“I, Eve. I was wrong. I, I was wrong.”

Basto stared blankly at Kal’s back.

Kal stood alone on the deck where rain and wind lashed down, staring into empty space.

“I, I just! Th, the situation was urgent......!”

There was no focus in his eyes clouded with terror, his legs trembling faintly.

Clear saliva dripped from his gaping mouth, as if he were about to foam.

“Basto!”

At that moment, Bale ran up from behind, holding Tie in his arms.

“Uncle Basto.......”

Tie called him carefully.

But Basto only kept staring intently at Kal.

“No! No, Eve! I do not want to die! I do not want to be eaten by a Magical Beast! Ah, a-ah!”

“.......”

“Help! Damn it, leave me alone! If someone has to die, die alone, why come to me, Eve......! Please! I beg you, please!”

Kal shouted the name while staring into nothingness.

Eve—the name of his dead wife.

A barely audible voice slipped from Basto’s lips.

“......Tie.”

“.......”

“What Kal is seeing...... is it the soul of the dead?”

Astie hesitated, then nodded with a lowered face.

“......Ma-ya.”

After she summoned the ghost ship, the “sailboat,” Tie met a ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) spirit named Grimnir, who had once been considered the master of this ship.

The spirit Grimnir called Tie his mistress and explained how the ship worked.

“So...... this sailboat moves on Tie magic, and while it moves, the ship and everything around it is Tie zone.”

She did not know what a zone was, so she listened to Grimnir’s explanation for a long time.

But after hearing everything to the end, Tie understood exactly what her ability was.

“In Tie zone flows the current of the dead! All enemies it touches fall into a state of silence!”

Silence.

That meant the stillness of the depths of the sea.

So the enemies touched by the current were seized by an inexplicable immobility.

“If in silence the senses become useless, then the world of the dead and the souls connect, and you can meet spirits trapped in the abyss. And the longer it goes on, the life force is little by little drained.”

Like Kal and his subordinates now.

“A-aah! Eve, it hurts! It hurts!”

Kal, like a madman now, furiously clawed at his own body.

His disheveled hair and sunken, aged face showed that a considerable amount of life force had already been drawn out of him.

“Then...... does that mean Eve became a spirit?”

Tie was struck speechless.

Even without words she understood that Eve was Basto’s dead wife.

‘Uncle Basto learned that the person he loved did not go to heaven, but got stuck in the abyss.......’

Tie did not dare even try to imagine what he was feeling now.

“Th-that is.......”

She did not have time to answer.

[Poor you.]

The spirit Eve, standing before Kal, suddenly turned her head toward Tie.

To Kal she must have looked monstrous, but not to Tie.

Wrapped entirely in a bluish light, Eve looked calm and noble.

[Hell is not only where I am....... Where you stand is also hell.]

Tears rolled down her cheeks.

Silently she approached Basto and touched his cheek with her palm.

[And yet, Basto...... with our Lilia it is different. I ended up trapped in cruel hatred, but Lilia is safe.]

However, Basto could not hear her.

Within Tie zone, only enemies and Tie herself could see spirits.

After hesitating, Tie approached Basto.

“Um, Uncle Basto.......”

Basto turned his head blankly.

Tie shifted from foot to foot, fidgeting with her fingers.

“Eve says that Lilia is safe.......”

Basto’s face froze.

“Lilia...... went to a good place.”

Silence fell.

After a long time, Basto’s body went slack.

He sank to his knees right on the deck and, like a child, covered his face with both hands.

While fighting Kal and his men, his body had been covered with many large and small wounds.

“Lilia.......”

Tears seeped through his fingers and dripped onto the deck, leaving wet marks.

“Eve, Lilia.......”

Tie looked at the crying Basto and at Eve standing before him.

At that moment Eve quietly turned.

[This is where I will end it.]

Only then did Tie realize that Eve was looking at her.

Before she could even respond, Eve continued.

[......I no longer want to place any burden on this child.]

The smile directed at Tie was sad and gentle.

Eve left the others behind and approached Kal, who stood alone.

When soon Kal began to move, Bale’s eyes narrowed.

“What is this.”

To everyone except Tie, it looked as though Kal was walking to the edge of the deck by himself.

In reality, Eve, gripping his neck with both hands, was dragging him there.

Reaching the very edge, Kal staggered.

Where he stood, the railing was broken, and emptiness gaped.

Everyone, as if enchanted, watched what was happening when Eve turned to Tie.

[Take care of Basto.]

The next moment.

Kal’s body slowly tipped over the edge toward the sea.

No splash was heard.

Even before he touched the water, a gigantic Magical Beast with its jaws wide open swallowed him whole.

For a long time Basto did not say a word.

Bale and the others watching him were also silent.

Eve had already disappeared, dispersing into pale smoke.

Deprived of their leader, Des Hound were quickly subdued by Bale, Basto, and Tie.

Magical Beasts attacked from all sides, but that too did not become a serious problem.

“Tie! Show super strong technique! Mist Play Yard!”

At the cheerful shout, a pale current stretched across the surface of the water, foaming the sea.

“Magical Beasts touched by current become weak! Uhahahaha! And dead beasts then become Tie friends!”

Behind the merrily laughing Tie.

“Kyaaak!”

One flying Magical Beast approached menacingly.

It swooped low at Tie, claws extended,

but,

“Tie also super strong technique! Pea Friends!”

Clumps of souls bursting out of the water pierced the wings of the flying beast.

The creature tried to swallow the souls, but failed.

Whenever it seemed they would be caught, the souls dove under the water and swiftly swam away.

Soaked in the cold of the depths, they left rapidly spreading ice on the creature’s wings.

“Kihe-e-ek!”

At last the beast crashed into the sea, and the wave of death immediately swallowed its body.

“Swims here~ and then swims there~”

Tie, sitting on the railing, even hummed to herself.

Every time she lost her balance and nearly fell, black silhouettes supported her.

“......Cr, crazy little brat.”

Bale muttered.

And it was not a joke—Bale truly began to fear Tie.

“Ba, Basto hyung...... spare us, huh?”

“We did not want this either! Do you think we wanted to cross weapons with Basto hyung?!”

Meanwhile, Basto tied up the captured members of Des Hound one by one.

“Next. Step forward.”

The mercenaries standing in a row obediently approached and held out their bound wrists.

Basto found ropes on the ghost ship and tightly bound their hands.

“Ba, Ba, Basto hyung. Th, there is a bone stuck to this rope......? I, is that a human bone?”

“Next.”

“.......”

And finally.

Not far from the helm.

“What did you just say?”

Marianne, looking at the helm which spirits were turning by themselves, asked in disbelief.

The twins stood before her.

The elder, Raul, answered.

“I said I want to take up the sword again.”

Marianne’s lips parted.

She could not believe her son’s words.

“Raul, have you lost your mind.”

The younger, Enzo, sighed.

“What is crazy about that, Mother. I think the same. We cannot live like this forever.......”

“No! Even if I die, I will not allow it!”

Her voice sounded almost like a scream.

The twins fell silent.

“For what, for whom do you think I left the capital for Pearlcity? Because it was so hard for you......!”

“Mother. That is not it.”

At that moment Raul interrupted her.