36 - Not Your Son, But Your Father
Chapter 36
I held his hand lightly, meaning he could shake it off if he didn't like it, but he was docile.
His deep, dark blue eyes, watching me intently, were like jewels salvaged from the sea.
I keep thinking, but I could really live off his face alone.
"Or would you like to look around more?"
"Let's go back."
Edith refused curtly.
He really seemed to have no interest in Spirits whatsoever.
Did he have a big fight with a Spirit a few hundred years ago or something?
It was when he started descending the stairs without rushing.
Suddenly, I heard a rattling sound, like a stone moving.
I reflexively turned around. But nothing had changed.
Was it just the sound of the wind?
As I hesitated, Edith narrowed his eyes as if he wanted to get out of the bell tower as soon as possible.
Well, it probably wasn't anything.
I brushed it off casually and went outside with Edith.
* * *
Spirits are friendly to humans.
However, just as humans have different personalities, not all Spirits are like that.
In particular, Paimon, who once led a legion of fallen Spirits, extremely hated the existence of humans.
To him, humans were nothing more than toys to be tormented, pests to be exterminated.
500 years ago, Paimon was the King of the many Spirits inhabiting Eire Forest.
He did not dwell in nature but tormented humans and beasts, driving them out of his territory.
But he was not only mean-spirited but also cunning.
He sometimes tempted humans with many precious things.
Foolish humans were immediately deceived when Paimon showed them jewels and gold.
And they became Paimon's loyal servants, even enlisting their unsuspecting friends and family to beg them to reveal the location of the treasure.
Occasionally, there were even pathetic groups who volunteered to be Paimon's slaves.
Then Paimon sent them to places teeming with Magical Beasts.
Saying that it was full of gold and jewels.
Paimon was closer to a Magical Beast than a Spirit, and closer to a Magical Beast than a human.
And, belied by his glory of 500 years ago, he was sealed in a dusty bell tower.
Paimon was not the only Spirit trapped in the bell tower, but no Spirit had suffered as much as he had.
Unlike the Spirits who only had to quietly reflect in the stone statue until a thousand years had passed, Paimon had to struggle not to die.
The stone statue in which Paimon was sealed was a woefully small and weak vessel to contain his true form, a dragon shape reaching 10 meters.
It would crack with the slightest relaxation.
The vessel breaking before the Seal was released meant Paimon's death.
Naturally, he did not want to die so miserably.
—I have to go to that person. That person might be able to break the Seal.
For 500 years, Paimon had been struggling to escape the bell tower, moving the stone statue.
The speed was very slow.
He couldn't rush because the stone statue was very weak.
It took more than 30 years to go down one floor.
In the meantime, Paimon's mental state deteriorated.
For the first 100 years, he was tormented by revenge,
—Once the Seal is broken! Once the Seal is broken! I won't leave you all alone! I'll fry you in hellfire!
The next 100 years were spent denying reality.
—This is a dream. Right? There's no way a great Spirit like me would have to live sealed for a thousand years? Hahahaha! Ha, ha... Damn it!
After a total of 200 years, he gave up on being sane.
—Hey, my tail, you're long and thin, but I'm impressed that you're still attached to my body. I'll give you a reward when the Seal is broken. Do you like gold?
—.......
—What, you little brat? You don't need it, so don't look at me?!
Unable to talk to anyone, in a space where death was approaching in real time, Paimon was slowly going insane.
Sometimes he heard the sound of the bell tower door opening, but no human came up to where he was.
Paimon talked to the sunlight, snow, rain, and wind, and continued to descend.
And after a long time had passed again.
"My wish is, um, to become filthy rich."
What is this crazy human?
As the first living being he had met in 500 years, he was glad, even though it was a human.
However, the human who wished upon him had endless desires.
Usually, they would ask for wealth and power for the sake of a greater cause, or to protect someone precious, but this human didn't even have the sincerity to dress it up like that.
No, rather, she was so blatant that it was embarrassing.
"If you grant this, I will also pray for the Spirit's well-being and repair the stone statue. Even if things go wrong and the Spirit no longer exists in this world, I will remember you. Wow, isn't this a really good deal?"
Wow, she was really a con artist.
His welcome quickly faded, and resentment and anger filled him.
Paimon inwardly ridiculed the human woman in front of him.
He found it ridiculous that she was so honest about her desires, and anyway, with his energy depleted and facing death, he couldn't grant her wish even if he wanted to.
The human had chosen the right Spirit.
Paimon was the only Spirit who could give humans what they most desired.
Not peace and protection, but wealth and fame.
That's why Paimon had hated the humans who bothered him since the era when Spirits were worshiped as gods.
'Ah, am I going to have to give up on my dream of destroying humanity like this? If I absorb that human's life force, I might be able to hold on a little longer...'
The human was emitting a sweet fragrance. The unique, nauseating body odor that humans have was very faint.
Even though his senses had dulled over time, it was clear that this woman was excessively strange.
'It's like she's a human and she's not.'
He felt strangely familiar and nostalgic.
'It's like that person... No, what crazy thoughts! There's no way that person could be dwelling in a human!'
Paimon hurriedly denied it, but he couldn't take his eyes off the human.
'What the hell is she? Should I take a bite to check? But what if something goes wrong? I don't want to kill her.'
Paimon had never liked getting his hands dirty, but he especially didn't want to touch the human in front of him.
Even though she was destined to shatter him into pieces if she just pushed the stone statue, he didn't even feel like doing it. It was very strange.
Paimon slowly gauged the human. Paimon's true form was nearly 10 meters tall, while the human was so small in comparison.
Above all, she seemed excessively harmless.
Her gentle eyes were sparkling like stars, unaware of who Paimon was.
Her hair color was also the color of a bouquet of flowers, which was easy for predators to spot.
The human, who was like spring itself, didn't even know how to package her desires, and she liked to tie ribbons on her tail.
'So, if I draw blood, she'll cry in pain, right? Let's just try licking her... Huh.'
As if reading Paimon's thoughts, the flow of air changed rapidly.
What had been crouching down like watered-down alcohol was now clearly revealing its presence.
Next to the sweet-smelling human, there was an overwhelming presence.
That's a demon.
No, it's a Demon King.
Anyway, whatever his true identity was, he was definitely not an ordinary human.
Even in his rusty and dulled state, Paimon instinctively knew that he could kill him with a single gesture.
'Eek! He looks exactly like the guy I saw 500 years ago! But, was his hair color like that...?'
However, there was no time to dredge up his memories.
The Demon King was fiercely emitting murderous intent from behind the brightly smiling human woman.
'H-Hic! I'm sorry! I won't eat you! I won't even lick you or touch you with a fingertip!'
Paimon prayed and prayed.
The woman turned her head, but she didn't notice that the two front paws of the stone statue in which Paimon was sealed had moved together.
"Shall we go back now? Or would you like to look around more?"
'Go back! Get out of here! Don't ever come back!'
"...Let's go back."
The Demon King led the human. And before leaving, he glared at Paimon.
'If you touch that human, you're dead.'
The human woman glanced back for a moment, but she obediently left the bell tower.
Only after the sound of the door closing echoed did Paimon let out a sigh of relief.
'I almost got thrown into hellfire.'
Suddenly, Paimon's gaze fell on the ribbon tied to his long tail.
It was a tribute that the pink-haired woman had tied and left behind.
What if that woman came back again?
The Demon King seemed to cherish her quite a bit, what if she got even a small scratch while wandering around the bell tower?
Paimon recalled the day he was sealed 500 years ago.
The hair color and the light in his eyes were different from now, but it was definitely that Demon King.
The one who was next to Grand Duke Kalakis I on the day he was sealed.
Paimon swallowed hard. If that pink-haired human got hurt in the bell tower, the Demon King would definitely think it was Paimon's doing.
No, even if he stayed still, he didn't know when he would suddenly change his mind and come to get rid of him.
'L-Let's just continue trying to escape. Whether I get caught and die or die like this.'
He slowly moved the stone statue again.
