The Little Mermaid

"Cinderella lost her parents when she was young. And she was mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters."

Shaba shaba hai-shaba. How lonely must she have been?

Shaba shaba hai-shaba. How hard must it have been?

A girl was humming a song as she did laundry in the river.

With winter slowly approaching, the river water was quite cold and her hands were freezing, but she had no choice.

'They say nobles even do their laundry using a tool called a washing machine....'

But there was no way her uncle's house, where she stayed as an orphan, had such a thing. She was in a situation where she had to do all the laundry for the large family by herself.

If any of the clothes got ruined or weren't washed properly, her aunt would surely beat her, so she had to focus and wash carefully—but thoroughly.

Still, compared to before, things were a little less hard these days.

'Cinderella lost her parents like me, but she became happy.'

It was the story from a "picture book" she had happened to see not long ago.

The picture books that were trending lately were originally precious items that even nobles couldn't easily get, but recently a merchant had been selling them at a cheap price.

Of course, even that was too expensive for the girl to buy, but she had begged the neighbor's child earnestly and barely managed to see it.

Since she couldn't read, she could only understand the story if the neighbor's child read it to her, but it was a wondrous book where she could grasp the rough story just from the pictures.

In that book filled with pictures and stories, a protagonist just like herself was depicted becoming happy.

Cinderella put on the glass slipper the fairy made for her and married the prince.

Snow White fell into danger through the queen's wicked schemes, but a prince on a white horse appeared and saved her.

Whenever she imagined that someday a fairy or a prince on a white horse would appear to her too, punish her wicked uncle and aunt, and marry her.

The hard housework became bearable.

The girl began humming the song again and resumed her laundry.

'They say the books nobles read have far more beautiful pictures in them.'

The girl suddenly thought of the nobles' picture books with prettier illustrations, and felt that if she could ever see one, she would truly have no other wish.

"Xenia! You still haven't finished the laundry? You lazy thing! No dinner for you tonight either!!"

"No! I'm almost done, Aunt."

The red-haired girl called Xenia hurriedly went back to her laundry.

Then, as if the river water had come alive, it climbed up the laundry and began rinsing the clothes on its own.

'I wasn't going to do this because it tires me out afterward.'

It was her own secret that no one else knew. A special ability that, for some reason, allowed her to control things like wind, water, and fire when she focused her mind.

Xenia thought that perhaps she too had been chosen by a fairy like Cinderella.

***

The forgery issue was sorted out, and it was decided that both Cinderella and Snow White would receive additional printings.

I had originally judged that there would be no more demand, but that was my miscalculation.

Picture books had become so scarce among the nobility that people couldn't get their hands on them, even sparking a counterfeiting problem.

So I discussed it with the company head and decided to print more copies—standard editions only, of course.

If we reprinted the limited editions and custom-made versions, we could certainly make a big immediate profit.

But the value our picture books currently held would drop significantly.

'Even in games back on Earth, nothing makes you angrier than when they release something as a limited edition and then re-release it later.'

There is nothing more foolish than being blinded by immediate profit and lowering the value of something I made.

Of course, there were minor complaints from the artisans who had to produce the additional print run, but that could be smoothed over with money.

Moreover, there was a part I hadn't even realized.

'Master Rupert, when you make the books, could we buy them too?'

Apparently, all the mansion's maids and the artisans who had children had wanted to gift the picture books all along, but hadn't been able to speak up.

So this time, we decided to make extra copies so that everyone working for our family who had children could receive one.

Making a generous amount, distributing them, and giving them as gifts to people who visited our family would also save on operating costs, so it was a good idea.

"The end is really in sight. If the next work succeeds too, the family debt might actually be resolved."

I judged the current phenomenon to be a kind of trend. And it was an absurdly perfect situation where I was the only one who could ride this trend.

If so, there was no reason not to exploit this situation to the extreme.

It was right to release a follow-up as quickly as possible before the heat generated by <Cinderella> and <Snow White> faded.

"The next work should probably be another DiXni-style fairy tale."

It wasn't that I hadn't been thinking about a follow-up; there were several works that had come up as candidates.

I thought of famous fairy tales I knew like Janghwa and Hongryeon, Thumbelina, and Hansel and Gretel, but they all felt lacking in some way.

Unlike Cinderella or Snow White, those tales had parts that were rather intense for young children.

In the first place, the reason I made picture books was to show them to my younger sister Ada, so I excluded fairy tales with cruel scenes.

"Ah... so it really has to be that one, huh?"

The ending was sad, but it would still be a shame to leave this one out. Couldn't I adapt the ending enough so the children wouldn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠be shocked?

I decided to make <The Little Mermaid> as my next work.

***

I had to start with the Little Mermaid's design.

The red hair color that normally comes to mind with the Little Mermaid.

I wanted to respect the original design, but in this other world, that was something I absolutely had to change.

In this world, red hair on a woman was associated with witches.

Of course, not everyone with red hair was a witch, but they say there are particularly many born with innately high magical power.

Because of that, they naturally gravitated toward magic, and as the sample size grew, it was only natural that the number of bad people increased too.

But that was a truth only a level-headed modern person like me could grasp.

To the residents of this world, whenever they caught a criminal doing evil with magic, it turned out to be a red-haired woman.

Thus the formula red-haired woman = witch was born, and they still face much discrimination and persecution to this day.

In that situation, there was no reason for me to stake the family's fate on making the Little Mermaid character red-haired.

'For custom-made editions, I could just base them on the client's photo, but the character for the hardcover and standard editions needs to be firmly set.'

Cinderella had bright golden-blond hair and blue eyes.

Snow White had the clear features of black hair and white skin, so she was easy to draw.

But the Little Mermaid was harder to design than expected once I removed the red hair that was her identity.

If I changed it recklessly, a disaster like a "Black Mermaid" could occur, so the design was an extremely important element.

I wanted to draw a princess of the sea, not some underwater predator that would make children cry.

'The Little Mermaid... mermaid... sea?'

Merfolk existed in this world too, but you couldn't see any within the empire, so I'd have to create her entirely from imagination.

Then suddenly Amelia Bluewell came to mind.

Blue hair and sky-blue eyes.

As if a god had played a prank, they were colors perfectly suited to a mermaid princess swimming through ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the sea.

With that inspiration, I designed the Little Mermaid after Amelia Bluewell.

The Little Mermaid's design was completed in an instant, so fast that the previous blockage felt like a lie.

And it was astonishingly excellent, too.

'Come to think of it, unlike the imperial family who fobbed me off with a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠plaque of appreciation, the Bluewell Ducal House gave me a generous reward.'

Even now, just thinking about that reward was enough to make me feel full.

At first, I drove them away because I didn't want to get involved, but if they came again, I'd be willing to welcome them with a smile and treat them well.

"Then I need to decide on the witch character too."

The witch character also plays a very important role in The Little Mermaid.

DiXni portrayed the witch as a hideous monster, but in the original tale the witch had not actually done anything evil.

Rather, she did her best to help the Little Mermaid, and knowing the tragic ending, she even tried to stop her.

Except

'The only problem was that the ingredient needed to make the potion for the Little Mermaid was her tongue.'

It almost seemed unfair to the witch. The Little Mermaid wanted legs, so the witch made her a potion; the ingredient simply happened to be the Little Mermaid's own tongue.

So I had no intention of making the witch character a simple villain.

I was going to draw a fairy tale where the witch merely offered choices, and every choice was made entirely by the Little Mermaid herself.

Only then would the ending of this picture book have meaning.

'I've decided on you for the witch!'

When you think of a witch, isn't she usually black-haired? And among the black-haired women I had seen, only one person stuck in my memory.

The malicious reader of my picture books, the Flower of the Empire—no, the wicked woman of the Empire—who was trying to use her power to push me around.

That must have been why old literary figures churned out works whenever they were exiled or banished.

When you suffer unjust treatment, inspiration surges.

Now that I had even finished the witch character, all the major work was essentially done.

'All that's left is the prince, I guess?'

The prince in The Little Mermaid was probably going to get a lot of hate.

So I couldn't make him too cool. He needed enough flaws for readers to complain about, but he couldn't be too unlikable either, so he still had to look decent.

This time it was difficult because no model came to mind easily, but I just drew as best I could, following whatever came into my head.

Blond hair and a subtle expression somewhere between obnoxious and coldly composed.

Hmm. I had drawn him myself, but he was just right.

He looked oddly familiar somehow, but that was an occupational hazard for comic artists.

Since we've seen so much and drawn so much, this kind of thing happens occasionally when creating characters.

Now that all the important characters were complete, all that remained was to write out the story and the narrative.

Gulp.

"Whoa, it really is different!"

I drank an entire bottle of the new Vitality Potion that Company Head Esteban had given me as a gift not long ago.

The ones sold by the church were gentle on the body, but their effects weren't that strong either.

This one, however, was a Vitality Potion developed by the Alchemy Guild, so its effects were incredible.

Not long ago, I gave some to the artisans as a test, but after drinking it once, they freaked out and made a huge fuss, so now I was drinking it alone.

"Honestly, what's all the fuss about just because you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠get a little dizzy and short of breath after the effects wear off?"

Back when I was drawing webtoons, I used to buy home IV drips and stick the line in myself to draw while meeting deadlines.

There was even a time I got rushed to the emergency room after drinking high-caffeine beverages like water while on an IV.

Compared to that, isn't this truly a gift from the gods?

With a body overflowing with energy, I began working again.