Waiting For Your Reincarnation – Chapter 157

Author: Dakku-san

“Stop, Zephyto, stop.”

Zephyto’s instinct was to destroy the Snarl.

But Iris stopped him from reaching for the Snarl. She shook her head, her eyes pleading.

If the goddess found out, she would go berserk.

“Wait, this is not right.”

“Once the goddess finds out, there’s no turning back.”

“But when she finds out why it happened…”

He let out a small sigh. Iris gave him the same pained look she had when he left the Empire.

Faced with that look, Zephyto couldn’t bring himself to trample over her pleas. There was a moment of chilling silence between them.

“Hmm?”

Zephyto let out a low groan as he continued to watch the Snarl warily and intently.

Suddenly, the Snarl’s body turned white with a brief flash of light. Like a clear spirit moving freely in and out of this place.

But it didn’t last long, and his body returned to darkness. Iris’s mouth dropped open slightly as she watched.

“Did you… Did you just see that?”

“Yes, I saw it.”

“It’s as bright as the spirits that come here. Why?”

“Well… I’m not sure. Hmm.”

“Can these types turn clear, too?”

The Snarl approached Iris as quietly as a feather landing on the floor, and Iris flinched slightly, but didn’t duck or run away.

Her nerves were strained by the wind, and she wondered if the Snarl was up to no good.

But contrary to his fears, the Snarl stopped a step away from her, just out of reach, and then rubbed himself against the grass, making it clear with his body that he had no intention of attacking.

Seeing this behavior, Iris made a rather disturbing face. Seeing her bite her lower lip tightly and her face darken, Zephyto gently touched her cheek with the wind.

“Iris, you have to get rid of it, so you don’t get hurt.”

“You saw it, he turned into a normal soul, albeit briefly. If there’s something else going on, it’s that… What if it’s something we shouldn’t judge?”

“Iris.”

The tired, resonant voice echoed through the air, and he wanted to stamp out the seed of unease; it was evil, and it was certain to bring a crack in their peace.

Zephyto’s low sigh shook Iris’s mind. Her head bowed, her eyes still closed, she let out a deep sigh.

“At the very least, let’s not rush to judgment. Let’s ask the Goddess and get rid of it.”

“I thought you said she wouldn’t be back for a few days, maybe a week.”

“Yes, a week.”

“……?”

“Let’s wait a week. You saw it earlier. Maybe this Snarl can turn into a normal soul. It’s not his fault he’s the way he is. There might be another way.”

“…….”

“If we find that way, we can stop the sacrifice of innocent Snarls like this one. The world can be a little better, in the way the Goddess wants it to be, and she won’t have to be sick anymore.”

“Iris.”

“Please. Please, Zephyto. Please believe me. Let’s just wait for the Goddess to come.”

Zephyto lifted his head and stared at the cloudless sky, lost in thought.

Iris was a person who usually chose to compromise rather than stubbornly persist when faced with a conflict. She often said that if she could make someone happier by giving in, that’s what she wanted.

However, there were times when Iris was stubborn, and that was when it came to the underdog.

She would protect anything she deemed weak by her standards, whether it was a weed, a bird in the sky, or a snarl like this one.

The reason Iris was so passionate about protecting the weak was because she hadn’t been protected by anyone as a child.

Zephyto remembered the bruises, large and small, that filled every inch of her arms. Not a single person had noticed as she lay dying alone in the forest.

Recalling that fact, Zephyto clicked his tongue slightly, shaking himself out of his thoughts.

“…Only until the goddess returns.”

“Zephyto…”

“Iris, don’t be too affectionate. We may have to take matters into our own hands.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

He nodded once and took a step back.

A week would be fine.

It would be easy enough to clean up when the goddess returned from her business. Even Iris wouldn’t be able to be so stubborn if the goddess was involved.

So a week. A week, he thought complacently, and the situation would be resolved.

Living with the strange Snarl was a tightrope walk.

He seemed to stand on the edge of good and evil. When he spent time in the fields, his body would turn white like a normal soul, then return to black.

The phenomenon repeated itself curiously often and for long periods of time. The memories of the Snarl rushed into Iris’s mind unexpectedly. As she walked through the fields, she suddenly muttered to herself.

“You’ve been in Tanato a long time, haven’t you? Are you…, the first Snarl?”

“Hmm?”

“Then why didn’t I know? Oh, you’ve been dodging around. Is it because you’re not a full Snarl?”

“Iris?”

At his call, Iris’s eyes widened as if she’d come to her senses. Then she smiled slightly.

“I wish that Snarl would show me a miracle.”

Her words made Zephyto wonder if there really was a chance that a Snarl like that could turn clear.

And if that possibility existed, what about the Snarls he had spent so long extinguishing to protect the world?

Zephyto was confused, but decided not to ponder it further.

Later, Iris told him about the Snarl’s previous life. She felt sorry for him, grieved for him, and forgave him.

But after hearing Iris’s story, Zephyto have no compassion for the snarl.

For he was the one who forged the weapon that would destroy the Empire under Ragnar. Still, he wanted to destroy him.

The Snarl followed Iris relentlessly.

‘How could Iris love even such a Snarl?’

It restlessly wondered if its touch would hurt her. It always stayed a foot away, watching her, and shuddered when she tended to another soul. It was the same kind of jealousy.

Of all the spirits in Tanato, the young Snarl hated Zephyto the most. Whenever Zephyto laid her down in the field and kissed her, it would come running out of nowhere and interrupt them with a snake-like sound.

Then he would snort and kiss her again, harder and deeper, as if to prove a point.

When he did, the young Snarl’s body would turn blacker than ever. It was an ominous aura. An aura that seemed to bring misfortune.

The younger Snarl’s presence became more and more of an eyesore the longer they stayed together. But Zephyto shrugged it off, thinking it would only last a week.

Until then, it hadn’t occurred to him that he was wrong.

His intuition that the young Snarl would bring bad luck was spot on. On the eve of the goddess’s return to Tanato, disaster struck.

Unable to control his power, the Snarl accidentally corrupted another soul. The souls, already blackened, never regained their original color.

Suddenly, the corrupted souls became enraged and began attacking other souls. It was hell on earth.

The only saving grace was Iris’s new power to purify the Snarl, who was covered in evil.

However, due to her inexperience, she was only able to purify one soul. The young Snarl.

“How dare you hide him in Tanato?”

The goddess’s low voice was a mixture of anger and disappointment. When the goddess heard of the Snarl’s intrusion, she hurried back to Tanato. Upon her arrival, she resolved the situation by extinguishing all the souls Iris had failed to purify.

She called them to the temple. Iris took his hand gently as they made their way to the temple.

Her fingertips felt a little cold from her nervousness.

But her eyes held more faith than terror and fear.

Faith in the Goddess, perhaps.

Or maybe it was hope for this world.

“Those things should never be in Tanato.”

But the Goddess’s hatred and anger toward the Snarl was greater than they had realized.

Iris’s attempts at conversation went even less well than she had expected. The goddess refused to even listen to her.

At one point, she shut her mouth and looked at Iris like a child deprived of a parent’s love.

Finally, the goddess shattered Iris’s soul.

“Iris!”

Zephyto’s voice echoed through the air, his voice tinged with iron, as her form drifted through the air like dust, disappearing into the distance.