Chapter 03 …
“It’s the song we did last time. You remember it, right?”
“Ah—ah, yeah. I remember. Thanks.”
I answered clumsily and quickly flipped through the sheet music to find today’s song. Even though it was called a choir, it was basically just a high school club, so we mainly practiced English CCM songs. This one, in particular, was fairly familiar.
After clearing my throat, I slowly opened my mouth, following the lyrics.
“There are things you can know without words.
Things you can hear even when they make no sound.”
“But there are also things that begin with words and end with sound.”
As I sang softly along the quiet, gentle melody, my eyes suddenly met those of the old spirit.
“And so He promised me.”
At that moment, I was seized by a strange feeling. The spirit was staring blankly at the singing children, his expression distant yet tender. It looked as though he were turning the lyrics over in his mind.
According to his introduction, he was Solomon—someone who had obtained all the knowledge in the world. He didn’t seem incapable of understanding English lyrics either, and perhaps because of that—
“I will give you strength, so do not fear. Go and deliver His light to those who wander.”
As he listened to the children singing together, he wore a dazed expression. When his gaze met mine, however, he smiled gently again. His bright blond hair and dazzling silver eyes shimmered softly.
On impulse, I reached out and touched his face. Beneath the beard, his features were far cleaner and younger than I had expected.
Asel looked at me strangely as I waved my hand through the air, so I awkwardly shook my head and lowered my hand. Just then, the teacher stopped the choir.
“Here, we’ll do it differently from the original, with the soprano going up like this… ‘It’s the promised strength, the promised salvation, so I’ll deliver His promise to you,’ and then—‘There are things you can know without words. Things you can hear even when they make no sound.’ This is where the parts split, so make your voices pretty. Clear and bright—see the marking on the sheet music? Let’s try it again.”
“Yes.”
“What beautiful lyrics.”
As the children replied halfheartedly, the old spirit suddenly whispered out of nowhere.
“That’s right, little girl.”
He smiled at me with softened eyes. I stared at him blankly, blinking, and opened my mouth as if to say something. But I soon realized I had nothing appropriate to say and closed it again.
After all, the lyrics themselves were strange. I’ll deliver His promise to you. I’ll give you strength, so do not fear—go and deliver His light to those who wander… After smacking my lips a few times, I moved my pen again at the corner of the sheet music. The old spirit bent his head slightly and read what I had written.
<I don’t believe in God as a religion.>
“I know. What truly matters isn’t whether you have faith, but true goodness—truer enlightenment.”
<Please don’t dodge the issue with difficult words. Honestly, I don’t trust you either, sir.>
“What would I need to do for you to trust me?”
<I don’t think there’s any way, actually. No matter what you say, I can’t tell whether it’s a lie or the truth.>
After reading that, he laughed as if I were being cruel. Then, as though deep in thought, he floated up and began circling around. Before long, he drifted back again, lingering nearby, and by the time practice ended, he plopped down on top of my head.
At this point, even I had to revise my thinking. I concluded that this spirit was probably not something related to demons.
If he were, it seemed unlikely he’d be safe in a place that—though part of a school—was properly built like a chapel. Nor would he look so content while hymns rang out, or be perceived by Asel as having a “pleasant scent.”
Of course, I lacked the basic knowledge to fully trust my own judgment, so I was still uneasy.
More importantly, my grades genuinely mattered to me. Even if what he said was true, I couldn’t afford to waste too much time. If simply possessing the ring was what mattered, surely there were other, more suitable people than me.
“Then let’s do this, little girl.”
Lost in thought on the way back to my room, I was startled when the old spirit suddenly spoke. When I glanced at him, he descended in front of my eyes and raised his index finger solemnly.
“It may be troublesome, but I want you to look into The Lemegeton. If you search through various materials and your heart changes even a little, let me know. Preferably soon. I’ve been hovering around you for over a week now, and if we delay much longer, things might get dangerous.”
“Dangerous how?”
“I told you—there are low, evil things that will surely come after me.”
He smiled awkwardly. He had said something like that before. I nodded and accepted his suggestion. Looking up books and searching materials wasn’t difficult. Not that I thought it would change my mind.
Still, if showing a minimum amount of sincerity could lead both sides to a vaguely acceptable conclusion, that didn’t seem like a bad outcome.
“Alright. I’ll look into it.”
The spirit smiled gratefully and fluttered around me several times.
The topic was better known overseas than in my country, so most of the materials were written in English. As a result, researching The Lemegeton ended up being quite helpful for my studies as well.
It was closer to conversational English than the textbook variety. Because demon summoning texts used many pronouns, interpretation was tricky at times, but I managed to read them little by little whenever I had spare time. Meanwhile, the spirit enjoyed roaming all around the school.
Among the demons, the one that caught my attention most was the third-ranked demon, Vasago. He was considered relatively gentle, made contracts with humans easily, and supposedly caused little trouble for the summoner as long as the proper offering was made. The only issue was that the texts never clearly stated what offering he required.
There was no other choice. To get a clear explanation, I deliberately opened the window wide, hoping to call the old spirit.
“Vasago’s desired offering?”
Not long after, the spirit slipped in through the window and asked back with wide eyes. He smiled awkwardly, clearly reluctant to answer, but when I pressed him, he had no choice.
“He collects corpses. He’s a skilled necromancer.”
“That’s absolutely not happening.”
I’d already suspected it from the name “demon summoning,” but this was clearly not a discipline I could associate with. As I closed all the browser tabs and wiped out every bookmarked link, the old spirit let out a shriek and began circling me rapidly, babbling.
“Actually, Vasago was the demon I was going to recommend to you. Ultimately, what matters is resealing the demons, right? If you only make contracts with a small number of demons who can help in that process, things actually become much easier—”
“Maybe in the past, but in modern society, doing anything involving corpses as offerings would ruin my life instantly, sir.”
“But you have the ring!”
“Excuse me?”
“Normally, a human can only make a contract with a single entity. Even that requires an offering. But the Ring of Promise, as I told you, establishes your superiority in contracts with demons or other summoned beings. In one contract, you can form a master–servant pact without offering anything. It’s absolute authority. Evil and impure beings can never defy the name of one who is good and holy.”
“So that means the person wearing the ring can make a second contract too?”
“Yes. But in that case, you must offer a sacrifice. The most ideal sequence, in my opinion, is to summon Vasago first, then Agares.”
“Agares…”
I recalled the name listed as the second most powerful demon in The Lemegeton.
As he said, commanding Vasago and Agares would make sealing other demons relatively easy. But setting Vasago aside, Agares had a terrible reputation. What was I supposed to trust about him? What if he demanded corpses too?
“I don’t want to commit crimes, sir.”
“Higher demons possess the attributes of natural phenomena. You can offer such phenomena themselves as sacrifices. Necromancy specialists are actually rare among demons. Vasago is a special case—he was originally a human mage.”
“Then what does Agares want?”
“Agares demands earthquakes and dense flames. Fire, at least, is an offering that’s relatively easy to obtain.”
“That’s true. But more than anything, Agares’s temperament is the problem. He doesn’t seem very cooperative, even if he’s not completely evil.”
At my words, the old spirit suddenly swallowed and fell silent. Then he answered calmly.
“Well… he’s certainly not cooperative.”
That already sounded suspicious. I narrowed my eyes.
“Sir, at this rate, I’m going to die.”
“No. He may try to tempt you toward wickedness, but he won’t kill you. He’s not the type of powerful being who takes pleasure in crushing the weak.”
“Isn’t that dangerous enough?”
“I thought you’d be fine, since you wouldn’t be swayed just because he’s beautiful.”
“‘Beautiful’?”
Calling a demon “beautiful” was so far removed from common sense that I couldn’t understand it at all. Seeing my reaction, the spirit hurriedly explained.
“I don’t know how kids your age use the word these days, but ‘beautiful’ means being whole in itself—complete, lacking nothing, and pleasing in form.”
“So you’re talking about ‘perfection’?”
“That’s not wrong. It’s about harmony and natural order.”
“Just because someone looks perfect doesn’t mean people get bewitched by them.”
Scratching his head awkwardly, he replied,
“You know how people say they were enchanted or fell for an attractive person? That’s what I meant. Excessive obsession can sometimes lead humans down a wicked path. In Agares’s case, there are plenty of precedents of people around him collectively falling into darkness. Though that was a slightly different issue… In any case, he’s a demon who makes people give their hearts to things they shouldn’t—one way or another.”
“I see.”
“Angels originally have no gender, but if one must be assigned, all except Gabriel would be considered male. Agares was once an angel who fell and became a demon, and in that process, he acquired a clear gender—also male. After that, he caused quite a bit of trouble.”
“Given the context, you’re saying this demon named Agares has been seducing women all this time.”
“Well, it’s possible he never intended to seduce anyone. But his temperament is just so—”
“Completely messed up?”
Solomon hurriedly softened his wording.
“No, no. Just… free-spirited.”
“Completely messed up, then.”
He fell silent for a moment, then forcibly changed the subject.
“Well, anyway—like all angels, he possesses a perfection that transcends human beauty. To summarize, he’s very good at seducing humans, has wandering hands, and his sexual morals are even worse.”
It was utterly unconvincing. I’d never actually seen a man I’d call beautiful, so it was hard to imagine, but this description was far from inspiring any desire to summon a demon. With such a questionable personality on top of everything else, I felt no inclination at all.
As a teenager with a long life ahead of me, I wasn’t ready to throw it all away in one go. Demon summoning or whatever—it wasn’t more important than my life. I stared coldly at the spirit and shut down the computer.
The spirit, meeting my gaze, sighed deeply and stopped talking. Then he sat down on an empty desk in the computer room, crossing his arms, and looked up at me seriously.
“So… after researching, how has your thinking changed?”
“The more I research, the less I trust you, sir.”
“If I summoned Gabriel himself, would you believe me?”
“I don’t think King Solomon would speak casually to the angel Gabriel.”
“Well… I do have some unresolved issues with Gabriel… Normally I’d use honorifics…”
“And even if you summoned someone, how would I know it was really the angel Gabriel?”
“Hah. I should’ve known when Gabriel told me you wouldn’t be an easy opponent.”
The spirit clutched his head in distress, grumbling a few times before reluctantly changing the subject. He began chatting about things he’d seen while wandering around that day, apparently planning to persuade me again later. As always, I half-listened.
For someone from ancient times, he knew English, French, and even Latin, often helping with my advanced studies. But despite knowing modern things in theory, he’d never experienced them firsthand and found everything fascinating.
Today, it seemed he’d visited the teachers’ office. He talked about televisions, then about the computer I’d been using lately, then phones, then mobile phones. I responded appropriately while idly poking his tiny hands or soft belly with my fingertip, like handling a small animal.
To be honest, he was about the size of a hamster, and the way he fluttered around made him seem less like the great King Solomon and more like a strange little hamster flailing its short limbs as it flew.
While I wasn’t really paying attention and was instead thinking useless thoughts like he’s squishy or kind of cute, he suddenly snapped his head up.
“Sir?”
Without answering me, he straightened his posture, his expression hardening, and spoke coldly.
“Go back to your room.”
“What?”
“Go back, lock the door, and draw the curtains. That alone should be enough to cast a simple concealment spell over your presence. Fortunately, listening to hymns while hovering around you lately has restored some of my spirituality. I’ll handle this tonight, so—”
“What are you talking about?”
The old spirit, who’d been responding quickly, fell silent. Floating in the air, he scanned the surroundings with sharp eyes and answered coolly. I’d never seen him like this before.
“It seems we’re too late. I’m sorry. This isn’t something you should be experiencing yet.”
No sooner had he said that than the lights in the computer room flicked off all at once.
As I blankly checked the lights and started tidying up to leave, the spirit bounced over and landed on my shoulder.
His body glowed as if coated in phosphorescent material. The light—neither green nor red—was soft, like starlight. Silvery golden dust scattered gently, and his pure white robes fluttered.
“Don’t make a sound. It’s not time to reveal your presence yet.”
He whispered in a stern tone completely unlike his usual manner. At that moment—bang!—the computer room door shook violently. When I glanced that way, the spirit smiled awkwardly.
“To be honest, despite all my boasting, the moment a sinful being descended directly into this world, it seems I stole your freedom of choice.”
I gave him a quick look, then slipped the ring off my finger.
I didn’t know what was happening, but since he’d said the ring granted dominance in dealings with demons, I thought I might need it. Seeing my action, the old spirit smiled faintly once more and said,
“Those aren’t things I personally sealed in bronze jars. They’re parasites—leeches that cling to demons and feed on wicked hearts. Low-grade evil spirits like that can be dealt with simply by speaking a holy name imbued with spirituality. Little girl, my telling you not to fear feels wasted—you’re remarkably calm.”
With a soft laugh, the spirit darted past the ring and flew deep into the darkness.
