episode_0214

Splash!

The moment I threw myself into the sea, the cold sensation of the seawater instantly enveloped my entire body.

…Come to think of it, I can’t even swim, can I?

Realizing this important fact belatedly, my body instinctively stiffened and I tightly closed my eyes.

【You can open your eyes.】

At that moment, Leviyah’s voice is heard.

Not generally heard in the ear, but her voice resonates directly in my head.

Believing Leviyah’s words, I carefully opened my eyes.

‘Ah!….’

Inside the cold sea, which I thought would be empty, a world that I had never seen in my life unfolded.

The light coming down from the sun high in the sky was creating a fantastic water color in the sea.

At the same time, various kinds of fish living in the sea were looking at me as if I were a marvel, and Leviyah was at the center of the school of fish.

【We are going to Laphtia as is. Take my hand.】

Leviyah says, reaching out her hand.

Her dark hair fluttering in the fantastic shimmering water, her golden eyes sparkling and looking at me, that appearance was so beautiful and fantastic that it was like seeing a beautiful ‘mermaid’ from a fairy tale, and my body unknowingly grasped Leviyah’s hand.

Leviyah’s right hand, held tightly.

At the same time, the surrounding fish began to move all at once, and soon created a huge flow of water.

The flow of water leading to the deep, deep sea.

Leviyah threw herself into that flow of water without hesitation.

Of course, I, who was holding Leviyah’s hand, was also drawn to Leviyah and fell into the flow of water.

‘Keuk?!….’

In the flow that was stronger than I imagined, my vision began to shake wildly up, down, left, and right.

The shock was like someone hitting my whole body wildly, and the consciousness I had barely been holding onto was severed.

* * *

“…on.”

My severed consciousness returns to the sound of someone calling me.

“Levi….”

A very familiar voice.

Following the voice that leads my consciousness, when I open my eyes, Leviyah’s figure looking at me comes into view.

“Leon.”

“Levi…yah?…. Ugh….”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah…. My body is a bit sore, but…. I think I’m okay for now.”

It seems I’m lying in bed.

After raising my upper body and looking around, I was in a room with quite fancy decorations.

I was in the sea until I lost consciousness, but how am I in this room?….

“Leviyah?…. Where is this?”

“…It’s better to see it for yourself.”

“…?”

Instead of answering my question, Leviyah pointed to the window with her hand, telling me to check it myself.

Judging from the bright light coming in through the window….

It seems the time is ‘daytime’.

I somehow got my sore body up and, with Leviyah’s help, turned my gaze out the window.

“Ah….”

How should I describe that sight?

I couldn’t find a way to describe that appearance that I had never seen before, so I could only open and close my mouth like a mute.

“This is Laphtia.”

“Laphtia…. This is….”

A view full of tall buildings.

The surface of the buildings is very smooth, and the seams where the bricks are piled up are not visible.

I don’t know what material it was made of, but the building reflects the sunlight floating in the sky and sparkles.

“We are in the center of Laphtia. I was waiting for Leon to wake up here.”

“Really?…. Then how long was I unconscious?”

“You weren’t unconscious for that long. About 3 hours?….”

“3 hours…. I really wasn’t unconscious for that long.”

Knock knock knock

The sound of knocking heard at that moment.

Leviyah and I turned around almost simultaneously.

“Excuse me.”

“Come in.”

As Leviyah’s voice reached, saying it was okay to come in, the door opened and a man walked in.

A man with hair that was purplish black. The man with purplish-black hair, wearing quite exotic attire, nodded lightly at Leviyah and greeted her, then turned his gaze to me.

“Welcome to Laphtia. I heard the story from Leviyah-nim. You said you wanted to use the transfer gate.”

“Yes?…. Ah, yes. I have something I need to hurry to do…. But it would take too much unnecessary time to just walk….”

“Ah, it’s okay. You don’t have to explain the reason.”

The man said, politely interrupting my words.

“Because you are Leviyah-nim’s acquaintance. No reason is needed.”

“Leviyah-nim?….”

I was bothered by it a while ago, but this person.

He is clearly showing respect to Leviyah.

I subtly turned my gaze to Leviyah, who was standing next to me.

She was still looking at the man in front of her with an expression that I didn’t know what she was thinking.

“The transfer gate hasn’t been used for a long time, but according to Leviyah-nim’s words, preparations for immediate activation have been completed. You can use it right now, but…. You must be tired from coming all the way here, so take a good rest before using it.”

“I-Is that okay?”

“Of course. Leviyah-nim, is that okay with you?”

“…If Leon is okay with it.”

The man nodded at Leviyah’s answer and continued.

“Then I will take it that way. If you need a meal…. No, I don’t really need to explain that.”

The man left those words and politely greeted us before leaving.

After he left the room, leaving only Leviyah and I again, I carefully asked Leviyah.

“Leviyah. You are….”

“…Yeah.”

“…A very important person, aren’t you?”

“I guess so.”

Then it is, or it isn’t….

What is ‘I guess so’ supposed to mean? However, she usually tells me enough about what I ask, but seeing that she isn’t telling me anything more than that now, it seems like it’s something she doesn’t want to talk about.

“…Well, I want to look around here, is that okay?”

“Yeah. It’s okay.”

* * *

The deep-sea city of Laphtia.

I thought it would be quite dark… Because it’s in the ‘deep sea’… But it was much more than I thought….

No, it was no different from the surface.

“How should I say it…. It’s different from what I thought. That thing floating in the sky….”

“Yeah. It’s the sun. An artificial sun, though.”

“Artificial sun?….”

“Yeah. Not a real sun, but a fake sun artificially created.”

I couldn’t hide my surprise at Leviyah’s words.

The sun is supposed to be a creation made by a god…, but they create it themselves?….

Leviyah said that it was a country with tremendous technology…, but I never imagined that they would create the sun.

“Is that…, possible?”

“Yeah. It’s possible.”

Leviyah nodded lightly.

“There’s a place I want to show you.”

“A place you want to show me?”

“Yeah. Wanna go together?”

“Yeah.”

I don’t know anything here anyway.

If Leviyah is going to guide me, it would be better to go.

“But there are no people?”

“Yeah. Well…. Everyone will be inside.”

“In…, as in home?”

“Yeah. There’s not much to do even if you come out.”

There’s nothing to do….

The entire city is brightly lit by the artificial sun, but at the same time, you can’t feel the ‘life’ that people live.

It was like…. A dead city.

Passing through the gray city with Leviyah, I could see a lush green forest.

“Trees grow in this place too?”

“Yeah. This is the only place in Laphtia where you can feel ‘life’.”

A place where you can feel life….

Looking at the appearance of the city a while ago, I felt like I knew a little about what Leviyah wanted to say.

“…Leviyah. You said you were looking for someone who could save you from your fate and destiny, right?”

“Yeah.”

“What you mean by fate and destiny is….”

Before I could add more, Leviyah shook her head.

“It’s not what Leon is thinking.”

“Ah…, is that so?….”

“Yeah. But…. Um. I don’t really like this country…, a country that has lost its will. Those people leave here and go up to the surface. Like that captain we met.”

Captain Low John Gold.

It had only been a few hours since I met him, but looking at his personality during that short time, I’m sure he wouldn’t like this atmosphere.

“Originally, Laphtia wasn’t a city with only the silence of death like this. When they were betrayed by other countries and plunged into this deep sea. The people of Laphtia lost their will. And…, I didn’t think that the people here who had lost their will were the ones who would save me from my fate and destiny. So I went to the surface and wandered the world.”

Leviyah took a step into the forest in front of her.

The appearance of Leviyah taking a step into the forest, where the scent of grass, just like on the surface, grazed the tip of her nose, was reminiscent of a dryad.

“Leon. Are you curious about the fate and destiny I have?”

“…It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t…, curious.”

“…Maybe we have the same thing on our shoulders.”

“…The same thing?”

The same thing?

What is the same between Leviyah and me?

When I tilted my head as if I didn’t understand, Leviyah said with a soft smile.

“Leon, what’s in the basement of Leon’s kingdom is…. Probably the『Demon Monster that Hides the Sun』.”

“!!”

“Just like Leon feels the destiny to subjugate that monster…. I also have a destiny to face the『Demon Monster that Swallows the Sea』.”

“What?!….”

I blankly looked at Leviyah at the unexpected story.

And Leviyah looked at me and said.

“So…. Leon, please become strong enough to kill the『Demon Monster that Hides the Sun』. By doing so…, kill the『Demon Monster that Swallows the Sea』that binds me. That’s…, what I want.”