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Chapter 403: The Neighborhood Nuisance

「…So that also happened. 」
Dinosso and Hauron narrated an exaggerated ーah, no, they relayed it as it was? ー tale of the happenings in Es, while Butler just glossed over it..

「As if I can just swallow that down! 」
Dinosso jumped to his feet and yelled.

You’re being a nuisance in the neighborhood, so please tone it down. Well, one of them is Dinosso’s own family, but I don’t know the folks living on the other side.

「Halalfa and Mischt. 」
In contrast, Butler’s tone was leveled as he calmly replied to Dinosso.

「 ー Huh? 」
Dinosso had been leaning towards Butler, palms pushing on the table, but he froze when he heard that.

「Two deities visited once back when we were in the fortress city. Moreover, the first deity who deigned to appear before me was the Verdure God Khadar… 」
Butler sounded resigned for some reason.

「Urk… 」
Dinosso flinched.

「I admit that I had been quite surprised when the river water receded; however, please understand that the impact of the arrival of a foreign deity on me has already been reduced in light of those experiences. 」
Butler looked quite dejected for some reason. Is he tired?

The stupefied Dinosso could only shut up, slump back to his seat and clutch his head with both hands, his elbows on the table.

「Hey, don’t you talk him down! Verdure God Khadar already lost a lot of his power during the era of the wind deity. Even the ongoing chaos in the Central Plains has thrown the order in disarray, you know? Plus, Halalfa and Mischt’s names only appeared during the era of fire, you know? Don’t you dare compare them to the ancient deities! 」
Hauron complained.

「Eh? Didn’t Es and the other deities lose their power when the land turned into a desert? 」
Didn’t you say something along those lines before?

「I was talking about the Abundance God Asas-sama and Skos-sama who gave color to the River Es. But what did I say about the impact on Goddess Es, huh? 」
Hauron glared at me.

「Er, the river meandering or something? 」
I returned the river course to how it was before, it seems, but regardless, it still changed, right?

「More or less, okay? But it doesn’t change the fact that she already existed in the ancient times. 」
「Then Khadar won’t change too, right? 」
The Eastern lands may have become a litte bald, but forests continue on forever, right?

「The Verdure God is capable of expanding the territory within his power, but it doesn’t mean he can wield great power. Also, verdure changes ー it constantly replaces and is also being replaced. I’m not sure about the origin of Verdure God Khadar, though. 」

Ahh. Another category ー 「Continuity 」 is added to the ones that I came up with such as 「Becomes powerful 」and 「Multiplies 」.

「Even if Goddess Es deigns to visit this place, it would be difficult for her to use her power to the utmost of her capability. 」
Butler commented. He glanced at the sand-filled pendant hanging from Khan’s neck ー it’s Bayliss’s quarters where she rests.

Khan nonchalantly continued drinking his wine, as if all this talk had nothing to do with him.

「No matter what, Es is still beyond my purview. 」
Butler withdrew his gaze and smiled brightly.

「And it’s within my purview… 」
Hauron sounded really worned out.

「Er, then who is the strongest spirit? 」
Hauron asked.

「It depends on the type of spirit, but generally speaking, it should be the primordial deities. 」
「Primordial? 」
「They are called the Spirits of the Ocean, Land, Light, and Darkness. Next up would be Fire, Wind and Cloud. If we’re talking about spirits that have a huge impact on the living creatures, then it would be the spirits of Happiness, Fury and others that govern the emotions, the Spirit of Breathe, the Spirit of Slumber ー those are the spirits that are directly connected to life. 」
Hauron counted his fingers as he explained.

Right, I already met the Slumber Spirit, and now that he mentioned it, I remembered those extremely terrifying tiny spirits with unknown attributes that lived in the jungle. Hauron is right, power and strength also had their own degrees and categories.

Besides, no human can win against the spirit known as God of Land. Well, not that anybody in their right mind would challenge that deity, after all. Besides, the spirits living within its vicinity also took care of it.

「If we’re talking about ranking based on antiquity, then Es would probably be second to the primordial deities? 」
「That’s right. Spirits that already possessed natural bodies way before humans appeared are called ancient spirits after all. In Canum, we have the Goddess of River Lanau, the spirit of the Sierra* Graier — the spirit of Black Mountain is an active one, and it sure as day influences whoever steps on its territory. 」
「It’s actually rare for a mountain spirit to be like that. I remember how that one put us through one heck of a hassle, alright. 」
Dinosso pitched in as Hauron explained.

「Indeed, that place is quite peculiar. 」
Butler.

「I She said it’s an 『Ephemeral Space』, kinda similar to a Fae’s Path. 」
Rather than simply being Black Mountain-chan’s territory, it’s more like the entire mountain is a Fae’s Path. It’s an 『 Ephemeral Space』 where the Spirit Realm and Physical Realm becomes intertwined, So it’s difficult to go anywhere in the Physical Realm.

「… Who told you that? 」
Retze, who had been quietly drinking wine while listening all this time, suddenly asked.

「 Black Mountain-chan. She doesn’t like humans that much, and she just chucks everything into the 『 Ephemeral Space』 because she finds it too troublesome to deal with. 」
「Hmmm… Sounds like the rumors are true, huh. Contracted to Jean or not, I’m not keen on going there. 」
Retze said before popping a cheese- stuffed chikuwa into his mouth.

「 ー Contract 」
「Contract…」
Hauron and Dinosso.

「Retire-sama? 」
Butler mumbled Retze’s name in a voice that’s quieter than ever.

「 Based on the convo and how he behaved so far, isn’t it pretty obvious, like 9 cases out of 10 that he’s gonna do a contract? What’s this? 」
「White-fleshed fish cake stuffed with cheese. 」
The cheese chikuwa are mixed in with the other snacks.

「Retze, I get it, I get how unbothered you are because you can’t see spirits, but still! 」
「 Not even a quiver! How can you be so nonchalant, you’re even calmer than Noth!!!
Normally, folks who can’t See will still get shocked if they get a little bit of help from the spirits, right!? 」

Dinosso and Hauron were practically pouncing on Retze while on the verge of tears.

I sipped my black tea and watched them. Go ahead, cry and yell as much as you want! it’s okay, I already requested the sound spirit to soundproof this place so that folks next door won’t hear a peep. It’s all taken care of so we won’t be a nuisance to the neighbors!

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