The Skeleton King's Followers (1)
The Holy Empire of Hella.
Boasting several thousand years of history, Hella was as renowned as its long, storied past would suggest. Rulers of fertile lands and bearers of the Divine Dragon's bloodline, the Hella imperial family had conquered nation after nation through countless wars, and they were famous for basking in the Divine Dragon's protection.
And then there was the Pope, blessed by the gods themselves. The first Pope had been the first Emperor's own younger brother, standing beside the throne from the very beginning — aiding it, upholding it, and supporting it ever since.
In short, the Hella royals wielded both the Pope's backing and the Divine Dragon's power. They were people who had it all.
It wasn't for nothing they were called one of the continent's three great hegemons — who could even count how many necks had rolled at the hands of the Hella royals? It wasn't for nothing people said you'd better brace yourself before setting foot in the imperial palace.
Yes, and yet.
"It appears there is a spy of the Skeleton King within the imperial palace. Find them."
"Sure, no problem. So how much are you paying if I do?"
Sebeol! You insane bastard!
A mere apprentice, and he demanded payment right off the bat from the imperial family? Did he think that because this request had come through the Holy See, the person making it was really a client?
This is not a request. This is a royal 'command'!
The priests summoned to the palace had no choice but to freeze solid at Isaac's bombshell of a remark. The Holy See priest who had come as their representative in particular went white as a sheet.
What kind of lunatic is this?!
Even the Five Great Families, for all their power, knew their place — even House Berith at least pretended to sheathe its claws before the throne! But this brat wasn't just unsheathing his; he looked ready to gut himself, lie down, and demand someone carve him some fruit!
Unable to bear it any longer, Shuri broke taboo and whispered to Isaac, very, very quietly.
"You absolute madman. Can't you read the room......?!"
Private chatter in front of the royal family was normally forbidden, but at this point even the palace attendants would look the other way. No — judging by the trembling in the attendants' eyes, they approved wholeheartedly. Their gazes screamed, please, somebody stop him.
But for all his whispering, Isaac raised his voice without a care in the world.
"Oh come on, it's obvious from what you're saying. Huge risk, and we just get worked to the bone. 'If you die on the job, that's your problem,' right? If you're the imperial family, you ought to pay properly! You're worse than common street thugs."
Hey! Stop!
The apprentices felt their sanity slipping away, and the Holy See priest beside them was on the verge of collapse.
So THAT'S why the Holy See looked so worried when they sent him to the palace!
The expression on their faces — must we really take him to the royal palace? — was still vivid in his memory. And for some reason, they had pressed a suicide pill firmly into his hand.
It was all because of this brat!
'Die before the royal family kills you'?!
Indeed, Isaac's spectacularly disrespectful remarks froze the knights and the palace attendants alike. But Isaac just carried on, wearing a face that asked what the problem was.
"What, am I wrong? The Skeleton King's spy might be in the palace, but you don't even know who it is — and apparently they've taken down 6th-Tier knights, even a 7th-Tier knight. That makes this at least high-tier difficulty, doesn't it? Shouldn't there be hazard pay? The way I hear it, you lot don't even have anything like that prepared. Just like common thugs."
"......!"
Hey! For the love of—!
That's it, it's over. It's all over.
Before his apprenticeship even ends, his head's going to roll clean off and get buried in Eshua soil.
Shuri had despaired — but at that very moment, the Empress burst out laughing.
"So you are the famous youngest priest of House Eshua."
Isaac glanced at the Empress. She sat beside the Crown Prince, her features strong and imposing.
But she isn't the Crown Prince's real mother.
And indeed, the two looked nothing alike.
Which was to say, the imperial family was quite the tangled web itself.
The Empress is part of the Papal faction.
But the Empress smiled at Isaac as if he were terribly endearing.
"True — even I, who entrusted this matter to the Holy See, made an oversight. The danger certainly outweighs any satisfaction to be had as things stand. I shall grant you a fitting reward. Will that satisfy you, youngest priest of Eshua?"
Only then did Isaac break into a beaming smile.
See, that's more like it. You greedy old leeches.
And then, as if he'd never grumbled a word, he bowed his head like a seasoned merchant.
"We gratefully accept the commission, Your Majesty the Empress."
At that response, the Empress laughed again, as if he were adorable. The onlookers, who had been certain his head was about to fly off, breathed sighs of relief.
I thought I was going to die.
Her Majesty seems to have taken a liking to him, so he won't be executed...... right?
Shuri looked ready to burst into tears on the spot, but Isaac himself was perfectly relaxed.
Got cold feet? Well, yes, that was mostly the reason — but Isaac knew full well his neck wasn't going anywhere.
'I heard something useful through my subordinate, you see.'
The information Shabnak had passed along about the Empress was none other than this:
"My lord, upon hearing that you have contracted with the Supreme God, the Empress appears to have taken profound interest."
Yes — the Supreme God. The Empress wanted, by any means necessary, to make Isaac her own person.
Of course, her aim differed from that of the Emperor and Crown Prince, who sought to keep the Holy See in check.
'She wants to use me to drag the Crown Prince down.'
The Empress's faction was stronger than one might think. Why?
Why indeed — a powerful maternal clan was one thing, but the real reason was that insufferable Pope.
'That black-haired brat is still going strong, I see.'
The Crown Prince, on the verge of his investiture ceremony, looked almost exactly as he had in his infancy. The same expressionless face, the same jet-black hair — hair the Holy Empire regarded as inauspicious.
In any case, the Pope was hardly the sort to sit idle while the Crown Prince prospered. No doubt he was already plotting to join hands with the Empress and drag the boy down. After all, if the current Crown Prince became Emperor, it wouldn't be strange at all for him to sweep the Papal faction away entirely.
'If the Crown Prince hadn't been chosen by the Divine Dragon and grown to near-Swordmaster caliber, the noise around him would never have stopped.'
Or maybe not? Judging by how they nitpicked his every move even now, perhaps peace was never on the menu.
For his part, the Crown Prince seemed displeased that the Empress had summoned priests at all.
"Summoning apprentices over a matter like this was strange to begin with. No — we shouldn't be mobilizing clergy for it, either."
Or rather, to be precise, he seemed displeased that Isaac had been called out over a matter like this. Perhaps he simply disliked being made to meet with such uncomfortable company in this manner.
But the Empress merely smiled.
"And yet the Skeleton King's spy truly does have the royal family in their sights. It may even be a matter of your own life. Wouldn't you agree?"
Others echoed her words in affirmation.
"That's right. There is no doubt that a spy of the Skeleton King lurks within the palace."
"Yes! Cursed artifacts bearing the Skeleton King's malediction, along with materials for summoning, were discovered near the palace, were they not? They intend to summon the Skeleton King and kill the royal family — of that there can be no mistake."
"The Skeleton King would dearly love to erase the Hella royal family, the very heart of the divine faction."
At those words, Isaac arched an eyebrow.
Bastards. Why me?
I'm supposed to be sucking honey here. Why!
Still, their reasoning wasn't without merit.
True. The barrier protecting the Holy Empire was maintained by the Divine Dragon.
"Even the Skeleton King could not breach the Divine Dragon's barrier."
That's not it! I just couldn't be bothered to break it, so I left it alone!
Getting flagged as a most-wanted target by the dragons and tangled up with them is a massive headache, so I left it be!
Just then, a palace attendant handed Isaac a sheaf of documents.
"This is a list of palace servants under suspicion. We would like you to identify the culprit on the basis of this."
The Empress smiled expectantly.
"You are the genius who contracted with the Supreme God, after all. The reward will be ample — I trust you will catch whoever means harm to our royal house."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
The priests bowed and filed out of the chamber. The moment they were outside, they pounced on Isaac like he was a stray dog.
"You! I genuinely thought your head was going to come off!"
"If you pull one more stunt that ignorant—!"
But Isaac grabbed Shuri and the priests with deadly seriousness, as if to say, what idiotic garbage are you spouting?
"Hey, is that really what matters right now? That's the Empress we're talking about! Do you have any idea how much money you can squeeze out of the Empress?!"
"You......!!"
This lunatic, for real!
"Kheheh! I know perfectly well the Empress has taken an interest in me. Only an idiot wouldn't leverage that!"
...Are these truly the eyes of a priest of God?
"That settles it. I'll get close to the Empress and bleed her dry."
...Supreme God, why on earth did You choose this child?
'Is this a trial?'
Did the Supreme God step in to test whether we can tell a demon wearing an angel's mask from the real thing?
Just as everyone's sanity was hanging by a thread—
"Do not place too much trust in the Empress."
"!"
The Crown Prince had appeared before Isaac's group, who were still huddled in the palace garden mid-scolding.
"H-His Highness the Crown Prince!"
The priests of the Blue Faith startled and dropped to their knees, heads bowed. Isaac stood bolt upright — then, thanks to Shuri, grudgingly lowered his head.
That alone was irreverence enough, but the Crown Prince paid it little mind and addressed the priests.
"The Empress intends only to use House Eshua's name. Take care — this affair may cost you your lives. That is all I mean to say."
"......!"
Just then, the Empress could be seen approaching Isaac from a distance, and the Crown Prince sighed before speaking again.
"Still, from the crown's standpoint, we would prefer the spy who curses the royal family be caught. The Holy See's priests should be capable of it."
"Yes, Your Highness! Have no fear! We cannot stand idly by while that wicked Skeleton King returns! We will catch him, whatever it takes!"
The apprentices bowed trembling heads — while Isaac wore the expression of a man chewing something foul.
No, listen. That bastard already reincarnated.
He's right here, dammit.
"Wow, this is the first time I've seen His Highness the Crown Prince up close!"
Night had fallen over the imperial palace. The apprentices, traps dug and ready, waited for the spy with hearts pounding. Isaac, meanwhile, stared off to the side with a look of utter incredulity.
"Anyway. Why are you here? You already got assigned to a team, didn't you?"
At Isaac's words, Shuri jabbed a finger at Shabnak and barked.
"Why, you ask! You think I'm leaving you alone with that?!"
Isaac, done with the conversation, started walking.
"In any case, it's certain — there really is a follower of the Skeleton King trying to summon him."
Isaac agreed with Shuri's assessment. He had good reason to: Isaac himself had discovered it inside the palace. A warehouse packed to the brim with items connected to the Skeleton King — everything from cursed objects steeped in demonic power to full summoning implements.
"Looked like a pretty hardcore devotee, too."
"Using the power of that filthy, dog-excuse-for-a-demon, the Skeleton King. Their scheme is obvious as da—hurk!!"
Struck by a rattle that had come spinning between his legs, Shuri stared at Isaac in bewilderment.
"What was that for?! What did I do wrong?!"
"...Nothing. There was a cockroach on the floor."
"...In the royal palace?"
Shuri was flustered, but he quickly latched onto Isaac as the boy headed in a different direction.
"Wait, where have you been going this whole time? That's not where the Skeleton King's follower will show up."
They really weren't Holy See priests for nothing. Most of the apprentices had already pieced together the follower's objective from the items discovered in the palace — knowledge of demons was basic training, the very foundation, for Holy See clergy.
"The follower means to summon the Skeleton King. And today is the perfect day for it, astrologically speaking. The summoning circle that was set up, the traces left behind — everything points to the palace's second warehouse. We stake it out there and—"
"Nope. Not there."
"What? All the other seniors already went to stake that place out."
At that, Isaac — crouched in hiding in the palace garden — gave a soft snort.
"That's a decoy."
"!"
"The real summoning site is somewhere else."
Having examined the planted artifacts, Isaac had seen through it at a glance. If that follower truly meant to summon the Skeleton King, they would have used a high-tier demon summoning circle.
"The real one's in the opposite direction. The second warehouse is a smokescreen to throw the clergy off. The Skeleton King? One look at the items they planted and you'd know it in a heartbeat."
Shuri gave him a suspicious look.
What IS this brat? How does he know the Skeleton King so well?
Isaac grinned at that face.
"You have no idea how much research I've done on the Skeleton King. For the honor of the family! That Skeleton King is getting curb-stomped if it's the last thing I do!"
...Truly? It's not about the bounty?
And then—
Someone came walking into the darkened garden.
"O-oh! Someone really is coming!"
A hooded shadow slipped past, heading somewhere before vanishing. Everyone wondered who the culprit might be—
"Well, honestly, the culprit's obvious."
"What? Who is it?"
"The Empress. It's the Empress."
"What?! But the Empress is the one who commissioned us to find the Skeleton King's follower!"
"She wants to draw a clear line between herself and the spy. She's confident enough to shake off the clergy entirely, see. 'The follower WILL be found!' — and with that, she scores points with the Crown Prince or the Emperor!"
Then Whisper, who had been busy decoding the summoning ritual planted in the palace, spoke up.
'Ah, it's fine, it's fine. No human alive can cast that thing properly anyway.'
"Anyway, let's follow them."
But right at that moment—
Whoosh!
Huh?
Isaac abruptly vanished.
"Isaac?!"
Shuri whirled around frantically, but Isaac was nowhere to be seen.
And the place where the vanished Isaac reappeared was none other than — atop a certain summoning circle.
Uh...?
Uhhhhhhhhh?
There was no mistaking it.
The place Isaac had been summoned to was, of all things, the Skeleton King's summoning circle.
'Damn it. I'm screwed.'
But the one who had done the summoning was even more unexpected.
"...Young Lord Eshua?"
"...Your Highness the Crown Prince?"
...The Skeleton King's spy. It was this bastard all along?