The more he recalled the day he lost Egru, the more his cool judgment crumbled. His reminiscence naturally flowed to a more distant past.

The few memories with Egru. Levian remembered. Egru longed for the sea. Not the harbor, but the sea itself.

It was when Egru was much smaller than now. Using an errand as an excuse, Levian had once taken Egru to the harbor.

“Don’t go.”

“…”

“I said don’t go.”

Despite Levian’s warnings, Egru’s right foot moved slightly. He was secretly descending the stairs leading from the dock to the water, one step at a time. Levian, standing in place and inhaling cigarette smoke, said:

“It’s slippery with moss. If you cause trouble, I won’t bring you next time.”

“N-no. I just want to touch the seawater.”

“Reach your arm down.”

“The gap between the plank bridge and the sea is too far. I can’t reach.”

“Fine, do as you please.”

Levian silently turned his gaze away. Without a breakwater in this area, there was no risk of cracking his head. Levian suddenly gestured to a sailor moving cargo.

“Hey. Give me one of those cigar boxes at the end. The ones that just came in.”

“Ah, these are new products. How much are you looking at, guildmaster?”

“You’ve grown a lot, huh? Trying to charge me money now.”

Levian chuckled. The tip of the cigarette in his mouth smoldered.

“50 gold coins.”

“Come on.”

“Don’t be cheeky. Hand it over. I know the market price.”

“Tch, you never let me win even once.”

“Send it to the Milfia Guild.”

“What about the shipping fee?”

A boatman carrying luggage nearby chimed in with a smile. Levian countered with a deep laugh.

“Ask twice and you’ll go broke.”

Levian tossed him a pouch heavy with gold coins. It was money that would eventually return to his own pocket anyway. The Empire’s shipping business was virtually monopolized by the Milfia Guild.

How long did they engage in such pointless banter? Levian casually glanced towards the stairs where Egru had been fidgeting.

“?”

No one was there.

There was no time to look around the dock. Bubble, bubble. Bubbles rose to the surface of the dark seawater. The scene of Egru slipping on the stairs and plunging into the sea involuntarily came to mind.

“Oh, shit…!”

Levian, not even thinking to throw away his cigarette, jumped down two or three steps at a time with splashes. Fortunately, it didn’t take long to fish out the little pea pickled in saltwater.

“Damn it, didn’t I tell you not to go!”

Levian shouted, spitting out the cigarette now swollen with seawater. They both looked like drowned rats, soaking wet.

“Sorry, cough, I’m sorry…”

Egru, coughing up water, closed his eyes again tightly after barely opening them.

“My eyes are b-burning…”

“Of course it stings when saltwater gets in.”

“My nose hurts too…”

Levian hesitated as he reached out his hand. His suit was completely soaked, leaving him with no means to wipe Egru’s face. Just as he was about to stick out his tongue, he saw Egru’s narrowly opened eyes.

Levian awkwardly closed his mouth. Egru rubbed his salty eyes by himself.

“Idiot. How did you fall in without making a sound?”

“…”

“So, did you touch enough seawater?”

Egru shook his head. His lime-green pointed ears drooped dejectedly. Droplets fell from the damp fine hair.

“Damn, what a life…”

Levian finally muttered a curse and tossed over a bucket. The brass bucket, which had been secured with a rope, sank into the water surface with a dull sound.

As he filled it with seawater and handed it over, Egru happily played with the water. Splash, splash. Levian, who had already lit a new cigarette, clicked his wet lighter a few times before throwing it into the sea. The plop sound echoed irritatingly clear.

“Put the bucket down now. Let’s go.”

“Okay, thank you…”

Egru held onto two of Levian’s fingers as they walked along the harbor.

Levian glanced down at Egru walking beside him. His pumpkin-colored eyes, sparkling with curiosity, were fixed on the horizon.

Despite the constant growling from his lime-green belly, they walked on, ignoring it. There was no plan to feed him anything right away. He must have consumed more than enough salt and water for the day.

“I-I really want to see the real sea…”

“This is the real sea.”

“No, I mean the one with sand.”

Levian raised one eyebrow. Despite knowing nothing, he was quite sure of what he wanted.

“Seriously, do you even know what you’re talking about?”

“S-sometimes it’s cool, sometimes it’s warm.”

“Well, well.”

“They said the fine sand gets between your toes, so soft it tickles. Th-there are no shells here either.”

“There are barnacles and moss stuck under the plank bridge. Look, there’s even a tiny crab crawling over there.”

“N-not that. They said there are colorful seashells. And the water is as clear and clean as D’Élysée’s eyes…”

“An emerald sea? Who told you about that?”

“?”

Egru blinked, letting go of Levian’s hand.

“I don’t know…”

“You don’t know?”

“Yeah, I can’t remember…”

Egru walked on with his waterlogged boots, making squelching sounds. He moved away on his own, leaving behind a dumbfounded Levian.

“Hey, where are you going!”

“I’m g-going to work now…”

“Wait…! No, never mind.”

Levian closed his lips, which had been about to speak. He had considered keeping Egru comfortably for a day but decided against it.

Goldfish look best when they’re in a small bowl. The moment you move them to a larger tank, they grow to an equally grotesque size.

But at that time, he didn’t realize. That if they ventured into the vast ocean, they would grow that much healthier.

After satisfying his own selfish desires to the fullest, all that remained was the carcass of a goldfish floating belly-up.

A body drained of life, left with nothing but a shell.

***

Though not much time had passed since the demon massacre, the world went on as usual. To be more precise, everyone was pretending nothing was wrong, like the calm before a storm. It had been a long time since Levian had left the Empire with Egru, where rumors of an impending war had originated.

“Hey, aren’t you glad I brought you here?”

Levian said as he firmly planted a folding chair on the vast sandy beach. He tossed aside an empty syringe and sat Egru on his lap with a satisfied look. He took great care to ensure the posture wouldn’t slip. But no matter how he tried to balance, in the end, he had to support Egru with his arm.

“If it weren’t for me, you would’ve been disposed of long ago. You should know you’re damn lucky.”

In Levian’s confident eyes, he saw Egru nodding. However, there was something oddly off about Levian’s focus. When he put some cheese into Egru’s slightly open mouth, Egru smiled brightly.

“Don’t spill, chew properly. That’s how you’ll recover faster.”

Levian said as he wiped Egru’s mouth.

“Swallow it down. I brought everything made of cheese. You used to sing about cheese, and now your wish is coming true.”

Egru’s eyes welled up with tears, saying he was truly grateful. Levian tidied up Egru’s unevenly cut chestnut-brown hair. Though clumsy, he did his best with his rough hands.

“Hey, um, you know.”

Levian said, still arranging Egru’s bangs.

“I’m sorry for everything.”

A strand of chestnut-brown hair fell out of place.

“I told you, right? That I took out my frustrations with that damn Hero on you. Even though the real culprit was someone else.”

Two, three strands of chestnut-brown hair fell out of place.

“Look forward to it from now on, okay? I’ll show you there’s a good world to live in. I won’t do it again.”

This time, he patted Egru’s bony and stiff back.

“Stand up for a moment. What? Ah, the weather’s nice, let’s take a walk along the shore.”

It was then that Egru’s expression completely disappeared. It was a surreal sight.

The eerily expressionless face soon turned into a distorted, crying visage. He burst out in unrefined anger, saying who knew better than anyone that he couldn’t move. It was an uncharacteristically short-tempered side of the usually timid Egru.

“I’m sorry. Really. I made a mistake.”

Far from being upset, Levian was busy apologizing.

“Let’s just sit here like you said. Do you like the villa? The construction isn’t quite finished, but it’s spacious enough to live in, right? I put in some effort to make it a good place for your recovery.”

With uncharacteristically clumsy hands, Levian picked up Egru’s ankles. He rubbed the greenish soles against the white sand.

“How is it?”

Soft grains of sand seeped between the waxy, stiff toes.

“Is it ticklish? Cool? Warm?”

Levian continued talking to himself.

“You like it? I thought you would.”

While hugging the disheveled corpse.

“The sea breeze is particularly pleasant today.”

Only the sound of crashing waves filled the gaps in his monologue. On this wide-open beach, there was only one living, breathing person.

“Ah, are you cold? I dressed you… I mean, you’re dressed too lightly.”

Levian wrapped a blanket around the lime-green skin that could no longer feel the wind. The stark temperature difference between the living and the dead kept pulling his intoxicated reason back to reality.

Levian injected another syringe into his thigh. To return from reality to fantasy. Levian’s pumpkin-colored eyes suddenly looked up at the tall sky. His pupils dilated, his body trembled, and he exhaled.

“Yeah. I think so too.”

Levian, catching his breath, lowered his head. He buried his forehead deeply against the shoulder devoid of any warmth.

“Let’s stay here together a little longer.”