Chapter 13

“Long time no see, Father.”

“Do you remember me?”

The head priest looked slightly surprised at Hamel’s greeting.

“The last time I saw you, you were just a regular priest, though.”

“You’re still perceptive.”

Hamel watched the priest’s pleased face and asked.

“Where are the other Exorcist priests?”

“Um, about that…”

Just as the priest hesitated awkwardly, that was when—

“I’ll tell you that.”

Behind the door leading from the prayer room to the corridor,
someone appeared.

Hamel, who had been staring at him in puzzlement for a moment, flinched and shivered.

Antonio and Daniel, who hadn’t noticed it, looked at the newcomer and whispered quietly.

“Who is that?”

“A noble. Probably a mage. Hamel, do you know who he is?”

“……”

Hamel slowly approached the man instead of answering.

Then he roughly bowed his head in greeting.

“…Long time no see, brother.”

“You’re so stiff.”

The man lowered the corner of his eye as if offended.

“Brother?”

Antonio and Daniel stared blankly at the sight, then hastily glanced back and forth between Hamel and the man’s faces.

Come to think of it, they looked alike.

Their deep, ocean-like blue eyes, sharp features, and red lips seemed like copies.

Perhaps it was the blue hair.

Or maybe it was the variety of expressions.

The man before them gave such a different impression from Hamel that it wasn’t easy to recognize him at first glance.

“I heard you entered the Colorless Magic Tower.”

“I see, you weren’t uninterested in your brother after all.”

Hamel sighed as he watched the man, who familiarly came up and draped an arm over his shoulder.

Then he turned slightly and introduced him to the group.

“This is the Gilmore family heir. David Gilmore.”

“Pleasure to meet you! So you’re my brother’s companions.”

“…Yes. Hello.”

Antonio and Daniel awkwardly returned David’s greeting.

They were so different in personality that it was surprising they were brothers.

“How has my brother been? How did he meet you?”

“Uh, well…”

Just as Antonio hesitated over how to answer,

Hamel seized the moment and quickly cut him off.

“Let’s exchange these greetings later. More importantly, how did you come to be here, brother?”

“That’s true. We’ll talk about that slowly. As for why I’m here… Father summoned me.”

David rummaged through his coat pocket and took something out.

A letter stamped with the family’s seal.

It contained similar content to the letter Hamel had received.

Hamel rubbed his head and frowned.

“You received it too, then.”

“Yes. That suspicious letter indeed.”

“……”

Hamel silently nodded.

But one thing he couldn’t understand was the ring.

Why was the ring stamped with the seal sent to him and not to his brother?

Just as Hamel wondered whether to show the ring beneath his robe,

David shrugged his shoulders and continued speaking.

“I came because Father called, but going straight to the mansion would be a bit suspicious.”

“So you came to the temple.”

“Yes. Two of those rare Exorcist priests have already shown up, didn’t they? And since my brother was coming too, I thought there was no need to head to the mansion first.”

It was an excellent choice.

Hamel too found the circumstances that seemed to lure him suspicious.

A letter from his father requesting help after years.

Gail’s death.

And several incidents in the Haidern territory suspected to be demons’ work.

The information blatantly urging them to head to the mansion clearly harbored malice.

Having a mage brother in the party increased their safety, so it wasn’t a bad suggestion.

‘However…’

Hamel turned his head to mask his uneasy expression.

He didn’t dislike his brother.

Among the family aside from their mother, no one had been as affectionate to Hamel as his brother.

But meeting his brother brought back memories of the jealous, envious self he once was, and it pained him.

Hamel cleared his throat once and asked.

“So where are the other Exorcist priests?”

“They went to the mansion first.”

“…?”

Hamel for a moment doubted his ears and looked at David.

But unfortunately, the answer was the same.

“They said they’d meet the head of the house separately, so they went to the mansion about half a day ago.”

“Why…”

Hamel couldn’t continue.

He knew the reason.

Even among the Exorcist priests, Hamel was not very welcome.

Their looks toward Hamel were close to pity; he couldn’t use divinity, and there were countless missions where only Hamel had returned alive.

It wasn’t Hamel’s fault, but the unease couldn’t be helped.

That was why, whisperingly among the deacons, Hamel was called the grim reaper.

“Now that everyone is gathered, isn’t that enough?”

It was the head priest who lightened the heavily subdued atmosphere.

Watching the brothers reconcile, he smiled brightly and lifted the Bible to his chest.

“Let’s go together. Today we must finally meet the reclusive head of the house.”

“…Follow me.”

Contrary to expectations, the other Exorcist priests didn’t join, but the situation wasn’t that dire.

Two priests had already gone to the mansion, and the mage brother and the head priest were accompanying them.

The idea that something was wrong at the mansion was only a hypothesis to begin with.

They might find the two Exorcist priests and the head of the house simply chatting when they arrived.

But for some reason,

Hamel’s steps kept quickening.

By the time he realized it was due to anxiety, it was already far too late.

“…What did you say you caught?”

“Reteil.”

“The one leading Roshcka’s black hounds…?”

“Yes, he’s indeed the king of those beasts.”

“Huh…”

The head priest put a hand to his head as if he couldn’t believe Hamel’s words.

It’s a special-class.

A living myth and a calamity.

Vicious, cunning, arrogant, and frenzied beings.

It had been years since a demon designated as super-class had been dispatched.

“Am I the first to hear this?”

Hamel thought for a moment.

It made sense—he hadn’t met anyone from the order on his way here.

When Hamel nodded, the head priest sighed.

“If you’d told us a bit earlier we could’ve sent a messenger to the order headquarters.”

The head priest looked back as if debating whether he should leave at once.

It was that serious.

The death of a super-class demon could affect many factions across the continent, not just the order.

But now that they were near the lord’s mansion, it was already too late.

The head priest sighed and shook his head.

“In any case, congratulations. It’s the birth of a new Saint.”

‘Saint’ is a title given to faithful who accomplish great feats.

One of those feats was slaying a super-class demon.

“I was just lucky.”

Hamel bowed his head gently.

He meant it sincerely, not as false modesty.

To be honest, he hadn’t believed until the end that he could truly kill Reteil.

Hamel still had questions.

Why had Reteil died?

Was it stabbed through the eye by a blade?

Or burned by fire?

Not a chance.

If something so trivial could kill it, so many people wouldn’t have died fighting a special-class demon.

If he had to pick one reason for its death, it would definitely be—

‘The Azure Flame, probably.’

Hamel raked through the memories of that night.

‘What on earth are you—!’

Faintly, he remembered Reteil’s final moments.

A distorted face and a voice full of bewilderment.

‘It seemed to know something…’

He didn’t get to hear it to the end.

After saying that, Reteil collapsed to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut.

Hamel was confused.

He had always considered the Azure Flame a half-baked ability.

It required wounding the opponent first to ignite the flame, or else dousing it with one’s own blood.

An ambiguous power difficult to use without weapon skills.

Yet that ability killed a super-class demon.

In that case, the Azure Flame could no longer be called an ambiguous ability.

He had lived his life feeling half-baked, but a new possibility had opened.

The hope that he could grow stronger.

The stronger he became, the higher the chances of achieving his revenge.

—Kuuuk

As Hamel clenched his gloved hand and steeled himself, the priest smiled faintly and said.

“Luck is also skill. That you survive every time is due to your ability, Mr. Hamel.”

“It’s the will of the gods.”

“How devout.”

The head priest laughed cheerfully and asked.

“So did you absorb the sigil?”

“Yes, somehow.”

Hamel made a quiet sound and drew his sword to show them.

There, along the blood groove of the blade, was a strange sigil that hadn’t been there before.

Its form connected to the existing sigils as if it were devouring the old markings.

“This is the sigil of a special-class demon.”

The head priest breathed in admiration.

He had only heard of it in stories; it was his first time seeing a special-class demon’s sigil inscribed on a talisman.

David, who had been walking beside them and listening, also wore a stunned expression.

“Re…teil? Is that really the one I know?”

“It should be. Heh heh.”

Antonio shrugged as he recounted saving the injured Hamel and Daniel.

David kept exclaiming in admiration, and Antonio gave a satisfied smile.

But they couldn’t talk at length because Antonio had been unconscious during the fight with Reteil.

Daniel briefly filled that gap.

“Those who didn’t see it wouldn’t believe it even if you told them.”

“How so?”

“In a sea of blue flames Reteil roared, and Priest Hamel, his torn flesh burning, struck blades within it. It was like a scene from a myth.”

Just recalling it sent chills down Daniel’s spine.

He was proud to have taken part in that fight.

“Indeed. Amazing. That’s my brother for you.”

David nodded with a proud smile.

Daniel felt something odd at David’s reaction.

He seemed genuinely pleased.

Which made it stranger.

A talented sibling is usually a thorn in the side of a rightful heir.

Was David unconcerned because Hamel had joined the order?

No, there are cases where one returns to secular life and continues the family line.

Holding both priestly and noble titles is problematic, but otherwise it wouldn’t matter.

Sensing Daniel’s gaze, David whispered softly.

“Why do you find it strange?”

“A little, yes.”

“Heh heh, you’re honest. Then I’ll be honest too.”

David chuckled.

Then, with a slightly cold expression, he spoke.

“I’m not particularly interested in becoming the lord.”

“…”

Daniel frowned for a moment at the unexpected remark.

It wasn’t something one would expect to hear in front of a noble.

But fortunately, David had already walked past him and gone ahead.

As Daniel watched his back with a subtle expression,

David raised his hand and pointed to the mansion on the hill and said.

“We’re here. Let’s go in.”

Standing at the entrance, he casually reached for the front door of the mansion.

Then a massive doorway, big enough for a double-headed carriage, swung open as if by magic.

It looked as though it welcomed visitors, but no one in the party seemed pleased.

Past the entrance, the first thing they saw was a desolate garden that looked utterly neglected.

Withered grass and trees shedding yellowed leaves.

There were no guards or even servants in sight.

Hoping for someone, they knocked on the mansion door, but there was no answer.

After waiting a moment, Hamel simply pulled on the doorknob.

The door creaked open.

The party exchanged glances and one by one stepped into the mansion.

Just as everyone had entered the mansion—

—Creak. Thud.

With a heavy noise, the mansion’s door slammed shut on its own.

“W-What is this?”

A startled Antonio tried to push the door, but it wouldn’t budge as if it had been locked already.

A brief silence fell, broken only by the sound of someone swallowing dryly in the dim mansion.

“It seems we’re trapped.”

“I see.”

Hamel’s indifferent remark was met with a similarly unconcerned reply from Daniel.

Antonio’s face went pale as he asked.

“Trapped!? Then we have to open the door.”

“It seems the mansion has some business with us. They’ll open it once it’s over.”

When Daniel snorted and replied, Antonio looked as if he might faint.

He desperately called for David and the head priest like someone seeking a savior.

“Mage! Father!”

But they weren’t much different.

“The door really is locked. I couldn’t sense any mana flow… Is it some ability or a mechanism?”

“Calm down, Deacon Antonio.”

David, intrigued, fiddled with the door here and there, while the head priest quietly folded his hands in prayer.

It seemed no one was intent on leaving the mansion immediately.

Antonio glanced around the mansion with sorrowful eyes.

The silent mansion showed no signs of life; the only light came through the windows.

‘At least it’s bright outside… huh?’

It was at that moment Antonio tried to comfort himself.

Far down the long corridor, an ornament hanging on the wall caught his eye.

Round and white…

The sharpening focus made the object’s appearance clear.

And at last Antonio realized.

The round object hanging on the wall like a decoration.

It was the head of a person with long black hair.