It wasnât a flying squirrel that was sleeping on the Elf Queenâs lap.
The true identity of the being in the form of a flying squirrel was the Spirit King Rosen, who was said to have reached the level of a Demigod.
âWhat can I do for you?â
(Tell me why the sleep-talking Spirit King is a flying squirrel.l)
In his flying squirrel form, Spirit King Rosen talked to me as if it were natural.
As the elven Generals were standing in line gasping, I decided to proceed, wondering if the Spirit King rarely spoke directly.
âYes. First of all, let me say thank you. Thank you very much for making the Mana Recovery Ring.â
(Well, the Hero gave it to me with a condition. Iâll keep quiet about it though.)
The Spirit King had foreseen my existence, a Summoner, from what the Hero had told him. And it seemed that he took the trouble to make me a Mana Recovery Ring.
âOh, you mean the other day. Youâre welcome. The Hero urged me to thank you, so I did. Haha.â
(Maybe the Hero went for a reminder shortly before he met me.)
I wonder if the Hero came all the way to Rosenheim to get the Mana Recovery Ring in order to drag me to the tournament.
âThen I have a request to make to the Spirit King.â
âHmm?â
My friends were watching the conversation between me and the Spirit King with dismay, as I accepted the Spirit Kingâs presence and appearance as a matter of course.
The same went for the Elven Queen and the Generals present in the room. They had been listening to us, wondering what it was that I wanted to see the Spirit King, but when they realized the reason, they were surprised, though they didnât say it out loud.
The reason why I had asked to see the Spirit King was because I had a request for him.
âWe are currently fighting against the Demon Kingâs army together with the elves. If we successfully save Rosenheim, I would like you to grant us a wish.â
With that, I bowed to the Spirit King.
âOh, you want me to thank you for saving the elves?â
âYes.â
âI see,â said the Spirit King as he began to touch his chin with his flying squirrel appearance.
I came here after hearing the request from the Principal.
He said, âI see,â as if it were a matter of course, but I didnât want to ask anything in return from the Principal.
In the first place, the Principal could not provide me with what I wanted.
I had a few things I wanted.
Magic stonesWeapons and armor that cannot be bought with money
We would be collecting magic stones from the Demon Kingâs army in the future, and although it would be better to have as many as possible, the number of magic stones that the Principal, who didnât have much power, could prepare was far too small. And I was not going to ask Rosenheim, which had suffered a great deal of loss, for magic stones.
I could obtain the weapons and armor that couldnât be bought with money by going to the S-class dungeon. The Principal would not be able to provide them, and I was planning to ask the Queen later if she had anything like Rosenheimâs treasures, but I wasnât that hopeful.
A more certain and promising individual was in front of me although he was in the form of a small animal and was on the Queenâs lap.
(That was pretty fast. I had planned to help the elven troops in the Central Continent.)
When I had heard that the Spirit King was a Demigod, I wanted to ask him for a favor if I had the right circumstances to lend to the elves.
âSomething only I can do? Well, what is it, by the way?â
âIâd like you to put all of my friends in Hell Mode.â
ââWhat? Hell Mode?ââ
For the first time since arriving in this other world, Allen uttered the word Hell Mode.
No one who was listening to the conversation between Allen and the Spirit King bent over could understand it and recited it.
âHmm? Hellmod? Huh? Hmm?
The Spirit King didnât seem to understand right away. He placed a hand on his chin and let his gaze wander hollowly in thought.
âYes, Hell Mode. It increases the difficulty of Godâs Trials by 100-fold.â
âOh, that. Youâre talking about the degree of ordeal people are put through.â
He didnât understand for a moment, but the Spirit King seemed to know about Hell Mode.
âYes. My party members have reached their growth limit due to the difficulty of the Godâs Trials being too low. For the sake of further growth, I would like you to change everyoneâs mode to Hell Mode.â
âOh, I see. Iâll check it out.â
With that said, the Spirit King froze.
(He looks kind of stuffed, doesnât it? AndâŚ)
âHebe!â
âHey, hey, are you sure youâre not saying something rude to the Spirit King?â
Cecile, who was behind me, grabbed me by the neck.
âI think itâs okay. If not, Iâm sure the elves would have stopped us.â
I was trying to be polite in my conversation, but if my mannerisms turned out to be rude regardless, it was the elfâs fault for not teaching me manners towards the Spirit King.
âI asked Lord Elmea, the God of Creation, but it was no use. He said he can never change the mode.â
âIs Hard Mode also impossible?â
There was also a Hard Mode with 10 times the difficulty of the Normal Mode, but I didnât mention it and talked about Hell Mode.
âYes, it was. He seemed to be very strict about it. Iâm just a Demigod, so it is impossible to get them to listen to me. Haha.â
(Demigods have a low status in the Divine Realm, huh.)
âIâm sorry to hear that. Then may I change my request to something else?â
âIf you save my little ones, Iâll grant you a wish if I can. Haha.â
âI would like to change my party membersâ Talent to higher ones. For example, changing a Swordsman to a Master Swordsman.â
Since they couldnât change the mode, I asked them to change our Talent.
As soon as he heard those words, the previously relaxed expression of the Spirit King turned stern.
He looked at me and exerted silent pressure but I didnât move and looked him straight back in the eyes.
The Spirit King sighed weakly at my attitude.
âPhew, Talent change. Youâre that guy, arenât you? Youâre in Godâs deism. Thatâs why Lord Elmea cares about you.â
âWhat? Are you talking about me?â
âYes, Iâve heard about it for quite a while. He told me that he was in a hurry to defeat the Demon King, so he created a higher-tiered Summoner. He told me that he made a mistake and gave it 8-stars when he meant to give it 6-stars. He said he was troubled because the Summoner wouldnât change it even though he advised him to. Haha.â
(I see. So it was an error that the Summoner had 8-stars? Itâs been a long time ago, but Iâm pretty sure I got a message like âAre you sure you want to be a Summoner?â)
âI⌠I see.â
I think I heard some kind of secret story about the birth of the Summoner, or the other side of the story.
I didnât want to talk about my birth story, but I wanted to know if I could. I felt like Spirit King could probably change Talents, so I talked about it after changing modes.
The reason was that there were a lot of elves who could use Recovery Magic.
The only possibility for that was that someone was increasing the number. I was sure that someone in the Divine realm was giving them Talents through connections.
âNo wonder Lord Elmea was having a hard time. Haha.â
(After all, they were doing it secretly? Well, the land of elves doesnât have a large population and itâs hard to have children. If they donât increase the number a little, the country will collapse.)
The Spirit King scratched his head, âIâm in trouble.â
âIs it possible then?â
âHmmm. Thereâs a difference between giving Talent to those who donât have it and making those who do have it higher. Itâs hard to do without a price.â
âIs saving Rosenheim not enough to pay?â
âIâm not sure if my power is enough, even if you include saving Rosenheim in the price. Iâm talking about, for example, getting a lifespan in exchange.â
(Life expectancy. I see. Thatâs not so bad.)
Everyone gasped at the Spirit Kingâs request to give up their life to change Talents. It was so important that they had to exchange their lives for it. In the midst of all this, only I understood the exact meaning of his words.
âSo how about we pay you with our experience we earned until we reached our growth ceiling?â
(See, this is what the price was all about. Itâs not about the life expectancy from now, itâs about paying for the experience and time spent so far, right?)
âWhat? Are you sure? Youâll lose everything and be Level 1.â
âIf thatâs what we need to pay, then no problem. I assume our non-Talental skills, such as <Swordsmanship>, will remain the same?â
Then the Spirit King froze again. He seemed to be checking something.
âAll right. Thatâs no problem. But I think the limit was to increase the difficulty of the Talent by one. I still canât give you 5-stars though.â
(Okay, so up to 4-stars is possible?)
âThank you.â
âBy the way, you canât do this with party members who arenât here or who join later.â
(Damn, I was going to change Merleâs Talent later, too.)
âI wouldnât do that.â
âBy the way, I can read minds. Haha.â
âIâm sorry, but I donât think Iâm going to get anything out of this.â
There was no reward for me as our whole conversation until then revolved around my party members.
âI can read minds, you know. Muras, right? Summoner of the Beginning, how about I give your sister a 1-star Talent? She doesnât have a Talent, does she? Iâll ask you later which Talent you want. âŚâ
Perhaps wanting to end the conversation quickly, the Spirit King began to read my mind. He was quite out of it and seemed to be completely asleep.
Maybe he couldnât have very long conversations with people.
âThank you, Spirit King. Then I will do my best to save Rosenheim.â
(Come to think of it, I am sleepy too.)
âYeah, make sure you help him out. âŚâ
The Spirit King muttered once more and fell asleep in the Queenâs lap.
Thus ended the conversation between Allen and the Spirit King. In exchange for saving Rosenheim, he promised his friends that they would be able to change their Talents to a higher level.