The Wind Spirit King, Naphras.
The spiritual pillar of all wind spirits and the greatest among them.
In the time of the Spirit King, Naphras’s wind blew everywhere in the world, and the wind spirits lived under his blessing.
Of course, if you ask whether Naphras is the master of “wind,” the answer is no.
Naphras’s absolute influence only extends to the “spirits” and other races.
Naturally, he had little impact on the winds that the Celestial and Demon Races wielded.
Anyway, as I wandered the world, I felt a special wind wrap around me.
It felt like the wind that had been blowing until now was being sucked into one place.
As I followed the trace of the wind and ventured into the depths of the forest, the wind spirits began to gather.
– Angel?
– It’s an angel…
– So beautiful…
– Naphras is even prettier!
– Step back! Angels are dangerous!
– I-I need to call Lord Naphras…
At the entrance, lower wind spirits clustered together, but as I went deeper, intermediate and higher spirits started to appear.
And soon, I encountered a wind that completely enveloped my body.
With translucent green hair and green eyes, the beautiful Spirit King glared at me with hostility.
– Step back! If you come any closer, I won’t just stand by.
The very essence of this space echoed with a voice full of will.
I immediately recognized who it was.
“Spirit King?”
– …That’s right. I am the Wind Spirit King, Naphras. What brings an angel to this place?
Though filled with hostility, it wasn’t just pure enmity.
‘Fear.’
Despite holding the lofty position of Spirit King and possessing strong power, Naphras’s spirit body trembled.
As if he were the prey before a predator.
“I am not an angel but a human.”
– Nonsense! I can sense the malicious holy power in your body!
Whoosh!
A strong wind swept through my body.
But, of course, it did no harm whatsoever.
The only damage I sustained was a slightly messy hairdo.
“Hmm…”
Sre…
That too returned to its original state thanks to the Holy Magic.
“I wanted to meet the Spirit King, but I didn’t expect it to be like this.”
– If you don’t back off right now…
Step.
With each step I took, Naphras’s body shook.
The spirits beside him were fussing about, fretting and anxious.
As I approached, I let out a sigh.
I sighed as I approached closer.
“I’m telling you again, I’m not a Celestial. I have no intention of harming you.”
-You are an angel.
“I’m not!”
-Then how is it that you carry such Malicious Holy Power and still remain unharmed? If you were human, the moment you contained that much Holy Power, your body should have disintegrated!
True. The Spirit King’s words are a hundred percent correct.
Only a Revealed Angel, a mutated Celestial, the Saintesses who received their Holy Power, and I can contain such Holy Power.
Other beings can’t endure it and suffer in pain or have already disintegrated.
But I shook my head.
“I’m human.”
-…To the very end.
Despite continuously stating the truth, the Spirit King does not believe me.
It’s somewhat expected.
Having grown accustomed through numerous situations, I pulled out my hammer after the argument.
“If you don’t believe me…”
Would you like to experience it once?
■
“…I’m sorry.”
“What are you sorry for?”
Returning to the present.
Arriving in the forest of Spirit Lord, Arne Partia, I was able to meet Naphras, who had his head down.
The two women beside him were wide-eyed as Naphras rolled his green eyes around and replied.
“No, um, I was going to say…”
“So, what about?”
“Um…”
Naphras turned his head and surrounded the area with a green Barrier.
A barrier that blocks sound and sight.
And included in that blockage were Arne and Leo.
“N-Naphras?”
“I will speak. I respect your wishes as well.”
As Naphras calmly conveyed his words, Arne, surprised that he might not be able to hear, completely closed the barrier.
Now only the two remained inside the barrier.
Naphras’s crouched body slid down.
“Please don’t kneel.”
“…Y-Yes.”
He lifted his body again.
“First of all, you know the reason I disappeared, right? Those demon bastards…”
“Your language has gotten rough, Naphras. I thought you weren’t like this before.”
Where did the majestic and dignified appearance and speech from our first meeting go? All that remains is a rough-spoken spirit.
At my words, Naphras’ mouth tightly shut.
‘You made me this way!’
To the very tip of his throat. Well, originally, spirits have their vocal cords structured differently, but anyway, after swallowing his words, Naphras opened his mouth again.
I opened my mouth again.
“The demons massacred the spirits, and then I hid my body. If it were up to me, I would have loved to tear apart those demons who used my children as experimental materials, but there was no way to do it.”
Upper Demon.
Among the demons, only the top-class demons and the Demon King were counted as formidable beings.
In particular, demons with a ‘title’ possessed strength and rank that were grotesquely powerful, making it impossible for the Spirit King, who could barely determine victory or defeat against mere Lower Demons, to stand a chance.
I nodded my head.
“Well done. Surviving is better than a pointless death.”
“…Why would someone like you say that?”
“Shut up.”
“Yes.”
Naphras kept his mouth shut.
“That demon was the Devil of Teleportation, Metabasis. He was the one injecting magic into the spirits.”
A demon that spread magic throughout the world in a seriously heinous manner.
As soon as I mentioned my target of hatred, Naphras’s face turned cold.
Although I had concealed myself and survived until now, his anger had not completely faded.
‘Just like me.’
Tug.
I grabbed Naphras’s trembling wrist.
“Don’t worry. That demon is dead.”
“…How can you be sure? You must have been barely able to survive amidst all that chaos.”
“I killed him.”
“……”
Thud.
Naphras shook off my hand and looked at me with disbelief.
Killing an Upper Demon.
It was absolutely absurd.
Let alone me, just a human who was referred to as a Celestial Race.
“Liar.”
“…It was like a lie. It was truly impossible.”
Remembering that day, I frowned.
My body and soul screamed, and my mind wore down rapidly.
I crossed countless life-and-death lines, using Sacred Transformation as a last resort.
But the real pain wasn’t that.
The real pain came from the fact that I used…
‘Never use this.’
“……”
Then why did you hand it over to me?
I don’t understand you.
“Are you…?”
“No, it’s nothing much.”
I changed the subject.
“That was during my prime. It was about 29 years ago.”
“Oh. Right. You were in a different world… Huh?”
“That’s right. The world of outsiders. I came from there.”
Though it might not be true.
Naphras looked at me for a moment.
Then he burst into laughter.
He laughed so hard he practically bent over, chuckling uncontrollably.
He chuckles so much, he almost bends over laughing.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Haha… doesn’t it feel like something has turned upside down?”
Hehe.
“I divided my body to survive. Spirits are self-aware beings created by the gathering of nature in the beginning. Unless they are killed by magic or holiness, spirits return to nature when scattered.”
I decided to use that.
“I scattered into nature. Completely, to the extent that I lost my own self. And I cast a bit of magic, preparing for the day when I someday wake up.”
“……”
It’s similar to Sugarado’s situation.
The difference is that Sugarado failed, while Naphras succeeded.
Though I did turn Sugarado’s failure into success.
“When I woke up, the world had changed. Thousands of years have passed. I couldn’t believe it. The wicked Celestial Race and Demon Race were nowhere to be found, and there were strong humans rampaging around.”
“It certainly is different.”
“What’s even more amazing is that this world is being influenced by something powerful. But there was no malice felt from that something. Quite the opposite, it seemed to be considerate of us.”
The entity influencing this world is the system.
It’s definitely one of the two… but I have no idea what its intentions are.
“In an instant, I became an outsider here. And I made a contract with a human who had an extraordinary affinity for spirits. A level incomparably higher than back then—”
“So why are you trying to start a war?”
Naphras stopped laughing.
“As you know, I absolutely hate war. Especially political battles like this…”
“It’s not a political battle.”
She looked seriously into my eyes.
“The reason I’m helping Arne. It’s not just a law set by ‘something’, nor simply for the sake of the contractor. I certainly don’t want Arne’s independence.”
Naphras’s face turned cold again.
The Magic Lord is.
“Experiencing experiments with spirits.”
I touched her reverse scale.
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