Chapter 68

The sea acknowledged her the moment she was born.

The mermaid who had been heir to the deep sea from birth, Aria, had always been curious about the world beneath the sun, over which she had neither duty nor authority to rule.

And there, she met a human.

"Now, Aria. Look at this cross-section. Human skin has layers."

"Is it different from mermaid skin?"

"A little. Mermaid skin can withstand the deep sea, after all..."

He was her teacher.

"What are you drawing now?"

"I was drawing you, Aria."

"This is a picture of the sea."

"The sea is, in other words, a mermaid."

Her friend.

"It is good to understand humans, but learning to empathize with them would not be bad either."

"I do not think there is any difference."

"Simply empathizing can accomplish far more than understanding."

"..."

Her family.

Giovanni was the only being equal to Aria, or perhaps even above her.

He was different from Iser, the younger brother she had to protect and care for.

With Giovanni, Aria could have interesting conversations.

No matter what Aria did, Giovanni could handle her.

There existed gears that fit together perfectly.

"Aria."

"Yes."

"Please do not harm humans."

That was what she believed.

"Why should I do that?"

"Because I do not want it."

"How selfish."

"Aria, this foolish priest has always told you, has he not?"

"That consideration and meeting each other halfway are what make a relationship."

"I am glad you remember."

Aria considered herself and Giovanni to be gears that would never fall out of alignment, but Giovanni did not think so.

He always spoke of hatred.

"I am human, and you are a mermaid. Our ways of thinking and expressing ourselves are different, but despite that, we were able to become this close. Until now, you have yielded many things to me, Aria, and received an equivalent price in return."

"So you want me to do that again?"

"If you truly hate the idea, fighting me and winning is also one method. I prefer resolving differences of opinion through conversation rather than conflict, but you may prefer a clearer method, Aria."

"Jio, I do not want to fight you. So I will yield."

"It is truly a joyful thing to be able not to hate each other despite our differing views. Then shall I serve the clams you like for dinner tonight, Aria?"

It was pleasant.

"Is this the human way? It is rather troublesome."

"Not all humans are like this. As I always say, humans are far more varied and fickle than mermaids. If you wish to interact with other humans later..."

"I do not wish to interact with such vulgar people."

"I see."

When she was with him, it was enjoyable.

That was something rare, something she could not even find among her own kind.

"It would be nice if you became a mermaid."

"Unfortunately, when I die, I will return to the side of the sun. That is what I want."

"True, humans get cold easily. The side of the sun will be warmer than the deep sea. I acknowledge that too."

"Thank you for understanding."

In that case, Jio.

"..."

"..."

When I so generously let you go, you should have returned to the side of the sun.

"S-Sister..."

"What happened to Giovanni?"

She had barely managed to save her younger brother, who had been dragged off to the temple while helping humans, and destroyed every temple on the surface, but for some reason, she could not find even a single piece of Giovanni's bones.

After nearly a year had passed, her younger brother, finally coming to his senses, answered without even being able to cry.

"I ate him."

Her younger brother was smiling.

"I was hungry, so I ate him. The humans poured some kind of drug into that narrow tank..."

"..."

"... The rest of his corpse probably rotted and dissolved in the water. Though I ate almost all of it."

"Ah."

Perhaps because she had been bracing herself for the worst thing she could not imagine, it was not all that surprising.

'Jio was always worried I would be hurt after he died, but I am not as shaken as I thought I would be.'

She was rather calm.

"I see."

But she could not stop searching for even the last remaining trace of Jio, even the water he had rotted in.

She went around killing every human she saw and continued wandering in search of Jio's corpse.

And in the residence of the pope who had received the sun's greatest love, she was able to find Jio.

"..."

He had become water.

"... The fishy smell is strong."

It was like looking at seawater.

"Shall we clean it up, Princess?"

"No, leave it as it is."

"But..."

"If we simply leave it, it will flow into the sea."

Just how long had they imprisoned the corpse, and with what?

When she opened the enormous divine statue used as a torture device, his corpse, melted down as thick and sticky as seaweed sap, flowed out.

There was not even the slightest trace of a human form.

"..."

No, it did not even have the form of a living creature.

"But it is a long way from here to the sea."

"It does not matter."

All she had to do was drag the sea up onto the surface.

"So..."

Deep enough to submerge the sun.

"..."

She merely stared at the corpse that had become water.

"..."

Once she was left alone, Aria whispered.

"... I thought that if you died, your cause of death would be natural causes born from the limits of your species."

"..."

"Humans have shorter lifespans than mermaids. You age quickly, and you are easily altered. So if we were eventually to part... I thought it would be because your value had grown dim."

"..."

"Whether your noble character was clouded by greed, or your frail body withered from illness, or you overcame all those trials and died whole, returning to the side of the sun. Those were the only partings I imagined. I had properly understood and accepted that part."

"..."

"Why did it have to be you who died like this? It was never that your own value had grown dim, and yet you were beaten by the hands of ghouls who had eyes but could not see... and instead of the sun, you ended up spreading into the deep sea."

"..."

"To be able to hate someone so casually, humans truly are beings worth researching."

She could not help asking.

"Do you not hate humans?"

The mermaid hated humans.

The dizzying vastness with which I faced our parting came from your mortality, so I never imagined the end of this story would be so ridiculous and miserable.

"It must be cold there, mustn't it?"

You should have gone to the side of the sun, you fool.

"You did not defeat anyone."

You died trying to protect mermaids, and now even in death, you ended up shivering in the cold.

Your value was not something that should have collapsed because of this stupid species conflict.

It should not have ended with you failing even to go to the side of the sun, with nothing more than becoming a mere part of the sea.

"..."

Her younger brother, the only mermaid who had defended humans, closed his mouth.

"Ah..."

Giovanni, the only human who had embraced mermaids, had lost his mouth.

"... Right."

"..."

"Now there is no one left to stop me."

It was such a shame.

"..."

"..."

"Hey."

Can you not feel my sincerity?

* * *

"... You are good at cooking too, Mr. Jio."

At the words Iser managed to bring out, Seo Jio smiled.

"I am glad to hear you say that."

"Are you especially skilled at seafood dishes?"

"I am good at everything overall."

"Where did you learn this recipe?"

"Well, just..."

The platinum-blond hair, close to silver, catches his eye.

"I wanted to try eating it like this."

"I see."

He sees blue eyes resembling a sunlit surface of water.

"It was only grilled over a campfire, but it was so delicious that I asked."

"If it is something like that, you can ask me freely anytime."

"Because sharing what you know is a joyful thing?"

"... Does Student Eunha have mind-reading among his skills?"

"I just had a feeling you would say that."

Because Giovanni had always had those words on his lips too.

'As expected, he is a little...'

No, very much.

'He resembles him too much.'

At this rate, even the suspicion he had made up himself, that this was simply "a different person who resembled him quite a bit," would not work.

'I cannot keep acting like this.'

He was well aware that he was doing something foolish.

When the human named Yu Seongun sent him a look that said, "Are you really sure you are okay like this?", he was so pathetic he could not even bring himself to call it impertinent.

"Where is your hometown, Mr. Jio?"

"I do not know if you would know it, but it was a very rural place."

"Rural..."

"I even did some farming from time to time."

"I see."

The fact that he was strangely unpretentious for a priest of noble birth was exactly the same too.

'Ah, this will not do...'

He no longer had the energy to play tricks.

'... Seeing how the atmosphere of the entire dungeon has lightened, Sister must surely be flustered as well. If even that sister of mine is flustered, there is no way I would be fine. This was not supposed to drag on this long in the first place... At this rate, leaving Earth quickly would be...'

It would be the path to recovering his calm reason from before.

"..."

But.

Would that be all right?

'... Is it truly right for only us to leave, leaving Jio behind in this dimension?'

They had traveled through countless dimensions until now, but there had never been anyone they could be certain of at a glance, thinking, "Ah, this person is Giovanni."

But no matter how he thought about it, this person seemed to be Giovanni's reincarnation.

'But why does he have divinity? Unless a Sun God from some dimension meddled after all, no, but... if it is a being on the level of a Sun God, it would not bother caring what happens to humans.'

The situation was nothing but confusing, but there was one thing that was certain.

"... What do you plan to do after this?"

He had to get these people out quickly.

'From the situation, it will be difficult to keep only Jio here. It will not be too late to simply send them all away, discuss it with Sister, sort out my thoughts, and then make a new plan.'

The one who answered that question was Yu Seongun.

"First, we have to find a way out."

"A way out..."

"Usually, in cases like this, the methods are divided into about three types."

Yu Seongun, who had roughly filled his stomach with fish, continued speaking.

"The most standard method is clearing it successfully, as expected. But we do not have that many Hunters, and more than anything, there are a lot of civilians who will die the moment we take our eyes off them. There is no way we can clear a dungeon with this group when it would be difficult even if there were no one to protect."

"Then what is another method?"

"If we have an item that can let us leave the dungeon, like a return stone, that would do, but this is not exactly a wise choice either. Looking around, this does not seem like a dungeon where low-rank items would work... and even if we assume they do work, how many such items would there be? Only a small number of us would barely be able to escape."

"That is true."

"The last method is, as expected..."

Yu Seongun's gaze reached Eunha, Iser, who was still smiling as if in achromatic colors.

"..."

"..."

That momentary gaze scattered, and Yu Seongun continued.

"The dungeon master opens the door personally."

Iser inwardly clicked his tongue.

'Did he read my thoughts?'

No, perhaps it had been too obvious an ending even before his thoughts were read.

To both mermaids and humans, Giovanni's existence had excessively defied expectations.

It seemed to mean that since both sides were confused, they should each reorganize for now and then contend again.

A C-class Hunter who had been quietly listening to Yu Seongun asked anxiously.

"W-Will that work? If something happened at the Temple of the Sun, the dungeon master must have been determined when they caused this incident... and the number of people dragged in is quite high too. They must be a powerful master."

"It is not entirely impossible."

Kang Seo-dam answered in the low tone particular to priests.

"There is a saying that a dungeon is the stage of a theater. The higher the rank of a dungeon, the more closely it is linked with its master, and raiders can examine the dungeon master's story in greater detail."

"Uh... why does that...?"

"In short, if you follow the story well, there are times when the door opens by luck. Stories of civilians escaping a dungeon because the dungeon master was moved by the devotion of a raider who came to understand the dungeon's story are not mere boasting."

"Gasp, I thought that was just a tabloid rumor..."

"They are cases that do occur from time to time. Especially the more intelligent the master is, almost like a humanoid monster, the greater the chance of escaping in that way. With a dungeon of this scale, its master must surely be close to humanoid as well."

At that point, Yu Seongun cut in.

"We are already seeing a similar phenomenon. Right after we were dragged into the dungeon, quite a lot of victims appeared, but look at it now. We are openly lighting a campfire and eating, yet no monsters are attacking us."

"It is certainly showing an eerily stabilized state for a dungeon that so many raiders have entered. It likely means there has been a change in the feelings of the master who caused this incident. It feels as though they are going easy on us to a considerable degree."

"Considering that, when it comes to our situation, the third case has the highest chance of success after all. If we play it right, maybe they will open the door for us."

"I am hoping for something similar."

Ah, yes.

"..."

Iser decided to simply keep his mouth shut.

'How irritating.'

Their skill in exchanging a conversation while pretending not to know his identity was quite first-rate.

'Yu Seongun has already spoken with me directly, but there is no way Priest Kang Seo-dam does not know my identity either. Earlier, I had no intention of hiding it and openly revealed the aura of the deep sea... At this point, I cannot pretend to be an ordinary young human child.'

Iser looked back at Jio.

"I hope things turn out well either way. The fish here is delicious, but..."

"..."

"I do want to go home after all."

At that, Iser asked.

"What kind of place is your home, Mr. Jio?"

"Ah, it is an ordinary cabin."

"A cabin."

"A cabin in a secluded forest with few signs of people."

"..."

Was that not a home that suited you perfectly?

'... Now that I have even heard this...'

I cannot simply keep him here.

Iser decided to release the humans caught in the net.

"..."

He could simply catch them again anyway.

Iser knew human greed toward mermaids.

* * *

The people who had been dragged into the Virtual Dungeon of unspecified rank returned alive.

The number of survivors reached eighty percent of the total, and everyone called it a miracle in one voice.

"I suppose if this is a miracle, it is a miracle."

"I do not understand what you mean."

"Jio, please keep staying exactly as you are."

"I do not understand what you mean."

"Yes... just like that."

Yu Seongun shuddered at the effect of the "Portrait of Jio."