Something Is Seriously Wrong (2)
Shuri wanted to die of embarrassment.
And there was only one reason for it.
Chomp chomp chomp chomp!
“….”
Slurp slurp slurp slurp!
“….”
Glug! Glug-glug! Glluulug!
Ah, you little brat! Would it kill you to stop stuffing your face?!
He looked like the ghost of a puppy that had starved to death with a grudge still lodged in its throat! The louder the eating sounds got, the more Shuri's own face twitched in sympathy. To make matters worse, this came right after they'd all heard someone sneer, “What, you lot aren't even the Saintess and you get to go in? Guess the Saintess Treasury is a pushover, huh! We'll just take the treasures ourselves, then!”
He was already furious beyond words, and this on top of it. As a fellow member of House Eshua, the shame was killing him. Of course, watching the heir of a ducal house gorge himself like a feral stray with no pedigree whatsoever was mortifying too.
But that wasn't even the worst of it.
“Is… is he okay? That kid?”
“You don't think something was slipped into his drink, do you?”
Yes. That's exactly it, you brat! That water is drugged! Stop drinking it!!
Shuri groaned inwardly as he watched the baby rampage through the vault. The truth was, before they'd entered the treasury, Uncle Rillai had made him promise something.
“Shuri, keep a close eye on your little cousin, won't you?”
Of course, Shuri had no intention whatsoever of actually protecting him. Isaac was his competitor—why would he? Still, Uncle Rillai probably hadn't expected that much either. The Doljabi was, after all, a trial each child had to face alone.
So his plan had been to offer no help, merely keep watch—but before he could even finish that thought, the little menace had happily accepted a drugged bottle from strangers!
Any real Saint candidate would have sensed the poison!
Apparently House Eshua wasn't just being taken lightly; these Saint candidates treated them like dirt. They'd shoved the poison right in his face without a shred of subtlety.
It's probably not fast-acting, but it's certainly no ordinary drug.
Shuri had no desire to help, but with the supervisors absent, he refused to stand by and let a child of Eshua get done in by those idiots. In the end he'd marched over to snatch the bottle away—
WHAM!!
—only to get beaten down by Isaac instead. Worse, the little monster had channeled holy power into the bottle before throwing it.
What exactly does he think his older cousin is?!
If you've been poisoned, at least have the decency to keel over! Instead of collapsing, the brat had tried to trample him on his way past, so Shuri had finally offered up his own bottle.
“If you're thirsty, take mine! Just quit it already!”
At that, Isaac had lit up and gulped down Shuri's water with tremendous anticipation sparkling in his eyes. Then he kept swallowing, slower and slower—
“Dahya?”
—and leveled a vicious glare at him instead. Shuri had no idea why he was being glared at, but something told him the look was suspicion itself. So, feeling wronged, he'd insisted it was perfectly clean water with nothing in it… and gotten beaten up again.
“Dahyaya!! (Why the hell is yours clean, you little punk?!)!”
Seriously? This lunatic throws a fit because my water is actually safe to drink?
And from that point on, Isaac had begun tailing the children carrying drugged bottles like a bloodhound. He crawled after them with the practiced ease of a cockroach.
By then, the children who'd tried to sabotage Isaac were the ones paralyzed with terror. Understandably so—Isaac had already drunk the water of six of them.
“Wh-why is he fine? I definitely put laxative in it!”
“Did you grab the wrong bottle?”
“No way! Mine had Divine Poison in it…!”
“What?! Are you insane? That stuff kills you if you drink it!”
More importantly—why does he look like he's in ecstasy with every swallow?!
When Isaac stretched out a menacing little hand, the children flinched and hid their bottles behind their backs.
“N-no. You, you'll really die if you drink any more…!”
They looked absolutely terrified. And for some reason, the sight of it made Isaac's face turn as dark and menacing as a demon's.
“Dhutta! (You little priest chicks!)”
“Ddada! (If you're gonna mess with me, at least do it properly. Force-feed me until my guts turn inside out—why are you chickening out?)”
Was that even a child anymore? The expression was deeply unpleasant to witness. Naturally, every other child watching trembled and looked to Shuri for answers.
“Why is he obsessed with laxatives…?”
“Are Eshua kids just… like that?”
No! Only that little bastard is like that!
Under the relentless stares, Shuri couldn't even lift his head. Even the innocent children seemed to have caught on to the situation by now, but he refused to be lumped in with a baby addicted to laxatives!
What on earth is that kid?
Shuri had no idea what drugs were in those bottles. But they'd clearly been intended to sabotage a Saint candidate, so at the very least they weren't vitamins. Poison, if nothing else. And Isaac had drunk six of them—with that blissful expression on his face!
Is he a pervert or something?
One thing was certain: the kid was not in his right mind. Keep your distance, Shuri told himself.
But the other candidates saw Isaac in a completely different light.
“His poison resistance is incredible…!”
“Right! That must be why he's fine!”
“Now that I think of it, I've heard of this! Train your holy power far enough and you reach a state where your body automatically neutralizes any poison!”
“That's right! They say high priests drink deadly venom like water!”
“Wait, so he's already reached that state?”
All eyes turned on Isaac with admiration—and Isaac, in response, let out a burp.
Resistance? What?
No, that's not it at all?
I just absorbed the mana.
Apparently this ridiculous Holy Empire mixed mana into not just Divine Poison but every poison it made. Well, it made sense, in a way—mana was the force that suppressed holy power. That was exactly why priests and mages couldn't stand each other.
As a result, the laxatives—no, every drug—Isaac had swallowed carried a trace of poison in them.
Well, "trace" is generous. It'd be genuinely dangerous for a small child.
But every poison used in the Holy Empire contained mana? What a mad… what a magnificent delicacy this place was! For Isaac, to whom a single drop of mana was precious, this was the elixir of life itself!
It wasn't without drawbacks, though. Poison was still poison, so neutralizing it put him in a good mood and dulled his senses just a touch—his pronunciation got a little tangled and a pleasant, tipsy warmth washed over him and… ah, in other words, this was drunkenness. And for the first time in several hundred years, no less!
So hand over more, you little brats!
When Isaac started eyeing even the bottles of children who weren't culprits, Shuri grabbed him.
“Enough! Seriously, stop! Are you possessed or something?!”
But the other children went pale at the sight.
“Wait—what if there's poison in your bottle too? Someone could've slipped it in when we checked our belongings earlier.”
“Don't tell me… can he detect poison?”
“Ah! Is that why he's been drinking everyone's…!”
“He's checking, so the rest of us won't be in danger? Getting rid of the poison by drinking it?!”
The children were stunned.
“As… as expected of House Eshua!”
“A true Saint.”
“To think of something like that at his age…!”
No!
That is the one thing it is absolutely NOT!
Shuri, veins bulging, was wrestling Isaac—who was flailing at empty air—when it happened.
“Is that so? So that child made such a noble sacrifice?”
“!”
Someone had appeared before them. A group of about five small children had entered the treasury—but the one who drew every eye was a boy with pure white hair and golden eyes.
Given that most of the children here were six or seven, he looked if anything a touch younger.
The very air changed with his presence. Even Shuri felt the color drain from his face.
As the surroundings suddenly fell silent, Isaac tilted his head.
“Dahya? (What's that thing?)”
But the children who had been marveling at Isaac only moments ago now stared in open despair.
“It's Kina Berith.”
“He came here too…?!”
“Nobody said the Papal House was entering!”
Ah. So that's who that is.
The child they'd all but declared the Saint already. Well, he's earned the title, I suppose.
In the Holy Empire, the closer a color was to white, the more nobility it symbolized. The higher one climbed among the clergy, the more white their vestments bore. Even in that empire, hair that pale was a sight seen only rarely. It was as if the boy's very existence proclaimed him a born saint. Honestly, the only person Isaac had ever seen with coloring that bright was the Saintess herself.
Strange, though. That's not a color that should occur naturally in the Berith line.
At the arrival of a common enemy, however, Shuri gritted his teeth.
“…Tch. His holy power's grown since last time.”
Oh wonderful. So after everything, this one's burning with rivalry against the Pope's grandson.
Ambition just oozes out of you, huh.
“Ah… if Kina Berith's here, this whole Doljabi is pointless anyway.”
“He's obviously walking out with the best treasure.”
“Why is the Papal House even at the Saintess Treasury in the first place?”
“Nothing strange about it.”
“!”
Kina Berith smiled with perfect composure.
“The Papal House stands at the head of all clergy. Which means the Saintess Treasury is, in effect, our property. I've simply come to claim what is rightfully mine—nothing more.”
Shuri ground his teeth. Isaac just sighed. Apparently this kid was somebody famous. Well, fair enough—even though Isaac himself was the youngest-looking one present, Kina's holy power was the strongest in the room.
Of course, it wasn't for nothing that they were all called Saint candidates; every child gathered here was exceptional. Small as they were, all of them already performed at the level of a low-rank priest.
Firmly within the range of what anyone would call a genius. And for the twenty-five recognized by the Papal Court, some of their auras already reached heights most couldn't touch before fifteen.
Shuri included—granted, only because Isaac had beaten the sense out of him. But that kid over there?
As if laughing at all these prodigies, he existed in a world apart.
He's probably already surpassed the rank of Bishop.
Clearly aware of his own brilliance, Kina Berith swept the bottle-clutching children with a contemptuous gaze. He'd apparently noticed what had been slipped into the water.
“Scheming with such base tricks to disgrace your hosts—and you call yourselves Saint candidates?”
“…!!”
The culprits hastily hid their bottles. Kina Berith strode toward Isaac.
“Pathetic lot. What do you gain by tormenting a child this young?”
The children bit their lips, unable to raise their heads. Of course it stings, of course it's humiliating. They'd tried to curry favor with the Papal House, only to be dressed down by the very person they'd been sucking up to.
Kina Berith looked over the Saint candidates with pity.
“A child this young couldn't possibly wield poison resistance himself. It must be the power of the Saintess, shielding her own.”
“!”
At that, the other children frowned—and so did Shuri. Something was nagging at him.
The power he showed when we fought… was that never actually his? Just his mother's, all of it?
Come to think of it, she could have cast a protective blessing on him before her… accident. The children clucked their tongues. Well, that makes more sense.
“Right, no way a baby that age handles holy power like a high priest.”
“Let alone neutralize poison…”
“That settles it, then.”
Having captured everyone's attention, Kina Berith studied Isaac with an air of sympathy.
“The way he's been running around like he's convulsing—he wasn't searching for poison. That's the poison working on him. A reaction to a stimulant, most likely.”
Kina Berith met Isaac's eyes and reached out to pat his head.
“Poor thing. Allow me to neutralize it for you.”
Isaac answered with a contemptuous little snort. What? Neutralize it? Was he planning to use Isaac to show off his own power?
Holy power erupted from Kina Berith's palm. As expected, the sheer force of the light made everyone recoil.
“Wait—he can already cast purifying arts?”
“Look at the size of that holy power. That's got to be 5th Tier.”
“Doesn't 5th Tier take twenty years of training?”
“A genius really is unbeatable…!”
But that was the exact moment it happened.
SLAP!!
“?!”
Kina Berith's head whipped sideways. It was Isaac. Shuri and every other child gaped at him in horror—but the truly shocking thing wasn't that.
“It's… it's gone? The holy power…?”
Every eye locked onto Kina Berith's hand. The overwhelming holy power that had cowed the entire room had vanished in an instant—as if Isaac had canceled Kina's blessing outright.
“…!”
Kina Berith could only stare, dumbfounded, at his own hand.
He neutralized my power?
The slap alone was absurd enough, but this brat had erased his holy art? The other children who caught the implications reeled as well.
“N-neutralized it?”
“…What? That's impossible! Neutralization only works when you stand above your opponent!”
“That kid is above Kina?!”
But the children who'd come with Kina Berith rounded on Isaac as if the very idea were laughable.
“Does no one in House Eshua teach manners?”
“You slap the cheek of the benefactor trying to save you?”
They knew perfectly well he wasn't a child you could reason with. Even Shuri could see it plain as day: they were fishing for an excuse to pin a debt on House Eshua.
But Isaac merely raised an eyebrow, as if looking at something pitiful.
Someone who can't even control his own power yet, showing off in public?
Kina Berith. Undeniably a once-in-a-millennium genius—but from the Demon King's standpoint, nothing more than a wet-behind-the-ears hatchling.
If you want to flaunt yourself in front of others, go learn control first. Wielding power that raw and unrefined at a baby—did he not realize his own strength would hurt someone without his meaning to?
Not that this was why Isaac was genuinely furious.
Whaaat? Neeuuutralize it?
This oblivious little chick wants to kill my buzz!
“Dahyaya! (My buzz is wearing off! I don't need it!)”
“Aaagh!”
“Dahya! (This is the first time I've been tipsy in centuries, and you want to PURGE it? Huh?!)!”
Isaac channeled holy power into a bottle and hurled it at the lackeys. Kina Berith, meanwhile, glared at Isaac with open displeasure. That a child like this had neutralized his power was beyond belief.
“!”
Watching Kina Berith reach out toward him again, Isaac clicked his tongue. Ah. The little brat talks like a grown-up and still can't take a hint.
No—actually, maybe that works in my favor?
“Dahya.”
Isaac clenched his tiny fist.