The next morning, a broad back was sitting on the pier at the eleventh floor's ferry landing.
"...Mr. Miro?"
It was Miro.
He wore leather armor, with a club hanging at his hip. And strapped to his left arm with leather belts, wound around again and again, was something round and black.
An iron pot lid.
It was wider than Miro's whole torso. A thick, cast-iron lid with a handle on top.
"...I'm just tagging along. My own call."
Miro said it without looking at Luca.
"If you get eaten by the serpent down in that pool, the twins'll cry. So will Ma. That's all."
"Mr. Miro, is that...?"
"Biggest pot lid in Ma's whole place. Got a problem with it?"
Celes started to say something, then clapped a hand over her mouth. Her shoulders were shaking.
Luca studied the pot lid closely, through the eyes of [Appraisal].
"It's a good lid. Thick cast iron. I don't think even a sword would get through it."
"...Course it is."
Miro gave a small, slightly smug snort.
Pushing the ferry off, Bodge laughed out loud.
* * *
When they reached the beach by the pool, Miro's feet stopped, just for an instant.
Then, without a word, he walked down onto the gravel.
"Let's settle the plan," Celes said. "Luca dives. Miro and I hold the rope on the beach. If the serpent comes up—"
"I'll draw it off."
Miro struck the pot lid. It gave a dull bong.
"Please only use Burst Flame if the serpent comes up. The noise wakes it."
"I know."
Luca set his jacket and dagger down on the beach. He put on his goggles and tied a rope around his waist. To the other end of the rope, he tied a hook. That was for catching the shield and hauling it up.
The pool was deep.
Twice as deep as the drift pile on the eleventh floor, at least. With the breath he had now, could he get down to the bottom, search for the shield, and make it back?
Something lay beside a big rock at the edge of the beach.
A round stone weight, about the size of two fists. An iron ring had been set into it, and the ring was wrapped in leather to make it easier to hold. A scrap of half-rotted rope was still tied to the ring.
"That's a pool diver's weight," Miro said. "Heard there used to be people who'd dive to the bottom of this pool and haul up lost stuff. Once the serpent moved in, fifteen years back or so, nobody went down anymore."
Luca closed his hand around the weight.
◆ ◆ ◆
—The pool is deep.
Hug the weight and sink. This is nothing like diving in the shallows of the lake. By the time you reach the bottom, half an ordinary breath is gone.
So don't spend breath to move.
Don't strain. Don't push the water. Ride it. Keep the heart slow. Only the hands and feet go fast.
Tuck the breath away, deep inside the body. Only the body moves.
Reach the bottom. Pick up the lost thing. Let go of the weight on its rope and kick off the bottom.
Up. Up. There's still breath left.
Break the surface, haul the weight up by its rope, set it down on the beach.
Tomorrow, I can go even deeper. That's the thought.
◆ ◆ ◆
Stacked Echoes are becoming one.
The usual voice spoke deep inside his head. But the words were ones he had never heard before.
Echo inherited: [Hold Breath: Refined].
Luca opened his eyes and pressed a hand to his chest.
Something had changed.
The technique of the goggles diver on the ninth floor, holding still to make the breath last. The technique of the clam diver on the twelfth floor, letting it out bit by bit to keep diving. And now the pool diver's technique, moving without spending breath at all. The three of them weren't lined up side by side anymore. They had melted together into one. It felt as if his breath had been tucked quietly away, somewhere deep inside his body.
"Luca? What is it this time?"
"...It became one."
"Huh?" Miro frowned.
"Hold Breath stacked three times, and it became one. The voice said 'Refined.'"
"I don't get a single word you're saying."
"Neither do I."
Luca stood up, hugging the weight.
"I think I can make it to the bottom."
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* * *
He breathed in. Eight-tenths full.
Holding the weight to his chest, Luca sank into the pool.
Dark.
The light above fell away fast. Here and there on the walls of the pool, patches of glowmoss gave off a faint blue glow. His ears ached.
Even so, he wasn't struggling for air.
His breath was tucked away deep inside him. Moving his arms and legs didn't use it up.
[Water Reading].
The water turned in a slow spiral as it sank. He followed the lines. East. Down.
He reached the bottom.
Where the spiral ended, there was a hollow. A rusted sword. A helmet. Bones. All sorts of things lay sunk in the mud.
And there among them, it was.
A great shield.
A rectangular iron shield, as tall as Luca himself. Carved into its face was a steaming pot. The same picture as the Full Belly's sign.
A little above the pot carving, a thick white fang had been driven deep into the iron.
From the grip on the back hung a torn leather strap.
Found it, Mr. Miro.
Careful not to touch it with his bare hands, Luca caught the hook on the end of the rope through the shield's grip.
This was a well-used shield. If he touched it, it would surely pull him in.
He untied the knot at his waist. Now the rope joined only the beach and the shield. He gave it two hard tugs.
Then something moved, farther down below the hollow.
Luca's back went cold.
The very bottom of the pool. The long presence coiled there was slowly stirring. In the dark, a single eye began to glow, dim and pale.
Luca let go of the weight. The pool diver's weight stayed behind at the bottom of the pool.
He kicked off.
Legs: bend, open, close. Glide. Kick.
His breath didn't run down. Only his arms and legs were working, as hard as they could. Before, his chest would have felt ready to burst long ago.
From below, the water was pushing up at him.
Something huge was rising, right behind him.
* * *
"It's coming up!"
Celes shouted from the beach, where she was hauling on the rope.
Bubbles came boiling up across the surface of the pool. Beneath them, a huge shadow was rising fast.
Miro stepped forward.
To the very front of the beach. At the edge of the pool, he planted both feet.
He struck the pot lid with his club.
Gonnng. Gonnng. Gonnng.
"Over here, you damn snake!"
The surface of the pool split open.
A huge, pale head shot out of the water in a shower of spray. Its eyes swung away from the spot where Luca was coming up, all the way around toward the beach.
Gonnng. Gonnng.
"I said over here!"
The serpent brought its head crashing down at Miro.
CLANG.
Its fangs bit into the pot lid. Miro's feet skidded back across the gravel. One step. Two.
But he didn't go down.
"Flame, crack and burst!"
Celes's voice.
Bang! Fire burst right in front of the serpent's eyes.
The serpent let go of the pot lid and reared far back.
In that moment, Luca reached the beach. He dragged himself out of the water and turned around.
For a while, the serpent glared at the beach.
Then, slowly, it sank back down into the pool.
* * *
"...Pull! Pull the rope!"
At Miro's shout, all three of them hauled on the rope together.
Up over the edge of the pool, a big iron shield came scraping onto the beach.
Miro just stood there, the rope still in his hands.
On the pot lid on his left arm, four deep fang marks had been gouged into the iron.
"...Ma's gonna kill me."
He mumbled it, then looked down at the shield lying on the beach.
The carving of the steaming pot was wet, and it gleamed.
* * *
On the landing of the stairs up to the twelfth floor, well away from the pool, the three of them finally sat down.
Miro was crouched in front of the great shield.
He wiped the mud off its face with his palm. Bit by bit, the carving of the steaming pot came back into view. He touched the serpent's fang lodged above the carving, gently, with one finger. Then the torn leather strap still hanging from the grip on the back.
For a while, nobody said anything.
"Mr. Miro," Luca said at last. "May I look? At what happened that day."
"...And do what, once you've seen it?"
"I want to know what really happened. And I want to be able to tell the truth at the Guild."
Miro looked at Luca.
He was quiet for a long time. Then he took his hand off the shield and shifted a little to one side.
"...Suit yourself."
Luca took hold of the great shield's grip.
◆ ◆ ◆
—The pool swells.
The lake serpent's head breaks the water. The beach is narrow. Four comrades, lined up in a row. Nowhere to run.
"Get back! I'll draw it off!"
Step forward. Bang the shield with the club. Clang. Clang. Clang.
There's a trick to drawing them. Be the loudest, biggest thing around. Look it in the eye. Look away, and it looks away from you too.
The serpent's eyes turn this way.
Don't stop moving your feet. Half a step at a time, sideways. Away from the others. The serpent's head follows him. Little by little, it slides away from the front of the others.
Behind him, the crack of bursting fire. For an instant, the serpent's eyes flick toward Ilse.
"I said over here!"
Clang. Clang. Clang. Come back. This way.
"Leave Miro!"
Edgar's voice.
...Yeah. That's fine.
That's what a shield's for. If I stay, four of them get home.
The serpent sinks its fangs into the shield. It pulls. The strap on his arm bites into the flesh.
Like hell I'm letting go. It's my old man's shield.
With a snap, the strap tears. The shield is wrenched off his arm.
The tail comes in from the side. His body leaves the ground.
He slams down into the shallows. Under the water, he opens his eyes.
Down toward the bottom of the black pool, the shield is slowly sinking. The pot carving drifts farther and farther away.
...My old man's... shield...
◆ ◆ ◆
Echo inherited: [Taunt].
Luca opened his eyes. Gently, he let go of the grip.
Miro was watching him. He had the look of someone waiting for something.
"You didn't run, Mr. Miro."
Luca said it straight out.
"You kept moving sideways the whole time, to pull the serpent away from your friends. Even when he said to leave you behind, you thought that was fine. You didn't let go of your shield until the strap tore."
Miro said nothing. His mouth was pressed into a tight line.
"...I know."
When he finally spoke, his voice was rough.
"It's me we're talking about. Course I know that."
Miro's big shoulders began to shake. He covered his face with his arm. Even then, the shaking didn't stop.
"Two months. ...Two months, and nobody believed me. Only Ma. Nobody but Ma."
Celes quietly looked away. Luca sat beside Miro and didn't say a word.
* * *
Luca's stomach let out a long, rolling growl.
A moment later, Miro's stomach rumbled too.
Celes looked from one of them to the other.
"...Why is yours growling too?"
"Crying makes you hungry."
Miro scrubbed at his face, then pulled a big bundle out of his pack.
"Ma sent this. Said some of it's for you two."
Inside the bundle were twelve rice balls, each one bigger than a fist.
The three of them ate in silence. Luca had six, Miro five, and Celes one.
"...Hey."
Miro spoke up after he'd swallowed the last rice ball.
"Why'd you go that far? That's a serpent's nest. One wrong move and you'd be dead."
"I'm a scavenger."
Luca was picking grains of rice off his fingers and eating them.
"My job is returning lost things to their owners. Besides, I wanted a shield-bearer."
"...You dove into a serpent's nest because you wanted a shield-bearer?"
"Yes."
For a while, Miro just gaped at him.
Then he burst out laughing.
It was the first time Luca had ever seen Miro laugh.
* * *
They were on their way back across the twelfth floor, wading through the white shallows, when the sand heaved.
"Celes, get back!"
A great pincer crab.
One sprang up out of the sand and went straight for Celes. Just like the one that had caught the hem of her cloak the other day.
Luca ran in between Celes and the crab. He struck his round shield with the pommel of his dagger.
Clang. Clang. Clang.
"Over here!"
Be the loudest, biggest thing around.
He looked into the crab's stalk eyes. He didn't look away. Then, half a step to the side. Away from Celes.
The crab's eyes turned toward Luca. Its huge claw swung away from Celes and came after him.
Half a step. Another half. The crab turned sideways to follow him.
Its flank was wide open.
"Raaah!"
Miro came charging in with his great shield raised high.
The edge of the shield slammed down on the crab's shell. With a crack, the shell split, and the crab never moved again.
Miro lowered the great shield. His shoulders were heaving.
Then he looked at Luca.
"...What you just did."
"Yes?"
"That was my way of doing it. Bang the shield, look it in the eye, shift sideways."
"Yes. It's your technique, Mr. Miro."
Luca nodded.
"It's a good technique. Celes didn't get hurt."
Miro started to say something, then shut his mouth.
He turned his head away. The tips of his ears had gone a little red.
"...Obviously. It's my technique, isn't it."
Celes giggled.
As they climbed the stairs up from the twelfth floor, Luca said, "Let's go to the Guild tomorrow. And tell the Silver Scales the truth."
Miro, the great shield on his back, was quiet for a while.
Then he gave a short answer.
"...Yeah."