This, it really works? I can see this easily?
The tears that had barely dried up welled up again. I instinctively raised my head. I wanted to confirm the appearance of him in front of me.
I definitely did that but….
Huh? What is this? For a moment, I couldn’t think of anything. What was in front of my eyes wasn’t the him I remembered.
He never looked human to begin with. But this was inhuman in a completely different sense. No, essentially, this is what a truly non-human appearance looks like. It was an unrealistic form no matter who looked at it.
He was so huge that I had to tilt my head back until it felt like my neck would snap just to barely see his head. He wasn’t just big. He looked taller than the tallest three-story building in the shopping district.
His body had limbs and a torso like a human, but it was a body like gnarled old trees growing haphazardly and intertwining with each other. In the gaps of the tree-like body, there was skin white and smooth like porcelain or marble, with writhing tree trunks wrapped around it, surging.
He looked like a statue of a god abandoned somewhere. So sublime it was frightening. Beautiful yet hideous. Above that, at a dizzying height, was attached a head, which was even more grotesque.
It was a very white and beautiful face, but where eyes and ears should be, something like twisted tree branches sprouted. No, are they horns? They looked eerily smooth and hard for wood. Like the horns of an ox or the beak of a large bird.
What on earth is that?
He said he wasn’t human, and it was true. No, that’s not the problem. To think that what I’ve been seeing all this time, what came to see me, was something like that. That it was this indescribable unknown existence.
The unknowable. It was terrible and frightening. But more than anything, it was divine.
He, it, was a miracle but also a calamity. A blessing but also a curse. Levia-Rishian from old tales was rather a weak description. The thousands of gods I’d known until now seemed like child’s play.
This was real.
I was overwhelmed. The other party showed no threat or coercion whatsoever, but just looking felt like my soul would be crushed. It’s an absurd thing to say, but there’s no other way to express it. It was indescribably beautiful beyond anything else, but so distant it was frightening, and tremendous.
Was I breathing? I don’t know. Probably couldn’t breathe properly. Judging by how my memory cuts off there again.
Pathetically, I lost consciousness again not long after waking up.
***
[Levia]
I was well aware of human fragility, but Miros’s case was severe.
He’s not just fragile. He was far too fragile. At this rate, he won’t even live 50 years and will die young.
“My goodness, how did he survive until now being this weak?”
He fainted two more times since the day he first saw me. In the end, I put on a human exterior again.
It’s inconvenient, but it couldn’t be helped. Because Miros couldn’t endure just my presence alone. Until now, I thought it would be fine since I’d never hidden or concealed anything, but he simply hadn’t properly ‘perceived’ me.
Humans seem to have a higher dependency on vision than I thought. It can’t be helped.
“…It’s not that I’m weak.”
“You collapse because you’re fragile.”
“Damn it.”
It’s cute how he squeaks that he’s fine, but the facts don’t change.
“This is serious. I was going to regenerate your arm, but at this rate, restoration will be difficult.”
Miros still only has one arm. I couldn’t use my power on him because Miros faints whenever he sees me. I was actually scared. Just filling in his eye caused this mess, so what if making an arm for him kills him outright?
“That thing, do you do it the same way?”
“Hm? Which thing?”
“Like… what you did with the eye. Can you do the arm that way too?”
“I was planning to, but….”
After thinking for a moment, I shook my head.
“It won’t work. I’m afraid you’ll really die. I’ll use a different method.”
“There’s, another method?”
Miros looked at me with a strange expression. I fed him grilled fish while saying.
“I’m going to directly cut off and attach part of myself.”
By the way, feeding grilled fish is a method Havi taught me. He informed me that humans have soft teeth and weak jaws, so I need to provide additionally processed food. Information like how their intestines are weak so they can get upset stomachs, so I need to cook things well over fire, and that they need tiny amounts of salt periodically.
They really require a lot of care. How do they eat and live when feeding is this difficult?
Miros frowned as he ate the flesh I tore off for him.
“…What do you mean, that?”
“You seem to find it difficult to accept my power and regenerate directly, so I think it’s better to cut off the power itself and attach it.”
This also requires permission from him to accept the transfer, but it’s less burdensome. Although that’s a relative expression.
Miros is so fragile that I can’t guarantee what will happen. Still, it will be easier than receiving and using my power directly. Once I raise his caliber itself, he’ll be able to accept a bit more power stably.
“You’re saying you’ll cut off your arm and give it to me?”
“Precisely, a very small piece. I can’t give you the whole thing. I’m fine, but you won’t be able to handle it. You might actually be devoured by the piece I give you.”
There’s a limit to what he can accept directly. Because Miros’s body is too small and fragile. Even if I pour a cup of water, what Miros can accept is only a few drops.
I overestimated Miros’s level too much. I barely succeeded in restoring his eyes, but at this rate, he won’t last long anyway.
I thought he could accept it since he’s an individual who received a star. I shouldn’t forget that he’s still just a lump of blood.
“I’m going to raise your caliber while I’m at it. At this rate, even if I restore you, you’ll die soon. If we’re going to do it anyway, it’s better to do it properly, right?”
It’s a story that’s good for everyone.
“It sounds kind of amazing… but it’s difficult.”
“Simply put, you’re too small and fragile, so I’ll attach part of myself to make you big and sturdy. Then you’ll live longer and be healthier. And I’ll be able to see pretty Miros for a long, long time.”
It’s possible for humans to expand their vessels themselves. But that takes too much time. Sometimes they die before reaching that stage. Because human lifespans are far too short.
Unfortunately, I can’t wait for Miros to achieve that on his own. I have plenty of time, but if Miros dies before that, it means I’ll have to watch him die in his short life without even fixing his arm.
“I want you to always be pretty.”
“Um, it’s not my place to say this, but I’m not that pretty.”
“Do you need a long speech about what a brilliant existence you are?”
“Please don’t do that because it’s embarrassing.”
Miros’s face turned bright red as if he was truly embarrassed, not knowing what to do. Meanwhile, I was carefully removing the fish bones.
“It can’t be helped. That you don’t know your own beauty is truly sad.”
Miros can’t even chew softened fish bones properly after cooking. His mouth is even more fragile, so sometimes bones get stuck. If I don’t pick them out properly, he might die from just a fish bone.
How can such a fragile creature exist? Even an ant wouldn’t die from a fish bone stuck in its throat.
After watching me carefully debone the fish for a while, Miros opened his mouth with a cautious air.
“Are you, okay?”
“With what?”
“That, giving me part of yourself. Won’t something go wrong? Like it hurting somewhere, or getting weaker, or becoming inconvenient, something like that.”
Seeing him fidget as he spoke made it feel like my nonexistent heart was pounding. I covered my mouth with one hand, overcome with emotion.
“My goodness, to worry about such a thing. How can a child be this pretty?”
“What! Wh-why are you suddenly like that? I-I’m… being serious!”
“I’m serious too. A pretty child saying pretty things, I can’t stand how lovable you are.”
Such a fragile existence even worries about me. Worrying whether transferring part of myself to him will cause me any disadvantage. It’s truly moving beyond words.
Even though he’s in a situation where he’s missing body parts, even though he has life-threatening problems.
“It’s the first time. No one has ever worried about me.”
Of course not. If it’s a problem I can’t solve myself, no one else can solve it either. Even entities of the same level can’t do anything. Thousands of gods are powerless.
Literally, the world’s great will is needed. Only that can do anything to me.
I was always the one worrying, I’d never received worry from anyone. It was a fresh yet surprising realization. I felt good somehow. I smiled without realizing it.
“Thank you for worrying. But it’s really okay. It’s really just a very small piece, and it’s nothing to me.”
“Really, is it okay?”
“Of course. You don’t need to worry at all.”
“If that’s the case, I’m relieved but….”
Even though I was smiling and speaking, Miros still looked anxious. Strange. Can’t I give him reassurance with this? I don’t understand. But fortunately, that didn’t seem to be it. Miros brought up a completely different topic.
“Has really no one ever worried about you?”
How can he be so foolishly gentle and kind?
“If it’s something that would make me worry, it’s world-ending level. That shouldn’t happen, right?”
I said it half-jokingly, but sadly, Miros seems to have taken this seriously. Ah, conversation with humans seems harder than I thought. They hear jokes as truth and truth as jokes.
But it’s fine. Pretty Miros is even cute. On top of that, lovable. I really did well to steal him away. To not recognize something this wonderful and leave him abandoned—humans really are strange.
They have eyes but I don’t know what they’re really used for.
