My Childhood Friend the Demon Knight Hates Me - Episode 31: Elucidation Edition
31 Elucidation Edition
Translator: Lioness
Editor: Arya
“First of all, you made the right decision to ask me and not Reiss himself. He is physically incapable of telling anyone that he is currently possessed by a demon. He can’t just tell anyone that he is physically possessed, or what was his contract with the demon. If he tries to do it, his inner demons would get in the way.”
“Keeping it a secret that you were possessed by the devil… was that one of the contracts that Reiss was forced to promise to the devil?”
“Yes,” nodded the Chief Apostle.
From the flow of the story, I became convinced. I knew that it was not Reiss’ choice to be possessed, rather he was forced to become possessed.
What kind of grudge did the demon hunter have against him? Or was he used like Bell, or was it just for fun that he became possessed?
It was still unclear, but I’m sure he must be just under some unreasonable contract.
I tightly gripped the hem of my skirt.
I wonder if Reiss had been fighting the demon alone for a long time… and yet he was unable to talk about it to anyone.
But then how did the Apostle General learn about Reiss’s contract with the devil?
“Of course, I didn’t actually hear it directly from him, because I realized that he was possessed by the devil and saw his memories.”
“You saw his memories…?”
Guru and Riou snorted.
The apostle chief told me that it was his ability, the high-ranked spirit of fire, to be able to observe ‘the memory of others’ while combing the reddish brown hair of Mr. Riou.
He told me that the flickering flames that he creates reflected the memories of the people inside them.
“But it’s a dangerous power that allows you to look into the minds of others without their consent. Therefore, when I ask someone to show me their memories, I make a number of ‘vows’ to Riou. You can only see the memories of the same person once. And you must not reveal anything about the memories you have seen to any third party. If I were to break it, I would be burnt in the fires. That is the Fire Pact.”
“… So the range I could tell you is limited.”
I almost clucked my tongue in a bad manner.
Therefore, did the Apostle-sama didn’t even tell Roa that Reiss was possessed by the devil? I wondered if this was completely a secret agreement between Reiss and the Apostle.
… I couldn’t bring myself to even take one more step forward here.
Contracts and pledges had become sloppy and annoying.
Of course, there was nothing wrong with the apostle chief.
Originally, my frustration with a short tempered personality seemed to be transmitted to him who was wise, and he smiled with a gentle face similar to Roa.
“He was originally a candidate for this year’s escort knight. When I went to the Knights and made a selection, I already noticed that he was possessed by a demon. Assimilation progressed to that point. I was surprised at how he kept his sanity. It’s a pitiful story… When the assimilation progresses so much, even with my power, the devil inside the guy will be exorcised in any way. ”
“No way…”
“But I can’t just leave him there. I called Reiss into the church, looked at his memories, and did what I thought was the best thing to do. It was a last-ditch effort, though. In addition, I made some promises and agreements with him… I gave priority to his ‘wishes’ as much as I could.”
—- Reiss’s wishes?
I suddenly remembered what I had seen in Reiss’s room, the way he was suffering. He was muttering something as if he was clinging to it. It was choppy and didn’t sound good, but was that related to his wishes?
The next thing that popped into my mind for some reason was his treasure chest of spirits.
The contents of it.
I entrusted the bag to Roa-kun and asked him to return it to Reiss.
A broken pendant on the clunky embroidered handkerchief I gave.
These were relics of the past that I thought had disappeared with my happy days with Reiss in the distant past.
For example, what if the demon was the reason for his change in attitude towards me?
Wraith’s desire to continue to cherish such things that even I had forgotten …?
“What did he want?”
“I’m sorry, …, but that’s part of Reiss’s contract with the devil. I can’t tell you.”
“… Do you think that among the measures proposed by the Apostle Chief Apostles was the reason why I was chosen to be the Spirit Princess?”
“Even without that, you, who have the power of purification, were a candidate for the position of Spirit Princess, but the reason for your … decision was…”
“Can I ask you to tell me why now?”
“You can’t … do that. It’s also against the covenant.”
“But,” the Chief Apostle broke off.
“Let’s just say it’s to protect you.”
“To protect me?”
What does it mean that being chosen as the Spirit Princess was connected to protecting me?
“In the end, by inviting you to the capital as a spirit princess, you got involved in an incident that put you in danger,” the chief apostle said, lowering his white eyebrows apologetically.
“That’s all right. I’m sure it was an unforeseen situation, and thanks to the incident, I won’t be returning to the Arlveil territory without knowing anything about it.”
In general, even if you had no choice but to do so, please don’t protect us without permission.
I want to be… a person could think and act on my own.
I don’t want to see any more stories with me as a character in them without my knowledge.
However, it would be difficult to find out the future from the Chief Apostle. When I was struggling with my next move, the Chief Apostle muttered with a very calm look in his eyes, “You are a strong girl,” and then suggested another possibility to me.
“Unlike Reiss and me, who cannot reveal the truth, there is only one person who knows the whole truth and can tell you.”
“Who? Is it …?”
“We serve the great —- Queen of Spirits.”
He looked at the picture of the forest of holy bells and said the name in a solemn tone.
“I sent the Queen a letter to ask for help with Wraith, because the pledge had nothing to do with the Queen. Our Queen was willing to accept it. The consent was shown, but… I have done what I could do. If I could save him, I’d only have one spirit queen. From here on, I’ll leave it to the queen. ”
“If I want to know about the Wraith, will she tell me?”
“That is up to the queen. If I wish to know about Reiss, will she tell me?”
―― If you meet the Spirit Queen, you will understand everything.
I straightened up and gave a heartfelt thank you to the Chief Apostle.
He answered the question while not touching the pledge. It was a heart crushing for Reiss. Generally speaking, the Apostle-Chief gave me a warm smile like a sunny day. Riou was also pretending to be waving his tail.
“We’ll be leaving for the Forest of the Holy Bell tomorrow morning. You are to make your preparations and head to the Spirit Queen with your escort knight, Reiss. Roa has told you how to get there, right?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll be there. I hope that… you will get the truth and return safely with him.”
I bowed once more to the Chief Apostle.
Tomorrow morning.
I’m not only going to fulfil my role as a spirit princess.
As a childhood friend of that devilish knight, I will go to the Forest of the Holy Bell to learn all about it.
Author’s Note:
Thank you for reading!
In the next story, I’ll be moving on to “Forest of the Holy Bell”, but it’s a short story, and then there will be “Reiss Chapter” from Reiss’s point of view. I’ll be continuing for a while longer.