"I'll show you a party trick."

"All of a sudden?"

Jio, who had finished eating, ran out to the shore.

"Ta-da."

"..."

"The miracle of Moses."

"Put it back."

"When else am I supposed to do this?"

At Ju-hyeon's horrified words after seeing him split the sea in half, Jio obediently complied.

The beach near the pension had more stones and rocks than sand, and the water was fairly deep.

Jio flopped down on top of it.

"I don't have any other party tricks in mind."

"I believe what you're doing right now counts as a party trick plenty."

"Isn't this something all Hunters can do?"

"Of course not."

"Hunters aren't water striders."

"Am I a water strider?"

"You look even more like one because you're lying down."

"Then I'll lie here for a while."

"It's comfortable."

"Hmm..."

Ju-hyeon, sitting on a rock near where Jio was sprawled out, looked around worriedly.

"It's gotten quite dark."

"Will you be all right?"

"If you're worried that the surroundings are dark, there is a way."

"Wait."

"Go ahead."

"What are you planning to do right now?"

"I was going to bring out the waterbirds."

"Ah, the waterbirds."

Ju-hyeon, remembering those small, harmless birds, smiled in relief.

"Sorry."

"I tend to worry a lot."

"We were being considerate of each other."

"There's nothing to apologize for."

And then Jio sat on the sea.

"...?"

Ju-hyeon blinked.

"You're sitting?"

"Yes, I am sitting."

"I know you're an unusual case in many ways, Mr. Jio, but this is..."

"Is it fascinating?"

"Yes."

"I feel the same."

"... I see!"

The portrait had seemed quite adept at it lately, but it was still clumsy at imitating humans.

No matter how forcefully it shoved humans and itself onto the same line, that did not make it look like empathy.

"How do you plan to bring out the waterbirds now?"

"They are already here."

"..."

Something entered Ju-hyeon's field of vision.

"Ah."

Beside Jio's feet, which had for some reason turned translucent, small things like flowers or fruit were floating.

It had grown so dark, and they were underwater, so they were hard to see, but those were definitely traces of the "waterbirds."

"They were already here."

"Since when?"

"They have been here since I dipped my feet in."

"Aha..."

"Mr. Ju-hyeon, try coming up here too."

"I'll fall in."

"I will help you."

"... Excuse me, then."

SPLASH.

Ju-hyeon did not fall into the sea.

"This feels strange."

He was walking on the surface of the water.

Even though he was Unawakened.

"I can see the waterbirds better now that I'm here."

"Can you see them moving among themselves?"

"Yes."

"Far more came than I expected."

"They are children who live in flocks."

"Even so, it isn't bright yet..."

"It will grow bright soon."

Jio sat on the surface of the water and swished his legs beneath the sea.

"If they make this place their nest, that is."

Only then did the waterbirds gather together and give off light.

"..."

"There we go."

It was as if lights had been turned on beneath the sea.

"... It looks like there are fireflies under the ocean."

"Have you ever seen fireflies?"

"They're extinct insects, so I've never seen them spread through nature like this, but apart from that, I once participated in restoration research... so I know what they look like."

"There are more extinct species than I expected."

"It makes me sad."

"Would it feel like this if I saw them in person?"

"I thought they looked like glowing jellyfish."

"That could be true too."

A peaceful smile appeared on Ju-hyeon's face.

"They're golden."

"I have never seen them in any other color either."

"They must like it here."

It was a color he had only been able to appreciate on the terrace of Jio's cabin, when the cool spring breeze of night blew in.

The golden light the waterbirds gave off when they gathered was an indicator of their happiness.

"... It's wonderful."

The sea rippled with gold.

A dazzling light, as if a sun made of gold had been melted down and its sunlight stored within.

It was beautiful, as though the universe were contained beneath the sea.

When he lightly splashed his feet, the waterbirds within made charming movements.

"And they're cute."

"That is one of my children's outstanding qualities."

"It certainly looks that way."

As an Unawakened, Ju-hyeon could not accurately count the waterbirds in the water.

So all he could see was a feast of flowers, fruit, and jewels, but that alone was enough for him to feel the waterbirds' affection.

They liked this sea.

"If you think about it, I suppose they came on a trip with us..."

Golden scales of water-light rippled over Ju-hyeon's hands, his eyes, and the jagged rocks around him.

"They must be happier because they're with family."

"I think so too."

"They are extremely bright."

Though he was on top of the cool sea, his whole body grew languid, as though touched by spring sunlight.

"..."

"Mr. Ju-hyeon."

Jio called to his friend.

"You must not go too far in."

"... Ah."

"You cannot breathe underwater, Mr. Ju-hyeon."

Only then did Ju-hyeon realize he had put his arm too deep into the sea.

"..."

Ju-hyeon looked back at Jio.

"... Isn't this a little dangerous?"

"My children are not dangerous."

"This is that thing, isn't it?"

"A water ghost."

"Isn't a water ghost a ghost that drags people into the water?"

"I understand there are ghosts that lure people into coming inside too."

"Earth has become quite frightening."

"... Being too beautiful is a problem too."

Ju-hyeon gave a troubled smile and sat cross-legged on the surface of the water.

He let out a short sigh and pressed firmly at his forehead.

Just now, he had been bewitched by the waterbirds' rapturous light.

'The fact that I'm Unawakened probably played a part too.'

Yu Seongun would not have been bewitched so easily.

"Could you refrain from calling these friends in places with many civilians?"

"Even if I do not call them, the waterbirds can find whatever home they want."

"... Wait, that sounds like you're saying some have already leaked out somewhere else."

"Is that right?"

"Since they are living water, I suppose leaked is accurate as well."

"Where did they go?"

"They likely went into the paintings I drew."

"Into the paintings..."

"There are only a few places, so you don't need to worry."

Jio reassured Ju-hyeon.

"They won't be gathered in such large numbers either."

"... Then will people be less bewitched?"

"It is rather embarrassing when you call deep appreciation being bewitched, but they should simply look pretty."

"That's a relief, at least..."

"They probably went to the City of Emptiness or the Four-Legged Rainforest."

"Why would they go to dungeons that have already been cleared—no, could you tell me these things ahead of time?"

"I will keep that in mind."

Jio looked beneath the water's surface.

"You can see a similar sight in the country of the deep sea."

"That was Mr. Giovanni's hometown too, wasn't it?"

"Yes."

"There, you can appreciate the Milky Way floating overhead instead of below."

"The Milky Way... I wonder what that would feel like?"

"It is a Milky Way created by the life of the sea."

Giovanni stirred the golden sea and smiled.

"I will invite you there before long too."

"..."

At the affection and pride contained in that voice, Ju-hyeon nodded.

"I'll look forward to it."

He really was a pitiful person.

"What was Giovanni's world like?"

Yu Seongun asked as he looked at the golden sea from a distance, and Aria turned to him.

"Are you asking that now?"

"There are things I can ask because it's now."

"That has some logic to it."

Aria nodded.

"It has been so long since I spoke of that man..."

"I asked you to tell me about his hometown, not about the man himself."

"Shut up and listen, administrator of the structure."

"The only world I knew was Giovanni."

"Then that makes sense too."

These mermaids had a somewhat blind side to them.

"How much can you tell me?"

"As long as you are under Teacher's protection, I can tell you anything."

"That is... quite the astonishing affection."

Yu Seongun, who had been looking at Jio and Ju-hyeon standing on the sheer cliffside shore, soon asked,

"What sort of being was Giovanni in that world?"

"I thought you had roughly grasped it."

Even so, Aria explained obediently.

"He was, quite literally... the saint of the age."

"To the people of the world, he was the son of a god incarnated among filthy humans."

"To his neighbors, he was a fine friend and adult who gave his entire life for them."

"And to the religious order, he was a precious genius who would save face for them."

Aria continued calmly.

"And yet he died so easily."

"That is how humans are."

"You cannot expect eternity from them."

"That is why there are parts of them that are disgusting and repulsive."

She used to feel murderous, as though she had found a bug crawling onto her bed.

"Let's see."

"Are you curious about how he was executed too?"

"I'd be grateful to hear it, if you'll tell me."

"At first, it was torture on land."

"So severe he could barely maintain his shape..."

"And after that?"

"They dropped him into a giant tank filled with seawater."

Aria was looking not at the golden sea, but at Yu Seongun.

"Then they bound him in chains so he could not get out and sealed the opening."

"Why did they do that?"

"The priests of the Sun said that if he truly was the child of the Sun, he would survive even in a cold tank."

"And the result?"

"He lived."

Giovanni did not die inside the tank for more than four months.

"Even so, they did not take him out."

Some of them came to believe Giovanni truly was the child of the Sun, and some insisted he had received help from the divinity of the sea.

Whatever they thought, in the end, they were terribly afraid of Giovanni's existence.

"If he truly was the child of the sun, they had treated him so harshly that there was no way to undo it."

"And if he was the child of the sea, he would be a monster worse than mermaids... so they said they had to kill him at once before he retaliated against humans."

Retaliation was not the only problem.

"Public sentiment must have been a problem too."

"Why would public sentiment come up for a religious group?"

"Because the order's power was stronger than the kings of every nation."

Giovanni had once been the perfect child of the Sun, loved by everyone in the world.

If it were revealed that such a man was truly the child of a divine being, even the Sun Cult clearly would not be able to handle it.

"I hear there was already plenty of skeptical opinion within the order too, so just imagine."

"So how did the Sun Cult respond?"

"They used my foolish younger brother, who had been captured around that time."

They tortured him while he was starving, then shut him in the tank with Giovanni.

"They must have intended to stage a repulsive scene and silence that skepticism."

But Iser endured it, and Giovanni did not die until the end thanks to divine protection.

The priests of the Sun, who felt that this was some kind of revelation, could not endure their fear and released drugs into the tank.

"Thanks to that, my younger brother, blinded by appetite, ate Giovanni."

"Wouldn't Giovanni have been affected by the drugs too?"

"If they released them into the tank..."

"Even then, Giovanni did not seem to show much of a reaction."

Only then did Aria set her eyes on Jio, who was sitting on the surface of the sea.

"So he must have thought my Teacher was dead and torn into him."

Iser, that was.

It was not as though Iser, drugged as he was, had immediately tried to fill his stomach.

But perhaps seeing him hanging limp like a corpse made the final line in him snap.

In the end, Iser ate Giovanni.

"... Does your brother know that?"

"Was he really unaware when he ate him in the first place?"

"Who knows?"

Aria had never asked about that.

"Perhaps after making things turn out that way, the priests felt they had distanced themselves from divine punishment."

"They smuggled away what remained of Jio's corpse and used it to run the order."

"How do you think they used it?"

"... I've heard of something called a basram flower."

"You hit the mark."

A miracle medicine of the age that would wither unless touched by the Sun's loving hand.

Jio's corpse, which had received the Sun's greatest love, was used to cultivate that flower.

"That is why it took so long to find Jio."

"Where did you find him?"

"In the pope's residence."

"Oh, impressive."

"Even so, the Sun did not punish them."

The deep sea was the same.

"So I decided to deliver punishment in their place."

Neither the deep sea that had birthed her nor the Sun her brother had served delivered divine punishment upon those filthy believers.

In the end, Aria made herself into the deep sea and caused the whole world to sink beneath the ocean.

"I know I committed a sin."

"I know it was pointless venting too."

"But you're a monster, not an evil god."

"It is not as though divinity can be gained so easily by venting one's anger a few times."

"Didn't Jio gain it rather easily..."

"It is only embarrassing to compare Teacher and me."

"From the sound of it, you don't particularly regret that venting."

Yu Seongun asked,

"Why are you bringing this up?"

"At first, I did not even think it was a sin."

But once she reunited with Teacher, she realized that it was a sin.

"I lost."

She did not regret it, but that alone showed that the mermaids had been moved by Giovanni.

Since her Teacher said it was a sin, she had no choice but to recognize it as such.

"The only time life was heaven was during my childhood with my Teacher."

"So?"

"... Jio told me to take responsibility."

"Then did he say he would forgive you?"

"Of course not."

That had never been Giovanni's place to begin with.

He likely thought so himself.

"Just..."

Aria smiled.

"The time has come to choose."

Which hell she would walk now.