Stagnation Through Balance Meant Peace. And Farewell

Two years had passed since I was summoned back to the world of seven moons.

About two months earlier, the Sorcerers’ Association, the Sorcerers’ Party, and the alliance of eastern continental nations that had been at war with the Association had signed an accord.

That was because the leaders of the hardline faction within the Sorcerers’ Association had lost their power across the board, and the moderate faction had taken over leadership of the Association instead.

On top of that, the weakened Sorcerers’ Association, the increasingly powerful Sorcerers’ Party, and the Eastern Continental Alliance had all become roughly equal in strength, leaving the three sides in a state of balance.

The Sorcerers’ Association and the Eastern Continental Alliance would first enter into a ceasefire agreement.

In the western part of the continent, the former framework of nations would gradually be restored, while the Sorcerers’ Association and Sorcerers’ Party would retain their influence and monitor those nations to ensure that sorcerers were never oppressed again.

The Sorcerers’ Association and Sorcerers’ Party themselves would also watch and deter one another.

The agreement also stipulated that the Eastern Continental Alliance, Sorcerers’ Association, and Sorcerers’ Party would hold regular conferences to discuss problems affecting the continent.

After all their fighting and negotiation, the sorcerers had proven themselves to be rational beings.

There were also voices saying that the Sorcerers’ Association and Sorcerers’ Party ought to reunite as a single organization, but by now the balance of power between the two had become almost perfectly even.

Whichever organization took the leading role, unification would inevitably cause conflict, and above all, allowing a single organization to wield too much power would surely become a problem again.

So there was no going back to the way things had been.

The Sorcerers’ Party, now greatly expanded in strength, changed its name to the Sorcerers’ Federation and attempted to install Annie Mitt as its leader.

However, Annie firmly refused the position and instead recommended Gree Earth, the male sorcerer who had told me that his late master had studied under the same teacher as Garmon-san.

Well, the future of the Sorcerers’ Federation had nothing to do with me anymore.

I did feel some affinity toward Gree, but I had already helped them more than enough.

From here on, their own efforts would shape the future of this world.

What mattered more to me was that Annie, having refused the position of leader, had undoubtedly already made up her mind and completed her preparations.

Every contract made between Annie and me had been fulfilled.

The time had come for payment, and with it, the time for Lenis and Annie to part.

“So in the end, you haven’t changed your mind?”

At my question, Annie silently nodded.

Beside her, Lenis bit her lip and wore a somewhat pained expression, but she said nothing.

The two of them had probably already discussed this more than enough.

When I looked up at the sky, the seven moons were shining brightly as always, illuminating the ground below.

Moonlight carried mana within it.

The timing was good as well.

If Annie herself had made up her mind, and even her only family member had been unable to stop her, then there was nothing more for me to say.

“Then, Annie, every contract made between you and me has been fulfilled. I will now receive my payment from you.”

At my words, Annie stepped forward and dropped to one knee, tension finally showing on her face.

What I would receive from Annie as payment for this contract was everything.

I would take everything she had and transform her into a Devil.

“As payment for the fulfilled contract, I offer everything I am to you, Lept-kun.”

I placed my hand on Annie’s bowed head and… glanced toward Bella, who was standing beside Lenis.

Naturally, that was so Bella could restrain Lenis immediately if she lost control.

Lenis had become much calmer, and after all their repeated discussions she had probably steeled herself for this, but even so, she was about to lose her only family member.

I could not begin to measure what she must have been feeling.

But if she interfered now and broke my concentration, it would greatly increase the danger to Annie.

Unlike Bella and Pisca, who had been a Magical Beast and a fairy respectively and therefore possessed a natural affinity for becoming Devils, turning a human like Annie into a Devil required me to first absorb everything that made her into myself.

The process demanded tremendous concentration, and if I were interrupted, there was a possibility I would fail to safely turn Annie into a Devil while preserving Annie as herself.

Understanding the meaning behind my glance, Bella stepped closer to Lenis.

“Then I shall receive everything that is Annie Mitt and transform her into a Devil who belongs among my dependents.”

At those words, Annie’s body became light, darkness, and mana, and together with her soul, all of it was drawn into me.

I mixed all of it with a part of myself, gradually allowing the two to blend together.

If I mixed everything at once, Annie’s soul would lose its shape and collapse.

So I proceeded slowly, very slowly.

I advanced her transformation into a Devil while preserving the shape of her soul, and whenever that shape seemed ready to crumble, I drew out the Annie preserved within my memories of her and poured it back in, somehow holding her form together.

…How long had I continued like that?

Inside my chest, a single Devil was born.

Now it was time for her debut.

With a wet sliding motion, a hand emerged from my chest and pulled it open as though parting curtains, followed by a head, a body, and finally legs slipping their way out.

It did not hurt, but having a humanoid thing crawl out from inside my body was, frankly, not a particularly pleasant sensation.

Probably—most likely—it had worked.

She had surely become a Devil while remaining Annie herself.

Having successfully accomplished something so difficult, I breathed an inward sigh of relief.

But reaching this point was only the prerequisite.

I had once promised Lenis that, whatever form it took, I would preserve the bond between her and Annie.

So what truly mattered came next.

The one who rose to her feet before me was a female Devil with chestnut hair and a toned figure, though certain parts of her were extremely generous.

She had horns, wings, and a tail.

…Well, the fact that she had no clothes could not be helped. I had not exactly had the spare concentration for that.

“Now then, newly born Devil and my friend. Do you know who you are? Can you remember your name?”

I asked without calling her by name.

If my thinking was correct, her sense of self should have remained intact, but her name should have been lost.

After all, Annie Mitt had been her name as a human, and that was no longer what she was.

“Of course I do, Lept-kun. I remember everything. Everything you’ve done for me, Garmon-san, Lenis—everything. …And yet, how strange. My own name is the one thing I can’t remember.”

At the answer I had expected, I nodded in satisfaction.

She looked delighted with her new self, though there was also a trace of unease in her expression.

“That’s only natural. You’ve changed from a human into a Devil, so the name you had as a human no longer points to who you are now. The same thing happened to me, and Garmon-san gave me the name Lept.”

That was right. Garmon-san had given me my name, and I had become Lept.

That was why even after Garmon-san died, my connection to him remained within my very name.

“…I see. It’s a little lonely, but I suppose it can’t be helped. Then, Lept-kun. My friend and my master, please give me a new name.”

I had finally made it this far without carelessly slipping up and calling her by her old name.

And so, in response to her request, I shook my head.

“You certainly need a new name. But I’m not the one who’s going to give it to you. Lenis, that’s your role.”

I turned toward Lenis, who had been watching everything with tears in her eyes, and told her so.

““Huh?””

Two startled voices rang out.

Both she and Lenis stared at me wide-eyed.

Their expressions looked so alike that I could not help but smile.

“A name isn’t just a word. It’s something that represents who we are. When you give someone a name, a bond forms between you that lasts for as long as that name remains. A bond far stronger than blood.”

I did not know the details of their relationship, nor did I intend to pry into them.

But I knew there was a bond between them, and I desperately wanted to preserve it.

“Of course, you can refuse to accept the name. If you can truly reject it from the bottom of your heart.”

Lenis was the first to recover from her surprise at my words.

She wiped the tears from her eyes, took a deep breath, and shouted the name at the top of her lungs.

“Your new name is ‘Anis’! It’s Annie from Grandma and Lenis from me—put them together, and you get Anis! Grandma, I don’t care if you’re a Devil now, just don’t leave me all alone!”

As Lenis ran over and clung to her, shouting through her tears, the former Annie—now Anis—wore an expression mixed with bewilderment and joy.

“Hey, Lept-kun. What are you going to do about this? My granddaughter just failed to become independent.”

She glared at me as she said that, but that had nothing to do with me.

If she had truly wanted that, she should have raised Lenis more skillfully and guided her more carefully.

She had left the job almost entirely to me halfway through, so she could hardly complain that this was how things turned out.

“Not my problem, Anis. You’re my friend, but I’m still on my student’s side. Besides, you’re the one who made things this way, aren’t you? And Lenis—Lenis Mitt. Don’t depend on her forever.”

As a Devil, Anis could not remain in this world once I departed.

And I had fulfilled every contract I had in this world, leaving me no remaining time to stay.

No amount of crying or shouting could change that much.

“Your grandmother, Annie Mitt, summoned me back into this world with nothing more than a single letter I left behind. There’s no way you, her granddaughter, could fail to summon a Devil you named with your own hands. You may not be capable of it now, but you will make it possible someday. I, Lept, the Devil who taught you sorcery, guarantee it.”

I had accomplished everything I needed to accomplish and said everything I needed to say.

I began my departure from the world, with Bella and Pisca, who had been watching everything unfold, coming along as well.

At the very end, Anis returned Lenis’s embrace and whispered something into her ear, then, after seeing Lenis nod, departed from the world.

And so my second summoning into the world where seven moons hung in the night sky came to an end.