Chapter 36
Chapter 36
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Please Save Me, Baby Master
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The poison in the tea was something I noticed the instant Delphia touched her lips to the cup.
‘Thought I could purify it, but it’s Grandma’s poison, so maybe not?’
I’d figured my ability—body transformation—would be enough to cleanse the poison. Guess I was wrong. I stared at her while swinging my legs back and forth.
“Onwy I can save you.”
Delphia gazed at me with keen interest. Her lips were steadily turning purple. I let my eyebrows droop into a frown and bit my lip hard.
“……Oh, really?”
Even though she was clearly getting poisoned, Delphia didn’t seem to care one bit. Her eyes sparkled with curiosity as she looked my way.
I nodded vigorously.
“Yeah!”
“How exactly can you save me?”
I recited what had happened yesterday.
“I have a weapon that can save grown-ups.”
“……A weapon?”
“Yeah!”
At that moment, excitement lit up Delphia’s eyes.
“Really? So what do I have to do for you?”
I panicked for a second.
‘I was just gonna heal her……! Didn’t want her to hurt……!’
But that wouldn’t do. This was a villain family, after all. I sharpened my gaze and said,
“Of couwse you gotta do somethin’ for me.”
Delphia’s eyes curved softly.
“Mmm, like what?”
“It’s…….”
Hoping to take just enough of her power that she couldn’t threaten Dad anymore, I opened my mouth.
“Give me some of Big Sis Delphia’s powew.”
Ability users like Delphia could turn part of their power into mana orbs.
That final boss of the Mirmod family, Axel Mirmod, was a vicious bastard who did exactly that.
He’d blackmail ability users attacking him and take part of their power by absorbing their mana orbs into himself.
“If it’s part of my power, you mean a mana orb?”
“Yeah! Just a teeny bit!”
When I answered brightly, Delphia burst into laughter.
It was getting more and more confusing.
She ought to be offended, but why did she look so happy?
“So that means I’d be your subordinate?”
She even seemed thrilled just saying the word “subordinate.”
“……Yeah? Not quite that much.”
Even if she gave me part of her power, she wouldn’t be my subordinate. I’d just have a piece of hers.
As I tilted my head in confusion, Delphia clapped her hands.
“I like it. I’ll be your subordinate.”
“……?”
“I want to entrust my life to you. Sounds fun.”
Delphia’s lips curved lazily.
‘No, why are you like this!?’
I didn’t want her entrusting her life to me—I was getting awkward.
But Delphia was already thrilled. She placed her hand over her heart and produced a small mana orb.
“Here. This is my leash.”
Mana orbs take on the traits of their owner, they say. I swallowed hard as I stared at the orb in her hand.
The mana orb, a bit smaller than my fist, gleamed in a brilliant silver just like her hair.
“Oh, should I make it into a necklace for our baby?”
I shook my head stubbornly.
“……Not a baby.”
As she reached out to me, Delphia smiled lazily and replied,
“Right, Master.”
The mana orb in Delphia’s hand transformed into a pretty silver necklace.
She leaned toward me and slipped it around my neck with a click. Whispering in my ear, Delphia said,
“Now save me, please.”
It didn’t seem like the attitude of someone who wanted to live…… But her mana orb was already in my hands.
I don’t know what was going on, but Delphia had been surprisingly compliant.
Come to think of it, I remembered one of her character traits: she turned into soft peach fuzz around anyone who satisfied her curiosity.
For some reason, I seemed to be sparking a ton of interest in her.
But honestly, she just felt like a super burdensome weirdo big sis……
I quickly looked away from her and shouted loudly toward the door.
“You can come in now!”
As if he’d been waiting, the door opened, and in walked a little boy in pure white robes—Ashid.
I beamed with a bright smile.
Just the day before yesterday, he’d been a total normie, but starting yesterday, he was an ability user! Ashid had arrived!
“That kid’s the weapon that can save me?”
Delphia looked skeptical, but I was more certain than anyone.
“Yeah! He can save you!”
What had happened yesterday during the holy power test, you ask……?
I grinned widely at Ashid as he approached us.
***
Just yesterday, inside the holy power testing room at the Senoa Temple.
The holy power testing room was a place where only the priest and the test subject could enter.
So Sien and Mathias waited outside the door, while Ashid went in alone.
The moment Sien disappeared, Ashid felt a bit intimidated, but he had to push through.
It wasn’t that he was relying on Sien—it was that he wanted Sien to believe in him.
But the atmosphere inside the testing room was icy and cold.
The priest conducting the holy power test had an even more annoyed look than usual.
And it wasn’t without reason—he was genuinely bored, annoyed, and actually pretty pissed off.
‘Damn mutts and mongrels all rushing in for holy power tests. Tsk.’
Lately, with the temple’s good deeds contrasting the Mirmod family’s villainy, people had started craving holy power. That craving turned into hopes of “What if I have holy power too?”
And the one dying from it was the priest in charge of holy power tests.
He’d pulled all-nighters yesterday and the day before, so his already crappy personality was at rock bottom. Plus, the kid was the brother of a holy knight, but holed up with the villain Mirmod family? No wonder kinder words weren’t coming out.
“Sit. Don’t get your hopes up.”
“……Yes.”
The moment Ashid sat in the chair across from him, the priest continued in a crushing tone.
“I’ll spell it out for you since you probably don’t know.”
Ashid looked at the priest with clear eyes. Something oddly sharp flickered in that gaze. The priest cleared his throat a couple times and said,
“Kid, there are four categories of holy power. One’s offensive holy power, one’s defensive. Another’s prophetic holy power that communicates with the gods, and the last is healing holy power.”
The priest might not know, but even street refugees knew that much.
Those with offensive or defensive holy power become holy knights. Those who can communicate with gods become priests or shrine maidens. Healing holy power holders are super rare in the world, but they become healers.
They say healers can heal anything on the brink of death.
“You can pretty much say there are no healers with healing holy power…… Whatever, you wanna be like your knight brother, I guess.”
The priest smirked mockingly at Ashid.
“Know this: cases where holy power manifests at your age are extremely rare.”
Ashid stared at him quietly, then nodded.
“I know……sir.”
“I’m giving you a chance to leave without the test.”
“I’ll……take it.”
Ashid knew that too, but he’d come just in case.
He felt intimidated, but no way was he giving up.
The priest paused briefly at the surprisingly clear voice, but that was it. He shrugged and held out a small cube toward Ashid.
“Tsk. Fine, start with the cube test. Put your hand on this cube.”
The priest didn’t explain the holy power testing process to Ashid. He figured this unremarkable boy would flunk the first step, the cube test.
No one knew, but holy power tests had two stages.
One checked if you had holy power at all.
That was the cube test: just touch the cube on the table, and done.
Over 99% of the randoms coming in for holy power tests flunked right there.
The other checked what kind of holy power and how much. Since basically no normies made it that far, no need to explain, he thought.
The priest rested his chin on his hand, eyes half-lidded as he watched Ashid.
Unlike some slum rat who’d rolled in the mud, the way he reached out and touched the cube was kinda refined, like a young noble. But that was it—there’s no way he had holy power……
“……Hm?”
The priest frowned and looked down at the cube.
When someone with holy power touches the cube, a pure white light ripples from their hand.
And right now, before his eyes, a pure white light was rippling.
The priest, who’d frowned briefly, curled one corner of his mouth in a sneer.
“……Looks like you’ve got a faint trace of power after all.”
Ashid didn’t reply.
The priest glanced at him. Ashid looked a bit relieved.
He was Ted’s little brother, so it wasn’t totally unexpected.
But passing the cube test was just that.
Even that 1% who passed the cube usually got rated as having worthless, weak holy power in the next test.
He tossed cold words at Ashid.
“Don’t get cocky, kid—there’s a next test.”
“I’m not……relieved.”
His unexpectedly unshaken attitude was surprising deep down, but whatever.
The priest handed Ashid a rosary.
It looked like an ordinary rosary—coiled chain stuffed with beads……
But this was undoubtedly a rosary bestowed directly by the gods.
The rosary chose humans with strong holy power on its own.
When a human held the rosary, light would flow from it. The color of the mana flowing out depended on holy power strength.
Usually white. A bit stronger, red. The strongest holy power made it glow gold.
“Be grateful you even get to hold this rosary.”
“……Yes.”
The priest slammed his head toward the table and scribbled a report.
[Primary Holy Power Test: Pass.
Secondary Holy Power Test Result: Minimal Holy Power.]
That’d do it.
Unlike the priest, who’d already decided the outcome in his head, Ashid calmly picked up the rosary.
Even in front of a priest who showed zero interest and nothing but disdain, he stood firm.
Lots of people had treated him like that until now. Only Sien had treated him like a human.
He wasn’t even hurt by treatment like this.
Clutching the rosary tightly, Ashid quietly asked,
“Do I just hold this rosary like this, in one hand?”
The priest lifted his gaze halfheartedly, about to answer carelessly.
But right then—
A vivid blue light poured down from the rosary in Ashid’s hand onto the floor.
“Wh-what the hell.”
He’d tested countless people so far, but he could swear this was the first time he’d seen such a vivid blue light.