Chapter 37

“Uh, wh-what…? Geom-shin?”

“Why the hell are you having a playground shouting match with evil spirits instead of scouting?”

“But they’re provoking me!!”

“…And you just had to answer? They don’t know anything real about you anyway.”

“But those things! They said if you get closer to that angel girl, the only thing you’d ever brag about is her chest, and then someone useless like me will be tossed aside… forgotten because I can’t help you at all…!”

“…You.”

Her body trembled faintly, her face pale, her skin gone cold.

From that reaction, I realized Shia wasn’t just mad about being teased.

Even now, after coming this far together, she was still worried that if she wasn’t useful enough—or attractive enough—I might abandon her, leaving her alone again.

‘This girl… her darkness runs deeper than I thought. Well, trauma doesn’t come from nowhere.’

Two hundred years sounds short when said aloud, but in days that’s seventy-three thousand, and in hours it’s over 1.75 million. Anyone locked away for that long in a place without light would struggle to stay sane.

I scooped her up and hugged her as tightly as I could.

“Honestly… you silly girl. You’re still worried about that?”

“Mm…”

“I told you so many times—if you have ability, you’ll always be used somehow. To avoid becoming a pawn of the heavens, I need to keep my ‘talent’ bound inside your seal. How do you twist that into ‘I’ll abandon you’?”

“…Ugh.”

“And your seal is also my trump card. A nuclear option with mutual assured destruction. No way I’d toss that aside. Why would I?”

“…Then if the seal disappears? What then? Do we become nothing?”

“If the seal disappears? Then we’re just family. Didn’t I already tell you that?”

Her eyes widened.

“…Family. Family.”

I hugged her tighter and whispered.

“What did I say family meant to me?”

“…Unconditional allies. Precious people, free from calculation.”

“Exactly. That’s us. You and me.”

“……”

“I’ve always thought so… but maybe you didn’t?”

“N-no! I did… I’ve always thought so, even more than you did…!”

“Then stop worrying over nothing. I wouldn’t let you go even if you tried to run. Do you really think I’d give up such an adorable companion I happened to pick up in this strange world?”

“……”

Her trembling slowly faded.

Clinging to my neck, she finally lifted her head and gave me a bashful smile.

“Hee…”

All traces of unease vanished from that smile. Instead, it brimmed with warmth, affection, and trust.

“You really are too cute.”

I stroked her head as she rubbed her forehead against my chest like it might catch fire, smiling with satisfaction.

Ha… what a smooth talker I am.

The only reason I’m still single is because I never tried. If I wanted, I could’ve been raiding dungeons with three thousand concubines by now. Absolutely.

Then Shia poked her head up again. Still something left to ask, it seemed.

“Go on. This kind older brother will answer anything.”

“Th-then… do you prefer them… big? Or… moderate?”

I smiled gently, speaking with all the warmth I could muster.

“Big.”

“……”

“……”

…Ah. Damn. I let my real thoughts slip in the relief of the moment.

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Shia collapsed to her knees with the look of someone who’d lost their country.

“In the old days, back when I still reigned in my Ice Castle… I wasn’t like this. If not for the seal suppressing all my power, I’d be even more voluptuous than that angel girl…!”

“……”

“You don’t believe me, do you?”

“No, I do. Of course I do. Absolutely.”

“…Take your hand away from your mouth.”

“…Pfft.”

“…Youuu!!”

“Sorry! Sorry! Don’t pinch! Don’t bite! Don’t strip! And why the hell are you poking my belly button—sixteen times!?”

Only after venting on me for a long while did her anger finally cool. Then, with just a trace of gruffness left in her voice, she asked:

“…So what do we do about these evil spirits?”

For the record, even while I was soothing her, the spirits had kept swirling madly around us.

Even if I blasted holy light to push them back, they forced through, shrieking like rabid fans breaking past security.

“Well… right now, we’ve got no choice but to fall back.”

I’d tested a few things on the way in, but the spirits were too strong. Low-level spells or weak priestly miracles didn’t stick.

Sure, Astraphe could cut them down—but not one by one, not with this many. It was like rush-hour subway crowds.

But Shia clearly had other ideas.

“No. I won’t forgive these fiends. They mocked me—said I was AAA. I’ll sweep them away here and claim this place as our mansion!”

“I get the feeling, but how? We’ve got no method.”

“That’s why… I say we loosen the seal. Just a little.”

“…What?”

Was she out of her mind?

She’d been checking her seal every chance she got, terrified of being dragged back into the trial—and now she wanted to break it?

“Not completely! I’m not saying to unleash everything and return to being the Demon King. Just… five percent. No, even three. With just that much, wiping out these spirits would be nothing for us.”

“…Three percent? You think it works like a dial?”

She lifted the pendant-shaped Sealing Sword that hung at her neck.

“This seal might hang here, but it’s still a part of you. Isn’t it funny if you can’t control your own possession? Just try. If I’m right, it won’t be difficult.”

“Well… it doesn’t cost anything, I guess.”

I blasted holy light once more to buy us space, then carefully grasped the Sealing Sword hanging at her throat.

Thump…

The moment the Sealing Sword resonated with the hollow spot in my chest, I realized Shia had been right—this sword was entirely under my control.

“So? I was right, wasn’t I?”

“…Yeah. Looks like it’ll work.”

“Then go on. No more, no less—exactly three percent.”

“Will that be safe?”

“At that much, it will still fall within mortal limits. Just a faint sliver, so there should be no real issue.”

“Alright… here goes.”

I pressed my will into the Sealing Sword.

Just a little. I would reclaim only a fraction of my strength—no more than three percent of my power and abilities.

Thump….

Something trickled into me through the sword.

“Ah…”

A dizzying thrill, like a parched throat finally tasting a single drop of water.

I tore my hand away before the hunger to reclaim everything could overwhelm me.

–Three percent.

When I looked up again…

“Finished?”

Shia’s head, once barely level with my stomach, now reached up to my chest. She smiled meaningfully.

She’d gone from looking like a middle schooler to a full high schooler.

“Good god… you…”

And it wasn’t only her height that had changed.

Where before you could’ve laid a ruler across her chest, now elegant curves flowed like a complex equation drawn into the air.

Shia spun in place, smugly showing herself off.

“Ehem! See? Didn’t I tell you? I was never a washboard! This is just three percent. Imagine if more were released.”

…This brat. Did she suggest breaking the seal just to flaunt this?

She must’ve mistaken my wary look for awe, because she puffed up proudly.

I gave a dry laugh and ruffled her hair roughly.

“Honestly. A two-hundred-year-old has-been Demon Lord, yet you’re still too damn cute. Anyway, enough showing off—let’s clean up those ugly things. Should I, or will you?”

Shia thumped her chest with a fist.

“I shall do it with my own hands. Leave it to me.”

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She thrust her hand forward, and dozens of icy gears formed in the air. They spun together, locking into a gyroscope-like structure.

When she clenched her tiny fist, the whole construct detonated—an overwhelming storm of cold bursting outward.

KWAAAAAAA!!!

“Whoa…!”

As the glittering diamond dust finally settled, a breathtaking sight spread before us.

Every evil spirit that had filled the area was frozen solid, pale white statues in the air.

CRACK! THUD-THUD-CRACK!!

One after another, the frozen spirits crashed to the ground. Some shattered instantly, exploding into shards.

“…Wow.”

Evil spirits were incorporeal. Intangible. They weren’t supposed to be touched by mere temperature.

Yet here they were, frozen as if they’d been dunked in liquid nitrogen. No scientific explanation would suffice—this was pure mystic power.

“Will they fade on their own like this?”

“Most will. But the exceptionally strong ones might linger.”

“Then I’ll smash those. Leave it to me.”

After all, I too was powered up now—nearly as much as Shia herself.

With the seal loosened and a trickle of mana restored, in that brief span I had already—

Perceived body-mana, learned to circulate power through flesh and weapon, grasped how to condense mana into aura, understood the method of releasing it, and even realized how to shape that aura into mystic phenomena much like a mage.

On top of that, I’d manifested something beyond a mage’s inner image: a wholly separate “external image.”

Here in Kion, that state had a name.

–Grand Master.

A realm beyond even Master, brushing against transcendence.

In terms of magic, the 9th rank.

‘So three percent takes me this far. Beyond this, I’m not allowed.’

With a wry smile, I drove the divine blade hard into the ground.

Grrrmmmmm…

From where it struck, a vast tide of aura surged forth like a tsunami.

KWOAAAAAHHH!!

The wave shattered the frozen spirits, scoured the miasma that had seeped into the earth and mansion, and left nothing but silence.

“…Phew.”

With the leftover aura, I swept the grounds clean, restoring the ruined mansion and the land around it. Then I clapped my palm against Shia’s outstretched hand.

“Done.”

She beamed, spreading her arms wide toward the now-pristine estate.

“From today, this mansion is mine!”

“Ours.”

“Ah, right. Ours!”

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Gooooooohhh…

That was when the anomaly struck.

“…Huh?”

Shia, who had been happily scampering to look around her future home, suddenly froze and lifted her gaze skyward.

“What is it?”

“No way—already? Impossible! It was only three percent!”

“What are you talking about?”

Instead of answering, her face drained white as she sprinted toward me.

“Geom-shin! Quickly! Seal it! Reseal it, now!!”

The urgency in her voice made me whip my eyes upward.

And then I understood.

“…!”

From the rift in the clouds, enormous chains poured down, rattling as they descended toward the earth.

CLANG! SHRRRRAAANG!!

The sight was both majestic and chilling.

I recognized them instantly—those were the very chains that had once bound the body of the Northern Demon Lord, Akatastasia.

“…Damn it. Don’t tell me they’re coming for you this time?”