act18d3

The streets have calmed.

The wandering singer closes the bulky box and carries it on her back again.

Skadi begins to step forward.

She takes one step and then another. The pile of limbs and coagulated fluids beneath her feet instantly rot and weather away.

On her third step, as the hems of her dress flutter in the sea breeze, the tiny particles of crystal scattered all across the ground disperse into the air as well.

D-Did you see that just now?

I saw all of it.

How did she even do that?

She is a singer...

Inquisitor, this is nothing strange for her. That's something she's always been capable of.

Singer... what? You're still calling her by that name?

How else should I call her? You're the Inquisitor. You tell me.

I need to go outside.

Hey, wait!

What are you doing? So you think you can stop me too? I am an Inquisitor!

What is this... So slimy...

Phew... I-I got it! I landed a blow! That was close, Inquisitor.

Thank goodness you smashed this chair to pieces. It gave me a weapon when I needed one to smack this thing. It would've climbed on top of you otherwise!

Y-You...! All of you are out of your minds!

How could you not be scared, seeing these things?

I was. Just a little. They're not as scary as you, though.

You... How dare you compare me to these monsters?!

Fine, I won't argue with you. You haven't seen them before, and you have no idea what they are capable of. It's no wonder you are not scared.

Wait, the other inhabitants are coming outside. They... What are they doing?!

They're not scared at all either...

The problem...

I need to find where this problem lies...

The problem, as the Inquisitor sees it, is the most abnormal sight she sees unfolding before her eyes.

The Inquisitor looks at the girl standing before her. Then, she looks over at the lone Ægir standing outside.

Finally, she turns her gaze to the inhabitants now lining into the streets.

Sand.

Salt... So salty.

That thing just now. You can eat it. It's gone. A shame.

Too bad.

You can eat salt.

Yes, it's edible.

More. More... Mhmm, blurgh.

It's dirty.

Swallow it. More...

Stop right there!

I still have questions for you, and you will answer them—What do you mean, they're here for you?

I'm bleeding.

I can tell that much. You were wounded in your fight with the High Inquisitor, so you ran away. How's that got anything to do with these... monsters showing up?

They can smell my blood.

They're here to... kill you? I saw them all dashing toward you—

Perhaps.

Perhaps?

They can't hurt me.

Y-You! Do you know how annoying the way you talk is?

It's the truth.

They—I mean these monsters—They're gone.

Yes.

They're all gone without a trace, as if they never were. If I didn't see them clearly with my own eyes, I would've thought this all a dream.

These monsters... the Sea Terrors. I've come across them plenty of times before. They don't look that much like these ones, but they have that same disgusting stench.

But that was on the beach, and they never show up in such numbers. Do you mean to tell me they do not actually live in the sea?

They only show up when someone goes look for trouble at the shore, right? Just like what you were doing during the day.

And now they came this far away from the beach. They've nearly made it to the streets.

They can make it far more places than you can imagine. They can spread by changing form, permeating every corner of the world.

Be it iron-forged cities, villages built atop the highlands, or barrenlands with nothing but sand. Wherever one can go, they can too.

How is that possible?!

The world is surrounded by ocean. Just because you cannot see the ocean does not mean that the land where you stand will forever remain untouched by its waters. The seas are alive and ever flowing, and so are the calamities they bring with them.

I know there are places where the seas are dangerous, but I didn't know that the danger existed... in the lands outside Iberia too.

Danger exists everywhere.

Still, these calamities are here because of me. If you come any closer, you will be affected too.

You... Just who are you?!

I already told you.

Enough with the wandering singer thing! I saw it all.

You were fighting them, and you know exactly how to fight them too.

When you finished them off, your technique was so much better than when you were fighting the High Inquisitor and me.

I don't have quite the same handle on fighting humans.

A-Ahem... Let's dispense with the strange talk... I know you are a strange one, but still...

Were you... a hunter? I can kind of see that in your eyes.

If you think I am, then sure.

And you hunted these... Sea Terrors before?

They need to be eliminated.

Ugh... The way you talk just grates me so much, but—I don't even know why—coming from you, this doesn't sound like a lie at all.

Singer, hunter... It doesn't matter to me what you were.

Going by the circumstances, I suppose you saved not just my life, but everyone who lives on this street, maybe even the entire town.

You may be the enemy of my enemy, but that does not make you a friend.

No matter the case, I need to do my job. I have to take you away.

You were asking me what I am doing here.

I am here to seek an answer, and this answer only has to do with me... and the person I am looking for.

You wouldn't tell me a thing earlier.

You didn't give me a chance to tell you.

You may have given me an answer now, but that doesn't mean my judgment has changed.

You don't belong to this city. A person like you showing up is a mistake.

Not to mention... You told me yourself you brought this disaster with you.

—It's certainly not how I imagined it, though.

Nonetheless, Ægir. You are dangerous. You are a danger to this city. At the same time, this city is also a danger to you.

Hm?

Look at them. They are... eating scraps of the Sea Terrors' remains. They don't fear these monsters... No, they don't even know what monsters are.

They feed when they are hungry. As a monster does. And humans... humans know what fear is.

So... Are they still human?

All I know is that they're trying their best to live.

From that perspective, there's nothing that sets humans and monsters apart.

When they live like that... can you really say they are alive?

The High Inquisitor told me to see it for myself, and only now do I understand what he meant.

In this city, the biggest problem isn't whatever its citizens are doing. It's that they are still alive in this manner—This is the most abnormal thing of all.

Like you, they are dangerous, and this danger must be kept under control, just like how mistakes must be corrected.

You haven't given up.