Knock, knock.
The sound of something hard tapping on the door.
But the sound was so faint and weak that it resembled a small child gently knocking.
Not a distinct “knock,” but rather a sound closer to “tap tap.”
If I heard it while lying in bed at night, I might mistake it for a little creature like a rat or cat nudging the door with its head.
Moreover, the place where the sound came from was also unusual compared to a typical knock.
The sound was coming from below.
A place that required going down, down, down to reach.
It was coming from around the height of an ordinary person’s shins.
Knock, knock, knock.
Hearing this, Iserin quietly got up and approached the door.
And then she attempted to use spirit vision to see who was knocking outside.
[ Halt! ]
If the demon hadn’t stopped her, she would have certainly used spirit vision.
Iserin was startled by the demon blocking her path.
“Why, why?”
[ You must not carelessly use spirit vision on such things. ]
The demon said this while positioning itself in front of the door as if to block her from performing spirit vision.
[ As you felt pain when your brother discovered your spirit vision before, if mischief is at play here, a curse could attach itself to you through that vision. ]
‘Curse?’
[ There are many types that can attach just from sight alone. Moreover, if it’s an evil spirit outside, it’s even more dangerous. Those tend to latch on when someone recognizes them, and in the worst case, possession could occur. ]
Of course, such levels of magic are rare.
The demon muttered this, extending its neck to listen intently towards the sound.
Tap, tap, tap.
[ Hmm. ]
It seemed the demon had recalled something by hearing the sound and nodded as it spoke.
[ Don’t use spirit vision. Instead, come closer and repeat exactly what I say. ]
Iserin, trusting the demon’s words, sat on the floor in front of the door and looked towards where the sound was coming from.
[ Fairy, fairy. Have you come to help with household chores? ]
“Fairy, fairy. Have you come to help with…household chores?”
As she spoke, the knocking stopped abruptly. Instead, a small, cheerful voice returned.
“I have no fur! I have no fur! Mischievous Boggart! Silly Brownie! I have no fur!”
Iserin felt reassured by that child-like cheerful voice and gently brushed her chest, repeating the words the demon had told her.
[ Fairy, fairy. Have you come to make a bet? ]
“Fairy, fairy. Have you come to…make a bet?”
Then, unlike before, a deep, growling voice emerged.
“I am not a weakling.”
Contrary to the playful child-like voice from before, this was a rough and wild tone.
Iserin glanced at the demon nervously.
And she continued to imitate the words.
[ Fairy, fairy. Are you searching for something? ]
“Whee-hoo! Whee-ha! I don’t mind digging!”
[ Fairy, fairy. Are you here to play tricks? ]
“Ha-ha-ha. I hate tricks, tripping and hanging by the neck are tricks I detest.”
[ Fairy, fairy. Have you come to put a bad child to sleep? ]
“I like bad children! I like children!”
[ Fairy, fairy. Have you come to give a gift? ]
“Yes! I have come to grant your wishes!”
With each question posed by Iserin, the answers came back in different voices.
In the voice of an old man, in a gentle woman’s voice, playful like a child, and with the tone of a beast mimicking humans.
When six questions had been asked, a voice pierced through her mind.
“I have given you six answers. Now it’s my turn. It’s my turn.”
Iserin felt as if whatever was outside the door was laughing.
“I have no fur. I am not a scrawny thing, I hate tricks, I dislike digging, and I love children! I have only come to grant your wishes, I have only come to grant your wishes! I am such a good fairy! Such a good fairy!”
[ Hmmm… ]
“Well then, what is my name?”
The demon nodded as it listened to the singing response, noting the phrasing used. And then it whispered to its contractor.
[ Rumpelstilzchen. ]
“Rumpel, Stilzchen!”
Upon hearing the answer, silence enveloped the area outside the door.
Bam!
Then, with a mighty roar as if striking with all its strength, the door shook greatly, and the fairy’s singing voice echoed out.
“Today I bake bread, tomorrow I brew ale,”
“On the day after tomorrow, I will take the child from the queen;”
The song initially proceeded with a voice like a drunken reveler, shouting in a tumultuous manner.
But as it continued, it gradually morphed into something akin to noise, eventually evolving into a horrific sound that surely made it hard to believe there was any meaning.
Thus, only the demon could hear the fairy’s singing.
Only the grimoire could decipher the terrible voices that Rumpelstilzchen produced, transforming it into song.
It was like gathering a shattered spider’s web and weaving it into thread.
“Oh, how delightful! That no one knows this! That my name is Rumpelstilzchen!”
I am Rumpelstilzchen, Rumpelstilzchen.
A name that only I know, Rumpelstilzchen!
If you know my name, I am powerless!
For a dwarf, a name is their weakness, that’s unavoidable!
But luck often follows a dwarf!
To know a name is one!
To not know a name is two!
If you don’t know my name, I can take everything!
But I like children!
I will only take children!
Bam!
Rumpelstilzchen seemed ready to shatter the door, pounding against it furiously.
The resounding noise shook the door as if it would fall any moment, and that vibration and roar spread throughout the entire room, equal in power to something non-human.
Scratch scratch!
A sharp sound resonated as something scraped against the door.
And the fairy’s voice, nearly overshadowed by the monstrous noise, transformed back into song, now intelligible to everyone.
“Maid, maid! I shall grant your wish in exchange for the first child that escapes from your body! I love children, I love children! I prefer living things to all the treasures in the world!”
The ringing voice of the fairy reached Ella, who was trembling with the wisp curled up beside her.
Ella swayed unsteadily under the force of Rumpelstilzchen’s voice, unable to support herself until Iarin, startled, pulled her close to protect her, allowing her to regain her composure.
“Bring me your first child, and I shall grant your wish! If you refuse, try and guess my name! If you guess my name, I must give up! What is my name? What is my name?!”
Bam!
The monstrous noise echoed again.
Ella, pale-faced, tried to respond to that question.
With the name that Iserin had just mentioned.
[ Block her! ]
“Rumpel…. ugh!”
But the demon, in a state of shock, shouted at Iserin, who leaped forward like lightning to cover her mouth, barely preventing her from uttering the name “Rumpelstilzchen.”
The demon sighed in relief after stopping her from speaking just in time, glaring towards the door.
[ It could have been disastrous if she had responded. ]
The camel licked its lips with its tongue.
[ What a wicked fellow. To provoke Rumpelstilzchen and then twist it around and send it here. ]
Long, long ago in Europe, there was a maiden skilled at spinning thread.
But this maiden’s father was boastful, spreading rumors that his daughter spun gold thread, and upon hearing this, the king summoned the maiden to prove it.
If she succeeded, she would be recognized as queen, but if it was false, she would face severe punishment, leaving her father in great despair over his tongue’s disaster.
However, amidst that despair, a fairy came to visit.
“I shall turn the straw piled in the room into gold thread. In exchange, on the same day next year, I will take the first child you bear! But if you guess my name within three days, I shall relinquish my claim and simply vanish!”
Faced with the threat of execution, the maiden willingly struck a deal with the fairy to save herself and her father, and the fairy swiftly turned the heaps of straw into piles of gold thread and departed. The next day, when the king entered the room and saw mountains of gold thread, he was overjoyed and took the maiden as his queen.
A year later, a child was born.
However, the fairy appeared to demand her rightful payment.
“I want the child! If you refuse, guess my name within three days!”
The fairy remained unmoved by the queen’s pleas.
Whatever name the queen proposed, she declared it wrong, demanding only her child.
As days passed, the time came when the fairy was to take the child.
Finally, when the queen was about to give in, her father, who had almost condemned them all with his tongue, stepped forward to learn the fairy’s name.
He cautiously followed the fairy until reaching the forest, where he found her dancing in circles around a campfire.
As the fairy sang while dancing.
“Oh, how delightful! That no one knows this! That my name is Rumpelstilzchen!”
The name was fully encapsulated in that song, and the father relayed what he had heard to the queen.
And when dawn broke, the fairy joyfully approached the queen and asked,
“Queen, what is my name?”
“Is it Heinz?”
“Incorrect!”
“Is it Kunz?”
“No!”
“Could it be Rumpelstilzchen?”
When the queen spoke the name her father had given her, the fairy fled in terror.
“The queen has made a contract with a demon! The demon must have told her! The demon must have revealed it!”
As seen in the story, Rumpelstilzchen’s weakness is his name.
He is embroiled in a secretive relationship with the grimoire, which sees through secrets.
Yet, knowing secrets does not mean omniscience.
[ With the properties reversed, it would have entered upon hearing its name. ]
It almost walked into an absurd trap.
[ When the first name was called, it established its presence; when the second was called, it activated its gambit. Quite crafty indeed. ]
The demon grimaced as if displeased.
[ No matter how strong they are, cunning is the specialty of humans. ]
Since Iserin’s partnership with the grimoire is unknown to them, the demon wouldn’t have sent it out like this as a countermeasure.
So, who could they possibly be on guard against that necessitated such intricacies?
