TFPAW 05

Chapter 5.

 My Future Dream Is to Be Spider-X-Man

Wait, if I want to lure those damn demons in, am I really supposed to keep my neck polished and ready for them?

Anyway.

Just as I was celebrating the double event of my divine power and holy power increasing together, I heard hurried footsteps approaching from outside.

“Rian!”

“My son!”

My parents burst through the door as if they were about to break it down and scooped me into their arms before they even had a chance to properly inspect the carnage inside the room.

The amount of time Aileen had spent breaking in and causing all that trouble had actually been incredibly short. It had been a surprise attack, after all.

Yet they had noticed something was wrong within that brief span and immediately rushed to my room.

I ended up squished between the two of them, but I didn’t feel uncomfortable.

Is this what it feels like to be loved by your family?

It was still unfamiliar, so I hadn’t quite gotten used to it yet…

But it felt nice.

Once I fulfilled the mission given to me by Elysian and the Holy Flame, and once Eli had fully settled into this world, I’d be able to completely blend into this world and live together with my family, wouldn’t I?

Maybe I could finally have a happy family of my own.

Eli! Let’s work hard and beat the crap out of demons together!

—Yeah, yeah. Let’s do it.

Just as I made that resolution with Eli, Mother finally stopped spinning me around in her arms.

“Phew. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like he’s hurt anywhere.”

“But the room…?”

Once the two of them had confirmed that I was perfectly healthy, their next move was to inspect the room.

More precisely, they examined the remains of the demon that had been thoroughly beaten by the Baby Bottle of Evil-Banishing(?) and melted away.

At first glance, all that could be seen was a black, tar-like substance stuck to the floor.

Yet somehow, they immediately recognized that it was a demon.

“Could our Rian have done this? How in the world…?”

Father was stunned.

“As expected of my son! He must have been born with the talent to become an Inquisitor!”

Mother was convinced.

“Bweh?”

What? An Inquisitor?

No, I definitely couldn’t do that.

Why on earth were they suddenly talking about Inquisitors?

“This is undoubtedly the Flame of Judgment that Inquisitors must be capable of using.”

“Even if our Rian is a genius, wouldn’t it be difficult for him to use the Flame of Judgment at his age? I think it looks more like the Light of Purification.”

“Oh my. It’s definitely the Flame of Judgment. The demonic energy has been completely annihilated and melted away.”

The two of them turned their gazes toward what had once been the demon, which still emanated a filthy aura.

Hmm… Neither of you is right.

—Yeah, neither. They’re completely misunderstanding what happened.

If I had to explain the power I used, I had created a vessel using holy power and filled that vessel with the power of Evil-Banishing using Eli’s divine power.

It was a force capable of shattering demonic energy, so naturally, it had torn apart—and even melted—the demon, which was made entirely of that very same corrupt energy.

And since Eli’s divine power had been mixed with my holy power, there was no need to mention how much that amplified its destructive power.

All I had actually done was squeeze out a bunch of holy power and write the characters onto the Baby Bottle.

Wait.

Didn’t the writing get a little fainter?

I ran my finger over the writing on the bottle in my hand.

Sure enough, I could feel that the characters had become lighter.

—The amount of divine power contained inside it has decreased a little.

Huh? It’s consumable?

—Didn’t the talismans burn up after you used them?

Nooooo! That’s impossible!

—Well, maybe it’ll last a long time once you have more divine power. You could also write more characters on it.

My Evil-Banishing Baby Bottle was a consumable item?

This is a shock.

While I remained frozen in shock, my parents continued their heated debate above me.

There was no way someone as weak as me, who had barely managed to kill a low-ranking demon and had already caused the writing to fade, could possibly use advanced techniques like the Flame of Judgment or the Light of Purification.

“Hehe… Whatever the case may be, one thing is certain: our Rian is extraordinary.”

“Being able to annihilate demonic energy like this means he can already manipulate holy power to some extent. And he hasn’t even received his baptism yet.”

“He learned how to use holy power before he learned how to crawl. Who could he possibly have inherited this genius from?”

“We have undoubtedly been blessed with something beyond anything we could comprehend.”

Their faces were filled with obvious joy, satisfaction, and pride.

Hmm.

Should I just leave them like this?

I wasn’t actually a genius.

But surely this much misunderstanding was harmless, right?

This is the taste of reincarnation!

I decided to simply enjoy this reincarnation buff based on everyone’s misunderstanding.

Time passed, and it had already been two months since Aileen attacked me.

In the meantime, I had mastered rolling over and successfully learned how to crawl!

Once I’d managed to do it once, it became surprisingly easy.

Everyone around me made a huge fuss about how well-developed I was for a baby who had just turned six months old and had already started crawling.

Well, this is my second life. Of course everything should be faster.

I’d lived for twenty-seven years in a country where speed was considered a virtue, after all.

That aside, recently, the way the servants in the house looked at me had changed.

Their eyes seemed to sparkle.

The incident at my Naming Ceremony and the incident where I’d exorcised Aileen with the Evil-Banishing Baby Bottle had both gradually spread throughout the servants’ ranks.

In other words, I was now being treated as a once-in-a-generation genius who had made the Holy Flame react and then gone on to exorcise a demon!

“Our young master! Not only is his face blessed by the divine, but his very existence is sacred! I am so happy to be the young master’s nanny!”

She had already adored me before, but after witnessing all those incidents, she seemed to practically worship me.

Her dark circles from exhaustion stood in stark contrast to the fanatical gleam in her eyes.

That’s the look of a good follower.

I should properly win her over and make her one of my allies.

Of course, Sonya’s happiness wasn’t the only reason her dark circles had become so pronounced.

It was because of Aileen.

After the incident, Father expelled everyone from the household who had even the slightest suspicious point about them.

Perhaps he had been shocked that the demons had somehow managed to infiltrate a cardinal’s residence despite all their precautions, because security had been massively strengthened.

Not long ago, Eli, who had been flying around because she was bored, even told me that she had seen heavily armed holy knights patrolling the estate.

Anyway, this enormous mansion had a large number of permanent servants.

Except for the holy knights who had been brought in as part of the security reinforcement, the number of servants who had originally worked here had been reduced by almost half.

Naturally, the workload of those who remained had increased dramatically.

Those damn demons really are completely useless.

I crawled over and gently patted my nanny’s leg to comfort her.

“Brrr-bwaa!”

I’ll kill them all for you soon!

“Oh my… Young Master!”

Sonya covered her mouth with both hands, overcome with emotion.

But… I really can’t find any demons.

—Yeah.

After the Naming Ceremony and then Aileen’s attack, I’d thought I’d be able to complete the Holy Flame’s request in no time.

But what I had failed to take into consideration was just how incredibly competent both of my parents were in this life.

I couldn’t find a single demon anywhere anymore, and the demon worshippers who had been visiting(?) the house to see me had disappeared as well.

Thanks to that, I’d spent the past two months doing nothing but diligently practicing crawling.

Oh, and throwing the Baby Bottle.

My strength had increased a little by now, too, so I could finally smash a demon’s head with considerable force!

But there aren’t any demons.

Can’t some stray demon just fall out of the sky or something?

Fortunately, this problem was soon solved.

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“Ppwa!”

This is a medieval fantasy carriage!

“Pp-kyaa!”

This is a medieval fantasy landscape!

I was completely captivated by the vivid medieval scenery unfolding outside the window.

“Rian seems excited.”

“It is his first time going outside.”

I was currently inside a carriage.

Where were we going?

Surprisingly, we were going to see some demons!

Back when countless guests had been visiting our house, Eli had brought me a piece of information about demons being captured in the Misty Plains.

At the time, my only reaction had been, Oh, I see.

But what are the Misty Plains?

A newborn baby obviously couldn’t go looking for demons by himself.

Especially since I couldn’t even crawl back then.

But who would’ve thought I’d actually be going to see those bastards myself!

I had no idea why, but my parents had made plans to take me to see the demons.

While being held in Mother’s arms, I climbed into the carriage and left the house.

I couldn’t stop exclaiming in amazement.

Why?

Because the garden was freaking huge.

What I’d seen until now wasn’t even the garden.

It took the carriage a looooong time to reach the main gate, and after passing through it, a quiet, short forest path stretched ahead.

Then the view of the city appeared.

It was quite literally another world!

Eli! Eli! Everything is white!

—Whoa…

Even Eli widened her eyes and looked around.

The pure-white, sharply pointed buildings naturally inspired a sense of reverence.

They call this the Holy Empire.

Damn, they really live up to the name.

Once we left the center of the city and passed through its gates, my excitement only grew stronger.

Since this was an uninhabited outskirts area, the road was uneven.

Yet the carriage didn’t shake even once!

Why does this carriage have such an amazing ride?!

I’d ridden in plenty of luxury sedans in my previous life, but without a doubt, none had a smoother ride than this carriage.

What kind of magic did they use?

Magic?

Wait. Is it actually magic?

This thing must have some sort of magical treatment, right? There’s no way the ride could be this smooth otherwise!

—I can sense a kind of power beneath the carriage that’s different from holy power.

Ooooooh.

Eli sounded indifferent, but my eyes lit up.

Magic!

It’s magic!

“Abub! Kyaaah!”

“Oh my. If I’d known Rian would enjoy this so much, perhaps we should have taken him outside more often.”

Great.

I’m going to beat the crap out of demons, learn every single holy spell, and become a master of holy magic!

My excitement over the scenery didn’t last long.

Before too much time had passed, my frail baby body quickly fell asleep.

I woke up and fell asleep several times.

Before I knew it, the carriage had stopped.

“Cardinal Raillike, Sister Liliard. Thank you for coming such a long way.”

“Haha. What hardship? You must have been surprised when we suddenly decided to come.”

“Not at all. It is a pleasure to see you again after so long.”

A rather plain-looking priest wearing white, holy robes exchanged warm greetings with my parents.

“I heard that, besides the demons captured during the cleanup of the Misty Plains, you’ve also captured some demons recently while pursuing the Inperlim.”

“Yes, that’s correct. We captured not only low-ranking demons, but also one high-ranking demon this time.”

A high-ranking demon?

My ears perked up.

Wouldn’t that give me more points?

—Wouldn’t it?

I hope I can kill that high-ranking demon too.

My eyes sparkled.

Hmm?

I absentmindedly looked up and met Father’s eyes.

Weren’t you talking to the priest?

I slowly lowered my head, only to meet the priest’s eyes.

He was looking at me with an expression very similar to Father’s.

…?

What’s going on?

“There is something I need to confirm. Liliard, my son Rian, and I would like to see one of the low-ranking demons.”

“Your son as well, Cardinal?”

“That is correct.”

“Ah, I see. Then I will make preparations so that you can inspect it as soon as you have recovered from your journey.”

Something felt strange, but the conversation between Father and the priest ended quickly.

After spending nearly an entire day recovering from the exhaustion of the long journey, we headed toward the basement the following day.

Oh…

Even the passage leading to the basement is pure white.

—Rian. It’s not merely white. It’s glowing. And I can faintly sense holy power.

She was right.

The place where the demons were being imprisoned had been coated with holy power on every side, completely sealing them in.

When we reached the very bottom, I could see black demons beyond the iron bars.

They were practically in a stupor, crushed beneath the overwhelming holy power.

This is a demon…?

They were limp and writhing like strands of seaweed.

They were completely different from the fierce Aileen.

The moment Father stepped inside the cell, he carefully sat me down directly in front of the demons.

Huh?

Why am I here?

—Didn’t he say there was something he needed to confirm? Maybe he wants to see what you can do.

Gasp! Is that it?

I turned my body slightly.

Three pairs of eyes stared at me expectantly.

Ohhh…

If that’s the case, the proper thing to do is show them!

But will I have enough power for this?

For a moment, I worried that the divine power contained in a single set of writing wouldn’t be enough.

But then—

—They look even weaker than Aileen.

That’s true.

Then I could throw the Baby Bottle without worrying.

I grinned and threw the bottle at the demon directly in front of me.

Whoosh—

The Baby Bottle flew through the air.

Thunk!

“Kiieeeek!!”

The bottle struck the demon directly in the head!

Then it bounced off and returned to my hand.

Again.

Whoosh—Thunk!

“Kieeeek!!”

Heh.

Bull’s-eye!

The bottle seemed to be sucked toward my palm before landing neatly in my hand.

“My goodness…”

“How… How is this possible?”

“Ohohoho.”

Father was amazed.

The plain-faced priest looked as though he couldn’t believe what he had witnessed.

And Mother was, as always, overflowing with pride.

Hehehehehe.

This is the result of all my intense Baby Bottle-throwing practice!

…That’s what I’d like to say.

But there was actually a trick behind it.

—You seem to be able to manipulate holy power quite freely now.

All that practice was worth it.

My Evil-Banishing Baby Bottle had one major drawback besides the fact that the power contained within it was consumable.

If I dropped it, I couldn’t pick it back up.

Who couldn’t?

Me!

Sure, I could crawl now, but back then, I had been a completely helpless newborn.

What kind of weapon was disposable after one use?

So I’d thought about it some more.

When I first created the Evil-Banishing Baby Bottle, I’d unconsciously gathered holy power at my fingertip and made it sharp and hard.

Without even realizing it, I had changed the properties of holy power.

I hadn’t known what I was doing back then, but now?

There was no way I couldn’t do it.

What I wanted was an Evil-Banishing Baby Bottle that could return to me like a boomerang.

So couldn’t I pull out holy power like thread and make it sticky like a spider web?

And the result was what I had now.

“Kiaaah!”

“Kueeek!”

Hehehehehe.

Maybe I’m kind of like Spider-X-Man?

They weren’t even putting up a fight.

It was like having a restaurant that gave away everything for free.

My stomach is so full.

Buuuurp.

Thank you for the meal.

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The plain-faced priest.

After leaving the basement, he moved elsewhere together with Raillike and Liliard.

The priest raised a hand and wiped it down his face.

The plain features that had previously made him look so ordinary seemed to come alive.

His ordinary brown eyes had transformed into an olive color, as though they were filled with lush greenery.

Now a handsome young man with thick black hair, he looked straight at Raillike and spoke.

“Lord Rian is definitely the prophet.”