The Saintess Awakens (8)

Benyamin couldn't believe his eyes.

He rubbed them and looked again, but there the god was, bobbing lifelessly above the lake — scorched pitch-black from end to end, without so much as a trace of the awe a god was owed.

Its death was so pathetic, so utterly insignificant, that it was hard to believe this had really been the creature that once made all of House Eshua tremble.

And perhaps that was why, even setting aside the relief of survival and the joy of having saved his nephew, a cold thread of worry wound through him.

"Killing a god, of all things. Those bastards are not going to let this slide."

At Benyamin's words, Eli frowned as though the very sentence displeased him.

"That is no god. It's an eel."

His father's bluntness left Benyamin speechless. No… fair enough. Even to his own eyes, the thing did look like a fish.

"An eel? That's the kind of thing only Isaac would say……."

"It looked delicious, so I roasted it. It should make fine winter provisions for Eshua."

Benyamin buried his face in his hands.

Damn it all, even Father's been infected by Isaac……!

Was Benyamin the only sane one left in this family?

No, wait — weren't Noel and Goel still around? …No, that thought was somehow even more depressing.

And no, that wasn't the point right now.

A priest killed a god.

There was no way he couldn't predict what was coming next.

"Father, how in the world are you planning to clean this up……"

"Hah. I roasted one eel. What's the problem?"

"Father!!"

Just as Benyamin opened his mouth to argue, someone crashed into his arms.

"Father!"

"!"

It was Leah. Clinging to him, she buried her face in his chest and broke down sobbing.

The moment the god died, its binding on her had surely been undone.

"Father, thank goodness you're alive, I……!"

His daughter — the girl who had never once cried, no matter how hard things got — was spilling her emotions out in a flood of tears, and Benyamin felt his nose sting.

She had grown up too soon, always sturdy, never once making the sound of crying. Seeing his daughter's tears for the first time in his life hurt him as a father.

How much had this child endured all this time?

How heavy a burden had she been carrying on those small shoulders?

"There, there. I'm sorry. I too……"

But just as Benyamin, moved, reached out to hold his daughter, his arms felt strangely empty.

"Le-Leah?"

The daughter who had been in his embrace had vanished into thin air. And where had she gone? She was already sprinting toward Isaac.

"Isaac! Are you okay? Isaac!"

Watching her cradle Isaac so preciously, checking him over and over, a father felt just a tiny bit sulky.

Leah, your father matters more, right? Right?

But Leah, stroking Isaac's face, called for him in desperate anguish.

"Isaac, are you okay? You can't die!"

And Isaac, wrapped in her arms, answered.

"Yeah. I'm fina—… huuweeeh!"

The moment blood came streaming out of Isaac's mouth again, the color drained from Leah's face.

"Isaac!"

Isaac wiped his mouth with a calm swipe.

Ha, damn it. I really need to grow this body fast enough to withstand the Skeleton King's magic, and soon.

The family hurriedly gathered Isaac up and headed from the lake to shore. The moment Leah began treating him, Isaac's condition improved rapidly, and by the time color returned to his face, Joseph had come striding over from the bank.

"Kid, I honestly didn't think you'd pull it off."

For once, Joseph let his true feelings show.

"Thank you for saving my father."

"!"

"I'll repay this debt even if it costs me my life."

Isaac looked at Joseph with mild surprise, then broke into a deep, satisfied grin, like a pumpkin rolling in on its own vine.

Haah, so the merchant's finally playing his hand? If this guy stays in Eshua and keeps working himself to the bone as my slave, he's more than welcome.

Joseph chuckled like a mischievous kid as he embraced his father.

"Well, with the god dead, Leah's awakening has sailed right out the window — but that doesn't matter, does it?"

At that, Benyamin's face turned dead serious in an instant.

"Doesn't matter? ! We saved the lives, yes — but if House Eshua cannot produce a Saintess, it's fatal."

"!"

Benyamin bit his lip as though the real problem were only beginning. This was a matter of the family's very survival.

"Of all the gods, you had to kill the God of Awakening. Who knows what's going to happen to the family now……"

No — wait, maybe it won't even get that far.

And sure enough. The Gold Cardinal and his gold-robed priests came marching toward them, faces twisted in sheer disbelief.

"House Eshua. What is the meaning of this?"

"Those who were meant to be offerings — killing a god? What have you priests done!"

At their arrival, the Eshua family swallowed hard. So the inevitable has finally come.

The Gold priests were bewildered, yet their eyes gleamed all the same, as if to say: caught red-handed.

"This is not merely our Gold Faith's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠affair. The god is a shared being worshipped by all Five Faiths! Every faith will call you to account."

"You've finally laid hands on the forbidden, Eshua."

Who could have imagined you'd expose your true nature like this?

"Failing to kill the Skeleton King — that was because you were his spy all along, wasn't it?"

"This matter must be referred to a heresy tribunal immediately, and House Eshua executed!"

At those words, the faces of Leah and everyone else froze solid — but Eli stepped forward, shielding his family behind him.

"A heresy tribunal?"

"!"

Eli gave a hollow laugh, as if he'd just heard something utterly absurd.

"What do you think the technique I used was?"

"What?"

"I used the Demon-Subjugating Sacred Art. Do you seriously believe a god can be struck down and killed by a sacred art meant to subdue demons?"

At Eli's words, the blood drained from the Gold priests' faces.

…Wait, what?

Unable to make sense of it, the Gold Cardinal hurriedly gave the order.

"Verify it at once."

Even he looked rattled. If Eli was right, then something that should have been impossible had just occurred.

And before long, the Gold priests who had gone out to the lake came trudging back, looking like their souls had left their bodies.

"Your Eminence. It… it's true. It's the Blue Faith's Demon-Subjugating Sacred Art."

"What?!"

What in the…! Impossible!

The Gold priests exchanged glances as if the other had gone mad.

Demon-subjugating sacred arts respond to nothing but the undead and demonic essences.

It could never, ever affect a god.

Right. It shouldn't be able to, and yet——

That was when it happened.

"Yes. It really was a demon-subjugating sacred art, was it?"

"!"

The Gold Cardinal flinched as though struck by lightning. Eli's lips curled upward, as if he had been waiting for exactly this.

"Given the circumstances, it's you I'd like to ask a question."

"!"

"Since when has the Gold Faith served not a god — but a demon?"

…He's insane. What did he just say?!

And at that spectacle, Isaac, still cradled in Leah's arms, snickered and snickered.

So that's why Grandpa burned the thing so viciously, beyond all reason.

Was he trying to erase every trace of the black magic that had been used?

Isaac stole a glance at Eli.

Well, there's no way cardinals couldn't sense the stirrings of black magic.

Right now the distance was enough that Eli alone seemed to have noticed, but the moment a full investigation began, the story would change. And especially if it fell into the Black Cardinal's hands — during the decomposition of the corpse, something might well give it away.

Soon the Gold priests rounded on Isaac.

"It was far away, but I saw it clearly! Flames erupted!"

"That's right — those flames were not a sacred art, they were magic——!"

And just as Isaac opened his mouth to refute them—

SLAM!!

"Kehak?!"

Eli suddenly brought his hand down hard on Isaac's back. The sheer force of it made the boy spray blood on the spot.

"Uuuweeehek!!"

The internal injuries that had just barely healed burst open again.

Eli's eyes flashed as he immediately turned to threaten the Gold priests.

"What do you say this injury is, exactly?"

"…Pardon??"

"The power that god spewed forth — it wounded our precious darling grandson."

Isaac, mid-blood-vomit, was utterly dumbfounded.

No… Grandpa. It's fine!

I was just going to say it was the work of the Skeleton King's bone I ate!

There's a payoff, so I was fully prepared to take that much risk——

SLAM!!!

"Ggweeehek!"

Slammed in the back again, Isaac hacked up blood once more.

Eli glared at the Gold priests with even greater fury.

"It's true our boy was immature and reckless, rushing in to save his uncle. But——"

SLAM!!!

"Ggweeehek!"

"Who was it that used a wicked power to reduce our child to this state?"

…Ffff—!! He's got his grandson!!

"Isn't that right, Isaac? The god did this to you, didn't it?"

This bastard's giving me the look of a man who'll knock me out cold if I don't sync my mouth with his!

Fine, I get it! I get that you're pinning every last shred of it on them!

I know blood-on-the-lips sells the performance, but it seriously hurts, damn it——

SLAM!!

"Ggweeehek!"

I SAID I get it, you brat! Fu—! Fhuuuu—!

Yeah, that's true, but.

Was it that obvious?

Wha— why! As if I'd ever go through with a marria—!

SLAM!!

"Uggweeehek!"

Nearly beaten to death by his grandfather's back-smashes, Isaac finally gave in and answered.

"…Yeth. I realithed the god wath undead and tried to uth a thacred art, but the power revurthed and came flowing back, tho……"

The Gold priests cried foul.

"Slander! Just as Joseph Eshua stole the Skeleton King's talisman, that boy brought back an object tied to magic as well!"

Isaac's ears perked straight up.

Huuh…? The Skeleton King's what, brought back where?

Meanwhile, the Gold Cardinal was nursing a pounding headache.

The situation was bad.

Examination of the corpse? He could simply hand that over to the Black house. The body was so thoroughly destroyed that he doubted anything could be salvaged — but surely something would turn up.

And yet the truth was, things were so dire that all of it was meaningless.

A god's life severed by a demon-subjugating sacred art……!

The head of the Blue Faith was bound to dig into this with vicious obsession. Of all the wretched timing — the Pope's attempt to kill Benyamin via the God of Awakening had twisted into this.

But did anyone think the Blues would just roll over and cooperate?

Insolent, for mere Blues. Besides, they aren't the only ones in danger right now.

Soon the Gold Cardinal spoke.

"Whatever the circumstances, the fact remains that Eshua killed the God of Awakening. You can no longer raise a Saintess."

"!"

"You have lost the greatest treasure of House Eshua. That fact alone strips you of your standing among the Five Faiths. The others will all agree."

At the Gold Cardinal's words, every member of House Eshua squeezed their eyes shut. Because not a word he said was wrong.

This time, even Eli fell silent.

He seemed to have already made his peace. In truth, he had weighed all of this and chosen to save his flesh and blood anyway.

The moment I decided to kill that god, I had already given up the Saintess.

Without a Saintess, House Eshua would collapse.

But hadn't Isaac said it?

That his family, too, were precious little fingers of his.

And so Eli had chosen.

"We are the faith that protects the small. What use are hollow ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠titles and honors?"

"!"

"We protected the little fingers. As the Blue Faith, we did simply what we were meant to do."

"Grandfather……!"

"Father!"

Leah bit her lip hard.

Even the Gold priests seemed stunned for a moment, staring blankly at Eli — but the Gold Cardinal looked at him with pure revulsion.

"Shining words right up to the very end. Then you consent to the revocation? In that case——"

But at that moment, Isaac broke into a sly little grin.

Who says the awakening can't happen, you bastards?

Still buried in Leah's arms, he smiled like a fox and gave the order to Whisper.

Begin.

When he had touched the god's body, he had planted a fragment of Whisper inside it.

All for this very moment.

And sure enough, Whisper, secretly hidden within the god's flesh, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠snickered with delight and began tearing out the god's internal organs.

CRUNCH!

Then, just as its master commanded, it channeled power into those organs.

In that instant, a breathtaking light erupted.

FLASH!

"Huh?"

A dazzling radiance burst forth from Leah's body. And everyone knew exactly what that light was.

"That light—!"

"The awakening…! The light of the Saintess's awakening!"

"What?!"

The god was dead — and yet an awakening?

The Gold Cardinal stared at her in shock.

But that wasn't all.

"Huh?"

Not only Leah — the light of awakening had ignited around Rank-0 Benyamin and Joseph as well.