Chapter: 06
“P-Pierre?”
That’s right. Pierre might have a weak body, but when it came to his power, he was someone everyone acknowledged—no, admired.
Using my dad’s name like this felt a little wrong, but who cared?
I had to survive first!
“H-Hey, don’t be ridiculous. Lord Pierre doesn’t even meet his own sons. Why would he bother meeting some useless brat like you?!”
“T-That’s right. He even refuses summons from the family head!”
I grinned.
You guys are trying to sound confident, but you’re obviously shaken.
“Then why do you think I wasn’t quietly staying in the building where I live? Look at the direction I came from. That’s where my dad lives, isn’t it?”
“…Didn’t Lord Pierre live on the west side?”
“Y-Yeah… If you go that way, there’s nothing except his residence…”
“Exactly. Unlike my brothers, I’m a daughter who actually talks to Dad. My dad is surprisingly obsessed with his daughter, you know?”
“D-Don’t make me laugh. L-Lord Baiyan never said anything like that!”
“Why would my dad tell Baiyan? You stupid fish!”
“Whales aren’t fish!”
“Then maybe it’s only your head that’s a fish! Go ahead and hit me again. Let’s see if my dad lets you get away with it.”
“…Hey, is she really only three years old? She talks better than I do…”
“What are you scared of? She’s obviously lying!”
“B-But…”
“Don’t you think it’s strange too? That I talk so well? Who do you think taught me? Who do you think I inherited my brains from?”
Only then did the boys begin to hesitate.
Expressions of Could it really be true? spread across their faces.
As if it were true, you idiots.
I sneered inwardly while maintaining my confident act.
“Get lost. Before I tell my dad everything you said about killing me.”
“H-Hey… Let’s just go. She’s right. Something about her is weird. She talks way too well. W-What if she really is close to Lord Pierre?”
“Urgh…”
Why do I talk well?
Because I died three times and had plenty of practice.
My mouth is forged in hell, you stupid fish.
“That’s right! My dad loves me! Why do you think he lives in the west? If he just wanted peace and quiet, he could’ve stayed at the far east or the far north. He stays in the west so he can spend time with me!”
At last, one of the boys backed away.
But the boy whose finger I’d bitten still looked furious, clearly unwilling to let things go.
“H-Hey. Let’s just leave.”
“Wait. I’m hitting her one more time before we go.”
The boy ground his teeth and swung his fist.
Ah… I’m definitely going to get hit this time.
If only I could use the power of water!
The only reason I didn’t close my eyes was because of a habit from my previous life.
Closing your eyes in battle meant death.
But this was a baby’s body. I reflexively squeezed my eyes shut before quickly opening them again.
And then I saw it.
The boy had been blown backward.
A moment ago, something had appeared in midair before vanishing…
A… a whirlpool of water?
It was definitely the power of water.
“W-What was that?! I thought she couldn’t use water powers!”
“N-No… L-Lord Baiyan definitely said she couldn’t!”
“Hey! Let’s get out of here! M-Maybe she really did inherit Lord Pierre’s power!”
“Damn it!”
I had no idea what had happened, but watching the boys stumble away in a pathetic panic, I raised my finger and silently hurled every curse I knew at them.
I’m not letting you get away with this! I’ll remember you, you killer whale bastards!
I laughed triumphantly before staring blankly at my own hand.
More importantly… what was that just now?
…Don’t tell me.
Could I actually use the power of water now?
The sudden event had shocked me so much that I completely failed to notice someone nearby.
Then again, even if I’d stayed alert, there was no way my current self could have sensed that person’s presence.
“…”
Pierre stared silently at Calypso from afar.
The water power he’d used a moment ago had been nothing more than a whim.
No affection.
No emotion.
Only the idle curiosity one might feel upon discovering a strangely shaped ant before casually nudging it with a foot.
“You!! I just came back from seeing my dad!”
Pierre tilted his head slightly.
…She knew.
It seemed the girl called his daughter had known who he was from the very beginning.
Pierre kept his eyes fixed on Calypso as she busily dusted herself off.
“Whoa… D-Did I really use water powers? If that’s true, that’s awesome!”
Unlike the clear, careful speech she’d used while talking in front of him, Calypso’s muttering to herself was much clumsier.
She had forced herself to pronounce everything properly because she’d heard beforehand that Pierre disliked children.
With his unusually sharp hearing, every word reached him clearly.
“Ahh… I miss the days when I was the boss.”
Pierre tilted his head ever so slightly once more.
…Boss?
Calypso got up, limped away, and soon disappeared.
Even after the child was long gone, Pierre continued staring at the place where she’d stood before quietly turning to leave.
Only his soft coughing remained, marking that he had ever been there.
Two days later, I came to a conclusion.
I didn’t awaken the power of water.
If I really had awakened it, then whenever I wanted, droplets of water should have appeared from my hand.
But ever since those boys ran away, no matter how hard I tried, nothing happened.
I’d sat there straining with all my might, only for the servant bringing my meals to give me strange looks more than once.
I had no choice but to admit it.
Damn it. I got excited for nothing. Then what was that back then?
Maybe I’d been so desperate…
Or maybe my instinct to survive had temporarily awakened some hidden potential.
If that’s what happened, then maybe I can use water powers in this life even without the treasure.
I stopped thinking and looked toward the food laid out on the table.
Come to think of it, news that Grandma acknowledged me spread everywhere that very day.
Didn’t Baiyan send someone immediately afterward?
And because I’d supposedly earned Grandma’s recognition, the quality of my meals had improved dramatically over the past two days.
I carefully inspected the food before placing each item into my dolphin-shaped pouch.
Then I tied it tightly and slung it over my shoulder.
Perfect.
Yesterday, a servant had visited the place where I lived.
It was the same servant who had escorted me to my grandmother.
“The date has been decided for your enrollment in the Elementary Educational Institute for All Aquatic Creatures. Young Lady, you will enter exactly five days from now.”
The Elementary Educational Institute for All Aquatic Creatures.
Every young aquatic beastkin born into a noble family was required to attend.
The institute was divided into classes for ordinary aquatic animals and classes for whales.
Naturally, once I entered, I’d be placed in the whale class.
Once I start attending, I’ll have a lot less free time.
This was my only chance.
For the past two days, I’d thought about it nonstop.
How am I supposed to become friends with Pierre?
The problem was that no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t come up with an answer.
In the end, I had to squeeze every last drop out of my memories from the previous timeline.
“Th-There! My father once served Lord Pierre for a short time. He… surprisingly never refused whenever someone asked him to teach them something!”
At last, I remembered one of my subordinates—a marlin beastkin—with a flushed face saying those words.
Since my father had died so quickly in my previous life, I’d never paid any attention to him, making the memory especially difficult to recall.
Perfect.
With my bag over my shoulder, I trotted out of the building.
“…Young Lady?”
Just as I stepped outside, I unexpectedly ran into someone.
Who is she? I’ve never seen her before.
She was wearing a maid’s uniform, but her face was unfamiliar.
Judging by the scales still remaining around her neck, she seemed to be an inexperienced beastkin who couldn’t fully transform.
“Who are you?”
“Ah… My name is Misa. I was assigned here starting today.”
“…Misa?”
That’s strange.
Why did that name sound so familiar?
Tilting my head for a moment, I finally nodded.
If she’d been assigned here, she’d probably be responsible for feeding the babies living in this building.
“If you came here, that means someone else left, right?”
The woman flinched in surprise at my fluent speech before quickly answering.
“Yes… My predecessor, Senior Lumi, was transferred to another building.”
Lumi.
That was a name I remembered.
She was the woman who took out her frustrations on powerless children like me.
On babies who couldn’t even move.
She’d fill baby bottles with scalding water or bathe us in ice-cold water.
It happened because this place had absolutely no supervision, all under the excuse of the killer whale clan’s rule that only the strong survived.
So they’re finally transferring her out just as I’m leaving. Well… I guess that’s good news for the children who’ll come here after me.
