I had a bad feeling, but going in and checking it myself would be a hundred times better than expecting a proper answer from the spirit.

“Hooh, let’s see. Keep the low profile you talked about earlier, okay?”

“Ahaha, you mean not showing myself to anyone but you? That’s a piece of cake.”

“Your voice too. If Raven knows you’re there, it’s not good.”

Before leaving the room, I had earnestly warned the spirit not to be caught by others.

If it were known that I was dealing with spirits, it would cause a big commotion, according to Sione’s advice.

So even if the barrier disappeared, I had taken measures to make the spirit’s existence imperceptible.

“Enough nagging, let’s go in now. It might be dazzling, so you might want to close your eyes for a moment.”

“Yeah, just do it.”

Flash.

Suddenly it felt like a white flame burst in front of my eyes, and suddenly everything was shrouded in darkness.

‘Ugh, it’s dazzling.’

I squinted my eyes tightly as I was overwhelmed by the sharp difference in light.

I felt an unexpected chilly sensation near my neck.

“……What’s this. It was you.”

“Woah?”

Clank.

A sharp metal piece was inserted into the sword sheath, and a short sigh flowed from behind.

The owner of the voice was none other than Raven.

“Next time, give some sign before you come in. I thought you were an assassin since I couldn’t feel any presence.”

I sat openmouthed, watching Raven, sitting on the bed with an indifferent expression, tuck a dagger under the pillow.

Apparently, that cold sensation I felt on my skin earlier was that dagger.

‘The spirit must have deliberately done this to tease me.’

I glared at the spirit, laughing and holding its belly, grumbling to myself.

If the barrier had worked perfectly, Raven wouldn’t have known that I had intruded.

I thought it had cleverly sent a signal to make it feel like an enemy had secretly infiltrated.

But the next moment, I realized that my prediction was far off.

“You’re bringing some strange thing with you. What’s that green butterfly?”

“What? You can see it?”

“Yeah. Its wings are too big for a butterfly… Is it a moth?”

I turned my gaze in surprise, and the spirit, whose laughter had suddenly disappeared from its face, beat its wings and buzzed angrily.

“A moth? How can you compare such a beautiful creature like me to something so hideous?”

“……It even talks. Quite a talented insect.”

“Kyaak! Is this guy really crazy?!”

Shocked by being called an insect, the excited spirit soon lost its energy and slumped on my shoulder.

A moment ago, it was all set to fight, but a few words from Raven completely lost its spirit.

“So, is that why it looks like a butterfly to you? Besides people?”

“What a strange question. How can an insect resemble a human?”
“Did you call me an insect again!”

The sprite gnawed at my hair in anguish, but Raven tilted his head with an expression of indifference.

It seemed that the sprite appeared like an ordinary butterfly rather than a humanlike figure.

‘What’s going on? Did the sprite do that intentionally?’

Confused, I halfcovered my mouth and whispered to the sprite sitting on my shoulder.

“How did it happen? Didn’t you keep your promise?”

“How dare you treat the great sprite like that. I just didn’t say anything because I thought it would be fun since he seemed to have noticed our arrival! I did everything else as you said.”

Hearing the response, I became even more confused.

Sprites are mischievous pranksters, but they’re far from liars.

Moreover, it didn’t seem like the sprite had intentionally made itself look like a butterfly, especially given its strong negative reaction to being called an insect.

‘Considering that Sione hasn’t rushed over, the barrier seems to be working just fine.’

There was only one conclusion I could come to.

Raven, a Venian, must have some special ability different from ordinary demons.

I couldn’t exactly pinpoint what it was, but it was clearly giving me a headache.

Raven might perceive the sprite as a mere butterfly, but if this fact were to become known, it would only be a matter of time before it was revealed that I could summon sprites.

‘Should I use manipulation magic to completely alter his memory?’

I had never tried it on a demon other than a vampire, but manipulation magic operates through magical power, so I thought it would work on Raven, a Venian.

However, the moment my eyes met those of the boy lighting the candle, that calculating thought completely vanished.

It was only a few days ago that I decided to build trust with Raven slowly.

If I used manipulation magic now, it seemed I would never get close to him.

“…Hey, it’s actually a dragon. Do you know what a dragon is?”

“Are you trying to say that butterfly is a sprite?”

As I nodded my head at Raven, who wore an incredulous expression, the rejuvenated sprite flapped its wings vigorously and shouted.

“Yes! I am a cute and adorable sprite. I’m not some scary insect!”

It seemed to have had a bad memory associated with the term insect, as the sprite’s thin wings quivered every time the word was mentioned.

‘Come to think of it, I read in a book that humans mostly perceive sprites as butterflies.’

The demons rooted in the demon world but living on the surface, and the almost vanished beings of heaven.

That is, races such as dragons and elves could properly perceive the form of sprites.

But strangely, only humans couldn’t see sprites properly. The book I read said this was because humans were the most corrupted beings among those on the surface, having lost their purity.

I had scoffed at that argument when I read the book, thinking that demons were naturally the most evil race. But now, thinking it over, it didn’t seem entirely wrong.

‘Normally, people can’t hear the voices of sprites, so Raven seems to be in between.’

The Venian race is known to be a hybrid of demons and humans.

Considering that, it wasn’t unreasonable that Raven, like a human, perceived the sprite as a butterfly.

Just as I was about to ask him to keep the sighting of the sprite a secret, Raven, who had been hesitating and watching me, asked first.

“But are you feeling okay with your body?”