The familiar yet new monster Yu Seongun had encountered was not confined to the Underground Four-Legged Rainforest.

CLATTER.

"... What's that?"

"... A bird...?"

At some point, sightings began coming in of a monster appearing sporadically across numerous dungeons.

"No, is it water?"

It was living water in the shape of a bird. Perhaps it had no vocal cords, for it made no calls. Instead, it produced faint sounds using the plants or minerals held inside its transparent body—usually ripe fruit, fallen leaves, or jewels.

"What? If it's water, can't we drink it?"

"We don't even know what sort of creature it is. Being so rash..."

"Hey, just wait a second. It could be some kind of living elixir."

"No..."

It snatched him up.

"..."

"... Huh?"

The Hunter stared at his companion, trapped inside the transparent body. Their eyes met. Belatedly realizing where he was, his companion opened and closed his mouth as though trying to scream, but not even a single air bubble escaped.

Then he dissolved in an instant.

"... A-aaaaaah!!!"

News of this unusual monster became another hot topic among Hunters. Its victims were chiefly humans who harbored malice. Even when that malice was not directed at the monster itself, impure intentions would provoke an attack. Hunters who heard about its peculiar traits found them strangely familiar.

"... Isn't that Black Cloak?"

"Oh, right. Good call. That explains the déjà vu."

"I thought it sounded familiar. It was Black Cloak..."

Some Hunters who had previously participated in the Underground Four-Legged Rainforest raid could go a step further.

"A bird made of water?"

"It looks like the contracted beast Hunter Seo Jio takes around with him."

"Oh, you're right. The one called Honey... that... water bird. Right?"

"It does look a little different, but even accounting for that, they definitely have a lot in common."

"I thought he'd tamed it in some remote dungeon. Turns out there was a whole flock of them."

It was not particularly unusual for a trainer to tame an unidentified monster. Some dungeons were dimensions one could never visit again, and taming monsters native to such places was commonplace for trainers.

Besides, this was a deeply individualistic world where even Hunters, despite being public figures, did not readily disclose their personal information. Thanks in part to Collector's efforts, little was known about Hunter Seo Jio's contracted beast. But the Hunters who had raided alongside him were a different matter.

Even without seeing these monsters in person, they belatedly realized from information posted on the Association's community forums that the creatures everyone was talking about strongly resembled his contracted beast.

"So, has anyone confirmed the monster's species name? I think Hunter Seo Jio just called his a water bird..."

"An appraiser confirmed it. It's just 'water bird.'"

"What a half-assed name. I thought he was just calling it a water bird for convenience because it was a bird made of water."

"Well, it's probably a bird that lives in water, so I guess it isn't exactly wrong...?"

"Anyway, how did he tame it? With habits that similar, could it be a monster from Black Cloak's dungeon?"

Though their similar traits prompted that speculation, other opinions emerged as well.

"Maybe they just stick together because they get along. You know those monsters whose habitats are unclear, but that keep turning up in similar sorts of places..."

"Oh, right. There are monsters like that."

Hunters had another name for the mysteries Gardeners called The Root's children.

"A shared-dungeon monster, then."

The term referred to monsters that borrowed other dungeons. Strictly speaking, they were a slightly different kind of mystery from The Root's children. Their similar characteristics, however, made them difficult to distinguish unless one was a Gardener.

"It's not unusual for monsters with common traits to borrow each other's dungeons."

"That's true. It could be a new shared-dungeon monster."

Put simply, a dungeon was another dimension. Even without a gate opening onto Earth, those dimensions could clash among themselves and bring in new monsters. An unfamiliar monster suddenly appearing was nothing strange.

And, as always with the emergence of a new monster, there were a few accidents.

"... Uh, uh, what's he doing?"

"Wh-where's that bastard going? Hey! Hey!!"

"Over there... there's a tree, a tree..."

"What's wrong with this idiot? Stop him! He's about to fall in!!"

This living water entranced people.

"Beautiful."

The creatures usually blended into natural settings where flowers and trees flourished. They gathered into pools beneath trees, or perched on branches in rain-soaked forests and looked down at people. Without the odd jewel or piece of fruit to distinguish them, a gathering of water birds was indistinguishable from an ordinary puddle.

At night, however, things changed.

"Look. Life is dissolved in it."

They shone red or blue, but on rare occasions they glowed an entrancing gold that made it impossible to look away. People fell under the light's spell without realizing it.

Yet for something described as entrancing, it was not especially serious. A few tiny creatures made of water could form no more than a puddle, and unless they gathered somewhere deep, they amounted to little more than a shallow stream.

Except...

"That's a lake...!!"

"Grab him!!"

Sometimes that was not the case.

SPLASH!!

A vast number of water birds—far more than a mere few dozen—and a deep pit, or an existing lake or sea. Water birds gleaming in such places were no different from living ghosts that dragged people underwater.

Even then, however, whether the victim lived or died depended on their goodness or wickedness. Those who had led good or ordinary lives would eventually come to their senses, even after being lured into the water.

TAP-TAP! TAP!!

"Ow!!"

TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP!!!

The water birds would rush at them and peck furiously, as if to say, "Snap out of it, idiot." They were water that could not even be grasped in one's hands, yet somehow those pecks stung quite a bit.

"Wh-what's going on all of a sudden...!"

"You were about to fall into a water-bird lake!!"

"I-I was??"

Wicked, scheming people, on the other hand, simply fell in and drowned. The birds did not actively chew them up and swallow them as they did when someone displayed malice, but remained indifferent, as though an evil human drowning was no concern of theirs.

Seeing this behavior, people nodded.

"It seems they really are on Black Cloak's side."

"They really are alike..."

And naturally, Yu Seongun was hearing all these murmurs too.

* * *

"I hear people have been seeing your children a lot lately."

Yu Seongun chuckled at their first hallway meeting in quite some time.

"Some are even calling them Black Cloak's angels."

"I've never painted angels."

"Well, these days, 'angel' is often used for a Divinity's servants. I imagine that's what they mean. Not that you would have painted your children with that in mind..."

Did The Root create children with a purpose in mind? Did a tree think before putting forth flowers?

Unlike Divinities, described as fate and nature endowed with will, Jio would simply have created life.

'That's probably what makes him more frightening.'

Creating a life came that easily to him.

"Are you happy with your new work?"

"There's no reason to paint something I don't like."

"I suppose not..."

Yu Seongun glanced between Ju-hyeon's serene face and Jio's concealed one.

'... Have these two already talked things through?'

The white frame that had recently sent out deep, quiet ripples was probably akin to the gravestone Jio had mentioned before. Yet Ju-hyeon seemed no different from usual.

Their eyes met.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

Anyway, as long as there was no problem, it didn't matter.

'Ju-hyeon's not the sort to let his desires get out of hand and cause trouble.'

Yu Seongun, too, had little interest in the white frame. As another child Jio had created, it did hold some interest for him, but that was all. Even heaven made manifest did not tempt him.

He was a Gardener who already carried an immense mystery no different from purgatory within his body.

"... It's a little embarrassing that we've finally gotten together and have nothing much to talk about. Oh, right. Have you heard how Cha Yi-sol is doing? I checked just in case. Mind if I tell you?"

"No reason not to."

"First of all, apparently Iru-da gave him quite a scolding."

"Oh, a scolding... I see..."

"It seems he told her he wasn't kidnapped by the mermaids, but went through the frame himself. Of course she'd be angry when her partner ran off somewhere so dangerous without a word."

For all his apparent obliviousness, Cha Yi-sol was quick on the uptake and good at keeping secrets. He had reportedly submitted a written reflection too, but told the truth privately only to Father Kang Seodam, who knew Jio's identity.

"Aside from that, I hear he made some progress."

"Progress?"

"Apparently he did quite a bit during the raid?"

Jio nodded.

"He was a great help in dealing with Iser. That was why my father went out of his way to push Yi-sol into that dungeon. I think he wanted him to learn how to wield the Sun's power properly."

He would also have wanted the boy to experience killing a creature he could communicate with. From a Divinity's perspective, there could be no better opportunity. The one being killed had accepted his own end, which would lighten the burden.

"I'm worried because he seems to want Yi-sol to grow into an outstanding Priest of the Sun."

"Oh, you're worried..."

"Children have their hands full just being healthy."

"You really do understand children surprisingly well, Jio."

"I may not look it, but I used to be a high school teacher."

"Aren't people seventeen and up a bit old to call children...?"

Their present-day perspective differed somewhat from that of Seo Jio, a modern man of an earlier era. This was a world where people considered fifteen-year-olds fully grown.

"I'm glad Yi-sol doesn't seem to have been badly shaken."

"Well, he didn't do it alone. I hear Father Kang Seodam faced Iser with him. Since they did it together, it probably wasn't quite so heavy a burden."

"No, it certainly was."

"Well, that's firm."

Yu Seongun shrugged.

"... I agree it's a relief that Yi-sol wasn't badly shaken. He called that mermaid Iser 'Eunha' and seemed quite friendly with him."

He had killed someone he considered a friend with his own hands. At his young age, he might have become mired in self-blame, yet Cha Yi-sol was as spirited as ever.

Jio spoke.

"He seemed to understand that it was a necessary process for Iser. Yi-sol has a great deal in common with me, and does not place excessive weight on the state we call death."

"... That sounds a little chilling, you know."

Yu Seongun laughed awkwardly.

"Will he turn out like you when he grows up?"

"He'll be very different from me. Our thought processes are similar, but that doesn't mean we approach life and those around us the same way. Yi-sol is exceptionally good at getting along with people."

"He does seem to be."

Rubbing his chin, he asked,

"About that gift you gave Iru-da."

"Yes, the Basram flower tea?"

"Did you give it to her knowing what would happen too?"

Yu Seongun and Ju-hyeon shared information. Thus, Seongun knew Jio had given Iru-da tea on his previous visit to the Sun Cult. It was quite a coincidence.

'That was what let her play such an active role in this raid.'

Under Father Kang Seodam's supervision, she had offered Jio's gift to the Sun Goddess. A Divinity's joy or happiness was difficult to fathom, but the offering must have pleased her, for Iru-da had reportedly been showing outstanding results in wielding the Sun's power lately.

'And she used that power to help kill the mermaid Aria.'

Jio soon answered.

"I merely thought it could be useful in some way."

"Did you?"

Should he call Jio surprisingly coldhearted after all?

'Would he react like this if I died?'

The question occurred to him, and he asked with an easy smile.

"You've put it behind you much more neatly than I expected. Are you really all right? Even if they meant less to the other Jios, those were deep bonds for Giovanni, at least."

"What an unkind question."

Jio answered in his usual steady, mechanical tone.

"But I truly am all right. As I told you last time, I've settled things in my own way."

"... Wait."

"Yes."

"I think you answered like that before, but something feels off. You just said 'in my own way,' right?"

"Yes."

"Uh..."

For a fleeting, incongruous moment, Yu Seongun thought Jio sounded much like the black suits living in the City of Emptiness. Then he realized the hidden meaning he had missed before.

"... Did you take some kind of action? Are they inside your white frame, for instance?"

"Those two are not suitable residents for the 'diary.'"

"Or did you resurrect them?"

"The dead are dead. That cannot be undone. Nor should it be."

"That answer was so much more sensible than I expected, it actually startled me."

"I did, however, collect what remained of their bodies after they dissolved."

"...?"

Yu Seongun turned to Ju-hyeon.

"Did the mermaids leave bodies behind?"

"... N-no? I heard they both turned to water and dissolved..."

Jio nodded.

"Mermaids are born from the sea and return to it when they die. That would have been part of the process."

"Then what do you mean when you say you collected their bodies?"

"They were residents I had already taken in."

"Residents?"

"Residents of my palette."

"... Am I the only one who finds that a little ominous?"

"Ju-hyeon, you have nothing to worry about."

The portrait spoke in his usual monotone.

"The mermaids are dead, and now they can harm no one."

"..."

After a long while, Ju-hyeon answered.

"... I see!"

"Indeed."

"But could you please explain in greater detail, openly and honestly, with specifics?"

These damn mysteries needed to take a public-speaking class.

(To be continued)