No One Left to Stop Me
From the moment of her birth, she had been recognized by the sea.
Born the heir of the deep, the mermaid Aria had always been curious about the lands beneath the sun—territory she possessed neither the duty nor the authority to rule. And there, she met a human.
"Here, Aria. Look at this cross-section. Human skin has layers."
"Is it different from a mermaid's?"
"A little. Mermaid skin can endure the deep sea, after all…"
He was her teacher.
"What are you drawing now?"
"I was drawing you, Aria."
"But this is a picture of the sea."
"The sea is the mermaid."
He was her friend.
"Understanding humans is fine, but empathizing with them wouldn't be so bad either."
"I don't see the difference."
"Empathy alone can accomplish far more than mere understanding."
"……."
He was family.
Giovanni was the only being who stood as Aria's equal—or higher. He was different even from Iser, the younger brother she was obligated to protect and care for.
With Giovanni, Aria could hold conversations that fascinated her. No matter what she did, Giovanni could handle her.
The knowledge that perfectly interlocking gears truly existed.
"Aria."
"Yes."
"Please don't harm humans."
She thought so, then.
"Why should I?"
"Because I don't want you to."
"That's selfish."
"Aria, this foolish priest has always told you:"
"That a relationship is about consideration and adapting to one another."
"I'm glad you remember."
Aria believed she and Giovanni were gears that would never come unmeshed. Giovanni did not. He always spoke of hatred.
"I am human, and you are a mermaid. Our ways of thinking and expressing ourselves differ, and yet we became this close. Until now, you have yielded many things to me and received a corresponding price in return."
"So do the same this time?"
"If you truly refuse, fighting me and winning is also a method. I prefer resolving differences through conversation rather than conflict, but you may prefer something clearer."
"Giovanni, I don't want to fight you. So I'll yield."
"That we can differ in opinion without hating each other is truly a joy. Then for dinner tonight, shall we serve the clams you like?"
It was pleasant.
"Is this the human way? It's rather troublesome."
"Not every human is like this. As I always say, humans are far more varied and capricious than merfolk. If you ever wish to interact with other humans…"
"I have no desire to associate with such vulgar creatures."
"I see."
Being with him was enjoyable.
It was a rarity she could not find even among her own kind.
"It would be nice if you became a mermaid."
"Unfortunately, when I die I will return to the Sun's side. That is what I want."
"True, humans feel the cold keenly. The Sun's side must be warmer than the deep sea. I can accept that."
"Thank you for understanding."
Then, Giovanni.
"……."
"……."
When I finally took pity and let you go, you should have returned to the Sun's side.
"…S-Sister…"
"What became of Giovanni?"
She had barely rescued her brother—dragged to the temple for aiding humans—and had razed every temple on the surface. Yet she could not find so much as a single bone of Giovanni's.
Nearly a year later, when her brother recovered his senses, he answered without tears.
"I ate him."
Her brother was smiling.
"I was hungry, so I ate him. The humans poured some drug into that narrow tank…"
"……."
"…Whatever remained of his body probably rotted and dissolved in the water. Though I ate most of it."
"Ah."
She had already braced herself for the worst she could imagine, so it was not as shocking as it might have been.
Giovanni always fretted that I would be hurt after he died, yet I am not as shaken as he feared.
She was rather calm.
"I see."
Even so, she could not stop searching for the last traces of him—even the water in which he had rotted. She went about killing every human in sight while continuing to hunt for Giovanni's corpse.
And in the residence of the Pope, who had received the Sun's greatest love, she found him.
"……."
He had become water.
"…The fishy smell is strong."
It was as if she were looking at seawater.
"Shall I clean it up, Princess?"
"Leave it. Let it stay like this."
"But…"
"If we simply leave it, it will flow into the sea eventually."
How long had they kept the body confined, and with what else? When she opened the enormous sacred statue they used as a torture device, his corpse oozed out like the viscous extract of seaweed. There was not the slightest human form remaining.
"……."
No—it was not even the form of a living creature.
"But the distance from here to the sea is considerable."
"It doesn't matter."
She would simply drag the sea up onto the land.
"In other words…"
Deep enough for the sun to sink, completely.
"……."
She merely stared at the corpse that had become water.
"……."
Once she was alone, Aria whispered.
"…I thought that when you died, the cause would be natural—the limits of your species."
"……."
"Humans have shorter lifespans than merfolk. You age faster, and you corrupt more easily. So if we were ever to part… I believed it would be because your value had grown dim."
"……."
"Whether that noble character clouded with greed, or that fragile body withered under disease, or whether you overcame every trial and died whole to return to the Sun's side. Those were the only farewells I ever imagined. I had understood and accepted that much."
"……."
"Why did you have to die like this? It was never that your own worth had faded. You were beaten to death by the hands of starving beasts who had eyes yet could not see… and instead of the Sun, you ended up scattered through the deep sea."
"……."
"To hate someone this casually—humans truly are creatures worth studying."
She could not help but ask.
"Don't you hate the humans?"
The mermaid hated the humans.
The vastness with which I faced our parting came from your mortality; I never imagined the end of this story would be so ridiculous and wretched.
"It must be cold there."
You should have gone to the Sun's side, you fool.
"No one won, after all."
You died trying to protect the merfolk, and even in death you are left shivering in the cold.
Your worth was never meant to crumble over something as stupid as a species conflict.
It should never have been that you could not even reach the Sun's side, and that becoming part of the sea was all that remained.
"……."
Her brother—the only merfolk who had ever defended humans—closed his mouth.
"Ah…"
Giovanni—the only human who had ever embraced the merfolk—had lost his mouth.
"…That's right."
"……."
"Now there's no one left to stop me."
It was truly a pity.
"……."
"……."
"Hey."
Can't you feel my sincerity?
"…Ji-oh-ssi, you're a good cook as well."
At the words Iser managed to force out, Seo Ji-oh smiled.
"I'm glad to hear you say so."
"Are you especially skilled with seafood?"
"I'm good at everything, overall."
"Where did you learn this cooking method?"
"Well… I simply…"
Hair of platinum blond so pale it was nearly silver caught the eye.
"…wanted to eat it this way."
"I see."
Eyes the color of sunlight scattered across the water's surface came into view.
"It's just something grilled over a campfire, but it was so delicious I had to ask."
"If that's all, you can ask me anytime. No need to be formal."
"Because sharing what you know is a joy?"
"…Does Eun-ha have a mind-reading skill among his abilities?"
"I had a feeling you would say something like that."
Giovanni had always had those words on his lips as well.
As I thought… a little…
No—a great deal.
He resembles him far too much.
At this rate, even the suspicion Iser had manufactured himself—that this was merely "someone else who happens to look quite similar"—would not hold.
I can't keep acting like this.
He was fully aware he was doing something stupid. When the human named Yu Seong-un sent him looks that said, Are you really okay going on like this?, Iser was so pathetic he could not even call the man insolent.
"Where is your hometown, Ji-oh-ssi?"
"You may not know it. It was a terribly rural place."
"The countryside…"
"I farmed a little now and then as well."
"I see."
Even the oddly unpretentious air—odd for a priest of noble birth—was the same.
Ah, I can't do this…
He no longer had the energy for schemes.
…Judging by how the entire dungeon has lightened in atmosphere, Sister must be flustered as well. If even she is rattled, there's no way I would be fine. This was never supposed to drag on this long… At this rate, it would be better to leave Earth quickly…
That would be the path back to his old, calm reason.
"……."
But.
Was that truly all right?
…Is it right for us to leave this dimension with only Giovanni remaining behind?
He had wandered countless dimensions, yet never once had he encountered someone he could identify at a glance as, Ah, this is Giovanni. No matter how he thought about it, this man seemed to be Giovanni's reincarnation.
But why does he possess divinity? Unless some dimension's Sun God interfered… No, but a being on the level of the Sun God wouldn't bother caring what becomes of humans.
The situation was pure confusion, yet one thing was certain.
"…What do you plan to do afterward?"
He needed to get these people out quickly.
Looking at the situation, holding only Giovanni back will be difficult. Just send them all out together, consult with Sister, organize our thoughts, and draft a new plan. That won't be too late.
It was Yu Seong-un who answered the question.
"First we have to find a way out."
"A way out…"
"In cases like this, the methods usually fall into about three categories."
Having roughly filled his stomach with fish, Yu Seong-un continued.
"The most orthodox method would be clearing the dungeon successfully. But we don't have that many hunters, and more importantly, the moment we take our eyes off them we have a pile of civilians who will die. Even without people to protect, a hard clear isn't something this force could manage."
"Then what are the other methods?"
"Having an item that lets you leave a dungeon, like a return stone. But that isn't a particularly wise choice either. From what I've seen, this doesn't look like a dungeon where low-grade items would work… and even if they did, how many items would there be? Only a handful of us would barely make it out."
"That's true."
"The last method is, of course…"
Yu Seong-un's gaze settled on Eun-ha—Iser—who was still smiling in that monochrome way.
"……."
"……."
The fleeting look scattered, and Yu Seong-un went on.
"The dungeon's master opens the door himself."
Iser inwardly clicked his tongue.
Has he read my thoughts?
No—perhaps the conclusion had been too obvious even before thoughts could be read.
To merfolk and humans alike, Giovanni's existence had strayed far beyond every expectation. Both sides were thrown into confusion, so the intent seemed to be a mutual reset before they clashed again.
A C-class hunter who had been quietly listening to Yu Seong-un asked uneasily,
"W-Would that even work? If something happened at the Temple of the Sun, it means the dungeon's master deliberately set this in motion… and the number of people dragged here is enormous. The master must be strong."
"It is not entirely impossible."
Kang Seo-dam replied in the low, solemn tone peculiar to priests.
"There is a saying that a dungeon is a theater stage. The higher the dungeon's rank, the more tightly it is bound to its master, and the clearer the master's story becomes for the raiders to examine."
"Uh… and that means…?"
"In short, if you simply follow the story well, there are times when the door opens by luck. Tales of civilians who escaped a dungeon after the master was moved by a raider's devotion are not mere rumor."
"Whoa—I thought those were tabloid stories…"
"They are real cases that occur from time to time. Especially with masters intelligent enough to approach humanoid monsters, the odds of that kind of escape increase. A dungeon of this scale almost certainly has a master close to humanoid form."
At that point Yu Seong-un cut in.
"We're already seeing a similar phenomenon. Right after we were dragged in, there were quite a few casualties, but look now. We're openly lighting a campfire and eating, and no monsters are attacking."
"Indeed, for a dungeon that has admitted this many raiders, it is showing an unnaturally stabilized state. It likely means the master's feelings regarding this incident have shifted. It feels as though we are being shown considerable leniency."
"Thinking of it that way, the third option has the highest success rate given our situation. If we work it carefully, they might open the door for us."
"I am hoping for something similar."
Ah, right.
"……."
Iser decided simply to keep his mouth shut.
What rotten luck.
The skill with which they exchanged conversation while pretending not to know his identity was first-rate.
Yu Seong-un has already spoken with me directly, but Priest Kang Seo-dam cannot be unaware of my identity either. I have openly revealed the power of the deep before without any intention of hiding it… I can hardly keep acting like an ordinary human child at this point.
Iser looked at Ji-oh.
"I hope things go well either way. The fish here is delicious, but…"
"……."
"I still want to go home."
At that, Iser asked,
"What sort of place is your home, Ji-oh-ssi?"
"Ah, an ordinary cabin."
"A cabin."
"A cabin in a secluded forest, with few people around."
"……."
A house that suits you remarkably well, does it not?
…Hearing even that…
I cannot simply keep him confined.
Iser decided to release the humans caught in the net.
"……."
He could always catch them again later, after all.
Iser knew the greed of humans toward merfolk.
The people who had been dragged into the unranked virtual dungeon returned alive.
The survival rate reached eighty percent of the total, and everyone with one voice praised it as a miracle.
"If this counts as a miracle, then I suppose it is one."
"I don't know what you mean."
"Ji-oh, you just stay exactly as you are."
"I don't know what you mean."
"Right… just like that, right now."
Yu Seong-un shuddered at the efficacy of "Ji-oh's Portrait."
(To be continued)