This is quite something.’
“How is it? Isn’t it perfect?”
It wasn’t just perfect—it was something extraordinary. This wasn’t just any notebook. It was enchanted.
The cover of the notebook sparkled, embedded with magic crystals. The employee, looking uneasy as if afraid I might drop it, hurriedly started explaining.
“This notebook is enchanted with weight-reduction and compression magic. The magic crystal used is of Grade 3, which is quite exceptional, considering that most high-end notebooks only use Grade 4 at best…”
‘This really is something else.’
Magical artifacts were ranked in seven tiers, with lower numbers indicating higher grades. Using a Grade 3 magic crystal for something as trivial as a notebook meant the creator had quite the nerve.
“I do like it, but…”
“But what, Lala? Is something bothering you?”
“Well… something like this must be really expensive…”
Wouldn’t this be an unnecessary luxury? I thought of the few gemstones I had in my bag. I might be able to afford it, but…
“This has been in the store for quite some time, and no buyers have shown interest yet, so we’re willing to offer a discount. How about 1 million Wetten?”
One million for a notebook? My jaw almost dropped.
“Uh, Dad… I think I can do without it.”
“Huh? What are you talking about? This price isn’t bad at all. The magic crystal embedded is quite small, so it must be cheaper than usual. It’s not defective, is it?”
“Oh, come on. If a store were selling defective products at that price, it would’ve closed down a long time ago.”
Nereus rummaged through his pocket and pulled out an ancient gold coin, flipping it casually.
“I don’t have Wetten on me right now, so would paying in gold coins be alright?”
With a flick, the gold coin landed in the employee’s hand, and Nereus pulled out a few more, displaying them.
The employee’s eyes practically turned into gold coins—his gaze filled with greed.
The gold coins Nereus used were smaller than the ones I had, meaning they were on the cheaper side. But after doing a quick mental calculation, the total came out to about 1.1 million Wetten.
‘He’s even paying 100,000 extra?’
Was he just throwing money into the ground? But his next words made me realize his reasoning.
“For an item of this quality to sit in a store unsold for so long without being sent off anywhere… that means it’s stolen goods with a problem, doesn’t it?”
“………”
“You said it’s not defective, but you never claimed there was nothing shady about it.”
So the extra 100,000 Wetten wasn’t just generosity—it was a message. I’m paying you extra, so if a problem arises later, handle it yourself.
After making that chilling remark, Nereus turned to me with a bright smile.
“Alright, princess! How about we go eat some delicious cake with Daddy now?”
“Dad, you just threatened that employee, didn’t you?”
“Huh? I don’t know what you’re talking about. Daddy just had a sincere conversation with this kind sir. Right?”
“Y-Yes! Of course! Absolutely!”
The employee must have thought I was some rich foreign noble and tried to scam me by selling an unsellable item.
I had no idea why it was unsellable, but honestly, it didn’t matter. After all, we were pirates. A problematic item was nothing new for us. My room already had an unsellable golden goblet from a fallen empire sitting in it.
‘But the employee doesn’t know that.’
Nereus took full advantage of the situation, managing to get enchanted quills and high-quality colored ink for a ridiculously cheap price as well.
“Oh, and they’re giving you the fairy tale book as a freebie. Isn’t that great?”
“Yeah! That’s great!”
If they had sold everything at its proper price, they probably would’ve met their monthly sales goal in just one day. What a shame.
“Dad, before we leave, shouldn’t we have another sincere conversation? Since they gave us such good items at such a low price, we should at least say thank you~.”
“Oh, my smart little girl!”
Of course, I wasn’t actually feeling bad for the employee.
‘Who told you to try and sell stolen goods without a word?’
Nereus dragged the pale-faced employee into a corner. I was sure they had a very… enlightening conversation.
***
The pavlova, topped with fresh fruit preserves, had a delightful crispness that melted in my mouth.
‘Not that I particularly like sweets.’
The only reason I accepted it was because of Nereus’s sincerity.
I chewed on a mouthful of pavlova while flipping through the pages of the book.
“Is that book interesting?”
“Hmm, so-so.”
In truth, I was only pretending to read The Loner of the Black Forest. Since I already knew the entire story, there was no real need to read it again.
I waited for the right moment before letting out a small exclamation.
“Oh? Dad, look at this.”
“What is it?”
I pointed to the first page of the fairy tale book.
“It says, ‘The center of the Black Forest is dangerous.’”
“Well, everyone avoids the Black Forest of Tenus.”
“But look—this phrase is written on every single page.”
The wording was different each time, but the message remained the same: the Black Forest is dangerous. Do not enter.
‘But at the same time, something about this feels off.’
While the book repeatedly warned against entering the Black Forest, the main character—the so-called Loner of the Black Forest—kept going inside.
And on the final page, he dropped his heart deep within the forest, where it was devoured by a monster.
To someone reading it casually, it might seem like a clear warning to stay away from the Black Forest.
‘But then why go out of the way to mention the heart in such detail?’
In the revised versions of the story, the heart transformed into a star and became a guiding light for lost travelers.
But in the original… the heart wasn’t taken by anyone. It was left there, as if the story were deliberately luring someone to enter the Black Forest.
And in reality, deep within the Black Forest, a treasure was hidden—more specifically, within the ruins of the Terminus family’s castle.
I wasn’t exactly sure what that treasure was. A certain adventurer had supposedly discovered it and presented it to the Emperor, but honestly, that wasn’t my concern.
‘The real question is whether or not Nereus will take the bait.’
As a pirate, there was one thing Nereus was unquestionably good at—sensing the presence of real treasure.
Because of that, we had never wasted our time or money chasing after fake treasure maps or worthless Eternal Compasses.
‘And that’s why the crew of the Caelum never questions Nereus’s decisions.’
By now, Nereus was probably thinking about the information he had gathered previously. The Mermaid Strait remained intact, with ships constantly falling victim to it.
From this, two possibilities could be inferred.
The first theory: the Mermaid Strait was being used to launder illicit money, while financial transactions were secretly conducted in the Black Forest.
The Black Forest was notorious for all sorts of ominous rumors, many of which stemmed from this very fairy tale. The area was so feared that no ships dared to anchor near its shores.
‘Even pirates avoid it.’
This made it the perfect place for smuggling.
Although methods to resist a mermaid’s song weren’t widely known, that didn’t mean no one knew them at all.
‘Some sailors have already figured out how to resist it but keep the knowledge to themselves to monopolize the advantage.’
The more illegal the activity, the more people tend to hoard information rather than share it.
The second theory: Terminus was never involved in this operation to begin with.
Someone had forged their name, seal, and signature, pretending to be from the Terminus family while funneling the money elsewhere.
By using the Mermaid Strait as a shipping route, they could fake shipwrecks and secretly transfer cargo to other nearby islands.
That way, even if the scheme were exposed later, the blame would fall entirely on Terminus, who would be punished as the apparent mastermind.
‘Honestly, the second theory seems unlikely.’
After all, Terminus was one of the six great families. Who would have the audacity to impersonate them?
‘A single strike of divine power would be enough to kill them instantly.’
No one would risk their life so carelessly unless they truly had no fear of death.
Regardless of which theory was correct, Caelum had a lot to gain from interfering in the middle.
As I pondered, Nereus sat across from me, happily enjoying a triple-layered Lovely Cutie Fruity Deluxe Parfait. I sipped on my black tea and organized my thoughts.
‘He really has an incredible nose for money.’
That must be why everyone follows him so loyally.
Nereus had deduced all these possibilities just from the fact that a certain group had crossed the Mermaid Strait from Odlo Island. And using that, he had led Caelum here.
After all, Terminus rarely engaged in external affairs. Due to the nature of their territory, even pirates barely approached them.
‘That means the head of Terminus likely doesn’t even know what we look like. If we arrive without trouble, it might actually be the safest place for us.’
“Are you curious about the heart in the Black Forest?” Nereus asked.
“Yeah. If it’s a heart that can be extracted while still alive, doesn’t that sound amazing?”
I could practically hear the gears turning in his head.
“Lala, do you want it?”
“Hmmm.”
“Oh dear~ Isn’t there a dad out there willing to go rescue a heart stranded in the forest with his daughter~?”
Feigning innocence, I spoke loudly and then glanced at Nereus. He had his hand covering his mouth.
‘He’s smiling.’
If this were any other parent, what would they do in this situation?
But Nereus wasn’t just any guardian. He was probably thinking, This sounds fun. Maybe we should bring Polaris too. It’ll be a fantastic experience.
“Hmm, what should we do~? Should we go? Should we?”
“Yeah!”
As I nodded eagerly, Nereus’s excitement was plain to see. He must have wanted to visit that place as soon as we arrived.
A classic case of a rookie parent—so simpleminded that as long as the child is happy and he’s having fun too, everything is fine.
For another family, this might be concerning, but for me, it was perfect.
‘Of course, if I get injured again, he’ll probably lose his mind, but right now, he’s not even thinking about that.’
Now then…
“The real work starts tomorrow, right? So let’s sneak out tonight. Okay?”
Let’s move before the stricter crew members catch on.
