The Pentagon of Red (3)
The entire training grounds froze over, dead cold. Shuri's face was rapidly icing over as well.
Just to be clear, the Red Faith was the faction that produced heresy inquisitors.
What does that mean, you ask?
It means every single Red priest sprawled out on this ground was a heresy inquisitor, damn it!! Isaac had just blasphemed against a god right in front of a pack of inquisitors!
Shuri wiped a hand across his sweat-drenched face.
Stay calm. Yes, calm the hell down. This is a dream.
Right. There was no way in hell Isaac would say something actually comforting to steady his nerves!
Even if the little bastard was an idiot, surely no one would be crazy enough to smash the face of a Chief God in front of a Cardinal and a room full of heresy inquisitors—
"Isaac Eshua smashed the statue of the Chief God!"
—oh, there it is. Fantastic!
The single most forbidden act in the entire Holy Empire had just happened!
In the end, Shuri grabbed Isaac by the collar and screamed.
"#$&#$^&!"
"Brother! Use your words. Words."
"Have you still not outgrown the habits from when you were a damn infant?!"
"Ahem."
Isaac cleared his throat.
"Come to think of it, I did smash the gods' faces quite a lot even back then. Ahh, they do say consistency is the mark of a true man."
Shuri very nearly burst a blood vessel.
"Are you kidding me?! Back then it was Bomulgoland! You think the toddler days and this are the same thing?!"
"Mm. True. I acknowledge I made a mistake. I simply don't think it was wrong."
"What? Why!"
Why? As if he even had to ask!
That son of a bitch of a god had declared he would only bless those with genuine faith!
That was discrimination!
[...But by that condition, every priest is equally capable of receiving a blessing. Is that not fairness itself?]
You son of a— I can't receive it because I have no faith, you idiot!
Unfair as hell!
[Ah.]
Anyway! He'd painstakingly put together a whole strategy, and now he was supposed to just stand here and watch the Red bastards, freshly pumped full of blessings, mop the floor with them in the match?
But Shuri flinched at the stares converging on them.
Dammit! Yep, everyone's eyes have changed!
The Red priests were scanning Isaac up and down. The undercurrent of murmuring around them was anything but innocent.
Under the weight of those gazes, Rillai just laughed it off breezily.
"Hahaha, our boy's still young, you see. I suppose he got a bit nervous."
...Nervous enough to snap a god's neck?!
Are the Blues really going to be okay with this??
At the same time, Shuri glanced at Kina in a fluster. Kina's face was frozen in genuine shock at Isaac's actions, and Shuri couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat.
Damn it, of all people, Kina's reaction carries the most weight!
It wasn't for nothing that they called him the Little Pope. His piety ran every bit as deep as his reputation.
"Eshua."
Damn! Here it came—
"How exactly did you smash a Chief God's statue? What's the trick to it?"
Son of a—there's ANOTHER lunatic like Isaac here!
No wonder the Red apprentices were bristling with rage.
"Hey! Shouldn't you be getting your faith checked too? Defending Isaac Eshua of all people?!"
"What's a second-rate Chief God supposed to be, anyway?"
"Wh-what did you say?"
"The Red Chief God and his ilk. Unless you're the God of Gold, every other deity is effectively a lower god. Don't get in the way, you insignificant mongrels."
"……?!"
Shuri's head spun.
Classic Gold—excluded everyone who wasn't themselves!
The Red Cardinal, by contrast, had his ever-smiling eyes split open into something razor-sharp and murderous. And Shuri knew all too well what that look meant: the eyes of a heresy inquisitor.
Shuri hurriedly clamped a hand down on Isaac's head.
"Ahaha! Isaac, you rascal! You said you wanted to test the training grounds' durability, but you can't go about it like this! You've given everyone such a fright! Our deepest apologies—my boy is simply so very cautious. Our team brain, ladies and gentlemen! Now! Apologize!"
Shuri pressed Isaac's head down into a deep bow.
"Go on! Apologize!"
"...I'm vewy sowwy."
"Once more!"
"...I am, mewcie forvive me, extwemely sowwy."
Whether that face looked even remotely apologetic was anyone's guess—but one thing was certain: it whetted the Red Cardinal's appetite. The sly upward curl at the corner of his mouth was deeply ominous.
"Dealing with a problem child might actually be entertaining..."
But at that exact moment—
"If we're speaking of problem children, wouldn't that be the Red faction, who left the grounds in a state where an apprentice's spell could shatter a Chief God's statue in the first place?"
"!"
...This man?
The Red Cardinal glared daggers at the Gold Cardinal.
Yet the Gold Cardinal went on the offensive instead.
"An apprentice's holy art reduced a Chief God's statue to rubble. Perhaps rather than interrogating some innocent apprentice, you ought to investigate the faith of your own faction's leader."
This man is taking the Blue side?
The Red Cardinal eyed him with open suspicion, but the Gold Cardinal only furrowed his brow.
If the Reds began investigating Isaac, then in the worst case, they might uncover the very god Isaac had contracted with.
Did they really think the Gold faction would sit by and let him be dragged off screaming about madness?
Killing intent crackled between the two Cardinals' locked gazes.
And Isaac, who had single-handedly pitted two great powers against each other without meaning to, was bristling with rage of his own.
'Fuff—how wong is he going to keep making me bow, anyway.'
Isaac glared up at Shuri, who was still pinning his head down.
By that point, the referee standing awkwardly abandoned in the middle of the grounds was dripping sweat.
Haah... Could we... just... move on with the exam, please?
All he had to do was pull Isaac from the field and this would be over—but the moment he tried, Kina looked ready to hurl a holy relic at his skull.
Then it happened.
"A heresy trial over an apprentice's antics is excessive. The Red faction's failure to respond to an unpredictable action is partly at fault as well. Resume the Pentagon."
At the Red Cardinal's words, the referee wept tears of gratitude in his heart.
Thank god... I'm alive.
He'd come within an inch of being murdered by Kina Berith.
But the Red Cardinal was gazing at Isaac with profound interest.
Just what kind of gold lies hidden in Isaac Eshua, that the illustrious Gold faction would go to such lengths?
Could he truly become a Saint?
Originally, Isaac had been meant as nothing more than a tool. But after this, how could his interest not deepen?
Well, if I smuggle him out legally through the Red Pentagon, Gold can hardly complain.
True to form, he sent a signal to his son.
'!'
Niger Sephet, who had read the signal, smirked.
Understood, Father. It will be done as you command.
And at that very moment, ceremonial priests carried boxes out into the arena.
Seeing the crest engraved on them, Shuri swallowed hard.
'A thorn rose, symbolizing blood. And the spear of the hunt and of penance.'
The thorn rose that bleeds for the Empire and its gods.
≪Hunt Heart Rose≫
The emblem of the Red faction, guardians of Red.
Inside the boxes lay locket necklaces, one for each competitor.
"These are necklaces bearing the symbol of the Red faith. Naturally, they all look identical—but each team has only one genuine article."
"!"
"The rules of the Red Pentagon are simple. Whichever side seizes the real necklace first wins."
"So we're to find the true one among all the fakes?"
"Precisely. The genuine locket conceals the Red faith's Rose jewel inside. However, the leader decides who carries the true necklace—and once the treasure's location is set, it cannot be changed."
Shuri swallowed.
'So even choosing who holds the jewel is part of the strategy.'
Right on cue, the referee's eyes gleamed.
"There are three ways to find the true necklace."
First—capture the enemy leader and extract a confession. Second—track down the priest carrying the real necklace through superior insight and deduction. Third—knock out all thirty opponents one by one and recover every necklace.
"For the record, a leader who loses the match is required to confess. This is, after all, an exam where you should never need to resort to confession in the first place."
...That bastard. The way he says it, it sounds like 'confess, or we'll MAKE you confess.'
"The referee is always aware of the true necklace's location, you see. Consider it a warning against foolish stunts. All three methods are perfectly valid, so choose whichever suits you best. Now then, apprentices—do your utmost to find the culprits who stole the sacred treasure of Red."
The priests curled their lips into smiles.
Ah, the Red Faith.
So that's the game.
Red was the faith of reading human hearts and unmasking traitors. In other words, the trial doubled as combat training and as an exercise in deducing the culprit from expressions and behavior alike.
Incidentally, if the match reached the leader's duel, it doubled as torture-and-confession practice too.
Before long, Shuri stole a glance at Isaac.
Not that they hadn't already drafted a complete strategy for the Red Pentagon together—
'Is it really safe to hide it there? The plan's reckless after all...'
But Shuri immediately jolted at the look on Isaac's face.
"Dwift off and you die."
...Yep. That's the spirit.
At the same instant, the signal dropped, and Shuri and Niger received the thirty locket necklaces and distributed them to their teammates.
Each recipient put on a convincing show of shock, as if to say, mine must be the real one!
Though ninety-nine percent of it was, of course, acting.
"All units, take your positions!"
The words had barely left the referee's mouth before the Red and Blue teams scattered.
Niger watched Isaac and Kina Berith's movements and grinned.
'Yeah. Blue's Blue, no matter how you dress it up.'
Where exactly did they plan to track people down and out-think the Red faith—the undisputed kings of one-on-one combat? What a joke.
It wasn't for nothing that Niger had been designated the next head of House Red.
'I already saw through every one of those idiots' plans!'
Which meant Shuri should have swapped the leader before the match, like he'd tried to. What did that mean, you ask?
The truth was, right before the match, Niger had seen Shuri tell the referee he intended to resign as team leader.
'Well, he's spineless—guess the pressure finally got to him, huh?'
But since the roster hadn't changed, that must mean Isaac Eshua had blocked it somehow.
'Works out fine for me, honestly.'
Shuri had never once beaten him at the academy. And everyone knew it.
Rillai watched with worry written across his face. In truth, every spectator was knitting their brows.
"Red's leader is far too strong. Isn't Blue's leader a little underwhelming?"
"They could have switched before the match—should've gone with Kina instead."
"From what I saw earlier, Isaac seems to be their strategist. He's just a child after all—maybe he doesn't understand. Poor kid probably felt his own flesh-and-blood brother looked stronger."
"Yeah, Blue's losing this one..."
At those reactions, Niger smiled.
Yes. This is it. Strip Blue bare in front of everyone and expose exactly how weak they are!
And in that very moment—when every eye held pity for Blue, and the corner of Niger's mouth had curled into a victorious smile—
"BEGIN!"
Isaac bolted from the line.