Can This Truly Be Allowed? (3)
Rillai blinked his blue eyes.
"Um..."
"AAAAARGH!"
"I came... to look for Isaac, but."
As he spoke, his eyes darted this way and that in visible embarrassment.
Because there, right in front of Rillai, Red priests were tearing at their hair — one, two...
"AAAAARGH!"
"Please! Somebody! Just find the Fourteen Six Demons already!"
"Who the hell dragged that little bastard here?!"
"Damn Blue bastards!"
...No, there were dozens of them.
What is this?
What on earth had happened in the few hours he'd been asleep?
Rillai's pupils trembled.
He had collapsed in the Papal infirmary alongside Shuri. Still dazed from the truth serum Naiser had mixed into the secret medicine, he'd been jolted awake by a messenger Goel had sent.
"Rillai! Come collect that brat of yours, NOW!"
The blue bird had pecked at his head so relentlessly that he'd had no choice but to get up.
So Naiser used the truth serum as a poison as well, did he?
A high-grade truth serum ground down from a high-grade magic core, was it? As an 8th-Tier holy knight, the detoxification had taken only an instant, but it was potent enough to leave him feeling hungover all the same.
Really, the only person who could swallow something like that and remain perfectly fine would be the Pope, closest of all to God.
Of course, Isaac, who had eaten a high-grade magic core, was more than fine — he was rampaging around cackling "Puhahaha, gimme more!" — but regardless, Rillai had laid the staggering Shuri down and hurried out.
Yes... he had sprinted all the way here, breathless, to collect a nephew who was supposedly suffering the aftereffects of a truth serum.
Suffering, his ass.
"AAAAARGH! Save me!"
"Please, just take this bastard home!"
"You Blue bastards, what kind of upbringing is this?!"
The Red priests were the ones in agony. Isaac's flailing kicks had been tormenting them for hours on end.
Damn it, how far will the Fourteen Six Demons have fled by the time we get out of this!
If we lose the Fourteen Six Demons now, it all comes crashing down on our heads!
The Red priests' chests tightened with dread.
Things had grown so dire that even the Cardinal of Red, Rion Sepet, had come to see it for himself.
"We commissioned you to find the Fourteen Six Demons, and it turns into an utter circus, I see."
"Your Eminence!"
The Red priests welcomed the Cardinal as though they'd been saved.
He strolled toward the Cardinal of Blue, who was leisurely enjoying a tea time.
To him, this situation was grotesque — and yet he couldn't help but find it funny. No, honestly, it was even fascinating.
"You're working very hard indeed. To keep an evil god from being summoned."
Sure enough, Rion stood before the Cardinal of Blue with a beaming smile.
"Might one take it that Blue is deliberately avoiding the ritual?"
"What are you on about."
The Cardinal of Blue waved his hands in brisk dismissal. It meant: how tiresome, get lost.
At the sight, the Cardinal of Red only grew more certain, curling his lips into a serpent's smirk.
"The more Blue behaves like this, the deeper young Isaac's suspicion runs. At this rate, we'll have no choice but to implicate the entirety of Blue."
He was already shivering with anticipation at the thought of making the proudest faction of all — Blue — scream.
The Blue knights trembled at that sadistic smile.
Hadn't there been, several centuries ago, an incident in which Red nearly brought Blue to ruin? He was unmistakably trying to reenact, in this generation, what had failed back then.
And so they looked anxiously toward their own Cardinal, as if to ask — can this truly be allowed—
"Well, well, suspicion? Has any evidence actually surfaced that my grandson freed the Fourteen Six Demons?"
No, it had not.
The Red priests clicked their tongues.
The Pope's holy power was found on the Fourteen Six Demons' shackles.
But that didn't exactly mean they could name the Pope as the culprit, did it!
The Cardinal of Red spoke.
"We'll extend him full courtesy during the God Summoning, so do kindly cooperate, yes?"
This bastard? Courtesy? Excuse me?
Whose grandson were these people scheming to haul away, exactly?
But the Red priests all smiled with identical knowing eyes.
The investigation is already finished.
There is one reason Berith is straining so desperately to block Isaac's God Summoning.
Because he'll summon an evil god — the natural enemy of the Gold faith itself, no less.
In other words, for Red, it was a heaven-sent opportunity to bury Blue and Gold in a single stroke.
"I trust you'll have the Fourteen Six Demons found within the hour?"
"What drivel. If you're the one asking the favor, at least lower that insolent head of yours."
When the head of House Blue turned away in open contempt, Rillai followed after him.
"They're getting desperate, that's all."
"I know."
"So you're deliberately not finding the Fourteen Six Demons, in order to drive House Red back!"
Yes, that's it. It's Isaac's piety that's caused all this fu— no, of course, that is exactly why.
Goel, the only soul who knew the whole truth, pounded his chest until it nearly caved in — but he couldn't open his mouth.
Right. It may be better, in a way, that Sepet is misunderstanding.
Let them make fools of themselves on God Summoning day.
The senior Blue knights nodded along.
"To keep House Red in check, it's wiser not to find the Fourteen Six Demons, my Lord!"
"Yes! Exactly... Huh? Oh! Then surely you don't mean young Isaac has been doing it on purpose too?"
The Blue knights' eyes went round with astonishment. It was as though they had only just understood everything.
"So that's why young Isaac has been coming up empty-handed all this time!"
"Good heavens — he was refusing to find them on purpose!"
"Even though his own reputation must weigh on him, all for the sake of Blue...!"
No, it is NOT that! Goel's eyebrows twitched violently. He would swear on his life that brat harbored no such lofty purpose!
While the head of House Blue secretly swelled with pride at his knights' words, he stole a glance toward the place where the Fourteen Six Demons were cowering in hiding.
Well — whatever he said aloud, the truth was that he'd never liked this arrangement from the start.
His predecessor had captured the Fourteen Six Demons, but in the end, hadn't it been the Pope — not he — who bent them to his will by holding the Skeleton Demon King's flesh hostage?
And he considered that cowardly. If you were going to catch them, you should have dealt with them on the spot.
That creature had merely come looking for its master's body.
"!"
His predecessor had lent out the Saintess Treasury for the greater good under the Pope's orders, but neither the old head nor Eli had wanted any part of it.
Which was precisely why Eli had never bothered to seize the Fourteen Six Demons as they fled the Execution Grounds.
Of course, in their search for their master's body, the Fourteen Six Demons had rampaged across the Holy Empire. Whether by the Skeleton Demon King's command or no, they hadn't eaten or killed a single human — but they had done a fair amount of property damage.
And as for that debt — decades of servitude as slaves had more than repaid it, in his judgment. No, it had actually been rather excessive.
So never show your faces again. Consider our accounts settled. That was what it had meant.
"Of course, you get one chance only. Cross my eyes again, and I'll take you without the slightest hesitation."
"......"
And yet that is the man behaving like this right now?
And worse — Isaac doesn't appear to be making the slightest effort to find the Fourteen Six Demons at all?!
Whether or not he noticed Goel's gaze, the head of House Blue flicked his ear.
Well, the training alone — learning to track the Fourteen Six Demons — will aid his growth.
The head of House Blue secretly harbored expectations for how far Isaac could rise.
Yes — if it was that boy, then surely he could accomplish the family's long-cherished wish of destroying that damned Skeleton Demon King...
But that lasted only a moment.
"Isaac?"
"Father?"
"Where has Isaac gone?"
Isaac had vanished — as though he'd been abducted.
"Mm. I see."
Isaac was holed up in an abandoned house in the city.
It was to check the secret message Shavnak had left behind.
There was information he absolutely needed — what had transpired over the past 150 years — but meeting face to face carried far too much risk.
Written across the wall was the language of the demons.
To anyone who didn't know the cipher, it was nothing more than a recipe for food — but he had always conversed with his direct subordinates in code, hadn't he?
Given the circumstances of the escape, the information was sparse, but it contained some very intriguing things indeed.
"Well, those bastards would do far worse."
The True Demons were the demons of the purest bloodlines. They had always secretly found it shameful to bow to a lowly skeleton.
And though he'd guessed some of it from what Ash told him, it seemed the True Demons were moving against the human faction with themselves at the lead.
— Human slaughter. Feeding. —
They were even exploiting the Absolute Oath he himself had laid down — the Golden Prohibition. Since breaking it was impossible, they had propped up a fake Skeleton King to move the demon armies as they pleased.
An order issued by the Skeleton Demon King who created the Prohibition merely counted as a revision of orders — not a breach of it.
If you want to be the new king, just break my Prohibition and be done with it. Can't even break the rules, and you dare impersonate me?
In other words, the Fake Skeleton King was nothing but a cheap trick.
Well, he did think the throne ought to pass to a new generation — but there were lines you didn't cross.
If you want to pull dogshit stunts, do them under your own names! Damn it!
It's because of you bastards that the Eshua lot have gone completely mad! Screaming for the Skeleton Demon King's execution like lunatics every single day!
Will you butt out?!
Why do I keep getting gifted "Skeleton Demon King's Execution" special editions just because I'm stuck in this body? Huh?
They even laid a curse on this body on top of it, the absolute bastards!
At any rate, what had become of the other Fourteen Six Demons, and what plans they were brewing — he'd have to hear the details in person — but he'd grasped the general picture.
Stay in the Holy Empire long enough, and I'll end up crossing paths with the True Demons eventually.
What interested him now, however, was something else entirely.
— Bindings. The Pope. The Crown Prince. —
Shavnak had apparently overheard information from the Red priests.
What those words meant was that the Pope's and the Crown Prince's power had both lingered on Shavnak's bindings.
The Pope, fine. But the Crown Prince?
Why was the Crown Prince coming up here at all? Did the Crown Prince have any reason to take an interest in the Fourteen Six Demons?
It puzzled him, but that, too, would have to wait for later verification.
Because unwelcome watchers had been staring at him for some time now. And so Isaac scratched his cheek.
Hm. Well, sure.
Just what god had he been chosen by, that Gold would bring up an adoption story, and Goel would dodge the question entirely?
Well, he was curious. He'd hoped someone would just give him a straight answer.
But...
"Never expected them to actually attach assassins, though."
At Isaac's words, the assassins watching from the shadows flinched hard.
He noticed us?
That little kid?
Priests are supposed to be dull at sensing presence, aren't they?
But Isaac simply gazed at the ceiling with bored eyes.
Well, there was nothing to be surprised about.
Just as holy knights grow keen to the faintest stirrings, mages of sufficiently high tier sense everything — down to ants, even down to the presence of souls.
And his best guess: assassins sent to eliminate rivals ahead of the God Summoning. The rewards for the Black Pentagon had been anything but ordinary.
Or else the Gold faith.
But even so — enough to warrant assassins?
For a god of truly high rank, weren't we talking Chief God tier?
No, sure, a Chief God would be impressive and all, but if it were one of the Five Great Families' direct lineages, wouldn't that fall within the predictable range?
Shouldn't they be going after Shuri instead, blessed by Blue's own Chief God?
But the assassins apparently thought otherwise.
"If you stay quiet, then..."
"You're not going to spout that 'we won't take your life' bullshit, right? You little pricks."
"...?!"
Isaac's eyes flashed at the very same instant.
BOOM!!
At Isaac's gesture, Whisper swelled its body enormously.
The building's interior shattered in an instant, and the assassins came tumbling down from every corner.
Ku-gugung!
"Ugh!"
The assassins recovered their stances immediately — but facing Isaac's icy gaze, they shuddered.
What in the world...!
We never even sensed the casting of holy arts!
That wasn't the end of it.
"Ah, damn it. They're mages, on top of everything else."
They hadn't done a single thing yet, and their identity was already blown!
But Isaac tilted his head.
Doesn't look like licensed mages, though.
Well, they did exist — spellblades among the mercenaries who blended magic into their craft. The sort who could plausibly work as assassins in the Holy Empire, where priests swarmed the streets.
Yes, plausible enough, but...
"Don't let him get away!"
"A priest's weakness is magic."
"Wreck his lungs so he can't enter the God Summoning!"
As the assassins raised their flames, blood rose to Isaac's face.
The flames those men had conjured with magic were so very pretty... so very pretty...
...Damn it. So he'd been underestimated this badly, had he?
A mere 3rd-Tier attack spell, before the Demon King!
Oh, my blood pressure.
Which little bastard sent you people, anyway?
Doesn't seem to be Red. Doesn't seem to be Gold either.
White? Black? Or some other noble house?
And then — as though the fire had all been misdirection — a needle sank into the back of Isaac's neck.
Fwip!
!
"Got him."
"Looks like you moved on your own, hoping to claim all the credit. Blame yourself for leaving your family and acting alone."
Isaac blinked.
Uh. So the thing stuck in my neck is a poison needle, it seems.
The problem is that it's Divine Poison.
And fairly decent quality, too.
What to do?
Am I supposed to play dead here?
"What's wrong with this kid? Why won't he drop? Is it not working?"
"What? The Divine Poison has no effect? On a priest?"
At that moment, Isaac — realizing his slip — threw up his hands and collapsed in a theatrical swoon.
"Ohhh, my mind! But I shall not fall to this much! I am a proud servant of Blue!"
"So he is Blue, then. Stick in another one!"
At those words, Isaac's ears pricked up, and he swayed unsteadily, putting on his best show of endurance.
"Ohhh! You think Blue would buckle to a measly two poison needles?!"
"His mouth is still going! Stick him with everything you've got!"
"The head of House Blue is nearby. If we're discovered, we're finished — move quickly!"
Perhaps two dozen had sunk in by the end. Isaac, turned into a hedgehog, finally lay still and feigned unconsciousness — and then, quietly, softly, he slurped up the mana of every single needle.
"There. With this..."
BOOM!
But at that very moment, someone walked in.
Isaac was startled. It was an utterly unexpected figure.