What Did I Just Hear? (4)

"What? He passed Harmony? Isaac? Why would he?"

In the capital of the Holy Empire, not far from the Imperial Palace, stood a villa belonging to House Eshua.

It was the residence used whenever the family needed to stay in the capital — typically occupied by Eshuas serving ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in the Papal Court or the Imperial household. The head of the family did sometimes lodge there, but except during the season of state affairs or major events, he rarely lingered long. The Blue Faith prized the cultivation of character above all else, and so its members tended to shun the capital, a place too steeped in worldly temptation.

And with the Ordination Ceremony concluded, the head of House Eshua should have returned to his estate. Yet he was still in the capital.

The reason hardly needed saying.

"Hm, strange. I was certain he'd be eliminated in Harmony."

"Father... you really didn't have to hold a prayer rite begging Isaac to fail..."

Rillai pressed a hand to his forehead, surveying the holy relics adorning the family head's chambers.

Relics of the highest grade, ones he never even got to glimpse in ordinary times, were lined up in rows. As a holy knight, it was a genuinely luxurious sight for sore eyes and—

"Fall out. Fall out. Fall out, my grandson."

—the scene was somewhat disturbing.

Anyone walking in would have found it more than a little strange.

"Rillai... when exactly did our Blue Faith turn into a cult of curses?"

"H-haha."

At his second brother's remark, Rillai could only sweat buckets. Well, no — he could see how it might look that way. The head of the Blue Faith, who should long since have gone home, suddenly squatting in the capital villa was strange enough, but then he'd arranged priceless holy relics around the room and offered daily prayers to the gods. Honestly.

Anyone who didn't know better would be green with envy at such a lavish blessing.

'The problem is that it's a prayer begging for his grandson to fail.'

And from every angle, it looked dangerously close to... fraud.

By that point, Benjamin Eshua — second son of the family, steward of the capital villa and administrator of House Eshua's finances — could not help but tilt his head.

"Rillai. I haven't met my nephew yet, but is that child truly such a troublemaker?"

Rillai sputtered in protest.

"A troublemaker? Absolutely not! Isaac is so kind and gentle and well-mannered, and clever, and beautiful on top of it all!"

"...Then what is Father's behavior supposed to be?"

"Well — he's just that worried! About his grandson! As you know, Brother, Isaac is only ten! It's far too dangerous for him to face the Gold Faith's and the Heresy faction's trials. He loves the boy so much he wants to bring him home."

...Really, now.

Benjamin adjusted his glasses. House Eshua already had more than enough drama over the succession. 'I can't inherit the family myself as the second son, so the appearance of a child with the seed of succession is a good thing, but...'

"Strange. Anyone caught in this blessing of mine should trip over their own overzealous feet and black out for at least three days."

Father. At that point it's simply a curse, is it not?

"Why won't the blessing take on that one?"

Speaking as the head of the family, I think we're all better off if it doesn't??

"But I can tell your grandfather cares for him very deeply."

"!"

A clear, bell-like voice made Rillai jump. Beside him stood the second son's daughter.

"Leah! You're back from Hella!"

"Yes, Father. It is an honor to see you, my lord, and you too, Uncle."

She was around eighteen, a silver-haired beauty with a face straight out of heaven, offering a bow to Rillai. The first saintess candidate to break the curse of a house that had birthed nothing but sons for generations — and among all the saintess candidates in history, a knight hailed as a genius.

And she took a keen interest in Isaac. With good reason: the 'head of the Blue Faith' was the one who made saintesses and set the policies that governed them. If the next head of House Eshua turned out to be Isaac rather than Leah herself, then Isaac might well become the man who held the very lifelines of every saintess in the family.

Though, of course, there seemed to be a number of problems with that idea.

"What is this? How did my grandson pass Harmony? That's not a trial a child like him should be able to complete. Don't tell me the babies actually got swapped?"

"Father..."

The sons' eyebrows twitched. But the head of the family wore a grave expression.

In truth, his reason for trying to haul Isaac home was nothing so simple. First of all, the Pope had marked Isaac's life for death. On top of that, the Pope's irksome grandson was now showing interest in the boy.

'A disaster in the making.'

Well, the truth was that Isaac had simply been ordained far too early. Even if he'd been made to grovel for another year or two, nothing would have changed. 'The title the Pope promised him was postponed by the Skeleton Demon King's attack, but he'd receive it eventually either way.'

At any rate, the original plan had been to take him away purely to keep the boy alive. But...

The head of the family's eyebrows twitched as he looked down at the letter on his desk.

"Father, who is that letter from? That's a rather opulent envelope — one House Eshua never uses."

A sharp question, befitting the family's financial mastermind. Only an Eshua was permitted to use the color blue on an envelope addressed to the head of the family — which meant, of course, that it had come from the Eshua direct line. And precisely because Benjamin knew this, he asked the question he already knew the answer to.

Which arrogant Eshua would dare send an envelope steeped in poison?

"The fourth."

"...!"

At that answer, both Benjamin's and Rillai's faces twisted.

The fourth son of House Eshua. Their half-brother, Goel's full brother, the Pope's bloodline. And Isaac's fourth uncle. Above all, the man hungriest for the headship in all of House Eshua.

"I'm getting old. It's about time I started thinking about succession."

At the family head's words, both sons' eyes flashed.

That son of a— what kind of insane letter did he send?

"No, Father. You're still in your prime."

The head of the family, who had been in the middle of his fail-grandson prayer rite, tapped the desk.

Melissa had said the family's affairs belonged to the family as a whole — but the seat of the head could not simply be handed to anyone. And as things stood, the pool of candidates to succeed him was dangerously narrow.

The fourth son who had sent this letter was one of those candidates.

'No need to look to know he sent this because of Isaac.'

Until now, Isaac had been a suckling infant, so nobody had paid him any mind. But word had spread that he'd grown at the Ordination Ceremony. And just how conspicuous had Isaac been there? Of course the man was anxious. Who would want to have the seat of family head snatched away by the youngest, most wet-behind-the-ears nephew in the whole family?

'But this one I cannot allow.'

Which meant — aaargh — Isaac was in desperate need of a moral education!!

Rip! Rip!

"Father?!"

The head of the Blue Faith tore the letter to shreds as if in a fit of temper.

"If Isaac falls through, then I'll dump everything on you, Rillai, and make my exit — so handle it as you see fit."

Rillai coughed drily. Seriously? An ambush of responsibility out of nowhere?

"Still... for the boy to have passed Harmony, perhaps there is some hope for my grandson yet."

Maybe I won't even have to lock him in the estate and rebuild his personality from the ground up...

"!"

A single black tit had appeared.

"Shaba... Lord Shalach!"

It was Isaac's king-grade holy spirit. Since Shuri alone seemed insufficient to keep watch over Isaac, it had been assigned as additional insurance.

[Do you have any idea what sort of stunt that boy pulled in the White Faith?]

"A stunt? As long as he didn't beat anyone up, it's fine."

[A BISHOP PASSED OUT, YOU IDIOT!]

The head of the family fell silent.

"...That place is such a flower garden that fainting every now and then is acceptable."

Father???!

Benjamin doubted his own ears. 'Fainting comrades is acceptable?' Moreover, the White Faith might look the gentlest of the Five Faiths, but its cardinal was no joke. That was the place where people killed each other with flowers and tongues, wasn't it?

But the holy spirit shot a dissatisfied look at the family head, who was defending Isaac. No matter how it turned the matter over, it could not understand why he was pushing such an ill-mannered brat as a candidate for family head.

'Just dump him an earldom that even a bank robbery couldn't afford to buy and be on your way.'

[You have no idea how that grandson of yours passed Harmony, do you?]

"Judging by your tone, he must have beaten his way through with the rattle again. Well, that's acceptable."

Benjamin's eyes trembled. Father. A moment ago you said 'as long as he didn't beat anyone up'?

But Rillai agreed as well.

"That's right, at that level it's just a warm-up."

...Beating people is a warm-up?

"Yes, that much is practically adorable—"

Ado... what? Adorable??

But the holy spirit glared furiously, as if to say cut the crap.

[HE POISONED CHILDREN TO THREATEN THEM!]

"?!"

[Do you have any idea how much trouble I went through making the antidotes?!]

The head of the family clutched the back of his neck.

"Father!"

"...No, it's fine. If it was only poison, that's still acceptable."

"Yes... of course. Perfectly acceptable."

"..."

Excuse me, Blue Faith, is this genuinely acceptable??

I feel like the entire religion is being demolished as we speak??

Benjamin's pupils quaked. But the head of the family pinched the bridge of his nose.

"As long as that brat doesn't try to join hands with the Pope's house, anything else is fine."

Rillai laughed awkwardly.

"Haha, that could never happen. The Pope's house and Isaac despise each other far too much—"

And then, at that very moment—

"Grandfather! It's a disaster!!"

Shuri came barreling into the villa. Everyone startled at the sight of him drenched in sweat.

"Shuri, weren't you preparing for the Gold Pentagon? You should hardly be able to leave your quarters — what in the—!"

But the head of the family clicked his tongue, as if he already knew.

"It's Isaac again, isn't it? Out with it."

"Isaac met with Cardinal Verith!"

Damn it, a cardinal this time??

"Why? What happened? Did he fight with the Gold Faith? Slash his face with the rattle? Or poison? If he's going to do it, he should just bury him in the ground for an easy cleanup—"

"No, it's not that! Cardinal Verith told Isaac to become his adopted son!"

In an instant, every face in the room froze solid.

...Adopted son?

"ADOPTED SON?!!"

Have these bastards lost their minds?!

The head of the family's eyes gleamed and flickered.

"What did Isaac answer?"

"Ah, Father. Isaac is an Eshua too. And an Eshua would refuse even with a blade at his throat—"

"He said yes."

Rillai nearly toppled over backward.

"What? He said yes?! Isaac?! Why?!"

"Well... the cardinal just happened to lure him with money. The thing Isaac loves most..."

The Eshuas clutched their foreheads. Groans erupted from every ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠corner of the room.

"Well... money would sway him, I suppose..."

"I suppose it would..."

"IS MONEY AN EXCUSE?!"

Benjamin was flabbergasted. That nephew of mine — what on earth is wrong with him?

But Goel went a step further, suggesting it might actually be a good thing.

"If Isaac goes over there, any trouble he causes becomes the Pope's house's responsibility. And we could extract compensation as well."

"Brother Goel!"

"From House Eshua's standpoint, it's better to send Isaac over there and have him rake in gains from them. If you want him seated as the next head, Father, you could send him there and call him back later. It would sit easier on your stomach too, wouldn't it?"

But the head of the family appeared to think very differently.

"...You dung-heap scavenging bastards."

"F-Father?"

His low, sunken voice boded nothing good.

"So you're finally proposing we go to war."

However rootless, bottom-feeding a mongrel the man might be, this crossed the line. His grandfather's eyes were burning blood-red, and these people dared to lay hands on his bloodline?

The head of the family's eyes flashed.

"Whoa. What is all that?"

The Blue Living Quarters had erupted into chaos.

"What's with all these glittering crates?"

Ten crates of gold. The priests' eyes bulged as if they had never seen this much gold in their lives.

Naturally, the Blue team wasn't the only crowd gathered in front of the dormitory. The other teams were also whispering among themselves at the unbelievable scene.

"That's from the Gold Faith, right?"

"Yeah — look, that crest, it's the Verith emblem."

"So the rumor about them being close with the Gold Faith was true...?"

The priests' eyes were trembling. Understandably so — word had quietly spread that Isaac had won over his teammates with 'Gold Pills.' The particulars had been hushed up by the embarrassed parties themselves, which only made the rumors swell all the more.

—Isaac Eshua is receiving backing from the Pope's house!

And that meant—

—If we join Isaac's faction, we get Gold Pills too!

'...They're actually converting? To the Blue Faith?'

'Damn, if it's Gold Pills, the math changes quite a lot, doesn't it?'

But Isaac himself just stared at the goods piled up in front of the dormitory, utterly dumbfounded.

Well, the gold crates were within the expected range. He had named his hush-money price, after all. In fact, when they'd first shown up with a jewel box the size of a booger, he'd bulged his eyes and sent it straight back.

And what had come back in reply was this mountain of gold bricks.

Of course, Isaac hadn't demanded money merely to shake them down. Rather, he'd deliberately run a test — to gauge just how serious the adopted-son talk actually was.

So this part was fine. What bothered him wasn't that at all...

"So. What exactly is this?"

Isaac pointed, exasperated, at the object barricading the entrance.

Arranged as if to hold the Pope's house's tribute at bay — glittering jewels, and chocolate, fine silk, luxury goods in expensive leather, pricey delicacies...

Shuri broke out in a cold sweat. Grandfather, whatever else, this is way too much.

It was enough to send even the Papal Court's priests into a genuine uproar.

"The head of the Blue Faith sent that...?!!"

"The faith of frugality ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and asceticism?!"

Good heavens — is this an omen of war? A sign that a meteor is about to fall from the sky??

But Isaac looked at the letter that had arrived with the treasure — and the meaningless, dead-serious block letters scrawled across it.

...What is this?

The Blue Faith's newest curse?