The Immortal Had a Guardian Spirit Chapter 15

In any case, now that he had barely shaken off his surroundings, this was one of the few suitable moments to exchange words, so it was better to tell him now. The guardian spirit lowered his eyes.

[I was…]

The guardian spirit hates Death.

He did before, he does now, and he surely will in the future.

It wasn’t simply because of the act of trying to uncover his identity.

[I was a hero without honor.]

Death was the being that robbed the guardian spirit of everything.

…Yes, everything. Thanks to that, he had become an existence whose all was to sit powerlessly and watch.

[Even though I sat in a position coveted by ‘hero candidates,’ those ‘unrecognized heroes.’]

Fame built on sin is still fame, and honor built unjustly is still honor. Karma and achievement share the same character. Robbed of these, the guardian spirit was nothing more than a common man.

And moreover, the medium of that deed was none other than the child he held most dear.

A tale of the past where the precious child, through Death, had ended by making him into what he was now—a tale with nothing good to be gained from knowing it. So for what gain was this digging up being induced?

‘What’s your scheme, Death?’

The guardian spirit’s expression turned dry.

He dwelled on the past for only a moment. He drove out the bitter taste in his mouth with a low click of his tongue and focused his thoughts back on the present.

Pushing aside Death’s unhurried scheme for later, he ruminated on the clue he’d given.

‘He’ll have gathered information from our conversations so far, so this much should be enough for him to piece together.’

A hero without honor from the Mythic Era, said to have been when the Hero and Demon King existed.

With this, he had given all the information he could. Combined with the existing information accumulated over their long time together, it shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out.

Raven also seemed to sense this and opened his eyes wide.

“That’s more… definite than I thought. You’re telling me outright?”

[…I have no choice.]

Since the price of losing the bet with Death was having the end of his breathing days decided, and that end was not rest but eternal pain. Also, as long as he wished for the child to win the bet against Death, the guardian spirit had no choice but to help the child.

[Because I am your guardian spirit.]

“…”

So why.

Why on earth is he ‘my’ guardian spirit? Raven frowned at the incomprehensible answer.

“…If you wanted to earn my trust, it would have been better to say something else.”

[…]

“I understand for now. Thanks.”

He had listened quietly because it was very important and absolutely necessary information, but in truth, rather than that, he had wished to be told why he was so devoted to him.

…But even if he asked further here, he wouldn’t answer. It was a familiar situation.

Moreover, the core of this conversation had been about the ‘guardian spirit’s name’ from the start. Raven set aside the questions that would receive no answer and habitually shifted the direction of his thoughts.

He was about to.

[…My time.]

If only the guardian spirit hadn’t opened his mouth.

[Flows along with your time.]

“…”

[When your time stops, my time also stops.]

A statement that casually overturned the proposition that a dead person’s time does not flow.

But Raven was unimpressed.

“What were you trying to say… Right, of course, that’s how it would be.”

[…]

“Because you’re my ‘shard soul.'”

As if struck speechless, silence returned.

But only for a moment. The guardian spirit opened his mouth again…

[That’s not what I meant…]

“I know. You want to say there’s no way you’ll ever harm me.”

But this doesn’t serve as an answer. He probably knows that too. No matter how you look at it, his words were ultimately nothing more than an attempt to avoid the core.

But having barely opened a path to reconciliation, he couldn’t ruin it again, so instead of pointing that out, Raven chuckled and brought up something else.

“You didn’t have to say it. I’ve never doubted that in the first place.”

Someone who dissuades him from recklessly using his body even knowing he can’t die, who is sensitive to the injuries… no, the ‘pain’ he suffers—there’s no way such a person would harm him.

…Not knowing the reason is what makes it unsettling, though.

“So you don’t need to worry about that.”

[…]

“More than that, you said you sat in a position coveted by unrecognized heroes?”

The hollow conversation circled back to the starting point.

Knowing that continuing to ask further there would yield no useful information, Raven appropriately steered the topic and focused on the information obtained.

The situation had become a little strange, but he couldn’t let the clue about the guardian spirit’s name he’d finally obtained slip away so carelessly.

‘…Was he even an officially recognized hero?’

Ordinary people tend to desire the top, so a position coveted by the unrecognized would naturally have been the highest position. It must have been recognition at the level of a nation, not just some small private organization.

Yet, if he had no honor.

‘I might find out even sooner than I thought.’

He had been a little worried because there were countless heroes who appeared in ‘that’ Mythic Era and vanished without leaving behind a single line of a name. But the scope had been drastically narrowed, so even if he couldn’t, if he entrusted it to an information guild, they would find it quickly.

It was when he had thought that far.

“Cough—.”

[…!]

“Uh… cough, why…”

At the sudden pain, Raven clutched his chest and collapsed onto the spot.

Along with a pain as if someone was squeezing his heart, blood-mixed coughs erupted uncontrollably from his mouth. Bewilderment at the incomprehensible state came before the pain, so he bowed his head with his eyes wide open and vomited blood.

It was only natural that the guardian spirit, who had been watching, shot up from his seat.

‘…Why.’

He hadn’t descended directly and lent him power, so why had such a reaction suddenly come?

Had he conveyed too many direct words? Had he lent him his eyes for too long? Or else—.

“Ah.”

“…”

“I believe I said only one hint.”

──So even adding extra words to the hint wasn’t allowed.

A chilling aura he could never mistake wafted over sharply. The guardian spirit placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and moved only his eyes to glare at the uninvited guest.

“…This is my space, Death.”

“There is no place I cannot go, at least not here. Much less a mere spirit’s space.”

“…”

Grip.

Strength entered the hand gripping the sword hilt. The guardian spirit silently clenched his teeth.

Seeing this, Death crookedly lifted the corner of his mouth.

“Why, do you want to cut me down?”

“…There’s no way.”

The difference between Death and the guardian spirit was like that between heaven and earth. If the guardian spirit’s power had been stronger than Death’s in the first place, there would be a considerable number of immortals on the surface. The guardian spirit knew well that he couldn’t even graze a single hair of Death’s head.

And above all else…

“Right, you should watch your conduct. Your sins are not yours alone, are they?”

“…”

Powerlessly, the hand slackened and fell from the sword hilt.

As if mocking this, Death laughed lowly, folded his arms, and stood askew. A gaze oddly filled with interest turned to the guardian spirit.

“Then, let’s hear your excuse, shall we?”

An excuse for breaking the rules of the bet.

“You gave that one two hints.”

[I was a hero without honor.]

[Even though I sat in a position coveted by ‘hero candidates,’ those ‘unrecognized heroes.’]

“Based on that, that one drastically narrowed down the list of figures he has to look into. From your perspective, you may have thought of it as just adding a little extra to the existing hint, but given that he used it usefully, it’s as good as giving a second hint.”

“…”

“Do you have anything to say about this?”

Instead of opening his mouth right away, the guardian spirit stared silently at Death.

‘Why is he trying to hear an excuse all of a sudden?’

If he broke the rule, he broke the rule. At the very least, Death wasn’t an existence that showed mercy in this sort of thing.

Therefore, this meant…

‘It means there’s a loophole.’

It meant there was room for a different interpretation.

If there were no room, he wouldn’t have been given this opportunity. The guardian spirit, who quickly sorted out his thoughts, glanced at the nearly dying Raven and opened his mouth.

“The standard of ‘one hint’ was ambiguous. Whether I could add words related to the given hint, and if so, to what extent…”

“Then it would have been better to simply refrain from adding words for safety’s sake.”

“Words like ‘roughly’ are unsuited for a bet where a life and the soul after death are at stake. Is it not this side’s role to struggle to the utmost within the bounds of not breaking the rules?”

An unknowable smile hung on Death’s lips.

Whatever it meant, it wasn’t pleasant, so the guardian spirit subtly frowned and continued his interrupted words.

The more he spoke, the more his thoughts became organized, adding force to his continued statements.

“Also, the price for breaking it was not clearly defined either. No, it wasn’t even mentioned that there would be a price in the first place. The current state of that child must have been imposed arbitrarily.”

Therefore, this was the fault of the proposer who did not clearly define the rules.

This side was merely the victim.

“There is no reason anywhere that the child must suffer for your incompetence.”

“…”

“Withdraw it now.”

The guardian spirit, having gained justification, bared his teeth.

“…’Child,’ he says…”

The green eyes, tinged with killing intent, were quite fierce. Death, who had been staring at him blankly, let out a puff of laughter.

“You really are tenacious.”

“…Since he never had the chance to become an adult, child is correct.”

How could a test subject, raised to be a child desperate for affection for the sake of convenience, possibly have become a proper adult? Even if, after that, he had met many people, built various ties, experienced things, and belatedly grown, he had bought that terrible curse of not being remembered.

In the end, it all circles back to Death’s fault. The guardian spirit glared at his opponent.

“Don’t change the subject. Withdraw your power immediately.”

“…Well, I too am quite fond of that one.”

The bet was meant to induce the uncovering of the ‘guardian spirit’s’ identity from the start. Therefore, there was no reason to dislike him getting closer to the right answer.

Since he had nothing to lose whether he won or lost this bet, Death smiled generously.

“I’ll let it slide this time. If I leave it like this, it seems like you’ll cause a big incident again anyway.”

“…”

“As you said, it’s also my mistake.”

He snapped his fingers.

∞ ∞ ∞

The pain vanished as if it had been a lie.

He’d thought he’d grown accustomed to all sorts of pain, but apparently not. To be so shamefully unable to endure just that and collapse. He honestly thought he was going to die since the pain was felt from his heart, of all places, but being perfectly fine makes it even more embarrassing.

‘…Or not? Maybe I did die and came back to life.’

Since when he came to, he was right on the verge of his forehead hitting the ground.

He was so flustered by the sudden situation that he didn’t know. What kind of sudden ordeal was this? Only briefly wiping his mouth and feeling around his chest searching for traces of the vanished pain, Raven raised his head and called into the air.

“Ancestor, do you know anything?”

[…]

“Brother?”

[Guardian spirit ??? apologizes.]

So you do know something.

From the looks of it, either the pain disappeared on its own when the time was up, or the guardian spirit resolved it himself.

And the cause, given the situation, seemed to be deduced as the guardian spirit…

“…I think I get it.”

Before the pain occurred, they’d had a conversation about the hint and he’d made inferences about it. And when he reached a conclusion, he’d vomited blood along with the pain.

“The fact that you added other words to the hint caused this mess. It seems it was treated as giving two hints.”

[Guardian spirit ??? smiles bitterly at the child’s cleverness.]

“How did you resolve this?”

Did he point out a loophole in the rules to Death and argue against him?

The bet and its rules had been set verbally on the spot, so there would have been many loopholes.

…Anyway, it seemed resolved, so it was fine.

“The same problem won’t happen again, will it? It wasn’t postponed, not actually resolved, was it?”

[Guardian spirit ??? affirms that it has been resolved.]

“Alright then.”

Having pulled himself together and risen from his spot, Raven moved a few steps before halting and lifting his gaze. After a light silence, the corner of his mouth went up, carrying a mischievous air.

“By any chance, did you get into something else without my knowing and that’s why this happened…”

[Guardian spirit ??? asserts absolutely not.]

“Of course it’s a joke. Didn’t I say so? I don’t suspect you of that kind of thing.”

After snickering briefly, he raised his head to check how far the moon had tilted, then lifted his halted feet.

“Anyway… I’ve gotten all the information about the name, so now all that’s left is just finding it.”

He’d somehow made it this far.

Getting just one piece of information had been so eventful, so how difficult would finding it be?

He’d always had bad luck, so if nothing else, he probably wouldn’t find the answer easily. With a cynical thought, he muttered lowly.

“After dropping off the kid in the Empire, I’ll have to stop by an information guild right away.”

[Guardian spirit ??? tells you not to forget the Elven Tribe’s medicinal herb.]

“Don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten. I’ll just put in a request and go.”

He felt himself getting closer to the source of the blood scent.

Raven, who quickened his pace a little, soon found several cruelly killed, strewn corpses and hurriedly approached.

“This is…”

His expression, as he bent his knees and examined the wounds, went cold.

“It wasn’t done by a monster.”

Nor was it the work of a beast.

Rather than the doings of mindless wild things, it felt more like an intelligent being had deliberately torn them apart cruelly to avoid leaving traces of themselves.

“Besides, the traces scattered here and there are familiar…”

He furrowed his brow.

“This is similar to how I use my weapons.”