The Immortal Had a Guardian Spirit Chapter 2

“So we’ve joined hands for now… but how are we going to find Master? At best, it just means we won’t send people to overlapping places—it won’t be much different from what we’ve been doing so far, right?”

“Let’s put up a bounty.”

“…Are you insane? This is a person who’s hidden from our eyes until now. If he sees the wanted posters and hides even more thoroughly, we might truly never find him.”

“We don’t spread it widely—just discreetly issue official notices only in places like inns and restaurants. As you said, this is a person who’s hidden from our eyes until now, so shouldn’t we borrow the eyes of others at this point? There’s a limit to what we can do with our own strength.”

“….”

“Then, no objections?”

∞ ∞ ∞

Caw, caaaw.

Flutter.

Black birds blanketed the sky. They obscure the sun as if heralding the end, flapping their wings and crying out with ominous voices.

Amid that abnormal and sinister phenomenon, a man who had been standing silently alone raised his head. Unlike his narrowed eyes that seemed to search for the source of the sound, his murky gray irises drifted restlessly, unable to focus.

The silence was brief. A dry voice cut through the sound of flapping wings and resounded through the empty air.

“…Stop teasing me and come out.”

“….”

“I know you’re there.”

Having come all the way here, surely you wouldn’t pretend not to know.

As if in response to the murmur directed at no one in particular, the sound of wings subsided.

Before the man who could see nothing, the black birds gathered ostentatiously in one place, and a man walks out from among them. Then, a low and chilling voice rang out.

“I wondered who had sought me out—.”

The birds, carrying an ominous aura, fly around the man walking out casually or perch on his shoulders. Taking one more step and closing the distance sharply, the man scrutinized the other’s face thoroughly and narrowed his eyes.

“To think it would be you.”

It almost looked like a smile.

“The one who brought chaos to the world and increased my workload. And yet to have the audacity to seek me out, how laughable.”

“….”

“Well, still, since you’ve piqued my interest, shall I let it slide for now? The fact that you found and called me like this means you are connected to ‘her’ in some way, and I am curious about that matter as well… but this, too, is not urgently important, so I shall let it pass.”

Having transformed into the form of a woman before anyone knew, he folded the corners of his eyes and pulled up both ends of his lips. A lush smile bloomed across his face.

The dreamy yet decadent atmosphere was enough to captivate anyone regardless of gender, but the man’s gray eyes, directed at ‘her,’ held nothing and remained merely murky.

Unconcerned by that, the woman reached out.

“…!”

The man flinched at the cold touch against the corner of his eye. The one who changed forms chuckled lowly, seemingly satisfied by the fortitude not to step back despite the repulsion that must instinctively surge. He spoke as if reciting poetry.

“Those who abandon life call me, and those who cling to life seek me. Yet you, with eyes that have abandoned life, have sought me out.”

Again, changing form to an old woman, from there to a young boy. And then back to the form of an adult man from when he first appeared.

The voice changes throughout his speech. He, who had been changing appearances playfully, soon revealed his interest fully and stepped closer, whispering low into the other’s ear.

“What do you desire?”

A voice sweet and low, as if coated in honey.

Separate from that, the chilling aura touching the ear stirred the instincts of a living being, evoking a powerful sense of rejection and terror.

As if trying to rein in his emotions, the man slowly closed his eyes. His faintly trembling eyelids revealed fear and hesitation, but he no longer had the presence of mind to even control that.

After several hesitations, he finally uttered the words that had been lingering on the tip of his tongue.

“The extension of my lifespan.”

∞ ∞ ∞

Once, there was a being who caused a great stir in the world. No, precisely speaking, should it be called a ‘rumor’?

There was a rumor about the ‘Errand Runner of Death.’

Given the intriguing subject matter, there had always been many groundless rumors about him. That he was not human, that he was the same person as ‘that’ arch-sinner of humanity who caused the ‘Gate Incident.’ There were even rumors that he was an Awakened or a shaman who had committed a taboo.

If one were to sift through the many rumors and extract only the common parts, it would amount to this much: that he had long black hair and green eyes that gave off a strange light, somewhat far from that of an ordinary human.

They say he appears with a flash of green eyes and collects the souls that death has failed to take.

They say he is occasionally seen closing gates, but in the end, someone always dies wherever he appears. And despite there being so many eyewitness accounts, the fact that no one truly remembers him is ominous in and of itself to anyone.

People called him the ominous raven—Raven.

But rumors, too, need constant fuel to be sustained.

It has already been ten years since the frequent eyewitness accounts stopped. The rumor about ‘Raven,’ which once everyone knew, was cleanly forgotten and buried. And at some point, humanity, having forgotten even the ‘existence of the rumor,’ has now reached the point of treating any records found about him as folk tales containing some trivial local hearsay from a rural area.

Now, a being no one remembers, with only records from ten years ago remaining.

That very being, right now,

“…I had an unpleasant dream.”

was closing a gate that had appeared in a place untouched by human footsteps.

[Guardian Spirit ??? asks what kind of dream it was.]

“A dream about when I first made a contract with death.”

[….]

“A capable shaman’s dream couldn’t possibly be meaningless, and for some reason today I keep getting chills down my spine and a bad feeling… Is a guest coming? A pitch-black guest, that is.”

[Guardian Spirit ??? tells you not to say ominous things.]

“Well, what does it matter.”

Raven chuckled lowly and drove his dagger into the forehead of the last monster.

“I didn’t even refer to it directly.”

With this, the monsters in the vicinity have been wiped out, so it will be some time before more monsters come. Now all that remains is to find the gate’s core within this thing’s massive body and destroy it.

‘This gate was also the type where a monster swallowed the core.’

Considering the circumstances, this could be considered lucky.

While having to hunt down monsters one by one in this vast area is a bit bothersome, it’s better than having to place a hand on the core and hold out for a set time against waves of monsters. There was a reason people didn’t crowd into a gate in droves just to close one.

More importantly, where could the core be hiding? He deftly twirled the dagger, then settled in and began dismantling.

“…But I really do have a bad feeling. It’s like a tail I don’t know about is attached to me.”

[Guardian Spirit ??? says there was no one following you.]

“Not that kind. How should I put it… I feel like my past is right on my heels.”

Did someone happen to remember me?

No, it’s impossible to remember me for over ten years, so they must have found some record related to me. They’re probably investigating out of curiosity.

I’ve occasionally had that kind of feeling for a while, but it was so faint that I ignored it.

‘It suddenly got much stronger.’

He frowned slightly at the incomprehensible situation, but only for a moment. Having easily found the gate’s core, Raven took it out.

Rolling the stone lump containing a sinister energy in his hand before crushing it, a message came down.

[Guardian Spirit ???, while on the topic, carefully asks if you really will not meet people.]

Flincher.

Raven’s shoulders trembled once. His vivid green irises wandered this way and that, like a child with a guilty conscience, before quietly lowering.

If it had been anyone else, he could have silenced them in various ways, but it happened to be the guardian spirit who had been with him even before obtaining immortality. To that one alone, the descendant who could not treat him carelessly chose silence and turned away.

There was no way the guardian spirit would let this slide.

[Guardian Spirit ??? says it has already been ten years since you cut off all ties and disappeared.]

“…I know.”

[Guardian Spirit ??? carefully adds that they’re worried your already lacking social skills, child, might hit rock bottom.]

“No, what’s wrong with my social skills….”

Do they think saying it’s ‘carefully added’ after saying everything they wanted makes it fine? How unfair.

“And I told you to stop calling me child.”

Of course, in the eyes of the guardian spirit who is an ancestor, I might appear that way, but to someone well past a hundred and looking toward two hundred, it’s a mortifying form of address.

[Guardian Spirit ??? asks if that’s really the point, tells you not to change the subject.]

“….”

Raven shut his mouth.

It stung all the more because it was a truth he had forcibly been ignoring. There was no additional message, but for some reason, the silence felt like urging instead. After a long pause, he slowly blinked his lowered eyes and answered as if murmuring.

“…I’ll just be forgotten again anyway.”

[….]

Green eyes, strangely burning yet utterly devoid of any sign of life, took in the blood-soaked dirt floor.

“And even if I cling desperately, staying in sight and enduring, what if something like that time happens again?”

I don’t have the confidence to withstand that a second time.

Rather than going through the betrayal of trust again, it’s better not to form ties at all.

[….]

As if unable to find words, the guardian spirit sent no more messages.

Just as Raven, having thus concluded the conversation, rubbed the corners of his eyes and tried to refocus on closing the gate—

another voice interjected.

“But continuing on like this would be problematic.”

“…!”

“For me, and for you as well.”

…It was not something I said. Nor was it the voice of the guardian spirit I heard from time to time.

A cold voice, one I could never forget.

Raven sprang to his feet as if jolted.

With a dagger in one hand, he shifted his eyes toward where the sound came from. At the chilling and heavy aura wafting sharply, his green eyes flickered like a candle before the wind, taking on a murky gray hue and then returning, repeating the cycle. His vision darkened and recovered in tandem, but there was no problem in grasping who it was.

“No wonder I suddenly had that old dream….”

Caw!

The coldly settled air sharpens all senses. Where had the relatively tranquil backdrop gone? The chilling cries of ravens plummeted the atmosphere down to the depths below.

Haha, a cold, hollow laugh leaked through his lips.

“Really… a guest has come.”

“….”

“It’s been a while.”

Raven plastered a smile onto his face and called the other, as if chewing and spitting out the words.

“Death.”

What business brings a busy person all the way to this godforsaken abyss.

“You could have at least come after I left the gate. I always knew, but you really have no sense.”

“Is there a reason I should concern myself with that?”

“What if a monster comes while we’re at this?”

“Then you catch it again.”

“…Who?”

“You.”

…Ha.

What a lovely way to put it.

Stab. As if venting his anger, he plunged the dagger into the corpse of another nearby monster. Expressionlessly, he slowly moved the dagger, slicing through its hide, and thought.

‘I mustn’t drag this out long.’

Perhaps because this place is inside a gate, even he himself could feel his nerves sharpening.

The background of the abyss and the unique aura of Death that makes the body freeze. On top of that, this situation was relentlessly grating on his nerves. If he let his guard down for even a moment, he would make a mistake.

He could not afford the absurd blunder of making a mistake in front of Death. So, since he had already stabbed the dagger in, he busied his hands to at least harvest a magic stone, and with a deliberately nonchalant face, he changed the subject, pretending ignorance.

“Did you come about an ‘errand’? If it’s that, you could have contacted me through the crows as usual.”

“I think you know better than anyone that it’s not that.”

“….”

“Ten years.”

Death spoke with an expressionless face.

“After extending your lifespan indefinitely, the time you’ve wasted in idleness amounts to a full ten years. Have I not been patient enough, considering that?”

“…Wasted in idleness, that’s harsh wording. I was clearly fulfilling the contract.”

As if opposing the cold and resolute voice, a composed voice cut across the air.

“When have I ever done anything in violation of the ‘contract’?”

—Why.

Raven tilted his head mockingly, as if showing off. He caressed the black choker now grown so familiar, clinging to his neck, with bloodstained fingertips, sneering to his heart’s content.

Where his fingers passed, traces of blood remained.

“Even after fastening a dog collar on me, you’re still uneasy, I suppose?”