“…Mrrph!”
The divine beast’s ears had been twitching for several moments before its eyes snapped open.
Isierd’s sacred energy had revived it.
The divine beast swished its tail in a lazy stretch and glanced around the room.
Then, as if reassured, the tension drained from its small body.
No matter how generously one tried to interpret the sight, the divine beast’s behavior was far from ordinary.
Pernoa had been watching from the beginning. His eyes narrowed.
“It seems life at the temple wasn’t particularly comfortable,” he murmured.
The children gathered around the bed where the divine beast lay all turned to look at him.
“It obviously couldn’t take Ricador’s little ‘tainted omen’ remark and passed out from sheer outrage.”
“A divine beast fainting over something that trivial? Really?”
Ricador shot back at Riscal’s comment with a sulky expression.
He hadn’t been entirely at ease about it either—a nagging worry that the divine beast had somehow overheard him and taken offense.
Because, well…
Small as it was, this was still a divine beast sent by the goddess Rafella.
The thought of receiving a curse had genuinely crossed his mind.
A divine beast delivering a curse might sound absurd, but wasn’t divine retribution a real thing?
Ricador shifted his gaze away with a sheepish grimace.
“…You know, you have some surprisingly old-fashioned beliefs for someone who doesn’t look the type.”
Riscal shook his head with a click of his tongue.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure. Like right now—turning your head away in front of the divine beast—”
There was an old proverb in the Declair Empire.
That anyone who crossed paths with a divine beast would receive punishment from the goddess.
…More specifically, the idea was that the divine beast itself would go in search of those deserving of divine retribution on the goddess’s behalf.
Ricador was almost certainly squirming under the weight of that proverb.
“…You’re not going to be struck by divine retribution, so sit up straight, brother. Aren’t you embarrassed in front of Riersha?”
“…Ahem.”
Ricador cleared his throat and straightened up.
Riersha paid no attention to her brothers’ bickering. There were more important things to focus on right now.
“Enough chatter, you two. Ricador, Riscal.”
“…Doesn’t this bother you at all?”
“What does?”
Risideon had appeared calm and unruffled from the very start.
That was precisely why Ricador leaned in and whispered with barely concealed frustration.
“The divine beast is here with us. Our family is already buried in the imperial court’s bad graces—do you really think anyone will believe it’s a coincidence that we’re tangled up with a divine beast too?”
The point was undeniably valid.
If the Arachrene family was also the one who had found this divine beast…
‘This is too much. Far, far too much.’
Riersha understood exactly what Ricador was worried about.
Even if it was all the plain truth, the fact that they had not only found Isierd but discovered a divine beast as well would strain anyone’s credulity.
From the imperial court’s perspective, it would feel far simpler—and far more persuasive—to assume the Arachrene family was plotting something.
Riersha looked toward Pernoa.
“What did you mean by what you said just now?”
That life at the temple wouldn’t have been comfortable for the divine beast?
“The way it was on guard the moment it woke up alone tells you something. And then there’s…”
Pernoa pointed to the divine beast’s collar.
“That collar is used only on priests within the temple who have committed serious crimes. It functions like a shackle.”
Riersha’s eyes went wide as she stared at the divine beast.
Looking more carefully, she could see it wore a pure white collar etched with geometric patterns.
It had been hidden beneath its fur this whole time.
“…What does it do?”
“It forcibly binds a portion of one’s sacred power to an external source.”
“I suppose that makes sense, given how rare it is to find someone with sacred power,” Risideon said in a grave tone.
“Exactly.”
Pernoa nodded.
“Normally, those sentenced to wear it are high-ranking priests. Since individuals with sacred power are so uncommon… and since it would hardly reflect well on the temple to ask convicted criminals to share their sacred energy, they use that device instead.”
Anyone made to wear the collar was forced to supply sacred power whether they wished to or not.
They became prisoners bound to provide it until the very moment of their death.
It was a punishment of extraordinary cruelty.
“Then why was it put on the divine beast?”
“Because it also enables tracking.”
“…If what Father said is right, the temple never intended to report to the imperial court that a divine beast had been born.”
Risideon’s words dropped into the room like a stone into still water.
The precise details would have to come from the divine beast itself, of course, but…
It was clear enough that the creature had not lived an easy life until now.
And yet here was its destined master, greeting it for the first time with declarations about despising fur-shedding animals and orders to return it to where it had come from…
It was no wonder the divine beast had wanted to shout that it knew perfectly well who its rightful owner was.
Plop.
Having rested enough, the divine beast hopped up and nestled into Isierd’s arms.
Isierd lifted it with reluctant hands, a faint look of irritation crossing his face.
Because…
〈I am never going to forgive those temple people. Can you believe they gave me one fancy cushion and told me to rest on it? One cushion. While they surrounded themselves with gold and jewels. One measly cushion.〉
“…”
〈Although, I have to say, being tucked into a nice little box was actually rather cozy.〉
One moment he was insisting he wasn’t to be compared to some common fur-shedding beast…
It seemed this divine beast was, at heart, very much a cat.
The tower master had apparently assumed it was a dog.
〈Why aren’t you saying anything? I’m telling you, I liked that box.〉
“Isierd, what is the divine beast saying?”
Riersha looked up at him with wide, curious eyes.
Isierd felt his mouth go suddenly dry. The words wouldn’t come.
His pale blue eyes dropped downward.
〈Hmph. Those thieves can steal my sacred power all they like, but once I’m fully grown, they won’t amount to a single claw of mine. Look at this. See my magnificent claws?〉
The divine beast waved its tiny paws back and forth—claws so small they looked incapable of scratching even skin.
〈Aren’t they magnificent? Hurry up and tell me how magnificent they are.〉
…He couldn’t possibly repeat this to Riersha.
The mood in the room was far too serious for that.
“Nothing in particular.”
“…Really?”
“Yes. It’s really not saying much at all, Riersha.”
Isierd smiled pleasantly.
“…I don’t believe that.”
“I promise.”
Of course, the divine beast was still chattering away without pause.
After years with no one who could understand it, it seemed as though a floodgate had finally burst open.
〈Come to think of it, I’m furious that the temple people tried to tame me with all sorts of things. I’m the only one you belong to—no wait, you’re the only one who belongs to me. No matter how interesting or shiny the things they dangled in front of me were, I resisted every single time. Wasn’t I incredible?〉
Isierd paused for just a moment at that.
He didn’t know about the rest of it, but the part about him being the only one who could tame this divine beast—that, he found unexpectedly satisfying.
The divine beast rolled onto its back and peered up at him.
Tiny little fangs peeked into view.
〈Is your owner rich? That Christia-whatever person seemed to spend money on a different scale entirely. Sounds like they’d been stockpiling bribe money for ages. I actually liked that about them. Money really is everything.〉
…Was this truly what a divine beast was supposed to be?
It seemed far too worldly a creature for that title.
“…At any rate, it does seem the temple was attempting to tame the divine beast. And stealing its sacred power as well.”
The situation was apparently nowhere near as dire for the divine beast as everyone in the room had been imagining.
Aside from not receiving proper sacred energy and going hungry for it, the creature seemed to have lived quite a snug life.
Pernoa’s expression grew even more grave as he processed what Isierd relayed.
“There was a period when the Pope’s sacred power suddenly grew considerably stronger. It seems that was around the time he got his hands on the divine beast.”
“So what do we do now, Father? I think we need to remove that collar first…”
“That is precisely the problem.”
Riscal asked, and Pernoa clicked his tongue with a look of deep frustration. Of all the ways things could have gone wrong, it had to be this way.
“Nothing is known about who created that object. And there is no way the temple could have produced it on their own.”
The temple was a place devoted to the goddess—where those who wielded sacred and holy power gathered.
This object, by contrast, was something altogether monstrous.
It was even said that there were parties who had secretly obtained the collar and conducted their own experiments on it.
Something so hideous could not have been made from sacred power alone.
“Could it possibly be… made from dark magic?”
The way it wrested and suppressed another’s power—the possibility seemed more than likely.
The divine beast heard Riersha’s murmur. Its ears perked up and its head swiveled in her direction.
〈Who is that child?〉
The divine beast’s eyes lit up with unmistakable curiosity.
