To Yuna, waves could never be a pleasant memory.
Because to someone who had never seen the sea, waves were nothing more than a symbol of the person who had killed her parents.
And yet, she saw them.
– Here, take a look. These are waves.
Clear streams of water and rising foam.
A gentle sound that softly rang in her ears.
It was a unique ability of the man, not mixed with any form of magic.
To Yuna, waves were something frightening. Something to be hated.
But the sight of the blue sea unfolding before her eyes captivated her.
– My hometown was a small village where you could see the ocean clearly.
– Your hometown…?
There was no sea in the Salos territory.
It was merely the land he had been assigned to govern; his true hometown was somewhere else.
Before the war broke out, he said he had been the best fisherman in his village.
– The waves didn’t hurt me. They were friends that pushed my boat along. They were something truly beautiful…
The man had grown up with the sea.
“Wave” referred not just to his awakened ability, but also to his friend.
He had lived with the sea and the waves as his companions. But once he stood on the battlefield, he had to kill people using that very power, the symbol of his friend.
– Don’t you miss your home?
Yuna asked.
She still remembered the days when her parents had been alive.
She had loved that tiny house.
That alone had been enough.
Even though the man had been the one who took all of that away from her.
Yuna could no longer return to the place she had longed for, but the man was different.
– I don’t have the face to go back.
The man had simply never gone back.
His hands were stained, and he had grown too worn down to return to his hometown.
– But still… yes, even if it’s impossible for me, perhaps one day, you’ll get to see the real waves and the sea.
The man had many fears.
He feared killing. He feared those who approached him.
And he feared the idea of returning to his hometown and confronting how much he had changed.
– The real waves are even more grand and magnificent than these.
Though his awakened ability could create perfect waves, it could never match the landscape in his heart.
That was the nature of memories.
Yuna looked at the man. She saw the final moments of the one called Charybdis.
She saw a sinner who, wracked with guilt over his crimes, had spent his life longing for home…and yet could never return.
The man would likely never go back to his hometown.
Because that would expose his weakness.
At the time, Yuna had already experienced one assassination attempt, so she understood what that meant.
Then why had the man said this?
– Don’t hate the waves too much.
– ……
At those weighty words, Yuna looked up at Charybdis’s face.
He wore an expression of surprising calm.
Something had changed.
That gentle smile was the expression of someone who had made up their mind.
– Waves don’t just block your way. They also push you forward from behind.
Yuna had already steeled herself to kill Charybdis.
She remembered how he had treated her kindly. She now understood that he had been a pitiful man.
But at last, Yuna was able to see the strength that the man named Charybdis had carried within him.
“If the day comes when you set out on a journey with the waves at your back…”
That day, Charybdis became a great mage. It was after he had made up his mind.
“…then these waves will become your companion and push your boat forward.”
Charybdis had written a letter.
It had been the request of an old man who had begun to sense the end drawing near.
***
Blue waves rose.
Pure white foam bloomed like flowers atop the blue current.
She remembered.
She hadn’t forgotten the words Charybdis had left her.
“This is…”
Charybdis was momentarily at a loss for words as he stared into the blue light before him.
It felt as if the long-forgotten scenery of his hometown had unfolded before his eyes.
“Actually, after that day, I went to the sea alone.”
Yuna had seen the sea.
She had listened to the sound of the waves that Charybdis had longed for.
That day, Yuna had felt loneliness.
“It felt… incomplete.”
The sea and the waves had been beautiful.
But the fact that she couldn’t share the sight before her eyes with anyone had been unbearably sad.
“What do you think?”
Yuna had captured the scenery of that day.
She had decided to remember that moment forever, through the magic Charybdis had left behind.
She had never once used those waves as a weapon. Because she remembered someone’s regrets.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
Only when Yuna stood before the sea did she finally break into tears. It was the moment the mask of a girl who had always judged everything with cold clarity shattered along with the waves.
But she stood up.
She had lived on to avoid repeating the regrets of the man she had killed.
She had decided to become a clown named Safe Clown. Because she had wanted to bring a smile to someone’s face.
That journey would be long and painful. She might end up wandering the world, never able to settle down anywhere.
But that was all right.
“I wanted to show you this.”
The waves she had seen that day had become her companion on the journey.
The presence of death was washed away by the blue currents. The rough storm subsided, and the sound of gentle waves reached her ears.
Charybdis didn’t even think to resist the torrent.
He was simply mesmerized by the sight of his hometown unfolding before his eyes.
“What… have I forgotten?”
Charybdis murmured.
Only when he saw the undeniable evidence before him did he realize he had forgotten something.
Who was the girl standing in front of him?
The assassin who killed me… a villain called Safe Clown.
He had come this far relying on that memory.
But was that really the truth? Charybdis asked himself again.
Who was the girl standing before him?
Where and when had they met?
How had she learned that magic?
Charybdis began to piece together the fragments of his missing memory.
Memories full of holes.
Even though he had lost most of his memories about the girl, something still remained.
“Ah…”
Charybdis gathered the fragments and looked back on the final moment.
The moment he was killed. The cold eyes of the girl who had looked at him.
The emotions hidden within those eyes that had seemed only merciless.
Now, he could understand them.
“Yuna…”
Charybdis hadn’t come all this way for revenge.
He had come because he regretted not saying anything in his final moments.
He had been prepared for death, but he hadn’t been prepared for farewell.
That regret was what had brought him back to his feet.
In the blue, shimmering waves, Charybdis murmured.
The words he had never managed to say began to pour out without order.
“Thank you.”
He remembered that the girl’s choice had been for his sake.
“I’m sorry.”
He remembered the circumstances that had forced him to place such a cruel decision on her shoulders.
“I understand.”
He remembered that every one of those cruel choices had been made for him.
“I love you…”
He remembered that every moment spent with the girl had been filled with happiness.
Yes…
“Even in the moment I died, these feelings never changed.”
There was so much he wanted to say.
Far too much.
But this time, he didn’t want to waste time choosing the right words.
And so, he let everything that came to mind spill out without order.
“My daughter… Yuna Salos…”
And just like that, the waves settled.
The girl was riding the blue waves, smiling brightly.
***
The waves had calmed.
Charybdis, who just moments ago had seemed ready to incinerate everything in sight with hid wrath, now lay on the ground like an ordinary corpse.
And Yuna, who had brought Charybdis back to death, was crying.
“Yuna.”
Tears streamed down her cheeks, in contrast to the smile on her lips.
But… she would be okay.
Her expression looked stronger than ever before.
“I’m okay!”
“Yeah, you look like it.”
I gave a small laugh and pretended not to see her tears.
She had found her own answer. There was no need to add anything unnecessary to that.
“No, wait. I don’t think I’m okay at all!”
But Yuna immediately took her words back and shouted energetically.
What nonsense is she saying now?
I barely had time to think that when—
“Puhihi!”
Yuna staggered, then collapsed right where I was sitting.
“Whoa!”
I quickly rolled out of the way to dodge Yuna, who had clearly aimed to fall right on top of me.
Thud!
Yuna fell flat on the ground.
Blood began to pool around her.
Of course—
She had already been on the verge of death before we even got here.
In that condition, she still pushed herself to the end to send Charybdis back to death.
It wouldn’t be strange if she had already reached her limit.
With a sound like a ripe tomato hitting the floor, Yuna collapsed and grumbled,
“…Why didn’t you catch me?”
“Ah, sorry. I was just… surprised.”
You know better than anyone that I’m not the kind of person to catch you.
Don’t expect too much from me. I’ve already done more than enough today.
I was really exhausted.
“Heave-ho!”
Still, Yuna remained strong.
She crawled across the ground in that state and eventually rested her head on my knee.
Honestly, she was something else.
Some might call it a romantic scene, but a girl covered head to toe in blood crawling across the floor? That’s just straight-up horror.
“Hey, Johan.”
“Yeah.”
“Thank you.”
“As long as you know.”
“Puhihi.”
Yuna giggled like an idiot.
It was the same laugh she always had, yet somehow, I could tell it was a sincere laugh this time.
I guess I’ve come to understand her, at least a little.
That’s a good thing.
“Hey, Johan.”
“Yeah.”
Yuna reached out her hand.
As I felt the soft warmth of her fingers touch my cheek,
She gave an awkward smile and said,
“Maybe I…”
But at that moment—
Shrrrk.
The sound of chains dragging echoed through the air.
At that sound, both Yuna and I fell silent, unable to continue speaking.
Frozen in place, I slowly lifted my head to look straight ahead.
“Hmm… I suppose it’s hard to last long with part of your memory erased.”
Chains wrapped around his entire body.
He looked like both an old man and a young boy, and it wasn’t clear whether he was alive or dead. But I knew who he was.
The master of the Under Chain.
“So in the end, he was never someone who could walk with us.”
The Great Sage, Faust.
Dragging countless chains behind him, Faust looked down at Charybdis.
Then, gently holding the skull, he turned to face us.
“But thanks to that, I was able to stand before you like this.”
He had been aiming for me. I had known that for some time.
But still…
“Me…?”
The thought that he had done all of this just to meet me. I couldn’t even imagine it.
That he resurrected Charybdis and tore apart the Cradle just to reach me?
How was I supposed to foresee that?
“That’s right.”
At Faust’s confirmation, I slowly lowered my head and looked at Yuna.
She seemed to have understood the gist of the situation and her expression was now one of quiet resolve.
“Ah…”
This isn’t good.
There’s no way out.
“Damn it…”
Compared to other final bosses, I had thought the Great Sage wasn’t all that threatening—
And I had let my guard down far too much.
Who would’ve thought he could get here, slipping past Olga Hermod and Lobelia’s entire party?
I should’ve realized what his true goal was the moment he appeared.
It wasn’t just Yuna who had been fixated on Charybdis.
This was my mistake.
So then…
“Yuna.”
“Johan…?”
“I think this is the only way now. Someone has to make it out alive.”
“What are you talking about…!”
I gently lifted Yuna’s head and laid it down softly on the floor.
She grabbed onto my clothes and shook her head, but I had no choice but to brush her hand away.
Yeah, someone has to survive.
“So?”
A once-in-a-lifetime crisis. If I can’t avoid it, I’ll face it head-on.
“What business do you have with me?”
And so, though staggering, I stood before Faust and met his gaze.
Now, the only thing left is to gamble everything.
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