Chapter 3

Hamel descended from the tree with light steps.

The child was asleep, snuggled in Hamel’s arms.

“Come with me.”

Hamel said nothing more and began walking somewhere.

The village chief followed Hamel as if entranced by him.

Not long after, the two arrived at an open clearing.

“This place…?”

“This is where it ate.”

The first thing that caught the eye was the carcass of a deer.

The roughly torn deer hung pitifully by its upper body from a tree.

The deer’s blood still dripped, staining the surroundings red as if it had died only recently.

Around it were blood-stained rocks and torn clothing.

And scattered here and there were bones rolling about.

Some belonged to beasts, but…

Several of the bones were unmistakably human.

Hamel silently collected the scattered remains around him.

He skillfully gathered what looked like human bones and set aside any personal effects.

That was all.

Hamel, as if his business here was finished, headed back toward the village.

An awkward silence flowed between the two.

How long they walked like that?

With only the rustle of leaves around them, the buildings of the village began to come into view.

The village head felt relieved at the thought that the uncomfortable companionship was coming to an end.

“What is the matter?”

Hamel asked the question without preamble.

But the village head already knew what he meant.

The village head squeezed his eyes shut, feeling the inevitable, and confessed his guilt.

It resembled more a criminal’s confession than a priestly confession.

“…The mansion I guided you to today belonged to a noble. I had no choice but to prioritize that place.”

“You could have kept the two children together somewhere.”

At Hamel’s question, the chief averted his eyes and hesitated.

After a moment he sighed and spoke.

“I tried to speak up, but the baron, the owner of the mansion, refused.”

“…”

Hamel did not press further.

He merely nodded as if he understood.

But he could not hide his expression, which had grown even colder.

After handing the personal relics to the villagers, Hamel headed straight for the church temple.

Inside the rattling carriage.

Hamel closed his eyes gently and leaned his head against the wall.

Once again he had found no clue.

How many more times must he repeat this?

A Priest of Azure Flame.

The youngest Exorcist priest.

These were the names the world called Hamel.

But Hamel did not consider himself such an extraordinary person.

‘On the contrary.’

Yes, at best a half measure.

Hamel thought back with a blank expression and self-mockery to the moment he had delivered the effects.

The three missing children had returned home as skeletons.

Even if he’d expected it, seeing it with his own eyes was different.

The children’s parents sank to the ground and stared blankly, crying.

Some wailed like animals.

As if they might die at any moment.

As if they’d lost all reason and strength to live.

Yet Hamel could do nothing.

He couldn’t even cry with the bereaved to comfort them.

His emotions had dried up.

‘Only for vengeance.’

He had forgotten sorrow, pity, and fear.

Hamel quietly took the pendant from his neck and opened it.

Inside was a portrait of a smiling woman and a strange shard of scale.

The woman in the portrait was Hamel’s mother.

Murdered by a monster in her bedroom.

─Crrk

The leather strap wrapped around the hilt of the sword screamed as if it would tear.

The memory of that day was still vivid.

That day, he wanted to hear the bedtime story his mother often told.

In his pajamas he went to his mother’s bedroom, where an unknown beast made noise.

He was afraid, but an inexplicable pull made him reach for the doorknob.

Thanks to that, Hamel encountered a presence he could never forget.

Blood-soaked bed sheets and his mother’s clothes torn to pieces.

And the monster drenched in that blood greeted him.

─Shhrrr

Scales rippled across its skin like waves, and its gaping maw slowly advanced toward Hamel.

Hamel, frozen like a stone, felt fear more than anger.

He desperately wished it would not come any closer.

At that moment, Hamel awakened a power.

A blue flame bloomed, the Azure Flame, and the monster recoiled in shock.

That was the end of his memory.

Hamel then lost consciousness.

When he came to, the monster was gone and the mansion was utterly overturned.

Dozens of mages were dispatched to hunt the monster, but they found nothing.

The only supposed evidence was a single shard of scale believed to be from the monster.

Since that day, Hamel had never once forgotten the creature.

Not long after, Hamel left the mansion.

He had no regrets.

After all, he had been born lacking mana.

The renowned mage family, the Gilmore family.

As the second son of that household who lacked even a pinch of mana, Hamel was destined to be expelled from the family from the very start.

He left of his own accord rather than be driven out.

Dreaming of revenge.

The place he arrived at was the church order.

There was no better place to investigate the monster that had devoured his mother.

Hamel was fortunate to awaken his unique ability not long after joining the order.

The Azure Flame.

He learned to wield the ability that had saved his life from the monster at will.

As a result, at the young age of twelve he earned the title of Exorcist priest, becoming the youngest Exorcist priest.

However, that was all that had been granted to Hamel.

Hamel lacked more than just mana.

No matter how he prayed, Divine power did not accumulate in his body.

Naturally he could not learn consecration or benediction, and even his unique ability stagnated for years without special growth.

He thus became a half-measure of a priest.

Time passed, and he reached the present.

The clergy of the order were disappointed by the fall of a prodigy.

Of course, their reputation did little good for Hamel.

But he could not give up on vengeance.

He pondered ways to grow stronger and gathered information on monsters.

He compensated for his weakness through other means.

He gripped the sword until his hands bled and trained.

While other Exorcist priests honed their abilities and Divine power, he devoted himself solely to weaponry.

He had talent in swordsmanship, but even that began to show limits.

Lacking mana, Hamel could not coat his blade in aura.

‘An awkward in-between.’

That was Hamel, himself.

He had a unique ability useful against demons, but no Divine power.

He had talent in swordsmanship, but could not use aura.

A half priest who could not even comfort the wounded.

Hamel was indulging in self-loathing with a peculiar satisfaction.

“We’ve arrived, Priest.”

The coachman called to Hamel.

─Clack

The horses stopped and the carriage door opened.

Hamel nodded stiffly to the coachman and stepped down from the carriage.

The bright morning sun poured over his head.

Still, Hamel did not remove his robes.

Instead, he pulled his hood low over his eyes and hastened toward the temple.

“Young master.”

At that moment, a familiar voice reached his ears.

He instinctively looked up to locate the owner of the voice.

It was an elderly man in a neat suit.

Who could it be?

‘To call me young master in the first place, who would address me that way…’

Hamel halted, thinking that far, and looked again at the old man’s face.

“…Gail?”

“I am grateful you remember this old frame.”

“What brings you here?”

He asked calmly, though honestly he was taken aback.

Hamel stared at him, forgetting even his fatigue.

Gail, the steward of the Gilmore family.

He was his father’s right hand, the steward, and a key manager of the estate.

Although he’d only seen him in his youth, he remembered Gail as one of the few kind figures at the main household.

“A message from the head of the family.”

A message all of a sudden.

Hamel unconsciously furrowed his brow.

It was the first contact from the main house in years.

Had something happened?

Hamel cautiously took the letter and said to Gail,

“Please come inside. I’ll prepare a room.”

“I appreciate your courtesy, young master.”

Gail bowed deeply.

Hamel felt uncomfortable with the title and the overdone politeness, but gave no sign of it.

He merely suppressed his fatigue and entered the temple.

For Hamel, patience was more familiar than breathing.

After giving Gail a small room, Hamel went into his study.

He intended to calmly examine the contents of the letter.

He had planned to report the village matter directly to the bishop, but he was curious what his father’s message contained.

─Sss, tap

Hamel, about to cut the seal with a letter opener, paused.

‘It’s already opened?’

Feeling an oddity in the sealing wax for a moment, Hamel’s attention was drawn elsewhere.

He suddenly felt a nostalgic déjà vu.

Five petals that looked like an inverted helm.

He recognized the family’s crest.

‘This is our family emblem. The lady’s helmet flower.’

One of the few memories he shared with his father flashed through his mind.

The memory was faint.

But his father always looked at Hamel with a mix of love and resentment.

It was surely because he was a half-born who lacked mana.

There was no resentment now.

It would be a lie to say those feelings never existed.

He now understood well what it meant to lack mana in a wizarding family.

Hamel casually opened the letter and read its contents slowly.

[To my beloved son]

[Son, do you remember the estate’s forest that was lush with deep greenery long ago?]

[The salt mine that thrummed with life? The coastline where the blue sea stretched—surely you remember.]

[And the grand family mansion from which you could see it all at once.]

He remembered it all.

The forest that took up half the estate and the salt mine that was the estate’s main industry.

And even the port used to ship out the salt.

He had not visited the estate even once since being driven out, but it was still the estate he had lived in for twelve years.

‘But why bring this up now, all of a sudden?’

He was a little puzzled.

And at the same time anxious.

Had some problem occurred?

Hamel continued reading the latter part of the letter.

[All of it faces the threat of vanishing.]

[If this continues, the family and estate will fall into ruin and be swallowed by darkness.]

[We need your help.]

[Please recall our family oath.]

“…We are Seekers of the Abyss. We shall sweep away the darkness and reveal the mysteries.”

Hamel muttered the words under his breath with a frown.

It was an old memory, but not easy to forget.

Because his father had smiled kindly at the moment he taught Hamel the oath.

After mulling the letter over for a moment, Hamel flipped it and tilted his head.

‘Is that all?’

No matter how he thought about it, the letter was strange.

Both the content and the circumstances.

They were full of oddities.

Above all.

“The family’s downfall…?”

The Gilmore family was a fairly wealthy estate and a venerable house of magic.

What could be happening there?

Hamel stood and walked into the next room.

He wanted to hear the details from Gail.

─Knock knock

Hamel knocked on the wooden door and called for Gail.

“Gail. I have something to ask. May I come in?”

He waited a moment, but there was no answer or sound from inside.

Had he fallen asleep in the meantime?

Hamel slowly turned the doorknob and pushed the door open.

The door creaked open without resistance.

And there, …

─Squeak squeak squeak

Gail hung by the neck, smiling broadly.

His eyes, however, were soaked in madness.