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Episode 68
He was recognized by the sea as soon as he was born.
Aria, a mermaid who had been a descendant of the deep sea since birth, was always curious about the place beneath the sun where she had neither the duty nor the authority to rule. And there, she met a human.
“Now, Aria. Look at this cross-section. Human skin has layers.”
“Is it different from a mermaid’s skin?”
“It’s a little different, a mermaid’s skin can withstand the deep sea….”
He was a teacher.
“What are you drawing now?”
“Aria, I was drawing you.”
“This is a picture of the sea.”
“The sea is a mermaid.”
We were friends.
“It’s good to understand people, but it’s not bad to empathize with them either.”
“I don’t think there will be any difference.”
“You can accomplish more by simply empathizing than by understanding.”
“… … .”
It was a family.
Giovanni was the only one who was equal to Aria, or even higher in status. He was also different from his younger brother Isser, who had to be protected and looked after.
Aria could have interesting conversations with Giovanni. No matter what Aria did, Giovanni could handle her.
The existence of perfectly meshing gears.
“aria.”
“okay.”
“Please do not harm humans.”
She thought so.
“Why does it have to be like that?”
“Because I don’t want it.”
“That’s selfish.”
“Aria, that ugly priest always said.”
“A relationship is about being considerate and adapting.”
“I’m glad you remembered.”
Aria thought of herself and Giovanni as cogs that would never break, but Giovanni didn’t think so. He always talked about hatred.
“I am human, and Aria is a mermaid. We have different ways of thinking and expressing ourselves, but we have been able to become so close. Up until now, Aria has given me a lot of things and received a corresponding price in return.”
“So, do it like that this time too?”
“If you really don’t like it, fighting me and winning is also an option. I prefer to resolve differences of opinion through conversation rather than fighting, but Aria may like a more direct approach.”
“Geo, I don’t want to fight with you. So I’ll give in.”
“It’s really nice that we can still not hate each other despite our different opinions. Then, let’s try putting on Aria’s favorite clams for dinner tonight.”
It was fun.
“Is this the human way? It’s quite troublesome.”
“Not all humans are like this. I always say that humans are much more colorful and capricious than mermaids. If you want to interact with other humans later on… .”
“I don’t want to associate with such shallow people.”
“okay.”
It was fun being with him.
It was something rare that could not be found even among the same race.
“I wish you were a mermaid.”
“Unfortunately, when I die, I will return to the sun. That’s what I want.”
“Well, humans do feel the cold a lot. It would be warmer near the sun than in the deep sea. I admit it.”
“Thank you for your understanding.”
Well then, Geo.
“… … .”
“… … .”
When I finally let you go after showing my kindness, you should have returned to the sun.
“…Who, sister… .”
“What happened to Giovanni?”
I barely managed to save my brother who was dragged into the temple while helping humans, and I destroyed all the temples on Earth, but for some reason I couldn’t find even a single piece of Giovanni’s bones.
After almost a year, my younger brother came to his senses and answered without even crying.
“I ate it.”
My brother was laughing.
“I ate because I was hungry. The humans put some kind of drug into that small tank… .”
“… … .”
“… The rest of his body probably rotted and dissolved in the water. I ate most of it, though.”
“aha.”
Perhaps because I had been expecting the worst, I wasn’t that surprised.
‘Geo always worried that I would be hurt after he died, but it wasn’t as disturbing as I thought.’
It was pretty dull.
“I see.”
But he couldn’t stop himself from searching for the last trace of Geo, even if it was just the water he had rotted. He continued to search for Geo’s body, killing every human he saw.
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And we could find Geo in the Pope’s residence, the one most beloved of the Sun.
“… … .”
He became water.
“… It smells really bad.”
It was like looking at sea water.
“Shall I clean it up, Princess?”
“Okay, leave it like this.”
“but….”
“If we just leave it alone, it will flow into the sea.”
How long had he been kept there, and with what? When the large coffin used as a torture device was opened, his corpse, thick and melted like seaweed, flowed out.
There was no trace of human form whatsoever.
“… … .”
No, it wasn’t even a living thing.
“But it’s a long way from here to the sea.”
“doesn’t care.”
All that was needed was to bring the sea up to land.
“therefore….”
So deep that the sun is almost submerged.
“… … .”
Just looking at the corpse that had become water.
“… … .”
Left alone, Aria whispered.
“… I thought that when you die, it would be natural death due to the limitations of the species.”
“… … .”
“Humans have shorter life spans than mermaids. They age quickly and change easily. So if we were to eventually part ways… I thought it would be because your value had faded.”
“… … .”
“Whether that noble character is clouded by greed, or that a weak body withers away with illness, or that he overcomes all the trials and dies completely and returns to the sun. That was the kind of separation I had imagined. I understood and accepted that part properly.”
“… … .”
“Why did you have to die like this? It was not because your own value was blurred, but because you were beaten by the hands of demons who could not see even though they had eyes… You were not even in the sun, but spread out in the deep sea.”
“… … .”
“Humans are truly worthy of study, to be able to hate someone so casually.”
I couldn’t help but ask.
“Don’t you hate humans?”
The mermaid hated humans.
My hesitation in dealing with our separation came from your mortality, so I had no idea that the ending of this story would be so funny and miserable.
“Isn’t it cold there?”
You should have gone to the sun, you idiot.
“Nobody won.”
Even though he died trying to protect the mermaid, he ended up shivering from the cold.
Your values weren’t meant to be destroyed because of such a stupid racial conflict.
It was not right for us to be unable to go to the sun and only be a part of the sea.
“… … .”
The only mermaid who defended humans, my sister, kept her mouth shut.
“ah….”
Giovanni, the only human who could hold the mermaid, lost his mouth.
“…yes.”
“… … .”
“There’s no one who can stop me now.”
It was such a shame.
“… … .”
“… … .”
“hey.”
Can’t you feel my sincerity?
* * *
“… Mr. Geo, you’re good at cooking too.”
Sergio smiled at the words that Isser had difficulty speaking.
“I’m glad you said that.”
“Are you particularly good at cooking seafood?”
“Overall, everything is good.”
“Where did you learn this recipe?”
“Well, just….”
Her platinum-blond hair, almost silver, catches the eye.
“I wanted to try eating it like this.”
“okay.”
A blue-green sea appears, resembling a surface of water where sunlight scatters.
“It was just something I cooked over a campfire, but it was so delicious that I had to ask about it.”
“If it’s something like that, feel free to ask me anytime.”
“Isn’t it a pleasure to share what you know?”
“… Is there a mind-reading technique among the Galaxy students’ skills?”
“I had a feeling you would say something like that.”
Giovanni always had those words on his lips.
‘As expected, a little bit… .’
No, not a lot.
‘They look too similar.’
This is why even my own suspicions about ‘someone else who looks quite similar’ don’t work.
‘I can’t keep acting like this.’
I was fully aware that I was doing something stupid. When a human named Yoo Seong-un looked at me like, “Are you sure you’re okay like this?”, I felt so pathetic that I couldn’t even bring myself to call him arrogant.
“Mr. Geo, where is your hometown?”
“I don’t know if you know, but it was a really rural area.”
“Because it’s the countryside… .”
“Sometimes I farmed and stuff.”
“okay.”
For a priest of noble birth, he was also strangely easygoing.
‘Ah, that won’t work… .’
I don’t have the energy to talk anymore.
‘… Judging by the fact that the atmosphere in the entire dungeon has become lighter, I can tell that my older sister is flustered as well. If even my older sister is flustered, I can’t be okay either. This wasn’t supposed to drag on like this… It’s better to leave Earth quickly… .’
It would be a way to regain the calm reason of the past.
“… … .”
but.
Is that okay?
‘… Is it really right for us to leave Geo alone in this dimension?’
Although I’ve traveled through countless dimensions, there was no one I could tell for sure was Giovanni just by looking at them. However, no matter how much I thought about it, this person seemed to be Giovanni’s reincarnation.
‘But why is there divinity? It must be some kind of sun god from some dimension doing something. No, but… a being as great as the sun god wouldn’t necessarily care what happens to humans.’
It was a confusing situation, but one thing was certain.
“…What do you plan to do after that?”
These people had to be sent out quickly.
‘Looking at the situation, it’s hard to keep Geo alone. I’ll just send everyone away, and it won’t be too late to discuss it with my older sister, gather my thoughts, and come up with a new plan.’
It was Yoo Seong-un who answered that question.
“First, we need to find a way out.”
“There’s a way out….”
“Usually, in cases like this, there are three methods.”
Yoo Seong-un, whose stomach had been roughly filled with fish, continued speaking.
“The most orthodox method is to succeed in the conquest. However, we do not have many hunters, and above all, there are many civilians who will die if we take our eyes off them for even a moment. There is no way we can solve the difficult conquest with this number of people without anyone to guard them.”
“Then what other way is there?”
“It would be nice to have an item that would allow you to exit the dungeon, like a return stone, but this isn’t exactly a wise choice. After looking around, it seems like this isn’t a dungeon where low-grade items would work… and even if they did, how many items would there be? Only a few of us would be able to barely escape.”
“That’s true.”
“The last method is, of course… .”
Yoo Seong-un’s gaze fell on Eun-ha and Isser, who were still smiling colorlessly.
“… … .”
“… … .”
The momentary gaze dispersed, and Yoo Seong-un continued speaking.
“The dungeon owner himself opens the door.”
Isser clicked his tongue inwardly.
‘Have you read my mind?’
No, it might have been too obvious an ending even before the thought was read.
To both the mermaids and the humans, Giovanni’s presence was extremely unexpected. It seemed to mean that both sides were confused, so they should regroup and fight again.
The C-class hunter, who had been quietly listening to Yoo Seong-un’s words, asked with an anxious look.
“Is that so? If something happened at the Temple of the Sun, then it seems like the dungeon owner did something intentional as well… And the number of people captured is quite a lot. He must be a strong owner.”
“It’s not completely impossible.”
Kang Seo-dam responded in the gentle tone characteristic of a priest.
“There is a saying that dungeons are like theater stages. The higher the dungeon level, the more closely it is connected to its owner, and the more players can look into the dungeon owner’s story.”
“Uh… why is that…?”
“In short, if you just follow the story, there are times when the door will open with luck. The stories of civilians who escaped the dungeon because they were moved by the dedication of the raider who learned the story of the dungeon are not just empty boasts.”
“Oh my, I thought that was a flyer….”
“It actually happens quite often. Especially when the owner is intelligent enough to be close to a humanoid monster, the possibility of such an escape increases. In a dungeon of this scale, the owner is definitely close to a humanoid.”
At that point, Yoo Seong-un intervened.
“We’ve already seen similar phenomena. There were quite a few casualties right after we were dragged into the dungeon, but look at it now. We’re having a meal by a campfire, and no monsters are attacking us.”
“It’s strangely stable considering that so many raiders have entered this dungeon. Perhaps it means that the owner who caused this incident has changed his mind. I get the feeling that he’s being very lenient.”
“Considering that, the third option would be the one with the highest probability of success in our situation. If we just rub it well, the door might open.”
“I have similar expectations.”
Oh, yeah.
“… … .”
Isser decided to just keep his mouth shut.
‘What bad luck.’
The conversation skills of pretending not to know my identity were very high-level.
‘Even though Yoo Seong-un has already spoken directly with me, I don’t think that Priest Kang Seo-dam doesn’t know my identity. I have previously revealed my deep-sea energy openly without any intention of hiding it… I can’t come here and pretend to be an ordinary young human.’
Isser looked back at Geo.
“I hope it goes well either way. The fish here is delicious, though….”
“… … .”
“I really want to go home.”
Isser asked him.
“What kind of place is Mr. Geo’s house?”
“Oh, it’s just an ordinary cabin.”
“It’s a hut.”
“It’s a cabin in the forest where there are few people.”
“… … .”
Doesn’t this house suit you so well?
‘… Hearing something like this… .’
I can’t just leave it there.
Isser decided to release the humans caught in the net.
“… … .”
Anyway, I’ll just catch him again.
Isser knew of human greed for mermaids.
* * *
People who were dragged into a virtual dungeon of unspecified rank have returned alive.
The number of survivors reached 80% of the total, and everyone unanimously praised it as a miracle.
“If this is a miracle, then it is a miracle.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Geo, you stay the same.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“Yeah… That’s what I’m saying now.”
Yoo Seong-un was thrilled by the effectiveness of ‘Portrait of Geo’.
The painter who draws dungeons