Is This Really Allowed? (4)
In fact, there had been a shadow secretly watching Isaac all along.
That damned Isaac Eschua…!
It was none other than Count Molech.
His teeth ground together involuntarily at the mere sight of Azure. He couldn't help it.
[Look at you, strutting around disrespecting Azure at every turn. And now look at the state of you.]
[Azure's shaved-down team took King at the Gold Pentagon, so you'll be a laughingstock for the rest of your days.]
Damn it all!
After the Gold Pentagon, House Molech had become a laughingstock overnight. High society sneered at them openly, and even the nobles and house heads who had once flocked to their side were quietly cutting ties, one by one.
Worse still, when he'd gone to the head of House Azure to apologize and beg to be taken back, he'd been treated like—well, he didn't even want to think about it.
[They say it takes three generations for a fallen house to collapse. Yours won't last three years, I'd wager.]
That lunatic cursed my whole house! Fine then—I'll return the curse in kind!
And originally, his plan had been to lay that curse on Isaac at the Black Pentagon.
It made sense. The sabotage work was already underway in every corner of the event.
The goal: to interfere with the God Summoning.
Whether it was the lure of the Black Pentagon's lavish rewards or simple family pride, no one could say for certain. But the fact remained—assassins were already being attached to rivals' throats by every great house.
No one knew who had struck first. It seemed absurd for a priest's examination, but no house could afford to sit dumbly still while another drew its blade first.
And just as the Count was racking his brain over how he might reach out and touch House Azure—how he might have his revenge—
[I will lend you men. Dispose of Isaac Eschua before the God Summoning.]
[Wh—who is this?]
[It's hardly a bad deal for you, either. Gold wants Isaac Eschua to fail at summoning a god. Dispose of him, and you'll score points with Gold.]
Yes. I'll take my revenge with this.
Count Molech, who had a fair guess as to who was behind the offer, grinned wolfishly.
And now, here he was, standing before Isaac at last.
"Serves you right, Isaac Eschua."
But Isaac, looking at Molech, wore an expression of pure incredulity.
What the—? What is this? Why are YOU showing up here?
Didn't you betray Azure for Gold, humiliate yourself, and crawl off into a hole somewhere?
I mean, honestly, I wouldn't have given you a second thought even if you hadn't. But you were one of the ones who tormented my Kinschuri, so I was rooting for you to suffer.
Yet Count Molech, beholding the hedgehog that Isaac had become, raised his eyebrows as if he'd seen something he was never meant to see.
"What in the world is… this."
…What exactly did you do to turn someone into a cactus?
Come to think of it—is he even still alive?
It was a look that said, isn't this a bit excessive? But the assassins, if anything, looked flustered. Honestly, they hadn't intended to go quite this far either.
[Ooooh, that tickles! That's all you've got?! A proud son of Azure doesn't die from a little something like this!]
[No! Yes he does! He is absolutely dying!]
[Enough. This much should be suffici—]
[Hey. You want a beating? Keep stabbing, you bastards! You think Azure will be satisfied with THIS? Huh?! If you don't want him dying, shove them in by the fistful!]
This lunatic is threatening them to shove them in by the whole handful?
By the collar, no less!
The moment the assassins finally gave up on the quills and drew poison-coated blades instead, Isaac flopped over flat, as if the threat had never happened.
[Ooooh, ohhh, now THAT'S the good stuff, I can feel the poison finally kicking iiiin~]
[…]
It was hard to tell if he was genuinely feeling it, but his lips had turned an alarming shade of blue, so apparently it was working.
"Must be the Saintess's bloodline—it only took effect after we'd stuck him that many times."
"No wonder he's Azure's spawn."
The direct bloodline really is a terrifying thing.
"Shall we kill him?"
"Leave no traces. Make it look like the Fourteen Six Demons' work."
At those words, Isaac—lying there neatly with his hands folded, diligently absorbing the poison—twitched an eyebrow.
Hmm. What to do. I was enjoying this nice, long, delicious mana-sucking session.
'If I get up perfectly fine in this situation, they'll get suspicious.'
[They'll suspect you're a heretic. One hundred percent.]
'No matter how you slice it, there's no such thing as a priest who shrugs off mana.'
[You're already a known fraud, so it's fine, I'm telling you? Since when have you ever actually done the job of a priest—urk!]
Isaac strangled Whisper's throat as if to say shut it.
And that was when it happened.
"Hold on—this bastard, he's moving!"
"What? He's STILL moving? This absolute lunatic—!"
The assassins stared at Isaac in horrified disbelief.
"The direct bloodline of Azure really is built different. Every last one of that line is a monster."
"Tch. No help for it, then. Even if he flees, we're done for."
Isaac nodded along inwardly, right on cue. Yes! Exactly! So give up and just stick more poison quills in me alrea—
"We'll have to cut off his legs."
…What the hell is wrong with you people? Why?! What for?!
You idiots, stab him with POISON! Leave the poor innocent legs alone!
"Hold his torso. If it's meant to look like the Fourteen Six Demons' work, the body has to be hacked to pieces."
No! My subordinates don't have that kind of hobby! You idiots!
If you want it to look like my people did it, you cut off the HEAD!
"We'll cut off the head as well, then."
No, nobody actually asked you to cut anything!
'Damn it all, these bastards won't even give me time to drink my poison.'
The moment Isaac, sensing mortal danger, reluctantly began to push himself up—
THWACK!
"GRAAHK!"
"!"
Someone had revealed themselves.
A masked pair—a man and a woman.
The man's eyes flashed cold as he swept his sword through the air.
CRACK!
Considerable skill. No—"considerable" didn't cover it.
The blade tracing its arcs was like a edge of wind itself. And for all it belonged to a holy knight's discipline, the style favored killing over defense.
In an instant, the assassins who had been hunting Isaac were cut down. At the sight, Molech stumbled backward in alarm.
"Wh-what the—!"
The assassins falling was shocking enough, but what shocked him more was the man's blade. The energy clinging to its edge wasn't holy power.
It was aura.
Molech's face twisted.
'A Sword Master?'
Unlike holy knights, who channeled borrowed divine power, these were swordsmen who radiated aura of their own—and among them, those who could project sword energy at the stage of Active Aura were counted the very finest.
At the same moment Molech turned to flee, the swordsman laid a hand on his blade. Sword energy began to ripple along it like threads of silk.
BOOM!
The instant a violet flash blazed, a mighty bolt of lightning crashed down before Molech.
KRAKOOM!
"AAAGH!"
Isaac blinked rapidly.
'Magic?'
[Crude as a toddler's scribble compared to you, Master, but decent enough skill.]
Who is that?
Perhaps Isaac wasn't the only one wondering, because the sprawled-out Molech shouted the same question.
"Damn it, the Black never said anything about THIS! What in the world—?!"
At that, the man let out an odd, hollow laugh.
"The Black? I see. So that's how it is. I was wondering why they'd assign such an uncharacteristic mission. So this, too, was the Black Cardinal's doing."
As the man advanced on Molech with sword raised, Molech's eyes bulged.
"You there! Do you have any idea who I am?! Do you not know that laying hands on a noble is punished by the Rite of Severing?!"
The black-haired man stopped, and his eyes narrowed.
"A noble?"
It was unmistakably a sneer. Meeting those golden eyes, Molech began to tremble.
Only then did Isaac catch on to the man's identity too. The mask had kept him from being certain, but— that bastard, that thing on his head. No way.
'That's the Crown Prince?!'
Then who's the black-haired woman with him? She doesn't look like a servant… was there someone else in the imperial family with that hair color?
But his speculation was cut short as the black-haired man cut Molech down.
CRACK!
"GYAAH!"
Blood sprayed wildly.
His wrist severed, Molech shrieked and bolted for the door. And the next moment, he collided headlong with someone coming through it.
THUD!
"Damn it, who the hell blocks a—!"
Then, recognizing who he'd crashed into, Molech's face lit up.
"Lord Kina!"
He thought he was saved. House Molech was still tied to House Berith, after all.
"Please, save me! I'll explain everything later, just—"
But that was the moment.
KRAKOOM!
"GYAAH!"
The wall beside Molech erupted under a torrent of golden holy power. At the sight, Count Molech froze solid.
"What in the—?!"
He tried to protest, but a voice colder than ice brushed against his throat.
"Take one more step and you die, Count."
"L-Lord Kina?!"
Kina, golden holy power blazing around her, was glaring at Count Molech with murderous eyes.
Count Molech could not comprehend the situation.
Did this brat just tell ME I'd die? This child?
"What manner of threat is this?! When I report this to my father—!"
"That's enough—"
Kina murmured into the flustered Count's ear.
"Touch that child, and you answer to me. With your life."
"…!"
Kina had tracked the aura of the Fourteen Six Demons all the way here. And judging from the state Isaac was in, she could more or less piece together what had happened.
Well, it was obviously sabotage in the run-up to the God Summoning. This year's round of pre-Pentagon scheming was in full swing, with no one sure who had struck first.
'Nine times out of ten, it's the Black.'
The Black was a faith that would use even the corpses of demons to eradicate them. And their leader was that notorious Northern Duke. They were pathologically secretive and utterly without scruple—cold-blooded to the bone—so nothing that happened before the Pentagon would surprise anyone.
'But if Isaac gets tangled up in it, that's another story entirely.'
To Kina, Isaac was the only priest who could stand as her equal. Was it even conceivable to send to the grave someone who knew the Pope's own techniques?
Yet at Kina's reaction, Molech looked less frightened than dumbfounded, as if reality had failed to match his expectations.
Has this brat gone mad? The Pope's own grandson, shielding the grandson of Azure—who could have imagined it!
"Have you lost your mind?! You, lay hands on ME?! No—pull yourself together first! Do you even know WHAT god Isaac Eschua is about to summon?! It will disadvantage His Holiness the Pope! He must be dealt with!"
At those words, Isaac's ears perked straight up.
Hold on.
Am I seriously hearing this, right here, right now?
I was just wondering how I'd ever get anything out of that damn Goel, since he ran off without saying a word to the end.
But "disadvantage the Pope"? What an adorable little tidbit. Do go on.
"The God of Gold! Does that even make any sense?!"
It's the GOD OF GOLD, no less!
Isaac snickered and began creeping along the floor like a very sneaky caterpillar.
Kina approached the masked pair.
"I take it you're traveling incognito, so I'll dispense with formalities. But your attendants must be worried sick over their master."
It was a pointed way of saying: what business does the Crown Prince have sneaking out of the Imperial Palace?
"And you've even brought Her Highness the Princess along."
The Holy See and the imperial family were on the worst of terms—bad enough that each actively plotted the other's destruction. The heirs they had each put forward went without saying. And with the two of them currently maneuvering to take Isaac for themselves, relations could hardly get worse.
But the Crown Prince ignored her.
"Right now, retrieving the injured young lord comes first. We take him to the Imperial Palace."
"Imperial Palace, nothing. He goes to the Holy See."
At that, the Imperial Princess cut in.
"I don't think the Imperial Palace OR the Holy See will work."
No one needed to ask what she meant.
"Wait—where did HE go this time?!"
Isaac, who had slunk off unnoticed, had the fleeing Molech by the collar.
"So. The God of Gold, hm? Which god exactly? Tell me more. In detail."
"This bastard really has lost it!"
Molech no longer cared about disposing of Isaac or anything else—he just wanted out of this room. But Isaac would not let go.
And frankly, being swarmed by a grinning hedgehog bristling with poison quills was the stuff of nightmares.
"So who is it, Count? Hm? The God of Gold's a Chief God—is it the god of wealth, huh? Is that it? Huh?"
"I never said Chief God, you little—! Get AWAY from me! You think my retainers will let this stand?!"
"Eh. Do your worst, if you can."
"What?"
Isaac, who had abruptly gone still, suddenly screamed.
"GYAAAH! My lord Count, please, I'm sorry! Isaac was wrong! Don't drag me away!"
Count Molech was dumbfounded.
What is wrong with this kid all of a sudden?
"Has he actually gone mad…?!"
But that was when it happened.
Count Molech felt killing intent from somewhere nearby.
Rillai and the head of House Azure were looking this way with the eyes of monsters.
"Good heavens—kidnapping!'"
At the revelation that Isaac had nearly been abducted, Eli and Rillai were spitting pure, unquenchable fury.
"And to leave the child in such a state, no less! He must have suffered terribly for him to faint like that!"
Looked less like fainting and more like ascending to heaven with delight, if you ask me.
Goel broke out in a cold sweat as he recalled Isaac cackling away. The sight of him laughing "heh-heh-heh-heh" while bristling with poison quills like a hedgehog was beyond bizarre—it was genuinely terrifying.
Meanwhile, Rillai and his father, hauling Molech in behind them, wore the faces of the apocalypse itself.
But that wasn't the real problem.
Rillai's expression turned grave.
"I never dreamed the Black Cardinal himself would move. To think they'd go so far as to orchestrate a kidnapping—Isaac summoning a dark god is one thing, but this? However rotten their faith, there are limits."
At that point, the head of House Azure clicked his tongue.
"Then Isaac doesn't attend the God Summoning tomorrow. See to it."
"I'm sorry—WHAT?!"
The one who choked was none other than Goel.
"You'd let a mess like this happen over some trial? He doesn't go."
And finally, unable to bear it any longer, Goel exploded.
"It's the SUPREME GOD."
"What?"
"UGH, I said it's the SUPREME GOD! Forget faith and all the rest of it—he's going, do you hear me?! Honestly!"
…WHAT?!