It had already been nearly two months since I came to this world and began my academy life.
That night, too, was a night with a full moon.
When I first arrived in this world and looked at my body, I had all nine tails.
But after practicing transformation, my tails had naturally decreased to one.
Tonight, Wolyeong was quiet as well.
It wasn’t as if I could hear his voice, nor was he telling me anything.
I could only faintly sense that he was watching from somewhere far away.
I slipped out into the garden through the window without Elysia noticing.
The night air was cold, but strangely, standing beneath the full moon made me feel as though something inside my body was slowly awakening.
Just in case, I decided to test whether I could bring out all nine tails.
A moment later.
As expected, I couldn’t.
Even when I tried to increase the number, three was the limit.
‘Looks like it’s still too much for now.’
It might be possible to use transformation art to make it look like I had nine tails on the outside.
But that wouldn’t mean my actual demonic power had increased by that much.
It was then.
The space before my eyes began to shimmer faintly.
It looked as though the air was trembling, or as if moonlight were spreading across a thin surface of water.
Soon, that wavering took shape like a door, or perhaps a boundary leading somewhere else.
And after a moment, someone walked out from within it.
A rather large man.
No, he was somehow different from a person.
He had a human form, but his presence was not that of a human.
It was as though the forest itself had taken on a human shape and was standing before me.
“It’s been a while, Wolyeong. No, are you called Haku now?”
He was a man who seemed to know Wolyeong.
No wonder Wolyeong had been quiet today. It was because of this person.
But there was a problem.
‘But I can’t talk.’
While I was still in fox form, I couldn’t speak properly.
When I was in human form, I could somehow manage,
but in this little fox body, I wasn’t even used to the sensation of moving my mouth.
The man looked at me and tilted his head slightly.
“Hmm? Are you still unable to speak? If it’s Wolyeong’s body, I thought you would be able to talk.”
‘I’m used to speaking when I’m human, so I can do it well enough, but speaking as an animal is difficult.’
Perhaps my thoughts had reached him, because the man looked at me for a moment with interest.
“Hm…… This is troublesome.
We need to be able to converse. Is it still too early for that?”
It was then.
The space behind me faintly shimmered once more.
Soon, moonlight seemed to gather into form, and Wolyeong’s phantom appeared.
As soon as Wolyeong appeared, he let out a deep sigh.
“Haa…… Arbion.”
And immediately afterward, he swore with refreshing bluntness.
“Hey, you crazy bastard. What the hell is a Spirit King doing showing up in a place like this?”
“Hahaha!! Is that much not allowed when I’ve come to see an old friend?!”
The man—no, the Spirit King Arbion—laughed heartily.
His way of speaking changed all at once.
When he first spoke to me, he had still possessed a certain degree of dignity,
but the moment Wolyeong appeared, he changed completely, like someone meeting an old friend.
If a Spirit King could be cursed at and laugh it off without caring,
the two of them must have been incredibly close.
‘Are they close?’
When I thought that, Wolyeong glanced at me.
“Hmm? We’re not merely close. We’re bad friends. Bad friends.”
Arbion also looked at me with amusement.
“Hm? The being inside your body seems curious about what sort of relationship we have.”
“Yeah. This child still can’t speak properly, so I had no choice but to come out, you bastard.”
“Hahaha! You haven’t changed, cursing at a friend you haven’t seen in ages!”
I could tell just how long the two of them had known each other.
Wolyeong’s tone was completely different from when he spoke with me.
The being who spoke to me quietly and calmly
had, in front of Arbion, changed in an instant to a rough tone reserved for an old friend.
“So, what are you here for?”
Wolyeong asked as if he found it annoying.
Arbion answered with the same smiling face.
“I was in the Spirit Realm when I noticed your energy and another energy inside the same body,
so I came to see exactly what state you were in.”
The moment I heard that, something occurred to me.
‘Ah, don’t tell me that voice from the spirit greenhouse was…’
As though reading my thoughts, Wolyeong looked at Arbion.
“Did you see us at that human place of learning, in the place called the spirit greenhouse?”
“That’s right! A number of spirits suddenly stopped moving, so I glanced over to see what had happened,
and there was your body, wasn’t there? So I got curious and came to find you.”
So the owner of the voice I had heard back then really was this person.
When all the spirits in the spirit greenhouse had stopped at once, the presence I’d heard from beyond them.
Its true identity was the Spirit King now standing before my eyes.
Wolyeong let out another deep sigh.
“Haa…… Hey, you crazy bastard.
Who the hell personally descends just because they’re curious?
You know that a being on your level affects the material world just by staying here for a short while, don’t you?”
“Of course! That is why I intended to return immediately after confirming it!”
“Then get lost right now.”
“I shall!”
Arbion really tried to leave as if it were nothing.
At that sheer freedom, I was at a loss for words for a moment.
Well, I couldn’t speak anyway, but even in my thoughts, I didn’t know how to react.
Then Arbion suddenly stopped walking.
“Ah, and one more thing.”
He slowly looked at me.
His eyes, as though holding the light of the forest within them, shone quietly beneath the full moon.
“Thank you for allowing me to see an old friend again, Haku.”
Leaving those words behind, Arbion disappeared beyond the shimmering boundary once more.
When the space closed, the garden fell silent again.
Only the sound of the wind and the rustling of grass remained.
“Haa……”
Once the Spirit King disappeared, Wolyeong naturally released his phantom as well.
His form faded as though melting into the moonlight.
‘He’s kind of a free-spirited person.’
When I thought that, Wolyeong’s voice came quietly.
‘He is. It is true that he is an old friend, but because his personality is like that, he is exhausting in many ways.’
‘Hahaha……’
I could only laugh awkwardly.
When I heard “Spirit King,” I had imagined a being a bit more solemn and dignified,
but the figure I had just seen was certainly far removed from that image.
That did not mean he was a light existence, however.
The energy I had felt when he appeared was definitely far from ordinary.
‘Even if he looks like that, he is the king of the Spirit Realm.
He is not a light existence.
He only appears that way because his personality is like that.’
‘Well, from the moment he appeared, he didn’t seem ordinary,
and the aura around him was no joke either.’
‘You saw that as well?’
A slight note of surprise mixed into Wolyeong’s voice.
‘As expected, you are impressive.
Even if it is the full moon,
it should not be easy to see the energy emanating from that fellow’s body.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes.’
I looked down at my body.
I was still in the form of a small fox.
My tails had gone back down to one.
And yet the scene from a moment ago remained vivid in my eyes.
The boundary that had opened beneath the moonlight.
The Spirit King who had appeared from beyond it.
And Wolyeong, who had started cursing the moment he saw that Spirit King.
‘I get the feeling things are going to become troublesome from now on.’
‘I agree. He may now come to see us for fun.
Every time he does, this place will fall into chaos.’
‘It’s that bad?’
‘Normally, when a being of his level comes and goes, the spirits of the material world would notice.
The same goes for sensitive humans.
But for some reason, that fellow reduced his presence as much as possible and appeared here so that such a thing would not happen.
That is what you saw.’
Wolyeong paused for a moment before continuing.
‘If he sets his mind to it, you would not be able to see that energy even if he were right in front of you.’
‘I see.’
I looked up at the sky again.
The full moon was still bright.
After coming to this world, there had hardly been a quiet day.
I met Elysia, came to the academy, learned about my body,
discovered Wolyeong’s existence, and even the spirits had begun to react.
And now, even the Spirit King had come looking for me.
The garden had become quiet again, but it was hard to believe that the Spirit King had been here just moments ago.
The grass swaying beneath the moonlight and the quietly settled night air looked no different from usual.
‘Considering how high the synchronization rate with this body is too…… somehow, it seems this world suits me well.’
‘It would appear so.’
Wolyeong’s voice was calm, but there was something oddly accepting in it.
I let out a small sigh.
‘Phew, Elysia didn’t notice, right?’
I needlessly looked back toward the room.
If Elysia had woken up and was looking out the window, it would be a big problem.
‘No. Since that fellow came to the material world with his presence erased on purpose, no one should have noticed.’
‘That’s a relief.’
I felt somewhat relieved, but at the same time, a strange fatigue washed over me.
Today, I had only come out to test my tails.
But in the end, I had met the Spirit King.
Really, ever since I became this body, almost nothing had ended normally.
‘Why do things like this only happen around me?
I just wanted to enjoy things quietly.’
‘There is nothing I can do about that either.’
Wolyeong’s answer was far too calm.
He sounded as if he had already given up, which only made me more uneasy.
‘Does that Spirit King usually have so little to do?’
‘He does what he must properly.’
‘Then why does he seem so free?’
‘That is simply his personality.’
It was a short answer, but that alone was enough for me to understand to some extent.
Arbion was definitely not a light existence.
The energy I had felt when he appeared still seemed to linger faintly.
But his personality, at least, was so free that it was hard to connect it with the words “Spirit King.”
I looked up at the sky once more.
The bright full moon was casting long shadows across the garden.
‘My life in this world was already not quiet, but now there’s no chance it’ll ever become any quieter.’
‘Indeed.’
Beneath the moonlight, the garden became as quiet as usual once more.
But I could tell.
From beyond that boundary that had opened just moments ago, troublesome and enormous matters would surely continue to come 찾아오게 될 것이라는 걸.