185 – The Nymphs See an Imp for the First Time! # 1

Aside from the incident on the very first day, the official Duel Stone tournament held in Seoul had gone off without a hitch.

And now it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was the seventh day. The stage for the final match, where the king of duelists gathered from every corner of the globe would be crowned, was unfolding right before my eyes.

"This Coris will fuse the three Kores summoned to the field and bring forth the ultimate Blue-Eyes Kore…! And with a surprise effect, this Coris shall attack…!"

"GUWAAACK—!"

Coris had knocked down Saiba, the Cyber-Dinosaur deck user who'd been tipped as the favorite to win. In doing so, she finally claimed the official tournament title, earning the right to call herself the strongest duelist of the year.

"This Coris has ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠done it…! Honestly, this Coris still doesn't understand the rules of this game, but she finds it very fun…! This Coris would like to enter the tournament again next year…!"

Unlike what I'd expected, Coris turned out to be overflowing with dueling talent. Thinking back on it now, while Oinoi kept grinding away at MachineSnail3 and getting stuck on the Stage 4 boss every single day, Coris had blazed through Stage 5 and the final stage in a hundred won's worth of playtime.

So she was a nymph who was simply good at games.

A commemorative card bearing the winner's symbol had even been made for her. Its effect was absolutely outrageous, though apparently it was a keepsake card that could never actually be used in official tournaments.

"Everyone, let us congratulate sister Coris on her victory…! This Oinoi wanted to win with her squirrel deck too, but alas, she was eliminated in the preliminaries…!"

"Mweh-heh, this Illinoi entered into a collab with the Duel Stone Corporation and thus withdrew from the competition, it is a fact…! Still, with sister Coris taking the crown, my mood is very, very good, dot…!"

Up on the finals stage, the nymphs broke into their joyful nymph dance. The spectators who watched marveled — "What a curious dance," or "So they're different from elves, huh" — congratulated the nymphs, and snapped photos of them left and right.

Anyway. That was how the Duel Stone tournament came to a close without further incident.

Perhaps because of what had happened on the opening day, I'd spent the entire week floating on a faint cloud of unease, half-expecting some catastrophe to erupt mid-tournament. But it had all been needless worry on my part, and the world stayed peaceful.

"Thanks to you, Ha Ildo, we were able to seal the Demon God Apophis. That the matches concluded safely is entirely your doing."

Cha-

Teto showed me a single card. It bore the image of a horrifying serpent and pulsed with an eerie mana.

I supposed Egypt would now be running its power plants off the magic stored inside that card.

"Would you care to come to Egypt and take lessons as a priest? Someone like you, who handled a god's card with such ease, would make a splendid priest. You seem to have a talent for dueling as well."

Teto encouraged me to make the trip to Egypt. It sounded as though she saw in me the makings of a future strongest duelist, and as though her side would even support my training toward it.

The catch was that I'd have to stay in Egypt for a minimum of two years.

"Two years is a bit long."

There was no way I could leave Korea behind for two whole years.

"What a shame," Teto said. "And yet, I have a feeling our bond does not end here." With that, she climbed into the truck.

The driver was Lee Jina.

Over the past week, Lee Jina had defeated duelist after duelist and collected their rare cards, and she looked absolutely delighted about it. She'd been knocked out in the semifinals, but you'd never have guessed from her grin.

Vroom—

Before long, Lee Jina's truck came to a stop in front of the Well House.

Out in the yard, the stone slab sealing the "Tailed Nymph" lay nestled in a nice sun-warmed spot, and Teto had promised to release that seal using a relic-grade key.

"This Oinoi is ever so eager to meet the tailed nymph sisters…!"

"This Coris, the strongest duelist, is also tremendously looking forward to meeting the tailed nymph sisters…! This Coris wants to play card games with them…!"

"This Illinoi lost the vote to democracy, but she warned them, dot — that perhaps some not-so-pleasant happening might unfold…!"

Unlike the excited Oinoi and Coris, Illinoi was showing a slightly negative reaction.

"A thing being sealed means there was a reason for it, dot…! If we carelessly go giving freedom to the sealed, trouble may follow, dot…!"

She had a point.

Just as the nymphs were reacting in a dozen different ways—

Thunk-

The key Teto held at her throat slid deep into the stone slab, and at last, like the unlocking of some intricate mechanical device, a heavy clack- rang out.

FAAAAAASH—!

Brilliant light began to pour from the slab—

and with a grinding crack, the stone split apart.

Pop-!

And out of the shattered slab, something leapt.

It was a being with short red hair and a thin, whiplike tail. The tail ended in a triangle — looking exactly like the ones those little cartoon cavity germs wear on their backsides.

"Mweh-heh…! At last, I am free, it is so…! This Lord Barbar has regained her freedom, it is so…! Now no one can stop this Prime Comrade Lord Barbar, it is so…!"

Whoosh-

She flung both hands high overhead and shouted with such unshakeable confidence that her silhouette was, in every respect, the very image of my nymph sisters.

But watching the scene unfold, I felt a small question nag at me.

"Barbar? That's an odd name for a nymph."

Weren't nymph names supposed to end in seasonal suffixes — -noi, -ol, -is, and the like? The name Barbar fell entirely outside that pattern.

Was it like Kalinoi's older sister Callisto — a name she'd chosen for herself? Apparently grown nymphs did sometimes name themselves in defiance of the rules.

But the nymph who had introduced herself as Barbar furrowed her brow.

Then she hopped up onto a nearby chair, crossed her arms, tilted her chin up, and declared:

"This Lord Barbar is not a nymph, it is so…! This Lord Barbar is the great Demon King's Prime servant…! A Bonfire Imp named Barbar, it is so…!"

A Bonfire Imp?

What on earth was that?

Nymph. Imp. The two bore strikingly similar names. In Korean, they even matched syllable for syllable — two neat little beats apiece.

"This Oinoi hasn't the faintest idea what an imp is…! To this Oinoi's eyes, she looks like nothing more than a nymph sister who happens to have a tail…!"

"This Coris sees it the same way…! If they press their foreheads together, perhaps this Coris could make out what the tailed sister is even saying…!"

Oinoi and Coris approached the imp Barbar.

As nymphs habitually do, they seemed to be angling for a forehead-to-forehead greeting. Nymphs, it was said, could learn each other's names, ages, health, and more simply by pressing their brows together.

In other words, it was something like the nymphs' Bluetooth information exchange.

"Get away from here, it is so…!"

Pop-!

But the imp Barbar hopped down from the chair and put distance between herself and the nymphs. Her whole posture screamed that she was about to bolt.

Then Illinoi, who had been observing the whole situation, spoke up with an utterly grave expression.

"So it has come to this, dot…! This Illinoi has listened of tailed wicked lesser-devils, the imps, dot…! Until now she believed it to be mere rumor, dot…!"

Illinoi was a nymph with a fair amount of varied experience under her belt. Did she know something about imps after all?

"They are horned, tailed, devil-like beings, dot…! Their true identity is the red Commie Communist, dot…! That imp is unquestionably a disgusting Communist, dot…!"

A Communist.

She meant to say the thing was a party member, then?

Apparently even Illinoi didn't actually know anything concrete about imps.

What a world this was — the more you learned, the more remained unknown. I'd thought I had the nymphs more or less fully figured out by now, and as if to rebuke my arrogance, an imp had come springing out of a stone slab.

"This Illinoi stands as guardian of capitalism, and can never, ever be together with red Communists, dot…! At this rate, she activates Cold War, dot…! The beating commences, dot…!"

Fist clenched tight, Illinoi lunged at the imp Barbar.

"Nymph Secret Art: Wild Beatdown…!"

The imp Barbar refused to be outdone — she clenched her own fist and charged.

"Imp Secret Art: Wild Beatdown…!"

Dududududududududududu—

Their fists collided in a ferocious exchange. As my eyes began to swim from watching the spectacle from every conceivable angle, Teto gave a soft little laugh.

"They're spirit-like beings who resemble one another. I suspect they may share the same root. The finer details, I'm afraid, are beyond me as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠well…"

Grrrrrowl—

Just then, the imp Barbar's stomach let out an enormous growl.

"This Barbar Barnoi is a Bonfire Imp, it is so…! Prime comrade of the imp sisters and the Demon King's Prime servant, it is so…! Her dream is to one day become a Hellfire Imp, it is so…!"

Imps.

From what Barbar said, they were beings who evolved from Bonfire Imps into Ember Imps, Campfire Imps, Sulfur Imps, Hellfire Imps, and so on.

Listening to her, I found myself thinking that these creatures might be relatives of the nymphs — or perhaps a subspecies of them.

Just as nymphs and elves were similar yet distinctly different fairies — and yet, for all that, still similar — nymphs and imps, too, seemed to be kindred beings who were alike and yet not.

And their most striking feature was, without question, the tail.

Swish, swish—

The tail swaying behind her backside was genuinely fascinating to watch.

Barbar seemed to have caught my stare, because she turned and presented her tail to me, speaking with evident pride.

"This tail is the blessing the great Demon King bestowed upon us lesser-devil imps, it is so…! Through this tail, all manner of amazing things can be done, it is so…! For instance, something like this can be done, it is so…!"

Zip-

Barbar took aim with her tail. A moment later, a flame flickered to life at its tip — fwoosh- — and then shot off toward the bed.

A fireball.

"HIYEEEK…! This Oinoi's bed is going to burn, it does…!"

FOOOOSH—

Oinoi spat a jet of water from her mouth and doused the fire.

Watching her, the imp Barbar gave a mweh-heh- chuckle.

"The imp tail is, in truth, a most excellent catalyst for magic, it is so…! Of course, thanks to that, there are nymph-phobic demon hunters who target the tail, it is said…"

"I see."

"Anyway, this ramyeon is terribly delicious, it is so…! The broth is red, and it calls to mind furiously boiling sulfur and a hell of fire, which pleases this Barbar, it does…!"

The imp ate her ramyeon with obvious relish.

It reminded me of the first time I'd ever cooked ramyeon for Oinoi.

Before long, the imp Barbar spoke again.

"So it was said — the master of the house, it is so…! The master of the house — what a name, calling to mind the great ancient Demon King Beelzebub…! This spider that symbolizes Baal is also splendid, it is so…!"

━Hyooong…!

Pop-

The imp Barbar then climbed up onto Oinoi's bed and cried out at the top of her lungs.

"The age of dragons draws near, and the Demon King's resurrection is close at hand, it is so…! When that day comes, a world where all are equal shall arrive, it is so…! Everyone, unite, it is so…!"

"The Communist has revealed her true colors, dot…! Everyone, lookin', dot…! A world where all are equal is impossible of existence, dot…!"

Dududududu—

Illinoi and Barbar leveled their fists at each other once more.

Watching them, Oinoi shouted out.

"It is an even match, it is…! To trade blows on even footing with sister Illinoi — these imp creatures must be far more impressive than this Oinoi imagined…!"

"This Coris wants to touch that tail at least once…!"

Amid the general chaos of the scene, I had the distinct feeling that I'd just heard something tremendously important.

The Demon King's resurrection — was it?