Secret Arts? What's So Hard About That? (3)
“Hey Shuri. Eat this.”
Isaac held out the medicine with a beaming smile.
Shuri's face soured at the sight of the liquid in the little bottle.
“…Is it poison?”
“Of course not.”
Grinning brightly, Isaac pressed the bottle firmly into Shuri's hand.
“Take it and get your strength back.”
At that, Shuri's expression froze over even harder.
“…D-did I do something to you?”
“Nope? I think you're pretty impressive, actually. You went and contracted with the God of Light, didn't you?”
That's right. In a sense, you're the one who made me the head of the family.
Why, you ask?
Just imagine if this guy hadn't contracted with the God of Light. Then Isaac would have had to stuff himself with food he never wanted, pray, and kiss up to the gods in order to earn the recognition of the gods of Blue.
Just picture how much prettier Shuri would have looked in comparison.
But faced with Isaac's dazzling smile, Shuri could only feel terror and unease.
The height he'd shot up over the past year, the finest face among all the Eshua men—when he smiled, he did look like an angel and all…
What the hell?
Why is it scarier when this bastard smiles?
In the end, Shuri had no choice but to glare.
“If I haven't done anything wrong, then it's you, isn't it?! What did you do? Or are you planning to do something wrong starting now?!”
Isaac answered the question with a radiant smile.
Yeah, that's it. If you want a reason, I'll give you one.
And then he raised his rattle.
CRACK!!!
The rattle grazed Shuri's face and smashed clean through the door of the prayer room. From outside came the sound of someone who'd been eavesdropping scrambling away in a panicked sprint.
Shuri, pale as a sheet, nodded along with an agreeable laugh.
“Haha… r-right. So there really are no ulterior motives.”
Damn it, why does that temper get more vicious by the day?!
Whisper, meanwhile, let out an awkward chuckle and glanced toward the door.
[Looks like a priest of Blue. I wonder who it was?]
‘Grandfather's side, or Noel's. Probably Noel's.’
If it were one of Grandfather's people, they wouldn't bother tailing someone all the way to the prayer room. So odds were, it was Noel's faction.
‘If I actually use the secret arts, that's a problem for them—so they came to check on me.’
It would have been another matter entirely if Isaac had come to the prayer room alone. But he'd brought Shuri along?
‘They'll think we're having a secret meeting.’
From Noel's perspective, he had no choice but to be wary of Isaac's camp growing larger. He was watching, anxious, as Isaac won over members of the family one by one.
[Still, I didn't expect the God of Penal Law to actually send the item.]
A god himself had dispatched a divine beast to deliver an elixir.
[Considering it took only a day, isn't that insanely fast?]
‘No. It took a full day. Which means the divine beast that carried it is getting corrupted.’
Fatten up the minion nice and plump, then send it back home.
Well, all things considered, the God of Penal Law wasn't a bad sort. That was why Isaac had planned to contract with him from the start.
‘And above all, teaming up with me isn't a bad deal for him, either.’
[Not a bad deal…?!]
At the genuinely incredulous question, Isaac snorted.
‘The way I see it, the God of Light getting locked up was no accident. There's definitely someone behind it.’
[A mastermind?]
‘My money's on the gods of Gold, high probability.’
The gods of Gold were the dominant faction currently holding power in the God Realm. Their underlings were decent enough, but the leadership was the problem.
And while the gods of Red were technically following their lead, honestly, they must be brimming with resentment.
‘The gods of Gold killed the gods of Red, you know. Humans just don't know about it.’
Because of that, the gods of Red had been itching to stage a coup, eager to make themselves the main power at any given moment.
[Oh dear, what a mess. No wonder the Red faction and the Gold faction hate each other so much. Did their followers instinctively absorb the gods' influence?]
Yes, exactly that.
The Demon King's seal botched, and a god of Blue trapped as a result? Feed that into the ears of gods this obsessed with factional politics, and it becomes quite the tasty morsel.
It was hardly a coincidence that Isaac kept fanning the flames of conflict.
[Ooh. Then if the Red faction partners with you and pulls off their coup, wouldn't the God of Penal Law end up seizing power too?]
Around then, something seemed to bother Whisper.
[Wait a moment. Didn't you say the Supreme God was one of the Gold gods? Isn't he on their side?]
‘They don't get along, I'd bet.’
[They're in the same faction, though?]
‘That's how it looked to me, at least.’
Hard as it might be to believe, the Skeleton King's eye for detail was exceptional.
‘You think I climbed from a mere Skeleton to my throne by luck? Among the demons, if you can't read the relationships around you, you die on the spot.’
[And yet, Master… you absolutely despised the Supreme God.]
He'd finally settled down now, but Whisper meant: you don't remember throwing a fit and refusing the contract?
Isaac let out a sigh.
The Supreme God, huh.
‘I crossed paths with that goddess exactly once, back when I went to steal her treasure.’
[You did?]
‘I'm pretty sure she took a liking to me. That's why she contracted with me, I suppose. But…’
[But?]
‘I can't read her at all. And her tastes are…’
[Her tastes?]
‘…Never mind. Let's leave it there.’
Isaac squeezed his eyes shut. Either way, the important thing now wasn't that—wasn't it the trapped god of Blue?
‘I have to rescue the God of Blue.’
Blue was a useful piece on the board, but on a personal level, Isaac had always wished the Saintesses and the Blue faith well.
[Oh? So you actually like Blue?]
‘No. It's a godforsaken, sickening old grudge.’
Isaac had never cared for the Saintesses to begin with. Beings created for the sole purpose of subjugating the Demon King—how could he possibly like them?
‘Who on earth thought that up?’
But in any case, Eshua was going to be his family. In a word: his subordinates' constant groveling was getting on his nerves. That was the real reason he'd fed Shuri the elixir.
Of course, swallowing the elixir wouldn't mean absorbing it right away.
‘I asked for the medicine that Cardinals take. At an apprentice-graduate's level, it'll take him a month just to digest it.’
Which meant drawing holy power out of the elixir would take its sweet time as well…
But then it happened.
“OOOOOH! The power is surging!”
“Whoa!”
Isaac marveled as he watched Shuri roar. Powerful holy energy was erupting from Shuri's body.
He'd acted like he was swallowing poison when he took the elixir, and now his face looked like he wanted to plant a kiss on Isaac.
‘He absorbed it that fast? My teachings weren't for nothing after—’
“UOOOOH! With this, I could summon the Skeleton King himself!”
No, the Skeleton King is already standing right in front of you, you idiot.
“Come forth, Skeleton King! I'll crack that bald head of yours wide open!!!”
…What is this lunatic saying??
Weren't you supposed to be on the Pope's side of the bloodline, with zero interest in the Skeleton King?!
“Isaac! Just trust your big brother! Your baldness curse—no, your eunuch curse—no, your death-clock curse—no! Whatever curse it is, your big brother will break every single one!”
The veins popped on Isaac's neck.
“Summon the God of Blue, you idiot.”
At those words, Shuri pressed his palms together and immediately roared out a summons for the God of Blue.
The sacred flame in the prayer room blazed up violently, and at the same time, the flame's shape transformed.
If the God of Penal Law had looked like a bird, the God of Blue's form was closer to pure light. But that strangely distorted shape was somehow…
‘What is that? Bone?’
Isaac tilted his head, but didn't dwell on it.
“The God of Blue…! I did it! Damn it, I really summoned the God of Blue!”
Seeing Shuri on the verge of grateful tears, Isaac let out a soft laugh. Honestly, since coming to Eshua, he'd understood. He could only imagine how much anguish Shuri had suffered over his brown hair.
Noel had talent, so he'd built his own faction—but Goel had none, and even the Papal house had cast him aside. Word was his mother running off wasn't entirely unrelated, either.
And more than anyone, Shuri had longed to be a man of Blue. Yet in a situation where he couldn't even be acknowledged as one, simply summoning the God of Blue—the very symbol of the Blue faith—must have felt like finally letting out all that pent-up grief.
So Isaac, in a rare moment, moved to pat Shuri on the back.
“There you go. Well done, Shu—”
“Squawk.”
“…?!”
Summoning the God of Blue had gone beautifully—only for Shuri to collapse in a frothing heap. He was even convulsing.
So Isaac asked.
“Shavnak… Was that your doing?”
“No, Master. He collapsed all on his own.”
Fair enough—if it had been Shavnak's doing, he'd have gone down cleanly, without all the foam.
Apparently, the elixir's power had simply been too strong. Or perhaps Shuri still wasn't ready to channel the God of Light.
“Well, I was going to knock him out anyway, so I suppose I should thank him for handling it himself.”
After all, he couldn't let Shuri overhear the conversation with the God of Light.
And sure enough, a voice echoed from the sacred flame.
— O Seed of the Faith…! O Seed of the Faith…! At last, you have called me forth! Hear my words, I beg you!
It seemed to be the God of Light.
— Seed of the Faith…! Listen well now, for there is one beside you—a most wicked soul who shall bring ruin upon House Eshua…!
Shavnak's golden eyes sharpened, gleaming with vigilance. He could hardly fail to grasp that this “wicked soul” referred to his master.
But the God of Light, apparently unaware that Shuri had collapsed, continued in mournful tones.
— Seed of the Faith… If it lies within your power, bring that soul to repentance; if it does not, cast him far away and protect House Esh… Seed of the Faith? Are you listening? …Seed of the Faith…
“Yeah, that's me. You called?”
— …!
Isaac beamed.
“Who exactly are you telling me to bring to repentance and cast away? Surely not me?”
A few seconds of silence.
Then, from within the sacred flame—only now grasping the situation—a scream rang out.