Kiel continued his journey once more, this time hitching a ride with a fleet of ships heading out to sea — he had no idea where they were going, but he went anyway. The ocean was breathtaking at times, and at others it was howling storms and lurching waves; Kiel ran back and forth helping the sailors hold the sails, pulling them through each squall together. And he had slimmed down a little more — now standing around 2 meters, just a bit larger than an ordinary person.

The ships brought Kiel to a subtropical island nation. The people here dressed far more lightly, and their way of life was entirely different from anywhere he had been before, so Kiel had to adapt. The locals were also shorter, so even though he had shrunk considerably from his original form, he still cut the figure of a giant pale man who had wandered in from somewhere else. Perhaps heaven was looking out for him, because wherever Kiel went, he always seemed to find kind and welcoming people. He lost the fleet again, of course — couldn't find them to continue on — so he stayed on the island for a few more years, learning from the locals, picking up fishing alongside them until his body grew leaner and more compact (still large), and even learning fire dancing in the local style, mostly because it was fun.

The longer he stayed, the more he looked the part, and a few girls started taking notice. But Kiel was far too guileless to realize anyone was flirting with him — he simply assumed they were being friendly. As enjoyable as the island was, he had no intention of settling there. There were still so many places to explore, and besides, the local deity here was too strong for him to send his reports back to Ezekiel.

Truthfully, Kiel had just been having too much fun. He played and wandered to his heart's content before suddenly remembering it had been nearly a decade since his last report, and only then did he reluctantly start figuring out how to leave. All he needed was to fly somewhere with a strong enough concentration of pure energy and he could send the report — he might even be able to fly straight back to heaven. But he always preferred drifting along with groups of people, sightseeing along the way, and at that pace there was no telling when he would ever reach a suitable spot.

Walking along, he remembered he had a report to write, so he just started writing it on the road. With Kiel's nature, writing a report was no different from writing a diary — he rambled on about every trivial little thing, and by the time he finally got to hand it in, it had become a novel.

What was Kiel's actual mission on the mortal world, you ask? Well... he had volunteered himself. No one assigned him. Studying human life was certainly worthwhile work, but that was what guardian angels were for. Kiel was an Authority — there were heavier, more important duties waiting for him in heaven. On top of that, he was the kind who was good at everything, so the difficult jobs always landed on him, and he had been genuinely busy up there. He also had a terrible habit of sticking his nose into other people's problems — the moment a friend ran into trouble, Kiel would rush over and pile their workload onto himself. Ezekiel had brought it up several times, but Kiel would nod and agree and then promptly forget. Fond of the oblivious boy, Ezekiel had engineered the whole situation — let it be known that someone was needed to survey the mortal world, and Kiel had perked up immediately and volunteered. That was how they finally managed to boot him out the door.

Kiel eventually wandered his way to a place with a strong enough concentration of pure energy. He was about to send the report when he thought about it for a moment and realized he missed Ezekiel, so he just flew back to visit instead. Ezekiel's face when Kiel came in was carefully stern — "so you do still remember how to come home" — but inside he felt a quiet relief settle over him. Kiel grinned and handed over the enormous report, and had also brought back an entire pile of souvenirs for Ezekiel while he was at it. Ezekiel scolded him for hauling home all this useless junk, then quietly arranged every piece of it on his own desk — and looked at Kiel, who had left as a round, oversized lump of a person and come back noticeably smaller.

Kiel spent a few days in heaven visiting and messing around with friends, then flew back down to continue his journey. This time, before he left, Ezekiel made him promise to be more careful, to send his reports more regularly, and not to go off for so long without coming back — he didn't say he missed Kiel — the whole thing like a parent sending a child off to study far from home.

This trip did not go smoothly. Barely back in the mortal world, Kiel was immediately swept up in a sandstorm that flung him through the air, and by some stroke of misfortune he landed right near a bandit encampment. The bandits saw a large, imposing man fall out of the sky and immediately went on alert — they surrounded him, took him prisoner, and, deciding he looked strong and healthy, planned to sell him at a slave market for a good price. Kiel had never encountered anything like this before and found it genuinely fascinating, so he went along with them cooperatively to see what would happen. On the road he got chatty with the bandits, which drove them into a fury — they told him to shut up. So he talked to someone else. When no one would listen, he talked to himself for entertainment, until the bandits had such splitting headaches they decided to beat him. But Kiel was an angel, so he felt nothing — he was just mildly displeased, and told them in a very calm voice: "You really shouldn't do that, you know. You could hurt someone." The bandit leader panicked and swung harder, only for Kiel to stop him effortlessly, and repeated himself — same calm, same composure — which terrified the whole group so thoroughly that they turned and ran, leaving Kiel standing there in bewilderment with no idea what had just happened. So he wandered on.

Kiel was fairly badly lost. He walked for days across the desert without finding a single person. The harshness of the desert had no effect on him, but there was really nothing out there except sand and scorpions, so he was getting a little bored — though he kept walking anyway. With no humans around to mimic, his appearance stayed exactly the same, his skin not burning at all despite the relentless sun. As luck — or misfortune — would have it, Kiel wandered straight into the territory of a desert demon. She was delighted to find a strange intruder and decided to trick him, promising that if he answered three questions correctly she would grant him whatever he wanted. Kiel's eyes went wide — his only thought was: *woah, an actual demon in the mortal world, finally* (this idiot had completely forgotten a certain name: Will) — and, finding the game appealing, he cheerfully agreed to play. She posed three questions, the kind of trick questions that ordinary people would find nearly impossible to work out. But the person she was questioning was Kiel, an ancient angel who thought in ways most people never would. He not only answered all three but turned around and posed similar questions right back at her, as if this were just a very fun game. She couldn't answer, and had to honor the deal — she brought Kiel to a nearby kingdom, and for her trouble received several firm knocks on the head from Kiel before she fled back to the underworld.

Kiel arrived at a new kingdom — an oasis in the middle of the desert. The people here dressed completely differently: tightly wrapped headscarves against the sun, darker skin, unfamiliar customs. Kiel changed his clothes to match, but he was still so conspicuously different that he attracted attention the moment he arrived. He wandered around quite unperturbed, watching people trade; the locals spotted the strange foreigner and reported him to the royal guard. The king sent men to bring Kiel to the palace — and when the princess saw a tall, fair-skinned, handsome man walk in, she was immediately taken with him and begged her father to give the man to her as a personal attendant. Kiel had no idea what any of them were saying — he was still busy marveling at the intricate carvings all over the palace walls — and then all at once he was someone's royal attendant.

The princess was hovering around the edge of marriageable age, not quite grown but getting close to the time when she would be wed off. Her father indulged her but quietly ordered the palace guards not to let this man do anything to the princess. Kiel had no knowledge of any of that — wherever the princess went, she dragged him along, and with his carefree and playful nature Kiel got along with her very well: if she wanted to be carried, he carried her; he brought her everywhere, and performed all sorts of things he'd learned on his travels to entertain her. The king heard the reports and grew uneasy, summoning Kiel to answer for himself — but Kiel couldn't understand a word of it, so the king simply threw him into the arena. Kiel still had no idea what was happening, but he saw people doing swordsmanship, so he copied them. He couldn't be hurt, so no matter how much they hacked at him nothing happened, and he mimicked a few of their moves in return — without aiming at anyone. His opponent, terrified, ran away. The king, baffled, summoned Kiel for another conversation — not that it went anywhere. The princess had barely been separated from Kiel before she started missing him and pestered her father to give her attendant back. The king, with no better option, relented and let Kiel resume his post.

Kiel was a very poor excuse for an attendant — he had no idea how to serve anyone, and mostly just played with the princess, taking her everywhere every day. The king knew, but turned a blind eye, because he genuinely had no idea what to do with this person. Over time Kiel gradually picked up their language and learned a little about how the palace worked. A year in, the princess was given a betrothal arrangement and was to be married off to somewhere far away. She came to Kiel sad and reluctant, and told him everything. Kiel asked what she wanted to do. She said she wanted to run away. So Kiel helped her run away. The princess was thrilled at first — she had never seen the outside world before — but as the days passed she began to miss her father, and the weight of her responsibilities settled back over her, and she asked Kiel to bring her home. So Kiel brought her home. The king, seeing his daughter return, felt both furious and relieved — he sent her back to her chambers, and turned his anger on Kiel. Knowing he couldn't do much to this person, he banished Kiel from the kingdom. Kiel felt a little sad, but he obeyed. Before leaving, he snuck back one last time to say goodbye to the princess, and then he was gone.

While Kiel had been roaming around like that, Will had remained in his old city — by now he had virtually everyone there in some kind of deal with him, not a single person left untouched. When he felt there was nothing left worth taking, he transformed into a wealthy merchant and moved on to a more bustling city to continue expanding his reach.

When Will's merchant convoy arrived at the new city, he found that the strange angel was already there — working as a camel herder of all things, guiding travelers coming in from distant regions. He had changed quite a bit since their last meeting, but that particular brand of oblivious energy was unmistakable. Kiel recognized the demon immediately too — and waved at him like they were old friends who hadn't seen each other in ages (they weren't that old of friends; it had only been about twenty years since they last met). Will was genuinely amused, and invited the angel to a meal on a whim — and the angel actually said yes.

The two of them sat together in one of the city's well-known restaurants. Kiel ate with obvious enjoyment and chattered happily (he looked like he was savoring it, though in truth he still couldn't taste much of anything). Will mostly listened to his ridiculous stories, occasionally sharing a few fragments of his own — heavily edited — when Kiel asked. He found this angel's complete lack of self-preservation both baffling and oddly compelling. Then Kiel asked why he had come to this city. Will gave a vague answer about wanting to explore something new — a subtle jab at Kiel — but Kiel didn't catch it at all, just smiled and said he'd find plenty of wonderful things here. That guilelessness gave Will a brief pause — and then Kiel cleared his throat and added: "But you're not allowed to cause any trouble, you know." Will laughed and "promised" he wouldn't.

A promise that meant very little. Will continued his work as usual, just more carefully, more discreetly, so the angel wouldn't catch on. Day after day he watched Kiel from a distance: the angel ambling back and forth with his camel herd, earning next to nothing and immediately spending all of it on ridiculous little handicrafts. Insufferable — there were moments Will wanted to march right up and scold him to his face, but he had to hold himself back because he was supposed to be keeping his distance. And then Kiel would occasionally run into him and push some small gift into his hands anyway, leaving Will not knowing whether to laugh or cry at what to do with any of it.

Then one day, Will looked up and Kiel was simply gone. No warning, no goodbye, just vanished. He should have been relieved — no one in his way anymore — but instead there was an odd hollow feeling he couldn't quite dismiss. Kiel, for his part, had already flown back to heaven — good thing he'd remembered Ezekiel's reminder about coming home regularly, though it had still been... several years. This time he left without saying goodbye to anyone, only stopping to say farewell to the camels he had worked alongside. Perhaps he was starting to tire of goodbyes.

If one were to speak honestly about Kiel's role in heaven, he would be something like a military officer — perhaps equivalent to a lieutenant colonel. His confidence could be described as... excessive, really. When down in the mortal world, he was always quietly measuring the strength of those around him — all humans were so weak compared to an angel that Kiel never considered them a threat, and chose friendliness even in bad situations, though he also had to be careful not to accidentally hurt them. With demons he did the same — quietly measuring, choosing a strategic approach — he had a great deal of experience dealing with them. Most of the demons he encountered in the mortal world at this point were fairly weak, so he only needed to coast along. And don't be mistaken: Kiel was perfectly aware of what Will was doing. He could sense that Will's power had grown since their last meeting — but it hadn't yet reached the threshold where he would need to seek instruction from Ezekiel on how to handle it. The little gifts Kiel gave Will all carried blessings embedded within them — not to diminish Will's strength, but to protect the people nearby in case he ever lost control. It wasn't that Kiel was doing any sophisticated calculation, either. He did these things by reflex, the way someone who has driven the same route home a hundred times can find their way back without paying attention.

Kiel went back to heaven to report on his work (mostly to play) and loafed around for a while before Ezekiel caught him and made him stay to rewrite the report properly before he was allowed to leave.

Ezekiel: Write a proper report. 🗣️
Kiel: But this is interesting though! 💃

And the cycle repeated, endlessly.

After the report was finally done, Kiel was released back to the mortal world — but this time he was given a specific location to study, in preparation for a later event. The only problem was that when Kiel arrived, the place had already been submerged. So he had to stay there for decades, waiting for the water to recede and for the first groups of people to come and settle the area. Alone for that long, Kiel made his own entertainment — turning into fish, birds, sea turtles, swimming and drifting around to pass the time; writing his reports a little more diligently (there was nothing else to do); even inventing a few new techniques out of sheer boredom.

Kiel 🐳 (currently a whale): Ooooooooo. (People are coming, how exciting, hurry up and build something, I'm so bored.)

The first settlers noticed a whale that frequently swam close to shore. At first they were frightened — understandably, it was a very large whale — so they built a shrine to the whale god and prayed for peace. And peace did come, not because of the shrine, but because there had been nothing dangerous in the first place; the whale Kiel just swam at a distance, watching and taking notes. They didn't know that, though, and so a tradition of whale god worship took root. Kiel watched and couldn't understand why they were doing it — it didn't occur to him that he was the reason. So he tried to send them a divine message: there is only one true God, please worship God — but they interpreted this to mean that the whale was the one true God, and from that point on their image of God became permanently associated with a whale.

Kiel: ?????
Kiel 🐳: Oooooooooo. (What do I do now, Ezekiel is going to scold me ｡⁠:ﾟ⁠(⁠;⁠´⁠∩⁠\`⁠;⁠)ﾟ⁠:⁠｡))
Villagers: The God is blessing us with His sacred song, we must offer more tribute. ✨
Kiel 🐳: OOOOOOOOOO. (THAT'S NOT RIGHT, HOW IS THIS GETTING WORSE.)

Ezekiel received Kiel's report and wasn't particularly surprised — he sent a quick message back: yes, it's fine, everything has already been accounted for. Kiel stared blankly 🐋, then dissolved into distress: then why didn't you tell me in advance (っ˘╭╮˘)っ. And so he had to stay on as their whale god for a while longer, until he finally received the order to return — and before he could leave, he had to send them a divine vision about the return of God, and only then was he released from his life as a whale.

After the whale era, Kiel retreated back to heaven to quietly recover for a while — not that he was actually traumatized, he just wanted a change of pace. He was also a little sulky with Ezekiel, even though by any reasonable standard this had been a mission and sulking was not really authorized. But he only stayed sulky for a short while before bouncing back to his usual self, which made Ezekiel sigh and shake his head.

And then Kiel headed back down to the mortal world, and the wandering days continued.

In the meantime, Will had finished with the old city and moved on to somewhere new. He thought of Kiel occasionally, wondered idly where the angel had gone — but that was as far as it went. Along the way he ran into another demon lord and the two of them clashed. Will won, but it cost a significant amount of time, lives, and followers under his command. When the fighting was over, there was nothing left in the territory worth taking, so he moved on again — this time deciding to settle somewhere and recover properly for longer. While he was there, the place gradually grew into a thriving, lively city, though Will hadn't intended that at all. Probably just the effect of his presence.

Life drifted along at an easy pace, until one day Kiel wandered into that very place and found Will again — who was, at this point, the lord of the entire region. Kiel arrived riding a goat (Don't ask why Kiel was riding a goat, Kiel is Kiel) Will spotted his peculiar angel acquaintance from a distance without any trouble, walked over to where Kiel was standing around gawking at the locals, and teased him — asked if he could buy the goat. Kiel recognized the demon immediately too — despite how much both of them had changed in appearance — and greeted him warmly like an old friend he hadn't seen in ages, and even boasted to Will about how long this little goat had been traveling with him. Not for sale, obviously. After all this time, Kiel was exactly the same — which made Will laugh despite himself, and he invited the angel to a meal again, listened to more of his absurd stories again, received something from Kiel again. This time Kiel said he'd treat Will to a meal in return — which left Will mildly surprised and, quietly, a little looking forward to it. The next day Kiel led him into the forest to pick wild berries, then out to a stream to catch fish and grill them on the spot — a meal that could not have been more modest, and yet, inexplicably, it put the demon in a genuinely good mood.

And yet Kiel didn't stay long this time either. Will didn't want to admit it, but he had wanted to show off just a little — this beautiful, prosperous city he had accidentally built. As it turned out, before leaving Kiel gave the goat to Will — simply because Will had once asked to buy it, even though it had only been a joke at the time. Kiel even reminded Will to take good care of the little goat. Will looked at the goat. The goat looked at Will, let out a baaaa, and then made a break for it to follow Kiel — only for Will to catch it first. With no idea what else to do with it, he turned the goat into one of his servants (Perhaps that was why goats became associated with demons in later years).

The goat was deeply unhappy with its new owner — he had never once asked whether it wanted to become a servant. Even so, it ended up being one of Will's longest-serving attendants: the kind that would mouth off at its master the moment it had a free moment, and whose greatest dream was a very long vacation. Its memories from its animal days faded over the years, but it held onto a faint impression of someone who used to scratch its head and give it good things to eat, and who had even ridden on its back once (the goat wasn't sure whether that memory was a happy one, but it was warm).

This goat had quite a sharp tongue on it, too. There were many times Will considered just roasting it and being done with the whole thing — but then he thought of Kiel, and held back. Will had never even given it a name. He just called it the goat.