Chapter 42

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 42

Chapter Title: The Corrupt Priest's Demise

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By the command of the Child of Destiny, the priests had ensured no one could properly gauge the child's vessel.

It was an act that warranted noose around the neck on the gallows, eternal infamy in the history books, and fingers pointed at their descendants for generations even after their souls faded away.

'The divine power dwelling within that wench wasn't merely at the level of a novice priest.'

It brimmed like a lake where water endlessly sprang forth no matter how much you scooped out—pure, unadulterated divine power.

He hadn't verified it all, but it far surpassed a novice; at the very least, it rivaled the twenty-one seats of the central temple. No, it was immense enough to match a cardinal.

And that was while sustaining demonic power.

Even stranger was that the wretched girl knew how to tamper with the divine power verification.

[Tamper with the divine power verification? That's impossible!]

[Verification just checks how deep my 'water tank' is. Send the priests' divine power in place of the exploration team. But if you draw their divine power toward you during the test, what happens? It looks like a dead end—the Child of Destiny's tank is only this deep.]

Just as she had confidently predicted, the central priests failed to accurately assess the child's divine power.

"Demon wench."

Ursus ground his teeth and rubbed his dry face.

'You think I'll just take this lying down?'

His halted fingers twitched, and Ursus's eyes gleamed pitch black.

1. Ursus cannot tell anyone about what happened in the chapel today or Leblain's true identity.

That was the clause from yesterday's contract.

In other words, as long as he didn't spill what happened in the chapel yesterday—

Ursus's lips curled into a sneer.

"Crook!"

At his shout, a hunched, elderly man shuffled in.

"Y-you called for me, L-Lord Ursus?"

"Come here and write a letter. Send it to the central priests before they arrive in the capital."

"Wh-what should the letter say...?"

"There's a girl in the temple. I don't like her one bit."

As Ursus smirked, Crook nodded eagerly with an "Aha!"

"No need to spell out something that'll get the Child of Destiny's limbs torn apart."

"Something like 'boosted divine power with an apostle's strength' would suffice?"

Ursus chuckled darkly at Crook's words.

Crook was the one who'd repeatedly sent fake petitions to the capital to extort money from the surroundings.

They were perfectly in sync without needing to say more.

As Crook finished the letter and reached for the door handle, Ursus beckoned him.

"Before you leave the temple, bring some girls to the bedroom."

"Wh-which ones?"

"The young ones are the tastiest."

Ursus twisted his lips watching Crook scurry out.

'Dare to mess with me.'

She wasn't on his intellectual level.

The moment her limbs were torn apart in the temple, she'd realize whom she'd provoked and regret yesterday's arrogance.

Ursus licked his dark lips and stepped out of the room.

By the time he returned from the bedroom, the clueless brat would be dragged to the temple by her hair.

Moments later, Ursus opened the bedroom door and entered.

He sensed a presence—Crook must have brought the woman already.

Ursus drew the curtains and approached the bed.

"This girl's oblivious. She should've stripped before I arrived—"

His pupils dilated massively mid-sentence.

A sharp hand pierced through his chest.

"I grew bored waiting, old thing."

"Gah—!"

Dark red blood dripped from his back, impaled by sharp nails.

"H-how... The promise... was to spare my life..."

As Ursus gasped, Bune twisted her hand free and replied.

"The baby told me to pass this on."

"......"

"The baby said she wouldn't kill you. She never said I would let you live."

Ursus staggered, trembling violently before collapsing.

'Sex offenders and rapists deserve to die.' That was Leblain's firm belief.

Bune arrived at the chapel where I was, her face beaming innocently.

"I've finished everything the baby asked."

She handed me a single letter.

I tore open the envelope and quickly scanned the contents.

It was a petition claiming I'd witnessed the Child of Destiny amplifying her divine power with impure strength.

'Acting exactly as expected.'

I shrugged and burned the letter with the chapel's lit candles.

"Just as the baby said, I knocked the hunchback out and moved him to the pervert's room."

If the man called Crook had no choice but to obey Ursus, I might have spared him.

But his face lit up with joy as he left the room with the letter.

[Th-this time it's not pocket change like before. I can buy a big house!]

"You did well."

As I nodded proudly, Bune rubbed her face against my cheek.

"The baby is so clever."

It was just Bune being innocently demonic.

'Alright then.'

I opened the case displaying the jewels. Since I'd made Ursus dispel the barrier yesterday, it opened easily.

I grabbed the Tear of the Goddess and hopped down.

Now I could send Bune back, I hadn't been fully exposed in the verification so no immediate drag to the central temple, and as a bonus, I'd dealt with a scumbag.

'Killing three birds with one stone.'

Just then, Bune spoke.

"The baby's viciousness rivals a demon's! Truly worthy of summoning me. Keep striving to become even more nefariously wicked."

Her eyes sparkled with satisfaction, leaving me a bit dumbfounded.

The northwestern temple was thrown into chaos.

Temple master Ursus had been found dead, and his servant Crook was named the murderer.

During Crook's interrogation, Ursus's crimes were laid bare one by one.

Even the missing Tear of the Goddess was suspected to be his doing.

Since he'd dispelled the barrier, it was only a matter of time before it was confirmed.

"Little One, there's trouble at the temple, so we can't get permission to enter."

Lea said with a troubled face.

They couldn't let anyone leave until Crook confessed.

It was as expected, so I nodded.

"Once I inform the master, he'll resolve it quickly. Stay here and play with the soldiers for a bit while I go make contact."

"Okay."

"If you're good, I'll give you ten strawberries when we return to the castle."

"Yeth!"

Lea chuckled at my enthusiastic reply and left the garden.

I strolled through the temple garden.

The soldiers followed behind as I inspected the thorny bushes.

My childlike heart tempted me—Run! It's racing time! Wild pony, trot trot!—but I held back and walked slowly.

"Our Little One is so well-behaved."

A Duvered servant grinned, and the soldiers nodded furiously in agreement.

'Yeah, I walked nicely and slowly, so tell Lea when she comes back.'

That meant ten strawberries with cream.

I grinned slyly.

But something was off.

The further I walked ahead, the more I saw water stains on the parched grass, until it was soaked as if rained on.

'Huh?'

It was drenched, yet not a speck of mud on my shoes.

Wondering what it was, I blinked and startled.

It was the water fish from yesterday.

"Watew fith...!"

I blurted out, but the servants and soldiers tilted their heads.

"Pardon?"

They should've been surprised to see such a fish, yet everyone stayed quiet.

[It seems others can't see it.]

'Looks that way.'

The fish wagged its tail, circling me persistently.

Was it asking me to come along?

To where?

'Did something happen to its master, Adrian?'

[It's not for the baby to worry about.]

Bune was right. No need for me to get involved.

But...

But...

'This body's remnant conscience is nagging me.'

With a deep sigh, I turned to the servants and soldiers.

"Hide an' seek time."

I clasped my hands together, gazing up at the Duvered folk with pleading eyes.

This was my ultimate move, the "shy request pose," which had even felled Duvered's head steward.

The maids' lips quivered as they scolded the wide-eyed soldiers.

"Hide-and-seek, now!"

"Hurry!"

Satisfied, I pointed at the man who absolutely had to be sidelined to find Adrian.

"Captain be it. Count to hundwed. (Captain's it. Count to a hundred.)"

"Yes!"

Like receiving a duke's command, the captain resolutely pressed his face to a tree and bellowed, "One! Two! Three!"

I bolted away.

'Lea said ten strawberries if I stay put.'

If it wasn't important, they were in for it.

The fish led to the base of a massive tree.

Adrian sat alone, cradling something in his hands.

Like melting ice, a fish pooled in the boy's palms.

'A familiar made of divine power.'

The mate to the one that fetched me.

I worried he'd been gravely injured or his divine power had run amok, but it seemed the familiar's time had simply come.

Familiars forged from condensed divine power don't last long.

They dissipate back into nature, crumbling away like sand in the wind.

His eyes were vacant, as if worn down by something.

I crouched carefully and looked at him.

"Fwamiliyaw can make anotha one. (Familiars can be made again.)"

So don't make that face that troubles people's hearts.

It bugs me when a kid wears such an expression.

Adrian only glanced up slightly at me.

"......How?"

He truly didn't know, falling silent.

Of course. Barriers and familiars were different.

You could learn barriers from temples or books, but no one taught familiars.

Even if made, they weren't sturdy like real people or animals, rendering them useless. Priests' familiars barely lasted three days, and they drained immense power.

"Then how'd ya make da fith?"

At my question, Adrian stared at the fish in his hands.

"It was just... there beside me when I woke up."

"When?"

"The morning I recovered from smallpox."

Duke Ballua's wife's words resurfaced.

[Sending our kids to Prince Adrian's birthday party? Heavens, dear! Do you want them to catch the empress dowager's eye? The palace staff only ignored the prince dying of smallpox because they had no choice!]

'Smallpox—that was when he was six.'

I'd heard it after growing up, so no chance of mishearing.

Then he'd maintained the familiar for two years?

Usually, a week was the max. Fitting for the youngest cardinal appointee.

Adrian looked at me.

"Can you bring Ami back?"

Bune grumbled at his words.

[What a peculiar human. Why pour your heart into a mere divine power familiar? Baby, this isn't your concern—let's head back.]

Bune tried persuading me: [Your precious ten strawberries will vanish.]

But I couldn't move easily.

There was only one case where a child unaware of the method could create a familiar.

When desperately longing for something to stay by their side.

Adrian, dying of smallpox, had yearned for someone to stroke his head.

His mother the empress was dead, his maternal grandfather saw the grandson as a mere tool for power.

The emperor neglected his son, and the empress dowager despised him as a hindrance to her own child, plotting against him repeatedly.

No one in the vast palace spoke to the trapped child. No one extended a hand. No one wished for the child to live.

Thus, the familiar was born.

'Just like when I created one in my first life.'

Of course, I wasn't as strong as Adrian back then, so mine vanished in under an hour.

I remember burying myself under the covers, sobbing silently over the lost familiar.

Adrian must have felt the same.

I cautiously reached out to him.