Arcane Art? What's So Hard About That? (6)
Shuri clutched the back of his neck.
No, why would the family's arcane art be in there… no, wait, before that, why a diaper?
"What is that thing?!"
"What do you mean, what? It's the diaper I used to wear, obviously!"
"Like I don't know that! Why is a diaper a hyper-expensive subspace pouch… no, since when?!"
At that, Isaac looked at his cousin with an expression of pure disgust, as if to say, you seriously didn't know?
"Think about it. Back when I was a nursing infant in the Saintess Treasury—how did you think I carried all that stuff out? Isn't this just common sense?"
Shuri was dumbfounded.
What? Common sense?
"It is NOT common sense! What country's common sense is that?! And more importantly… how did you carry it all out? Don't tell me you grabbed something other than the book in there?"
"Yep. Wanna see?"
Isaac began pulling objects out of the tiny diaper, one after another, tossing them carelessly. Treasures that looked expensive at a glance, rare weapons that reeked of history, even suits of armor. The variety was staggering.
"Hold on a sec. There's a limit to how many I can pull out at once."
Shuri crossed his arms and clicked his tongue, as if the whole thing were beneath him.
Hah. Judging by how he's talking, he pulled out at least ten… no, no. This is the infamous bastard we're dealing with. Let me brace myself for at least fifty.
But it wasn't fifty. It was a hundred. No—the pile of objects kept stacking toward the ceiling, and Shuri's face grew steadily more and more of a spectacle.
"I did skim it down to the good stuff before bringing them out, so the count's nothing special, really."
By the time the treasure hoard finally seemed about to touch the ceiling, Shuri's eyes had glazed over completely.
What…? The count's nothing special?
…You absolute lunatic?
But Isaac, having filled the entire room, simply beamed.
"Ta-da! And that's that. The Saintess Treasury collection, complete."
"You're actually insane! It's a miracle you haven't been caught until now!"
"Why? Isn't it common sense that you take out ALL the treasure when you visit a treasury?"
"It is NOT!"
Wasn't the whole rule of the doljabi that you carried out exactly ONE treasure?!
"You were supposed to bring out one! How many did you actually take?!"
"Hmm, still feels a bit short, doesn't it? I sold some of them off, so the numbers went down."
"HEY!!"
Shuri clutched the back of his neck again.
"No, how did you even plan on fitting all this in there…?!"
"I know, right? I didn't want to carry them in a diaper either."
"It's not about the diaper, I'm telling you?!"
"Who could've guessed they'd engrave a premium subspace inscription onto a diaper?"
"THE DIAPER ISN'T THE PROBLEM! You lunatic!"
But while Shuri raged, Isaac let out a long sigh.
The truth was, ten years ago—before entering the Saintess Treasury—Isaac had cast magic on his diaper, turning it into an artifact. Since the trial required entrants to arrive empty-handed, he'd needed a bag to smuggle things out in.
So he'd crafted a low-grade artifact with a carefree heart, and it had simply turned out far better than expected.
To put it in gacha terms—I rolled for a normal-rarity item and a legendary dropped instead, that kind of situation?
He'd since enchanted other bags into subspace artifacts as well, but none of them could beat this one.
Perhaps because it belonged to a Saint's body.
Maybe it's because I've carried it so long, but its quality keeps climbing too.
Asili hadn't thrown it away either, calling it a keepsake. It was a cloth diaper, so she kept washing it and it stayed clean, but… sigh.
"Right, I get it. Imagine the existential crisis of the one who has to wear it."
"…Let's. NOT. Talk about that!!"
Though in fairness, Shuri was clutching the back of his neck for an entirely different reason. Soon enough, he wrestled his spinning head back under control and recovered his composure.
"Anyway, fine… fine. Stealing it all out, that's one thing. But what's this about an arcane art? That book was actually in the Saintess Treasury?"
"What, you didn't know that either?"
"Of course I didn't! None of the adults ever mentioned it! If I'd known something like that was in there, I'd have stormed the place with fire in my eyes ages ago!"
"Well."
The truth was, Isaac had found the arcane art through an extraordinary stroke of luck.
Where it was hidden, that's what was so strange.
The arcane art had been concealed inside the fabric panel where the Skeleton King's bone rested. The problem was that the thing had been sealed under magic. Ordinary holy clergy wouldn't have noticed a spell at all—but to Isaac, it had been as clear as day.
Which had only whetted his appetite.
Insane. How important does an object have to be for someone to seal it with magic? What a freak.
Anyway, he'd pulled it out, and the hidden item had gone ta-da!—and it was the arcane art.
But that was, in truth, exactly what bothered him.
That fabric panel could only be opened using demonic mana.
What kind of lunatic rigs the Saintess's arcane art so only a demon can retrieve it?
Thought of that way, the annex at the Eshua estate—so thick with magic cores—was equally strange. The method sealing that annex shut had also been magic.
Of course, that annex had been known as the haunted mansion. With a magic core inside at the time, he'd assumed they'd deliberately woven the Divine Dragon's magic over it to keep family members out…
But even the arcane art was hidden with magic?
Worse, the spellwork was closer to demonic craft than draconic. A formula that was easy for demons but rather difficult for humans.
Well, that's probably why no one but me ever discovered it.
Still, it gnawed at him.
It's as if someone who knew the Skeleton King would be born into House Eshua sealed it all in advance.
As if begging him, specifically, to find it.
…Nah, that can't be it.
Rationally speaking, there was no way the people of the Saintess's own family could wield demonic power.
But whatever. It didn't really matter.
Shuri shook his head hard at the book.
"Ugh, I can't read a word of this. Is my training lacking?"
"Pfft! It's not that."
Whisper snickered too.
Isaac flipped the pages with a smile.
Well, I did think something was off when I first came to Eshua.
He'd sensed it—everything was weaker than in the old days.
The Saintesses of old wielded the arcane art. That gap was exactly the source of the dissonance.
The fundamental formula on the very first page—the basics of the basics, like manifesting holy fire—could be cast without any god's aid. But the true combat-grade holy arts were unusable without the God of Blue.
In other words, until now they'd simply failed to activate because the fuel known as the God of Light was missing. But that was all about to change!
Zap!
Isaac poured holy power into the feather he'd swindled out of its previous owner. The feather began to glow, and something astonishing happened.
"Gah! What—what's happening?!"
Light erupted from Isaac's body. As holy power swelled through him like a runaway flood, Shuri's jaw dropped. Where a god was supposed to send power down, Isaac was hauling it up himself, by force.
But Whisper, crushed under the staggering weight of that divine power, let out a strangled scream.
Oh, this is just the first installment. Of one, that is.
It's fine. He's not the type to whine over this much.
Just bear with it a moment. I'll convert all this holy power into mana for you right away.
Why else do you think I had my eye on the Black Pentagon's prize?
The Black Pentagon's prize had been the Relic of Conversion. Poison into medicine, holy power into mana, mana into holy power.
An artifact that flipped power from one nature to its opposite.
It seemed impossible that such a thing could exist—but the Black Faith were creatures who stopped at nothing. If it aided the subjugation of demons, they'd exploit corpses down to the marrow to make it happen.
Demons, dragons, monsters—they research and use every useful material they can get their hands on. Of course a relic like this came out of them.
Everyone else had coveted it to convert mana into holy power and grow stronger. Isaac had wanted precisely the reverse.
I'm turning holy power into mana!
Before heading to the Eshua Duchy, Isaac had stopped by the Holy See and collected the Black Pentagon's prize.
Naturally, he'd tested it at once, and had already confirmed he could convert holy power into mana.
And do you know what that meant?
It meant he could wring the God of Blue absolutely dry.
Counting what needs to be converted into mana, I'll have to siphon at least TEN TIMES more! Puhi-puhikhihik!
But we HAVE to raise the mana ranking if we're going to save the God of Blue, don't we?!
So what? I'm an Eshua too, aren't I?
Isaac's eyes curved into crescent moons.
That feather could only ever be used by someone of House Eshua. Which meant he was fully qualified.
It's being used for the seed, after all. Our god can just shoulder a little of the burden! Puhet!
Whose fault is that? Who told them to have me born into Eshua?
Startled by the words, Isaac hurriedly pressed the feather to Shuri's forehead for about a second. Shuri's eyes immediately rolled back.
"Ugh—WHOA, that's insane! Power's boiling up inside me! What is this?!"
"The God of Blue's power."
"WHAT?!"
"I made sure to set aside your share as the contractor too. Can't say I skimped on you, right?"
"Wh-what?"
The problem being that said "share" was barely a thimbleful.
In any case, now that he'd drawn on the God of Blue's power as well, Isaac wasted no time putting the arcane art to the test.
If I remember right, the Saintesses used it roughly like this…
The moment Isaac swept his hand through the air—
something astonishing happened.
KWA-BOOM!!!
"HOOOGH!"
At a single gesture from Isaac, a corner of the room went flying.
Shuri froze solid at the sight of something he'd never once witnessed in his life.
"What the—what did you just DO?!"
But Isaac answered only with a slow, gleaming grin.
Good. This will do nicely. With this, I can shut both Noel's and the Pope's mouths for good.