Chapter 36
He was modest when he took it lightly as a sign that he could shake it off if he didn’t like it.
The deep, dark blue eye that looked at me was like a jewel lifted from the sea.
I think about it many times, but I will be full even if I live by looking at his face.
“Or would you like to see more?”
“Let’s go back.”
Aedis refused.
He really didn’t seem to be interested in the spirits at all.
‘Did you have a fight with the spirits hundreds of years ago?’
It was time to start going down the stairs without a hurry.
Suddenly, I heard the sound of something like a stone moving.
I turned back reflexively. But nothing had changed.
Was it just the sound of the wind?
As I hesitated, Aedis narrowed his eyes as if he wanted to leave the bell tower as soon as possible.
‘Well, it’s not a big deal.’
I let it slide and came out with Aedis.
***
Spirits are friendly to humans.
However, as humans have different personalities, not all spirits did so.
In particular, Paimon, who once led an army of fallen spirits, was extremely disgusted with human beings.
For him, humans were nothing more than toys that could be bullied to his heart’s content, pests he wanted to eradicate, and nothing more.
Five hundred years ago, Paimon was the king of the many spirits living in Eire Forest.
He did not dwell in nature and drove humans and beasts out of his territory.
But he wasn’t just grumpy. He was cunning.
Sometimes he seduced humans with countless rare things.
The foolish humans were immediately deceived when Paimon showed them jewels and gold.
And becoming Paimon’s loyal subordinates, they mobilized friends and family who knew nothing and begged them to tell where the treasure was.
Sometimes there were pathetic groups who claimed to be slaves of Paimon.
Then Paimon sent them to a place full of beasts while saying that it was full of gold and jewelry.
Paimon was more like a man than a spirit and more like a demon than a man.
And the glory of 500 years ago was sealed in a colorless dusty bell tower.
Paimon wasn’t the only spirit trapped in the bell tower, but no spirit was so severely punished.
Unlike the spirits who stopped quietly reflecting in the stone statue until the passing of a thousand years, Paimon had to try not to die.
The stone statue, sealed with Paimon, was a small and weak vessel that was too small to contain a dragon-shaped main body that reached 10 meters.
If he relaxed even a little, it would crack.
The vessel breaking before the seal was released signaled Paimon’s death.
Of course, he did not want to die so miserably.
‘I have to go to him. He might be able to open the seal.’
Paimon had been working hard to move the stone statue out of the bell tower for 500 years.
The speed was very slow.
The stone statue was very weak, so he couldn’t rush.
It took more than 30 years to go down one floor.
In the meantime, Paimon’s mental state became devastated.
The first 100 years were about vengeance,
‘As soon as I’m unsealed! Once the seal is released! I’ll eat you all! I’ll eat you all with hellfire!’
The next 100 years were spent denying reality.
‘This is a dream. Isn’t it? There is no way a great spirit like me has to live in a state of being sealed for a thousand years, right? Hahahahaha! Hahaha …Oh so cruel!’
After 200 years in total, he gave up on being sane.
‘Hey, my tail, I’m proud to have a long, thin subject still attached to the body. I’ll reward you when I unseal. Do you like gold?’
……
‘What’s that? You don’t need it because I don’t look like it at all?’
Paimon went crazy in a space where he couldn’t talk to anyone, and death was approaching in real-time.
Sometimes the sound of the bell tower door opening was heard, but no humans came up to where he was.
Paimon continued to go down, talking to the sun, snow, rain, and wind.
And when a long time passed again.
“My wish is, um, let me get rich.”
‘What? this crazy human.’
As it was the first living creature he met in 500 years, he was glad even though it was a human being.
But the human desire they wished for was endless.
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Usually, they would ask for wealth and power for a cause or because they wanted to protect an important person.
No, it was rather embarrassing because it was so revealing.
“If you listen to this, I pray for the safety of the spirit, and I’ll try to repair the stone statue. Even if things go wrong and the spirit doesn’t exist in the world, I’ll remember it. Wow, isn’t it a real business?
The happy heart quickly faded, and resentment and anger filled.
Paimon laughed violently at the human woman in front of him.
Humans who are honest with their desires have been ridiculous, and now he couldn’t grant her wish even if he wanted to grant it as he was about to die anyway.
This human did choose the right spirit.
Paimon was the only spirit that could give humans the things they most aspired to.
Not peace and protection, but wealth and honor.
Therefore, Paimon hated humans who bothered him from the time when spirits were worshiped as gods.
‘Ah, does the dream for the destruction of mankind end like this? If I could absorb that human life force, I can endure a little more, but….’
This human being emits a sweet scent. The peculiar disgusting body odor that humans usually have was very faint.
Even though the sensations were overwhelming over time, this woman was undoubtedly too strange.
‘It felt like she is a human but at the same time, not.’
For some reason, he felt familiar and nostalgic.
‘It’s like it… No, what a crazy idea! It can’t dwell on humans!’
Although Paimon quickly denied it, he could not take his gaze away from this human.
‘What the hell is it? Should I take a bite and check, but what if it goes wrong? I don’t want to kill it.’
Paimon did not like to get his hands dirty from before, but he did not want to touch the humans in front of him even more.
If he pushed the stone statue right away, he was destined to be shattered together, but he didn’t feel like that. It was very strange.
Paimon slowly measured the human. Paimon’s body was close to 10 meters, and humans were too small compared to that.
Above all, they looked too harmless.
The gentle eyes were shining like stars without knowing who Paimon was.
Her hair color was also the color of a bouquet that would stand out from the predators.
In itself, a human-like spring didn’t know how to wrap up her desire.
‘She’s going to cry if she bleeds, right? Let’s just poke her….Heuk.’
As if reading Paimon’s thoughts, the flow of air changed rapidly.
Next to the sweet-scented human, there was an overwhelming presence.
‘That’s the devil.’
No, it was the Demon King.
Anyway, whatever he really is, he would never be an ordinary human.
Paimon instinctively realized that he could kill himself with a single gesture, even when his senses were rusty and dull.
‘Ahh! You look just like the guy I saw 500 years ago! Well, but the hair color…?’
However, there was no time to stutter.
The Demon King furiously stayed behind a human woman smiling brightly in the sun.
‘Hi-hick! I’m sorry! I won’t eat her! I won’t poke her or touch a single fingertip!’
Paimon prayed and prayed hard.
As the woman turned her head, the two front paws of the statue, where Paimon was sealed, moved together, but she did not notice.
“Would you like to go back, or do you want to see more?”
‘Go back! Go away! Don’t come again!’
“…Let’s go back.”
The Demon King led the human before him first. And before leaving, he glared at Paimon.
‘If I had touched her, I, I’ll die.’
The human woman looked back for a while but gently exited the bell tower.
Paimon sighed of relief only after the sound of the door closing.
‘I was almost thrown into hell fire.’
Suddenly, Paimon’s gaze touched the ribbon tied to the long tail.
The pink-haired woman tied it up and made it a tribute.
What if she visits again? She seemed like the devil’s very precious human. What if there was a small scratch while walking around the bell tower?
Paimon recalled the day he was sealed 500 years ago.
The color of the hair and the color in the eyes were different, but that must be the Demon King.
The day he was sealed by the first Grand Duke of Kallakis, he was next to him.
Paimon swallowed. If that pink-haired woman is injured in the bell tower, the Demon King will surely think that Paimon did it.
No, even if he was still, he didn’t know when or what would suddenly change.
‘Let’s get on, let’s finish this escape. I will get caught and die anyway, or I’ll die like this.’
He moved the statue again stealthily.
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TL/N: The ones in between ” are Paimon’s thoughts.