There were things like winged bugs (?) drifting and swaying around beside the white flames.
Plump, round little bodies with bean-sized eyes set into them, flying on wavering wings shaped like flames.
'Elly! What are those?!'
-Oh! Those guys!
'You know them?'
-Those are at our house too!
They're at our house?
-Remember I told you ages ago there was something amazing in the garden, and said let's go see it once you could walk, Lian? Those are what I meant!
...Did she?
Before I could walk would have been barely any time after I opened my eyes in this place. The memory is hazy.
'What are they?'
-I don't know either. But the feel of them is similar to a dokkaebi.
A dokkaebi? Oh. Surely not. It clicked immediately.
'Then they must be elemental spirits. Or fairies.'
Dokkaebi and elemental spirits alike are beings very close to nature.
But are these things invisible to everyone else? The question occurred to me, and when I asked, Elly's answer was unexpected.
-Spirit-sight doesn't open that easily. On Earth there were people with it now and then, but here there's almost nobody.
'Is that so?'
-Mm. It's because they have this power called holy power. I think holy power crowds out the other forces so they can't wake up.
So having a special power already puts spirit-sight out of reach.
'So nobody can see them?'
Unsettling. Deeply unsettling.
Somehow this has the makings of an incident.
“Ah! Aaah! Why won't it let me catch it!”
“Hnngh? Flame! Wait! Don't run awaaay!”
The comparatively easy children were starting to be targeted.
They began flitting about to keep the flames out of reach, winding the kids up.
Some of them even opened the doors of the cages to let the flames escape.
'It's a shambles.'
Their behavior is a dead ringer for a dokkaebi too, isn't it?
At this point I could say it with confidence. This Baptism Rite was going to descend into pandemonium before long.
I should... do something about that, shouldn't I?
'Elly. You said they're similar to dokkaebi. So can I catch them and use them, the way I used to catch dokkaebi?'
-Mm. I think it'd work.
Good. Let's catch them.
Back in the day, when I was short-handed, I would occasionally seize a dokkaebi and put it to work as a servant.
Only when things were truly urgent, of course.
It's forced labor, so it isn't a method you can use often.
'Still, it was serviceable in a pinch.'
Dokkaebi come in as many varieties as there are ways to use them, which is to say endless.
Fortunately, give them candy and their mood recovered fast.
Elemental spirits or fairies, if their fundamental nature resembles a dokkaebi's, then catching them and using them should be possible too.
'First I'll catch them and tell them to stop messing around.'
Once I have them, a use will come up eventually.
If I'm going to hunt demons and Inferlim, it's better to bank as many usable moves as possible.
The contract made with Elysian through the Sacred Flame was still in force.
But thanks to my parents' overprotection, since my Spider-X-Man session I had not laid eyes on a single demon or Inferlim.
Which is why my holy power and Elly's divine power were still booger-sized.
'And the Demonbane Bottle is out of commission.'
You can't very well go around with a comfort bottle at five years old.
Without ever getting to use it properly, the Demonbane Bottle I'd worked so hard on had passed its expiration date.
My current weapon is a fountain pen.
'It's a stopgap, admittedly.'
Given what happened at the Naming Rite, I carry it for self-defense. I'm studying at home these days, so it doesn't stand out much either.
Once the Baptism Rite is over the family plans to have a proper weapon made for me, so it hardly mattered.
Anyway. With my weapon in its current sorry state, it means I need even a spirit's hands.
'Shall I gather some bait first, then.'
I started snatching Sacred Flames and stuffing them into my cage at random.
Those pebble-looking creatures clearly like Sacred Flames.
“Oh, hell, is it this one? No, this one? It's this one, right?”
“This one is definitely a Sacred Flame!”
The children were second-guessing themselves, but I had no need to.
'All I have to do is put in what I can see, so it's easy.'
With the flow of divine power visible to my eyes, it was no different from using a cheat code.
Once Sacred Flames were packed densely into the cage, the pebbles (?) finally started to notice.
-Huh? Look at him! A greedy one!
-I'm gonna go open his caaage!
I must have drawn their attention nicely, because they began swarming over in a clamor.
As a small hand crept up to open the cage door, I snatched it out of the air.
-Hunh?!
-Eep! Caught!
“You lot. Troublemakers, aren't you?”
I gave them the most benevolent smile I could manage.
***
In the past, putting a dokkaebi to work meant a great deal to prepare — binding talismans, a three-tiger sword, and the rest.
But? Right now Elly is standing right here. Which is to say.
-Hup, hup!
-Kyaa!
-Eek!
One knuckle-rap from Elly is enough to bring these little devils to order.
The ones who took a stinging rap clutched their foreheads with a single tear hanging at the corner of each eye.
Cowards, every one of them, exactly as expected.
The technique for commanding dokkaebi in the first place is to summon one, frighten it, and then put it to work.
So all I have to do is frighten these, bind them, and put them to work, right?
-Waaah... That huuurt...
-Why'd you hit me!! ...Sir?
There it is. As similar in nature to dokkaebi as they were, their dispositions were just as feeble.
Checking out of the corner of my eye that the screen wasn't showing me, I spoke in a whisper.
“You lot. If you keep bothering the other kids like this, I'll give you a hundred raps, shall I?”
-Eep!
-Hyeeek!
At the word raps their faces turned blue.
“But if you say you'll help me, no raps, and I'll give you something tasty.”
-Something tasty?
-Something tasty!
At some point the little things had glued themselves to me.
-Then I'll do it!
-I'll help!
How can anything be this simple.
Dokkaebi or these things, I have no idea why they love food this much.
Shaking my head, I nudged Elly's back to put her out in front. Divine power gathered and shone at her fingertips.
Elly used those fingertips to swiftly inscribe a character on the foreheads of the squirming round things.
The character she wrote was simple. Bind. It carries the sense of tying something up, but it is also the character used in the word for a promise.
The perfect character for tying down free beings.
-From now on, disobey and it's a rap; obey and it's sweet honey.
-Wow! Honey!
-Sounds tasty!
'Do they just not hear the rap part?'
The contract completed, and a faint force spread out.
'Are they completely bound now?'
-Not permanently. They're free beings of nature, so I can't compel them strongly.
-The contract is only possible because they accepted the terms, that they'd be given something tasty.
'Simple.'
These simple beings forgot all about their mischief and began, beaming, to gather real Sacred Flames.
I hadn't even told them to; it was something they did after seeing the Sacred Flames collected in my cage.
-There's this one too?
They raced each other to fetch Sacred Flames and crammed them into the cage.
'Hey. I have something to ask.'
-What is it?
-What what?
They clustered together holding Sacred Flames. A bit cute, actually?
'What are you? Elemental spirits? Fairies?'
-Spirits!
-Spirits! Fire spirits!
'Aha.'
Fire spirits, so of course they loved the sight of fire.
Then again, their wings are shaped like flames.
The tiny spirits spun in circles as they picked up Sacred Flames.
'You're working far too well?'
The cage looks ready to burst.
I was cramming them in when at some point Lumiel turned up beside me.
“Hey! You think you can just shove them all in like an idiot?!”
“I didn't shove them in like an idiot.”
“Huh, honestly! So you're telling me all of those are real Sacred Flames?”
“Yeah.”
“What?”
“I said yes.”
I felt no need to answer a brat's provocation seriously, so I replied flatly, and that fellow's face went steadily redder.
“Hey, you look like a tomato.”
“Wh-what!”
“An ugly tomato.”
“You, you!! Are you finished!”
“No, I'm not finished yet. Your cage door just opened and one of your Sacred Flames escaped.”
“What?! Ah!! Damn it!! Do you know how long that took to collect!!”
Lumiel glares at me, seething.
I shrugged. What do you want from me. I didn't open it.
The culprits were elsewhere.
Little creatures snickering at Lumiel's cage. He picked a fight with me, so they must have thought this was their moment.
It was a little satisfying.
“Oh, damn it. Don't laugh!”
“Hup — I'm not? I wasn't laughing?”
“Hey, you think this is funny right now? Just don't come crying later when your score tanks because it's all mixed with fakes!”
Then he stared hard at my cage.
'Is staring going to show you anything?'
But his expression grew steadily stranger.
“Uh, uh... huh? That's, that's strange...?”
'Oh?'
His instincts are pretty good, apparently?
-His holy power is quite pure.
'He's a Ludersk all right.'
It's only that the little squirt talks like a certain blond wizard from somewhere who'd drowned his manners in soup. The ability seemed to be there.
Then again, this is a house that has produced a Cardinal; there's no way the holy power level is low.
“A-ahem! Anyway! Don't you get cocky!”
Lumiel vanished, still seething.
'Amusing fellow.'
Will he still be like that once we're at the academy.
Pfft—
I took another Sacred Flame from a spirit, put it in the cage, and turned my back.
***
Meanwhile.
“Look at that! Young Lian! He is putting Sacred Flames into his cage without a moment's hesitation!”
Bishop Daniel, running the proceedings, shouted in excitement.
“How can he possibly be this fast!”
He kept shouting as though he could not believe it. And no wonder — in all the Baptism Rites he had watched, this was the first candidate to distinguish Sacred Flames this quickly.
“It looks easy right now, doesn't it, everyone? That's only true for young Lian!”
At a gesture from Bishop Daniel, another screen showed the other children.
Every one of them agonizing in front of two white flames, choosing carefully before placing a Sacred Flame in the cage.
It was a plainly different motion from the hand that had been flicking flames into a cage.
“He's right. Only Lian is putting them in that fast!”
“Isn't he just shoving them in at random?”
The spectator stands stirred.
“Of course! Whether young Lian is actually distinguishing the Sacred Flames or not, we cannot know until the results come out. But there is one thing we can know!”
“Namely, rapid judgment and the ability to act on it! Young Lian was born with this!”
Indeed. The sight of Lian gave those watching a feeling of release.
“Doesn't it just clear your chest right out? Hahaha! I have been hosting the Baptism Rite since the year before last. This is genuinely a speed I have never seen!”
The sheer pace was, truly, worth praising.
The Baptism Rite is an event the whole Empire enjoys, but the children are still so young that there are often no dramatic moments to show. Which makes a national event boring.
'This is the first time the mood has been this good from the very start.'
It was thanks to Lian.
'The boy is very sharp. The Ludersk house, as expected.'
This Baptism Rite was a debut ceremony. To survive as a cleric hereafter, leaving a good impression here was essential.
Becoming a Baptism Rite rookie naturally required good results, but even without being a rookie, there were many ways to be remembered by the citizens.
Namely, getting on screen a lot!
'He probably worked out a strategy the instant he saw the mission.'
As a rule, a family with a child facing the Baptism Rite keeps the contents of the rite secret. It is an unspoken rule. The children's surprise is all content too.
Lian moved the instant he received the mission. Which meant he had devised this strategy on his own judgment alone.
Naturally, Daniel did not think every Sacred Flame Lian had put in was genuine.
'Put in a lot and the proportion of real Sacred Flames goes up accordingly.'
With luck he might just barely avoid a negative score?
Daniel was unenthusiastic about Lian's actual result.
'Well. If you have no certainty, looking for a breakthrough in another direction is a fine approach too.'
Lian was, of course, judging by 'seeing' all of it. Daniel had no way of knowing that.
There were, however, people who did know Lian was putting in nothing but the real thing.
“Ha, haaa! D-dear! Our Lian! Lian!”
Leilaik's eyes went wide enough to pop out as he watched Lian on the screen.
“B-be quiet for a moment. I can't concentrate.”
The voice of Lilliad scolding him from beside him was shaking too.
Having watched Lian grow up, Leilaik and Lilliad naturally assumed Lian would be able to distinguish divine power from holy power.
At the Naming Rite he had made direct contact with the Sacred Flame and been protected by it.
And he had a track record of annihilating a demon by throwing a bottle that gave off holy power!
'Surely they can't all really be real Sacred Flames? Truly?'
'If those are all genuine, it would be a new record...!'
Because the screen was not fixed on Lian alone, they could not count the exact number of Sacred Flames inside the cage.
But they could feel it instinctively. No candidate had ever filled a cage that full!
Just then.
Ding—
The mid-point standings appeared on the aerial panel.
1st 45 Lian Ludersk
2nd 25 Lionel Rondoa
3rd 21 Corin Dalopes
4th 12 Viera Tribel
4th 12 Hoshana Rinu
.
.
.
10th 7 Lumiel Ludersk
.
.
.
The married couple's eyes went wide.
'A-a new record!'
TL Note: Dokkaebi — a mischievous Korean trickster spirit that a shaman can frighten into service; Lian is measuring these fire spirits against the ones he used to press-gang in his previous life.