Chapter 236 – The Adorable Little Merfolk

Chapter 236 – The Adorable Little Merfolk

The letter had been delivered, and the golden bird was ready to slip away.

Mo Lan hurriedly called out to it: “Wait! I need to send a reply!”

The Golden Bird spell could not only be used to summon golden birds, but also to pay for summoning power.

This golden bird had just come from Shana’s mother, so having it carry the reply would be more convenient.

The golden bird that had just flown from her palm turned around and flew back.

“I need these letters delivered to Shana in Moon Harbor!” Mo Lan said.

The golden bird nodded in an almost human-like manner, placed one talon on the letters, then lifted its chin at her.

Mo Lan had crammed hard on Golden Bird spell knowledge and was well-acquainted with the golden birds’ habitual gestures.

This meant it had accepted the job, and was now urging her to name her price!

Mo Lan began converting Mana into summoning power, condensing it into a ball.

She didn’t know how far Moon Harbor was from the Wilds, but as long as the destination was outside the Wilds, the minimum was a chestnut-sized ball of summoning power.

She condensed a chestnut-sized ball of summoning power and asked the golden bird: “Is this enough?”

The golden bird twisted its neck and was about to fly away!

This pittance — was she trying to hire a sparrow?!

“Hey, hey, hey! Wait! How about now?” Mo Lan added more, making it a fist-sized ball.

The golden bird reluctantly turned its neck back, but still didn’t nod. Its beady little eyes stared at the ball of summoning power and let out a disdainful “Chirp!”

Mo Lan understood — it still thought it was too little!

But the fact that it was willing to make a sound meant the price was getting close to its expectations.

Mo Lan added a little more.

The golden bird’s little eyes flickered: “Chirp!”

“That’s all there is! Take it or leave it? If you won’t, I’ll summon a different golden bird,” Mo Lan said.

The golden bird pecked at the ball of summoning power and sucked the whole thing into its belly: “Chirp chirp chirp!”

It had accepted the job.

Payment received, it flew off with the letters.

At the same time, every golden bird in the flock heard one of their own say: “The little Sorceress who just appeared among the witches is so stingy! She won’t spare even a bit of extra summoning power!”

“That’s the purple-haired one, right? Before summoning me, she didn’t do a lick of preparation. Not having any letters to send was one thing, but she didn’t even give a tip for the trouble.”

“When I went, she did give a tip though!”

“Luca, you just couldn’t squeeze any more summoning power out of her, could you! If it was too little, would you have accepted?”

“It was right at the bare minimum — the contract bound me, so I couldn’t refuse. I thought since it was her first time sending a letter, I could make a bit extra!”

“The red-haired one is much more generous! Hehe~”

…

Mo Lan knew nothing of the golden birds’ discussion.

She happily went back to read Shana’s mother’s letter.

In this letter, sure enough, a new character appeared — an adorable little Merfolk who kept dropping tiny pearls.

The letter said:

“The heart of a newly-adult Merfolk is as pure and lovely as the little pearls he drops. I nearly fell for him.

The way he cries is especially tempting.

I graciously accepted the pearls, but in the end, I still turned down the Merfolk.

They say a Merfolk only loves one person in their entire life, making them the most suitable partners for witches. Unfortunately, they can’t come ashore. I didn’t want to live in the water for the rest of my life, so I had to reluctantly give up.

That Merfolk is incredibly persistent — he sings love songs at the harbor all day long, keeping me awake. More people come to my shop to watch the spectacle than to see a doctor.

Because of this, I have no choice but to sneak out in the dead of night to see him, make him cry a little, and collect some pearls to compensate for my losses.

This can’t go on forever though. Being too charming really is troublesome sometimes.

Little Moira, let me tell you — don’t listen to those witch love stories and pick a Merfolk as your partner. Devoted is one thing, but having nothing in their head but love can be quite frightening too.

Merfolk are generally very devoted, but not generally very good at love. Just rejecting a suitor got me harassed like this — imagine trying to break up…”

The rest was all Shana’s mother’s little lecture on dating and choosing partners.

Mo Lan had only ever heard her talk about what kind of partner wouldn’t work, never about what kind would.

Honestly, Mo Lan was quite surprised — Shana’s mother hadn’t actually dated this one!

She only ever looked at appearances when picking boyfriends. Once she got bored, she’d start using mind-reading magic, and once she did, the relationship usually fell apart.

This Merfolk clearly matched her aesthetic preferences, and this was the first time Mo Lan had ever seen Shana’s mother use the word “pure” to describe someone of the opposite sex.

Who would have thought it didn’t work out because of different living habits.

She hadn’t replied for a month — it seemed the decision to refuse had been quite difficult after all.

It was probably for the best that they didn’t get together. This Merfolk had clearly been quite a nuisance, otherwise he wouldn’t have become a cautionary tale in the dating lecture before they even started dating.

Mo Lan clicked her tongue. But sneaking out to make someone cry just to collect pearls and offset shop losses — had Shana’s mother originally fallen for the Merfolk, or for the little pearls?

*

One week later, Moon Harbor.

“Stop singing! The harbor’s pearls are flooding the market because of you — they can’t fetch a good price anymore!” Shana said with a headache. “If you keep singing, I’m moving to an inland city!”

The Merfolk covered his mouth, looking pitifully aggrieved.

A tiny pearl rolled into the seawater.

Then came a whole string of little pearls.

He couldn’t stop. There was simply no stopping.

Shana: “…”

If she had known the Merfolk would be this stubborn, she definitely would have stayed far, far away from that beached fool of a fish when she first saw him.

She couldn’t be bothered to keep dealing with this Merfolk who didn’t know the meaning of giving up. She picked up the pearls and left.

The pearls he dropped weren’t even enough to cover her shop’s rent.

If this kept up, she’d have no choice but to leave whether she wanted to or not.

“Sigh!” Shana let out a breath. She quite liked Moon Harbor, but unfortunately she’d run into a clingy fellow.

A streak of golden light cut across the night sky, flying toward her, and dropped a rolled-up letter into her hands.

“This is… a letter from little Moira?” Shana said in surprise. “She can already send replies? This year’s enrollment ceremony was pretty early! Let me see what little Moira’s been up to at the Academy.”

She hurried back to her dwelling and opened the letter.

“She sent me a reply without even reading my letter first! A new boyfriend isn’t that easy to find!”

“Magic cards?”

She’d never heard of that. She read on.

“A report card?”

Shana pulled out the sheet of paper listing little Moira’s academic achievements that the letter had mentioned, then stared with eyes wide in disbelief:

“Little Moira’s only halfway through her second year, right? She’s not about to graduate from fifth year, is she?!”

“No, this is absurd! She’s learned this much in metal-element, wood-element, and water magic — does she have exceptional talent in all three elements?”

“Huh? Beginner level in potion-brewing magic? Then her wood-element talent must be pretty good too!”

“Advanced in Culinary Magic? Even if she could cook since she was little, that’s still ridiculous!”

“How is Spring Water spell at Intermediate already?”

“And Flame spell too! Is there even any point in practicing that?”

“She’s even reached Beginner level in Flash Freeze!”

Shana thought about her own Apprentice-level Flash Freeze, and fell silent.