Ch#37
“E-Eve. I’m sorry. I-I was wrong.”
Basto stared blankly at Kal’s back.
Kal stood alone on the rain-lashed deck, staring into empty space.
“I-I just! Th-the situation was urgent……!”
His terror-stricken eyes were unfocused, his legs trembling uncontrollably.
Clear drool flowed from his gaping mouth, as if foam would bubble up any second.
“Basto!”
Then Veil came running from behind, holding Tiye.
“Uncle Basto…….”
Tiye cautiously called to Basto.
But Basto just kept staring at Kal.
“No! No, Eve-! I don’t wanna die! I don’t wanna get eaten by monsters! A-ahh-!”
“…….”
“Sp-save me! Damn it, leave me alone! If you’re gonna die, die by yourself, why me, Eve……! Please! Please, I’m begging like this, please!”
The name Kal shouted into empty space.
Eve was his dead wife’s.
A faint voice leaked from Basto’s lips, barely audible.
“……Tiye.”
“…….”
“What Kal is seeing…… is it the spirits of the dead?”
Astie, who had been hesitating, nodded with a sullen face.
“……Yes.”
After summoning the wrecked ship Ghost Sail Ship, Tiye met the spirit ‘Grimnir’, who had once been the ship’s owner.
Grimnir’s spirit called Tiye ‘Master’ and explained the wrecked ship’s effects.
“So…… this Ghost Sail Ship moves with Tiye’s magic, and while moving, the ship and surroundings all become Tiye’s domain.”
She had to listen to Grimnir’s explanation for a long time since she didn’t know what a domain was.
But after hearing it all, Tiye could precisely understand her own power.
“In Tiye’s domain, tides of the dead flow! Enemies touched by it all fall into silence!”
Silence.
It meant the quiet of the deep sea.
That was why enemies touched by the tides were enveloped in inexplicable silence.
“In silence, senses weaken, connecting the living world’s people and spirits, then you can meet spirits trapped in the abyss. The more so, slowly lose life force too.”
Like Kal and his men before her eyes.
“Aaah- Eve, it hurts! Hurts!”
Kal was now scratching his body frantically like a madman.
His disheveled hair and gaunt face showed he’d already lost much of his life force.
“Then…… does that mean Eve became a spirit?”
Tiye was at a loss for words.
Tiye had keenly realized Eve was Basto’s dead wife.
‘Uncle Basto found out the person he loved couldn’t go to heaven and is trapped in the abyss…….’
She couldn’t even imagine how that felt.
“Then…….”
Unable to answer, as she hesitated.
[Poor you.]
Eve’s spirit, standing before Kal, suddenly turned her head toward Tiye.
It might look grotesque to Kal, but not to Tiye’s eyes.
Eve, glowing blue all over, was elegant and neat.
[It’s not just hell where I am……. The place you’re standing is hell too.]
Tears streamed from Eve’s eyes.
She moved silently to Basto’s side and placed one hand on his cheek.
[Still, Basto…… not for our Lilia. I’m trapped by vicious resentment, but Lilia is safe.]
But Basto couldn’t hear Eve’s words.
Naturally, since only enemies and Tiye could see the spirits in Tiye’s domain.
Tiye hesitated, then approached Basto.
“Um, Uncle Basto…….”
Basto blankly turned his head.
Tiye fidgeted anxiously with her hands.
“Eve said Lilia is safe…….”
Basto’s expression went blank.
“Lilia…… went to a good place.”
Silence fell.
After a long while, Basto’s body collapsed.
He knelt on the deck and covered his face with both hands like a child.
His body was covered in large and small wounds from fighting Kal and his men.
“Lilia…….”
Tears leaking between his palms dripped, forming water spots on the deck.
“Eve, Lilia…….”
Tiye looked at crying Basto and Eve standing before him.
Then Eve quietly turned her body.
[I’ll end it here.]
Only then did Tiye realize Eve was looking at her.
Surprised and unable to reply, Eve continued.
[……I don’t want to burden him with anything anymore.]
Eve’s smile toward Tiye was wistful yet tender.
Eve soon approached Kal, standing alone away from the others.
Soon as Kal started moving, Veil’s eyes narrowed.
“What’s that.”
To everyone except Tiye, Kal looked like he was walking alone toward the deck’s end.
In reality, Eve was dragging him by gripping his neck with both hands.
Kal at the deck’s edge staggered.
There, the railing was broken, leaving it wide open.
As everyone watched entranced, Eve turned to Tiye.
[Take care of Basto.]
The next moment.
Kal’s body slowly toppled toward the sea.
No splash sound came.
Because before he hit the surface, a massive monster with gaping jaws swallowed him whole.
Basto was silent for a long time.
Veil and the others watching him were the same.
Eve had already faded into pale smoke.
* * *
Death Hound, leaderless, was quickly subdued by Veil, Basto, and Tiye.
Monsters attacked from places, but it wasn’t a big problem.
“Tiye! Show the super strong technique! Foggy playground!”
At the excited shout, pale sea currents swept foam across the surface.
“Monsters touched by currents lose power! Uwahahahaha! Dead monsters become Tiye’s side again!”
Behind excitedly laughing Tiye.
“Kyaaak-”
A flying monster approached threateningly.
The monster glided low, claws out toward Tiye, but
“Tiye even stronger technique! Pea bullet friends!”
Soul aggregates rising from the water pierced the flying monster’s wings.
The flying monster tried to swallow the souls, but to no avail.
Souls dove underwater when about to be caught and swam fast.
Because they held deep sea chill, ice quickly frosted the pierced wings.
“Keeheeek-!”
As the monster crashed into the sea, waves of death swallowed the corpse.
“Here and there~ then there and here~”
Tiye sat on the railing, even humming a tune.
Every time she lost balance about to fall, black shapes caught her.
“……Cr-crazy kid.”
Veil muttered.
Not lying, Veil really thought Tiye was scary.
“B-Basto bro…… spare us, yeah?”
“We didn’t want to either! Would we want to cross weapons with Basto bro?!”
Meanwhile, Basto was binding the subdued Death Hound members one by one.
“Next, you. Come here.”
The lined-up members obediently approached when called and held out both wrists.
Basto found ropes on the wrecked ship and tightly bound the mercenaries’ arms.
“B-B-Basto bro. H-h-here, bone fragments on the rope……? A-ah, no matter how I look, these are human bones?”
“Next.”
“…….”
And finally.
Near the helm on the deck.
“What did you just say?”
Marianne, watching the helm turning by itself due to spirits, asked incredulously.
Her twins stood side by side before her.
Raoul, the older one, answered.
“I said I want to take up the sword again.”
Marianne’s mouth slightly opened.
She couldn’t believe the words from her son’s mouth.
“Raoul, you’ve gone mad.”
Raoul’s younger brother Enzo sighed.
“Bro hasn’t gone mad, Mom. I think the same. Can’t keep living like this anyway…….”
“No! Even if I die, I won’t allow it!”
At the scream-like voice, the twins shut their mouths.
“Why did Mom leave the Capital for Pearl City, for whom? All because you two were suffering so much……!”
“Mom. That’s not it.”
At that moment, Raoul cut her off.
