We all gathered in one place.

“….”

Huh? Someone was missing.

“What is she doing?”

Neril pointed toward a spot.

Xenia was sprawled beside Agril’s head, rolling around with her whole body.

“Ahaha, this feels so good. You like it too, don’t you, Agril?”

“Grk. Grrr.”

“Mm. I really missed you. Sorry I couldn’t take better care of you until now.”

“Grk.”

“No? You’re the one who’s sorry? Honestly, how can my darling be so sweet-hearted?”

Offense, who had been watching carefully, muttered,

“She looks kind of broken.”

“Mr. Offense, that’s way too harsh.”

“…Sorry.”

“She’s not broken…. just wrecked, that’s all.”

“…What’s the difference?”

Xenia kept rubbing against Agril for a while longer before suddenly making eye contact with us.

“….”

“….”

She slowly stood up and came toward us.

Then she sat down neatly and said,

“If you were gathering, you could have at least told me.”

“I called you three times.”

“….”

“Do you really like him that much?”

Xenia’s face flushed.

“Agril has been with me longer than anyone except Ophelia. Mr. Mide, thank you once again, truly.”

“It’s nothing to thank me for. Protecting comrades is only natural for a hero.”

“Hehe.”

“Anyway, let’s calm down and talk about what’s next.”

Swish.

At that moment, Adwin raised his hand.

“Before that, hyung, about that move you used at the end.”

“Huh?”

“That technique, Sword of Conviction that Pierces the Heavens, I have seen it a few times before, but this one felt completely on another level, didn’t it?”

That must be Adwin’s own naming sense for my sword throw.

When will I ever be able to tell him its real name?

[Not until I’m dead.]

Lisel nodded slowly.

“I hate to ask, but… was that the same as what happened in the Atrium territory?”

“Yeah. I had a gut feeling that I would be completely crushed by Adin’s final attack. So my body just moved on its own.”

“….” Google seaʀᴄh novel{f}ire.net

“Why are you all looking at me like that?”

Not only Lisel, everyone’s faces looked grim, not like people who had just witnessed an amazing new technique.

Neril spoke.

“Your other skills were at least barely acceptable, even if unbelievable. But this one… its on a completely different level.”

“Neril.”

“Like, when you stop time, there’s always a huge backlash. But this time, you unleashed overwhelming power with no cost at all, and that’s a little…”

“A little?”

“…A little scary. It feels like you’re going way too far ahead of us.”

I remembered hearing something similar when I brought up Impellium.

And now that she said it, I couldn’t help feeling a little uneasy. But it wasn’t the time to add weight to the mood.

I just shrugged lightly.

“Still, thanks to that, everyone is alive.”

“That’s true, but…”

“Anyway, let’s get to what’s ahead. That’s why I called you here in the first place.”

At that, Serein responded.

“Right. First, we should hear from Mr. Mime, shouldn’t we?”

“…‘Mr. Mime’?”

“Well, he did help us this time. We agreed to show him at least a little respect.”

Then a voice answered from afar, though its owner wasn’t among us.

“Should I say thanks for that?”

Mime.

He stopped assisting Agril and floated over toward us, his enormous size so massive only his head was visible.

Serein muttered with a pale face,

“I don’t like big ones anymore. I think I’m developing gigantophobia.”

“Yeah, not to mention it’s inconvenient. Mime, can you shrink yourself?”

Mime snorted.

“And why should I go out of my way for your convenience…”

“Shrink, Mime.”

“Yes, my king.”

Swoosh.

Mime shrank until he was small enough to fit in the palm of a hand.

We stared at him with indescribable expressions.

He gently settled on Lisel’s shoulder and said,

“Any complaints?”

“Plenty, but I will skip them. More importantly, what do you think?”

“That’s a vague question.”

“You know what I mean.”

“….”

“Think back to what you saw at the starting point just now. And start deciding.”

I spoke in a low voice.

“Do you still believe I can’t kill a Celestial God?”

Mime stayed silent for a while.

We hid our nervousness and waited for his reply.

At last, he opened his mouth.

“…I acknowledge it. Especially after seeing your final strike pierce through Adin, I was convinced.”

“Then…”

“Fine. I will go along with your plan.”

He turned his head toward Lisel.

“I won’t ask you for anything unreasonable anymore. You don’t need to become a complete spirit.”

“Mr. Mime…”

“As for killing Adin, I will entrust that to Mide. In return… though it feels selfish to ask…”

He hesitated a moment.

“…When the time comes, could you help us reveal ourselves to the world again?”

“…What?”

“Adin erased us from human memory. But you have already defied his orders more than once.”

“….”

“With the trumpet, please make us known to the world again. That’s the greatest wish of every spirit, second only to taking revenge on Adin.”

Neril tilted her head.

“Not to be rude, but… why do you want to appear again so badly? Didn’t you hate humans?”

“Yes. But at the same time, part of us still longs for them.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean the age long ago, when we joined forces to build and advance civilization together. Back when Adin still lived as nothing more than a simple nature mage.”

“….”

“That longing still lingers. If we could show ourselves to humans again, that age would surely return.”

Everyone fell silent for a while.

We could all understand, at least a little, what Mime was feeling.

Lisel spoke.

“All right. I promise we will do that.”

“Thank you. Truly, my king.”

“…Are you really going to keep calling me king?”

“Even if you never become a full spirit, in my heart I have already acknowledged you as king. But if it makes you uncomfortable…”

“No, it’s fine.”

Lisel replied in a slightly embarrassed tone,

“And thank you, too. This time you really were a great help.”

“For your sake, as much as it takes.”

A warm mood settled over us.

I chuckled lightly and said,

“Welcome to the party as our ninth companion, Duke Spirit Mime.”

“Isn’t it eight? Ah… I see, you’re counting Agril as a comrade too.”

“Yeah. When it comes to killing the Demon King, race doesn’t matter.”

“Ninth companion, huh… Hmph. Fine, I will accept that for now.”

Mime, who had been putting on an arrogant front, quickly changed his tone when Lisel glared at him.

“…Thank you. For accepting me as a comrade.”

“No need to suddenly start being polite. You really do remind me of Iori.”

“Whoever that is, I have a bad feeling about the comparison.”

At that moment, Trail protested,

[Why ninth? I’m the ninth!]

‘Then go ahead and introduce yourself.’

[….….]

‘And of course you go silent now.’

What an idiot. Doesn’t he realize he’s the zeroth companion?

Clap.

I lightly clapped my hands and spoke.

“Back to business. Now that you have joined the party, Mime, you need to pull your weight.”

“What do you mean?”

“From now on, every time we travel with Agril, you will provide support. No exceptions.”

“….”

“With your support added to Agril’s speed, we will be flying way faster than ever before.”

Xenia nodded.

“That wouldn’t just be faster, it would practically be teleportation-level speed.”

“Really?”

“Yes! Let’s see… we could probably cross the whole continent in just three hours.”

Everyone’s jaws dropped in astonishment.

Serein summed it up in one line:

“The limitation of distance is gone.”

I smiled.

“Correct. With this, we have got a way to counter Idria’s spatial authority.”

“…!”

“And not just counter it, we can even devise new strategies. But first, there is something urgent: we need to land right away.”

Everyone tilted their heads in puzzlement.

I lowered my voice slightly.

“Idria doesn’t yet know what we did at the starting point. She also doesn’t know we got Agril back.”

“Ah…”

“That means, next time, she will try to do another speed attack. But before doing that, she will want to check our location first.”

“You mean we can’t let her see us riding Agril’s back!”

Exactly.

If Idria sees us moving without Agril, she will be satisfied and send monsters and Kaeld to the next territory.

Trail will show us his red screen whenever Idria is watching.

‘Then we will immediately check the secret and find out which territory…’

[And then fly there faster than Kaeld.]

‘Exactly.’

The only concern was Velosian.

Velosian was clearly in contact with Idria.

If anyone could leak that we have reclaimed Agril, it’s him.

That, however, was out of my hands. I could only leave it to fate.

“Let’s find a nearby territory to rest in. Sleeping outdoors isn’t great. I want a real bed.”

“Anywhere’s fine, right? Doesn’t have to be Tetra Territory specifically.”

“Yeah. Now that we can cross the continent in three hours, there’s no need to sit around waiting in the central territory anymore.”

Xenia spoke up.

“You’re right. We can head back to Tetra another time.”

“…? Why bother going back?”

“Our wagon is still there, remember.”

Ah, right. We had abandoned our wagon and horses since floating them with flying magic was way too costly.

I smirked.

“Let’s just buy a new one.”

“No way.”

“Why not?”

“…Just because.”

Neril answered instead,

“Ah, because you stocked up on meat not long ago, right?”

The next morning, after a night in the Gabriel Territory, a red screen popped up.

Idria was planning another speed battle.

With some delay, I used the Eye of Omniscience, confirming that her next target was Havel Territory.

‘She is not even bothering to hide it from Kaeld or her minions anymore. She knows we can see her secrets.’

[Of course. After all, it’s worked so many times. She thinks we have lost our wings, Agril, so why bother hiding?]

‘Mm.’

[Heh. But not anymore.]

That’s right, not anymore.

We now had wings and speed incomparable to before.

This information gap would hand us victory.

Over breakfast, I spoke to the party.

“Idria just checked our location.”

The party reacted with only mild annoyance.

“I’m actually getting scared at how used to this I have become.”

“As expected of the Demon King, peeking on others without shame.”

“But honestly, Mide, you’re not much bett… no, never mind.”

“Just one night of good sleep made me grateful. My stamina’s fully back

“So where is it this time, Mr. Mide?”

I answered Lisel’s question.

“Havel Territory.”

Shff.

Neril immediately spread the map.

“Southwest. Quite a distance.”

“Even with Agril, we might not have made it on time.”

“With Agril alone, no. But…”

At that, Mime, perched on Lisel’s shoulder, spoke.

“Are you saying that for me to hear?”

“Yeah. By the way, did you officially claim Lisel’s shoulder as your seat?”

“Is there a problem?”

“Not for me.”

Lisel smiled faintly and replied,

“I don’t mind either. You’re so light I barely notice.”

“Truly, the king’s generosity knows no bounds.”

“Ugh… please don’t tease me.”

“Anyway, everyone relax and enjoy breakfast. Maybe some more tea?”

We leisurely finished our meal and mounted Agril’s back.

“Agril, hungry?”

“Grrk.”

“Good. Eat all the holy power you want.”

Not that she was ever cold before, but since regaining Agril, Xenia had become the very embodiment of kindness.

So much so that when Serein approached out of habit to give Agril holy power, Xenia said,

“No, I will do it. Please rest, Serein.”

“….”

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s weird. Somehow I feel empty not doing it.”

That’s how scary habits are.

Lisel then spoke to Mime.

“Then please push Agril along.”

“…Sigh. Understood.”

Mime flew off Lisel’s shoulder and returned to his colossal form.

Soon Agril’s flight speed was boosted by Mime’s support.

The territory we had just stayed in was already vanishing in the distance.

Xenia said,

“At this speed, it will probably take only about an hour.”

“….”

Maybe I should take a nap.

Trail murmured,

[Truly, the limits of distance are gone now.]

‘Mm.’

[If it’s like last time, Kaeld will arrive in five days. But us? Just one hour.]

‘Exactly. More than enough.’

I grinned.

[Plenty of time to lay the groundwork in advance.]

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