Metamorphosis (1)
"Get lost. I refuse."
Duchy of Eshua.
The Head of the House hurled a curse straight down the communication orb before anything else could be said. On the far end, the red-haired man who'd just taken the abuse unannounced merely laughed through the crackle of the link.
"Why on earth would you refuse? Wouldn't it be a fine thing for your youngest grandson to receive his ordination?"
Damn it all. Why? Wasn't it obvious why?
Because the little monster pulls exactly the kind of stunts he does, that's why!
'If Isaac receives his ordination, he'll be brought close to the Papacy.'
And then, wouldn't they find out just what the boy's "faith" actually looked like?
Normally the Duke would have crushed this talkative orb long ago — but his opponent this time was the Holy See itself. His grandson might one day be dragged before a heresy inquest, and so, try as he might, he couldn't bring himself to smash it. He settled for words.
"I believe I already told you. My grandson will be educated at home until he comes of age."
"Raising a child cooped up in the house breeds problems with his character."
Already has.
"Well, fine. The child aside, you must come yourself. Does it make any sense for a Cardinal to be absent from the Ordination Ceremony — one of the Seven Great Rites, no less?"
"I believe I said I would send a proxy, citing family circumstances."
"His Holiness the Pope will be furious, you know."
The Duke's eyebrow shot up.
Who cares about the Pope right now?
We are busy hunting for a lost child here!
Where, and how, is he hiding? We've turned the entire duchy inside out and there's no sign of him!
"Anyway, nothing's wrong here, so—"
"Oh, and one more thing. Come to think of it, there's a rumor circulating here at the Academy that someone saw a platinum-blonde little boy."
Click.
The Duke cut the connection without an ounce of mercy. Beside him, Rillai broke out in a cold sweat at the sight.
"That was the Cardinal of Red, wasn't it? Could it be true — Isaac at the Academy?"
"Don't spout nonsense. What would the boy be doing there?"
Truthfully, even if he were there, it would be a disaster.
'There are heresy inquisitors at that Academy.'
Isaac's answers to the character test had included one about the Pope, after all.
Q. As a newly ordained priest, what would you like to say to His Holiness the Pope?
A. Kneel and wash your neck, so it's easier to take your head off.
O Lord.
Is this a priest's answer sheet, or a heretic's?
Are we absolutely sure the baby wasn't swapped at the cradle?
Blasphemy on top of treason on top of who knew what else. The Duke felt his mind go numb.
And that wasn't even the half of it!
'The Imperial Princess is at that Academy as well.'
And honestly? The thought that Isaac would deal with royalty politely and slip away quietly did not inspire confidence. Not even a little.
An inquisitor, and the Imperial Princess.
Whichever he ran into, the odds of being hauled off to a dungeon were overwhelming. The only difference was whether he'd be dragged away for blasphemy or for insulting the crown.
Just then, the Blue knights who had been combing the grounds for Isaac approached them.
"My Lord Duke. As expected, he's nowhere to be found."
"We searched every hole a child could squeeze into and didn't miss so much as a rat burrow, but..."
The Duke sighed at that.
"No help for it, then. You men stay behind and keep looking for Isaac. It's about time we departed."
He'd said he would send a proxy, but he could hardly skip the Ordination Ceremony altogether.
At that, the knights nearby led forward horses of the deep blue — mounts already readied for a long journey.
"How long until the Ordination Ceremony?"
Rillai, who was somehow loaded down with the Duke's luggage as well, stretched out his shoulders and checked his pocket watch.
"Exactly twenty-three hours and forty-eight minutes, my lord."
The knights stepped forward, as if to see them off.
"My Lord, please mount up. These are the swiftest of all the divine beasts—"
"No. Those things are far too slow. We'll never make it in time."
"Ex... excuse me? B-but, my lord!"
"You follow behind at your leisure. I'm going on ahead."
"Going on ahead?! Wha— KYAAK!"
Before the words had even left his mouth, a thunderous boom split the air and the earth lurched.
WHAM!
The Duke and Rillai had kicked off from the ground itself and shot into the sky.
Gone with the thunderclap, they tore across the land faster than the wind — the Duke in the lead, Rillai on his heels.
In an instant, father and son had bisected the great plains and vanished, and the knights were left standing with their mouths hanging open.
"Th-that's... the High-Speed Stride..."
They were already moving beyond the horizon, out of sight entirely.
"Wh-what kind of speed is that..."
"Wait — they're really going to reach the capital in twenty-three hours?"
By running?
"A distance that takes a full week even for the fastest divine beast?! Barefoot?!"
But coming from the Head of House Eshua and Rillai, it somehow felt entirely possible, so the knights simply fell silent.
Of course, divine beasts absolutely required rest, and their pace suffered badly from terrain. Remove those limitations, and a human couldn't possibly be faster... right?! Right?!
'They're not human, that's why.'
But what was more terrifying than all of that was...
"...The Matriarch is even stronger than those two, isn't she?"
"Ah... well, it's a different field, but in terms of raw physicality? I'd say about a hundred times over?"
"..."
Then exactly how strong is the Skeleton King, whom even the Matriarch could never catch?!
'Well, no idea where that skeleton is hiding anyway.'
And the skeleton destined to destroy that very country was, at this moment, inside the Holy Empire itself.
Right in the heart of the Academy, no less.
"Wh-what's going on?"
The cafeteria was in an uproar.
And the cause of it all was a single child still nursing-age.
"Th-that kid — who is he?"
"If Shuri brought him, isn't he one of the Eshua household?"
"What?! A child of the Ducal House goes digging through the trash cans?"
"And he's throwing an egg at the portrait of His Holiness the Pope—"
"AAAAAH!"
"Ah — Shuri caught it."
Shuri, who had barely managed to snatch the egg out of the air, felt his vision go hazy.
This voice. This scene. This situation.
'...What is this? Déjà vu?'
Come to think of it, something almost exactly like this had happened ten years ago too. Damn it all!
Of course, there were differences. This was the Academy, a gathering of the empire's noble scions; Shuri himself was a class representative respected by the student body; and this cafeteria was where the Pope's personally appointed professors dined!
'If he causes a scene here, of all places...!'
The inquisitors might come swarming.
'No — wait, that's not the problem right now, is it?'
"You. Are you the one who's been bullying Lil Shuri?"
"Wh-what?"
Yes.
THAT was the problem, damn it.
Shuri pressed a hand to his forehead and looked at the child standing toe-to-toe with Isaac.
Isaac was feuding with a ten-year-old first-year. At a glance the child looked like a boy — but she was a girl.
And the problem was that this girl was Naki Sephet, younger sister of Niger Sephet of the Red Ducal House.
"I never bullied Shuri Eshua! The one who did it was Niger!"
Impressively, she was even fully aware of the bullying itself.
Anyway — Isaac had simply marched up to the girl out of nowhere and picked a fight.
— Hey. You the one bullying Lil Shuri?
— What? How dare an Eshua, of all people—!
So apparently even to a brat like her, House Eshua looked easy to push around. Nothing to be done about it.
'Red is second only to Gold among the Five Great Families in power and influence.'
Red.
The faith commonly known as the faith of punishment and torture.
As with every faith, it was Red's church that was actively pushing to have Eshua struck from the Five Faiths entirely.
'Not to mention, it's the institution that produces seventy percent of all heresy inquisitors.'
In other words — to Isaac, the very last people he should ever get close to! Which was why Shuri sighed and moved to haul Isaac away.
But Isaac, who had stopped dead over the matter of Shuri, was staring fixedly at the girl for some reason.
'Hm. I sense a familiar divine aura.'
"Ah, right — you priests make contracts with gods, don't you, my lord?"
'She's still too young for a contract. More like a blessing, I'd guess.'
"Don't tell me — are these the same bastards who conned you, master?"
'No. The ones who scammed me to my face were the gods of Gold.'
Each faith followed its own pantheon of gods.
And the Five Faiths, strongest among the countless creeds, mostly served Main Gods.
'The god of House Red feels like one I know, actually.'
Which meant, of course, that House Eshua must serve a Main God of its own.
And yet not one member of the direct bloodline had ever sensed that god's power?
Why?
'Well, fine by me. Means I get to stretch my legs out and sleep soundly.'
But Naki Sephet merely sneered at Isaac and Shuri both.
"Well, one of you is a cursed brat still smelling of milk, and the other is a child of the Pope's own house. So Blue will fail God Selection this year too, I see."
Shuri sighed at that — though he still couldn't fathom why Isaac kept insisting on hovering next to this girl.
"Come on, we're leaving. You don't mess with House Red... GHK!"
Instead of an answer, Shuri took the rattle to the gut.
"Not going anywhere, Lil Shuri. I've got an ordination to receive."
At that, Shuri hurriedly pulled Isaac close and whispered, looking pained.
"Listen, the truth is the family lied to you! Your name actually made the ordination list! So you don't need to do a Life Resc— GHK!"
Isaac swung the rattle again, as if to say and you were hiding that why, exactly?
"Well. I figured as much."
"Ghh... fine. You know now, so we're good, right? Then let's head ho— POW!"
Shuri got hit again.
"WHAT was that for?!"
"Hmph. My name is on the ordination list, and you thought I'd simply not take it?"
"Take it looking like that? Are you out of your mind?"
Isaac answered with a laugh instead.
"Who said anything about taking it looking like this?"
Then in what freakish form is he planning to receive it?!
Perhaps sharing the sentiment, Naki Sephet laughed too.
"Isaac, was it? So you came here to receive your ordination. Well, you won't be getting it anyway. Niger said he filed a protest up the chain to have you struck off."
Shuri's jaw dropped.
"That's — that's absurd!"
"It's true. He said you can't ordain a child whose credentials haven't been verified."
Shuri's eyebrow twitched upward.
Damn that Niger. Talking trash about Isaac and House Eshua behind our backs, and all the while planning to block his ordination outright?
"Well, even without Niger, one look at that violence of his and it'd probably get canceled anyway."
"...Lady Sephet. Just to be safe, shall we call an inquisitor?"
At the words of the students around her, Shuri screamed internally.
NO! Not the inquisitors! Anything but the inquisitors!
Just as Shuri lunged to stop them—
KRRUNCH!
"?!"
The cafeteria wall buckled inward, and out of the warped stone a black shadow emerged.
The students recoiled in horror.
"A demon beast!"
"Why is it HERE?!"
And the shadow made straight for Naki Sephet without a shred of hesitation.
Isaac chuckled. Puhet.
'Yes. This is what I've been waiting for.'
Why did they think he'd been traipsing all over the school? He'd sensed the presence of demonkin somewhere in this place, that was why.
'Well, naturally an Academy keeps a demon beast or two around for training purposes.'
And on his own, he could exorcise it, or drive it out, as easily as breathing, but...
'It'd be a waste not to put this to use, wouldn't it?'
Isaac was the Demon King.
He knew where demonkin were, what manner of creature each one was — and he could lure them, too.
It was a relief that his name had made the ordination list, truly — but he'd entered by recommendation, so there were bound to be doubters.
And just as expected, that Niger-something and his ilk clearly took a dim view of him.
So the plan, from the start, had been to turn them all into honey-mouthed, mute little sheep.
How?
Simple!
'Life Rescue!'
Which was why Isaac had deliberately singled out the students with the most exalted bloodlines.
'Follow the aura of a Main God and you land squarely among the direct descendants of the Five Faiths.'
It had simply happened to be the Red Ducal House, that was all.
'Sorry about this, kid — I'll be borrowing your family!'
In that instant, Isaac detonated his holy power straight at the demon beast.
KWAANG!
"Krrk...!"
Yes, that's it! One shot and it's—!
"KRRRRK!!"
...Huh. This thing's got more stamina than it looks. Mind backing off a little?
The beast, it seemed, took offense at the searing light of his holy power, and dug in its heels.
KWAANG!
"He says his devotion to the Demon King will not permit him to retreat!"
It's fine for now, so rein it in.
Tch. He could spend more holy power and subdue the thing, sure — but ugh, what a chore.
Isaac gave the resisting beast a long, meaningful glare.
CRACK—!
'!'
Sensing the crushing weight of the pecking order, the demon beast fled in sheer terror.
"KYAHNG!"
"The demon beast... it ran!"
And then—
"Is everyone unharmed?!"
The students had brought back someone who looked like a member of the faculty. There was red in his robes, so he was plainly a man of the Red Faith — and yet Shuri's expression turned grave.
"A-An inquisitor!"
Ah. That's why.
He watched the students bow their heads in apology to the man.
"We're terribly sorry. The cage holding the demon beast we'd captured for this term's exam assignment somehow opened on its own—!"
"H-haha. Well then, we'll be off—"
Shuri tried to slide away smoothly with Isaac in his arms, but the inquisitor seized them.
"You two there! I'll need to question you!"
"U-us? Why?"
"A demon beast that was already captured does not simply wander in here and target one particular student."
Shuri flinched and shot Isaac a look.
There's no way this kid summoned a demon beast the same way he handles that Shadow Lich... right?
'Damn it. If we get dragged in, this becomes a real headache.'
The Red Faith was forever itching for any excuse at all to interrogate someone from Blue.
'This one looks like a low-ranking grunt, but if a senior inquisitor gets attached to the case...'
But the one who stopped the inquisitor was, of all people, Naki Sephet.
"Don't waste your time, Tehor! That child saved me!"
"!"
"Isaac, was it? Well — consider my earlier rudeness settled by this."
Shuri stared at Naki Sephet in open astonishment.
Wait — House Red is shielding House Blue?
No matter how he turned it over, he couldn't find a reason. Which left him no choice but to gape at Isaac with the world's most foolish expression.
"Whoever said he wasn't the Saintess's bloodline — is he already bewitching people with that face of his?"
What is this guy even saying anymore.
Just then, the students who had witnessed the whole scene began murmuring as they looked at Isaac.
"So he saved someone and got a recommendation letter out of it."
"I guess the stories about his ability were true...!"
And there was one onlooker watching the entire spectacle with peculiar interest. She recognized Isaac at once, and her eyes went wide with shock — she was...
'Could that person be... the one His Highness my brother spoke of...'
The Imperial Princess.
Dawn broke, and a dark twilight settled over the day.
By then, the imperial banquet hall where ordinations were conferred was packed with countless priests and graduating students.
But the graduates awaiting their own ordination were all buzzing with one voice.
"Is it true? The youngest priest in history?"
"Ten years old?"
"And apparently he saved the fourth child of the Red Ducal House just yesterday?"
Everyone gathered there was waiting on Isaac with bated breath.
Well — everyone except Niger Sephet and his fellow graduates, whose brows were knitted in scowls.
Their original plan had been to dispute whether a recommendation system made any sense at all, to argue that a child with no verified qualifications could not possibly be ordained. But after that business in the cafeteria, there was nothing left to say.
Yet in truth, they'd decided this worked out even better for them.
Why?
'Just picture it. That milk-smelling toddler waddling up to receive his ordination — how magnificent a laughingstock will that be?'
'They'll call him cursed. They'll tear him apart.'
And thinking along exactly the same lines was Shuri.
Which was why he currently stood grinding his teeth outside the banquet hall's washroom.
"Come ON, everyone's already inside, you little monster! A milk-stinking, third-rate runt like you is throwing a tantrum about wearing priest vestments?! You're going to walk into that hall drowning in a robe your arms and legs don't even reach the ends of?! Get out here this instant...!"
BANG!
The door burst open, and Shuri pressed a hand to his forehead.
"What exactly is going on in that head of yours? Everyone out there is just waiting for the chance to laugh at the sight of you. If House Eshua gets mocked any further than—"
But the moment Isaac stepped out of that door, Shuri's eyes went wide — round as saucers.