Let's Assess the Situation (3)
What on earth was going on?
The priests of the Black Faith doubted their own eyes. Their own ears, even.
Um. You see...
The guardian deity summoned by the Black Faith's heir had... made a contract. And with a member of House Eshua, no less.
Yes. So the Black heir had been abandoned, and...
...Huh? What?
"What did you just say?!"
The Black priests stared at Isaac in stunned disbelief. Confusion and terror rippled through their gazes.
Weren't they trying to summon the Supreme God?
Why pass over the Supreme God and take OUR deity?
They simply could not comprehend the situation. No matter what anyone said, abandoning the Supreme God was an option that should not have existed.
And yet, a suspicion nagged at them.
Don't tell me... he's stolen our god first, and plans to contract with the Supreme God later?
The mad thought froze the Black priests solid.
Yes! That had to be it!
It's possible. He prioritized the family's interests...
What kind of deity was the God of the Penal Code?
Not merely rewriting rules, but altering laws and fundamental properties themselves—his capabilities were practically limitless. The Black Faith hadn't toasted to their first God of the Penal Code in several centuries for nothing.
And House Eshua just took him?
He'll suck out the sweet nectar, then switch over to the Supreme God!
Right. He intends to rip him back out later, claiming he's "returning" the God of the Penal Code.
To crush us with him!
Such cunning! Such villainy!
Under the scandalized stares of those priests, Isaac let out a snicker.
Well, from the look of things they'd landed on some bizarre misunderstanding—but it didn't matter.
A god like the God of the Penal Code was, in truth, worth a family head's position; a precious deity one could only draw out with exceptional talent among the very best. And that guardian deity of the Black Faith had just been stolen by a rival house. Their confusion was understandable, Isaac supposed.
From Nizer's perspective, the moment he drew out the Black god, he must have thought everything was finally over. Merits accumulated, abilities proven—a smooth highway opened straight to becoming the family head. Or so he'd believed.
And then this happened?
Meaning Nizer had just had his trump card snatched away. His future, too.
The proof was written all over Nizer's face, and it was quite the sight. He'd gone past looking like he might faint to looking like a man who had lost his country. My bad about that.
But no amount of that face would get it returned. Isaac had to live too.
Besides, once things played out this way, the benefits were endless...
"Did the god of the Black Faith not choose that child over his own successor!"
"You mean he rated a child of another house more highly than the current heir?"
"Is that the issue right now? If the Black god, who hunts heresy, was willing to contract, doesn't that mean his faith is beyond reproach!"
"Come to think of it, if there'd been any problem, he'd have executed the boy rather than contract with him!"
"They said Isaac was a heretic! So the Black Faith got it wrong, then?"
"Was it an honest mistake?"
"Mistake, my foot! The Black Faith's discernment has simply declined!"
Yes, THAT'S it! Ha-ha!
Good luck investigating House Eshua now. No more of that high-and-mighty talk.
It wasn't just any god—their own guardian deity chose him. What were they going to do about it?
And that wasn't all. Taking the guardian deity also meant Isaac now held their leash!
True to form, the cardinals, who had clearly never anticipated this, perked up with interest.
"Oh."
"Now this is a rare turn of events."
They had dismissed Isaac as just another heretic, but now the story changed entirely.
Though the Cardinal of Black's expression shifted for an entirely different reason.
"C-Cardinal."
"Oho. So he plundered a god, did he?"
"...!"
He sat there smiling, chin propped on his hand. A pleasant smile—yet his narrowed eyes fixed on Isaac like he wanted to tear him apart on the spot.
Grnnnnk.
At the murderous holy power boiling up within him, the priests couldn't hold themselves steady and trembled.
The bishops of the Black Faith understood their family head's fury.
"An Upper God can normally contract with only one person!"
"If that brat contracts with him, the God of the Penal Code... will slip beyond the Black Faith's control!"
"Um—"
They turned toward the Eshua family with desperate, hopeful faces.
"The Holy See would hardly welcome the god of the Black Faith, surely!"
"We demand you void the contract at once—!"
"Haha, obviously it must be voided. Naturally. Of course..."
"Why would we?"
...What?
The head of the Holy See was raising an eyebrow. And the Eshua family? They couldn't hold back their laughter.
How could they?
What exactly were the Pope's conditions?
The Pope was one who could embrace all Five Faiths. The cardinals didn't don their prisoner's garb—the black vestments—of their own will and swear loyalty to him for nothing.
Granted, every Pope in history had actually contracted only with the God of Gold.
Or rather, maybe a Pope can only contract with the God of Gold.
The head of the Holy See, who had been at the Pope's side since childhood, narrowed his eyes.
In any case, no Pope had ever truly embraced the gods of all Five Faiths. That was the meaning of it.
But what about Isaac?
Didn't that mean he might genuinely embrace all Five Faiths?
Surely the Supreme God's choice carried some meaning of its own.
And how could one's lips NOT curl upward at that? Hmm?
At the Eshua family grinning with pride, the eyes of the Black priests bloodshot.
'A god contracts with only one person in an era.'
So the Supreme God is already his? That's why he's so relaxed!
The Black bishops stepped forward, as if refusing to back down. They could not allow the Black Faith's prestige to collapse like this and bring harm to everyone belonging to the Black Faith.
Granted, he probably wouldn't listen to a word of it—but the other party was House Eshua. Drag out the moral arguments long enough, and they'd listen. And so the Black bishops came on deliberately strong.
"This is unlawful! You've stolen another faith's god without a shred of decency!"
"Quite right. Do you truly believe House Eshua taking the god of the Black Faith is acceptable?"
"This situation is utterly absurd, so return him at onc—"
"Well, everything happens for a reason, doesn't it?"
"...?!"
At Rillai's smile, the faces of the Black bishops twitched all at once.
They had no choice.
Hadn't they said almost exactly the same thing to the Holy See?
'Well, everything happens for a reason. If that child is to be executed, there will have been a reason for it.'
And clearly aiming precisely for that, Rillai curled his lips upward.
"There will be a reason for this as well."
"!"
...Why, that insufferable whelp! Was he daring to throw their own words back in their faces and mock them?
The Black bishops looked to the head of the Holy See as if demanding he discipline the insolent brat at once—but all that came back was a voice cold as ice.
"What are you all gawking at? You heard him. Get lost."
...God-damned bastards!
"UAAAAAGH! You—what have you DONE?!"
Shuri clutched his head in agony. Stealing a god from another faith—had it come to this? An act without precedent in all history!
"Didn't you see every single priest of the Black Faith glaring at you?! The Holy See is already short on members, and you keep manufacturing enemies!"
"That's not glaring, that's shell shock from losing their guardian deity. Keh-heh!"
This absolute lunatic, I swear!
Shuri had plenty more he wanted to say, but as if none of it mattered, Isaac cut him off.
"More importantly—the Supreme God!"
"What about him?"
"Why didn't you contract with the Supreme God? Don't tell me your holy power was still too weak to summon him? Hmm? Is that it? So you settled for the Black Faith's god?"
Nope. That wasn't it.
'The Supreme God?'
He could have summoned him. It would've burned through every drop of holy power he had, but it was doable.
'Why do you think this body is a Saint's?'
The Supreme God being summoned had simply hovered there, seemingly savoring the God of the Penal Code's reaction. And when the latter moved to make his contract, the Supreme God began to descend, as if demanding Isaac choose him instead.
But who cared?
For now, he'd been kicked away.
'Got to be careful. A god whose purpose and intentions are unknown gets deferred.'
[I'd wager it's not just because you've caused trouble before, my lord?]
Yeah, yeah. Shut it.
What actually gnawed at him was the matter of House Eshua that the God of the Penal Code had raised.
'Don't grow too attached to Eshua.'
What did that mean?
On the surface, it sounded like plain sabotage, obviously. But Isaac knew that look in the God of the Penal Code's eyes.
It had surely been back when Isaac, as the Skeleton Demon King, still dwelt in the God Realm.
'Skeleton King. What are those pigs?'
'Cute, aren't they? They lost their mother and were squealing from hunger, so I've been feeding and raising them. I'll ride them once they're grown.'
'Hmm... don't grow too attached to them.'
'What?'
Yes. The gods. Those vermin!
They'd ended up devouring the very pigs someone else had so carefully raised!
And the look in the God of the Penal Code's eyes just now had been that exact same look.
Well, Isaac could hardly fail to understand why.
The guardians of a faith were meant to lay down their lives for their god. Especially those on the Holy See's frontlines—their odds of dying in battle were even higher.
Granted, the Holy See's Chief God had treated even the Skeleton King kindly, and judging by his character, he was unlikely to work his faithful to death.
But nothing obliged the other gods to stand by idle. Hence the displeasure.
'The little bastards are eyeing MY holdings again.'
[Did you say YOUR holdings, my lord?]
MINE!
Eshua's property, its lands, its troops, its honor—every last bit of it was mine!
What kind of place was House Eshua? The very cradle from which the Eshua Empire would one day rise!
'Becoming its family head—and daring to touch what will be mine?'
All the while, Shuri looked genuinely regretful.
"And here I thought I'd finally get to see the Supreme God."
The other apprentices had rejoiced—'Thank goodness he didn't summon the Supreme God!' 'This means we have a chance too!' 'We won't get beaten senseless!'—but Shuri seemed to find it a waste.
"So we'll never get to see the Supreme God now?"
That was when it happened.
"No. You'll be seeing him soon enough."
"!"
Shuri flinched at the unexpected voice.
Its owner was the Gold Cardinal.
"Congratulations. The rankings for the Black Pentagon put you in a tie for first."
The top three of the Black Pentagon were Isaac, Kina, and Shuri. All three were Chief-God-class within their respective faiths, so no ranking order could be determined.
"I'm not thrilled about a tie for first, but since it's the Holy See, acceptable."
[Wow. These people just assume Gold takes first place every time, don't they.]
Whisper declared he felt nauseous, but Shuri was busy having his pupils quake.
'...Uncle. Since when could his voice do THAT?'
Good heavens, listen to that honeyed tone. The man was simply beside himself over how precious Isaac was.
He even said it was fine because Isaac belonged to the Holy See?
Had he misheard something?
And no, that wasn't all.
"A magnificent move, truly. To bring the Black Faith to heel like that."
"We're impressed! Once your apprenticeship ends, come join us. We'll treat you well."
Even the Gold noble priests who had once despised Isaac were beaming at him with the warmest of smiles.
'Well, it's fair enough, I suppose.'
Thanks to Isaac, Gold had managed to put the Black Faith in its place. Of course the man would look adorable to them.
So long as Isaac didn't contract with the Supreme God alone, so long as his chances of becoming Pope weren't eliminated, so long as House Eshua didn't soar out of reach—nothing else mattered to them.
The Gold Cardinal extended his hand, as if proposing they keep the Black Faith in check together.
"We shall make an excellent team."
A... team? Did he just say TEAM?
Gold? With the Holy See?
'Has Gold lost its mind?'
"And you haven't forgotten our arrangement, have you? Hand over the Supreme God now. We'll value the compensation far more generously than promised."
The magnanimous tone of it grated, and Shuri narrowed his eyes at Isaac.
'Of all people... it's THIS guy. There's no way he'd actually hand over the Supreme G——'
"Sure. You can have him."
"What—boy, WHAT?!"
Shuri shrieked on pure reflex.
But Isaac just waggled a finger.
"I said yes, but payment first. You said the God of Wealth, right?"
THE GOD OF WEALTH!
Shuri glared at Isaac like he wanted to grab him by the collar, but the boy couldn't have cared less.
The Gold Cardinal drew a small box from within his robes.
"Well. Fine. A Pope, once enthroned, can contract with several deities—but you can't, can you."
"!"
Every person had a fixed capacity for how many contracts they could bear.
'In his current state, he can handle perhaps a single Upper God at most.'
Even without contracting the God of the Penal Code, the burden would already have been considerable. That was the implication.
'Well, the Supreme God could bend himself to fit Isaac's capacity. But why would a Supreme God stoop so low for a contract with some brat?'
"So that you may use him WITHOUT a contract, I shall grant you a Summoning Stone of Wealth."
Shuri nearly jumped out of his skin at the object the Gold Cardinal held out.
'The guardian stone of House Verith!'
A guardian stone held a guardian deity within it—and a guardian deity was a god enshrined within a sacred relic, with the relic itself serving as its temple.
Moreover, without any contract, one could call upon it at any moment to receive the god's blessing, and since it brought fortune to the territory it guarded, it was an extraordinarily precious thing.
'A guardian deity of House Verith is no ordinary matter. That's a blessing on the scale of a grand territory!'
Wielding power enough to revitalize the land itself, it was worth well over ten million gold.
And with the God of Wealth himself dwelling inside that stone, fortune could be multiplied without spending a single drop of holy power! No wonder Isaac's eyes were spinning.
"The deity I serve has already been informed. He will respond to your voice, and obey your word alone."
"So I just need to summon the Supreme God for you?"
"Isaac!"
[My lord, are you truly planning to hand him over?]
At that, Isaac smirked.
'Not exactly hand him over. I want to figure out what the Supreme God's purpose actually is.'
The Papal Court would naturally want to contract with the Supreme God—but a being of that caliber would hardly agree so easily.
So they'd begin wooing him, little by little. And in that process, Isaac would learn what the Supreme God was after.
'I don't associate with creeps. Maybe in another, oh, thousand years or so I'll take him if I feel like it. I've got a capacity limit anyway, and there are plenty of other gods I'd rather contract with than the Supreme God.'
[And whom might that be?]
'The Holy See's cash-cow god, the Black Faith's cash-cow god, the White Faith's cash-cow god, the Red Faith's cash-cow god. And so on and so forth, every faith's cash-cow g——'
[...Those are all the God of Wealth.]
'Heh-heh, money is everything! The Supreme God? I'll sell him off at a handsome price later.'
And that was the exact moment.
"Now, you've received the guardian stone, so hand the Supreme God over to——"
The instant Isaac took the guardian stone from the Gold Cardinal, a hot breath brushed against Isaac's back.
'!'
Like a breeze settling over him, someone gently wrapped their arms around Isaac's neck.
It was the Supreme God's aura. But the moment it touched him, it vanished.
And just as everyone wondered what on earth had happened—
"Huh?"
Every gaze turned to Isaac's hand.
"HUH?!"
For there, on the back of Isaac's left hand—
"The Supreme God's contract sigil?!"
"What did you say?"
The eyes of the flustered Gold priests went round as saucers.
"Wait—an Upper God—contracted TWICE?!"
Isaac's own eyes went round as saucers too.
"Son of a—what IS this thing?!"
[The Supreme God has gone and made a contract, my lord.]
What?
What do you mean, WHAT?!