Let’s rework my priorities.

Though I’m no longer a demon, I still retain all my memories from when I was. Avner’s soul was the one who took the brunt of the death. But, because my soul was present with his, I retained the memories.

Or at least, that’s my theory.

Another theory would be that this is some convenient plot built into my story as Avner.

Next year will begin the long awaited main storyline. I’ll meet the main leads and characters involved in the actual story.

Can’t wait.

I can pray that Novelle is among them.

Putting that aside, there’s still this issue regarding the angel-demon war that’s been bugging me. Why is Pu’er Julis a Seraph? Could an angel become a Seraph?

[“Pu’er, are you alright?”]

I decided to text hir just to confirm that the Pu’er I killed isn’t the same Pu’er in this era.

I don’t know how the Pu’er Julis hidden inside Pu’er is connected to this. Now that the Seraph Pu’er Julis is dead, could it be that Pu’er Julis in Pu’er Greenwood is gone too? Or, what if Pu’er Julis had been controlling Pu’er Greenwood remotely the entire time?

No. That’s not it.

The Seraph must be some kind of lore hint.

Or a flag.

It wouldn’t be surprised if I see a Seraph of Avner Franc some time in the future.

Nothing about this world makes sense. This is so confusing.

Whatever, the important thing here is that Pu’er is safe.

Which xe should be because xe’s part of the main story line.

Next thing I need to consider is Avner’s death and his relation to the other demons.

[“Lucifer, this is Avner here. Do you have some time to spare?”]

And.

[“Trisha, Avner here. I still have my memories even though, I’m no longer a demon.”]

“There’s that too. Can’t forget.”

[“P.S. Merry Christmas.”]

I sent my wishes to both of them.

While waiting for their reply, I went through my planner and schedule.

I still have no idea how I should go about earning a living through doing art. And there’s also the decision of leaving the science class to go to the art classes so that I have more time to invest in my work.

I checked my journal and took note of the things I wrote before going to my Arthub profile.

Oh. I actually got a few collaborative requests.

Let’s see.

Alright. I’ll send my rates to them later. I need to rework the pricing and commission process before getting back.

Things are starting to take shape, albeit slowly.

I checked my GoE account. There’s still some money inside. Not enough to rent an apartment to live in, though I could stay a few nights in a capsule hotel if I wanted.

[“What?! Are you alright?! Merry Christmas.”]

Trisha replied, and also spammed me a bunch of stickers.

[“I’m alright and not alright at the same time. I’m actually down with a flu.”]

[“Tell me what happened.”]

I oversimplified some complicated parts like how I have two different past lives. One is dormant, the other is active. I just said that I was 2 different souls, with our memories, but one has passed.

[“Avner died.”]

[“I don’t get you. There’s still a lot of questions I have. Can I call you now?”]

[“We’d look chunni discussing something like this. I’m in front of my grandparents.”]

[“I actually told Lucifer about your death, you see.. Have you texted her?”]

[“Yeah. She hasn’t replied.”]

[“To think you can go one-on-one with a Seraph. You’re insane. You know how much tears I had to shed because of you? I thought I had to come up with some compensation for Lucifer. You reckless asshole! Don’t do that next time!”]

[“I wouldn’t have done it under normal circumstance.”]

[“So what’s so exceptional this time around?!”]

[“She’s an angel I recognize from the past.”]

[“What do you mean?”]

[“Here’s my guess. They turned her, who was once an angel, into a Seraph. Which means it wouldn’t be weird to see the body of your past life, or my past life, be used as an ingredient to create a Seraph. That’s why I killed her instinctively.”]

[“Seraph’s aren’t created. They’re bestowed by the Gods, as far as I remember. Are you sure you didn’t get the wrong person?”]

Odd. Lucifer said something about Seraph’s being mechanical designed?

Why did Pu’er Julis tell me to kill her?

What has this got to do with the storyline?

Avner most probably didn’t die in the original as Pu’er Julis clung to him all the time. So can I assume there are two Pu’er Julis present at the same time? One is an elf possessing Pu’er Greenwood’s body, the other is a Seraph being used to cause a genocide?

“Or maybe it’s an error.”

My hypothesis from before, that these other parts of the story outside the written storyline is part of Novelle’s imagination. It would mean that Novelle planned to include it in the future.

Right?

I’m making less and less sense.

[“Sorry. Maybe I don’t know why either. I just knew I had to kill her.”]

[“You’re reckless.”]

[“Instinctual reaction.”]

[“Well, thanks to that you managed to save me, my boyfriend and, probably my new girlfriend also.”]

[“Pardon?”]

[“We got back together. That’s all you need to know!”]

Girlfriend? Elf, probably? Yesterday night, were those Trisha’s dating partners?

There are some terms that don’t have an elf version like wife and husband. An elf can be called either depending on which orientation they’re inclined to. Same goes with girlfriend and boyfriend.

Of course, this is the information age. So some smart people created urban slang like the word elfriend.

It’s a little concerning considering how each family can be either made up of two, or three people. To me, it feels like a forced harem.

But thinking again, a family of 3 has more stability. Shape-wise, a triangle is stable. Family-wise, it makes it so if there are two people in conflict, there’s at least someone there to mediate. Because all three of them hold feelings for each other.

Of course, if there wasn’t such a thing as a 3rd gender, a family of three would be chaos.

Something bumped into the chair I was sitting on.

I looked towards the floor and found a circular robot cleaning the floor.

Cool. I didn’t have this back home. It even leaves a sparkling clean trail behind it too.

I raised my legs, it went under and cleaned some of the crumbs.

[“Have you considered whether or not you want to rejoin? You can still become a craft.”]

[“To be honest, I’m thinking of maybe becoming an angel craft this time around.”]

[“Don’t become an angel.”]

That’s a surprising answer.

[“Why?”]

[“You’ll be swarmed.”]

[“By that you mean?”]

[“Angels are more organized in their command structure. And since you’re related to Eugine, you really shouldn’t do that. He’ll do anything to drag a powerful ally to add to the angel’s forces. If you’re a demon, you get more freedom. I'm now even considering disbanding my fleet so I can convert to a fallen angel status. Moreover, you said it yourself that you recognized that Seraph. I don’t deny that there’s a lot of shady things going on in the angel’s society, at least.”]

That’s real frank.

[“Thank you for the information.”]

[“If you want, I can ask Questria, to convert you to a demon craft. How about it?”]

[“I think I need to consult with Lucifer first.”]

Avner’s death proves a point.

You can die.

Xe could die.

Protect Pu’er.

I can’t abandon my post as someone involved in the war. That’s why I need to return as a craft.

===

I was resting on the bean bag, reading a web novel I found.

My mind is a little sluggish, though I can still read fine. Lia was over there on the couch, watching yet another movie. Xe looked like a dead stick, I still want to touch hirs ears.

Meanwhile, grandma and grandoa were playing that galactic empire building game again. Honestly, they make a really good team. I wonder if the two of them also did this when Avner’s grandfather was still around. It would’ve been quite a sight.

[Avner, the message you’ve been waiting for has come.]

[Who?]

[The elf you rejected.]

Depending on who it is, I would turn on selective notification and have Randell handle when to best tell me about the message, calculated based on the urgency of the message and what activities I’m currently doing. It’s like having a personal secretary.

I sat up and reached over to pick up the warm barley drink to take a sip. I then shifted the web novel window to the side and pulled up the chat window.

[“What?”]

Was hirs response.

[“Do you feel weird, or anything like that?”]

[“No. Why do you ask.”]

[“Because I killed the you of your past life.”]

[“???”]

As expected.

[“If you don’t feel anything weird then it’s alright. I’m just concerned it might have an effect.”]

[“Explain.”]

[“I got involved in a war last night. I encountered your past self, Pu’er Julis as a Seraph.”]

I might be rushing things too much. Nevertheless, I have to explain everything to..

[“Who are you?”]

What an unexpected question.

===

dotturndot: I’ll tell you it was hell trying to balance Avner explaining the bullshit aftermath to everyone ahahaha–

P.S. With the addition of Volume 0, I had to make a loooooot of tweaks to this volume (and probably to Volume 4 too). Much of the initial plot idea went to the shredder!! The struggles of writing a super long novel boo-hoo.. worse when the novel hides a big mystery that continues all the way to the end!