Ch.216The NPC Approaching the Truth (4)

“Spirit King, please don’t be alarmed. We are not humans. So even if you violated me, there’s no problem…”

[AAAAAAHHH!!! S-Sister?! How on earth did that happen?!! No!! C-Couldn’t you have stopped it if you wanted to?!!!]

“Um, does the Spirit Medium have a gender?! The Spirit Medium is his sister?!!”

“Miho! That’s not what’s important!! The Spirit Medium and the Spirit King are in an inc—mmph!?!!”

“Please shut up. Miho, please change the subject right now.”

“I didn’t hear anything. I can’t hear anything. Ever since my ears were cut off, I haven’t been able to hear anything…”

“I may be pathetic, but incest is a bit…”

[AAAAAAHHH?!!!]

Damn it!! Ghoul’s muttering delivered the final blow!!! The Spirit King, who had regained his senses but whose body was still half-colored, started screaming and blowing wind around, causing us to back away in confusion. Don’t tell me he’s losing his mind again…!!

“Spirit King. There’s no need to be so embarrassed and flustered. If you hadn’t given me your spiritual energy, I would have already withered and died at the hands of the Elf Grand Elder who contracted with the Demon of Wrath. Without even being able to create a replacement Spirit Medium.”

[Aaaah? Oh. S-Sister? Were you actually dying?!]

“Yes. Thanks to your protection, I was physically saved from becoming fertilizer for demonic growth, but my roots were gradually rotting away due to the Grand Elder. Know that your actions were noble deeds to save me and the spirits.”

“Y-Yeah! That’s right, isn’t it? When we first arrived, the Spirit Medium said so. R-Right?”

“Y-Yes!! That’s right! She definitely said she could stop it but was in mortal danger so she couldn’t!”

“Yes, at that moment my hearing briefly returned too. I heard it as well. Spirit King, please don’t worry too much. We have no intention of disrespecting Your Majesty’s noble deed.”

[I-I see. It’s shocking that everyone saw, but it’s better than my sister dy…]

“But, I’m pretty sure when she said that, the square-shaped Spirit Medium was turning a bit red and hot… mmph?!!”

Chikuyo, please shut up!! She’s completely in heat mode and causing trouble everywhere?!

I grabbed Chikuyo from behind and covered her mouth. She perked up her ears in surprise but didn’t resist. No, rather, she’s wagging her tail as if she planned this, brushing against my waist—she totally planned this?!

“…Sister. Seriously, you should mod—”

“Human outcast Jack. From what I can see, that fox beastkin is already close to her limit. What do you say? Can I arrange a place for you here to—”

“Spirit Medium, are you really going to cut it off?”

[…I apologize. You probably know my sister’s role, but since she’s constantly giving birth to spirits, she tends not to care about such sensitive matters.]

“Whoa?! Um, Spirit King?!”

The Spirit King, with his body larger than mine, bowed his head and grabbed the square object with his hands, slamming it into the ground. Ah, was that to make it bow its head? Eventually, the chaotic situation calmed down, and we changed the subject.

“Sigh, Spirit King. To be honest, this doesn’t seem like a fair deal.”

[Hmm? In what way?]

“Don’t you remember what happened to me while fighting you?”

“It was really terrible. Your limbs were exposed to the bone, and at the end…”

“Sister!! Don’t talk about that!!!”

-Ears perking up?!!

When Miho shouted at Chikuyo, who was about to let slip that I might have torn off the Spirit King’s youth membrane, Chikuyo finally shrank back a bit and hid behind me.

Yeah, you better stay like that. And Miho, your favorability graph is trending upward nicely? The kid’s become incredibly perceptive.

[…Hmm. That’s why I asked you to kill me, I didn’t intend to harm you…]

“No, even if I had fought to kill you, I don’t think the situation would have been much different. Your wind armor and combination attacks with other elements—honestly, even with my current strength, I can’t guarantee 100% victory.”

“Spirit King. You tend to underestimate your own strength. You should know that if it had been anyone other than these non-humans, they would have been completely annihilated—and that wouldn’t be surprising.”

[Sigh, I thought I had weakened due to the demonic possession. I didn’t expect to have so much power left…]

“…No. That’s not correct.”

[Pardon? Sister?]

“What do you mean by that?”

When the Spirit Medium suddenly contradicted him, we all tilted our heads in confusion. The neckless square object suddenly cleared its throat and spoke again.

“Even during the Spirit King’s actions to save me, we were definitely weakening. It’s just that, thanks to this human killing the Grand Elder a few days ago, our strength returned and we recovered by ‘circulating’ with each other.”

[Ah.]

What kind of system is that?! So it wasn’t just the Spirit King giving his energy?! So you’re saying they got stronger because we came late after killing the Grand Elder?!

“That’s the story. If you had come immediately after defeating the Grand Elder, the Spirit King would have been at 50%, no, less than 30% of his current strength.”

[…Sister, why did you restore me? We were destined to end here anyway. And I had even lost my sanity…]

“When you were trying to save me even after losing your sanity, how could I abandon you? If we die, we die together; if we live, we live together.”

[Sister…]

Hahaha. What a wonderful sibling relationship?

Except that it’s a sibling relationship based on incest, which I can’t find touching at all. And I’m not the only one—Miho blushed and lowered her head, while Chikuyo entered her radio drama listener mode again, nodding her head vigorously. Ah, I guess she’s fine with it.

And as for Salt Non, he’s pathetically covering his ears with trembling arms that barely move.

“Anyway, about the compensation…”

[Hmm, is the highest-grade spirit Phoenix not enough?]

“That’s right. Maybe give my sister some kind of bonus, or…”

Not particularly in need of money, and not sure what else to ask from these two, I thought for a moment before speaking.

“Spirit King, can you personally help me when I fight the other Seven Deadly Sins?”

[…Well. As you can see from my current state, I’ve only pushed back about half of the possession. If I get covered in demon blood again, I really don’t know what might happen…]

Hmm, it seems there’s no way to extract more compensation. Getting another high-grade spirit wouldn’t match the highest-grade Phoenix, and it would just make things harder for Ira to manage. In the end, I concluded the conversation by saying I’d put the compensation on hold, then stood up and asked them to send us back.

“About that…”

“Hmm? Why suddenly? Couldn’t you send us back without a penalty?”

“…As I mentioned earlier, I was barely able to use my power thanks to the Spirit King’s energy, so…”

[…D-Don’t tell me.]

“…To send you back without a penalty, you would need to wait at least a month.”

If the Spirit King had a face, he probably would have looked like the sky was falling. With such dejected shoulders, he turned his head as if checking my reaction. Feeling like our eyes met despite him not having any, I nodded and spoke.

“Let’s make this the compensation. Do it one more time. I can’t wait a month.”

[…Urgh.]

“Spirit King. Don’t worry. Your technique was quite good…”

[SISTER!!!]

I pretended not to hear the Spirit King’s scream.

*

I have serious questions about how tree-penetrating acts can become a way of sharing power and how spirits communicate, but that’s not what’s important.

Anyway, the Spirit King used spirit magic to create a wall between them and us with all his might, and then took care of business for about an hour.

“Spirit King. After you send everyone back, later…”

[Sister, stop. Please!!!]

“…Sulking. I am truly very weakened right now…”

The Spirit King, who seemed to have lost more of his black color, and the more sparkling square object of the Spirit Medium appeared from behind the wall, having a conversation I really didn’t want to hear.

[…Now that Sister’s power has recovered, we should be able to send you back immediately. As for compensation… I don’t want to consider this as compensation. This is now a matter of my honor. Instead…]

“I got it. I didn’t see anything here today, and I didn’t hear anything.”

[…Thank you.]

“I see. Since you saved my brother, I shall give you compensation. Though it’s difficult right now, if you don’t mind waiting a while, I will give you what you need.”

“…Well, yeah. I’m not the type to refuse what’s offered.”

As we gathered in front of the limbless ghoul, the square object began to shine much more strongly than before. And then…

“…Oh dear.”

[Hmm? Sister, what’s wrong?]

“This is terrible. I intended not to impose a penalty, but because my control was completely severed, it has already been applied.”

“…Huh?”

The Spirit King and Spirit Medium, who suddenly started talking about this instead of sending us back, briefly spoke so we couldn’t hear, then opened their mouths.

[…Jack, I’m sorry.]

“Wait, what kind of penalty is it?”

“…Broadly speaking, it’s not a very serious penalty, but for a human like you, it might be quite severe.”

Seriously, what is it?! Both of them are hesitating as if it’s difficult to say. I started to get irritated and frowned, and finally the Spirit King spoke up.

[Three months. When you leave this place, three months will have passed since the day you entered.]

“…What?”

“This space was created to block intruders and give tasks to those who approach by completely cutting off dimensions from the outside world. And the penalty was designed to prevent unnecessary elven approaches. Originally, an even greater penalty should have fallen, but… we limited it to three months.”

“Ah, damn it. Wait. Three months?! Y-You’re saying when I leave now, three months will have passed?! B-But I just came in today?!!”

As I started to get angry in disbelief, the Spirit King seemed genuinely sorry and was at a loss for words, and the Spirit Medium also stopped without saying anything. Ah, ah!! Damn, three months?! I already don’t have enough time!! And the green stone outside…!!!

“The longer we delay, the stronger the penalty will become. I’m sorry, but I will send you back now.”

“No, wait…!!!”

As I tried to object in disbelief, the square object began to shine so intensely that it almost blinded me. Thinking that three months was too much, I reached out more forcefully. And then.

-Squish.

“Kyahung?! J-Jack! Th-This kind of thing should be done where there are no people. Ah, actually, I don’t mind if there are…”

“Huh, what?”

My companions were definitely behind me, but somehow I was now reaching out in front of them and had grabbed Miho’s chest. And then what entered my vision was:

“Hey!! It’s a human!!”

“Found them!! They’re here!! Bring the knights!!”

“Human! Adventurer, are you the adventurer Jack?! I don’t know what you’ve been doing for three months, but we’ve been looking for you…!!”

Hearing the voices of elves running toward us as if they’d been searching for us, who had suddenly appeared in front of the Grand Elder’s mansion, it became clear.

Ah, damn it!! Getting screwed over again?! Give me back my three months!!!