Irkalla’s wish was to seize the surface world, in other words, destruction. That meant Gabe was orchestrating everything to bring this world to ruin.

‘But…’

The condition ‘for now’ tacked on at the end left a deeply unsettled feeling. It was clear he had other schemes, but I had no way of knowing what they were. With no apparent interest in continuing to talk, Gabe closed the distance with a hollow expression. Clang, clang! I attacked quickly to keep him from getting closer, but true to a great mage, the barrier Gabe had erected deflected the bird’s spear far too easily.

‘…He is too strong!’

I faltered. Stepping back, my back hit the wall. There was nowhere left to retreat. He came right up to me without hesitation and reached out at his leisure. Snap. It was the sound of the necklace I had kept hidden inside my clothes breaking. What was hanging on that necklace.

“…!”

[Master!]

The Seal Stone of Greed. Greed, summoned against its will, tried to run to me, but Gabe snatched it by the scruff of its neck. Greed struggled with all its might to break free from his grip, but it was not enough.

“Hm, you have not even contracted…”

Gabe, holding the seal stone in one hand and Greed lifted in the other, looked at me with a meaningful expression. A frenzied elation swirled in his eyes.

“Greed!”

I reached out to save Greed, but only grasped at empty air. Gabe stepped back and easily dodged my hand, smirking. As if to say, is that all you have got.

“They call you the Lantern of Ishtar, but that title seems rather generous.”

I answered without backing down from Gabe’s mockery.

“And you, for all that you are the Tower Master of the South, are trying to destroy the surface world.”

Only a great mage who had earned the strong support of mages across the directional towers could become a tower master. A position came with duties befitting it. Tower masters had an obligation to use their talents for the peace of the continent. Much like how Isis used his magic tool business to drain nobles’ pockets and put the funds toward the welfare of the people.

“That is because my having the Southern Tower was nothing more than a means to an end. Whether others live or die is none of my concern.”

“…Trash.”

“Tell me something new.”

Even hearing himself called trash, Gabe’s reaction was simply indifferent.

‘So he does know. That he is trash.’

I glanced at the Seal Stone of Greed in Gabe’s hand.

‘I need to get the seal stone back…’

But the situation was overwhelmingly against me. The seal stone was already in Gabe’s hands, and my own strength was no match for him. The opponent was a great mage and a tower master, no less.

‘I cannot just sit here foolishly waiting for Raeyan to come.’

I had to find a way somehow. Think. Think, Elodie Severes! Greed was not staying quiet either.

[Let go of me!]

“Since you have not contracted anyway, this works out rather well. Contract with me, sin of Greed.”

[I will not contract with someone like you!]

“You will regret it.”

[I will not!]

Struggling, Greed flailed all four paws, resisting to break free from his grip. Gabe lifted Greed up to eye level and spoke.

“How amusing. A sin developing attachment to a human? What about your true master, ‘Irkalla’?”

[Irkalla is…]

“You are a sin. Come to your senses.”

[…]

I stared at the back of Greed’s round, pitch-black head, now silent.

‘…What if Greed contracts with Gabe?’

In truth, Gabe’s words were not wrong. Irkalla was Greed’s true master, so it was only natural to contract with Gabe, who followed Irkalla’s will. So why was my chest churning. Like being betrayed by a close friend. If Greed contracted with Gabe, the connection between us would no longer exist. Raeyan had warned me not to grow attached to a sin, and all of that was now rendered meaningless. I realized that at some point Greed had become precious to me.

‘It cannot be helped. We are together every day.’

I bit down on my lower lip and waited for Greed’s decision. At last, Greed opened its mouth.

[No. Contract.]

“…I see.”

I had barely a moment to be surprised at Greed’s decision before Gabe’s next action shocked me. Crack! Gabe threw the seal stone to the floor and stamped on it without mercy. I had once asked Greed about it.

“What happens if the seal stone breaks?”

[Probably disappear.]

“Oh…”

[Why, why are you looking at me like that? Against disappearing! Also, also, if even one disappears, all the other sins’ seals break too!]

Gabe intended to make Greed disappear. No. I lunged at Gabe to stop him.

“Stop!”

“Do not interfere.”

Bang! An invisible force threw me against the wall.

“Cough!”

My chest seized and a cough burst out. My back, which had struck hard, screamed with pain.

“A sin that cannot even contract is useless.”

“Stop it!”

My cry scattered into nothing. A foot charged with magical energy stamped hard on the seal stone. Crack… A faint hairline fracture began to form in the seal stone. I was trying to pull my aching body together and attack Gabe again when a familiar voice rang through my mind.

[Answer me.]

‘What?’

I looked at Greed in surprise, and golden eyes were fixed on me.

[Can you take responsibility for me until I die?]

‘Of course!’

I was already doing that, so why ask now? That was the thought in my mind at that very moment. Crack! The seal stone, unable to hold any longer, shattered.

“…!”

Had it really disappeared? This easily, this senselessly? But the moment I closed and opened my eyes, dark crimson flames billowed before me.

[Contract established.]

A Greed unlike any I had seen before stood blocking the way in front of me.

***

 ‘It’ had lived by feeding on human emotions, hidden from Ishtar’s gaze. Growing its power little by little, without a name. ‘It’ was hated by humans. Because wherever ‘it’ appeared and then vanished, conflict invariably followed. ‘It’ felt wronged. Human negative emotions were what had given birth to it in the first place, so was the cause not theirs? Even so, to avoid disappearing, ‘it’ hid among humans for a length of time beyond counting. Fights broke out and wars were waged wherever ‘it’ had passed, but that was not ‘its’ fault. Then one day.

[You, would you not like to run errands for me?]

A voice spoke to it. A graceful, alluring, gentle voice. In all the long time it had existed, this was the first being to speak to it.

[I am Irkalla, god of the underworld. There is something I would like to entrust to you. What do you think?]

The moment someone spoke to ‘it,’ everything was already decided. Because ‘it’ had always longed for someone to acknowledge its existence. When ‘it’ agreed to Irkalla’s proposal, the god responded.

[You are Greed, from now on.]

‘It’ became Greed.

[I will give you eyes that see value.]

Greed gained tremendous power. It could now become a physical being, no longer a mere concept.

[My seven children. Will you not destroy the surface world for me?]

[Understood.]

[As our master wishes.]

[…]

[Humans, kill. Kill…]

The seven sins delivered divine judgment upon the surface in place of Irkalla, who could not ascend. They spread plagues, burned the earth, and brought disasters. The surface was reduced to ruin in an instant.

“Please save me…”

“My home, my home…!”

“Mother!”

Watching the humans writhe and wail was tremendously entertaining. But the entertainment did not last long. Seven heroes who had received a revelation from the god Ishtar appeared. They quelled the disasters on the surface in an instant using Ishtar’s power. Before long, they came to threaten the seven sins, the cause of the destruction.

“I am Vietan of Darkness. I will seal you now.”

Greed resisted with everything it had to avoid being sealed. It burned with hellfire and fought back, but could not withstand Vietan’s power. Just before being sealed, Greed called out desperately to Irkalla.

[Save me, Irkalla. I do not want to be sealed!]

There was no answer.

[Irkalla!]

When it cried out once more, a voice came.

[Wait until I come to find you again.]

[…Irkalla!]

Greed was sealed by Vietan’s hand. Alone, in the ruins of a collapsed shrine where no one existed… Sealed, it lost all its power. The great body that had terrified humans shrank small. But Greed did not lose hope.

‘Irkalla said to wait.’

It waited and waited. It waited endlessly, but no one came. Only nameless flowers blooming in the desolate ruins swayed in the wind.

‘Lonely.’

An emotion it had not known before it received its name tormented Greed. Irkalla. Irkalla. My creator, both my mother and father. My master. When will you come? A vast stretch of time passed. Trapped in a frozen space, Greed was isolated, unable to feel the flow of time. More time passed. One day, Greed stirred at a shock that shook the barrier.

‘Irkalla?’

But the one who had found the sealed Greed was not Irkalla.

“A fox…?”

It was a human. A human who looked foolish, but was rather well-suited to being taken advantage of.

[Fox? No. Greed.]

That was the first meeting between Greed and Elodie. Elodie had turned out to be less foolish than expected, so the contract had failed, but it had been able to come out of the seal stone. The human world it encountered after so long was vastly different from the past, and time flew by without notice. Moreover, the human called Elodie Perdia was a rather interesting being. Every day was a series of incidents and accidents, leaving no room for boredom. Then one day, a rift opened in the sky. A rift was a passage leading to the underworld. Greed called out to its true master, but no answer came. The incident had only earned Elodie’s displeasure.

‘Why is there no answer?’

Perhaps it had not been heard. Yes, surely that was it. Having made that arbitrary judgment, Greed continued to spend its days idly at Elodie’s side. It was so entertaining that the lonely past no longer came to mind. When it woke, Elodie was there, and Martha, who looked after it, was there too. The peace began to crack with one encounter. When Elodie came face to face with an unidentified man at Madame Montgomery’s masquerade ball, Greed was reunited with the being it had so longed for.

[I have something for you to do.]

[…Irkalla?]

It was Irkalla’s voice, the one it had waited so long for.

[Irkalla!]

Unable to contain its joy, Greed was brimming with excitement when Irkalla gave its command.

[Stay attached to that human from now on. Ishtar will certainly make contact.]

At the cold command, Greed was taken aback.

[Is that all you have to say to me?]

[Is there more I should say to you?]

[…]

That was it. That was all. Even though it was their first meeting since the sealing, Irkalla had only stated her business. Without knowing how long it had waited. When Greed returned to Elodie’s side, she asked with concern.

“What happened? You have been so quiet, do you know how worried I was?”

Worrying about a sin. What a foolish, stupid human.

“Are you not feeling well? Do you want a snack? Should I have Martha bring something?”

Elodie was genuinely worried about it. Foolish human. Not even knowing who I had just met…

[Do not worry about a sin like me…]

But why did Elodie’s hand gently scratching it feel so welcome? After that, Greed came to realize one thing.

“Did you eat?”

“Hello. Did you sleep well?”

“Why are you looking at me like that? Are you bored?”

Elodie’s constant questions were not annoying.

‘Ask more. Be more curious about me!’

It was a struggle to hide that inner voice. And eventually…

[Did you eat?]

Greed found itself wondering how Elodie was doing. It did not want Elodie to be sad. It did not want her to be hungry. It wanted her to smile.

‘What kind of feeling is this?’

All of it was an emotion it was experiencing for the first time, and it was confusing. And then, the moment Gabe threw Elodie against the wall, Greed understood. I want to always be with you. Being with you makes me happy. Greed made a decision.

[Can you take responsibility for me until I die?]

That as the price.

‘Of course!’

[Contract established.]

To formally contract with Elodie. The moment the contract was made, the seal stone shattered. Because a contract had been formed, disappearing had failed. The seal lifted, Greed reclaimed its true form.

[Grrrr…]

The lost power surged back, and hellfire began to blaze fiercely all around. Seeing that, Gabe narrowed his eyes and asked.

“Are you trying to betray Irkalla?”

Greed scoffed.

[It was Irkalla who betrayed me.]

It answered without hesitation and stood blocking the way in front of Elodie.

[Touch my master and I will bite.]

Grrrr! At the threatening growl, Gabe smiled a twisted smile. Elodie, staring at Greed’s unfamiliar back, stumbled forward and stood beside it.

“Touch my companion sin and you will regret it.”

One sin and one human looked at each other and smiled.