The moment Nereus encountered Polaris in the isolation room, he felt his heart drop.
“Hah…”
This damn kid, or more precisely, the precious daughter and princess of Caelum, had either no fear or no knowledge, and boldly imprisoned Dexter and headed to the isolation room.
It was truly a day when nothing went right.
They missed the current they were supposed to take, delaying their arrival date, and for some reason, the sailors who had breakfast that morning started falling asleep one by one.
After Nancy collapsed, the other sailors followed suit, and Nereus, who had postponed his meal, only learned of the situation later when even Isaac, who was informing him of the situation, fell asleep in front of him.
The only common factor among those who collapsed was that they had eaten together. So when Nereus went to question the cook, Gilbert, he found Polaris there and both Nereus and Gilbert were locked in together.
What was this bold kid thinking?
After escaping, he searched here and there but couldn’t find her anywhere. Eventually, seeing Ethan struggling to free Dexter in front of Polaris’s room, he guessed and went to the isolation room, where he found the child almost rolling on the floor.
‘I almost got angry at first.’
He pondered a lot while heading to the isolation room, thinking that maybe Polaris had become too spoiled because they had raised her with too much indulgence. Nereus even thought of reopening the parenting books he had awkwardly bought after taking in the child.
“…Ugh.”
“!”
Suddenly, when Polaris made a sound, Nereus was startled and stood up. But it seemed to be an unconscious sound, as the child, still pale, continued to breathe softly.
“Just one kid can driving me crazy…”
But before Nereus could say anything, Polaris collapsed. Her face was so pale that he thought she might have caught the plague.
The absurd reason everyone fell asleep was that the meal had been spiked with sleeping mushrooms. Gilbert, who would never make such a mistake, seemed to have messed up due to the chaotic situation.
Because of that incident, the ship’s situation became even more chaotic with the mix of plague patients and people suddenly falling asleep. It wasn’t surprising they hadn’t noticed Polaris wandering around the ship.
As a result, the only person still asleep on the ship, ironically, was Polaris, who hadn’t eaten any of the sleeping mushrooms. It would have been better if she had eaten the mushrooms and fallen asleep.
If she had, she wouldn’t be lying there with such a sickly face.
“Damn you, get up already.”
Nereus muttered, knowing she couldn’t hear him. Even though it was Polaris who was sick, his heart ached as if he was the one dying.
***
‘This ceiling looks unfamiliar yet familiar…’
As soon as I opened my eyes, I felt a sense of déjà vu for the second time.
‘Where am I?’
Before I could recall the place, a huge shadow loomed over me.
“…Polaris Caelum.”
Nereus called my full name in a terrifying voice.
“Yes, Ne… No, Dad?”
“Seems you know your fault. Your voice is shrinking.”
With his usual grim face, devoid of a smile, he looked down at me, then sighed deeply and sat down heavily.
“Glad you woke up properly.”
“Uh-huh.”
Seeing Nereus worrying about me made my heart ache slightly.
‘Who knew I had a conscience.’
“Do you know how many days you’ve been unconscious this time?”
“How… how many days?”
“Ten days, you little brat.”
“Ten days?!”
I couldn’t hide my surprise and sat up straight.
‘Wait, considering that, my body feels light and I can speak well.’
I turned my head quickly in confusion and saw Nereus, slumped over with his head down.
‘Why does his body seems to be trembling?’
“…Pfft.”
“Pfft?”
“Ha ha ha ha! You fell for it again?! Oh, really, whose daughter are you to be so foolish?”
“……..!”
Only then did I realize that Nereus had been teasing me, and my face turned red. I grabbed the pillow behind me and smacked him with it.
“Ow, ow. It hurts, kid. Your dad is hurting~!”
“It doesn’t hurt! Nothing hurts! Nereus, you’re so mean!”
“Now you don’t even call me dad? You used to say I was the best dad ever~”
“Shut up. Now you’re the worst. I hate you, Nereus!”
When I snapped and shouted that I hated him, Nereus, who had been playfully moving around, suddenly stopped.
‘Oh, I shouldn’t have said that, even in anger.’
“No, I don’t really hate you. I like you a lot, Nereus, I mean, Dad.”
“………..”
“Dad?”
Nereus’s body was trembling again.
“Dad! Were you lying again?!”
“Heh, heh! I didn’t lie? I was just standing still and you tricked yourself?”
“That’s nonsense!”
“How do you know words like that?”
Nereus laughed heartily and picked me up. Despite my flailing arms and attempts to hit him, he didn’t seem to be tickled and carried me under his arm, heading outside.
“Come on, let’s see the mess you made, Lala.”
“Mess? What are you talking about?”
“You’ll understand when you see it.”
He chuckled and led me outside, where a commotion could be heard.
“Is that Lala?”
“Oh, Lala is here!”
“You’ve been lying down for almost a day, are you okay now?”
“Uh, uh?”
Everyone was gathered in one place for some reason.
“What’s going on?”
Confused by the unusual scene, Nereus held me securely and headed towards the door near where everyone was standing.
“Don’t be surprised, little princess.”
With the sound of creaking hinges, the door opened, and all eyes turned to me.
“Polaris.”
“Are you feeling better now?”
“………!”
It was the patients who had been isolated. The last time I saw them, they could barely move, let alone stay conscious, but now they all looked just a bit disheveled but otherwise fine.
I couldn’t hide my bewilderment as I stared at them.
“W-what is this…?”
“What do you mean, why do you look so sursprised when this is all cause of your doing??!”
“Ha ha ha! You look so funny!”
‘This can’t be real—?!’
I did give them medicine, but it shouldn’t have been this effective. After initial treatment, it becomes easier to breathe and the fever starts to drop. They would need to take it several more times…
‘To be able to move so freely like that…’
How did this happen? These people were moving as if they hadn’t been ill at all. Even if they lacked strength to stand, this was an unbelievable result.
“Hey! The common cold goes away after a good night’s sleep!”
“A good drink cures it all~ yeah, yeah.”
“Ha ha, this reminds me of that time we all had the flu, right?”
‘Seriously, what kind of bodies do they have…’
Thinking about it, the sailors on this pirate ship were incredibly robust, almost unbelievably so. I was the only one with a weak body here, and these people could drink a crate of alcohol and wake up without a hangover the next day.
‘No wonder they had such notorious reputations before my regression.’
I felt a mix of gratitude and futility for my family’s remarkable resilience. At this point, I wondered if they had sucked away my health.
“Ugh.”
Nereus, holding me, sat down on a chair. I could feel everyone’s gaze still on me.
“So, Lala, isn’t it time to tell us?”
“Uh? Tell you what?”
“What do you mean~”
‘Here it comes.’
Nereus grinned wickedly and pinched my cheek.
“How did you know?”
“Know what?”
“Even though it’s cute that my daughter pretends not to know, Ethan is curious too. How did our six-year-old Lala cast such magic that everyone recovered like this~”
I widened my eyes and looked at Nereus as if I knew nothing, but he wasn’t fooled.
‘Heartless pirate with no blood or tears.’
Tsk, I clicked my tongue inwardly.
‘It’s time to act innocent.’
I clasped my hands together and put them by my face, looking up at Nereus.
I saw his eyebrow twitch.
‘It’s working.’
If I were really six, I would have thought his stiff expression meant he didn’t like my behavior. But now, I know better.
He really, really likes me a lot!
“Maybe it’s because Lala is a genius like her dad~?”
“Hmm, that doesn’t quite explain it.”
“Who cares. I’m so cute, so support me.”
“What?”
“Uh-huh?”
I accidentally let my true feelings slip, but since it wasn’t something a six-year-old would say, Nereus didn’t seem to catch it. I quickly pretended as if nothing happened and made my eyes as wide and pretty as possible.
“Since Dad is a genius among sailors, it makes sense that his daughter has the potential to be a genius doctor too, right?”
Of course, we didn’t share a drop of blood. But what mattered more was that Nereus’s lips were twitching at my words.
Nereus valued family relationships, and I was the only one in this pirate crew who shared the surname ‘Caelum’ with him.
Though he treated his other comrades like family, it was clear that Nereus held a special affection for me.
‘I should take advantage of this foolish love.’
I tilted my head to the other side and looked at Nereus.
“Well~ when I was really sick, suddenly my head went bam! and a lot of things entered my mind. So, I figured it out. Dad, don’t you trust your daughter?”
“………….”
To be honest, I was feeling guilty. No fool in the world would easily believe such a story, so I quickly racked my brain for the next excuse.
‘Right, I can say that I picked up information while frequently visiting the infirmary….’
“Oh my….”
“Uh?”
“My daughter is the greatest genius not only in the Western Continent but also in the Eastern Continent.”
While I was thinking, Nereus muttered seriously.
“Guys! Our Lala is a genius!”
“Whoa!”
“Who else but our Lala could be a genius?!”
“I always believed it~!”
“………..”
Not only Nereus but everyone started cheering, saying ‘Lala is a genius’, ‘Lala is the best’.
‘There they are, fools.’
It wasn’t just Nereus; the entire Caelum pirate crew were fools.
