Oh, Would You Cool Your Temper Already! (1)
The land of the True Demons.
True to their status as the supreme lords of the demonkin, the True Demons held dominion over many territories. But among them, there was one place of particular historical weight.
An old city of the Holy Empire — once, the City of Oracles.
Delos.
At the same time, it was land stolen by the Skeleton Demon King several hundred years ago, and after his disappearance, it had become the stronghold of the True Demons.
Worse still, the ones dwelling in Delos were infamous for being exceptionally vicious and cunning.
Proof enough: countless adventurers and subjugation parties had been deceived, ravaged, and devoured by them. In short, it was a place from which almost no one returned alive.
So really, the right thing to do was to keep anyone from going there at all.
"GAAAH! He's not here either??"
On the road to Delos.
Isaac and Shuri, chasing after their grandfather, were in the throes of a full-blown meltdown.
The moment Isaac had tested the mystic art, he'd rushed off to find his grandfather. But lo and behold—
"What? Grandfather already left the estate? Ugh, come on!"
In the meantime, the Head of House Eshua had up and departed for the land of the True Demons — Delos.
From the Eshua Duchy, Delos lay to the north, roughly a fortnight's journey away. Quite a distance, all told.
Still, if they hurried after him, they figured they could catch up, so Isaac had thrown together his things and set out. After all, there was only one road to Delos; everything else was mountain terrain crawling with magical beasts. Which meant Grandfather's stops along the way were practically predetermined. Naturally, he'd assumed they'd overtake him at one of the villages.
And yet!
"Damn it! What do you mean he left two days ago??"
Arriving at the village, Isaac and Shuri failed to find their grandfather. By the time they got there, the Head of House had already moved on.
But this was only the first village, so—
"It's fine! We'll catch him at the next one!"
"Let's just move faster!"
There were a full seven villages on the road to Delos. Surely they could close the gap within them.
"Grandfather's getting on in years, so he won't be pushing himself too hard. Right, Shuri? Let's economize on sleep!"
"Yeah!"
So without sleeping, until sweat poured off their feet, they ran for the next village — and what did they find?
"Ah, Duke Eshua? Yes, yes, he came through this village! He was dressed rather simply when he arrived, but the man is impossible to miss. Nobody here could fail to know him!"
"And despite how busy he must have been, he examined every single patient in the village, one by one! He even slew the magical beasts that had been eyeing the town!"
"Ooooh!"
That's our grandfather! He didn't become a Cardinal for nothing!
When Isaac laid eyes on the beasts Grandfather had supposedly felled, he was inwardly awed. The villagers spoke of them so casually that he'd assumed they were goblin-class trash mobs.
"There were dozens of them. 6th Tier, every last one."
Beasts that would normally require a mobilized army to handle.
In fact, the lord's soldiers had apparently lost many men fighting them — and even that hadn't been enough to make them a match for Grandfather.
"He even finished them off single-handedly, in one stroke! As expected of His Eminence the Cardinal!"
Truly befitting the head of the Blue Faith, one might think… but the truth was, none of the Duke's majesty mattered to Isaac.
Well, if he exerted that much power, he's got to be resting by now.
Fought dozens of 6th Tier demons alone, tended to the village's patients on top of it? At that point, it was a hundred percent guarantee he'd take a breather. Finally catching up!
"So he's staying here, right?!"
"He left three days ago, but…"
"…He said he hadn't even had time to warm up…"
GRANDFATHEEEEER!!
Damn it. He'd underestimated his grandfather far too much.
"How does he treat patients, slay demons, and STILL outpace us??"
"A three-day gap?? Why is it getting WORSE?!"
"As expected of Grandfather… incredible."
Of course, Isaac knew Eliya was formidable — but this blasted Blue Faith. Its monstrous stamina and iron constitution were enough to make even Isaac blanch.
"Hey, just cutting back on sleep won't cut it. Let's take the sure shortcut and overtake him."
In the end, Isaac risked danger and turned toward the beast-infested forest.
Sticking to the road was safe, but at this rate they'd never catch Grandfather. Cutting straight through the forest, on the other hand, would let them skip two or three villages entirely.
Granted, there was a chance Grandfather might take the forest himself, but his destination was the land of the True Demons, of all places. There was no way he'd waste strength pushing through it.
Besides, clergy generally shared the common doctrine of watching over the people — and the Blue Faith above all would want to tend to the "small ones," the citizens of the empire, as they traveled. Nine times out of ten, they'd pass through the villages.
And so Isaac's party cut through the forest and arrived at the final city before Delos—
"Ah! Duke Eshua? Of course I know him! How could anyone not know a man that famous! He arrived just yesterday and is staying at our lord's castle as we speak!"
"Ooooh!"
"YES! Finally! All that torment from Isaac! All that beast-slaying! All that crossing of TWO forests — finally worth it!"
Yes! That's it! At last!
At last, we've caught up to Grandfather—!
"What? The Duke left this morning?! He only arrived yesterday!"
"Well… he said he had business on the road. Our lord begged him to stay longer, but he declined and departed."
…Goddammit!!
GRANDFAAAATHEEEER!!!!
By that point, Shuri and Isaac had no choice but to collapse where they stood and curse.
"Damn it all! How in the hell does an old man have THAT much stamina?!"
"As expected of Grandfather…"
Well, it wasn't as though it defied comprehension.
The truth was, the Head of the Blue Faith was livelier than even the young, able-bodied Blue knights in their prime. The Blue knights didn't drop out of training before Eliya for no reason.
But neither of them had imagined it would be to this extent!
"Whew… and we ran a two-week road in seven days, you know."
He was dying.
Genuinely, truly dying.
What's more, Isaac and Shuri had left in such a rush that they hadn't even brought attendants along.
The two of them, looking utterly wretched, wheezed in their lodgings — and Leah, who had come along, patted her juniors on the back.
"Are you all right? I bought some food, so eat up and recover your strength first."
Isaac accepted the bread and looked up at her, oddly surprised, even as he took it.
Honestly, I never expected her to follow me.
Leah was the daughter of Benjamin, the second son — a Saintess who had been at Melissa's side.
She had chased after them when Isaac left the Eshua estate. And Isaac hadn't told anyone but Shuri that he could now use the mystic art. Even so, Leah had asked nothing and simply followed.
Apparently, she'd been worried about Isaac setting out to stop his grandfather.
She must think I'm just going to talk him out of it.
It wasn't that Leah hadn't been helpful. Quite the opposite — she'd helped far more than she needed to.
Frankly, the fact that they'd escaped the beast-infested forest in a single day was one hundred percent her doing.
Otherwise they never would have caught up to Grandfather even this far.
As expected of a Saintess. Frighteningly strong.
This was actually his first time witnessing the power of this generation's Saintesses, and Leah possessed talent as innate as Melissa's.
No — in a sense, she might even be superior. Her stats looked higher than Melissa's had been in her prime.
And that was the very creature Melissa had taken under her wing to train.
A monster, plain and simple.
Indeed, whether on the True Demons' orders or not, she dispatched even the magical beasts grown accustomed to attacking humans in a single stroke. Her swordsmanship had long since left the human realm behind.
Which was exactly why Isaac couldn't wrap his head around it.
And she's still not an official Saintess?
All the daughters of House Eshua were raised as Saintesses. And while they called every girl a "Saintess" for convenience's sake, strictly speaking, they were all candidates.
Only upon reaching the 9th Tier did one undergo the official succession rite, become a true Saintess, and lead the others.
Though since no Saintess of this generation had yet reached the 9th Tier, the seat apparently remained vacant for now—
She's not even 9th Tier yet?
She was already like this without the mystic art. What would she become if he unlocked it for her? Well, before that, he'd have to stop Grandfather.
And right on cue, Leah spoke.
"Delos is the very next stop. In practical terms, we've failed to stop Grandfather before he enters the land of the True Demons."
At her words, Shuri's face drained bone-white.
He'd been raised on horror stories about the True Demons' domain, and the future painted itself all too vividly in his mind.
While Shuri pictured his grandfather torn limb from limb, Isaac calmly asked,
"Shuri. Did you send Grandfather a letter? Including word about the mystic art?"
"I did. Sent it the moment we left the estate. His reply came today, actually."
Shuri drew a single blue-tinted letter from inside his coat.
Isaac took it and unfolded it — and his eyes went wide and round.
Worry no more and return home at once.
If you do not return, I will strip you of your claim to succession immediately.
Well, he'd expected as much. How very like Grandfather.
Then again, if he were on the receiving end of "I've learned the mystic art, so please come home, Grandfather…!", he'd snort in derision too.
Which was exactly why he'd decided the answer was to show it to him in person — hence the whole chase.
[Even so, I dispatched Shavnak as a stopgap, so surely there is no cause for alarm?]
Well, judging by everything so far, the old man was moving so fast that Isaac wasn't sure Shavnak would be able to catch him.
But he's a Cardinal. He won't go down easily.
As long as Grandfather didn't stumble into a True Demon's trap, there wouldn't really be a problem. This mission wasn't about slaying True Demons — it was about retrieving the "item" from the sanctuary.
And yet, still, the best outcome was always to put a stop to things before anything happened. So Isaac said,
"Send another letter. Tell him we'll be waiting right here."
"If you send another one, he's really going to blow up at us, though."
Shuri, who knew Grandfather's strictness better than anyone, looked at him anxiously.
"The moment he brings up the succession like that, you can tell he's genuinely angry."
But Isaac waved it off.
"Ah, forget the succession threats — just tell him to stop. Say that if he doesn't come back so we can see his face, we're going into the True Demons' land ourselves. Tell him we're nearby. Threaten to barge RIGHT in!"
Is this guy insane?
"Hey, you think that's going to work?"
"He's right. That won't fly."
With Leah agreeing, Shuri spoke as if it were obvious.
"See? I told you it won't—"
"Then write that Isaac has been captured by the True Demons."
…Huh?
Shuri turned to Leah in flustered disbelief, but she was entirely serious as she added,
"Tell him the True Demons have taken Isaac hostage and are barricaded in Delos. Then he'll come running at once."
"……??"
Seriously?