By Zephyria 
After that incident, the relationship between Chaos and the Sealed Soul became even closer. It was nice to have someone who could relieve the boredom of everyday life and understand each other… Someone who could fill each other’s ‘loneliness’.
Is this what you call a friend?
The Sealed Soul was happy.
For the first time, she felt and understood the joy that came from relationships.
In fact, this feeling, which was similar to satiety, could not be fully explained by the word ‘joyful’, but the Sealed Soul had few emotions that she could understand, so she had no other way to express it.
But it didn’t matter.
Until this point, the Sealed Soul didn’t care much about the fact that she couldn’t properly describe her emotions. Chaos was also satisfied to see the Sealed Soul’s face looking more lively than usual when she was with him, so there were no problems between them.
[Eve, do you have any preferences?]
[Preferences?]
[Yeah. Like a favorite face…]
One day, Chaos casually asked the Sealed Soul a question. It was during a moment of silence while they were talking about the world as usual, complaining about life and other trivial things.
[A favorite face…]
[Think about human faces.]
She didn’t know why he was suddenly asking such a thing, but the Sealed Soul diligently thought about the answer to the question. And with a feeling of uncertainty as to whether it was the right answer or not, she gave her answer.
[Among humans, I think Matra is okay. Objectively speaking, he’s quite handsome. He’s popular with people. I probably… like him too.]
[What? What’s with that ambiguous answer?]
[…Actually, I don’t have a sense of what can be defined as liking.]
In the end, when the Sealed Soul looked dejected, Chaos quickly added.
[No, that’s enough. But I don’t like that human, so another face.]
[You don’t like him? Why?]
[Because he keeps interrupting when you and I are talking.]
Then, with a look of discomfort at the thought, Chaos twitched his whiskers and flicked his tail.
He was clearly reacting because he was in a bad mood… But strangely, the Sealed Soul smiled. It was a feeling similar to joy, but a little different, a feeling of being generous as if she could accept anything, welling up in her chest.
[Anyway, not him. Something that keeps catching your eye, or makes you feel good when you look at it, you know. Some kind of image that comes to mind… Don’t you have anything like that?]
At that, the Sealed Soul looked at Chaos. Because that kind of thing was right in front of her. His beautiful, jewel-like eyes, as if inlaid with gold, kept catching her eye. And seeing his black, glossy fur and small, three-pronged whiskers made her feel good.
But Chaos was asking about her preferences among humans. Saying that she liked his cat guise didn’t seem like the answer he wanted, so she had to think again.
As her worries grew longer, Chaos subtly added.
[Or… an image that comes to mind when you see me.]
With that hint, an image quickly came to mind.
The Sealed Soul soon gave an answer summarized in one word.
[A beautiful and radiant feeling.]
An image with an appearance so beautiful it was blinding, and eyes so radiant as if they contained the sun. Chaos was taken aback, saying it was an answer he hadn’t expected at all, but to the Sealed Soul, Chaos was clearly such an image.
[Usually, people think of hideous and fearful images.]
[I guess those are people who think differently from me.]
[……]
[Adam, I didn’t lie.]
When the Sealed Soul spoke in a firm tone, Chaos didn’t doubt her anymore. He was silent for a moment, then nodded, saying he understood.
She wondered what he was thinking, but the only communication she had with him was through agitation caused by lies, or extremely simple emotions such as joy, sadness, or anger. As far as the Sealed Soul was concerned, she couldn’t know the details unless Chaos told her directly.
In the end, the Sealed Soul never found out why Chaos had asked such a question, but a few days later, she naturally found out the reason.
After a long period of silence, Chaos called her after a long time, so she went into her inner self, and he was in the form of a human of similar age to the Sealed Soul, not a cat.
Moreover, it was a dazzling appearance that matched the image of him that the Sealed Soul had mentioned. At that time, the Sealed Soul felt an intense emotion. That emotion was clearly a form called surprise.
[Did you ask because you needed a human guise?]
[…Because this form feels closer to you. Well, since you sealed me and I don’t have a physical body, it’s just an image that my spirit body is realizing anyway.]
Chaos, who was embarrassed, pouted a little and then smiled.
[Does it look okay?]
[Yes. It’s a look that suits you well.]
[Is that so.]
Chaos let out a soft laugh and creased his eyes. It was a clear smile that she couldn’t see when he was in cat form. And the Sealed Soul felt that his smile was as beautiful as she had imagined.
A face full of emotion.
I want to keep looking at it.
This was clearly close to the feeling of ‘liking’ that Chaos had talked about. Thanks to that, she realized something else. The Sealed Soul looked at Chaos, who had taught her what it meant to like something, and said,
[Adam, please smile often from now on.]
[Huh?]
[I like it when you smile.]
Chaos’s eyes widened for a moment, and his white cheeks flushed slightly.
Then he lowered his gaze and hesitated.
He seemed to want to say something. She waited to hear what it was, but before she could hear Chaos’s story, Matra pulled the Sealed Soul’s spirit out.
“Sealed Soul!”
Pulled back into reality, the Sealed Soul blinked once and raised her head. Matra was standing in front of her, staring at her with wide eyes. He must have noticed that she had been talking to Chaos.
Sure enough, nagging poured out of his mouth as if he had been waiting for it.
“You were dealing with that guy again, weren’t you? I told you not to get too involved with him, to ignore him if you weren’t going to destroy him! Why won’t you listen to me?”
The Sealed Soul stared blankly at Matra, who was shouting. Seeing that he looked somewhat frustrated and sad, she could tell that he was upset.
There had been a similar incident before, and Matra had said that he was feeling upset at the time, so she was sure of it. So, she thought about the reason and asked.
“Are you upset because I didn’t listen to you?”
“Yes, I’m very upset. So, will you listen to me now?”
“……”
That meant she shouldn’t talk to Chaos. She felt sorry for Matra, but she couldn’t give him a positive answer. Even if she said yes, she couldn’t be sure if she could keep her promise.
The Sealed Soul was silent.
At that, Matra sighed and continued.
“I’m worried that something might happen to you. I don’t know what you’re talking about with that guy… But isn’t he a guy who hates you? He pretends that all his pent-up emotions are resolved in front of you, but you never know what he’s thinking behind your back.”
“That may be true. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Of course, the Sealed Soul trusted Chaos, but apart from that, she thought it was a reasonable suspicion, so she nodded. Then, as if he had been listening to the conversation, Chaos’s voice chimed in.
[That can’t be true.]
It was then that she quietly stifled a laugh at his bluntness.
“So, you’re not going to promise to listen to me after all.”
Matra also retorted bluntly with a different problem than Chaos. So, just as the Sealed Soul was wondering how to answer, Matra, thinking that opinions would not be narrowed down any further, changed the subject first.
“It’s time to go to the streets, Sealed Soul. Many people have already gathered to see you, so please go and show your face.”
Only then did the Sealed Soul remember today’s business, and she followed Matra and got up from her seat. Humans always wanted to confirm that their peace was intact, so they periodically scheduled events like this to show their faces to the people.
The five priests, including the dragon, elf, dwarf, giant, and the human Matra, and the Sealed Soul left the castle gates and headed for the streets, and the waiting people were all amazed and bowed their heads.
Some people happily called out to the Sealed Soul and enjoyed his procession.
The Sealed Soul waved back to those who were waving and moved according to the procedure. On the surface, it was a scene no different from any other time, but in fact, many things were different.
It had already been 70 years since the Sealed Soul came down to earth.
The little children who had welcomed the Sealed Soul at one time were now wrinkled and old, and their children and grandchildren were looking at the Sealed Soul with sparkling eyes.
Matra was also a human representative priest who had been selected recently, and before him, there had already been two more priests who had retired. The traces of time could also be felt in the long-lived alien priests.
So, strictly speaking…
Only the ‘immortal’ and ‘eternal’ Sealed Soul had not changed.