Call Me Saint Khtun
What?
"You're saying this is a relic of the Merlin count family's ancestor?!"
"H-how did you...?"
"Gol!"
I wasn't asking you, you unfilial wretch!
How dare some anti-Confucian devil who would toy with an ancestor's soul address me!
I groaned for a moment at a soul that seemed to pollute me merely by facing it.
Then the Ancestor spoke.
[Yes, it is clearly that one's. But why is it in that child's hands?]
"Why else? To fill his filthy greed with the ancestor's soul, no doubt."
[...Like you?]
Send me back to the spirit realm?!
Let me rest comfortably in that dreadfully lonely place?!
Let me say it again: I am different from that unfilial bastard.
"Ah, Ancestor, I cannot bear it. To have to form a marriage alliance with such a heinous villain..."
"Young Master Khtun? Who exactly are you talking to? And filling greed with the ancestor's soul... are you... saying that to me?"
Oops.
My Confucian spirit had knelt before Western-style class society.
"Ahem, my apologies. Ever since I became a necromancer, I do this sometimes. It must be the karma I bear from handling the souls of the dead."
"That doesn't make any..."
"It does. It's common in our industry."
"..."
Ellie looked at me with eyes that said she couldn't believe a word of it, but what could she do?
A necromancer said so.
Anyway.
"This ring doesn't seem ordinary. Am I right?"
"Yes, that's right. It's the ring our ancestor used."
"I won't ask why you, Young Lady, have this item. However, I think I need to know what you intend to do with this ring."
If it were something like Mother's keepsake, I wouldn't have asked, but this smelled fishy.
This was exactly that kind of thing.
'Colluding with an evil necromancer to swallow the family...'
Of course, I was far from evil, but that was how it looked on the surface.
"Do you really need to know?"
"Yes."
At my firm answer, the young lady pondered for a moment before opening her mouth.
"Then please give me a little time. I'll think it over today and tell you tomorrow."
"Please rest well, and I'll see you again tomorrow."
"Yes... and thank you once more. Thank you for saving me."
"Yes."
I didn't bother with false humility.
Humility was a luxury for a heretic tinged with anti-Confucian colors.
And so, after returning to my room and resting for some time...
'Come to think of it, I should summon Tiktak too...'
Just as I recalled the forgotten Tiktak, someone flung the door open and burst in.
"Brother Khtun! We've succeeded!"
"...Brother James? Succeeded at what?"
"Come and see!"
I followed Brother James out of the room once more.
Following Brother James's guidance, we arrived at a place.
The scene unfolding in the middle of the training grounds was quite unusual yet familiar.
Golgol, golgolgol.
"That is..."
"The prayer method of the Twelve Hour Church."
"That?"
Golgol was moving its body nonstop in the center of the training grounds, and those movements felt somehow familiar.
Should I call it full prostration?
Simply put, deep bows.
'Could the Twelve Hour Church be Confucian?'
No, Buddhist?
I had no idea.
Anyway, it was an undeniable fact that a quite familiar scent wafted from those actions.
"Our Twelve Hour Church designates times when numbers repeat as blessed hours and offers prayers. Praying at those times makes the prayer's effects even greater. It's just now 7:07."
And the number of greetings offered differs for each blessed hour; since it was 7:07, seventy-seven greetings were offered.
In other words, seventy-seven bows.
But look.
"Then at 11:11..."
"Eleven times."
"Not one thousand one hundred eleven?"
"...? What do you take our Twelve Hour Church for? And there's no need to pray at every blessed hour. It's just better if you do."
"I see. But so what did you succeed at...?"
Had he been happy about teaching Golgol deep bows?
If so, I would be greatly disappointed.
Even if it was Brother James, I couldn't tolerate treating my Golgol like a fool.
But that wasn't it.
"Look carefully. At Brother Golgol's heart."
"Heart... huh?"
Watching Golgol offer its seventy-seven bows, I let out a gasp of admiration.
How could I not?
I had discovered it.
The aura of holy power slowly filling Golgol's heart core!
"Don't tell me what you succeeded at is..."
"Yes, the Goddess has accepted Brother Golgol's faith. The holy power filling it now is the proof."
"..."
This actually works?
So dumbfounded, I looked at the Ancestor, and the Ancestor seemed to share my feelings.
[You live long enough to see everything.]
You're not alive, though.
Anyway.
'Then has Golgol truly been reborn as a genuine Holy Golgol?'
Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
[You son of a bitch, maintain some dignity!]
The moment I was about to express my joy with a scream, the Ancestor's razor-sharp gaze stopped me cold.
So I had no choice but to scream internally, and at this moment all sorts of possibilities were flashing through my mind.
'This works? This?'
Really?
Then let's see.
"Brother James, could the same effect be achieved with other heart cores as well?"
"Yes, heart cores are generally similar except in special cases."
"Then?"
"Why do you ask?"
Right then and there, I summoned Tiktak.
Tiktak?!
"Huh?!"
Brother James gasped upon seeing Tiktak.
"That undead seems to be an elite undead with an ego like Brother Golgol. Am I seeing correctly?"
"Yes, that's right. And is that all? Tiktak, show him the Minitons."
Tiktak?
Tiktak tilted its head but immediately summoned the Minitons.
Twelve of them.
Then let's see.
"Brother James, if we could grant Tiktak the heart core of a Shadow Demon, what would happen?"
"That would..."
Brother James started to say something, then soon let out a sigh.
"Hah, I don't know. I truly have no idea. If a necromancer's undead gains a heart like Brother Golgol..."
"Wouldn't Holy Skeletons be mass-produced?"
"In theory, yes, but..."
"Brother."
I strode forward and grasped Brother James's hands.
And I poured out my heart.
"This is an opportunity to mass-produce a sacred army. I, Khtun, cannot delay even a moment before this great undertaking. Are you not the same, Brother?"
"A sacred army... Hah! That's right. An opportunity to create a sacred army... Yes! That is a great undertaking! My heart is racing as well!"
"Then..."
I trailed off meaningfully as I looked at Brother James.
Then the brother nodded as if he understood my meaning.
"I understand what you mean. Why delay any further? Let's charge the Shadow Demon's heart core right away!"
"Ohhh!"
Brother James immediately pulled out the Shadow Demon's heart core right there and began injecting holy power.
He'd said it would take a few days.
'Was that just padding the estimate?'
They say you can't trust anyone in this world, and I learned another lesson.
Anyway.
"Huff, huff! I-it's done. I originally planned to take more time, but b-before such a great undertaking, one cannot afford leisure, can one?"
Before long, Brother James, panting like someone who had suffered hardship for three days and nights, handed over the core.
I took the heart core brimming with holy power and looked at Tiktak.
"Tiktak, it's time to evolve."
Tiktak?
Tiktak tilted its head, but for things like this, showing once was more certain than a hundred words.
Without delay, I evolved Tiktak.
And then.
Tiktak?!
Flash!
Just like with Golgol, light burst forth, and Tiktak, now bearing a heart, stood before us.
"Tiktak, want to try using that power now?"
"Ohhh!"
Brother James, looking half-dead, still stared at Tiktak with shining eyes.
Tiktak tilted its head at that gaze, then raised a hand high.
Tiktak!
At that single cry, the existing Minitons crumbled.
Tiktak!
At the second cry, new Minitons rose to their feet.
And we cheered.
"Ohhh!"
[Hah!]
Of course we did, for in the eyes of the twelve Minitons flowed a milky white glow that was clearly holy power.
"Goddess, good heavens! You sent me here for a reason after all..."
"All according to the Goddess's will. Brother, you may close your eyes in peace now."
"I have... no regrets..."
With those words, Brother James toppled over.
"I have inherited Brother's will."
[He's not dead yet, you bastard.]
Hmm, a shame.
I could have made a companion for Brothers Golgol and Tiktak.
...Of course, that was a joke.
In any case, it was truly a joyous occasion.
'Have I become the founder of Holy Necromancy?'
From now on, call me Saint Khtun.
But the joy was short-lived.
"Priest James! Is Priest James here?! This is terrible, terrible— huh!"
"Who are you?"
The man who had rushed into the training grounds was a stranger.
Not a standing soldier, and not a territory resident either, it seemed.
In hard times, everyone and their dog grabbed a flail and went out to banditry, but from this man radiated the murderous aura that only full-time killers—not side-jobbers—exuded.
"I'm Myuhan, who travels with the priest..."
"A demon hunter, I see."
"Yes, that's what they call me. But what happened to the priest?"
"He overused his holy power and collapsed for a moment."
"This is—!"
At my answer, the demon hunter who introduced himself as Myuhan groaned in great sorrow.
What on earth had happened to make him lament so?
When I asked the reason, it was a situation that warranted it.
"We've received word from our colleagues who went to scout the area. They've discovered a cluster of demons. But they can't handle it among themselves, so they came looking for the priest..."
[Hah, the situation has turned quite ironic. Of all times...]
Tell me about it.
Truly regrettable.
'...Or so I would have thought.'
Normally, that is.
But who am I now?
Saint Khtun.
"Lord Myuhan, where is it?"
"Pardon?"
"Where those damned spawn of evil were discovered, I mean. Though I am not formally a member of the Twelve Hour Church, I too am one who aims for evil and executes good."
[It's 'shuns' evil.]
Advice declined.
Let's overlook such minor slips of the tongue.
Because that's not what's important right now.
"Lead the way. I will go with you."
"B-but without the priest..."
"Gol! Can you not see even with your eyes open, Brother?!"
"And who the hell are you to talk to me like that...?"
"Look over there."
I flinched under the eyes of the professional killer—a true pro who hunted demons, no less—and pointed to Golgol and Tiktak.
"My undead."
"Undead... huh, wait, what? Holy power in undead...?"
"Do you understand now?"
I have a sacred legion.
In other words.
"Lead the way to my battlefield."
Demons cannot be my match.
This was a fact even depicted in ancient watermelon paintings.
Q.E.D. A truth that needs no proof.