The Truth Revealed (7)
Kaya's words sent a violent tremor through Isaac's pupils. Even Crown Prince Shablis, for once, looked visibly flustered.
The only person in the entire room who wasn't the least bit perturbed was Leah.
“…The Skeleton King? From the soul, no less?”
AAAAAAGH!!!
At Leah's rapt attention, Isaac let out a soundless scream. Then he turned on Shablis, glaring at him as if to lay a curse on him.
No, you Crown Prince brat! Weren't you supposed to know about Kaya? You're even scheduling these little meetings for us on purpose, aren't you?!
As if reading that look, Shablis subtly averted his eyes. His face said he hadn't expected this from Kaya either. Of course, he had already guessed that Kaya's frequent visits to the Crown Prince's Palace — tea time being nothing but an excuse — were really to catch glimpses of Isaac, since Isaac himself practically lived there thanks to the garden he'd granted the family.
Kaya, too, had presumably been sneaking around under the pretense of tea, hoping to steal a look at Isaac. But the moment she saw him, she blurted out Skeleton King?
Shablis, however, seemed to consider none of that important. He merely glanced sideways at Isaac and said,
“Come to think of it, the way you're panicking only confirms it. So you do admit you're the Skeleton King—”
“THERE IS NO POSSIBLE WAY THAT'S TRUUUE!!”
You insufferable Skeleton King otaku, you!
Just then, Kaya fixed her gaze squarely on Isaac.
“Are you the Skeleton King?”
With even Kaya joining the ranks of the accursed, Isaac clawed at his own hair.
“Are you kidding me? The Skeleton King is a Demon King from over a hundred years ago! And by what stretch of common sense would you know what the Skeleton King smells like?”
Kaya tilted her head to one side.
“How would I know…? Because Grandmother Melissa trained us with his belongings, of course.”
T-Trained? With what?
“Grandmother has the Skeleton King's foot — she tore it off him herself—”
F-Foot?
“—and she's kept it all this time. She's always used it to give the Saintesses tracking drills……”
MELISSAAA! That was MY leg!!
The Crown Prince's eyes sparkled with the look of a man discovering some fascinating piece of trivia, while Isaac clutched his skull. There was no possible way he couldn't know exactly which “foot” she meant.
YES! All I did was lift her wallet! And she chased me down for it and tore off one of the Demon King's legs, that one!
Right. The instant the leg had been severed from the torso, Isaac had cut off the mana flowing into it — and then reclaimed every last shred of power that still lingered in the detached limb.
Which meant that thing was nothing like the Remains of the Skeleton Demon King the world lusted after. It was just a lump of calcium.
And she'd been hoarding it all these years?
What is she, a dog?! Is it her attachment toy?!
Leah, meanwhile, nodded as if the matter were perfectly obvious.
“Oh, that. Grandmother can pick up the scent.”
!
“I've never managed to sense it, no matter how hard I tried. The only one who ever could was Uncle Kaliya……”
At those words, Isaac seized the back of his own neck. No wonder the third uncle — that male carbon copy of Melissa — had swung a sword at him the instant he laid eyes on him!
Right. And here I was wondering how a bunch of snot-nosed kids could possibly know my scent.
So this was all Melissa's early-childhood education, was it?
Leah shot Kaya a look of open envy.
“Wow, Kaya, you can sense it too… But wait, Isaac smells like the Skeleton King?”
Under Leah's gaze, Isaac shook his head with desperate, frantic vigor. Watching the reaction, Leah nodded sagely.
“Kaya, it's your imagination. There's no way Isaac is the Skeleton King.”
“It's not my imagination.”
“It's not?”
“Nope. If I just run a quick check, we'll know right awa—”
Kaya turned toward Isaac — but Isaac was already gone. Terrified of being subjected to whatever “check” she had in mind, he had bolted from the Crown Prince's Palace in record time and was now striding along, fuming.
“Goddamn lunatics, all of them…! If I go bald, every last one of them is to blame…!”
Never in a hundred lifetimes had he imagined his own flesh and blood would turn out like this.
Granted, they had training — but they can smell the Skeleton King?
That meant their detection ability defied all comprehension. At this point, he was genuinely curious what their parents did for a living.
What the hell do they do, those parents of hers?
Regardless — his current situation was dangerous.
If this gets back to the Eshua family, I could get beaten to death with blunt instruments!
He's noticed you?
Probing my intentions — was that what that moment had been?
“Are you planning to destroy House Eshua?”
That question hadn't really been a rebuke for using dark magic. It had been a question trying to peer into Isaac's heart.
Which meant, to that extent, the man cherished Isaac Eshua. So long as Isaac had no intention of dragging the family into ruin, the old man was prepared to embrace him.
That was precisely what had allowed Isaac to call him “Grandfather” instead of “Lord Head of House” — and yet—
The Skeleton King is a COMPLETELY different matter!!!
DAMN IT ALL!
Of course. What family of natural-born nemeses would ever just let an old enemy be?
No. He's written me off thanks to that cheap knockoff!
And besides — between a priest and a demon, “conversation” was just a fancy word for battle.
Either way, if only to keep from being sniffed out, I need that so-called Awakened God of Darkness.
A scent is buried under a stronger scent. And if he attained Dark Awakening, surely he could achieve a powerful transformation without discarding his magic core.
At present, casting so much as the Skeleton King's pinnacle magic left him retching blood and keeling over — but once he awakened, that would change. He would surely be able to wield the Skeleton King's spells freely once more.
Although.
There's something oddly… Supreme God–like about this Dark Awakening business.
The Supreme God bears the attributes of both darkness and light, you see.
Well — the Awakened God of Darkness would sort itself out once Noel got what was coming to him, so all Isaac had to do was wait.
Just as he let out a soft chuckle—
What?
What? Why??
At that very moment, the Eshua estate had been turned completely upside down.
And the reason was none other than—
“What did you say?”
“A Holy Dragon has come?”
“What? A Dragon?!”
Sapien's visit had thrown the entire estate into pandemonium — servants, knights, family members, everyone. The uncles in residence, in particular, had gone ghost-white.
Rillai, Benyamin, and even Goel.
And small wonder.
“Dragons… absolutely detest humans, don't they?”
Oh, "detest" didn't begin to cover it.
They think of us as about as significant as stray kittens…
True, Melissa was a dragon-blooded being, and her descendants — quarter-dragons all — counted as kin in the dragons' eyes. But broadly speaking?
Let's just say they don't get along…
So it went something like this. From the perspective of those arrogant creatures, humans were little more than short-lived puppies or kittens. Now imagine how humans would feel if their dogs and cats started marrying them and bearing children.
The analogy was extreme, but that was the kind of creatures they were. In truth, the only reason the Holy Dragons remained bound to the imperial line at all was the crusty old covenant — not a single dragon alive actually wanted to honor it.
And one of those had come?
Even an ordinary dragon would have been extraordinary. But the supreme leader of all the Holy Dragons?
What the hell is this?
Did she come to crush House Eshua???
The Blue Faith knights could hardly stop trembling.
“L-Lord Rillai! Shall we prepare for war?!”
“Yes — battle stations—!!”
At that reaction, the servants who had brought the news rushed to stop them.
“N-no! It's not that! She says she came about Young Lord Isaac!”
What? Isaac???
At that name, the Eshua family went pale in an entirely different way.
“WHAT NOW?!!! What did he break this time!!”
“I beg your pardon?”
the uncles bellowed.
“If it took the Dragon Chief coming in person, what scale of disaster are we talking about?!”
And not just any dragon — the Chief of the Holy Dragons?
“Isn't that thing one of the Four Great Dragons?!”
The Four Great Dragons — the four rulers of east, west, south, and north — were the one race humanity must never provoke. Their unwritten law was absolute: never set foot in their dominions, never mind the territory of the demon legions the Skeleton King once ruled.
Even Goel grabbed the back of his neck.
Damn it all — of all times, right when that bastard brother is raising hell about unsealing the Awakened God of Darkness?
“The Chief of the Holy Dragons… you mean the 'Mad Dragon'?”
“Yes… they say she was an elite prodigy — the first Saint Dragon ever to become Chief…”
Dragons only grew stronger with age. If she was already this formidable at such a young age, it was impossible to imagine how powerful she might be.
And she's famous for her savagery, too…
…And he'd provoked THAT?
“ISAAAAAC!”
The wails of an entire family clutching their heads rang through the halls.
“…Worst case, this is the end of the bloodline…”
“Are we a family that slays Demon Kings now expected to slay dragons too?!”
But the servants shook their heads frantically.
“No! It's not that! She came to ask for permission to marry Young Lord Isaac…!”
…What?
Just as the family was reeling from yet another absurdity, the servants began pouring in, arms loaded with gifts.
“She said these are, well… gifts for the elders of the groom's household…”
……What?
………WHAT?!
Groom's household?! WHAT DID SHE JUST SAY?!!
Meanwhile, in the inner quarters of the Eshua estate, an atmosphere of pure terror reigned.
Courtesy of those two.
“Hand over my grandson, Grandfather-in-law.”
“Correct your tone first, Dragon Chief.”
“Please hand over my grandson, Grandfather-in-law.”
“Polite speech alone won't get it done.”
Over Isaac's head, Sapien and Eli were locked in a very unholy tug-of-war.
Sapien had, of course, begun with impeccable courtesy, bowing respectfully to Eli. But then—
Fwoosh.
Once she understood that Eli had never intended to hand Isaac over in the first place, Sapien had no choice but to start throwing sparks.
But Eli was equally dissatisfied, as it happened.
“I did intend to find the boy a clever match someday. I never said anything about sending him to a dragon.”
Granted, for Eli — Melissa's husband — the Holy Dragons were technically in-laws, since Melissa carried their blood.
But—
“Recall what your kind did to Melissa. A half-blood, and how they scorned her. You'd have me watch that again?”
At that, Sapien's brows twitched in what looked strangely like offense. Whatever had been done to Melissa was the sin of the rotten elders of the older generation. So she said,
“If you'd like, I'll kill every last one of those old bastards for you.”
At that murderous look, Eli was rendered utterly speechless.
…Isaac. Where on earth did that boy find someone exactly like me…?
Soon Sapien spoke again.
“Even the Holy Dragons are fond of Melissa these days, aren't they? You've granted her all sorts of privileges.”
“Ha. They fawn over her because she's a Saintess, you vermin.”
Melissa herself seemed to have forgiven that era for her own reasons — but Eli had not.
“In any case, Isaac is out of the question.”
!
“Send my grandson — no, this family's heir — into Holy Dragon territory? Dragon or not, it's obvious what happens: they'll haul him off for the sake of their species' preservation.”
Sapien's eyes glittered.
“No need. I'll be the one moving in here.”
…What did she say?
A dragon — entering a human family?
And the Chief, no less?
You cursed boy, what in God's name did you DO?
Eli looked, for once, genuinely flustered, but Sapien simply sighed.
“Well, my official purpose today was to see you, Grandfather-in-law — but I came for something else as well.”
“Something else?”
“Something the Saintess's family absolutely must hear.”
The Saintess's family?
Then Sapien raised a matter of grave importance.
“You were close with the Pope in your day, weren't you, Grandfather-in-law?”
“Not 'Grandfather-in-law.'”
“Coming into the Holy Empire for this affair, I finally understood something for certain. Why the Pope's faction drove the Holy Dragons out of the empire — even at the cost of driving a wedge between the throne and the dragons.”
Eli tilted his head.
“Isn't that because of the Imperial Archive? Some information they didn't want discovered?”
“No. The reason goes deeper than that.”
Deeper?
Then Sapien's eyes sharpened into blades.
“I can feel the presence of a dead man within the empire.”
“A dead man?”
“Pope Sylvester.”
!
The Pope of ages past — the executioner of Saintess Ines, and the one who had crossed blades with the Skeleton King more times than any other.
“His scent lingers here.”
…What did you say?