White flame in every direction.
Front, back, sides, all of it!
...This is fine, right?
Ever since the assault by those unidentified figures in black masks, the white Sacred Flame had covered everything around me.
It clearly wasn't hot, and it clearly wasn't hostile. And one look at it said it was in a protective posture.
What bothered me was that this flame was 'Elysian's Sacred Flame.'
'Do you think they caught the name change already?'
-I'm going to say Utak made me do it.
The exact opposite of her curt tone, Elly held me tight as though shielding me.
The flame that had walled us off from everything swayed as if searching for something.
A small spark leapt from the billowing white Sacred Flame, and a little flame formed, like a will-o'-the-wisp.
The small white flame bobbing in front of my eyes spoke.
[-I am he who bears the word of Lord Elysian, the great light and the truth.]
So this Whitey of a Sacred Flame is the one who bears Elysian's word?
'Um, what, ah, brings you here...?'
Given what we'd been up to, I couldn't quite bring myself to ask with any confidence.
The way the sparks jumped off the flame made it look exactly like the Sacred Flame was snorting at me.
[-Lord Elysian is presently unable to move. He therefore intends to entrust a mission to you.]
Mission? What mission?
[-Each time you complete a mission as prophet, He will let you attain what you desire.]
The most recent thing I'd desired was for our Celestial Maiden, Elly, to become Elysian perfectly.
Sir. Is that doable?
[-Lord Elysian knows all of your impious conduct.]
Yikes.
'Ahahaha.'
So we were already busted, huh? Her renaming herself Elysian.
[-Yet if you complete the mission, He will not only turn a blind eye.]
The flame seemed to stare straight at Elly.
[-He said He would also help that small god beside you to put down roots.]
'What is it I have to do?'
***
When the black-masked figures began chanting, black magic circles rose above their heads.
An ordinary magic circle takes on the blue of a mana stone.
A magic circle comes out black like that because the one working the magic is a black mage who has struck a contract with a demon.
The activated circles produced black gates and began pouring out low-grade demons.
They dare summon demons here, in the space of a god?
The face of Cardinal Leilaik Ludersk hardened into something frighteningly cold.
“Your Eminence, it appears there has been an intrusion at the holy relic vault as well.”
“So the relics may be the objective.”
His aide came forward and finished his report quickly.
The identity of those who had attacked his son's Naming Rite was immediately obvious.
The Inferlim, that congregation of demon worshippers. Heathens fit to be torn apart, flailing pointlessly at the goal of scattering demons across the world of men.
It was a mercy beyond measure that the Sacred Flame had shielded the child at once.
The demons the Inferlim had summoned were of the base, lower sort, but to an infant who could barely babble they were lethal.
His mild-tempered face crumpled without mercy.
Their objective was unclear.
What was clear was that most of their fighting strength had been gathered here for his son's Naming Rite.
“The Inferlim strength at the relic vault?”
“A detachment of five, reported to be high-ranking black mages.”
“Tell Sonya to take the First and Second Battle Priest Orders there.”
“Yes. At once.”
An unprecedented incident: an assault aimed at a Cardinal's son's Naming Rite.
Since the god had recently vanished from sight, the situation had begun to turn strange.
The Empire had strictly restricted word of it from spreading in order to prevent panic, and yet the rumors had begun to circulate.
Starting, of all places, in small villages very far from the Church's central seat, and only a little at a time. And at the same time, the activity of the vile heathens had increased.
What followed on the heels of that was this attack.
Could these things possibly be coincidence? Leilaik could answer, without hesitation, no.
The circumstances were so plain that even a slow-witted child would notice.
What was the objective? His son? Or the relics?
Whichever it was, he had no intention of giving them what they wanted.
He swung his flail and scattered holy power.
“Veil of Purification.”
As the words ended, a veil of light unfurled above the summoned demons.
“Kraaaagh!”
As the purifying light poured down, the low-grade demons stained white and crumbled away into ash.
Their strength was as pitiful as expected, but the sheer momentum of them pouring out was not.
The Inferlim maintaining the circles at the rear had to be taken down.
“I will burn them all at once with the Flame of Condemnation, so you attack the Inferlim.”
“Yes, Lilliad. Let us do that.”
Just as the two of them were settling into position, the Sacred Flame spread and blazed up enormously.
A holy white wave swept over the demons.
“Kraaaagh!”
“Kyeeek!”
The Sacred Flame engulfed the demons and then the Inferlim as well, melting every last one of them down without a trace.
“What in the...”
“The Sacred Flame is attacking?”
Everyone locked in the standoff stared blankly at the vast, surging flame.
The Sacred Flame's only role at a Naming Rite is to choose a name.
Occasionally those richly blessed by the god provoke an anomaly in the Sacred Flame, but even that amounts to a small change.
This, though, went past shielding the child. This was the Sacred Flame's will to protect the child absolutely.
And the will of the Sacred Flame is the will of Elysian.
“The flame is...!”
Having devoured everything, the Sacred Flame was then drawn into the cradle where the child lay.
Having absorbed the whole of the Sacred Flame, the child was radiating holy power...
“Bbbwah!”
The child was beaming.
***
'I really have it!'
The deal (?) with Whitey the Sacred Flame had paid off rather nicely.
Its promise to root Elly in this world had evidently been no lie, because once it had said its piece the flame left divine power for Elly and holy power for me as parting gifts.
Holy power! I have it too now!
'A fantasy stat line...!'
-Here we go again.
Elly sighed, but my reaction was not going to stop.
I mean, how do you hold that in?
For all the grandeur of the word 'mission' delivered alongside the holy power, the Sacred Flame had only asked for two things.
[-A mark will be inscribed upon you: the mark of the prophet born to destiny. It will appear of its own accord when the time comes.]
[-The same holds for the mission. When the time comes, you will simply know. Until then...]
Dispose of demons and demon worshippers wherever possible.
Meet the Saint and undo the seal that has been laid upon him.
Do the jobs he's given properly, and I get to keep using Elysian's name.
Elysian, my man... turns out he's a real class act?
Heh heh, thanks for the easy deal.
'But did Whitey the Sacred Flame not notice I'm a newborn? How am I supposed to kill demons.'
-Well... it didn't ask you to do it right this second.
'And where do I even meet the Saint.'
-Won't it arrange for you to run into him?
Why am I the only one worried about this.
Looking at Elly's blank, unbothered face, my anxiety loosened and slipped away.
Right. It offered me the easy deal because it thinks I can do it.
'Come to think of it, the servants were whispering that the Saint can't hear Elysian's voice either.'
-Because of the seal, presumably?
'Probably.'
The seal must have been laid for a reason, but from the Saint's side, a god's voice he'd always heard clearly had simply cut out.
How anxious and stifling that must be.
I didn't know this Saint's name or face yet, but I felt a bond of sympathy form deep in my chest.
Because if Elly suddenly vanished on me, I'd be too anxious to do anything at all.
'I'd better undo it as fast as possible.'
Which means, until I meet the Saint, all I can do is catch demons and demon worshippers as hard as I can.
'How much divine power have you got back?'
-Barely a drop on a bird's foot compared to the old days. But enough that I can breathe a little?
'Enough to fight a demon?'
-At most I could manage a simple talisman, I think. But Utak. Shouldn't you grow a bit more before you go fighting?
Fair. It's not as if I can fight a demon right this minute.
Holy power or no holy power, I don't even know how to use the stuff.
Rolling around on the bed, I looked at the paper laid neatly on the table beside me.
In the middle of all that chaos, the Sacred Flame had not forgotten my name.
When the flame finished the deal, flowed smoothly into my body, and the wall of fire lifted, the place had been tidied so cleanly that it startled me.
Literally too cleanly.
Apart from the prayer hall being a little disordered, there was no trace of the intrusion to be found.
The murderous figures in black masks had vanished, every one of them.
'And in the middle of all that, the papers were exactly where they'd been.'
Of the papers with the candidate names, the two on either side had burned away entirely, and only the middle one survived, glowing faintly.
My parents had carried it back along with me and set it carefully on the table.
'You picked the left one, Elly.'
-And Utak picked the right.
'We were both wrong. What do we do in this case?'
-My name is Elysian too, isn't it? So Elysian's will is my will, right? Which means I won.
'What are you even saying... it's a draw, obviously.'
We bickered while we waited for my parents.
Neither of us could read a word, so there was nothing else for it.
And a little while later.
“Lian. Sweetheart, your name is Lian. Lian Ludersk.”
Father's eyes shone with a kind of wistfulness as he stroked my head.
-Wow, absolute smokeshow...
'Please be quiet for one moment. You're crumbling the emotional payoff.'
I grumbled for no good reason, but my fingers were wriggling.
It was a warmth I had never once received in my previous life.
“So in the end the name taken from Lord Elysian's own was the one chosen.”
What? My name is taken from the god's name?
-All that talk about prophets and whatnot, and he just made you pick his own name.
Ah, true. That's a bit cheap, isn't it?
“You must have wanted the one on the right. What a shame. That one was taken from your name.”
“Oh my. In that case, the same goes for you.”
From context, it sounded like the left name came from Father and the right one from Mother.
Naturally. Elly and I both have very firm tastes.
'Looking forward to it, Elly.'
-You too, Lian.
And so, with both our names settled, the Naming Rite came to its end after all its twists and turns.
***
I'd found the road to securing divine power, so now I had to secure the means.
The problem was that I was a newborn child. One who couldn't even crawl yet!
That was a problem only time could solve.
So what problem was left after that?
'How do I catch a demon?'
The method of catching demons, that's what.
A shaman's specialty is exorcising ghosts and evil spirits, not catching demons.
Even on Earth, demons had their own separate specialists, so I'd never caught one.
'I have driven a possession out of someone before, though.'
-Lian has holy power now too, so wouldn't it work? The quality of my divine power is different from before as well. I think it'd work.
Ooh. Elly's coming on strong. In that case it might genuinely be worth a shot.
My favorite weapons in my previous life were a staff and talismans.
I'd plaster Demonbane talismans all over the staff and use it that way.
Wooden staves had terrible cost efficiency, so what I mostly ended up using was a steel pipe.
There was no chance a baby could lift a steel pipe or a staff, so what I settled on was the bottle.
The reasoning is nothing special. It's usually near me and it's reasonably cylindrical.
So all that was left was solving the talisman... but how does a newborn write out a talisman?
This obstacle, however, turned out to be surprisingly easy to clear.
-A talisman is just a format anyway. Back then I solved it the conventional way because your spirit-sight hadn't opened and we couldn't talk.
-Now that I'm right here beside you, what can't we do?
'As expected of our magnificent Lady Elly.'
Let's take a brief moment for praise.
Elly continued her explanation.
-What matters is holding divine power. You've got holy power now, Lian, so write the letters with that and I'll pour the demon-breaking force into them.
'You want me to just up and use holy power?'
I've never once used it, you know?
-You can do it! Go, go!
Nnngh.
Fine! Let's try. I wanted to do fantasy stuff like this anyway, didn't I?
If holy power is this medieval fantasy world's version of a personal stat, then as a newborn I was a confirmed genius.
I can do this!
I squirmed onto my side and put a finger to the bottle.
Holy power, holy power, write the letters with holy power...
Feeling the alien new force inside my body was easy.
Dragging that booger-sized scrap of force into my fingertip with a lot of grunting was a chore, but manageable.
When a small light began to gather in my hand, I traced the letters with a trembling finger.
Properly speaking I ought to write it in the formal characters, but what was this tiny hand going to manage?
So I just wrote it out in plain Korean letters. Demonbane.
For this sort of thing, they say what matters is the will of whoever pours the power in. So the form of the letters shouldn't matter either.
-'Demonbane.' Sounds like something you'd spray along the baseboards.
'The letters are simple, so let's just go with it.'
I did of course overrule the opinion of said whoever, but regardless. Even this much took everything I had. And the letters came out horrendously crooked, mind you.
I wrote the letters with my holy power, and before they could fade, Elly poured her divine power into them.
Soon the letters were engraved on the bottle, glowing faintly.
'Got it!'
Complete. The Demonbane Bottle!
TL Notes:
TL Note: Demonbane — in the original, the word Lian scrawls is the Sino-Korean term for "demon-breaking," which spelled out in plain Korean letters is also the everyday word for a hair perm, which is why the Celestial Maiden mocks it.