act18d3

Perhaps she can feel there is something right in front of her.

Before her is the entire ocean.

She puts her whole strength into striking the enormous yet almost shapeless object before her.

Everything she can feel immediately crumbles away.

An ice cold yet burning hot liquid swallows her. These are the ocean's currents, as well as its blood.

The very last dance has concluded. The seas have calmed, and she can no longer hear her people's singing.

She saved... No, she has no idea what it is that she actually saved.

Likewise, she does not have the faintest idea what it is she triumphed over.

She paddles her arms and kicks her feet as though her life depends on it, yet the waters of the ocean pay no heed to her willpower. Like solid blocks of iron, the water has become cold and stiff, squeezing her body from all directions.

She stops moving, leaving herself to the mercy of the sea.

As she sinks further and further into the ocean, a black shadow envelops her.

The countless voices begin to materialize around her. Some of them are crying and some... are murmuring.

The sea is talking to her.

Its cold, lightless form has been restored, as have her eyes. She cannot see the path upward. She is sinking downward further and further, just as she is rising upward more and more.

At a place deeper than even the sea's deepest abysses, she is lifted up by the warm waters, as though the waters themselves are the waiting arms of her family.

She opens her lips. The saltwater gushes into her throat and dissolves her completely before reconstructing her anew.

She has found her singing voice once more.

Hm...♪

Uhh...

Singer, you're awake! Good morning!

Was someone just singing?

I-Is this a song? I don't know how to sing, but you were humming this while you were asleep.

I...

Ow! Singer... You are grabbing too hard...

You...

The girl's figure turns faint. Just like in the sea.

No, the one in the sea was someone else.

The dream is ripping her nerves to shreds.

The musical notes are dancing, twisting themselves into the cries of her family.

Mother...

They are dying before her eyes, and there is nothing she can do to prevent it.

Monsters...

Monsters.

Monsters!

They are screaming, as is everyone around her.

She must grab her weapon.

Ah!

*cough*... Singer, your box... It's really hurting my chest when you press it against me...

Her blade pierces through a monster in the midst of feeding on a person.

The monster turns around.

She sees a face she often sees in the mirror.

I...

The box falls on the ground, bouncing slightly before it comes to a stop. The object stored therein tumbles inside the box a little but does not fall out.

A-Are you letting go? That really scared me...

Singer, I thought you were going to kill me.

If I were going to kill you, I could've done that easily.

But you don't want to kill me.

You can tell?

I can tell.

But I don't know.

Eh?

R-Running out again...? Singer, where are you going?!

Sir... The tides are rising again.

The colors of the sea... That patch of color has changed.

What is there in the water? I-Is it shells and finfish? Why would they suddenly show up in the water? And why are they growing closer and closer to the shore?

From far deeper places, they made their way here by following currents that normally would not exist.

What?!

I thought... the reason they headed into the sea, claiming it would get them food, was some absurd, unfounded belief. I thought, in their despair, they were fooled into doing this...

But I never imagined... they are actually dealing with the sea? They are using their own men as fodder to feed the monsters of the sea, and the monsters then also feed them in return?

This mutualism is horrifying... and wretched...! No wonder there are so many Sea Terrors here!

But I thought I put an end to it yesterday...!

Not all corrections are fruitful. This is something you must understand.

I...

Am I in the wrong, High Inquisitor? I just wanted to save them.

To right a wrong, you either bring what strayed from righteousness back onto the right path—

But... What do the people here even see as right?

You can't grow any food in the lands and seas of Sal Viento anymore.

This was a foregone conclusion decades ago, and to fight it would be futile. The nomadic city, the society, and the people who live in it... They are all slowly marching towards their death.

They asked me... If... If there isn't a way out... How are they supposed to see right from wrong?

—Or perhaps make that which is wrong no more.

Sir...! You don't mean...

You are doubting me.

I... No, of course not. I just...

They may have turned out like this... but they were once Iberian citizens. I want to protect them, and I hope I can help these inhabitants... so that they can make our country a better place.

You should have doubts.

Huh?

In making a judgment, rely on no one but yourself!

Yes, sir...

Look out at the sea. What do you see?

I see... a threat.

Don't regurgitate your memorized answers.

Yes, sir!

The sea... is flowing. It's ever changing.

Remember everything that you see.

Change has happened, is happening, and will happen. If you can't see it clearly for yourself, you will find yourself lost.

Sir, what is that under your feet?!

What do you think?

A Sea Terror... Did we miss one when they attacked last night?! No, doesn't seem like it... This one wandered off the beach... It looks like it's climbed a long way... It's not quite the same...

I... uh... I should know this...

This is an evil that must be eradicated.

I get it... I can see it... It's the whole truth of this deal of theirs.

So this is what becomes of anyone who wanders into the sea... This is not just the monsters' nest. It's their breeding ground.

Uhh...

Doesn't that mean that all the people here will become monsters?!

(Grips scabbard)

High Inquisitor, I need to head back to the city.

Skadi sits on the shore.

Carried by the winds, the sea waves beat the shore ceaselessly, but never reaching her dress.

*pant*... *pant*... Phew... S-Singer, you're too fast...

But not fast enough.