Chapter 4. You’re Saying Holy Power Can Be Duplicated?

For something I had slapped together so haphazardly, the Evil-Banishing Baby Bottle looked surprisingly convincing.

—Wow. It’s so uncool.

If you ignored the fact that the writing was a little crooked, that is.

What do you mean? I’m the only baby in this world who has an Evil-Banishing Baby Bottle. That makes it completely unique.

—It’s not cool at all. The writing is ugly.

Eli stared down at my face before grumbling sulkily.

—It’s kind of annoying how it suits you because you’re cute. But when are you going to grow up, Rian? Let’s become idols once you do.

First of all, are there even idols in this world? And I want to grow up quickly too.

I never let my one-and-only weapon, the Evil-Banishing Baby Bottle, leave my side.

“Oh my, it seems you really like this bottle!”

Among the nanny and servants, the Evil-Banishing Baby Bottle had already become famous as my favorite bottle.

Mother and Father seemed to have sensed the tiny amount of holy power contained within the bottle, but they did not appear to be examining it any further.

They simply looked excessively pleased.

Fortunately, they don’t seem to be able to sense the divine power.

—Of course they can’t. Who do you think made it?

It seemed that my parents could not sense the divine power Eli had poured into the writing of holy power.

Thank goodness.

It was one thing for my holy power to be considered a blessing I had been born with, but sensing divine power was an entirely different matter.

Anyway, making it was great and all, but I have nowhere to use it.

To fulfill my mission, I had to encounter demons or demon worshippers, but there had been no opportunity to meet any since the Naming Ceremony.

Apparently, the people who had attacked us back then were demon worshippers called Inperlim.

If they kept charging in by the dozens like that, I wouldn’t be able to catch them, so it would be nice if a demon or an Inperlim member came by in moderation.

Then again, how often could something like that happen?

It wasn’t as though people regularly barged into a cardinal’s house without a shred of fear.

Even though I spent most of my time lying around, things weren’t completely unproductive.

Apparently, the White Holy Flame’s performance during my Naming Ceremony had been such a major event that guests had been coming and going from our house ever since.

And each of them would take a look at me before chatting about this and that and then leaving.

With more people around the house, the quality of the information I could absorb had improved dramatically!

Eli wandered around everywhere, collecting all sorts of gossip.

—Apparently Davir got rejected by Sonya recently?

—Apparently they captured a whole bunch of demons not long ago! The Misty Plains? They caught them there!

—Apparently the Saint isn’t just unable to hear God’s voice. He can’t use his power at all anymore.

—There are supposedly seven cardinals in total. But apparently the Rudersk family is the strongest!

—There’s something really interesting in the garden. Let’s go see it together later! Once you can walk!

—Apparently these days, the hottest thing among the people of the Empire is making accessories out of Sacred Stones that have been completely drained of their holy power.

Aside from a few pieces of gossip, they were genuinely useful bits of information.

“Ohhh…! Are you saying the Holy Flame attacked the heretics in order to protect the child?”

Today, a man called himself a bishop and was gazing down at me with an excessively benevolent smile.

“Ahem, yes, Bishop Dynal. It seems our Rian is destined to become a great man, don’t you think?”

“The Holy Flame has never protected anyone before. There can be no doubt that Lord Elysian has bestowed an immense blessing upon him!”

Father’s lips twitched.

Having noticed Father’s reaction, Bishop Dynal pressed on with even greater enthusiasm.

“Master Rian is undoubtedly a talent who will possess nine Holy Power Crystals!”

“Do you truly believe that?”

Oh dear.

In the end, the corners of Father’s twitching mouth ascended all the way to his ears.

But…

What exactly is a Holy Power Crystal?

Judging from what they were saying, it sounded like some sort of level of advancement among the clergy.

“A cardinal can only rise to that position if he possesses the talent for nine Crystals, can he not? Young Master Rian will surely succeed Cardinal Raillike and become the next cardinal of the Rudersk family.”

I didn’t know what it was, but apparently reaching nine Crystals was an incredible achievement.

Well, it probably was.

The Holy Flame had given me a whole heaping bowlful of a divine mission, divine power, and holy power.

I’ll find out what these Crystals are later.

“If there were not already a Saint of this generation, I would have thought this was the emergence of a new Saint.”

“Haha. Whatever it may be, isn’t it a good omen that he will become a great man?”

Everyone who visited showered me with praise so enthusiastically that I felt like I ought to do something in return.

When am I ever going to meet a demon?

Tap.

After finishing with the guests, Raillike entered his study and immediately sat down at his desk, picking up the documents that had been prepared for him.

“These are the materials we’ve compiled regarding the anomalies displayed by the Holy Flame during the Naming Ceremony.”

He turned the pages carefully.

Although the unusual circumstances of the Inperlim attack had to be taken into consideration, the Holy Flame’s reaction had been extremely unprecedented.

“The most recent occasion on which the Holy Flame displayed an anomaly was during the Saint’s Naming Ceremony.”

“Hmm. At that time, the Holy Flame moved and radiated light as though a halo were shining around it.”

He remembered it clearly, since he himself had attended the Saint’s Naming Ceremony.

The Holy Flame had also reacted to prominent figures who had distinguished themselves in various fields, including the Holy Emperor, the Saintess, and the Inquisitors.

But there had never been a case where it displayed such an enormous reaction and ultimately became absorbed into a child.

“Is this all the information?”

“Yes. We’ve compiled every officially recorded incident.”

Raillike let out a low hum.

The Holy Flame’s reaction was undoubtedly a good omen that the child would grow into someone great, so he ought to have been happy.

The fact that people who had heard the news were coming one after another to offer their congratulations made that obvious enough.

They all knew that Rian was destined to become a great figure in the future, so they were trying to make sure he remembered them early.

But…

Rian is going to become the center of a tremendous destiny.

The Saint, who could no longer hear Lord Elysian’s voice.

The increased activity of the Inperlim.

And now this attack and the Holy Flame’s anomaly.

Raillike had an almost certain suspicion that all these things were connected.

And there was also the fact that Inperlim’s true objective remained unclear.

Those who worshipped demons held the insane belief that they wanted to manifest the world of demons within the human world.

Perhaps he was worrying too much.

But he had an instinctive feeling that they might even be connected to the Demon God who had vanished after being defeated by Lord Elysian in the distant past.

Yet no matter how much information he searched through, he could not find a clear link between them.

Just one thing.

It felt as though finding just one piece would be enough.

But that one piece refused to reveal itself.

His head hurt.

Knock, knock.

“I thought you might be looking for this.”

Liliard Rudersk entered his study with a single sheet of paper in his hand.

Compared to the stack of documents his aide had brought in, it was incredibly simple.

“This is…?”

Liliard dismissed the attendant before placing the paper on the desk.

“It was information stored in a library that only Inquisitors are permitted to access. It concerns the Holy War from five hundred years ago.”

Raillike immediately picked up the paper and examined it.

The writing on it was extremely brief.

But the moment he read it, his mind became crystal clear.

“A prophet?”

“There is a high possibility.”

“We’ll need to verify it.”

“I knew you would say that.”

Whoosh.

The paper, having served its purpose, burned away in his hand.

“Pweeeaaah…!”

The demons aren’t coming…!

“Ooh…!”

“Ppweuuaaah…!”

And my body is so heavy…!

“Ooooooh…!”

“Ppwaaah!”

Please, just turn over already!

With time passing by pointlessly and absolutely nothing to do, I had become completely immersed in practicing how to roll over.

Until recently, my body hadn’t moved at all and I could only wave my arms around helplessly.

But lately, my body had started wriggling and rocking.

“Ppweuaaah!”

Why won’t this work?!

—Try remembering how you used to do it.

When was that supposed to have been? There’s no way I can remember!

Almost.

It was driving me absolutely crazy.

And to make matters worse, I had an audience.

“Lady Sonya, it looks like Young Master Rian is about to roll over!”

“Oh my, you’re right! Aileen.”

My nanny Sonya and her assistant, Aileen, were beside me, applauding and repeatedly exclaiming in admiration.

Having an audience really did give me strength.

I’d been an attention seeker who appeared on television practically every day in my previous life, so having people watch me always made me perform better.

“Uuugh…”

Ah, I feel like I’m almost there.

—Rian! You can do it!

“Master Rian! Just a little more!”

Fueled by everyone’s encouragement, I kicked with all my might!

“Kyah!”

“Wow!”

“Pp-p-pwaaah!”

I DID IT!!

I finally rolled over.

Huff, huff.

Who knew something so simple could leave me this out of breath?

If I practice a little more, I’ll be able to crawl too….

—Rian, you did so well!

I lifted my head with a broad, proud smile.

And found myself staring into three pairs of emotional eyes.

Eli.

My nanny, Sonya.

And her assistant, Aileen.

Hmm?

“Young Master! How wonderful! Soon you’ll be able to crawl too!”

Had I seen it wrong?

Sonya suddenly picked me up, making it impossible for me to carefully observe Aileen’s expression.

Her expression was a little…

How should I put it?

It was a strange expression where her eyes and mouth seemed to be doing completely different things.

Eli, could you follow Aileen around for a few days?

—Kkuraeng! That sounds super fun!

Eli, who had been bored, flew around excitedly at the prospect.

Eli had been by my side for twenty-seven years.

Thanks to the instincts I’d sharpened to a razor’s edge over all those years, my gut feelings about this sort of ominous situation were never wrong.

If something felt suspicious, I had to check it out.

However, contrary to my worries, we couldn’t find anything suspicious about Aileen.

If there was anything at all, it was just that she took breaks rather frequently.

There’s no way my instincts are that bad, right?

—But I really can’t sense anything from her.

We couldn’t even tell whether she was a demon or a demon worshipper.

Still, there was no way this ominous feeling could be wrong.

Let’s keep an eye on her for a little longer.

And so, I continued living with my Evil-Banishing Baby Bottle by my side every single day.

Eli also spent all day hovering around Aileen.

Several uneventful days passed like that.

Then, on a night when a waning crescent moon hung in the sky, it finally happened.

Creeeak—

It was a quiet night.

Everyone was asleep.

The door to my room slowly opened with an eerie creak.

Eli, did you hear that?

—Yeah. I heard it and I’m watching.

Could it be Aileen?

—Bull’s-eye.

My instincts were still alive and kicking!

The way she was approaching while suppressing the sound of her footsteps was clearly suspicious.

—Rian, she’s carrying a sword.

What the hell?

This really was suspicious!

I’m still a freaking baby, you know? Give me a break!

The closer she came, the more I could feel a foul energy.

Ugh… Eli, is this the energy of a demon?

—Yeah. Nasty, isn’t it?

I feel like I’m going to throw up.

Blegh.

It was a dense energy that seemed to be composed entirely of malice.

How should I describe it?

Was it malice itself?

Or was it something that had been born solely to radiate malice?

The first demonic energy I’d ever encountered sent shivers down my spine.

It was completely different from ghosts or evil spirits.

What drove these creatures wasn’t resentment.

Ugh, I’m going to be sick.

—Hey! You’ll give yourself away! Hold it in!

Ugh.

I squeezed my eyes shut, gripped the Evil-Banishing Baby Bottle tightly in my hand, and barely managed to suppress my nausea.

What I was aiming for was a surprise attack.

The only thing a baby who couldn’t even crawl could do was give it everything he had and launch a surprise attack!

There was no Mother or nanny here to protect me.

Eli’s power was too weak to be of any use in combat.

Besides, I’d always been the one who fought.

I took a deep breath inwardly.

Even though I’d been reincarnated, the instincts I’d developed from hunting evil spirits were still alive.

I’d fought plenty of times without being able to secure a proper view of my surroundings.

Preparing an ambush with my eyes closed was nothing.

Of course, my physical abilities were practically nonexistent.

Still, I was counting on you!

Evil-Banishing Baby Bottle!

When Aileen raised her sword into the air, I poured holy power into the bottle clenched tightly in my hand.

The word “Evil-Banishing”, visible only to Eli and me, began to glow white.

The moment Aileen swung her sword, I dodged it with a desperate roll.

“!!”

Hahaha! How do you like the results of all the rolling practice I’ve been doing for this very day?!

It’s too early to be surprised!

Using the momentum from my roll, I swung the baby bottle and hurled it.

I summoned every last ounce of strength I had—

The strength I used to drink milk!

Aileen had bent down while swinging her sword, making her much easier to hit.

Whoosh— Thunk, rollllll…

The bottle was light, and the strength of a baby was pitifully weak.

So the bottle flew lightly through the air, struck Aileen directly in the forehead, and then fell back onto the bed.

“Kyaaaah!!”

Of course, the result wasn’t nearly as light.

AAAH! Why is this so gory?!

—That’s because you carved the Evil-Banishing writing into it.

I didn’t expect this either!

Aileen’s forehead, struck directly by the Evil-Banishing Baby Bottle, began splitting vertically.

Oh, shit. My eyes!!

When I used Evil-Banishing Talismans to exorcise evil spirits, they just disappeared when they were hit!

—Do you know that the first character in Evil-Banishing means “to split”? And back then, you had both Evil-Banishing and Purification powers infused into them.

Oh, really?

—Yeah. But you can’t write any more characters anyway. Give up.

Damn it. If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve written “Purification” instead.

Between the split halves of her forehead, another face could be seen.

That must be her true body, right? Is that the demon?

—Seems like it.

It was another kind of grotesque entirely, even more disgusting than an evil spirit.

Overcome by instinctive revulsion, I fumbled around for the baby bottle that had fallen beside me and gripped it tightly.

“Kieeeeeek!”

Aileen no longer even looked human as she waved her arms around in the air and let out a horrifying shriek.

Fortunately—or unfortunately—

Before I could throw the bottle a second time, her head suddenly—