Chapter 35

The spirits of Deoen are said to be few in number and difficult to find, but that wasn’t the case where I was.

Spirits wandered everywhere.

In forests, lakes, mountains, highlands, volcanoes, anywhere untouched by human feet.

They roamed freely in the world, and during the 20 years I traveled the world instead of being a saintess, I met so many spirits.

“Angel! Angel! Where are you going?”

“Hey, Angel! Play with me!”

“Are you busy? Umm… I have something to show you, Angel…”

Spirits idolize the Celestial Race.

They referred to them as angels and revered their dazzling holy power and overwhelming strength.

Of course, it was mostly the older spirits who admired strength; the younger spirits, who made up the majority, simply liked shiny things.

Splendid, pure white holy power sparkled just by being seen.

“This angel is kind.”

But the Celestial Race didn’t care about such spirits.

In fact, they treated all races other than the Demon Race like bugs.

The only race that could rival the Celestial Race was the Demon Race; all other races were of no interest.

Sometimes, spirits were wiped out for getting too cocky in front of the Celestial Race, but the young ones didn’t know about it because they were gone.

All they understood was that they liked the sparkling holy power, and that all who possessed it were angels.

“Yeah, see you.”

So, as a human with ties to the Celestial Race, I became an object of admiration too.

Compared to real ‘Celestials,’ I was insignificant, but that was good for the spirits.

They would prefer a kind angel over a bad one, after all.

■

I received the bracelet from Silphid.

I requested the ‘price’ of Nerindia from Silphid and mentioned that if she wanted to leave at any time, she could do so.

The spirits had been incredibly helpful to me during my 20 years of roaming the world.

Of course, the spirits here and there are different.

Unlike the place filled with spirits, it’s hard to find any in this place.

Yet the ‘playful child’ I was thinking of remained the same.

“I don’t want to. I’m Lily. Stay with me.”

However, Silphid rejected that.

It was both an obvious and not-so-obvious thing.

Having idolized holy power, the spirits always clung to me, but now I did not possess that holy power.

Yet despite that, she still followed me.

Why is that?

Does she know that I’m a human with ties to the Celestial Race?

“Whatever it is.”

I put on Silphid’s bracelet again.

With the condition of saving Nerindia, Yena and I, and a price that would make the viewers nod their heads in agreement, managed to negotiate.

Although I like spirits, if it harms those around me, I’m ready to cut it off without hesitation.

[The wind accompanies your path]

Fortunately, Nerindia listened to me, and I was able to avoid killing her.

[Is this a crazy true story? kkkkkkkkkkk]

[Lily, is she a god? Lily, is she a god? Lily, is she a god? Lily, is she a god? Lily, is she a god? Lily, is she a god? Lily, is she a god? Lily, is she a god? Lily, is she a god? Lily, is she a god?]

[So, saving the spirit earned me a bracelet and two blessings? What a bargain!]

[Mom, I want to be Lily from now on! Mom, I want to be Lily from now on! Mom, I want to be Lily from now on! Mom, I want to be Lily from now on! Mom, I want to be Lily from now on! Mom, I want to be Lily from now on!]

[Isn’t that worth two boats? Real talk, that’s the level we’re at.]

[Lily, what kind of negotiation god are you?]

[$4!]

[Just casually snagged two blessings for free, crazy! kkkkkk]

[Total viewers crossed 100,000, kkkkkkkkkk]

[?]

[Insane]

[Has it gone crazy?]

“Wait? 100,000?”

I was suddenly startled, checking the number of viewers while looking at the dizzying chat window.

My viewers were at 72,010.

Yena’s viewers were at 34,097.

The viewer count that was hovering around 70,000 to 80,000 just skyrocketed over 100,000 in an instant.

How many people would that be?

You’d need to be in a large city of the kingdom to have 100,000 people.

And not just any kingdom, but the biggest kingdom among the human kingdoms.

Thinking about that many people watching just me and Yena made me a little dizzy.

[From now on, one of the Ten Monarchs is denying Lilyda, your statement is wrong, lol]

[Lily! Lily! Lily! Lily! Lily! Lily! Lily! Lily!]

[I heard the rumors—I came here to see if this is where we extorted a high-ranking spirit!]

[Huh?]

[Yes]

[That’s right]

[Huh?]

[Lily? Is Lady Lily your friend?]

[These guys were trash-talking Lily earlier, now they’re flipping their script, look at that!]

[Ah, lol]

[kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk]

[Well, I don’t know about that, but I knew I could trust her! kkkk]

[I extorted a spirit <— If I post this on Newtube, the Yankees will totally go wild]
"Man, if you upload this to NewTube, those Yankees are gonna freak out!"

"[Seriously, lol]"

"[Info: It's already blowing up]"

"Lily, let’s hop on the NewTube bandwagon too."

"Ugh, it's such a mess."

"I'm feeling dizzy."

"Anyway..."

"Ha... let's clean this up."

After a brief chaos, Yena plopped down on the deck, which was now a wreck. Maybe it was because the spirits were going wild and a battle had just taken place, but the place looked like a total disaster zone.

If it had been a small ship instead of a big one, it probably would have sunk by now.

"Lily."

"Yes, Yena."

"What did you do?"

Yena looked up at the tattered sails. She couldn't help but shed a tear at the thought of her hard-earned shipwrecked in just three hours. Then, she glanced back at Lily.

Even if they returned the spirit or let it go, it wouldn't be worth this kind of reward.

No matter how rare it was to meet a spirit, there was already a Spirit Sorcerer and some spirit items available.

The users were also encountering spirits frequently and communicating with them. There must have been instances of 'routes' like this along the way.

Yet, they got so little in return for what they gave up.

At most, they received short-lived spirit blessings or useless equipment.

But Lily received not one, but two legendary blessings that were hard to get even for a Spirit Sorcerer, plus a legendary bracelet.

Lily also briefly looked at the tattered ship and shrugged.

"I'm just getting what I deserve."

"...Deserve?"

"[Deserve?]"

"[What a deserving reward (Two Legendary Blessings + a Legendary Bracelet)]"

"[LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL]"

"[Lily, the Goddess of Negotiation]"

"[I’m off to sprinkle this gear to the spirits]"

"[Is this that 'good influence' thing?]"

"[Isn’t it just the Mountain Spirit? They’re all the same]"

"[So, we have to be good-hearted, huh?]"

"[If you meet a spirit, give them gear... note taken]"

"[Yeah~ Just toss them the gear~]"

"...When did it become like this?"

Yena chuckled. These days, whenever she wandered around with Lily, ridiculous situations kept popping up.

It was a mix of feeling good and feeling awkward to witness it all.

"It’s not that difficult. There are about three reasons for it. The first is that you, Yena, have already subdued it."

Yena had overwhelmed Nerindia with a clear margin. Nerindia's life was already in her hands, and Nerindia was ready to accept any reasonable conditions.
“...But high-level spirits are not that easy. They won’t give their power to the enemy even if their lives are in danger.”

“It’s not just their lives, right?”

“Why… Ah.”

[Spirits do exist, though]

[Still, isn’t that a bit extreme? Haha]

[Just like a caretaker, they had low-level spirits tagging along; their alias is ‘Embracing’]

[Hmm]

“To extort a spirit, capture a hostage… Note taken”

[What kind of broadcast is this?]

[Lolololololololol]

“Lecture on how to rob spirits for a beginner in their first week: ON”

“Having two blessings is definitely crossing the line, though.”

Yeah, I cared for the spirits.

When thinking about not just myself but the lives of the children, it definitely makes sense to give up more.

Yena seemed to nod in partial understanding.

“What’s the second one?”

“The second one is Silphid’s bracelet. It wasn’t with Miss Yena but with me, and I didn’t intervene. If I can convey Silphid's feelings without being hostile towards the spirit, getting a reasonable price is not difficult at all.”

Of course, all of this hinges on whether communication with the spirits is possible…

Well, if you're a spirit sorcerer or have high linguistic abilities, anyone can handle it.

Right now, without holy power, Silphid probably wouldn’t have seen me as a celestial being, so it would be possible even if I were just a person.

In fact, among spirits, there are often those who follow just ordinary people without being celestial.

That’s how those people become spirit masters and such.

[Feelings?]

[Are you saying to go the emotional route?]

[That’s tough.]

[?]

[So how do you convey feelings then?]

[So it all comes down to spirit affinity, huh?]

[Lily has good spirit affinity too, right?]

[As expected, Sister Lily!]

“What’s the third one?”

“The third one… well, that’s just a preference.”

“Huh?”

I thought my limit was just the blessings.

I couldn’t even imagine there would be spirits that liked Yena, who was trying to scatter holy energy and kill them.

“It was possible because there were strange spirits with weird preferences.”

“......”

Even thinking about it again, it’s bizarre.

[A spirit with preferences… that’s rather rare.]

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