Arcane Secrets? How Hard Could They Be? (2)
[You seem to be in an excellent mood, Master.]
At Whisper's remark, Isaac let out a snort of laughter. What, I seem happy?
Isn't that just obvious?
Grandfather had said that becoming head of the family only required earning the recognition of the God of Blue, and honestly, that had left Isaac in a bit of a bind. Why, you ask?
The gods of Blue are kind of stiff-necked. Winning their approval isn't going to be easy.
[But weren't you and the God of Light friends? Once a Chief God approves you, the rest fall in line, surely.]
Oh, the God of Light likes me, sure. But there's always that one case where the answer is 'not this guy, no matter what.' After all, nobody hands a fish shop over to a cat.
Handing the family over to the Skeleton Demon King? Doctrinal destruction would be the bare minimum. The moment something rubbed him the wrong way, out would come something like, 'Hey. If you don't want to watch your faithful bleed out, you'll do as I say.' That much was a certainty.
Granted, since the Pope was his ultimate goal, Isaac had intended to keep his nose clean and play along with the God of Blue where it mattered.
But to earn their recognition, I'd have to keep every last one of those mind-numbing doctrines and do good deeds until they approved of me.
[Wasn't that the whole point your grandfather intended, though...?]
Ugh, no thanks. Since when do I sit around praying while eating from a feeding trough?
There was the alternative of building his magical strength and strong-arming the gods into submission... but if things could be resolved peacefully, that was the better path.
And yet, strangely enough, things seemed to be working out easily.
— The restoration of the Secret Arts.
That half-provocation he'd shouted at his uncle had apparently struck a nerve with the head of the family.
— Yes. If we restore the Secret Arts, even the God of Blue will have no choice but to acknowledge you.
— Father!
— The previous generation devoted their entire lives to it. It has been a sore finger for House Eshua. Very well. Restore the Secret Arts, and I will count that as a qualification for family head as well.
— Father!
— What deed could earn more recognition than one that saves House Eshua itself?
So, in a word: the restoration of the Secret Arts would also count as proof of his worthiness. Of course, he was only saying this because he knew that wielding the Secret Arts required mastering the doctrines of Blue.
— Then Grandfather, you won't be going to the lands of the True Demons, will you?"
— That is a separate matter.
Well, the real problem was that the head of the family had taken it all as nothing more than his grandson's sweet antics.
Then again, I suppose I wouldn't believe it either, honestly.
The restoration of the Secret Arts was House Eshua's long-cherished dream — and a dream that generations of family heads had failed to achieve. Could anyone readily believe a mere child claiming he'd pull it off?
From the family head's perspective, it was surely joy enough that his grandson had offered to restore the Secret Arts just to protect him.
Well, if he doesn't believe me, I'll just make him believe. Problem solved.
Once Isaac could wield the Secret Arts, Noel wouldn't be able to swagger around quite so high and mighty.
Besides, in the end, he had to make House Eshua the strongest of all. Only then would they become his cards to play — only then could they crush the Pope.
And so Isaac made his way to the Temple of Blue.
"Gasp — the youngest young master is here!"
The knights of Blue snapped to attention the moment they saw him, and Isaac walked straight into the innermost of the prayer chambers.
The prayer chambers used by the direct bloodline were, by default, impenetrable fortresses. Once someone stepped inside, no one — not anyone — could learn what was done within.
The moment Isaac entered, he flicked the dust from his priestly robes and folded himself cross-legged onto the floor. If Shuri had been here, he would have sputtered that he was supposed to kneel properly — but who gave a damn about that.
"Alright then, shall we call down a god?"
[Gasp — wait, you're going to offer a prayer to a god?!]
No? Are you insane?
You think I'd lower myself to praying to some god?
[If you don't pray, the god won't answer, you know?]
Ha, I've got one who comes running on demand without any of that. Isaac pressed his palms together and drew up his holy power.
At once, blue flames blazed up from the altar. It was the signal for summoning a god. Only in a sanctuary, through prayer like this, could a god be called forth.
This was exactly what Shuri had been doing. The very thing that required purifying body and mind between feedings at the trough.
Well, honestly, outside of a contract ceremony, there's hardly ever a chance to lay eyes on a god directly.
Gods were not summoned except on special occasions like the Ordination. In ordinary times, the only being who could directly summon a god was the Pope, a demigod.
In other words, "calling a god" usually meant hearing its voice, or channeling its power.
And even that was the domain of the 5th and 6th tiers — a realm possible only once one reached the rank of Bishop.
It was no wonder, then, that the people of Eshua had been so stunned when Isaac hurled Noel skyward with the power of the God of the Penal Code.
Communicating with a god, meanwhile, demanded an even deeper faith than wielding one's power did, but...
"Penal Code. Come out here, and I'll ask nicely?"
The moment Isaac called for his contracted god, the blue flames flared up violently.
Whoosh!
At the sight, Whisper offered a comment.
[Do you really think the God of the Penal Code will answer? Even with a contract, you have no faith whatsoever, Master...]
If gods could be summoned freely just because of a contract, Shuri wouldn't have suffered so much.
Besides — if the God of Blue required devoutness to be called, shouldn't the God of the Penal Code require discipline?
But Isaac just grinned.
Discipline my ass.
That one came running with or without it.
[...Is he a best friend, like the God of Light?]
Nope, I didn't do anything special to Penal Code.
He was just so damn insolent that I beat him into line.
[Ah — now that you mention it, the God of the Penal Code was one of the gods who came to subjugate you back in your fledgling days, wasn't he?]
Right. I tucked him in nicely back then, and he's been obedient ever since. Although he did beg me never to tell a soul he lost.
Natural for an elite type like him.
If anything, that made him all the more useful to exploit.
He'd been so proud, such a consummate elitist, that the humiliation had nearly driven him to die of shame — and yet he did everything he was told. Even back in the God Realm, he'd smuggled out dirt on the gods' illicit affairs without complaint.
So even now, if he called, the man would come slithering right up—
[He's not coming?]
This little son of a—
Around that time.
[This is maddening.]
The God of the Penal Code was deep in his worries.
He was a renowned Upper God even within the God Realm. At the expression on his face, the Lower Gods attending him stirred anxiously.
[You've been sighing so often lately, my lord.]
[Well. Who could blame him. So many gods have gone missing, and the True Demons are running rampant in the human realm.]
[Could it be the Skeleton Demon King's doing?]
[Oh, come now. A fiend sealed away ages ago, threatening gods?]
[It's a mercy, really. If humanity had become what the Skeleton Demon King demanded, there would have been nothing we could do.]
[That's precisely why the Chief Gods hurried to seal him, no? He even tried to steal the Supreme God's power. If he'd gotten his hands on that, who knows how unstoppable he might have become.]
[Oh please, the Skeleton Demon King is already sealed. What's there to worry about?]
Hearing all of this, the God of the Penal Code could only clutch his head in his hands.
Damn it all! That Skeleton Demon King was never sealed!
He's walking around the Holy Empire right now, wearing the masterpiece of the gods themselves — the body of a Saint!
And the great Supreme God is even backing that creature, so no one can lay a finger on him!
And the gods are feeding that thing's power with their own hands!
But unable to bring himself to speak the truth, the God of the Penal Code could only beat his breast in silence.
In honest truth, he did not particularly hate the Skeleton Demon King. The gods of Gold might not have known it, but he had acknowledged the Demon King's strength.
After all, the very first clash between the Skeleton Demon King and himself had arisen because the gods of Gold — the ruling faction — had picked a fight to seize the demons' lands. Then, when a reconciliation was finally achieved, they'd gone and cheated, all to seal a single Skeleton Demon King.
As a god who guarded the penal code and discipline, their behavior disgusted him.
In other words — since his own side bore original sin as well, the God of the Penal Code had been pretending not to know that the Skeleton Demon King walked the human realm.
No, not merely pretending. He was actively protecting him. He'd even spread smooth-tongued praise about what an exceptional Saint the boy was, for the gods' benefit. The only problem was that he was the one suffering for it.
And then—
— Penal Code. Come out here, and I'll ask nicely.
At the familiar voice, the God of the Penal Code narrowed his eyes. Exactly who do you think is causing me stress right now? Come out, you say?
He tried to ignore it.
But then—
— If you don't come out in ten seconds, even I don't know what I'll do.
...Damn it.
The God of the Penal Code shooed his subordinates away and concentrated his consciousness.
— What is it.
Meanwhile, in the prayer chamber, Isaac grinned. The god had answered — and the blazing flames had begun to change.
The blue fire warped into the shape of a bird. Proof that the god had heeded the summons. So Isaac got straight to business.
"Did you check on the maggot like I told you?"
— I did. The very first thing I did after contracting with you, in fact.
The God of the Penal Code wanted desperately to deny reality.
— Astonishing as it sounds, the maggot is still moving.
Whether the seal had gone wrong or something else, the cause remained a mystery. That spell was an art of the primordial age — a sorcery even the gods could not touch.
— I don't know who's inside it. When you detonated yourself, the spell went berserk, and quite a few gods were harmed in the aftermath.
Many had lost consciousness and were sleeping still, even now.
Everyone blamed it on the Skeleton Demon King, of course — but the God of the Penal Code did not believe it was his doing.
Something else is out there.
Someone trying to pin the crime on the Skeleton Demon King.
— In any case, I don't know who it is, but among the sleeping gods...
"The God of Light is in there."
— ...What?!
The God of the Penal Code recoiled in horror.
— The God of Light is in there?!
"Why else do you think Blue is so weakened? I'm telling you, the God of Light is in the maggot."
The God of the Penal Code clutched the back of his neck.
No, even if the God of Light is among the sleeping ones, this is too much!
Of all the gods, it had to be the God of Blue — the very one the gods of Gold are trying to push out — that's trapped in there...?
— Did the gods truly not know? The God of Light is a pillar god — one of the Chief Gods!
At the god's flustered tone, Isaac grinned.
"Well, you didn't know either, did you? For all we know, the maggot was never meant to hold me alone."
—!
Hiding his alarm, the God of the Penal Code spoke.
— In any case... I understand the situation. But that is an ancient spell. Even the gods can never unmake it. It was never designed to be undone in the first place.
"Spare me the lecture — just give me the sealing ritual. I can undo it."
— ...!
The God of the Penal Code swallowed hard.
Certainly, if anyone could unravel even a spell of the primordial age, it would be the Skeleton Demon King. He was exactly that kind of being.
"Well, before that, I intend to have a word with the occupant first. Which brings me to a favor I need to ask."
— What is it?
"Nothing much. Hand over some of your divine elixirs. You know the ones — the gifts you give to Cardinals?"
— ...Why do you want those?
"Blue's never gotten much from you gods, so they don't even have elixirs like that. I'm trying to summon the God of Blue here, but the kids are all so feeble. Can't even manage a proper summoning."
In short: he had summoned a god purely to shake loot loose. The God of the Penal Code spoke as if gravely offended.
— You think I would hand anything over to you? You're hardly just some human to me.
"Have you forgotten who else I'm contracted with, then?"
The God of the Penal Code fell silent.
Right. The Supreme God. Damn it all.
"Good. Then send them. Now."
— You think I'd yield to a threat like—
"I'll corrupt every last one of your priests."
— Now, wait just—!
"Ten seconds. Ten... three... two... one..."
Click.
Isaac severed the connection with the god then and there.
Distantly, he thought he could hear the sound of a forehead being beaten against a wall.