The Skeleton King's Followers (5)
Those who followed the Skeleton King.
Well, it wasn't exactly strange that such people existed. The strongest of any era inevitably becomes an object of fascination, whether that interest takes the form of hatred or adoration. It was simply how the world worked.
But what if that strongest being was the Skeleton King, the apex of the black magic seat?
For hundreds of years, every manner of creature had come crawling to him, calling him their master. Monsters, demihumans, humans—all of them, without any need to draw lines between species.
So the fact that such people were hiding in the Holy Empire was nothing to be surprised about. They weren't worth worrying about in the slightest.
But this was a different story entirely.
"You dare attempt to summon the Skeleton King in the Holy Empire, where I live? Are you out of your mind? You dare try to harm this country before I can, and lay a hand on His Highness the Crown Prince, my future source of income? Unforgivable!"
At Isaac's outburst, Shuri's face curdled.
…Goddammit. What is wrong with this guy now?
More importantly, I'm pretty sure there were words missing between his sentences… or am I imagining it?
No, honestly, with this lunatic, who could even tell.
"Hey. What is this? When did he get that chummy with the Crown Prince? Since when, exactly? Or what—you've been trailing him around every day, don't tell me you set this up?"
As Kina seized him by the collar, Shuri stared up at the sky, tears welling in his eyes.
Goddammit…. I want to go home.
Not a single star in the sky tonight. The pitch-black heavens look exactly like my future.
Like I'd have any clue when Isaac got close to the Crown Prince.
Apparently, the lunatic had raved that he was a hundred-year bosom friend of a rolling skull. Of course he had.
That said, Isaac's apparent closeness with the Crown Prince clearly made Kina anxious.
'Well, I can see why.'
House Eshua backing the imperial throne, out of all five faiths, was a seismic shift in the balance of power.
'Traditionally, the Pope must embrace all faiths, so as the designated next Pope, she can hardly afford to ignore it.'
And House Eshua carried exceptional symbolic weight, at that.
Worse, the Crown Prince despised the Papal Court. For Kina—of the noble faction and the papal faction both—the Crown Prince was someone she could never coexist with.
Simply put, it was as if her own lackey had started sucking up to the enemy commander. Naturally, that would make her blood boil.
And for the papal house, which wielded power rivaling the throne and needed to keep all Five Great Families in its grip, this might well have wounded her pride.
'Is the Crown Prince somehow better than ME?!'
Yes, her eyes were pretty much saying exactly that.
Then again, Kina had always seemed to regard Isaac as her first, last, and only rival worth acknowledging.
Anyway, Kina was glaring at him with axe-murderer eyes, but Isaac, oblivious or simply indifferent—
"Your Highness, I'll catch the spies for you, so grant me just one favor."
"If it's you, I see no reason to refuse."
At those words, Kina's eyebrows twitched. Then she grabbed the completely innocent Shuri by the collar.
"Hey! Why is the noble House Eshua soliciting corrupt favors?! Shuri, what did you teach this kid?!"
Shuri's eyes went glassy with tears.
Goddammit…. This is unjust. Why am I the one getting strangled over Isaac's mess?
But Kina's gaze was dead serious.
"Was it money? So that's why he chose the crown—for the money?"
No, he just hates the Pope. The moment he sees that guy, he turns into a deranged lunatic who starts trying to wring his neck.
"Should I try bribing this one with money too?"
…Excuse me, papal house. Are you seriously allowed to do that?
"No…. Perhaps offering him a cushy sinecure through connections would work better."
"No…. Perhaps outright corruption would work better."
…Is this country actually okay? Like, really?
Soon, Kina seized Shuri again.
"Write me a list of everything Isaac Eshua likes. No, wait. Ask whether I can train at the Holy See for the time being."
Ugh!
Finally at the end of his rope, Shuri turned to confront the culprit behind it all.
"Hey! Isaac! That's enough, get over—huh?"
Shuri, who had been about to drag Isaac away, glanced around in confusion. Isaac, who had been there mere moments ago, was gone.
"Where the hell did that brat go?!"
"Damn it, what is going on?!"
Beneath the dark night sky, three shadows fled from the Imperial Palace.
"How could a skeleton we summoned—"
"That damn Crown Prince, did he blast it somewhere else?"
They had known the power of the Divine Dragon was immense, but never imagined it could hurl something of that size away in a single instant.
"The whole plan is ruined!"
"That's not the point right now!"
What troubled them was the Giant Skeleton they had summoned.
"That skeleton—it clearly refused to obey our orders."
"!"
The summoning circle they had used was flawless. Short of the Skeleton King himself, it could have called forth a high-ranking demon more than capable of killing the Emperor.
And anything called forth by that circle was bound to obey the summoner's command—no exceptions.
"If it disobeyed, that means the circle's binding was shattered."
"Don't tell me… something stronger than the circle was actually there?"
"What? Does that even make sense? That circle was crafted personally by a trusted confidant of the great Skeleton King! He is 7th Tier!"
After all, there couldn't possibly be a mage above 7th Tier in the Holy Empire!
"Anyway, find that vanished skeleton! Find it, and—"
"Find it, and what, exactly?"
"What kind of question—did you forget the plan? We replace the Crown Prince and drag House Eshua down into the abyss—!"
"Hmm~? And what might that be about?"
"……?!"
At the unfamiliar voice, the hooded man swallowed hard. It was unmistakably a child's light, carefree tone—yet beneath it ran something with terrible depth, a voice steeped in menace.
He scanned his surroundings and nearly screamed. The two companions who had been following him had vanished without a trace.
"What the—where did these guys go?! How do you just vanish like that?!"
"Vanish? Oh, they didn't vanish."
With the voice, the hooded man let out a strangled cry and collapsed.
"My subordinate has kindly taken them into custody."
"……!"
Wracked with agony, the man clutched his head. A dull, pounding pain throbbed through his skull, and blood dripped steadily down.
Seeing his own blood, he couldn't help but shudder.
'Taken into custody?'
He hadn't sensed so much as a flicker of presence!
Had a ghost snatched them away?
But that wasn't what mattered now.
'A Heresy Inquisitor's weapon?'
The 7th-Tier protective spell wrapped around his body had been pierced. Something had cut through his protection and drawn blood.
Only the anti-personnel weapons of the Red Faith's heresy inquisitors could manage that. Yes, that had to be it. With such a weapon, breaking through a protective spell was entirely plausible.
But if it was a weapon, he already had countermeasures prepared. He hadn't played the Skeleton King's spy in the Holy Empire for nothing.
The man grinned and unleashed his magic.
'Now, let me deliver judgment in return. I'll smash that arrogant little weapon to—'
Then, staring at the weapon emerging from the darkness, the man doubted his own eyes.
What… what was that?
That wasn't… a weapon?
'…A baby rattle?!'
What dripped with blood was unmistakably a golden baby's rattle. And the boy gripping it materialized from the darkness, grinning.
"There. Now it's just you and me, buddy."
The man stared at the boy, dumbfounded. Judging by his build—about Kina's size—he was clearly still young, but a helmet covered his face, making him impossible to identify.
Worse, the helmet was smeared with what looked like his comrades' blood. The sight was beyond grotesque.
"Who—what are you?! Who are you?!"
The boy shook the rattle with a flourish and laughed.
"Me? Just a passerby."
A passerby, my ass!
"If you're going to hide something, hide your clothes first? Anywhere I look, that's a novice priest's robe!"
"Ah. Then make me a passing bandit instead."
The man gaped at Isaac, utterly speechless.
"Since when do priests turn into bandits mid-conversation?!"
"Because I'm about to do something bad, and if I call myself a priest, I'll get scolded."
"What does that even mean?!"
As the man tried to flee, Isaac stomped him firmly back down and raised the rattle high.
"Mister, don't even think about running. See, I've got some banditry to do right now? Gotta handle it without Grandpa finding out? Otherwise my spot as heir goes straight down the toilet, see? There's a doctrine at the Holy See about not assaulting people, so it has to be done in secret."
Goddammit, this bastard isn't even trying to hide who he is!
But regardless of all that, Isaac—having left the other two to Shabnak and followed their leader—smiled.
"Now then. Before we deal with you, I have a few questions. Answer honestly, or it's going to hurt. A lot."
The man curled his lips into a smirk.
"Judging by the look of you, an Eshua novice."
"Ugh. How many times do I have to say I'm a passing bandit? Ah, right, since you've figured out my identity, I'll have to clean up after you too. Honestly, I went to the trouble of putting that helmet on you, and still you saw through it."
YOU were the one who exposed your identity first, you idiot?! The man was flabbergasted—but then laughed as if things had just swung his way.
An Eshua darling of a boy, and a cleric besides—weak to magic. And that wasn't all.
"An Eshua brat? Kill you, and even the great Skeleton King will rejoice!"
Isaac snorted.
"Excuse me? Who's going to rejoice?"
In that instant, with a flare of Hwaryeok's embers, an enormous blaze roared upward.
FWOOSH!
"Gaaah—what the hell, fire?!"
The flames, starting at his feet, raced up his body to his waist in the space of a heartbeat.
"Fire! FIRE!"
The man flailed wildly, but Isaac only watched him with contempt. Apparently the man had been noticed through the magic tool he carried on his person—he had been preparing to burn the evidence, hadn't he?
No doubt he'd intended to kill everyone in the Imperial Palace.
"If you're going to use fire, at least use it properly. Fire is wielded like this."
As Isaac raised the rattle overhead, the flames that had climbed to the man's waist surged all the way up to his head.
"AAAAAAGH! What—what is happening!"
And at the same moment, Isaac said with a smile:
"Even if I explained, you wouldn't understand. Now—if you want the fire out, speak. Who's behind you?"
"You insane little—"
"Hmm? The flames seem to be burning hotter?"
The Demon King, waving his blood-stained rattle, smiled wickedly.