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Chapter 121. Too Quick-Tempered

"Haah... Hah!"

"…And?"

"There's nothing specific about Claudius, but the fact that it was created by human hands and isn’t some supernatural being is at least a relief."

"True."

The outdoor training ground that Jeremiah and I had shattered during our fight had somehow been repaired. Probably with magic, though I know next to nothing about practical magic, which piqued my curiosity a little.

Out there, sweating buckets and releasing magical energy with sheer determination, were Princess Elissa, Ash, and Nina. Somehow, word had gotten out that I’d told Elissa about the Grimoire’s existence, and Ash and Nina came storming in with fierce expressions. Meanwhile, Lucifer, residing inside me, remained silent and uncooperative, leaving the three of them to just pour out their magical energy nonstop.

As I sat on a bench watching them, I discussed with Jeremiah what happened at the Simba Dynasty ruins and pondered what lay ahead.

"As a rule of the world, if Claudius were some preordained being destined to wipe out humanity, we’d have no hope. But if it's a lifeform created by humans, there must be a way to kill it… probably!"

"I'd like to believe that... But still, the Celestials, huh?"

"Ever heard of them?"

Humans know about the demons because of the war a thousand years ago. But the complete lack of any mention of Celestials anywhere is peculiar.

"But if Claudius was created long ago, then the Celestials must have merged with human souls even further back, right?"

"Supposedly."

The Celestials faced a crisis of extinction for some reason and merged with human souls to survive. Even when the human hosting a Celestial soul died, the soul passed on to another. Thus, the Celestials lived alongside humans. But… could you even call that "living"?

"If you think about it, any humans who knew about the Celestials were likely wiped out by Claudius, right?"

"...Even so, wouldn’t there be some oral tradition?"

"Human civilization has been destroyed multiple times because of Claudius. Oral traditions can distort or be lost entirely over time."

Still, some questions remain.

If the Celestials merged with humans long ago, humans should have been able to use Grimoires even back then. Yet, humans only started using Grimoires around 2,000 years ago… or so Vanessa claimed.

"Isn’t it possible humans using Grimoires involves more than just the Celestials' influence?"

[Human bodies must have adapted.]

"Whoa?!"

"…So this is that Lucifer, huh?"

It always surprises me when she suddenly starts speaking. She hadn’t said a word since I mentioned the Grimoire to Elissa, yet she’d been listening to everything.

"Adapted? What do you mean by that? Care to elaborate, Lucifer?"

[...Michael, no matter how many times you reincarnate, you never fail to aggravate me. You are deeply irritating.]

"Am I hated?"

"Uh... probably, yeah?"

For someone so blatantly arrogant, it seems even she has people she dislikes. Then again, maybe her pride makes her hate those who irritate her.

"Now she’s gone silent."

"Don’t bother relying on him. He never answers questions anyway."

She’s like a dictionary that can’t be opened—filled with knowledge about everything but completely unusable because it refuses to cooperate. Heavy, inconvenient, and only good as a blunt weapon.

"Haaaah!"

"Whooooaaa!"

"Yaaaah!"

"…They look like they’re having fun."

"Say that to their faces, and you’ll definitely piss them off."

Jeremiah laughed as he observed the three yelling and trying to manifest their Grimoires, but yeah, saying that aloud would earn him some wrath. Of course, this charming duke's heir is a master at avoiding comments that might offend.

"Talking to a Grimoire… Do you think mine will chat with me?"

Having learned his Grimoire stemmed from Celestial power, Jeremiah had expressed interest in speaking with it. Whether that came from his sense of justice or sheer curiosity, I couldn’t say.

"Wanting to talk, I get that. But having some weird presence in your body constantly nagging at you is seriously annoying."

"Speaking from experience?"

"Actively."

[Fufu… You amuse me, Theodore Anthem.]

Yeah, I mean you.

In the end, the three didn’t manage to summon their Grimoires that day. All they did was exhaust their magical energy and collapse. The advice from Jeremiah and me—both of us manifesting our Grimoires on instinct—was deemed useless. But just pouring out magic aimlessly isn’t helpful either.

As I watched the three sprawled on the ground while the sun set, Vanessa approached, looking worn out.

"Sigh… I wonder if I can use a Grimoire too?"

"You too, huh?"

The Grimoires Elissa and the others were trying to manifest were tied to humans. But as a demon, Vanessa’s Grimoire would be entirely different, so how would I know? Is a demon's Grimoire even a real Grimoire?

"Hey, you arrogant Celestial, can you at least tell me if I can use a Grimoire?"

[Why should I answer the frivolous words of a mere demon? Begone, you annoyance.]

"What?!"

"Don’t talk to my stomach!"

At least address my chest or something. Talking to my stomach makes it sound like I ate something weird.

"Hey!"

"Don’t grab me!"

"If you’re in his body, of course I’m grabbing him!"

"That logic’s ridiculous!"

[How dare a filthy, insignificant demon presume to speak to me?]

"Oh, you wanna fight? Bring it on!"

Uh, isn’t this getting out of hand?

[Very well.]

Wait, what?

"I’ll erase your filthy soul from existence."

"Huh?"

Um… I can feel an overwhelming magical pressure behind me. Does this mean Lucifer can separate from me?