Chapter 6
Splash—
The sound of waves.
A salty, fishy smell. When I peeked out, the pale-blue sea spread before me.
“Shasha.”
“Yes! Yes, sir!”
Startled by the sharp voice, I spun around and dropped the rag I was holding.
A captain with a black eye patch and a wooden leg limped toward me. I quickly picked up the rag.
“Have you finished scrubbing the deck?”
“I-I’m still working on it!”
His heavy stare made me crouch and scrub harder.
“Where do you find the time to slack off?”
I only rested for one second! Really!
But no one cared about my excuses.
At least he finally walked away, satisfied with my scrubbing.
Phew… not really.
How was I supposed to clean this huge deck all alone?
Especially when I was the only sailor here?
Still, I had no choice. Orders were orders.
‘Wait… why am I even on a ship?’
Wasn’t I supposed to be at the Duke of Bermaneon’s mansion?
That’s when I realized something was very wrong.
A faint singing drifted over the water.
“☐■?☐☐☐■■?☐■”
“☐☐■?☐■☐■?☐■”
It was terrible.
So horrible I clamped my ears shut and collapsed.
The ship suddenly turned, and I rolled across the deck, barely grabbing the railing.
The singing grew closer.
The captain—yes, the same one who scolded me—was steering the ship straight toward the sound.
‘What?! Why?’
The calm sea suddenly erupted with huge waves.
The awful singing came even closer.
“☐■?☐☐☐■■?☐■”
“☐☐■?☐■☐■?☐■”
The lyrics… did they just say, We’ll eat you alive?
And yet we were sailing right at them!
Then I saw it—two creatures on a cliff.
Birds below the waist, women above. Their eyes glared at me while they sang that cursed song.
Wait… why did their faces look familiar?
Before I could figure it out, a gigantic wave surged toward the ship.
Inside the wave loomed a black shape—so massive it looked larger than the ship itself.
Suddenly, a giant octopus tentacle burst out of the water and rose high into the sky.
“Oh no…”
I clung to the railing with all my strength and squeezed my eyes shut.
“☐■■!☐■☐■☐■!☐■!!!”
The booming voice shook the sea.
In my head, the words became clear:
“Maid… I’ll kill you.”
Maid?
What?
I opened my eyes.
The tentacle was still raised but hadn’t struck yet.
And in front of me was…
“A snake?”
Hissss—
***
I woke up again.
Not on a ship this time, but under a white ceiling lit by a lamp.
“Was that… a dream?”
A face popped into view.
“Did you have a nightmare, Shasha?”
It was Eki.
So it was a dream. A completely ridiculous one.
I sighed in relief.
“Yeah… just a nightmare.”
I wiped the sweat from my forehead and pulled the blanket over me. The clock said 3 a.m.
Eki must have woken me up when I cried out.
Thank goodness. If not for her, I’d have been eaten by that octopus—even in a dream.
“Thanks, Eki.”
“Don’t mention it.”
She hugged her stuffed toy as usual and smiled.
Then I remembered—the last thing I saw in my dream was… a snake.
That stuffed toy she always carried looked just like it.
The same snake I had helped her stitch up when I first arrived.
“Shasha, are you okay now? Not scared anymore?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
Her gentle worry made my nose sting.
For someone who had been so shy at first, she was looking after me so warmly now.
“Good. Then sleep well.”
“You too, Eki.”
“Sweet dreams, Shasha.”
Her golden eyes watched me as I drifted back to sleep.
But when she saw I was truly asleep, Eki’s smile vanished.
Her black pupils narrowed into slits. A faint shimmer of pink scales appeared on her cheek.
The stuffed snake in her hand dangled as she moved silently to the door.
Her lower body twisted, transforming into a massive snake’s tail. Everything the tail touched—furniture, lamps, shelves—was shredded into pieces.
But once she stepped into the hall, the tail disappeared, leaving her human shape again.
There, several monsters stood trembling.
Eki’s voice was sharp and cold, like claws scratching glass.
“If you ever bother the maid again…”
Her golden eyes gleamed.
“I’ll rip your souls to shreds.”
The monsters bowed low, stammering apologies.
They noticed she was breaking the mansion’s first rule—always speak politely—but nothing happened to her.
Why?
Because her shadow had spread across the entire mansion, swallowing even the light.
Terrified, the monsters hurried away.
Eki returned to the room, dragging a chair to Shasha’s bedside.
She rested her chin in her palm and watched Shasha sleep, smiling sweetly again.
The wrecked room didn’t matter.
She could fix everything with a flick of her finger now.
But then—
[[Echidna.]]
“…!”
A voice rang clear inside her head.
Eki froze, dropping her stuffed snake.
