Lisel turned her head toward me.

“He is asking if I have finally made up my mind. Whether I have decided to become a complete spirit.”

“Ignore it. And pass along what I say in the spirit tongue.” Read complete version only at novel⸺fire.net

“Ah, yes.”

“So, first of all…”

“There’s no need for that. Magna Neros. Our king.”

Huh?

A voice I had never heard before struck our eardrums.

No, that wasn’t right. I had heard it before.

In the secret from 1,500 years ago that I learned through the Eye of Omniscience.

But that was in the spirit tongue. This time, it was perfectly fluent Imperial tongue.

“On that day of the great storm, the first hero, Grade, was by your side. If he had overheard our conversation, he would have foamed at the mouth to stop it. That’s the only reason I spoke in the spirit tongue.”

“…!”

“This time, there’s no need to hide anything from them. You must have called me here knowing everything.”

Our jaws dropped.

Spirits are beings that cannot be seen or heard.

Since Magna Neros, they had been so rare they never even appeared in history books.

And now you’re telling me there are spirits we can talk to?

Perhaps reading our expressions, Mime continued.

“Don’t misunderstand. Among all spirits, I’m the only one capable of mimicking human speech.”

“Is that because you’re a duke spirit?”

“Duke? Hah. To attach such a paltry title to us… This is why humans are…”

“Lisel was the one who gave you that title.”

“As expected of our king. An excellent expression that’s instantly understandable.”

…This one has the same vibe as Iori when he talks about Lepia.

At that moment, Serein spoke.

“It’s good we can communicate. I have something I want to say.”

“What is it?”

“Don’t force someone into becoming a spirit if they don’t want to. Trying to prune someone into the shape you desire is the absolute worst.”

It seemed Serein was remembering how her parents had tried to make her into her sister.

Her voice was unusually cold and serious.

But Mime was completely unmoved.

“Our thirst for revenge is not so shallow as to be swayed by such circumstances.”

“Lisel is your king, right? Shouldn’t a king take such circumstances into account before we even bring them up?”

“Magna Neros is…”

“Call her Lisel. That’s her real name.”

Mime was silent for a moment, but surprisingly, changed the way he addressed her without protest.

“Lisel has always used our power. Both 1,500 years ago and now.”

“…”

“In that case, shouldn’t she fulfill the responsibilities that come with it? She can’t just use us when needed and ignore her duties the rest of the time. That’s not how a real king behaves. And every king needs someone like me to speak bitter truths to their face.”

Mime turned to Lisel again.

“I have repeated this endlessly 1,500 years ago, Your Majesty.”

“…”

“If you want my power, then come over to this side ‘completely.’ In fact, if you do that, you won’t even need my help.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you became a true Spirit King, you would gain power greater than all the other spirits on the continent combined.”

What?

I felt a faint sense of dizziness.

Even if she’s the king of spirits, is that really possible?

It was shocking, but now wasn’t the time to focus on that.

I spoke.

“Hey. Forget all that.”

“What?”

“Tell me who you want revenge on.”

“And what will you do after hearing that?”

“I will take revenge for you.”

Everyone looked at me in surprise.

Even Mime tilted his hazy head sideways.

“Was that a joke? Human sensibilities are difficult to understand.”

“One hundred percent serious.”

“Then I will laugh at you.”

“Why laugh? You think I can’t do it?”

“Mide Mohan, you have no idea who it is that we all bear our fangs at.”

I smirked.

“Of course I don’t. You haven’t told me yet. So tell me.”

“The nature mage.”

“Huh?”

I looked at Lisel.

She shook her head as if reading my thoughts.

“I have never heard anything like that before. Not from Mime or from any other spirit.”

“That’s because you rejects us so desperately. That’s why I never told her. I didn’t think it was time yet.”

“Did you just say… ‘I’?”

“Yes. There’s a reason no other spirit told you. Originally, we planned not to reveal it until you became king. But since things have come this far, we have no choice.”

The wind began to calm.

It was as if it were taking a deep breath to steady itself.

He addressed me directly.

“A long time ago, we lived alongside humans. At that time, there were so many of those you now call spirit mages that you could easily bump into one on the street. Back then, they were called nature mage.”

A forgotten era.

Grade had told me:

Before the Empire was founded, the continent had been filled with countless small nations.

And if you went back even further…

‘There was a time when spirits were familiar to humanity.’

Mime continued.

“Among them, there was one particularly extraordinary nature mage. He was incredibly adept at communicating with us, naturally gifted, you could say.”

“…”

“He was even greater than Lisel. We intended to crown him as our Spirit King.”

I tilted my head.

“Why not just choose a king from among yourselves instead of a human?”

“We can’t choose a king from among the spirits. Only a nature mage, what you now call a spirit mage, can be king.”

“Why?”

“Why indeed… I don’t know. Perhaps it’s simply a law of the world.”

There it was again, law.

The world seems to have many hidden rules I don’t know about.

And among the beings bound by those laws is the Celestial God.

“So? Continue.”

“We tried to persuade him again and again to be our king. But he refused every time.”

“That’s the normal reaction. Lisel did the same.”

“No. His reason for refusal was completely different from Lisel’s.”

“…?”

“He said the vessel of the spirit king was too small to contain him.”

“…..”

Now that is an impressively arrogant idea.

Mime had said that the Spirit King would have power greater than all the other spirits combined.

And yet, he claimed even that was too small a vessel for him, and that was why he refused.

“But that nature mage didn’t stop there.”

“What do you mean?”

“One day, he ‘commanded’ us to vanish from humanity forever, and never again show ourselves before humans.”

“…?”

“Using that horn.”

Mime pointed at the horn Lisel was holding.

She instinctively clutched it to her chest.

“That belonged to the nature mage?”

“Yes. More accurately… it should be called a weapon.”

“A weapon? He used you spirits to fight someone?”

“Yes. But we don’t know who he fought. We can’t remember.”

Mime almost seemed to sigh.

“After commanding us to vanish, he followed it with another command: Forget. Because of that, we have no idea what happened in that era.”

“…”

“Only a spirit of my level can tell you this much. If we go by the titles you gave us, a marquis level spirit or lower would remember nothing.”

I clicked my tongue lightly.

Vanish.

Forget.

No matter how great of a nature mage he was, and even a candidate for Spirit King, to think that just a single command from him made all spirits obey.

‘He must have been something else.’

Mime continued speaking.

“Because of that nature mage’s unreasonable order, we disappeared from the world and were forgotten. Humans dug up the rivers, trees, and lands we dwelled in, and set them aflame.”

“…”

“In turn, we resisted by causing floods and earthquakes. That nature mage essentially pitted humans and spirits against each other. But!”

His voice took on a heated edge.

“Lady Lisel Vint. You are the one who can remove the curse that mage placed upon us.”

“How could I possibly…”

“Even now, you are letting these humans see us, aren’t you?”

“…!”

“The order that nature mage gave us back then was absolute. For countless ages afterward, not once could we reveal ourselves to humankind. Not until Magna Neros, until you appeared.”

That was true.

Lisel had already shown spirits to us several times.

Back then, she had brushed it off with, ‘I asked the spirits,’ as if it were nothing.

But it was far from nothing.

It was a feat that broke the command issued by a former candidate for Spirit King.

“I… I didn’t think it was that significant…”

“From the start, you sought us out despite us vanishing from the world. You even speak the Spirit Tongue despite never having learned it.”

“…”

“This alone means you have the qualifications to be our king. Only you can do this.”

Now I understood why Mime looked at Lisel like a sunflower to the sun.

Spirits could not choose a king among themselves. That was a law of the world.

But because of the scheming of some nature mage long ago, no human could see or converse with spirits.

The only one who could… was Lisel.

For Mime, clinging to her was the only option.

‘But understanding something and agreeing to it are two completely different things.’

Lisel glanced at me, looking lost.

I asked,

“Do you remember the name of that nature mage?”

“Silence. I am waiting for Lady Lisel’s answer.”

“She won’t answer. I will make sure of that.”

“You…”

“Don’t hold back, just tell me. I’m trying to help here.”

Mime let out a snort and said,

“Adin. His name is Adin Press.”

“I see.”

“And in this era, he plays the role of the Celestial God.”

“I see.”

“…..”

Huh?

A brief silence followed.

Offense was the first to shout.

“You expect us to believe that the god was actually a nature mage?”

“I have no intention of forcing you to believe it. I gave up expecting things from humans long ago.”

“…”

“Right now, humanity worships him as a god, the very one who erased us. Do you have any idea how long we have had to watch that?”

He spoke mockingly, but that wasn’t what mattered to us.

Serein and Xenia said in perfect sync,

“Fuck. I knew that bastard wasn’t a god!”

“So he was a human all along, this god we so faithfully believed in.”

“I never believed in him to begin with.”

“Before, I would have been mad about that. Now, I’m almost jealous of you, Serein.”

Adwin chimed in.

“But… how could a mere human, well, I guess he was a Spirit King candidate, so he must have been extraordinary, but still, how could a human possibly become a god?”

His question was sharp and to the point.

Neril folded her arms and muttered thoughtfully.

“I think there must be some sort of rule to it.”

“Huh?”

“The fact that the Celestial God can’t leave the starting point. The fact he had to answer the prayers from a nonbeliever like Serein. The fact he couldn’t directly deal with the Demon King and had to send a hero instead.”

“…”

“If you think about it, each of those things puts the Celestial God at a disadvantage. There’s no way he imposed those restrictions on himself, so it’s more likely the world moves according to some invisible law.”

She glanced up at the sky.

As if the Celestial God were up there.

“Maybe he figured out one of those rules and cleverly used it to become a god.”

“That makes sense. Your intuition is as sharp as ever.”

“You are one to talk.”

“Anyway, listen, Mime.”

I addressed the spirit duke in a coaxing tone.

“You’re picking a fight with a truly absurd opponent. Even if Lisel becomes Spirit King, do you really think she could take revenge on the Celestial God?”

“…You won’t know until you try.”

“No, I already know without trying. You said yourself that Adin, the Celestial God, was a former Spirit King candidate. And he abandoned the Spirit King’s seat because he thought it too small, choosing instead to play god.”

“…”

“I get that you have no other options but to cling to Lisel, but even giving it the most generous spin, it’s still just a desperate measure.”

It was then.

Kugoong! Kwa-jik!

Rocks around us crumbled.

The cliffside sheared away.

At the same time, Xenia and Serein’s expressions darkened.

“The shield spell is shaking.”

“Maybe don’t provoke him too much…”

Mime then spoke.

“Indeed. You better listen to your companions.”

“Huh?”

“I’m not even showing real anger right now. I’m just slightly displeased.”

“…”

“And yet, with just that, the spells of those two are shaking. Do you truly think you would remain intact if I got genuinely angry?”

I shrugged.

“You should be grateful.”

“What?”

“That I’m not truly angry at you yet. That I’m merciful by nature.”

“Ha.”

“It’s only because I understand your position that it’s like this. Out of sympathy and in the spirit of negotiation, I will give you one more option.”

Mime remained silent, asking with his eyes what I meant.

I grinned.

“I told you earlier, didn’t I? That I would take revenge for you.”

“…”

“I will kill the Celestial God.”

It wasn’t Mime who looked shocked.

It was my companions, staring at me like I had lost my mind.

Neril said what everyone was thinking.

“Mide. I will admit that bastard gets under my skin, but… like it or not, he is a god now. A fake god, sure, but still a god.”.”

“Mm.”

“Wasn’t it already a stretch for us to take down Idria?”

“Who said that?”

Neril probably didn’t know.

None of the others did either.

Our party’s strength and abilities had already far surpassed what they had been in the final battle before my regression.

Just as I was growing stronger, they were too.

“You are the strongest heroes in history.”

“H-how do you know that?”

“If you don’t believe me, call Lady Lepia later and ask her. Though I’m not sure she will be honest.”

“…Still, killing a god?”

“I have already got the lead. We know his name now.”

Everyone’s jaws dropped.

Yes, the Eye of Omniscience.

It could only reveal secrets if you knew the target’s name.

And now, in this moment, I had learned the god’s name.

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