Welcome Back to the Sea

For the record, the kidnapped Cha I-sol had not a single thought in his head.

"Eun-ha, your eyes are so cool."

It was no wonder he got along so well with Ji-oh.

"They just sparkle!"

"Ha…"

"They're like a dragon's!"

"They're reptilian, when you get down to it."

"No way, they're way cooler than that!"

"Dragons are a kind of reptile."

"Wait, for real…??"

Cha I-sol asked with a deadly serious face.

"So does that mean you go into hibernation when it gets cold too…?"

"I do not. Strictly speaking, I am a fish."

"You're not a fish."

"What do you mean…?"

"You're not a fish, though?"

"Ah…"

It seemed he meant that it was hard to find any "mermaid" traits in Iser's appearance.

"…Then did my eyes look human to you?"

"Aren't mermaids supposed to have those? You know, the legs… fish legs…"

"……"

"You don't have legs."

"…I do have them…"

Human children truly had so many questions.

"I can explain that part for you."

"Ah, Sister."

"Hard work looking after a child, isn't it?"

"I cannot deny that."

The Iser of this moment was not the "Eun-ha" Cha I-sol remembered. Though he now clearly took the form of an adult, and ought to have seemed different from the boy Cha I-sol knew, the excessively familiar way the child spoke and acted left Iser quite at a loss.

He is treating us so mildly even though he has been kidnapped—he really is brave. When Iser quietly stepped back, his older sister Aria approached.

"Hello, young gentleman."

"You're pretty!"

"Thank you for the compliment."

Aria smiled with perfect courtesy and greeted him with such elegance she could have stepped straight into high society.

"In Earth's fairy tales, mermaids may have had fish tails for legs, but not every mermaid is like that. On the planet we came from, every individual merfolk had entirely different merfolk traits."

"…Your words are hard!"

"It means there are merfolk who have mermaid tails, and merfolk who do not. In Eun-ha's case, he was born without a tail."

Saying so, Aria called her brother over as if to provide a demonstration.

"Iser."

"……"

Iser, a faint weariness showing through his characteristic smile, lifted the hair by his ear to show them.

"There—can you see Eun-ha's ear?"

"Oh… it's different."

"Unlike human ears, we have special ear fins unique to merfolk."

She continued like a teacher.

"Besides that, if you spread your fingers you can see the webbing, and there are scales here and there on the body. And though it is hidden right now, a separate tail grows so that we can swim more skillfully."

"What about you, Miss?"

"I possess the mermaid tail you are familiar with, young gentleman. But a fish's fin is inconvenient for moving about in a place without water like this, so for now I have split the tail into two forks and formed legs that allow upright walking."

"Whoa…"

"Any merfolk from my planet can show this ability. Contrary to what humans believe, merfolk evolved so that we could live on land as well."

"That's amazing…!"

Cha I-sol was purely delighted. It was not that the unfamiliar surroundings failed to make him tense at all, but Eun-ha did not look as though he had the slightest intention of harming him.

He was not unaware that this was a kidnapping, yet he held the firm belief that his older brother and sister would come looking for him no matter what. Rather than growing frightened, Cha I-sol was as excited as if he had come to an amusement park.

"But…"

That side of Cha I-sol certainly struck Aria as special too.

"You do not seem to fear merfolk, young gentleman."

"…? Am I not supposed to?"

"I have heard that Earth's humans tremble in terror when they meet a merfolk face to face."

Ever since the event Earth called the Great Cataclysm, merfolk had been sighted on Earth dozens or even hundreds of times. Of course they, being monsters, had attacked humans, so most people of Earth feared them.

"And what's more, you yourself have been kidnapped by us."

"Uh… I know."

"Would you tell me how you can still smile like this?"

"You didn't hit me…?"

"Oh."

Aria tilted her head.

"We could hit you, you know?"

"…Are you going to hit me? Then I'll run away."

"My, how pitiful. It would be rather difficult to run away now, though."

"So you're not going to hit me after all?"

"There is nothing more foolish than abusing a precious hostage. But even if we promise not to inflict pain and suffering upon you, young gentleman, how could you possibly trust that?"

"If you say you won't, then you won't… right?"

"……"

Aria lost her words for a moment and looked back at her brother.

"A formidable foe."

"Indeed he is."

"He really is the sort of human Ji-oh would like."

"I thought he simply cherished him because he was a child."

"That could be as well. He was always one to gather the young and weak into his arms."

Aria raised her head.

"He will be here soon."

The sound of the sea being churned reached them.

"……"

"To react this well—even allowing for how much Ji-oh cherishes children, it is rather quick."

"…It means they were preparing on their side as well."

"So it was not only we who were steeling our hearts. Whatever the outcome, I shall not feel wronged."

"They were not only paying attention to us, after all."

Iser suddenly thought how long it had been since the word "heart" had come from Aria's lips. Watching his sister with a smile at the corner of his mouth, he soon held out a hand to Cha I-sol.

He was not a merfolk who feared offering a hand to a human. Having taken Giovanni as his teacher, he was fully capable of becoming an ideal priest.

"Shall we go, Priest Cha I-sol?"

"I mean, I'm not a priest yet…"

"I am."

He merely despised them, that was all.

"Is my hand not too cold?"

"It's super cold—can I stick a hand warmer on it?"

"…You may not. My skin would dry out."

"Then don't you get cold hands and feet?"

"Merfolk originally have lower body temperatures than humans. We do not suffer such things."

It took a little time, but at last the preparations to receive Ji-oh were complete.

And they had no intention of fighting.

"……"

"Having nightmares again?"

"I'm not."

I hope not.

"A pleasure to meet you!"

Ji-oh had died, and even after coming back to life he was still Ji-oh.

"Are our merfolk friends who have received the sea's full grace present?"

"My goodness, who might this be."

Descending the entrance steps of the temple, Aria laughed with refined grace. Her splendid mermaid dress billowed down the stairs like waves.

"Is this not the new Sun God who barged in without the homeowner's permission—Mister Black Cape?"

"Black Cape? I am Seo Ji-oh at present. Please be careful not to make that mistake later."

"Very well, Ji-oh."

"Actually, it is Giovanni."

"…That is possible too."

Smiling as she answered, Aria turned to look at the humans wearing blank expressions.

"From the looks of it, you have all come swarming in to rescue a human child."

"…Are you young Eun-ha's family, Miss Mermaid?"

"That is right. I am Aria, Iser's older sister and the true master of this dungeon."

"Oh…"

Yu Seong-un looked at Ji-oh.

"Looks like when we get back I'll have to propose raising the dungeon's rank."

"Why? As I understand it, it is already quite high…"

"There are two dungeon masters. Cases like this aren't common."

Keeping the smile on his face, Yu Seong-un let out a sigh and looked back at Aria.

"The fact that the true master of the dungeon has come out in person without any tension means you have no intention of fighting us, I take it? May we take it that way?"

"How nice that we understand each other so well."

Aria's eyes curved into crescents. She was a monster quite skilled at playing coy.

"I am sorry for taking your brother without permission, Hunter Cha Ah-ra."

"Uh…"

"We only used him as a device to summon all of you. We did not leave so much as a single scratch, so do not worry and go check on your brother."

"Uh, uh-uh… uh…"

"It seems the frail hunter lady is afraid to go alone. Would the other two gentlemen over there kindly accompany her? That would be the proper courtesy toward a lady, would it not?"

Yu Seong-un shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm no gentleman, you know."

His duty was to look after the existence of the Source and to manage and supervise the works in the gallery. Yu Seong-un looked between Kang Seo-dam and Cha Ah-ra.

"I'll stay with Ji-oh, so it would be best if the priest and Hunter Cha Ah-ra secure young Cha I-sol first. Since merfolk Iser is nowhere in sight, the odds are high that they are together."

"The probability of combat is low, then."

"Young Cha I-sol was bait to draw Ji-oh in. The situation is not emotionally ugly, so the claim that he is unharmed is probably true. We should move before we ruffle the merfolk's feathers any further."

"That certainly makes sense."

Kang Seo-dam led the thoroughly cowed Cha Ah-ra into the temple. Aria kindly guided them from behind.

"They will be in the last room down the corridor, with my brother."

"…Thank you for telling us."

Once the two hunters were out of sight, Aria fixed her gaze on Ji-oh.

"……"

Her lips, red as if painted with blood, opened heavily.

"You look so much like him."

"Does it not occur to you that I am the man himself?"

"What do you think, Mister Seo Ji-oh?"

"It may not be the case, in truth."

"When you put it that way, it rather feels like you are the Ji-oh I know."

Aria's eyes curved.

"That man always left the possibilities open."

"Did he?"

"Even his own death."

"I am ashamed."

"……"

Looking down at Ji-oh and Yu Seong-un from the stairs, Aria turned her body.

"Come in, gentlemen."

"……"

"Enjoy the mermaid's invitation to your heart's content."

Yu Seong-un muttered under his breath.

"…If I weren't with you, Ji-oh, that would have sounded like the opening line of a battle."

Aria's voice carried something that grotesque and chilling.

Even as she smiled softly, the loathing and contempt directed at humans were all too clear.

Aria guided Ji-oh and Yu Seong-un to the banquet hall.

"Wow, a seafood party."

Yu Seong-un was incredulous.

"Is a mermaid allowed to do this?"

"Humans truly are narrow-minded. Do humans never hunt and eat a single land creature?"

"Please spare a thought for how a human feels being served a seafood banquet prepared by merfolk in the deep sea. It's scary. This table with not a scrap of meat on it makes you start imagining what kind of message it's supposed to send."

"It is not as though we have set a human upon the table. What is the problem?"

"This is genuinely terrifying…"

Aria's tone had already shifted into something more casual.

Is it because this is a space that can more or less be called home, or…

Yu Seong-un stole a glance at Ji-oh.

…Is it simply that a meal shared with this guy puts her at ease?

It could have been both.

Ji-oh paid no mind to whatever the two of them were chattering about and found his own seat. He looked rather familiar with the place. Yu Seong-un surveyed the banquet hall, which felt luxurious and extravagant for a temple.

"For a temple, there's an awful lot of this and that around here."

"This Sun Temple did not make austerity a virtue."

"Uh… huh?"

Yu Seong-un looked at Ji-oh again.

"You know where this is too?"

"I was educated here, so of course I would know."

"Educated, meaning…"

"I learned a great many things as a priest. You may think of it as a training school for young priests."

"Aha."

It seemed the way of raising priests was similar no matter the world.

Confirming that Aria was gazing steadily at Ji-oh as he explained, Yu Seong-un swallowed a sigh and took the seat beside him. Aria, as if it were only natural, sat not in the seat of honor but across from Ji-oh.

"…? You are the master of this place. Why do you not sit in the seat of honor?"

"The master of that seat was not me—it was the pope."

Aria's eyes curved into round crescents.

"I ate him."

Ji-oh startled and looked at Aria.

"Did you not get an upset stomach?"

"No… wait a second, Ji-oh, is that what matters right now?"

"How much saturated fat was packed into that human's belly…"

"I am asking whether that is what matters right now."

A monster had eaten a person, and was this really all he had to say? Aria seemed to be thinking something similar.

"You do not look particularly regretful."

"After all the hardship I suffered because of that human, do you expect me to speak kindly of him?"

"You wear that noble face and yet you can be quite cutting."

As her lips curved in a short laugh, her blue-green hair swayed with them.

"You really must be my teacher after all."

"It may be so, or it may not."

"If you cannot define yourself, shall I tell you?"

Aria smiled.

"Teacher."

"……"

"The human teacher of the merfolk. Priest Giovanni, incarnation of the saint. Savior of humanity and its betrayer."

"I have grown rather grandiose without realizing it."

Ji-oh smiled back at her.

Yu Seong-un suddenly realized that the smiles of Giovanni, Aria, and Iser were remarkably alike. They were clearly smiling faces, and yet what one felt was heaviness rather than joy…

Even so, Ji-oh continued speaking.

"What will you call me from now on, Aria?"

"Anything is fine."

Snap—!

When the mermaid flicked her fingers, the temple filled with seawater.

"……"

Yet their breath was not cut off.

"Welcome back to your sea."

Hair like the deep sea scattered like coral.

The mermaid's dress moved like a languid wave, like fins. Her pearl-colored eyes flashed piercingly, and the tiara upon her head gave off a mysterious light.

The seafood of the banquet hall, now fully submerged, lifted their already-dead heads and gaped their mouths in welcome to the guests—and invaders.

"…Yeah, of course…"

In that place stood the incarnation of the sea itself.

"……"

"Ji-oh."

Eyes that could never be human held the saint who had been the most human being in the world.

"Let us talk."

"Very well."

"If I do not like what I hear, I will eat every last human."

For thousands of years the merfolk princess had been furious.

"You as well."

And that fury was aimed solely at "humans."

(To be continued)