Still Waters Run Deep (2)

The Blue Faction headquarters.

Near Eshua Manor stood a monastery and the training grounds of the Blue Faction — a place where knights ranked from the lowly 3rd Tier all the way up to the 1st Tier, along with their masters and disciples, lived, trained, and ate together.

Normally the elders taught the children there, but today — for once — the Head of House himself was in residence.

Granted, the only reason he was around was because he dreaded what Isaac might blow up next… which was precisely the problem. And he'd been seen sighing over the repair bill for the sections of the manor young Master Isaac had demolished — but still, this was unquestionably a rare chance to receive instruction from the Head of House directly.

And so, for once, the Head of House was peacefully imparting his wisdom——

CRASH!

…Like hell he was.

At the sound of the training ground exploding, every knight whipped their heads around. There stood the Head of House, facing the delegation from the Papal Court.

"Your Excellency! What is the meaning of this?!"

"Go back."

"Wh-what?!"

"Isaac is not going to the capital."

So that was it. The delegation had come to personally escort Isaac to the capital.

And the reason was none other than——

"Your Excellency! Surely you're aware that this year is different!"

"That's right. Young Master Isaac refused every summons for the past ten years, but this Founding Festival, he must attend!"

The Founding Festival.

An event with a storied legacy that even the Empire took seriously, honoring the towering legacies of the first Emperor and the first Pope. Above all, it was where the ordination of priests and the investiture of knights took place.

But it happened every single year. Why on earth was this year suddenly so sacred that they had to carry on like lunatics?

"This year is finally the year the Saint candidates receive their holy orders!"

Yes, that was the issue.

'In short, the Saint candidates have reached Academy graduation age.'

So what?

To the Holy Empire, though, this was the ten long years they'd finally been waiting for!

It was hardly for nothing that these were Saint candidates — a generation gathered from the greatest geniuses in history!

And what would happen when children like that began their work as priests?

"The achievements those children have racked up over the past decade are nothing short of extraordinary!"

"Yet Young Master Isaac alone — for ten whole years, not a word! Not even a glimpse of his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠face!"

"Exactly! And yet ten years ago, he performed such marvels in the treasury!"

No, you idiots.

That was when he was a baby. Does anyone seriously think a kid who's a bit clever as a toddler stays a genius forever?

The Head of House frowned, but the envoys were on a different roll entirely.

"The rumors are everywhere!"

"Indeed. If the Head of House of the Blue Faction keeps him hidden away in the East Castle — the very place built to raise Saintesses! — then just how magnificently must young Isaac have grown in those ten years?"

Goddammit, he hasn't grown.

Not one centimeter. Why do you think we're not sending him?

"And that's not all! We witnessed it on our way here! The Blue Faction's educational methods — reducing a historic manor like Eshua Castle to rubble! We were left in admiration, and then more admiration!"

What? What education? That looked like education to you?

At the sight of the Head of House's face, the Blue Faction knights flinched and shuddered.

"There's more still! Every single week, over two hundred kilograms of chocolate and a hundred kilograms of confectionery are being delivered to your grandson!"

…What kind of lunatic eats that many sweets?

"We hear it is you, Your Excellency, who sends them!"

…Come again?

"How splendidly your grandson must be developing, if you would send him confectionery — items forbidden to underage clergy! The Blue Faction truly is on another level!"

This is you dragging us for stuffing a kid full of junk, isn't it?

The knights watching the Head of House's face broke out in an even colder sweat. His ashen complexion had gone utterly bloodless. The elders had already quietly evacuated the area.

But the delegation pressed on.

"In any case, from the standpoint of educators like ourselves, it is only natural to feel wounded that you won't send us the child, Your Excellency."

"Oh, of course! Not that we mean any criticism whatsoever! Houses of the Five Great Families hardly need to enroll at age ten to begin with! Sending young Master Shuri at ten was already an honor more than sufficient for us!"

"Still, for a talent of young Isaac's caliber, we believe being ordained alongside his fellow Saint candidates would serve the nation as wel— hlk."

The Head of House cracked his neck with an audible snap.

'Well, fair enough. Everyone had high hopes.'

He had, too.

Right up until the Skeleton Demon King's mana turned the boy into… that little menace.

'Then again, if he'd actually managed to learn holy arts in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that milk-drinking body of his, he might by now have become a monster to rival the Pope's own grandson — or worse.'

According to Rillai, the Skeleton Demon King's mana had left Isaac unable to wield holy arts at all.

Typical. Useless to the very end, that Skeleton Demon King.

'Is there truly no hope at all?'

The Head of House sighed.

"Enough about the holy orders. When the time comes, he'll present himself at the Papal Court on his own."

"But you must hear us out! This year's Ordination Ceremony coincides with Her Highness the Imperial Princess's birthday, and His Holiness the Pope has graciously agreed to preside over it personally!"

"The Pope?"

The Head of House's expression shifted with unmistakable surprise.

Don't tell me.

"Yes! His Holiness has declared that he will confer a hero's title upon all who receive their holy orders!"

"!"

A hero's title was a kind of epithet — one that multiplied the domain of one's power several times over. Receiving one was an unqualified boon.

"But my grandson is not yet of age to receive holy orders."

"Your Excellency — why else ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would we have come! If the talent is there, what does age matter! A boy like Isaac could become the youngest priest on the continent!"

"Indeed! The Magic Empire has been strutting about ever since they produced a fourteen-year-old upper-tier mage — the youngest in history — and started looking down on… our spirits have grown rather restless, haven't they!"

The Head of House narrowed his eyes.

So they meant to try some backdoor route instead of the regular examinations.

Well, there was no reason to stand in the way of an offered opportunity.

"Do as you like. It won't work anyway."

"Ohhh! We are honored!"

The knights clicked their tongues.

'No wonder the Head of House banned access to the eastern tower.'

Just means more sacrificial lambs stumbling out with their scalps flayed off.

"If you do evewything I tell you, Thuwi, I might fowgive you."

'Goddammit, that monstrous little…!'

Shuri went pale at the sight of the milk-drinking infant before him.

And not without reason — the Shadow Lich was writhing behind the baby.

When they were little, he'd gotten away with nothing worse than a scream and looking the other way. But he was fifteen now.

Did an Isaac who commanded a Shadow Lich look even remotely normal? Especially when that same Shadow Lich had visibly evolved into something more vicious and more powerful than before?

'Goddammit, what is a boy on his deathbed doing messing around with the Skeleton Demon King's mana?'

Worse, for some unfathomable reason, Isaac would only walk and talk and torment Shuri when Shuri was around.

In front of the adults, the little monster couldn't even toddle — couldn't speak, couldn't use holy arts, couldn't do anything.

It was hardly a mystery why Shuri had bolted to the Academy the moment he turned ten.

"Ugh, you wittle bwave of a bwothew, you weave me so angwy."

…Wait. No — the mute act was probably just to cover up his short pronunciation.

Before long, Shuri shook himself off and climbed to his feet with an air of injury. Eccentric or not, this was now the difference in weight class between a fifteen-year-old and a toddler.

Besides, this one was cursed to never grow. There was no reason on earth to be afraid of a little brother like——

"Theye's no weason on eawth to be afwaid of youw wittle bwothew, wight?"

"……!?"

Sweat poured down Shuri's face.

Did this little bastard learn mind-reading?

But Isaac simply shook his rattle with an expression of pure disgust.

"So what if you don't wike it. Do you weawwy think it's okay for a Saint candidate to wie? You need to speak pwopewly. I waised you, you punk. And now you'we webowting?"

"Ghh — you — I'm telling the adults you command demons!"

"Go ahead."

"!"

Shuri flinched hard.

Isaac's eyes blazed with fury.

"Oh, so now that Thuwi's off to the Academy and can hardly even see my face anymore, he's webowting, is he?"

"……?!"

"Shuwi. Which do you think comes fiwst — youw confession, ow youw death? Hmm? Bwothew deaw."

"…I'm sorry."

"Knew you would. Knead."

"…Yes, sir."

Shuri kneaded the toddler's shoulders.

"Hah. Thuwi. I was pwanning to take only half the fee, but you had to go and mock the wittle one, and now you've gone and made me the bad guy. I have so much to do if I'm going to gwo up to be a Saint awound hewe."

Shuri couldn't even muster a scoff anymore.

A Saint? This kid?

This bastard, who'd become Demon King faster than he'd ever become a Saint?

"That's what famiwy's fow, Bwothew. You hewp each othew when things get hawd, wight?"

This bastard is only family and only my brother when it suits him!

Shuri sincerely regretted it.

'Damn it. The real mistake was bringing that brat medicine ten years ago.'

True, within the family they'd been rivals — but still, ten years ago…

Shuri had been able to carry treasure out of the vault thanks to Isaac's help. And better treasure than Kina Berith's, no less — their relative from the Papal line!

Young Shuri had never once in his life seen his father wear an expression that delighted.

"You beat that Kina?!"

He couldn't begin to guess why his father had looked like he was about to weep, but regardless — that was the day Isaac received his terminal diagnosis.

So out of pity, unable to let him die, Shuri had gathered up every remedy he could find for the boy… and that, apparently, had been the seed of the catastrophe——

"You'we… a surprisingly not-so-bad guy, aren't you?"

No — that was the beginning of the goddamn curse.

Sure enough, the Isaac of that day had looked over the medicine with an expression of tremendous surprise, then smiled — thin and cold.

And from that moment on, the look in his eyes had changed completely.

Yes. Exactly.

The way one looks at a mere cart and wagon… shifting to the way one looks at a draft horse being raised for slaughter.

From then on, Shuri learned holy arts under a steady hail of beatings, and soaked up knowledge under drill-sergeant barking every vacation.

Granted, it had made him top of his class — and earned him an early graduation, at that…

'What even is he?'

Frankly, he hadn't understood as a child. But now, with graduation upon him, it had begun to terrify him.

Shuri was no fool either — quite the opposite — and he had grasped it before anyone else.

Isaac's level of knowledge?

'He's already left the Academy professors light-years behind.'

And watching Shuri realize it, Isaac smirked.

Perhaps it was those vicious, predatory eyes that clashed so with his personality. His face alone resembled the Pope's grandson ten million times more than the Pope's own grandson did, which irritated Shuri endlessly — but for now, this was the colt Isaac himself was raising.

Just as the young Crown Prince kept noble children as his personal pages, this was the boy slated to become Isaac's squire.

"So. They'we going to execute the Demon King's Puhaw, huh."

"Huh? Oh — ah. That demon we saw back in the treasury. I hear that ever since we came out, it hasn't obeyed a single command. It won't so much as touch its food — as if it's simply waiting to die. I wonder why?"

Why indeed.

Because it met me, and no longer had any reason to take orders from priests.

Oh. So from the Papacy's perspective, it's outlived its usefulness, and now they're executing it?

Shuri looked at Isaac strangely for a moment, then let out an awkward laugh, as if something had just clicked.

"Looking to rack up merit as a Saint candidate, are we? Well, you can forget it. That demon's execution has already been claimed by our seniors — the high and mighty ones."

Isaac narrowed his eyes.

"Then… bai?"

Shuri puffed himself up with an ahem.

"Me and my classmates — the ones receiving holy orders this year. There's something called the Sacrificial Offering Festival. It's a grand rite where the priests ordained that year make their first offering to God — and that's where we newcomers are scheduled to carry out the execution."

Isaac's eyes flashed.

Right. Definitely not the time to be lounging around blathering about the Academy.

" Hewp me. I gotta gwab it this yeaw."

"Grab what?"

"My howy owews."

Shuri blinked, then burst out laughing.

"How about enwolling in school fiwst, hmm?"

Isaac answered by raising the Golden Rattle.

CRACK!

Rattled by the blow to his face, Shuri stammered on, shivering.

"…Th-there is a way, but… it's going to be very difficult, I think."

"Spit it out."

"A Letter of Recommendation. It's a Papal Court–approved track — age doesn't matter, and if you pass, you're ordained a priest within a single day."

So in a word — it's a secret-merit pathway. Nice. Feels delightfully illegal. I love it.

In truth, Isaac had pushed Shuri toward the priesthood first in order to scout out how the exams were run, and——

These bastards!

Setting aside the fact that they're demanding I write down how to kill myself — it's Skeleton-hunting AGAIN?! AAAGH!

No need to take the filthy priests' exam seriously, as expected.

But Shuri smirked.

"Except you'll never manage it. You'd need a priest of the Papal Court willing to write your recommendation — but above all, you'd need a deed that proves your character."

Character… what?

"You have to save someone to earn a recommendation. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠And the rarer the person you save, the stronger your case — but where on earth is a precious person in danger just going to pop up? And the holy orders are being conferred in exactly one month. You'd have to manage it all within the deadline, too."

That was when it happened.

The door to Isaac's room burst open.

"Shuri! What are you doing idling in a place like this!"

"Father?"

"Priests have come from the Papal Court. You passed the priest examinations in first place — you've been appointed as Her Highness the Imperial Princess's escort."

"WHAT?!"

At those words, Isaac's eyes slid slowly toward Shuri.

"They request your presence in two weeks. Prepare to depart for the capital ahead of time, alongside the priests."

"YES! They say Her Highness the Imperial Princess is a legendary beauty!"

"Shuri!"

Isaac's eyes rolled lazily in their sockets.

A precious person to save… precious…

…Right. Her Highness the Imperial Princess would count as precious, wouldn't she?

Isaac's eyes curved into a sly grin as they settled on Shuri.