Chapter 16 — Desire And The Blue-Robed Boy (2)

“Sssip, hoooo— Kek!”

Sister Barbara drew a reflexive drag on her vape and seemed to come back to herself.
She blinked once, twice, found Shin Hweein right under her nose, and gave such a start that the smoke went down the wrong way.

“Cough-keh, cough!”

The electronic vape dangled from the lanyard at her throat while smoke leaked feebly from her mouth.
Some of it brushed against Shin Hweein’s skin, and the effect lived up to its reputation: this was special-grade consecrated water. In a single instant the illusion shattered and he was back in reality.

“Ah — hey! That was…!”

Realizing she had puffed her vape-smoke into Shin Hweein’s face all over again, Sister Barbara recoiled in horror and cupped the vape protectively in both hands.
Shin Hweein only narrowed his eyes and shook his head.

“Thanks to that, the creature’s sorcery has been broken. I’ll let it pass.”

“Wh- who’s letting who pass, exactly…! Get away from me, now!”

“Hm? Hm.”

At the nun’s shriek, Shin Hweein realized the distance between them was rather smaller than he had thought, and, flustered, stepped back two paces at once.

“Young master — quickly.”

“Hm?”

Geum Moa had sidled up close, all but clinging to his side, and was holding out the mask.
He had no memory of removing it. When on earth had it come off?
Looking puzzled, Shin Hweein took it and put it back on.
Geum Moa ground her teeth.

“The moment we catch that Great-Mouth Ghost bastard, I’m beating him to a pulp. The nerve, toying with our young master twice.”

“It was fortunate, I think, that I broke free under my own strength before you could try to knock me out.”

“Ahaha.”

Geum Moa let out an awkward little laugh.
And then Leon, with a deliberate pfft of stifled laughter, cut in.

“It very nearly came to that. If the two of you had so much as kissed in that situation, there would surely have been murder done.”

“Kuh-hck!”

The one who reacted to Leon’s words, though, was not Geum Moa but Sister Barbara.
Mid-way through putting the vape back to her lips she broke into another fit of violent coughing, and with a flustered expression she touched her own lips and glared at Shin Hweein.

“You didn’t actually…”

“Be at ease. I have no intention of yielding my lips to another so easily.”

For all that he had been disowned by his House, Shin Hweein had once been the scion of a noble family. How could he possibly press his lips against some unknown woman out in the open, where so many eyes might fall?

The times had changed; in Aeshin too, free romance was widespread now, of course. But if there was someone he wished to court, the two of them should first pay a visit to his mother’s grave and offer their greetings. As for his father, well, his father was no concern of his.

In any case, only once such a report had been made to his parents and a serious courtship begun could one freely express affection while alone together. No matter how strong the sorcery had been, he had no relationship whatsoever with this nun, and he was hardly going to commit so shameless an act in such a slipshod manner.

“What?! Obviously you’d be the one who got the better deal if our lips collided! I see you’re taken in by this miserable habit, but I’ll have you know that as for my actual background…!”

Mortified at having shown Shin Hweein her ‘little-sister-clinging-to-her-oppa’ phase, and mortified again that the sorcery had made the two of them act out something resembling a man-and-woman scene, Sister Barbara babbled on, her thoughts running every which way.

Just then, her wimple had slipped loose, and a few strands of her hair were peeking out beyond the cloth.

She was the sort of woman who, even on an ordinary day, managed her appearance so meticulously that not a single hair was permitted to escape.
Shin Hweein had half a mind to tease her about it.

“Wh- what? Why are you coming over here?! You — stay back!”

“Sister. Wear your wimple properly.”

But on seeing the color of Sister Barbara’s hair, he simply went up to her and, saying nothing further, fixed the cloth back in place.

For a moment she went ashen, glaring in turn at him and his thralls.
Then, dropping her head low, she said in a voice fit to expire on the spot:

“Don’t tell Lucas.”

“Of course not.”

Shin Hweein nodded reassuringly, then added:

“Even the kindest of priests would feel a little unwell to learn that his sister is this fond of him.”

“I am not! Hey — I said I’m not!”

Not, indeed.

What was it that Father Lucas had once supposed to be the reason for Sister Barbara’s desperate effort to hide her hair?

That because Zer’s emergence had dyed Lucas’s own hair silver while Barbara’s stayed brilliant gold, she had hated the mismatch so much that she had thrown a fit about shaving her head and the like, and in the end had taken to hiding it.

That alone would have been more than cute enough as a reason…

To think she had actually gone and dyed her own hair silver to match her brother.

‘After all, I should keep my distance from Shin Myeongin. If my own younger sister were this fond of me, I think I would find it rather suffocating.’

Resolving as much firmly in his heart, Shin Hweein gave a few light pats to the shoulder of Sister Barbara, whose face was now flushed a furious red, and climbed back onto Flame-tail.

“Moa, see that the nun isn’t left behind.”

“Couldn’t we just have that mutt carry us all?”

— Absolutely not. The only one allowed to ride me is this guy. Got it?

The real problem began now.

Even Sister Barbara, who always carried special-grade consecrated water on her person, had been toyed with by the Great-Mouth Ghost. And just now, with the seal undone and Zer out in front, there was simply no telling what sort of state the man might be in. However Shin Hweein looked at him, Zer seemed weaker against desire than any common person.

He had felt it back when they had handled the matter with Do Yuna as well: Zer had no real qualms about killing.

If the Great-Mouth Ghost had set the stage even halfway plausibly, there was nothing strange in the idea that Zer alone might slaughter every last person who had entered the Other Realm.

‘Whatever the outcome, let us hope that the priest does not take it too much to heart.’

The distance to where Zer was, was no small one.

Clicking his tongue, Shin Hweein urged Flame-tail to greater speed.
Slung over Geum Moa’s shoulder like a piece of baggage, Sister Barbara watched him steadily.

“Sister — did you see, by any chance?”

Geum Moa, floating in midair as she trailed at Flame-tail’s heels, had caught the nun stealing glances at Shin Hweein, and whispered it quietly.

For a moment Sister Barbara flinched and arranged her face into a look of no idea what you’re talking about.
But Geum Moa was not fooled.

“You saw, didn’t you?”
“I don’t know what you mean…?”
“That Great-Mouth Ghost bastard — having that pointlessly varied a set of powers, he just had to see through to the young master’s true form.”
“As if — there’s no way that could be that swindler’s true form.”
“So you did see.”
“…”

For a while they rode on in a peculiarly eerie silence.
And then, all at once, Shin Hweein let out a sigh.

“So it has come to this in the end. Was it all arranged so that we would converge here?”

“What do you mean, this is—”

— BOOM!

An explosion rocked the corridor and smoke filled the passage.
Shin Hweein moved his lips, and a gentle breeze rose up and in a single sweep brushed the oncoming smoke aside.
At the sight beyond it, the nun, too, let out a sigh.

“Heh. So that brainless thug really did go and make a scene.”

At the center of the explosion:

Zer, a man in priestly robes with his whole body wound about in iron chains, stood in confrontation with a man dressed in an antique-styled white hanbok, a folding fan held in one hand.

Behind that man, her clothes torn and her hair a mess, half-reduced to the look of a beggar, the Gem-Mage was concealing herself, with several sorcerers ranged about her as her escort.

‘Baek Yeongho…. Always a man whose desires outran his abilities, and whose fearfulness outran his ambition. From the look of him, even now, fully grown, he hasn’t changed much from those days.’

And the fact that the Gem-Mage was present here, of course, meant only one thing.

Whether the corridor had collapsed or whether the chamber had simply opened wide from the start, at the center of the spacious cavity stood a familiar gold altar.
The red ruby he had seen earlier sat on the altar as well.
What differed from before was that the volume of blood flowing toward it from every direction was on a wholly different scale.

Tracing that blood back along its courses, he saw bodies fallen dead all around.

‘Should I have made an end of that woman, no matter the trouble it brought upon the Catholic Church or what dispute it would have stirred with the Eight Pure-Blood Houses? Can it truly be said that the sin-karma of that woman is in no way of my own making?’

Soldiers dragged unknowing into the ruins, construction workers, even what looked to be servants of the Baek House and lower-ranking sorcerers.
And just as Shin Hweein looked round at victims more numerous than he could count on the fingers of both hands, his heart sinking dark within him, in that very instant.

’…hm?’

His expression, as he examined the state of the corpses, presently turned strange.
For something he had not noticed earlier, when he had been facing off against the Gem-Mage, now stood out clearly to both his eyes.

‘Have I already overcome the creature’s sorcery twice, and so gained a resistance to it?’

Though he wore the mask, so that no one else could have noticed, anyone watching him closely would have been able to tell that the tension in him had eased.

‘Is that so. In that case, then that gem, too, must naturally… tch. The whole lot of them have been doing nothing but dancing in the palm of the Great-Mouth Ghost’s hand.’

Muttering to himself within, Shin Hweein cast a sidelong glance at Geum Moa to gauge her reaction.
But she said nothing at all, only smiled faintly.

Instead it was Sister Barbara who asked him, in a tense voice:

“Is it dangerous right now? Tell me quickly — I’m trying to decide which one to shoot first.”
“There’s no need for concern. Anyone but the man facing Zer — Baek Yeongho himself — you may shoot whomever you please; only, do not under any circumstances take a life.”
“Why are you giving me orders—hey!”

Having finished giving the nun her orders, Shin Hweein, still mounted on Flame-tail’s back, stepped forward, and at once every gaze in the chamber snapped to him.

“Yo. You took your sweet time.”
“Had you informed me of the appointed hour in advance, I would have been on time.”

Playing along with the grumbling Zer, Shin Hweein turned to meet Baek Yeongho, who was leveling his fan at Zer with a wary eye.
But before either side could open their mouths, the Gem-Mage behind him caught sight of him and shrieked shrilly:

“My honey, it’s that bastard! That’s the bastard who tried to kill me — the stalker who pried into my personal business!”
“Hm, is that so? Well then…”

In truth, Baek Yeongho did not seem to put much stock in her words.
Unlike the Gem-Mage, who was plainly inflating her dreams, he did not in fact seem to have any intention of taking her as his wife.

That said, it was equally certain that he had no intention of throwing her over just yet, either.
With a sidelong glance at the red gem nearing completion at the center of the chamber, he turned his gaze on Shin Hweein and spoke in a sharp tone.

“You. Who are you and where are you from? You seem to think you can run wild as you please just because this is a ruin, but I am Baek Yeongho, direct heir of Baek House. Exorcist priest, cathedral — do you think any of them can bear the weight of the Baek name?”
“Hm? When the opponent is a criminal of national notoriety… and the evidence is laid out so plainly before us… as much as you please. I think the weight can be borne well enough?”

At Shin Hweein’s serene retort, Baek Yeongho’s eyebrow twitched.

Then, instead of cursing him or offering excuses, he swiftly looked him over and surveyed his surroundings.
On noticing that the shikigami Shin Hweein rode was a flame-hound, his eyes widened just slightly.
It was almost amusing.

To this man, the truth of the situation laid out before him in the present standoff was of no importance whatsoever; only the strength of those who stood against him mattered.
If they were weaker than himself, he would steamroll them regardless of any truth.
If they were stronger, then from that moment he would push the House name forward all the more aggressively.

It was unchanged enough from before to be almost welcome.

Perhaps he and the Gem-Mage were a match made in heaven, after all.

“Hey, what — are you a priest yourself, that you’ve come here to preach? I’m about to grind these two to bits, so you go find whatever yokai it is that’s hiding around here. That’s your specialty, isn’t it?”
“Hoh.”

At Zer’s words, Shin Hweein could not help but admire him.
He himself had only just now grasped the true structure of this Other Realm, and yet Zer, who looked for all the world as though he meant to flatten everything before his eyes by sheer violence, seemed to have seen through the situation long before.

What Zer truly was, he did not know, but it was surely a being of a rank comparable to a great yokai.

…And yet, even though they had grasped the same truth, the way he meant to deal with it was wrong.

“Do not kill them, Zer.”
“Why? They’re nothing but—”
“That’s why you mustn’t.”

To keep Zer from carelessly speaking the truth aloud, Shin Hweein cut in still more firmly.
Zer only shrugged and shook his head.

“Too late for that. I cut down every one I ran into on the way here.”
“Hff. Since we are acting together now, your karma is, from this point on, my karma. You will subdue them without killing — understood?”
“What a pointless— tch. Fine. Take it as my generosity.”
“My thanks.”

When the negotiation between Shin Hweein and Zer ended without further incident, Sister Barbara, watching from behind, wore an expression as though she had just witnessed the end of the world.

Heaving a magnificent sigh, Shin Hweein forced himself to ignore the gaze she was pouring on him and raised his head to face their adversaries.

The Baek House sorcerers were already scattered in every direction, chanting their spells, and the Gem-Mage was standing as if to shield the altar from the rest.

“Our talk is finished. So — have you, in the meantime, drawn up your estimate?”
“Of course.”

Snapping his fan shut and leveling it precisely at Shin Hweein, Baek Yeongho said:

“I realized there’s no need to give way first to fools who, while a sorcerer stands right in front of them, idiotically spend their time preparing their spells!”

A flash of light leapt from the tip of his fan.

In that instant a high-powered beam tore through the spot where Shin Hweein’s head had just been.