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Belphegor Castle, Somewhere in the Belphegor Domain, the Underworld
"Almost there..." Thea murmured in a meek voice, peeking out from the side of a bookshelf.
Anyone—normal—who saw her at that moment would be utterly bewildered—her head wasn't just peeking from behind or beside the bookshelf but was literally emerging from within it as if she were some kind of ghost. Which, to be fair, wasn't entirely wrong… since she was, in fact, a ghost.
Along with her head, Thea had also extended her hand through the wood of the bookshelf, stretching desperately toward a bowl of candies resting on a stool not too far away. But alas, it remained just out of reach. Her fingers trembled in frustration as she whimpered and struggled, "Ugh... why'd he have to put it so far away, again?"
She was hoping for her hand to be able to reach for it, but now it seemed that such a thing wouldn't be possible which led to her reconsidering her options, again.
'Do I really want those treats?' Thea wondered for a moment, debating whether she should keep reaching for the bowl or give up. For the past few days, she had been trying to resist the temptation, but there was only so much a ghost like her could resist her favorite treats.
As expected, the answer came to her instantly—there was no need to think it over. She already knew the answer in her heart, even if she no longer had a heart.
'I really want those candies…'
Ghosts and the undead are beings driven by their desires, and Thea was no exception. She may not remember everything from when she was alive, but she could still vividly recall the taste of the treats she once loved. That memory—the flavor she had enjoyed so often—made them impossible to resist, especially when they were right in front of her, just barely out of reach.
The temptation was unbearable.
And why was the temptation so unbearable? Because those treats reminded her of the time she was alive.
A ghost lingers in the world of the living, or the underworld of the living in her case, because of regrets and desires it couldn't let go of when it abandoned its physical body at the moment of death. Naturally, Thea, being a ghost, longed to feel alive again. And since eating those candies gave her that feeling.
Eating treats may not have been tied to her regrets or deepest desires, but it made her feel alive, even if only for a moment. And resisting that temptation was nearly impossible.
She reached out for them… but…
'They really are so far away…'
Realizing that she couldn't grab them while staying hidden inside the bookshelf, she knew there was only one option.
"I have to go out…" she murmured.
This was a bit of a challenge. The reason? She wasn't alone in the library.
If she had been, there wouldn't have been any problem. But… she turned her head and glanced toward a table in the distance.
There, she spotted two children—one with white hair and the other with blonde.
She observed them quietly for a while, noting that they were completely absorbed in their books and paying no attention to her or the bowl of candies, at all.
This gave her a bit of courage, 'It should be fine, right?'
Glancing left and right to ensure the coast was clear, she double-checked that the two children were really engrossed in their books. Satisfied, she carefully emerged from the bookshelf—fully floating out for the first time—while making sure not to attract any attention as she reached for the bowl of candies.
Moving silently and stealthily, she arrived in front of the bowl that was filled to the brim with all kinds of candies which made her almost salivate, even if she no longer had the necessary organs to be able to salivate. But she didn't care and slipped her hand into the bowl. After a quick glance around to confirm everything was still fine, she scooped up a handful of treats and swiftly tucked them into the pockets of her cloak.
She repeated the process several times all while making sure no one was watching. Once she had emptied the bowl of candies, she swiftly retreated into the bookshelf, vanishing from the library without a trace—leaving only an empty bowl on the stool.
"…"
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"She's gone…" Kuisha whispered.
Seir turned his gaze toward the empty bowl on the stool in the distance. "Well… compared to the past few days, Thea finally came out of the bookshelf under the temptation of candies. I suppose that's some progress."
"Agreed," Kuisha nodded thoughtfully before adding, "But her body… I didn't expect a ghost to have such a unique form." She hesitated for a moment before asking, "She really was a bit translucent, wasn't she, my Lord? Or was it just my eyes playing tricks on me?"
Seeing someone appear slightly transparent was an unusual experience, and she wasn't entirely sure if it was real or just an illusion.
"No, you're right… her body was definitely a bit translucent," Seir confirmed, sharing her surprise.
He had noticed it very clearly as he saw her float out of the bookshelf. There was something unusual there—he could see the bookshelves through her body and clothes. It was a strange sight, to say the least.
"But that's not even the weirdest part…" Seir murmured.
Kuisha nodded. "Yes, she didn't seem to have any legs."
"Yeah… she really is like a ghost. Well, she is one, so I suppose that should be expected… but still…" Seir muttered.
That's right. Thea didn't have legs. In fact, Seir suspected that she might not have anything below her waist, not just legs.
'Ah… but then again, she's a ghost, and ghosts don't have physical bodies… So, of course, she wouldn't have any organs either. That would also explain why her body appears slightly translucent.'
Instead of legs, she had a wispy, whitish, translucent tail beneath her waist that served to emphasize her spectral nature.
"In any case, things seem to be progressing well with her," Seir said with a nod. "Today, she finally came out of the bookshelf, giving us a proper look at her. If we keep moving the bowl of candies farther from the bookshelves and closer to us each day, she'll eventually give me the result I want to see. It's slow progress… but that's fine."
As Seir pondered over such thoughts, Kuisha couldn't help but ask, "There's one thing I don't understand… Why does she cling to those bookshelves and refuse to come out in the first place? If she didn't, you wouldn't have to go through all this trouble. Is something forcibly stopping her? Or is it because of her being naturally timid?"
"It has more to do with her being a ghost rather than her personality or any external force restricting her," Seir explained. "Ghosts and the undead prefer to stay hidden. They dislike attention, seek solitude, and avoid being seen. It's in their very nature… and that's likely why she rarely comes out."
"If that's the case, then why does she keep peeking at us from behind the bookshelves? Isn't that contradicting a ghost's very nature of seeking solitude?" Kuisha asked skeptically. "Did she think we wouldn't notice her?"
"It's because, despite their preference for solitude, ghosts are also naturally curious creatures," Seir replied closing the book in his hands. "They like to secretly observe others. It seems to be something like an instinct rather than a conscious choice. Most ghosts behave this way."
"But that is still contradictory to their nature…" said Kuisha.
"I didn't say it isn't," Seir shrugged and added, "Ghosts and the undead are imperfect, incomplete beings. What drives their actions is often difficult to understand. Sometimes, their behavior even contradicts the very nature of their existence. But that can be explained by identifying what drives them—the lingering emotions, regrets, and desires that keep them tied to the land of the living."
"Hmm… is that so?" murmured Kuisha thoughtfully as her eyes shifted to the cover of the Seir just closed and questioned, "Does that book really talk about all these things?"
"Yes," Seir nodded, running his fingers over the book's cover. "It's incredibly detailed… far more than I expected." He then pushed the book toward Kuisha and said, "If you're interested, you should give it a try. I think you'll find it fascinating—the way it gradually reveals the different facets of undead creatures… it's really intriguing for someone interested in the Undead and their existence in the Occult."
Kuisha sighed at herself and said, "It's a pity I still can't read it on my own and have to rely on my Magic Tool…" However, she didn't refuse the book.
Seir stroked his chin and asked, "Come to think of it, how's your progress with reading and writing?"
"Not as fast as I'd like…" she admitted, shaking her head. "I'm still stuck on the alphabet when I would have liked to be done with it by now. There are so many letters, and I keep making mistakes… Madam Zest advises me not to be impatient as it could take me a year or two more to learn the basics before I move on to reading and writing words properly."
"Hmm… is that so…?" Seir murmured thoughtfully.
'Well, I would call this progress neither slow nor fast… but as expected, she needs to speed up…'
Truthfully, Kuisha was making impressive progress and would likely master the language within five to seven years, probably. While that wasn't a long time for Devils—and even for humans, it wasn't too excessive—Seir wasn't keen on waiting that long.
He needed her to move past these basics so they could focus on more important matters.
As he was having these thoughts, Kuisha questioned something that had been on her mind, "My Lord… how did you learn to read and write in a short time?"
"How did I do that, you ask?" mumbled Seir pointing at himself.
Kuisha nodded, and said, "You are able to read and write without any problem… and you are younger than me… how did you do that? I did hear from Madam Zest that it was none other than Lady Belphegor who taught you… but… to be able to do that in less than three years… and that too at the mere age of three… it's simply mind-boggling to me…"
"Oh… as for me, I developed a Custom Memorization Spell using my Demonic Power," replied Seir with a shrug.
"A Custom Memorization Spell?" Kuisha murmured, repeating his words.
Seir nodded. "Yes, I designed it specifically for myself, embedding it into my cognitive framework to encode, archive, and retrieve precise visual imprints of the alphabet within my neural matrix. The best part is that this system isn't limited to just the alphabet—it works with any visual information I choose to store. However, I have to consciously activate it for it to take effect. It isn't a passive spell, so it doesn't work automatically. Initially, I wanted to design it as a passive spell that worked constantly in the background. However, after considering my own limitations as a living being with limited energy and growth capacity, I decided against it. Keeping it active at all times would continuously drain my Demonic Power and interfere with my brain's functionality when I needed it for other tasks.
Besides, I wouldn't want to archive every bit of information my eyes come across. That would quickly fill up my brain with useless junk, and I would have a hard time retrieving the important information because I would have to filter through a lot of useless junk. No matter how advanced one's storage and processing capacity may be, there have to be limits. And I certainly don't have an infinite supply of Demonic Power either."
"Uhh…?" Kuisha mumbled, her face full of confusion. It was clear that a child her age couldn't grasp what Seir was trying to say.
"Ah… sorry for rambling," Seir apologized, realizing he had drifted into his own thoughts while speaking about something too complex for her to understand. Setting his musings aside, he spoke more plainly, "Simply put, I used magic to learn how to read and write."
Then added, "If you want to speed up your progress, you'll need to do the same. Mastering a Memorization Spell will help you learn our language much faster."
"And how do I do that?" Kuisha asked, her expression uncertain.
"Just like I developed it, you have to—" Seir's words trailed off as he realized he had no idea how to explain something so complex to a child.
'How do I make a child understand how information storage actually works in the brain?'
He was able to imagine and develop that custom memorization spell because he understood how it actually worked. After all, he was both a scientist and a doctor—he had studied and researched these things extensively.
But knowing something and explaining it to someone else—especially a child—were two very different things. Even if that child was a Devil.
True, little Devils matured faster than human children… but they were still children. And this was a complicated subject.
Seeing Seir sitting there in silence, Kuisha pressed, "Well?"—still waiting for an explanation.
'Let's give it a try… Seir thought. It doesn't matter if she understands or not. At worst, it'll just be a wasted effort. But if she does understand, it'll save her a lot of time… so there's really no harm in trying.'
He took a moment to think of a simple way to explain it. After a brief pause, his eyes lit up, and he spoke. "Everything comes down to imagination… because that's the foundation of our race's entire power system."
"The power of imagination?" Kuisha murmured, unsurprised. She had heard Lucia mention it quite a few times before.
Seir nodded. "Imagine your eyes having the ability to instantly memorize and store anything in your mind—just like a camera." He paused and asked, "You do know what a camera is, right?"
"Yes…" Kuisha nodded, giving him a dissatisfied look that said, 'I am not dumb, you know…!'
"Alright. So, what does a camera do? It…" he began, ignoring her dissatisfied expression, and slowly began the explanation.
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That's it for this chapter. Hope you enjoyed reading this one!
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