We Must Unite (1)
Isaac was a Demon King who had personally raised all the demons by his own hand.
From young demonic beasts to fully grown demons, he had nurtured them with considerable care. After all, when Isaac first fell into the midst of the demons, they had been on the brink of death.
He only saved those pathetic bastards because, damn it, he figured if he didn't, he'd be the one dismembered by those damn demonic beasts first.
And then, damn it, he realized if he didn't establish some form of civilization, he'd live like a beggar for the rest of his life—so he made them grow up, planning to use them for labor. In any case, he raised them diligently.
Whatever the reason, since he'd personally raised them, he was quite attached to them. And in return for that attachment, the demons showed him loyalty.
But these damn clergy bastards? Damn, they were getting rebellious.
"Throw it away. Now."
At Shuri's firm command, Isaac's veins bulged with fury.
Wait a minute—what did this priest bastard just say?
What? Throw it away? Throw it away?
What Shuri pointed to was none other than a grotesque rattle-whip.
"Are you insane, Kim Shuri?! Do you even know how much this thing cost?!"
"And you, knowing the price, made this monstrosity?!"
"Why not?! It's cool!"
At Isaac's cry, Shuri clutched the back of her neck as if her blood had reversed course.
Cool? Was this bastard serious?
The rattle, which Isaac had "reworked," was no longer just a weapon—it was pure horror.
'No wonder the team members looked so traumatized swinging that thing around.'
After Hurricane Isaac had blown through, the reactions of the team members were disturbingly uniform, as if they'd seen something they could never unsee.
—What the hell is the Eshua family doing?
—Shuri, we were wrong.
Pale and trembling, they clung to her as if begging her to run away. They treated Isaac like a possessed madman.
Frankly, that was putting it nicely.
—Centuries of resentment for failing to put down the Skeleton King… has taken this form!
—No more cult nonsense, Shuri!
Damn it… How did the noble and honorable Eshua end up being seen as some damn cult?
"What kind of priest even uses this kind of horror-show?!"
Even Zekga, the master of torture techniques, wouldn't use something like this!
So, understandably, Shuri was resenting her grandfather.
—Keep a close watch on Isaac. And don't let him get caught with the divine spirit yet.
Hadn't the head of Cheong told her this before entering the dorms?
But watch him? That was a joke.
Head Patriarch, we're doomed.
Her grandfather had said Isaac wouldn't cause any incidents until he got used to dorm life. Well, the bastard had caused one on day one, damn it.
—The first Pentagon evaluation… is for the virtue of "Harmony." But it should be fine. Just snack and relax.
It's NOT fine, Grandfather! It's about harmony, and he beat them up!
'Though… it did end up being "harmony" in another sense...!'
Thinking back on her conversation with the patriarch, Shuri teared up.
"I won't say anything else. Just restore the rattle to its original form!"
"Why?! It's way harder to beat people with it like that!"
"And don't you think there's a problem with using a royal tribute to beat up nobles in the first place?!"
But Isaac tilted his head.
"What's the problem? That thing alone shuts everyone up."
Shuri covered her face with both hands, as if silently begging someone to take this heretic away.
"…You seriously. If you rule through fear, it'll bite you in the ass later...."
Isaac only looked more confused.
I already did it. Worked like a charm.
"Isaac Eshua. Listen carefully. A Saint isn't someone you can become through strength alone."
But the Saints only understand strength. Every single one of them ripped out a pillar from the Demon King's castle mid-conversation and threw it across the room.
But she couldn't say that out loud.
Isaac chuckled dryly.
"Yeah, and that's why my brother turned himself into a pushover, right?"
"Urgh…!"
Shuri looked away.
Honestly, when she saw the severance list Isaac had handed over, her blood ran cold. The bastard had pinpointed every single person she had always felt uneasy about.
But she had no choice.
"To score high on the virtue of —!"
"So you tried to cater to them? That's no good."
…So beating them is okay? Damn bastard?
Shuri hadn't wanted to say this, but she had no choice.
"…Cheong has a weak support base. If we don't do things like this, we can't get the nobles on our side."
"!"
"Do you get it? We're clergy, we're supposed to stay away from worldly affairs—but at the end of the day, it's all faction politics. If we have no supporters, we lose our power."
Apparently, she'd been deeply troubled, knowing she was being eyed as the next head.
Once their grandfather and the matriarch were gone, Cheong would become prey in an instant.
Isaac sneered, as if pitying his brother.
"That's something said by people who don't have anything."
"!"
"Eshua is big and strong. Do you think it's a major religion on the continent for no reason? A house of the Five Grand Dukes shouldn't be groveling to anyone."
"No. That's not why I'm saying this. Ever since Eshua lost its vision, people have been sneering at us."
"!"
Isaac raised an eyebrow.
'…Vision?'
Was this connected to the vision book he took from the treasure vault?
"Anyway, if we could just restore Cheong's vision, we could be the strongest again—and silence everyone. But we can't."
"Hm, maybe it's not entirely impossible."
"What?"
"Nothing."
"Anyway, the other cousins are out looking for something to replace that vision! At the very least, I can't be worse than them!"
"Why not?"
What do you mean, why?!
"Do you think it makes any sense to have worse grades than your rivals?!"
The other cousins were scattered on missions, so Isaac hadn't met them yet. But they were all vying for the patriarch's position.
'One of them is already leading , Cheong's knight order....'
"Anyway, a high score in the Pentagon evaluation earns you something from the Papacy. It's a major achievement and gives you a leg up for the patriarch seat. That's why matters."
"Hm, sure. Fine. I get it. My brother played the pushover for my sake. That much is clear."
"Pus… Pushover? Come on…"
Well, not that that was the important part right now.
"You handed out favors like candy, and now those supposedly friendly noble families are betraying Eshua."
"What? Betraying us? What are you talking about?"
"And as for the harmony part, I've already got a plan."
This bastard's dodging the question.
"…What do you mean you've got a plan?!"
What, after beating the hell out of them, is he now going to hand out meds and apologize?
But as Shuri frowned, Isaac just smiled and motioned for her to follow.
The place he brought her to was an empty room in the dorms—specifically, the wardrobe inside.
'A wardrobe?'
What was this idiot bringing her here for?
When Isaac flung open the wardrobe doors, Shuri crossed her arms with a skeptical look.
'Well, he's a guy who loves money. Maybe he's stashed some for the training period…'
"Mm-mmph! Mmph-mmph!"
"…."
Okay, so money was involved. Human trafficking money, apparently. Goddamn it.
Shuri went pale as she looked at the boy stuffed inside the wardrobe.
The chubby boy's mouth was gagged with a towel, and his body was tightly bound with rope. Judging by his outfit, he was one of their fellow apprentice priests—what the hell?!
"You psychotic bastard! What the hell is this?! He's part of our team!"
This lunatic wasn't promoting harmony—he was literally tearing them apart!
The boy looked up at them with teary, pleading eyes, as if begging for his life.
Yeah… who could've expected this kind of thing to happen among clergy? No wonder the kid was scared out of his mind.
Still, Isaac was part of Cheong. Surely he had some kind of reason for this—
"He's the son of a count. Probably fetch a decent ransom, don't you think?"
…Oh Lord. Please. Just take this bastard already.
Wait—did this guy even know who this kid was?
"That's the heir to the House of Count Age!"
"Who?"
"Uncle Rilai's friend, Count Simon's only son! One of the three richest noble houses in the Empire!!"
"So we should sell him, then?"
"YAAHH!!"
But Isaac just shrugged.
"There's already a team making shady moves around this Pentagon thing."
"Shady moves?"
"Yesterday, this guy snuck off somewhere with a suspicious letter. It said something like 'I won't spy anymore.'"
"!!"
The moment he heard that, Shuri's sharp mind kicked in, and her eyes instantly darkened.
"Niger Sephete put him up to this, didn't he?!"
At her shout, Amon Age curled up in fear, afraid of being hit. Isaac grinned.
"Said Niger ordered him to stir up trouble between our team members, right?"
At that, Amon Age—who had once been close with Shuri—clenched his eyes shut, overwhelmed by guilt. Shuri seethed with betrayal.
"Even if your family's a vassal to an enemy duchy, your liege is my uncle's best friend. I thought there were no walls between us and Eshua… I never expected betrayal from you."
Amon Age whimpered and tried to speak, tears like chicken droppings spilling from his eyes. Isaac smacked him lightly on the head and pulled out the gag.
"S-sorry! I had no choice! We have our own reasons… Ack!"
"I don't care about your reasons. Just tell me what that Niger bastard ordered you to do."
After Isaac smacked him again, Amon caved quickly.
"Niger told me to wreck Team Eshua for good. Said that since Shuri would bend over backward to please the other nobles for the harmony virtue, I should keep making unreasonable demands and break the team from within."
Shuri's jaw dropped. Isaac, on the other hand, looked like things finally made sense.
"Ohhh, so that weird welcome ceremony was his doing too?"
"Y-yeah…! Niger planted all those guys. To sabotage the harmony evaluation."
So all that rope talk and nonsense from day one—that was all part of it?
No wonder it was impossible to create harmony.
"Isaac, you especially were targeted after the ordination ceremony. Niger wants to hog all the glory of executing the Skeleton King's subordinates. It's the best chance for a Saint to shine in front of foreign nations."
Isaac chuckled, almost sweetly.
Who the hell does he think he is, trying to execute my subordinate.
First he tried to touch Boongboongie, and now even his underlings?
Greedy bastard.
And on top of that, he's from the Faith of Red?
As if I could ever forgive the ones torturing my people in those Red dungeons.
That Cardinal from Gold who keeps calling him, and this guy too—they were all just lackeys of the gods, annoying as hell.
"I guess I'll have to take care of all the trash in one sweep."
"…."
Shuri buried her face in her hands.
Please. Just start by taking care of your tongue.
***
"What? The spy says he can't do it anymore??"
Niger Sephete's face flushed with rage.
It was Day 4 of the apprentice training.
He had planted a spy within Cheong to eliminate his rival in the first Pentagon evaluation—
And that cursed Skeleton's appearance at the ordination had only made things worse, drawing attention straight to Isaac.
So while stirring up discord, he'd also ordered his men to gather intel on Isaac Eshua.
Didn't like him from the start.
But every single one of them now refused to report anything.
—S-sorry. Just thinking about the tea party… I can't do it after all!
—Because of the tea party… I just can't.
Tea party??
Don't tell me Cheong is bribing them at tea parties?
Or maybe, with all the attention after the ordination, they were afraid of bringing shame to their houses.
The thought made Niger's rage spike even higher.
Ordination, ordination, ordination!!
What does a damn skeleton know about "seeing potential"?!
And what's this about divine purification magic being so amazing?
At best, that's just some average holy technique. Compared to the Vision of Red, it's nothing! But even the Emperor himself supposedly rejoiced that the boy was a Saint!
Damn it.
They never should've accepted that idiot's recommendation.
When he'd complained to his father about it, the Cardinal of Red just gave him a meaningful smile.
—I'm simply curious about how valuable the power that child now holds truly is.
The hell's that supposed to mean?!
Eshua's power is nothing special!
They couldn't even take down the Skeleton King, those useless bastards.
—So bring that child into the Faith of Red.
Bring him in?! BRING HIM IN?!
Are you out of your mind, sucking up to Cheong like that?!
But whatever. It didn't matter now.
Today is the day of the Harmony evaluation.
Even if they'd refused to leak info out of fear of damaging their houses, things would be different during the actual evaluation.
There were trusted people in Isaac's team. People who would definitely betray Eshua during the Pentagon evaluation.
The glory of executing the Skeleton King's subordinate will belong to Red.
With a face full of anticipation, Niger Sephete headed to the evaluation grounds.
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]