ACIEL'S DIARY : INDIGO
SHEET 2.6: A REQUEST

After some events that made me misunderstand it, the spirit yeng kidnapped me earlier immediately bowed their heads to the grass and apologized to me. Seeing that sincere apology, my tender heart melted down and forgave them.

The previous two Spirits also instantly untied all the ties on my body and removed the lump of rotten cloth on my mouth, then they changed their form from a black blob, to another very different form.

The first spirit has a shape like a raccoon with a body large enough to rival the fathers of 40 years with a distended stomach covered with orange and black striped fur.

There was the aura of an old man surrounding him with his voice quite dignified. This old raccoon has the name Rune, he's the leader of the horde of weak Spirits that are all around me right now.

Then for the other Spirit, having the form of a human-bodied pigeon covered in white fur sparkles very clean, without the slightest stain attached.

This dove spirit has the name Wasa, is the right hand of Rune, tasked to help him in various things.

The two were representatives of a gathering of weak Spirits that occupied the forest around the western part of the foot of the mountain. Although I was anxious to ask some questions about how the Spirits could form a society, I chose to hold it in and discuss more important matters.

"Before we begin our discussion of the request and the others, I would like to ask you two things as representatives."

I raised my hand, then took out two fingers, pointing at the two Spirits sitting in front of me, with a line of dozens of other Spirits behind them. Each Spirit has a very varied form.

As a human being I am not very comfortable when I am seen by many Spirits at once, for some reason this makes me a little nervous. Maybe this is just my instinct as a living being.

I have to calm down.

With a single breath of courage, I lowered a finger.

"Why are you asking me for help? From my point of view, what you are doing right now is very strange and makes me doubtful. Do you know the reason?"

"of course. The reason is because we who are Spirit, ask for help from you, who are the sons of men. Surely our current actions do seem a little suspicious, I admit that."

Rune nodded slowly, with her eyes looking straight at me.

"Not a little, but very suspicious. Even so, I'm glad that you guys understood it well. Then can you answer my question? Why are you asking for help from me, who is a human child?"

Rune turned to the Spirit pigeon beside her and nodded softly, Wasa replied with a firm nod, then faced towards me and raised her voice.

"On a night four days ago, as I was flying around the mountain, I saw you riding a Tiger Spirit. Out of curiosity, I decided to follow you from behind."

"Four days ago? Ah, I did surround the mountain back then to look for something. Then?"

"Yes, in the end in order to avoid my conscious existence, I watched from a distance. I saw some things that happened to you that night but you finally left the mountain while carrying two High-level Spirits with you."

Two High-tier Spirits, Ebi and Master, huh? The two were completely unaware if they were followed by a pigeon? Maybe this would be the right material to smudge them.

"Then, how did you get to know my name? You certainly didn't follow me to where I live, did you?"

The pigeon coughed softly and continued.

"That's why I kept watching you and waited for the right time to get closer, and then the gap finally opened when you were at school. That's where I can find out your name."

At school, huh? Master did not accompany me while I was in the school environment anyway. How could I possibly take a cat to school, right? That's shameful.

I nodded in understanding at Wasa's explanation.

"I understand. So you guys decided to ask for help from me because you thought that I was the master of those two High-tier Spirits, huh? Well, that's not so wrong anyway. So, what kind of help do you want from me?"

"Lately there was a Spirit Exterminator who was messing around in the western part of the forest that was where we lived. But rather than annihilating, the human looked like it was showing off its power. We want you as a human to expel or exterminate it, that is also one of the reasons why we ask for help from you, who is a human child." Rune replied, putting on a stern expression.

"A Spirit Exterminator who showed off his powers? What the hell is he doing? No, before that tell me a little about him. Does he live near here?"

"Yes, he lives in a temple that borders the forest. It seems like he became a temple chief there, the exterminator quite often did many things such as splashing holy water or putting up talisman paper as a trap to repel us who gathered in the forest. Though we just want to live a quiet life and have absolutely no intention to disturb him."

"I get it, wait a minute."

A Spirit exterminator who does an exorcism in the forest around the temple where he lives, huh? That was quite a natural thing anyway, he probably just wanted to keep away those unwanted dangers from getting close to the temple.

But surely it will not be understood by these Spirits because to them it looks like they are suddenly expelled from a place they have long lived.

Maybe I can take the middle ground to finish it.

"To exterminate or expel him, I will not do both but I will try to speak to the owner of the temple. I'll ask him not to do any more exorcisms and not to bother you. How about that? Is that enough?"

"Yes, as long as the exterminator of the Spirit does not carry out any more expulsions then all that is more than enough for us. But first, can I ask you why you would not destroy or expel him?"

"The answer is very simple. Unlike you Spirits who can freely exorcise or exterminate each other, we humans have quite strict rules about it. There will be a lot of troublesome things that come if we break every rule that exists."

"That's what it looks like, I understand. Then can I leave it up to you for a conversation with that Spirit Exterminator?"

"Yes. It's an easy task so you can hand it to me."

I could hear the sighs of relief from every Spirit that was here. But what I want to say is still not finished.

"Then I'll ask you a second question now. What will I get in exchange for the help I give?"

And so, every Spirit that was in front of me put on a confused look. It seems they did not expect this. Well, I expected it anyway.

Don't they have a tradition that teaches the principle of give and take, huh? Maybe I'll take on the role of teaching them some things about it.