Still, it was fortunate that I had been given three days. Last time, I had destroyed the sacred statue in a hurry to save Theo, but this time, it was not as though I had to set fire to the temple immediately.
For now, I decided to take my time and build a proper relationship of trust with Theo first. Wasn’t I doing all of this in order to raise Theo well?
I opened the wardrobe and looked for clothes Theo could wear. Naturally, there was not a single piece of clothing that fit a twelve-year-old child. After some thought, I chose the clothes that looked as soft and warm as possible and dressed Theo in them. I had to fold the sleeves over several times before his hands finally emerged.
“Sorry. Tomorrow, I’ll go to the market and buy you some clothes.”
“Thank you.”
Theo smiled bashfully. We had not even known each other for a full day, yet he already seemed to have opened his heart to me quite a bit. Perhaps because he was a child, he did not seem to know how to be suspicious.
Thinking that it was time to sleep, I laid Theo down on the bed and intended to sleep on the sofa. But Theo carefully grabbed the hem of my clothes.
“Could you read me a book before I sleep? Dad always used to read fairy tales to me.”
That was troublesome. Naturally, there were no fairy-tale books in my room. No, to begin with, there were no books at all in Shane’s room.
“There aren’t any books….”
After thinking it over, I made a suggestion.
“Then, shall I tell you a story I know?”
Theo’s eyes sparkled.
“I’d like that!”
“Then… hm. I’ll tell you the story of Snow White.”
Fortunately, the Brothers Grimm did not exist in this world. Relying on my memory, I began telling the story of Snow White, and because I thought it might be too boring if I only talked about Snow White, I mixed in the story of Cinderella here and there. Around the part where Snow White ran away from the queen wearing glass slippers and twisted her ankle, Theo’s breathing became even.
‘Was it a little too childish for a twelve-year-old?’
I stopped the story. Theo was deeply asleep, clutching the blanket tightly with both hands. After some thought, I carefully slipped under the blanket as well. This side was much warmer than the sofa. With my back pressed against Theo’s, I closed my eyes.
The next day, I hurriedly went out and found clothes that Theo could wear. I did not buy many. After all, he was a child who would soon become fifteen.
I also prepared a simple breakfast. Unfortunately, I did not have much talent for cooking. All I did was fry some bacon and serve a fried egg with a few vegetables. It was an embarrassing meal to call cooking, but Theo ate everything without leaving a single bite.
“Once you’re finished eating, shall we go to the temple?”
“The temple?”
“Yeah. I’m going to ask a priest to give you a prayer of blessing.”
I dressed Theo in several layers of clothing, wrapped him in a thick fur coat, and even put a scarf around him. After putting gloves on his hands, I held one of them and headed to the Temple of Repinal with him.
The broken fragments of the sacred statue had been completely cleared away. The place where the enormous statue had stood was empty, and in front of it were small statues of Repinal that people had brought from their homes. Most of them were wooden statues that had been carved by hand, so their shapes were slightly distorted. Strangely, however, they seemed more beautiful to me than the elegant statue made of marble.
Theo clasped both hands together in front of the statues and prayed quietly.
“What did you pray for?”
“A prayer of thanks. I said thank you for letting me meet Rihen.”
I flinched slightly at the name ‘Rihen’. Originally, you should have met the real Rihen. Not a half-demon like me.
When we entered the temple, an apprentice priest with short pink hair greeted us warmly. It was Luna, the NPC priest.
“What brings you here?”
“I came to ask that you bestow a blessing upon this child.”
Even as I spoke with Luna, my gaze continued to sweep across the inside of the temple. Where would be the best place to start the fire, and how could I do it as safely as possible? Those were the kinds of thoughts running through my mind.
The blessing ceremony was simpler than I had expected. Luna carefully placed her hand on the child’s head and recited a short prayer. A faint light sparkled above Theo’s head. The light quickly faded, and with that, the ceremony was over.
“It’s finished.”
Luna said. Theo blinked a few times, then raised his head.
“My head feels a little clearer.”
“That’s the blessing. Your body and mind should both feel a little lighter.”
She smiled brightly.
When we stepped outside, cold air brushed across our faces. Theo held my hand tightly and said,
“I think it was good that we came to the temple.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I feel a little more at ease.”
At those words, I smiled and nodded.
“If you’re happy, then I’m happy too.”
For lunch, we ate a proper meal at a nearby restaurant.
Perhaps Theo was curious about many things concerning the person I was, because he continued asking questions without pause throughout the meal.
My age, hobbies, marital status, favorite foods, and disliked foods.
“I’m twenty-five.”
It was exactly one hundred years less than Shane’s age of 125. Judging by my appearance and by human standards, it was not a particularly awkward setting.
“What are your hobbies?”
“I don’t really have any.”
“Are you married?”
“No. I don’t have a fiancée either.”
“What foods do you like and dislike?”
“I think I eat pretty much anything without being picky.”
I answered most of his questions without difficulty, but there was one question that left me stuck.
“What kind of work do you do?”
It was a troublesome question. I could not confess that I was a demon Legion Commander. But if I carelessly made up some normal occupation, it was obvious that dealing with it later would be difficult. After thinking it over, I finally answered like this.
“…I’m unemployed.”
“What does unemployed mean?”
“It means I don’t have a job.”
At those words, Theo picked up the menu again. After checking the price of the beef soup he was eating, his eyes widened.
“Are we allowed to eat this?”
“It’s fine. I inherited quite a lot of money.”
I decided to become a home security guard who lived idly off his parents’ inheritance.
After thinking it over, Theo pushed the menu aside and picked up his spoon again, but he soon muttered with a worried expression.
“Still, I think you should get a job.”
“Yeah. I’ll try.”
I answered halfheartedly as I scooped up a spoonful of soup.
Next, we stopped by a bookstore and bought actual fairy-tale books. Picture books with colored illustrations were quite expensive, but for Theo, I did not begrudge spending that much at all.
I also chose several books for myself to read. ‘The History of Imperial Faith’, ‘The Ecology of Demons’, ‘How to Care for a Child’. On the surface, they appeared to have little connection to one another.
For dinner, we bought bread from a nearby bakery and ate it at home. When I spread jam on slices of bread and served them with milk, Theo ate without complaint. Still, I thought I should learn a little more about cooking. I wanted Theo to eat a variety of foods.
At night, I read him the fairy-tale book we had bought at the bookstore that day. It was a heartwarming story about a hero defeating demons. Theo liked the story very much and repeatedly begged me to read it again.
After confirming that Theo’s breathing had become completely even, I slipped silently out of the bed.
Now, it was time to go do my secret work at night.
***
Late at night, the temple doors carefully opened. The priest in charge, who had been nodding off inside the confessional, rubbed his eyes and straightened his posture.
A clear voice came from beyond the curtain.
“I have come to make a confession.”
“What sin have you committed? Confess everything to Repinal, the Goddess of Dawn.”
The priest recited the prescribed words mechanically.
“I have not committed it yet. But I intend to soon.”
At the unexpected answer, the priest tilted his head. The rosary in his hand swayed softly.
“Could you perhaps tell me in detail what sin you intend to commit?”
The priest asked carefully. An answer soon came back. It was a voice as cunning as a serpent and as pure as a white dove.
“At midnight two days from now, I will set fire to this temple.”
“What-!”
The priest sprang to his feet and pulled back the curtain. At that moment, the air inside the temple froze. The visitor’s face could not be seen. No, even though his face was fully exposed, it was impossible to perceive his features. His blinking eyelids and the corners of his mouth curving into an arc were all visible, yet his overall impression could not be grasped at all. As though fog had filled the inside of the priest’s head.
The red pendant engraved with a geometric eye pattern flashed ominously beneath the reddish light of the lamp. Upon seeing it, the priest understood. The Legion Commander who had destroyed the sacred statue had returned once again to deliver a nightmare. The priest stood with his mouth hanging open foolishly, his body trembling violently in fear.
“I wanted to test just how much all of you love your god.”
The Legion Commander smiled. Deep mischief lingered around his lips.
“When you know in advance that the temple will catch fire, will you stand and fight against the flames?”
The devil’s gaze pierced through the priest.
“Or will you empty the temple and run away in order to survive?”
A suffocating silence passed. As expected, it was the Legion Commander who broke the stillness.
“For reference, I would be willing to bet everything on the latter.”
A chilling laugh spread through the darkness.
Just as when he had destroyed the sacred statue, the Legion Commander vanished without leaving behind a single trace. As though he had never been there from the beginning.
With trembling hands, the priest rang the bell. The other priests hurried over, and a meeting was held deep inside the temple.
The confusion did not last long.
Had it been another temple, they might have dismissed the Legion Commander’s threat as a bluff. But the priests of the Temple of Repinal were different. They despised formal worship and hollow displays of bravery more than anything. The safety of the priests and worshippers—that was the most important principle this temple had upheld.
“Only the living can praise a god.”
The High Priest spoke with sincerity. No one argued against those words.
A conclusion was reached quickly. With only the High Priest remaining behind, all the other priests would vacate the temple. The worshippers were informed that it would be ‘temporarily closed in preparation for a ceremony’. At the same time, the order of knights was also informed of the situation. Every knight assigned to defend the temple was issued armor with flame resistance.
The High Priest gazed sorrowfully at the temple as it gradually emptied, then stood alone before the altar. The place where the fallen statue of the goddess had once stood. Yet now, it was a space filled with small statues made by the worshippers themselves. Looking at that place, he prayed quietly.
“O God, destroy evil.”
And someone was silently watching all of these movements from somewhere within the darkness.
Shane, Commander of the 13th Legion, with ash-gray hair reminiscent of ashes and empty blood-red eyes.