“It's nearly time for you to go out.”
“Yes. Uncle.”
The VIP room beside the arena at the central seat, where the Baptism Rite was under way. Someone spoke while watching the panel's screen.
A middle-aged man in pure white Cardinal's vestments.
Before him sat a beautiful boy with pure white hair.
“Fulfill your duty as Saint and go encourage them.”
He was Dane Klenor. This country's one and only Saint.
“And do not forget to tell me in detail if any child shines especially in your eyes.”
“...Yes. Uncle.”
The Saint's eyes went to the child with radiantly shining blond hair on the panel, then quickly returned to where they had been.
“You know this too, Dane. Finding good talent and sponsoring it is a very important duty for a member of House Klenor.”
The Saint's uncle. Saverio Klenor pressed the point on the Saint repeatedly.
The Saint's eyes could see through to talent. He possessed an ability similar to that of the famous Nagrim Hilloriven.
Even for a child who stands out at a Baptism Rite, nobody knows whether the talent has simply bloomed early or whether it is bottomless. The Saint could recognize that seedling in advance.
Sponsor a talented child and let them rise, and the standing of Saverio, the sponsor, grows accordingly.
'A little more and.'
His voice within the Church was growing steadily stronger.
Naturally. Because the families of the sponsored children attached themselves to his side.
'That one's ability has been poor lately, so his eye for potential is no good either.'
Gradually he had become unable to use his ability properly, and now the Saint had forgotten how to handle holy power, as though it were a lie.
They were doing their utmost to keep it quiet, but the rumor had already leaked as far as a rumor leaks.
Saverio swept the Saint with a sharp gaze. Then he turned his eyes away.
'Tsk. Time to discard him.'
A shell holding nothing but the name of Saint. Until the holy power returns, he is useless.
If the rumor spread, that negative sentiment might reach as far as himself, the sponsor.
He had thought he could make good use of him until the next generation's Saint appeared.
It was a waste, but Saverio was not the sort of man to keep gripping something useless.
A little later, the Saint rose from his seat.
***
The labyrinth.
A fortress Elysian built in the past, during the holy war against the Demon God, as a shelter to protect humans and a trap to confine demons.
But what are we doing in a labyrinth?
Pat—
The screen caught the children, all of them wearing thoroughly dazed faces.
“Ahahaha! Everyone is quite startled!”
Ah, what a fright. I went straight into expression management.
I can't have a dazed face like that going out on screen.
“Being told 'labyrinth' out of nowhere must have surprised you! But this is the Church's central seat! We use whatever can be used, to the fullest!”
What is this. MC Bishop just floored it.
“Hahaha! Jokes aside. Allow me to explain the Sacred Flame Carry through the Labyrinth!”
Pabat—
The rules rise onto the aerial panel along with images.
A white flame attached to a small candle. Anyone could see it was a Sacred Flame.
“The Sacred Flame Carry through the Labyrinth is a mission where you form a team, face various trials inside the labyrinth, and carry a Sacred Flame through without letting it go out.”
“Various trials are set up inside the labyrinth. You will consult with the teammates who form your party and work your way through those trials.”
“And of course, remember that if the Sacred Flame goes out, that party's score is zero!”
A team assignment? What in the world.
'Wow, telling us to form a party already.'
With these five-year-old micro-brats I've never met?
Back when I went around exorcising evil spirits, I'd formed teams with a few of the ones said to be gifted.
They were all professionals, so the results were good.
'Ugh, hell, the PTSD is coming.'
Everyone's opinions were so strong that coordinating them was brutal and I suffered like a dog.
Literally like a dog!
And now elite-track micro-brat trainee clerics?
'They're not going to listen.'
Obviously they'd do whatever they pleased.
Everyone knows it, don't they. Group assignments are, by their nature, an absolute gem.
If they were mature and had some size to their heads, maybe. But a cooperative game with these five-year-olds...
'Good grief. I think I'm going to lose my hair.'
-Kyaa! What an unlucky thing to say! Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!
MC Bishop's face wore a grin with the mouth corners climbing, as though he were delighted.
The spectators watching the panel in real time were probably wearing similar expressions.
'They're doing it on purpose, aren't they?'
Demonic people, all of them.
My gaze went crooked all by itself.
“Now then, before we form parties in earnest, we have invited a special guest to help with the party assignments!”
As MC Bishop finished, a boy of gorgeous appearance, perhaps in his early teens, came up onto the dais.
-Wo, wowow, woooooow...
His pure white hair, the first I had seen in this world, braided into a single long fall, looked mystical, and his clear amber eyes caught the sunlight and shone gold, looking precious.
A holy appearance that overwhelmed the room on sight. Literally an unreal face with a halo behind it.
Silence gripped the room for an instant, and Elly lost the power of civilized speech.
“Today's special guest! It is His Holiness the Saint, Dane Klenor!”
Hm? The Saint?
'THAT Saint?!'
Good grief, it's that Saint.
Five whole years ago.
Back when we first met the Sacred Flame and made the deal, the Sacred Flame laid down two conditions.
The first was to smash the Inferlim and demons on sight.
The second was to meet the Saint and undo the seal Elysian had personally laid upon him.
“Greetings, candidates. It is an honor to take part in this Baptism Rite as a helper.”
The Saint was beautiful, but his face was thoroughly touched with illness.
'Is he sick somewhere? Does the seal Elysian laid affect his health too.'
Elly gave no answer.
'Hello? Elly? Elly?'
-......
Too absorbed in studying his face.
Even the sunlight was pouring down beautifully, as though blessing the Saint. Light would probably come off the back of his head too.
'Could holy power capacity be related to appearance?'
The more of the god's blessing you receive, the more holy power increases. And a blessing, by nature, generally makes everything better.
It seemed a plausible enough hypothesis.
'He certainly looks like a Saint.'
A face that would make it obvious he was the Saint from five hundred meters away.
Dignity and holy power could be felt in every single strand of his hair.
'No, retract the part about feeling holy power.'
There was not the slightest holy power to be felt on the surface.
Only something latent, felt strongly. Thanks to the spirit-sight, presumably.
'Why on earth did he lay a seal on him?'
At this point I'm curious.
Why create a talent this tremendous and then stop up everything.
The Sacred Flame had not added anything further about the Saint.
The one thing I could guess at was.
'Never having had it at all is easier than having it and losing it.'
Roughly what the Saint must be feeling.
On top of that, the absence of a being he had once been able to communicate with regularly would have bred an even greater unease in his heart.
If only I could have helped him a little sooner.
'Still, meeting him even at five is something.'
I really hadn't expected the Saint to come to this Baptism Rite.
They said he had been shut away for quite some time, for one reason or another.
At any rate, this was a golden opportunity.
“Wowww... I had no idea His Holiness would come to watch this time. Completely lucky.”
I wasn't the only one startled to see the Saint; whispering could be heard from all around.
“Hey, but did you hear that story?”
“What story?”
“They say His Holiness can't dream these days.”
“What? If he can't dream, then he can't see the future Lord Elysian shows him, can he?”
“I don't know the details either, but apparently it's been a while.”
“Isn't that a serious problem?”
They were whispering quietly, but Lian, being close by, could hear well enough.
The children chattered a little more about the rumors surrounding the Saint, then moved on to another topic.
Children as they were, they changed subjects fast.
'The rumor has spread widely.'
Then again. The servants were talking about it even when I was a newborn.
Five years on, it would have spread as far as it could spread.
Wouldn't rumors like that have some effect on why his complexion isn't very good, too.
I slowly opened my spirit-sight to look at the Saint's body properly.
'It must have judged that I could undo that seal, or it wouldn't have made the request.'
Spirit-sight is not an eye that physically exists. A third, numinous eye that exists in the world of the mind. That is spirit-sight.
Open the spirit-sight and you can see what you normally cannot. Things like the flow of holy power.
Concentrating slowly, I examined the Saint's body.
'...? I can't see anything.'
See, my ass. I can't see a thing.
Saint was clearly no empty title; he was plainly different from ordinary clerics.
The feel of it was like layer upon layer of solid barriers stacked up. You can feel nakedly how much the god treasures him.
'What is this, I can't even see it, so how am I supposed to undo it.'
Look here, Elysian, my man! You never mentioned he was wrapped up this tightly.
Anyway. To undo this seal I need to see the Saint's body in detail.
Something like a hazy fog blocked the way and obstructed my vision.
'Sigh, who is there to blame. I should blame myself.'
One cause of my not seeing anything is my own inexperience.
'What do you want from me. I didn't have spirit-sight in my last life.'
I grumbled inwardly, as though making excuses.
It's an eye I've never used to begin with, and on top of that this world offered nothing much to practice on.
Maybe because it's a Holy Empire, there are no evil spirits.
'Checking' other people's holy power with my eyes was the whole of the practice available.
At first I couldn't even gauge the range spirit-sight covered, so I assumed everyone could see the flow of holy power.
But that wasn't it. They don't see it, they feel it.
'Let me just concentrate harder.'
I concentrated until my eyes ached, and my vision cleared a little more.
The fog gradually lifted and the flow of holy power came into 'view.'
'What the hell?'
It's a wonder he hasn't burst like that, isn't it?
Holy power packed in to bursting was stopped up hard and whirling through his body like a storm.
Touch that even slightly wrong and it goes off. A hundred percent.
'I... can do this, right?'
***
Meanwhile.
Lilliad and Leilaik were watching Lian and Lian alone from the observation seats set aside for candidates' parents.
Both of them had expected Lian to do well at the Sacred Flame hunt.
He burst a demon's head by throwing a bottle holding holy power, so of course he could manage telling them apart.
Only children who have just awakened to holy power fumble at that; the difference between divine power and holy power is a sense any cleric ought to hone as a basic.
Because that is what lets you feel it later, when Lord Elysian bestows a blessing personally.
'Even so, this...'
Lilliad kept chewing over Lian's score even as she watched the panel, which was already showing something else.
'It's too tremendous!'
She had expected a good result.
But who could possibly have imagined it! That her son would set a new record of fifty-two and wipe out the records of every Cardinal in history!
Both Lilliad and Leilaik were dumbfounded.
'Truly, our son is...'
'It really does seem our son is...'
'A genius!'
The two of them were thinking the same thing at the same moment.
They had been busy making a fuss and praising him as a genius all along, but this time was on a different plane.
And no wonder, since both Leilaik and Lilliad had been 'geniuses' who stood out from childhood.
They praised him as a genius, but inwardly they had also assumed that, as their child, he would clear this sort of thing easily.
But now. Now that he had surpassed both their results and recorded a score superior to anyone before him!
They were realizing keenly that Lian was the genius of the century.
'And on top of that our son is the prophet!'
Leilaik tried to maintain an air of refinement, but there was nothing to be done about the breath snorting out of him.
Ah, I want to brag. I want to stand up and shout and brag about how tremendous my son is!
Leilaik's insides were bubbling and boiling. The same was true of Lilliad.
Which was why both of them were greatly anticipating the Sacred Flame Carry, the main event of the Baptism Rite.
Since it was a mission carried out in teams, teammate luck had to hold, but they had no doubt Lian would be assigned well.
Beings especially loved by the god, like a Saint or a prophet, are inevitably followed by high fortune.
Fortune at the level where, if someone sniped at them from a distance, a bird would fly over and take the shot instead.
But a little while later.
“Th-this cannot be! What sort of combination is this!”
MC Bishop let out a cry full of shock.
Watching, Leilaik could not close his mouth, and Lilliad expanded her already large eyes further still.
“Young Lian, first place in the Sacred Flame hunt, and young Corin, sixty-second place, are in the same group!”
First-place Lian had ended up grouped with sixty-second-place Corin.