CHAPTER 7 – LITTLE INTRUDER

As soon as I felt someone watching me, I turned around and saw the face of a small, curious mermaid staring at me. I jumped in fright and hid among the seaweed where I slept.

— I don't have a blanket, so this will have to do!

The little, curious eyes blinked in confusion. Then, the tiny fish crawled out of the water, dragging its tail slowly across the sand toward the pool where I was.

— Wait, he’s almost my size... Why am I scared? Baby mermaids aren’t cannibals, are they?

Before I could come out of my hiding spot, the baby mermaid jumped on me, and I heard a babyish, milky voice shouting in my ear:

— Little brother!

I jumped in surprise and thought:

— What?! I just got to this world, and I already have a brother... Wait... He can talk already?!

At that exact moment, Krahs arrived as well. He climbed out of the pool without noticing anything and sat down on the sand. When he looked toward the pool, he was so startled he almost fell back into the water.

— Did I bump into a pufferfish without realizing it, or am I seeing double?

He approached slowly and touched our cheeks, trying to confirm if there were really two of us.

— Looks like we have an intruder here.

He picked up the other baby mermaid, who laughed, seeming to enjoy the situation. Krahs examined the little one's tail to determine his species, and taking advantage of the moment, I used my analysis skill to do the same.

[Mimic Mermaid]

Name: None

Age: Newborn – 3 hours

Status: Normal

Lv: 0

HP: 20/20 MP: 5/5 Attack: 1 Defense: 1 Intelligence: 5 Luck: 4 Beauty: 30

Title: Intruder, Natural Actor

Skills: Disguise, Charm, Master of Acting

A mimic mermaid baby… This species is very good at deceiving other mermaids. They lay their eggs near the nests of other mermaids and abandon them. When the hatchlings are born, they seek out adults or nests and infiltrate them. Since they are natural actors, they win over the adults and end up being raised alongside their own offspring. However, they only do this with species that don’t live in colonies to avoid being enslaved.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

— Great, a cuckoo chick... He’s only three hours old, and he already talks! So jealous... Well, at least I won’t be alone anymore when Krahs goes hunting, and he seems to like the little guy too.

Krahs tickled the new family member’s belly, making the tiny baby laugh uncontrollably.

— One more for the family... I think I’ll call you Lilay.

And that’s how I got a brother. Someone who loves to sleep snuggled up, who’s always watching me and trying to play, someone I share my milk with and even sucks on crabs just like me, but…

— I’m going crazy! This kid won’t let go of me! How am I supposed to dominate the world with him always clinging to my tail?!

That was my first crisis, but after another week, I got used to it and went back to focusing on my world domination plan.

As soon as my new little brother fell asleep, I used the bed’s seaweed to try and weave fabric. My first goal was simply to create a piece of cloth. It was really tricky at first because the seaweed was slippery, but over time, I got the hang of it. Slowly, it started to take shape, but it was still difficult to do in secret.

The next morning, I gave up on hiding and continued weaving in front of everyone. Krahs saw me and smiled, running his hand over my head.

— Nexha, you’re really smart.

Seeing Krahs praise me, my little brother immediately started imitating me but soon gave up and ended up falling asleep wrapped in the seaweed.

— So cute... The description about their adorableness wasn’t wrong.

Sucking on my daily crab, I kept working. Unfortunately, I didn’t earn any points this week. It’s getting harder and harder to get points from the crabs.

In the end, I had a piece of slippery seaweed that kept coming apart. That made me a bit upset. Noticing this, Krahs decided to help. He brought some dead seaweed and started teaching me—it seems like this weaving technology is already common in this world.

He made some lidded baskets and even a backpack. He spent the whole day at home doing that, so I didn’t drink any milk and had to make do with that awful paste. Lilay protested, clinging to me with a tearful face all day, wanting milk too.

— Sorry, little brother… Not today.

The problem was that he wouldn’t let me sleep. In the end, I gave in and bought a bottle to share with him after Krahs fell asleep. With his belly full, he finally let go of my fin and drifted off. But my peace didn’t last long… The system flashed a bright light in my face in the middle of the night, burning my eyes.

— Ouch! I miss night mode…

{Technology acquired: Primitive Weaving}

Congratulations! Keep learning to earn more bonuses. You gained 100MD.

— Whoa! I didn’t know I could earn money by learning… The system is encouraging me to work.

Right after that, my head started aching so badly it felt like someone was stabbing needles into my brain. Then, I just blacked out.

The next morning, when I went back to weaving, I realized I had already mastered the skill in a way that made the work extremely simple and fast. That’s when I realized…

— The skill was shoved into my brain… This pain is worse than a hangover.