Is This a Blessing?
“......Is this a blessing?”
Eugene's brow furrowed.
Hmm, judging by that frown, he's about 50% pissed off.
Jenella felt a wave of despair wash over her. She hadn't meant to analyze him like that—it had just happened unconsciously.
Thump, thump, thump—
Even now, her heart was racing wildly.
It wouldn't be strange if it burst right then and there.
Just a day ago—no, mere hours ago—she had nearly made a huge mistake, yet Eugene hadn't dwelled on it at all. If anything, he'd personally dragged her before the saintess to fix her problem.
......He's so cool.
Eugene couldn't wrap his head around it.
A blessing?
This kind of thing?
“Yes. It is a blessing.”
“And it's trying to blow her heart up just because she couldn't catch one ancient monster?”
“Well, you see...”
Christina gave a wry smile.
“A blessing isn't some one-sided... gift you just receive. It's more like a reward you earn by paying an appropriate price. A priest offers faith to a god, and the god grants a blessing in return. In the same way, this girl gains power from the blessing, and the power demands ancient monsters as its price.”
“She didn't even ask for it.”
“Do you think the world spins exactly how you want it to? Unfortunately... even if it's beyond your own will, once you've been chosen and gained that power, you have to pay the price.”
Christina pointed at Jenella's heart with her finger.
“That blessing has a will of its own. The blessings we receive are just powers bestowed by gods, but that one has its will embedded within the blessing itself, so it can make its own decisions.”
It wasn't according to her wishes, but the price still had to be paid.
At least it wasn't a slave contract.
It did grant power befitting the cost, after all.
“If we're splitting hairs, we didn't choose to be born either, right?”
Eugene couldn't understand.
He felt his insides boiling with rage.
Had he wanted to be ostracized? Had he asked for the bullying?
No. He never wanted it. He'd simply been discriminated against, ignored, and tormented his whole life just for being an orphan without parents.
“......Don't get so mad. I wanted to inherit it.”
Eugene closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. Jenella flinched.
Red energy was rising from his pupils.
The War God's Blessing. Even outside of combat, it activated at the priest's will, allowing him to scrutinize her condition in detail.
The curse—no, blessing—clinging to her was latched on tight, and it wanted more of Jenella.
As if it wouldn't have stuck to her like a leech even if she hadn't chosen it?
“No. Even if you hadn't chosen it, that blessing would've latched onto you like a goddamn leech.”
Eugene's face twisted. One corner of his mouth curled up in a sneer.
“You said you inherited it from your father?”
“......Yeah.”
“Then that blessing already knew you. Considering the situation when it passed from your father, inheriting it must've seemed like the better option.”
“......”
If the 'Administrator' vanished, the ancient monsters would break free.
The mere existence of the Administrator kept them bound.
Knowing that, she had inherited the blessing. She was the only one there, so she had no real choice.
“Did you know about the side effects?”
“......Not exactly, but.”
“The problem is he handed it over without even warning you.”
Eugene's eyes were terrifying. She couldn't meet them.
In moments like this, he wasn't the usual bratty punk.
His true self? A priest of the War God?
He was so scary—yet so reliable. That red aura, his twisted expression, the fury radiating from him.
“Priests know this: lose your faith, lose the god's power. But did you know about these side effects?”
“......”
She hadn't. Her father had never let on.
Or had he really not?
Her father loved her. His only blood kin, the daughter who would bear his false accusation—he was always sorry toward her.
Would a father like that really not tell her about side effects like this?
......What if even Dad didn't know about them?
No.
What if it demanded an even greater price for the greater power it gave?
“......”
Eugene clenched his fist in frustration.
His friend's life was at stake.
In a way, she was on borrowed time. Jenella's heart was perpetually on the brink.
If she failed to catch an ancient monster, or let one slip away right in front of her—
She dies.
A hallucination flickered before his eyes: Jenella collapsing to the floor, blood pouring from her mouth, heart exploded, staring blankly at nothing with unfocused eyes.
Death.
He hated it.
Strangers, people with malice toward him—they could drop dead for all he cared.
Selfish? Sure. But he'd spent his whole life tormented by selfish bastards, writhing in pain.
So he'd killed them. Staged it as accidents, burned down the whole school to ash, took everyone with him—including himself.
That scene was still vivid. The teacher right in front of him, thrashing in agony before stabbing their own vital spot.
That image overlapped with Jenella's.
You think I'd let that happen?
“So you can't remove it?”
“Yes.”
Christina sensed Eugene's rage. But she couldn't give him the answer he wanted.
“To remove it, you'd have to pay the price. Call it a penalty fee... You'd have to return at least what was given. But you wouldn't lose the power gained from the blessing. Hunting ancient monsters would count as paying that price.”
Blessings like that were selfish to begin with. The fact that it even granted a grace period was unnatural.
“Or maybe it just likes this girl.”
“Who gives a shit what that blessing 'likes'?”
Eugene snorted and stared hard at Jenella's chest.
“If it really tries to kill her.”
It had a will, right? So what?
Red light gleamed in Eugene's eyes.
The blessing sensed hostility directed at itself. Though it was just a will, it suddenly felt like it had eyes and ears.
—......
An overwhelming presence. Not some puny thing like itself—a true transcendent being that could create blessings like it with mere will.
The god representing all wars and battles in this world.
The War God, Arcana, looked down upon the will.
It would be wise to heed my child's words.
—Then you'll die.
“You'll die by my hand first.”
Zzzzt...
Like a child throwing a tantrum at its mom, the blessing's prodding at her heart suddenly stilled like a ghost vanishing.
Eugene looked up.
“Where are those ancient monsters?”
“You planning to go kill 'em?”
“Yeah.”
“You can't.”
“Why not?”
“You're not the Administrator.”
Christina understood his feelings.
She'd witnessed something similar up close.
An old man dying from a poison afflicting his aged heart, estimated to be ancient monster-level mana. They'd become friends in that short time, and she— not yet a saintess—hadn't been able to save him.
“No one but the Administrator and their family can enter ancient monster habitats. That's the pact humans and monsters made long ago.”
“......”
“Hundreds of years ago, a priest representing humanity and the ancient monsters' leader made a promise. The monsters wouldn't leave their habitats, and humans wouldn't send anyone except the Administrator and their family.”
One priest?
No way?
“That priest was the War God's priest... your predecessor. So if that priest broke the pact and entered the habitat, all ancient monsters would be unleashed.”
Which meant...
“Chaos... no, the empire might even fall. The apocalypse foretold in oracles could come.”
Eugene's lips pressed into a thin line. Bloodshot veins burst in his eyes.
No matter how pissed he was, he couldn't unleash every ancient monster on the continent.
But there was a flaw in her words.
“Those bastards already came out, though.”
“Humans dragged them out; they didn't leave on their own. That's different from breaking the pact.”
“......”
“As long as they don't break the pact and come out themselves, we have no pretext to hunt them.”
Unless some freak accident made them emerge, the blessing wouldn't insist on ancient monster hunts.
But if they did?
Wasn't she stuck with a ticking time bomb that could go off anytime?
“I'm fine.”
Jenella cautiously took Eugene's hand.
Thump, thump, thump.
Her heart felt like it would explode.
Just simple skin contact, yet it pounded like she'd committed some forbidden sin.
“......I'm okay, so don't get so mad. We can catch one when the chance comes.”
“And if you can't?”
“Worrying about that first just leads to no end. Be grateful there's no issue right now. Since there's no solution anyway.”
“......”
Eugene closed his eyes briefly, then opened them.
The red, bloodshot glow returned to normal.
He let out a small sigh, his voice calm once more.
“Yeah. Can't be helped.”
But if he saw one again.
He'd butcher it on the spot.
Beat it to the brink of death, then let her land the killing blow.
“But you okay now?”
“Your heart's been pounding like crazy since earlier. Want me to cast a blessing on it?”
“......!”
He heard all that?!
Jenella's face turned beet red.
* * *
All assets and knowledge of the Arishion family, which violated the taboo, are hereby seized.
The ducal title of the Arishion family is revoked effective immediately, and all family members shall be turned over to the imperial court for trial.
By imperial order, the 1st Imperial Knight Order and the 2nd Holy Knight Order from the temple stormed the Arishion family mansion.
With the family head and heir both dead, they couldn't stop continent-renowned elite knights.
“Y-You can't do this......!”
“Do you still think you're the duke's butler?”
The butler tried to protest, but he was struck dumb by the official document the 1st Knight Order captain flung at him.
Effective immediately, all Arishion family assets are confiscated, and the family's titles are revoked.
The emperor's seal! The butler's face twisted.
“The taxes we've paid all this time—!”
“Anyone'd think we just bled you dry without giving anything back.”
The Arishions had crossed the line first. The captain smirked and waved a hand.
“Bind the butler.”
“Yes, sir!”
“If there are victims of vivisections or violence, treat them first, then question them. We're heading to the duke's office.”
As the captain started up the stairs, magic crackled.
Zzt!
The magic was severed by a sword slicing through it.
Was this really a duke's mansion?
That doubt arose. From the entrance, up the stairs...
Traps triggered constantly, making it feel like a dungeon.
“This is the duke's office.”
“I'll clear the path.”
“No. I'll do it.”
The sword at the captain's waist was drawn.
The legendary sword Twilight.
The blade, forged from a monster's curse, swung.
Rrrrip!
With the sound of the barrier tearing, the door creaked open.
The knight, frozen mid-draw, stared at the captain's sword.
“That sword...”
“His Majesty bestowed it personally. I figured a legendary blade like this might be needed... and it was.”
This mansion was a dungeon.
One crafted by an 8-circle monster!
If he weren't near Master level with artifacts and blessings, or if the duke weren't restrained, they never could've breached it easily.
“Move in.”
“Yes, sir!”
Rumble! The knights charged into the office.
A foul stench hit them immediately, twisting their faces.
Not just any stench. The stench of mana. Potent enough to sicken aura-wielding knights who handled pure mana.
“That's...”
“An altar.”
Mana poured from the altar in the room's center.
Even these elite knights struggled against the malice and mana emanating from it.
The captain, paler than the rest, strode toward the altar.
Wooong!
Light burst from the pendant at his neck, the saintess's blessing enveloping him.
Aided by it, he approached and examined the altar closely. Dust-covered, but traces of something placed there remained.
This was...
A gem?
“Search outside for the sacrifice! I'll look here. Likely a gem form. Check for animal or human corpses too, just in case!”
“Yes, sir!”
They scoured the mansion for an hour—secret vaults, hidden spots—nothing.
“......No sacrifice found!”
“......What?”
Where the hell did they hide it?
A chill ran down his spine; the captain whipped around.
Just dust from the knights' movements.
......Hallucination?
But this foreboding...
—Sharp human.
A dust-formed humanoid—no, something humanoid—held a gem, looking down at the captain.
A strong human.
Still just 'human' level, though.
Zzt!
He infused the gem with power akin to a god's.
A normal divine relic should've reacted, but...
—......
No response.
As if it only answered to the War God.
The dust figure's face twisted.
—Damn bitch!
He'd thought it just hidden, not insured like this.
His teeth ground at the thought.
Whipping red hair, sword embedded with a blood-red gem, brothers strewn around her...
And that overlapped with someone.
—Did you lure this ancient monster?
A man sat on a mountain-sized ancient monster corpse, greatsword over his shoulder.
Messy black long hair, red eyes proving War God's priest, a leisurely smile.
The god's priest, devil-like, spoke.
—You're the Dust my god spoke of.
That smile, that voice—unforgettable.
Ache!
Pain from his side. They'd ended in a draw, but it scarred his soul eternally.
But that monster couldn't defy time and died.
This one was young. But the god cherished him more than the predecessor, so killing him was off the table.
Thus, now—while there was time. Maximize his power, the Calamity's.
—I'll make you regret leaving me unchecked.
The legacy of the monster who swept away him, his brothers, ancient monsters, even Calamities.
To catch a monster, become one.
To slay a dragon, wield a dragonforged weapon.
—Two with this.
Thus, to kill a god, wield the god's weapon.
—I'll kill you with this for sure.
A hot wind blew. Nothing remained where the dust had been.