Now then.

After Spirit God Peereesyu returned to the divine realm in order to reincarnate into a human the soul she had happened to discover as Forest Spirit King Cocoririon’s beloved child......

Cocoririon rose at once, intending to begin preparations for the coming birth of his beloved child......and then, just like that, froze.

Because Cocoririon knew nothing about humans.

No......saying “nothing” is misleading.

When Cocoririon created the Hyupuet Spirit Kingdom, he had studied its social systems and ecology, so he understood the mechanisms of human society and their general way of life......he had a decent grasp of humans’ “outer face.”

But......when it came to the “inner face,” it was another matter entirely.

His master, Spirit God Peereesyu, had said it.

“Learn humans. And love humans.”

In other words, Cocoririon had to love his beloved child as a human, and make her happy.

That happiness could not be what he, as a spirit, thought happiness was—it had to be happiness as humans understood it.

But Cocoririon had never even considered what love was for humans.

Or what happiness was.

<<<If this continues, it’s bad.>>>

That was what Cocoririon thought, and the very first thing he did—

Was......to hunt down romance novels.

Fortunately, this world, Ardyst......is a world that looks like a patchwork not only in the natural environment of each region, but even in technology and culture.

In one region, the level of technology still remained at a medieval standard, while in another region, flying ships were being built.

But because the gods forbade it, advanced technology did not leak out and raise the overall technological level of other regions......that was the kind of world it was.

As for why it had become that way—first, as a premise, human technology had already developed to a fairly high level during the era of the super-ancient magitech civilization; and because there were medical gods and industrial gods who governed that high-level technology, even after the super-ancient magitech civilization fell, they continued having technology inherited by humans in specific regions in order to protect faith, which was the source of their power; however, the gods disliked the idea of needlessly raising humanity’s overall technological level and repeating something that would trigger “the day of ruin” again, and so on......there were various reasons—

But it has nothing to do with the main thread right now, so we’ll set it aside.

In any case, what matters is that in this world, printing technology has been preserved, and even mass-market romance novels can be obtained relatively easily.

And so, Forest Spirit King Cocoririon devoured romance novels gathered from all over the world.

In order to learn about the love humans feel.

At the same time, he spread his power throughout the Hyupuet Spirit Kingdom and began searching for the reincarnated body of his beloved child.

He found the reincarnated body of his beloved child not long after.

At the time, Cocoririon’s beloved child was still a fetus that hadn’t even been born yet.

And for some reason, the mother’s body had been thrown into an underground prison, in a condition where not only birth, but even survival, was in danger.

<<<If this continues, it’s bad.>>>

That was what Cocoririon thought, and the next thing he did—

Was......to dispatch his errand servant, the Medium Spirit Hasmooms.

By having Hasmooms support her, the birth of his beloved child Mishutire was accomplished—barely.

On the other hand, Mishutire’s mother died immediately after giving birth.

Because Cocoririon had not ordered Hasmooms to take care of the mother after she finished giving birth to his daughter.

And yet, Cocoririon felt nothing at all about that situation.

To Cocoririon, Mishutire was what mattered, and whether the mother lived or died did not matter in the slightest.

Now then—next, Cocoririon ordered Hasmooms to continue raising Mishutire from here on as well.

At that time, as justification for doing so, he also created the following cover story.

It went like this: “Hasmooms was Mishutire’s mother’s contracted spirit. In order to fulfill the dying wish of his contractor, who worried about her daughter, Hasmooms continues to look after Mishutire even after the contractor’s death.”

Mishutire’s mother was already dead, and Mishutire was being confined in an underground prison, so there was no risk of the lie being exposed.

And by this point, Cocoririon had already, using countless romance novels as reference, built a scenario for when he would summon his beloved child Mishutire to his side.

At present, Mishutire was being confined in an underground prison, knowing nothing of the outside world, and as a human, she was in an extremely unfair, unhappy position.

Cocoririon thought he could not possibly fail to take advantage of this situation.

He decided that he would become the hero who rescued Mishutire—the heroine in an unhappy situation.

If he did that, Mishutire would feel indebted to him and would worship and love him......that ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ was the Mishutire-capture strategy Cocoririon had built based on the romance novels he had devoured.

......In truth, he wanted to snatch his beloved child Mishutire right now, keep her at his side, lock her in a cage forever, and admire her.

But that would not do.

If he did that, surely Mishutire would recognize Cocoririon as a precious master who took care of her, and would send him love and reverence.

But that would not do!

The love Cocoririon sought was not that kind!

As he devoured countless romance novels, and further advanced his self-analysis......Cocoririon had clearly identified the shape of the love he sought.

The love Cocoririon sought......was something far, far more sticky and filthy!

Cocoririon wanted Mishutire to be attached to him, and dependent on him.

A solid, dense love where affection and worship and lust mixed together!

That—was the love Cocoririon sought!

Because Cocoririon already held a solid, dense love for Mishutire—where affection and possessiveness and appetite mixed together—simply because she was his beloved child.

If he could, he wanted to build a relationship of loving and being loved.

He wanted her to hold the same amount of love for him.

So—what to do for that?

......He would stage himself as the one who saved Mishutire from her crisis.

That was why Cocoririon waited.

Notifying the king of the Hyupuet Spirit Kingdom of things like “On my beloved child’s New Year at age twelve, I will form a spirit contract,” and so on.

It was not Mishutire......it was believed, mistakenly, that her half-sister was the Forest Spirit King’s beloved child, but he left that alone.

It did make him furious......but if he corrected that misunderstanding, his plan would collapse.

And so he continued leaving Mishutire’s misfortune as it was.

......So that when he rescued her, she would love him.

◇　◇　◇

And thus, the time came.

Count Brutom’s family, who had oppressed the true beloved child, was “punished,” together with the girl who had been “pretending” to be the beloved child.

Beloved child Mishutire was “rescued” by Forest Spirit King Cocoririon, and now slept wrapped in crystal at his side.

Human Mishutire was more fragile than Cocoririon had thought, and she was weakened beyond his expectations.

As a result, Cocoririon still had not even exchanged a proper conversation with Mishutire.

Until the treatment was finished, and she awoke and was freed from the crystal, it would take a little more time.

He couldn’t wait.

And yet even this frustrating time of continuing to wait was lovable.

The Forest Spirit King, within his dwelling in the hollow of the giant tree at the center of the Spirit Forest.

Simply, steadily, steadily, steadily......with a smile on his face, continued staring at Mishutire wrapped in crystal.

It was a time so, so......happy and fulfilling.

......However.

DOGAAAAAAN!!!

<<<!?>>>

In an instant, that happy time was shattered by a deafening explosion and a vibration that shook the giant tree!