NOVEL NEXT Chapter 25 Children, Children
"Did the people from the Void Realm respond?"
It was Mephisto, one of the Hell Demon Gods, who spoke. Among the three sisters, she was the one with the sharpest mind, and thus had to take on the role of the brain... Not that her two sisters were stupid.
They were just a bit... rash.
Mephisto directed her question at a group of demons wearing suits—both men and women. They exchanged glances, and then the leading male demon fiddled with his white curly hair and shook his head helplessly.
"Lady Mephisto... They... don't care."
Mephisto was stunned by their response...
They don't care... Surprisingly reasonable.
...
The "they" mentioned by these demons naturally didn't refer to the exceptions of the Void Realm... In any world, it was normal for exceptions to feel indifferent, so there was no reason for her to question "why." These suit-wearing demons would not be able to communicate face-to-face with such exceptions...
Here, "they" referred to the inhabitants of the Void Realm.
"What exactly did they say?"
In response to Mephisto's further inquiry, the demon sighed lightly and replied: "Specifically—'Life is like a mayfly, carried away by the wind, demanding nothing, feeling no joy in life, nor sorrow in death.' Something like that."
"..."
In the silence, Mephisto sighed. She realized that it indeed sounded like something the people of the Void Realm would say... The inhabitants of the Void Realm were, after all, such desireless and unmoved shells.
"Thank you for your hard work. Dealing with the people of the Void Realm must have been difficult..."
Mephisto consoled the demons. Seeing the tangible exhaustion on their faces, she shook her head with a sigh. "The forces we can gather are becoming fewer."
Yes, although it seemed like Calamity was a shared disaster among the Nine Realms, at this moment... it appeared that only the "World Tree—Main Material Plane" was being primarily affected.
And there were few who could contribute to resisting Calamity.
The gods of the Divine Realm were dead, the Heaven Realm had its own mission, the Star Realm's entire life was just that single "Starlight Body," the Spirit Realm had few beings that could communicate normally, the Void Realm had no desires, the Shadow Realm had no intelligent life, and Hell had its own mission.
At present, it could be said...
The Main Plane had to bear the main burden alone.
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Even though they knew nothing for certain, the so-called "place where the fog is thickest" was a wild guess. Nevertheless, the trio decided to head toward the areas where they could clearly feel the dense fog.
"Memories..."
said Youyou as she checked her body once again... Although there were still no unusual signs, she hadn't turned into mist like those other ghosts.
"We shouldn't need to worry, right? After all, if anything were to happen, the exceptions would notify us."
Satan Ye's words gave Youyou some peace of mind.
...
Indeed, if coming to the Spirit Realm would cause some irreversible impact on Youyou and the others, then those exceptions, or the snake women, would certainly have informed Yila.
Even if Wenresa and the human woman forgot about it (which wasn't entirely impossible)... Leonard would definitely inform Yila, no doubt about it.
(Leonard: What about conscience, conscience!)
"Yes, let's hope so... I don't want to lose my memories, not even a little bit."
Youyou said this as she walked at the front, shielding half of Satan Ye behind her, and continued: "The prince and Mr. Yila feel the same, right? We all have things we absolutely do not want to forget."
Yila felt a deep resonance with this. However, Satan Ye, who still had relatively shallow experiences and few unforgettable memories, could only nod vaguely.
"Are you referring to your memories from when you were alive?"
Yila asked, looking at the now oppressive environment and atmosphere... During such low visibility, it seemed fitting to chat a bit to relieve the tension, although that might just be his overthinking.
"Hmm? Alive?"
Youyou voiced some confusion, then seemed to understand. She adjusted her glasses and smiled. "No, it's not like that. I mean my memories from after I became a ghost."
With a nostalgic expression, Youyou continued: "I awoke in a graveyard, then wandered aimlessly until I reached the Demon King Territory, becoming a ghost maid who knew nothing at all."
In saying so, Youyou didn't even know what species she had been in life.
Before becoming ghosts, they were most certainly not human... Or yes, it was possible they were humans, but not normal ones—perhaps "surplus" humans, similar to artificial humans.
In any case, souls that were "unknown in origin" had nowhere to go after death, so they had a chance of becoming ghosts... For instance, ideally, Lodya's warhorse would either have become a ghost or moved to the Spirit Realm.
However, Lodya's warhorse had "normally" gone to the World Tree... It was obviously pulled there.
"Is that so... As far as I remember, Youyou has always been in charge of finances... From the time I first had memories, it seemed like everyone was already in their roles... I mean positions."
Satan Ye responded, peeking from Youyou's side to check the road ahead before pulling her head back to continue, "Everyone has been around for a long time..."
In this world, such a sentiment was rarely heard... Under normal circumstances, the most typical remarks would be "you still haven't changed a bit..." or "ah, it's been a long time since I've been back, have you already returned to the World Tree?"
Just like when Yila saw childhood playmates after decades.
Some were already old, some had long been dead.
"Yes, we have watched you grow up bit by bit."
said Youyou, pushing her glasses up and smiling before continuing: "From a little dragon, to your first transformation, and then growing up bit by bit, with Hilena gradually figuring out how to raise you."
"We taught you how to eat, walk, speak the Universal Language, told you our names, and let you know who your father was... This is what I meant... These are the memories I absolutely don't want to lose."
"..."
Favignano was completely useless, wasn't he?!
Yila silently grumbled, seeing Satan Ye nodding emotionally. He kept this mood-killing comment to himself... On second thought, it was a relief that Yose was slightly more useful than Favignano.
At least he occasionally helped with the kid.
...
(Yose: Uh... slightly...)
(Favignano: ...)