Pitch Black with No Answer (2)
The Sacrificial Offering Festival.
In other words, a grand-scale ritual of giving thanks to the gods.
Traditionally, the finest grain, the highest-quality meat, hides, and the like gathered that year were offered up. Then the blasted god's minions—no, excuse me, the messengers of the gods—would appear in person to collect the tribute. Of course, even called messengers of the gods, they weren't actually gods, but divine beasts.
But this time, instead of divine beasts, the genuine lackeys of the gods were coming?
Why, you ask?
Because something had turned up that made the usual offerings look like trash by comparison!
The Fourteen Six Demons.
Yes—what kind of offering is one of the Fourteen Six Demons?
The subordinates of the Skeleton Demon King who ruled over inheritance itself, something the gods covet! Wasn't this a finger of the great Demon King himself?
Since he was the strongest Demon King in history, the gods awarded absurdly generous points for anything even remotely connected to the Skeleton Demon King. In a word, it was the powerful performing their little game of Erase the Skeleton King.
Sure enough, this tribute seemed to please them immensely, and this time even higher-ranked beings among the messengers of the gods were scheduled to attend.
No doubt they intended to personally carry off the head of the Skeleton King's subordinate. They knew that if they disposed of a servant the Skeleton King cherished, the King, trapped in that worm of a body, would writhe in agony as he came apart.
'Well, the problem is that the "worm" in question isn't a worm at all—he's right here.'
Yes, Isaac had planned to score a prize at this Sacrificial Offering Festival and shove a nice fat insult right down those gods' throats.
He'd absolutely planned to, and yet——
"The attendant spot is mine!"
"No. It's mine."
…Goddammit. What the hell is this.
Watching Kina and Nizer squabble, Isaac's eyebrows twitched.
He had no idea why these little shits kept doing this to him. Ugh, so itchy. His rattle was aching to come out.
Isaac's hand crept, slithering, toward the rattle at his hip.
What to do? They're blocking my way and being annoying—should I just whack each of them once and then start? Hm? Whack first, ask questions later?
And watching that, Shuri's face went white.
We absolutely, POSITIVELY cannot let his faith… no, his true character show.
Remembering his grandfather's words, Shuri trembled.
If the direct line of House Eshua had mobilized—if the head of the house's direct orders had come down—there was no telling how catastrophic a level of "faith" this was.
'It has to be a level that could destroy the entire family…!'
It was all Shuri could do to urgently call out to his teammates.
"Stop him! Make him put that rattle away!"
"…Huh?"
At their puzzled looks, Shuri pressed down on his teammates' shoulders with a grave expression.
"Were you planning to let him expose his true character in a place like this?"
"We all know he's absolute trash, though."
"……"
"What's new about that?"
Goddammit……
Shuri bowed his head.
Calling that brat "trash" was generous, if anything. He wanted to scream that the little monster was fit to be classified as an evil god.
And it wasn't merely a matter of character—it was that his nature could expose the state of his faith itself.
Understood? Everyone around him—no, more importantly, Isaac himself must never, EVER learn the true level of his own faith.
Argh! Fine. Fine!
I'll endure it. I have to endure it!
And Shuri found Kina and Nizer uncomfortable in more ways than one. He'd been trying to avoid standing in front of them as much as possible… but there was no helping it now.
Shuri clamped down on Isaac's rattle and hissed sternly.
"Isaac. Put that down. I cannot, as your elder cousin, tolerate any more of this thuggish behavior."
"Then want to take their place and get smacked instead?"
"………I suppose… I could tolerate it."
'Damn it. There was never any chance of reasoning with this little bastard.'
Shuri hung his head.
Isaac, meanwhile, looked distinctly irritated.
"Seriously, do you know why these two are acting like this? Out of nowhere, an attendant? What is this, a frozen corpse beauty pageant?"
"You heard it too. The final five selected as executioners each get an attendant assigned to them."
The execution ceremony would be presided over by the Black Executioner. And the top five apprentices chosen from the Holy See and the Imperial family would carry out the execution itself.
True, the Black Executioner swung the blade at the end—but every other part of the process was handled by the five selected. Hence the ceremonial attendants.
Which was exactly why Shuri found this so strange.
'Fine, I want to be the attendant because of Grandfather's orders.'
…But why on earth would those two want it from Isaac?
As if sensing his gaze, Nizer gave an awkward chuckle.
"See! Everyone's looking at us weird! Why is the so-called next His Holiness the Pope—a su-u-uch exalted personage—doing this here, you idiot?!"
He clearly despised Kina.
But Kina looked no less displeased, and answered with a light sneer.
"You're one to talk—why is the heir of House Sephet here? I take it Sephet makes its heirs do this sort of errand?"
Kina was the young Duke of Gold, but since he'd already been designated as the future Pope, he personally tutored his younger brother in the family's affairs.
And what of Sephet by comparison?
"It seems Sephet has given up on the Saint's seat and decided to become a retainer of the Blue Faith instead?"
"What did you say?! I'm doing this for evidence—no, wait, I mean I just want to get close to Eshua! Right, Isaac?"
Nizer slung an arm around Isaac's shoulder—and a split second later, a scream tore through the air.
As if to say keep your hands to yourself, it's disgusting, Isaac had snapped Nizer's finger.
Under Isaac's glare—stop pretending we're close, it makes me sick—Nizer whispered with forced familiarity.
"Hey. Don't get the wrong idea. My father told me to get close to you after last time. It's… people who can make you bleed tears out of your wallet are rare, you know."
What a load of crap.
Isaac snorted.
So that Cardinal had said exactly that, had he.
"I bet he's planning to find some technicality to exploit over the losses I caused them. Not that I need to check."
Shuri nodded along.
"Sephet acting this way does smell suspicious."
"Ha. Can't argue with that."
"Right. Now get out of my si——"
Just then, Nizer thrust something out toward Isaac. It was none other than a glittering ruby!
At that brilliant glow of pure capital, drool began leaking from the corner of Isaac's mouth.
Whisper went into an absolute frenzy.
[Kyaa! KYAAAA! Now THAT'S a ducal house for you! These are on a completely different dimension from common gemstones! Even the Blue Faith rarely sees purity like this!]
[And it's a RUBY, no less! A dead-on catalyst for fire-attribute magic!]
[Not to mention you still have no way to hide the demons besides the Shadow Lich, Master!]
Gems of this purity were not only astronomically expensive—they also aided magic directly, because high-purity gemstones held a unique concentration of condensed essence.
And for Isaac, who couldn't learn spells the normal way and had to unlock them under specific conditions, these were exactly the materials he needed.
There was even a young skeleton he still hadn't been able to send back, hiding away in Isaac's closet as they spoke.
But gems this pure were an unlock requirement for summoning magic of the 6th Tier or higher—no, wait, screw that—how much is that thing worth, dammit?!
Droooool.
At the sight, Nizer smiled sweetly and pulled more gems from his pouch. This time, diamonds—and a whole bundle of them!
The drool at Isaac's mouth pooled and overflowed until it seemed ready to pour down like a waterfall.
Drooooooool.
Horror-struck by that glazed, greedy stare, Shuri snatched the gem pouch away and grabbed Isaac's shoulders in a panic.
"Hey! Snap out of it! What kind of priest folds over a pile of money?!"
"Sephet brat, wanna be my attendant?"
AAAGH!!!
Shuri shrieked, clapped a hand over Isaac's mouth, and dragged him away.
"You lunatic, do you not know the rule that priests must not succumb to worldly desire?!"
"Says who? Rules exist to be broookeeeen!"
Argh! Dammit!
As if that beggar-level faith of his wasn't bad enough, now it's going to corrupt even further! So this is what Grandfather meant when he said to be careful!
Head throbbing, Shuri shot a glare at Nizer.
'That little rat… he's researched Isaac's tastes down to the last detail and come prepared!'
Isaac especially loved the sparkliest of gemstones, and rubies were one of his favorites.
Sure enough, Nizer began coaxing Isaac with calculated gentleness.
"Isaac. We have way more rubies than this at our place? Want me to show you?"
"…Hehehehehe. I wanna visit your house."
NOOOOOO!
Shuri clamped down on Isaac, who was drifting toward Nizer as if entranced.
By this point, Shuri had no choice but to eye Nizer with open wariness.
He had no idea what was going through the boy's head, volunteering to be an attendant—but look at the little shit go.
'Don't tell me he came to hunt for evidence himself?'
He'd been tempting Isaac with one forbidden act after another—things strictly banned for a priest—this whole time.
'Yes…! I knew it!'
After all, hadn't Nizer been the one who led the faith inspection on Isaac back in the prison? There was no way a guy like that would suddenly turn tail and develop genuine affection for Isaac.
'He's definitely here to catch him red-handed!'
"Think carefully, Isaac. If only you come, I can show you the Sephet mines too."
"Miiines…?"
"That's right. There's a ruby out there as big as a boulder."
"Can we go today-yay?"
ISAAAAAC!
But apparently the spectacle was too pathetic to bear, because Kina scoffed.
"Well, well, so THIS is the vaunted Saint candidate!"
At those words, Shuri's face lit up.
Yes! Exactly!
You're a contender for the papacy too—aren't you ashamed? Greed must be shunned! Bewitching someone with gems is dirty play, so say somethi——
"You're flaunting wealth over a handful of rubies? Our entire mansion is made of solid gold. We have so much of it left over that even the doghouse and the paper are gold. Eshua, if you'd like, I'll pry a pillar off for you."
DAMMIT! YOU! USELESS! BASTARDS!!!
Shuri clutched his head.
But then he reminded himself of his grandfather's orders once more.
Calm down. From here on, you have to mold Isaac into a holy priest. If you don't, House Eshua is in danger.
"Forget pillars—do you have any idea how supremely pure and holy Isaac is, just like Lady Saintess herself? A house of——"
"Can I have the pillar or nooot?"
ARGH! Why don't I just crack your skull open with that pillar instead?!
"I'll pry off ten if you want."
Dammit, why don't you just demolish your whole house while you're at it!
Shuri pressed a hand to his forehead, exhausted.
'Seriously… why are all these rich little brats fighting over being Isaac's attendant…?'
With Nizer, one look said he was dangling bait to lure Isaac into a trap. He could roughly guess the goal. But Kina… that one, he couldn't figure out at all.
'I thought he'd lost interest in Isaac after being crushed at the Gold Pentagon.'
The Gold Pentagon had, in essence, been a duel between Isaac and Kina.
Because the artifact Team Gold brought back had actually been Kina's own acquisition. That was why everyone had murmured that the Pope's grandson had somehow lost.
In fact, even the other apprentices on Blue's team had whispered about it.
"He charged into barbarian territory alone and brought back a relic. That was already a national-level achievement. He must have struggled to get it back, and then Blue gets the credit. Even I would be bitter, as the head of Gold's house."
"Is he plotting revenge, then?"
But Kina himself merely snorted at all this.
What? National-level achievement?
That was no achievement at all.
Because sweeping away a few barbarian tribes was, to Kina, about as challenging as a casual pastime.
And while everyone else dismissed what Isaac had done as luck, to Kina it was different.
'Even the Mage Empire's prince was part of his calculation.'
Not only had he lured in the imperial house of Hella—he'd actually managed to wrap the Mage Empire's prince around his finger. What on earth kind of power had he displayed?
That was why Kina had trailed after Isaac and asked him to teach him the techniques Shuri had been taught. And the answer he'd gotten back was——
"Unlike that leech Shuri, you don't have the time to stick around me, so I can't teach you."
"…Huh? Time?"
"Yeah! How long do you THINK training takes? This kid glues himself to me for at least ten hours a day."
"Isaac… don't say things people will misunderstand."
That's not training time, you bastard, that's all time spent exploiting ME.
And sure, he'd added that the kid wouldn't be stuck to him at all if he just didn't cause accidents—but it had clearly landed differently in Kina's ears.
"Oh… I see. Ten hours…? So if I devote that much time to Shuri, it's possible?"
Which meant if Kina himself trailed along that much, he could learn it too?
"Right! Attendants get to stay by your side twenty-four hours a day! Come on, hurry, choose me! I'm better than that trash of Sephet over there!"
"…Do your parents know you act like this?"
Shuri couldn't even imagine what faces the Gold Cardinal and the Pope would make.
But either Kina couldn't hear him or didn't care—he just glared at Shuri. Of all people, Isaac, who carried the Pope's power, was going to teach Shuri?
"Kina doesn't resemble His Father or His Holiness much at all."
"Honestly, isn't it Shuri who takes after His Holiness? Shuri looks way more like a legitimate heir."
"Agreed—if Shuri just hadn't been born into Eshua, everyone would assume HE'S the successor."
"Shh."
Kina's brow creased faintly as he looked at Isaac.
"In any case, the attendant spot is mine."
"What are you talking about?! Didn't you hear he's coming to OUR house?"
Shuri's head throbbed.
'Either way, it's bad. One is the family of a heresy inquisitor, and the other is… the papal line!'
Weren't both of them perfectly capable of ordering Isaac's execution?!
In the end, Isaac heaved a sigh.
"So? Out of the three of you, who's actually doing it?"
"Me!"
"Me!"
"Me!"
"Then all three of you do it."
And then, eyes blazing, the three shouted in perfect unison.
"Kina Berith is OUT!"
"Shuri is OUT!"
"Dammit, you're BOTH out!!"
CRACK!!!
The rattle laid all three of them flat.
"I'm going alone. Dammit."
As Isaac turned away, dusting blood off his rattle, a voice rang out.
"We now begin the first part of the Sacrificial Offering Festival! The messengers of the gods shall descend shortly—everyone, please proceed inside!"
The apprentices, faces drained bone-white, stared at Isaac and the three crumpled bodies.
…Are we seriously allowed to go through with this?