Cooperation

Soon after Haalfrin and Frey make their deal, some of the best mage Wills are sent up to assist the child in repairing the necessary enchantments on her floor, the same way he had to do for his floor.

Originally, Haalfrin planned on having a single black hand follow her around. Then, she can show him where the necessary enchantments are, and he can have his mage Wills reconstruct the enchantments.

While this is happening, Haalfrin is well aware that their benefactor is dying of thirst right now. Knowing this is an urgent issue, Haalfrin tells some of the mage Wills to use their alchemy to bond some of the hydrogen and oxygen in the air. She needs water.

On top of that is the food issue. She's gone a very long time without eating, after all. Haalfrin knows they don't have time to wait for another Death Reaper to show up and deliver food for the girl.

Knowing they have no other options, Haalfrin gives an order to Kaalhyme, "I need you to slip up top – just by yourself. I don't want a fuss to be made or for the prison masters to discover that there's a breech in the Spirit Stone wall. Go there and assassinate one person; I don't care who. Just slit their throat and make it look like a murder."

"…Commander. It IS a murder," Kaalhyme mutters... but Haalfrin can't understand him.

Apparently, Haalfrin realized what he just said, so he corrects himself, "Well, make it look like a ghost didn't do it."

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Once that's done, Jenri floats down again and looks at Haalfrin wearily. "Please stop making me work so hard."

"Never mind that," Haalfrin huffs out, "I know you brought supplies with you. I have an ally up top. Can you give her the food instead?"

"…I've already done it," Jenri responds.

This takes Haalfrin by surprise. He never thought of this brooding Reaper to be the type to take the initiative to help anyone.

Before Haalfrin can ask the death god about this change in attitude, Jenri leaves some parting words as he disappears. "Take care of her, Haalfrin. She's a valuable asset to the Death King."

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Soon after Frey's living accommodations have been situated and prepared, we see the little infant laying on the ground, desperately grunting and crying out as she's trying to stand up. "F###!!" she screams out in frustration. "F### F### F###############!"

"Language, young lady!" comes the voice of an old man in her head.

"Quiet, Kal!" Frey sobs in her baby voice, "Even talking normally is hard with a baby's voice. You don't know how hard my life is right now!"

"You're right," Kalastros replies heartlessly, "I was never talented enough to get 2 Names at once, like you and my master. I also don't think I was ever forced to become a baby again… But at least you HAVE a body. I'm dead."

Seeing that the little girl is still stubbornly resisting her fate, the master mage's Will floats down just above her nose, and he says, "Fine. I'll teach you a bit of magic. You don't want to be helpless and weak anymore, right?"

"AAAh!" Frey cries out, "I want the demon to teach me!"

"Why?" the master mage asks incredulously, "I know magic very well too. Just let me show you a few things. It's better than wailing on the ground like a baby."

"I AM a baby!" she retorts. "Besides, my reasoning is that if the demon is your master, then he must know a lot more magic, right?"

Hearing this, Kalastros huffs and pouts in a corner. Something about that Haalfrin being seen as the more capable teacher… makes him feel offended for some reason. 'Aren't I supposed to be the one who knows more about magic?' he thinks.

Deep down, Kalastros feels it would be a grave sin to let this girl be uneducated in magic. She has powers in her Names too, which makes her a god-candidate, just like "the demon" she speaks of.

At the same time, the master mage doesn't want to argue with the child. So, he decides to keep in mind that Frey is just a willful baby, and he chooses to give in just a little bit.

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Knowing that Frey wants him to teach her magic, Haalfrin doesn't have a good reason to refuse. If nothing else, she's a god-candidate like himself with a Death Affinity. He's invested some of his emotions and curiosity in her, so he'd like to see her grow with his own eyes.

More than that, she's very likely one of the death god's future successors. Why else would Jenri be so adamant about keeping the girl safe? It's probably very important to the Death King that Frey grow up and get all 7 of her Names. Under no circumstances can anything cut her growth short!

'In a sense,' Haalfrin thinks, 'It's my responsibility as another god candidate with Death Affinity to at least look after her and make sure she properly opens all her gates.'

And so, Haalfrin reaches up with his Aura, and Frey takes ahold of the black hand every day. Their spirits touch and Haalfrin passes knowledge to her consistently, and without fail.

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During the course of their lessons, it doesn't take Haalfrin long for Frey to tell him about how her Names work.

Well, she was originally going to just read her 2 Names aloud for him (thinking he'd have an interesting new perspective on her powers), but he was, fortunately, able to shut her up before she gave something away that couldn't be taken back.

Instead, she just settles for telling him about some of her abilities – one of which is her interesting power to talk telepathically with any spiritual entity. This means she can TRULY communicate with the Wills… which is something even Haalfrin can't do completely.

Now that Haalfrin has discovered a person who can actually talk clearly with his Wills, he can have her translate the Wills' thoughts to him more clearly. This way, he can finally work more closely with the allies in his soul.

And so, with the little child here to facilitate communication, Haalfrin calls for his eldest Wills. "Report!" he commands.

Kaalhyme's Will seeps out of Haalfrin's soul, then floats in the middle of the hallway. "Captain Kaalhyme reporting to the Commander!" he solutes with a proud feeling in his heart.

Haalfrin and the little child can both feel this Wills' excitement at finally being able to talk to his beloved commander with actual words.

The Demon of the Pit looks down and pats the Will gently. "If anyone was going to lead these Wills, I thought it would be you, Kaalhyme."

The Will shivers in pleasure, then asks, "What can I do for you, commander!?"

As Kaalhyme asks this, some of the other prisoners sitting next to Haalfrin stir in their seats and look around. "Where are those voices coming from?" some of them ask.

In alarm, Haalfrin turns his head towards them. "What did you hear?"

One of the older men says, "I heard a man's voice say, 'What can I do for you, commander?'"

"Hmm…" Haalfrin looks up towards the upper floor. "Little girl, how exactly does your 2nd Name work? You said it lets you communicate through spirit connections, right?"

"Y-yeah?"

"…Got it." Haalfrin doesn't have to ask her how his fellow prisoners are able to hear the Wills too. Since his Aura is always present on this Floor, the little girl's power is probably affecting them too.

Basically, they're also in on the spiritual network too; they can hear the Wills as well, so long as they're within Haalfrin's Aura.

And so, Haalfrin instructs Kaalhyme, "I'll have you give a detailed report of everything that went up upstairs once I gather my other allies down here."

"Yes, sir!"

And so, all 35 inhabitants of Floor B33 sit in a circle and listen to the Kaalhyme's Will give a detailed and professional report about everything that happened up top during the fighting. They hear about the intense battle, as well as Kaalhyme's last-ditch attempt to release more prisoners and cause riots.

Hearing the intelligent decisions and the sheer destructive power these Wills have, a lot of the prisoners go pale with fright. All this time, they thought Haalfrin's Aura could only make people afraid. Instead, he has an essentially immortal army stored in his soul.

Still, the new powers they learned about Haalfrin make them all more hopeful for the future. The more capable their leader is, the more likely they are to escape.

Finally, Kaalhyme finishes his report by talking about how little Frey was a magicless child who was completely immune to the deadly Aura. Instead, once all the black hands focused on her, it awakened her soul, and she became a mage on the spot.

As Kaalhyme gives a detailed description of the girl's appearance, Haalfrin stops him and looks up. "Frey. Are you listening?"

"Y-yeah." Frankly, she finds it uncomfortable hearing 3 dozen strangers all talk about her down below.

"You're a slave?"

Frey glumly looks down and rubs her neck. When she shrunk down, the slave collar became loose and fell off her neck. However, she still remembers the painful feeling of the course leather always rubbing against her throat, no matter how hot or sweaty she got.

"Y-yeah…" Since spiritual connections passively convey emotions, everyone gathered around Haalfrin can feel the intense sadness coming from the little child up top. They also hear her sniffing and holding back her tears.

Some of the prisoners here were hardened, apathetic murderers before they were locked up. Even still, everyone's reactions to hearing her feelings range from feeling uncomfortable to having their parental instincts reawakened.

"Don't worry!" one of the older male prisoners calls out, "We'll make sure you escape with us!!"

"You sound so cute!" one of the women coos, "Please call me mommy!"

"Ehem," Haalfrin coughs, "Just hang in there and let us know if any of the prison guards come down and try to take you away. We'll make sure you're safe, at least."

To be honest, Haalfrin doesn't know if he wants this girl to survive because she conveniently lets him talk to his Wills, if she's a god-candidate, or if he simply feels sorry for her.

Either way, since the prison masters left this girl down here to die, then she's in the same boat as them. If she's a comrade, then he has to look after her.