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There’s a strange child here. That was the thought that ran through the mind of one of the Erebos acolytes when he saw a boy with extraordinarily unusual green hair in the church.
“Who’s that?” he said aloud, not directing the question to anyone in particular.
His companion replied anyway. “Who knows. That’s not a hair color you see around these parts. He was carrying a man just now, so he must’ve just brought in someone who happened to get cursed.”
“What? A little kid like that, carrying an adult?”
“It’s true. I was shocked too.”
“Really, now? Well, whatever. Whoever that kid is, we still need to do our jobs—we gotta hurry up and get to breaking more curses. Has your energy recovered yet?”
“Not yet. But it’s not like we need to hurry, y’know? Even the guys up top told us to take our time healing people.”
“Yeah, I guess. But we’ve been sitting around for a while already. If we don’t start helping soon, it won’t be just the sick begging for our attention—the priests’ll be yelling at us too.” His conversation partner only shrugged in response, making him shake his head in exasperation. “Guess we’re both still out of energy. It’s hard as hell to break curses, even with one as weak as this.”
“Everything’s all thanks to these magic artifacts we got from the boss. Without them, casters of our caliber would never be able to break these.”
“You idiot!” The other acolyte hissed. “We were told not to mention that! We’ll all be killed if anyone finds out!”
“Oh, whoops. My bad. But don’t worry, there’s no one here but a bunch of unconscious invalids. There ain’t a single person who can eavesdrop on us.”
“Hmph. You oughtta keep that ego of yours in check— Huh?!” The man flew into a panic midway through his comment, while the other jumped in shock—the sudden emission of blindingly bright godcraft light had startled them both. Golden rays lit up the entirety of the church for a brief moment, and the light had been so bright, both men instinctively screwed their eyes shut.
“Ghk! Wh-What was that?!”
“That light must’ve been godcraft, I’m sure. But was it really? It was so powerful!”
The light slowly died down, and the two men opened their eyes and began to search for its source. Their eyes were drawn to the green-haired boy they’d been observing earlier. His hand was still faintly glowing. With the direction the light had come from in mind, there was no doubt that the boy had been responsible for the flash of light.
“Cripes, no way... What the hell was that just now? Did that kid use godcraft?”
“There’s just no way! That kid doesn’t look anywhere near ten years old! He’s gotta be some kinda monster!”
“He must be using a super powerful artifact. There’s no other explanation.”
“That might explain the light, but don’t forget—he’s just a kid.”
“So what?”
“He’s still using magic! Don’t you remember? The marquis’s daughter awakened to godcraft at about that age.”
“Yeah, daughter,” the acolyte said, dismissively. “That kid’s a boy no matter how you slice it. He’s got a pinchable face, but so does every other kid that age.”
Not a single person in Lycoris was unaware of the marquis’s daughter and her budding talent, but the green-haired boy obviously wasn’t her. From his winsome features, it was easy to imagine that he might one day grow to be a charming young man who would steal the hearts of women far and wide, but it was plain as day that he was no daughter of the marquis. Most telling was the simple fact that he looked nothing like the marquis nor his wife—neither of them had that distinctive green hair.
“Maybe he’s a friend of the marquis or something. He’s wearing real fancy clothes, after all—he’s definitely someone to watch out for.”
“Pfft! Are you scared of a kid?”
“No, dummy! The bigwigs said they wanted talent. You heard too, right? They won’t shut up about procuring the marquis’s daughter, Lady Rose.”
“Ah, so that’s what you’re getting at...” the acolyte muttered, before raising his voice in surprise. “Hey! That kid’s breaking curses left and right over there!” At first distracted by the conversation, the man who had been watching the little boy couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
The boy—Hisui—extended a hand to a person lying on the floor nearby, then released an incredible amount of energy as he began working on healing the patient. While his control over his power was impressive, what shocked the man the most was the sheer amount of energy Hisui was spending. Using an amount like that would’ve caused the average person to collapse from exhaustion, but he showed no sign of needing to rest.
“That’s impossible. Expending that much energy could kill a person if they’re not careful! How can he do that like it’s nothing?!”
“He’s even more talented than we thought! Maybe that flash of light earlier wasn’t from an artifact after all.”
“No kidding? What do you mean?”
“Artifacts that can increase the amount of energy available are extremely rare. It’s practically impossible for a kid to have one, and on the off chance that he does, that’d still mean he was carting around something valuable enough to be a national treasure.”
“So basically... The kid’s royalty?”
“Of course not, you moron. Have you ever heard of a royal with green hair?”
“No... You’re right, I haven’t.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if they had some illegitimate kids here and there, but I’d say it’s more realistic to assume the kid’s just using his own power. Besides, the royals here are all blond.”
“Still, there ain’t no way...” The man’s voice was strained, as if he was struggling with the very idea that the boy could be so powerful. “We’ve been alive for twenty years, and we can still barely use godcraft! And you’re telling me that little kid outclasses us?”
“Listen, I don’t want to believe it either. But there are stupidly talented children out there, so we’ve just gotta suck it up. You know as well as I do that the higher-ups are collecting monsters like this kid. If you want to get on the up-and-coming, you gotta think outside the box.”
“Yeah, whatever. So what’re we gonna do about the kid? If we leave him, he’s gonna take all the credit for healing these people in a snap.”
“Yeah... But our hands are tied too. Let’s just do our best to cure people—make sure everyone still approves of Erebos and all.”
“All right. What about the kid’s family and friends?”
The man considered the question for a moment, then settled on a plan. “After we finish up here, we’ll tail him.” Giving a concise order, the man got to his feet. With their companion in tow, the two acolytes laid their hands on the nearest victim of the curse and began healing.
Looking askance at Hisui, they continued whispering between themselves. “He’d better not get in the way of our plans...”