“Big brother! How long are you going to sleep in there?!”
I was lost in conversation with the demon Furcas when my sister suddenly barged into my room.
Nene was accompanied by a maid who looked troubled.
Probably, the maid had been calling out to me from outside the door, trying to wake me up.
But I didn’t come out of my room for a long time. From the maid’s point of view, she couldn’t enter my room without permission.
That’s probably why Nene, getting impatient, opened the door with a bang.
I immediately thought, ‘Oh no’ when Nene opened the door.
Furcas was in the room.
If I wasn’t careful, my summoning of a demon might be exposed.
Even if Nene didn’t realize that Furcas was a demon, there was a strange old man in my room.
What is going on!? She’d definitely grill me.
“You’re awake! You should have answered when I called from outside!”
“S-sorry. I didn’t notice.”
“Didn’t notice? What do you mean? I was pretty loud!”
That’s right.
I was so engrossed in the conversation about summoning Furcas that I didn’t notice anything.
But, more importantly, Nene isn’t saying anything about Furcas.
Despite Furcas and his horse being so prominent in the middle of my room.
“You know, you don’t have to say anything.”
Nene said this, approaching me aggressively.
She didn’t even look at Furcas.
Could she not see him?
“S-sorry. I’ll change right now, so get out.”
I said that, and Nene snorted, “Hmph,” and left the room.
“Can she not see Furcas?”
“Yes. Unless I materializes, humans can’t see me.”
“Materialize?”
“Hmm, yes. I haven’t explained materialization to you yet.”
While listening, I began to change.
I’d get in trouble if I was late for breakfast.
“I’m currently in a state where I only have a spirit body, no physical form.”
“So, that’s why I passed through him when I jumped at him earlier?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
I remembered jumping at Furcas this morning, thinking he was an intruder.
At that moment, I couldn’t touch him, like I was grasping at air.
“Uh, Furcas. I’m sorry to interrupt, but I have to leave soon…”
“Hohoho.”
Furcas laughed in his usual way and said,
“Don’t worry about me. Go ahead without thinking of me.”
“Thank you. But…”
I started to say something, then stopped.
“What is it?”
But Furcas prompted me to continue.
“You see, Furcas, you’re really kind even though you’re a demon.”
I hesitated for a moment because I thought it might be rude to praise a demon like this.
“Well, I like curious children.”
I thought, ‘Oh, is that so?’, and tried to leave the room.
Furcas, as if he was going to follow me, woke up the small horse that had been sleeping in the room.
And then, Furcas mounted the horse.
Somehow, the horse trembled with its four legs as soon as Furcas got on, likely because of the weight.
“Are you alright?”
I couldn’t help but ask.
“Hmm, it used to be a fine horse.”
The horse, slowly but surely, began to walk with Furcas on its back.
Apparently, because Furcas’ spirit body was translucent, he could ignore doors and walk through them. I didn’t have to leave the door open.
Seeing this, I thought to myself, ‘What a convenient body.’
Wait, but if he’s in that state, he can’t touch anything, right?
I looked over and saw a rusty spear in Furcas’ hand.
Maybe that spear was a part of him, so he could touch it.
Wait, hold on.
This morning. Furcas stabbed me with the spear, right?
He shouldn’t be able to touch me in his spirit form.
So, it doesn’t make sense that the spear stabbed me?
“Hey, Furcas. You stabbed me with that spear this morning, right? You shouldn’t be able to touch me in your spirit form. Why?”
“Hohoho, so you noticed. You have quite impressive insight.”
I was complimented again.
I don’t think it was that big of a deal.
“The reason is simple. I materialized for a moment.”
“What?”
I was surprised, wondering if he could even do that.
“If I materialize, I can move like a normal human and other people can see me.”
He explained this to me.
“But I’m not supposed to materialize without the summoner’s permission. I apologize for doing so even though I was trying to wake you up.”
“I’m not mad or anything.”
“Hohoho, you’re very forgiving. But I have something serious I want you to listen to.”
Furcas looked at me.
I wondered what it was about, and I looked back at Furcas.
“This time it was me, so it’s fine, but if a malicious demon did the same thing, think about what would happen.”
What if a malicious demon materialized without my permission?
He could do all sorts of bad things if he materialized.
“You understand, right? Summoning a demon is all about not letting it run free. If a demon tries to do something against your will, you need to stop it with the summoner’s power.”
Come to think of it, there were spells in the spellbook for binding and expulsion.
That means I have to use them to control the demon.
“I understand.”
I nodded sincerely at Furcas’ words.
“And by the way, would you be willing to tell me which demons I should not summon?”
“Hohoho, you’re a boy who is thirsty for knowledge. Good. Now, I will tell you the names of two.”
Furcas laughed merrily, then said,
“The 13th in rank, Bulet. And the 32nd in rank, Asmodeus. Be especially careful of these two. They are both extremely powerful, but they are also very rebellious.”
Bulet and Asmodeus.
I engraved the two names in my heart.
Then, another question popped into my head.
“Extremely powerful, so that means they’re stronger than the other demons?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I always thought the 1st in rank, Bael, was the strongest.”
“Hohoho, Bael is definitely one of the strongest demons, but the order of rank doesn’t have anything to do with the order of strength.”
“Then what does this rank mean?”
“Hohoho, I don’t know that either.”
Furcas smiled.
‘What is that supposed to mean?’ I thought, but maybe the rank didn’t have any deep meaning.
“Big brother! Father is calling for you, hurry!”
Nene’s voice could be heard from afar.
I got caught up in a conversation with Furcas.
From the outside, it must look like I’m talking to myself. I need to be careful.
“Then, Furcas, I’m going now.”
I said this, abruptly ending the conversation with Furcas.