| Author: Shizuku | Original Source: Syosetu | Word Count: 2020 characters |
| Translator: Nomad | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 1057 words |
| Editor(s): Robinxen | ||
They were gathered in the middle of the world, a place where no one else had been able to reach before. There they discussed how to complete the orders they had received in a meeting not too long ago.
“Alright, let’s go over the current situation first.” The first one to speak was the one in charge of the matter, the female butler with deer horns, Flute. “Our goal is to find whoever created that wicked device that interferes with our pacts, which we first discovered two years ago, and erase the creator and all research related to it.”
Starting with that, Flute detailed the results of her investigation to the other two demons there.
First, the initial case had started in Seperion, and while there were offices affiliated to the creator’s corporation there, no more cases had appeared. Second, after that first incident, there had been no other reports from demons who had been forced into contracts. Third, they informed the angels about that device as well, and they agreed to report back if they spotted anything related to it.
“And that leads to our current situation.”
“Hmm, so there haven’t been any developments since last year.”
One of the demons, Murloa, said that. She had pale blue skin, almost like a corpse drained of all blue. Her hair was gray, with a red crest poking out from it. Her arms also looked like the legs of an eagle, and also had large wings. The proportions of her body resembled those of a virgin statuette, which contrasted with her militaristic manners.
“I don’t think there’s a need to be so negative. Knowing that Seperion is clear now is progress, and quite a feat considering Flute searched the entire country alone.”
The other demon there, Marcia, chimed in. She had violet skin and orange hair, which was tied to the sides near her shoulders. She was a nun with wolf ears and eagle wings, as well as a snake tail.
“I-I didn’t mean to diminish your efforts! I’m really sorry if I offended you!”
“It’s fine, I don’t care.”
Flute was slightly taken aback by that frenetic apology, but Murloa quickly calmed down after hearing Flute did not mind. While she would sometimes talk with a magnanimous tone, she was rather timid as well.
“Wouldn’t that mean that we have to start searching other countries as well though?”
“Well, the company that created the device we encountered was founded in the west, so it should be safe to ignore the eastern side for now.”
“I thought the western country thinks of demons as the enemies of humanity? Would people like that really employ demons?”
“There’s always exceptions, so we can’t rule it out.”
“It’d be bad if we spread ourselves too thin and end up overlooking something nearby.”
“I get what you mean, Murloa, but if we keep thinking like that we’ll never get anywhere. Let’s just proceed with the assumption that Seperion is clear, and expand our search radius.”
“That’s true. And that’s also why we offered after all.”
“Hm…fair enough. So is it safe to assume we’ll be focusing mostly on the people of the Sacred Land Alliance?”
“Mhm, that’s it. I still doubt we’ll find much in the east, so let’s just leave that side for later.”
“If we’ll be searching those areas we’ll have to tell the angels beforehand.”
“I can take care of that.”
“Thank you. I hate being suspected whenever I enter places I’m not allowed to go to, not to mention that all the angels leading their search are all boneheads and hard to deal with.”
Now that they had decided what to do, Marcia suddenly remembered something that Flute had mentioned before.
“By the way, did you learn anything new through that magic automaton you mentioned before?”
“No, there hasn’t been anything particularly interesting this year.”
“Are you talking about that magic automaton with a reincarnated soul?”
Back when the incident with the magic device started, Flute had encountered a magic automaton housing a soul from someone that used to live in a different world. That magic automaton had ended up helping Flute, so she left her sigil on the magic automaton’s body and waited for a moment when she would be able to repay the favor.
But that was also done because observing the magic automaton was fun, and it served as a good source of information.
“That soul came from that world where earth is a globe, right? I think I heard the saturation rate of souls there is relatively high.”
Each world had something called the saturation rate of souls. When it was higher, souls would be purged at a deeper level during rebirth, allowing for completely new memories and personalities to form.
But there was a limit to how many times that could happen before a soul’s essence began to degrade, and eventually break down completely. To avoid that, a number of souls would be cycled between different worlds at rebirth.
When a soul that was used to a stronger saturation rate was reborn in a world with a lessened saturation rate, it was possible for them to have deeper rooted memories and personality traits that would end up being passed over almost in their entirety. Usually it took some years for the soul to really get stabilized and recover those memories though.
There was a certain rhythm for souls to cycle between worlds, and usually that had little effect on them keeping memories. But if their physical bodies suffered major damage right before the switch to another world, then things could end up differently.
It was possible that the existence of similar languages and cultures across different worlds was also the result of people recovering past memories.
“But that automaton doesn’t have any involvement with the device, correct?”
“Yes, that’s correct. She might be a bit peculiar, but it’s safe to assume she’s unrelated to the device.”
“I guess we shouldn’t concern ourselves with her for now then. Let’s just proceed with our plan.”
Marcia said that, then the three demons stood up straight and spoke in unison.
“””We are demons, we respond to desperate pleas and strive to fulfill them. We do everything for our Mother Goddess.”””
Demons, they were a race created by the highest Goddess to lend humanity a helping hand1.
