DSB 114

The next day, word arrived from the temple saying they would visit Hestro Castle. The castle became bustling. Ironically, Luceris was the busiest of the bunch.

One of the reasons the priests said they were coming to the castle was because they wanted to see Luseris.

Lebel watched the priests attentively. Until now, the only priest he had seen was Illa, but now he was seeing others as well. They were all humans who had received Michael’s blessing.

But Illa did receive the strongest power.

Among the gathered priests, Michael’s power was most evident in Illa. However, he remained silent, standing behind the other priests.

He greeted Lebel and Yutis with a nod.

“Oh ho, so this is a dragon…!”

One of the priests, who looked older than the others, approached Luceris with rapt eyes. Luceris shifted his hips as if he was sitting on pins and needles.

Luceris’s body size had shrunk, he trembled all over as he faced the priests. It wasn’t because he was afraid of humans, but because of the holy power emanating from them.

He was naturally afraid of holy power because, despite his dragon-like appearance, he also had demonic energy.

Furthermore, it was Michael’s holy power.

Luceris desperately tried to avoid the priests’ gazes, but Lebel ignored him.

“Pure white scales. Could he be a messenger of god? That must be why he went to meet the head of the Hestro family!”

One of the priests spoke loudly. It was only natural that Lebel was displeased. How dare they recklessly use god’s name? Since it was obvious what the priest would say next, Lebel spoke first.

“He said he would help the descendant of the contractor.”

“A contractor…?”

The priests turned their questioning gazes toward Edmund. Without a word, Edmund showed them the contract mark.

“He made a contract with me. It seems the previous head of the family also gained power after making a contract with a dragon. That’s probably why the Hestro family was different from others.”

The priest carefully examined the mark that appeared on the back of Edmund’s hand. Others nearby also looked at it, but no one realized it was a mark of a contract with a demon.

If it couldn’t be hidden forever, then it was enough to reveal it from the start.

“Ahem, I see.”

The priests looked disappointed. There were stories that a being who appeared to carry on God’s will would be pure white, so they had hoped for that.

Lebel raised one eyebrow. He didn’t like it, but since he needed the temple’s cooperation, he could say a few things they wanted to hear.

“You can’t say there was no divine guidance. Yutis suddenly felt he had to go save Father-in-law, so he went to the Mountain of Death.”

Lebel sold Yutis out. The latter was initially flustered as all eyes turned to him, but he quickly calmed himself.

“Did God truly give you advice?”

Yutis said nothing, but because Lebel nodded without batting an eye, the priests interpreted it on their own.

“God must have guided him to obtain even the power of a dragon!”

“It is evident that the North will face a major trial.”

“A demon has appeared, so isn’t that only natural?”

“The Hestro family has always protected the North from threats. Since God has intervened, the North will be safe.”

“But we can’t relax completely!”

“That’s why we should make our own efforts. Following God’s guidance, we must also do what we can to protect the North. God has shown a miracle, so now all we have to do is believe and follow.”

Listening to the priests talk about miracles, Lebel asked Yutis,

“What miracle are they talking about?”

“…Didn’t I say there was a procedure to confirm whether I was truly the owner of the revelation? When I went before the statue of God, the sword the statue was holding turned into a real sword.”

When Lebel heard those words, his head turned around.

“Why are you only telling me something that important now?”

“I told you it was proven….”

“No, not that. I mean the sword. The sword. Isn’t that sword the holy sword?”

He had heard they were troubled because the holy sword hadn’t appeared, but this meant it had already appeared. He never expected that this was what Yutis meant when he said God helped him.

The priests had seen it with their own eyes, so they couldn’t deny it.

“They did say it was the appearance of the holy sword, but they said it needed verification, so the temple decided to manage it.”

“It’s obviously the holy sword. What are they talking about?”

Lebel frowned; since Yutis was the owner of the holy sword, he should have brought it with him that very day.

He knew he should have gone with him. Letting them take what’s his right in front of his eyes, what was Yutis even doing?

“They said they’ll send it after completing the official procedures.”

“Michael gave it to you. And yet those humans dare to talk about procedures?”

That made no sense.

Lebel walked toward the priests, who were still discussing about the revelation, radiating a fierce presence like a general heading to war.

“Did you bring the holy sword?”

The priests who had been talking among themselves flinched at Lebel’s sudden interruption and looked at him.

“Through the procedures, it’s already been confirmed that Yutis is the owner of the oracle, and my husband says the holy sword appeared, yet the holy sword isn’t by its rightful owner’s side,”

“Ah, as I told the young master….”

“I heard. But by now, shouldn’t you be done confirming whether it’s really the holy sword or not? If so, you should return it to its owner.”

At that moment, a middle-aged man who appeared to be a high-ranking priest walked forward.

“Th-that’s correct. As the young madam says, the verification is complete. We felt God’s power. However, it’s also a precious item to us, so please understand that we must be cautious about handing it over immediately. We plan to bestow the holy sword upon the young master at the New Year Festival.”

“Bestow? God gave it to Yutis, so it’s already his. And yet you humans plan to bestow it upon my husband?”

“…Pardon?”

When Lebel frowned and sneered, asking whether that made any sense, the priest’s eyes widened.

“Choose your words carefully. From what I’m hearing, it sounds like you’re saying the holy sword belongs to the temple. It would be troublesome if you got confused about who the owner of the holy sword is.”

The priest, who had been staring at Lebel, turned bright red as if he had been insulted. Lebel only scoffed.

There wasn’t a demon who failed to recognize human desire.

In this world, there were angels worshiped as gods, and the things they bestowed upon humans were treated as sacred objects and treasured. Furthermore, at times they exercised power that humans called miracles.

It might be natural to covet such things.

However, just because god gave something for humans didn’t mean the temple could mistake it as theirs. Especially this time, what descended was Yutis’s.

As the priests began to murmur, Yutis carefully tried to stop Lebel.

“My wife.”

“Things like this need to be made clear.”

Edmund and Damian just watched the situation and did not intervene, as if to support Lebel’s point.

“Surely priests who serve a god aren’t thinking of going against his will? The holy sword belongs to Yutis. That’s why it revealed itself when he went there. Isn’t that right?”

“Th-that is….”

Lebel glared at the priest who couldn’t bring himself to finish his sentence. Then Illa stepped forward from among the priests.

“How could we dare go against God’s will? The moment we incur God’s wrath, the power we possess will disappear. That’s something even the bishop is aware of.”

“Th-that’s right. Of course I know. It’s just that keeping it in the temple would prevent it from being taken by demons….”

“Are you stronger than Yutis? Or can you handle the holy sword as well as Yutis can?”

“Th-that….”

“That’s enough. Bring it.”

As if he had no intention of listening to any more drawn out excuses, Lebel turned his head away. He didn’t care if the humans clenched their teeth in rage.

He wanted to see just how impressive a sword a god had given.

And out of spite toward those humans, if the quality of the holy sword fell short even a little, he planned to go to the temple and demand they produce something better.

“We’ll need to discuss the New Year Festival as well. Since the holy sword has appeared, there’s no reason to drag our feet anymore.”

“O-Of course. We intended to announce the revelation and the appearance of the holy sword at the New Year Festival.”

“Luceris has probably seen enough, so immediately let’s start.”

“Th-then, will the young madam also be attending?”

The bishop spoke while looking at Lebel from the corner of his eye. Anyone could tell he was wary of him. After being reprimanded over the holy sword, he was probably worried Lebel might interfere in the New Year Festival as well.

But regardless of Lebel’s presence, things wouldn’t go the way they wanted. Did they think Damian or Edmund would let things slide easily?

“Father-in-law, Father. Please.”

“All right, all right. You must be tired, so go rest.”

Damian waved his hand lazily. His tone meant “Go to your room and don’t cause trouble.” Edmund patted Lebel on the shoulder.

“You worked hard today.”

Once the two disappeared together with the priests, Lebel turned his head. Then he looked at Yutis, who was still standing beside him, and spoke.

“Aren’t you going? You’re the owner of the holy sword.”

“I’ve already said everything I needed to say. My dad will handle the adjustments.”

Well, Father is trustworthy.

When the priests left, Lebel called out to Luceris, who had relaxed and sprawled out.

[Luceris, follow them. Go, and if the priests start spouting nonsense, breathe some fire.]

[…Me?]

Luceris looked at him, asking why he had to go, but Lebel was unbothered.

[Why aren’t you moving already? I told you from the start not to leave Father’s side.]

[A-Alright. I’ll go….]

Luceris weakly flapped his wings and followed after Edmund’s group.