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Late at night, when all were asleep and silence reigned, a man garbed in a black cloak was muttering angrily in a quiet corner of town.
“What the hell is going on?! We used that priceless artifact, but nothing came of it!” He was referring to the events of that morning: Intent on spreading a powerful curse throughout the town, the acolytes had implanted a magical item into their chosen sacrifice. But their luck had proven poor, as Hisui had found the man and neutralized him without issue.
As if that weren’t enough, Hisui had also completely erased the curse created by the artifact—which left the Erebos acolytes flummoxed.
“How could that boy be so powerful?”
“The sacrifice might have been an untrained, ordinary person with no powers, but his physical abilities still should’ve been enhanced dramatically! And the boy knocked him out simply by hitting him? Who the hell is that brat?!”
“His name is Hisui Belcoure Clematis, and he is eight years old. He seems to have come to Lycoris from the neighboring barony of Clematis.”
“Clematis? Oh, right. That rural barony...”
“Correct. Judging by the boy’s age, he must be the third son of the baron. The baron’s other two sons are older and quite different from him.”
“Then what is that power that Hisui boy uses? His physical abilities far outstripped that of any normal child.”
“He’s confirmed to be a user of godcraft, and he can’t exactly have two powers, so...”
The man clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Then we really know nothing about him except his name and family.”
One of the gathered acolytes sighed in frustration. All of their plans had disappeared in a puff of smoke because of Hisui. Many of the acolytes could understand why the man could hardly contain his fury—they all felt the same to some degree, after all.
Now that their schemes were in tatters, the Erebos acolytes would find it difficult to achieve their ultimate goal of converting more to their faith. Hisui was the only topic on everyone’s lips in town now—the Erebos acolytes, who had also been curing the afflicted, were no more than a shadow in the back of people’s minds.
“What will we do about that Hisui Belcoure Clematis boy? If we leave him be, he’ll only throw a wrench in our plans.”
“He’s been doing that his whole time! But we can’t put anything in motion without permission. We’ll have to contact our leaders and ask them for their decision.”
“Ah, speaking of the leaders, a letter arrived earlier.”
“What letter?”
“It arrived just before our meeting here. I thought it best to check after we’ve finished here.”
“Let me see it.”
“Here.” Pulling a letter from within his robes, he passed it to the other man, who was the representative of acolytes in attendance. Taking the letter, the acolyte leader broke the seal and flipped it open.
As he read through it, he laughed. “I see. They certainly always have their ears to the ground—it seems they’ve heard of the boy already. Someone else must also be keeping them apprised of the situation.”
Having finished reading the letter, he leveled a harsh glare at the man who had delivered it, but only for a brief second—the more sources of information their leaders had, the better. Remonstrating himself for a moment under the knowledge that he was not being dismissed, he returned the letter.
“What did it say?”
“We have permission to proceed with the plan. However, the effects of the curse are soon ending, the marquis is on high alert, and now we have that Hisui boy to contend with—recovering from our setbacks will be far too difficult. I propose we kill the boy immediately. We still have one more ace up our sleeve.”
The man pulled an artifact from his robes and showed it to the other acolytes. It appeared to be a small heart that was still beating, and no one present knew whom the heart could have possibly belonged to. Many of the Erebos faithful, overcome with a wave of nausea just from looking at it, averted their eyes.
“What manner of artifact is that?”
“It’s quite the curiosity—it can temporarily summon quite the interesting monster.”
“A monster?”
“Don’t worry; it should disappear on its own once it completes its objective—that is, killing the boy. As I shall be the summoner, it will obey my commands.”
“You’re quite wary of that boy, aren’t you?”
“Of course. Who wouldn’t be? How can a child break curses? He may even be able to sense spellcraft, or at least possess an artifact that allows him to do so. On top of that, he was able to defeat a grown man who’d been magically enhanced in direct combat. Should we end up in a fight with this boy ourselves, we will be defeated. But this artifact is precisely for such an emergency.”
Holding the eerie heart, he laughed in delight. His voice was low and guttural, and his eyes were filled with a clear malice that was, in other words, a sort of blind fanaticism—the type of self-confidence that made a person believe in their own righteousness. But none were foolish enough to question his madness. All in attendance had long since decided to give themselves to their faith in Erebos.
“When will we begin the operation?”
“Tomorrow. The sooner, the better. We will shatter the peace in this town—we must kill that boy. If not, then we take him to brainwash, provided he’s weakened.”
“As you wish.” The Erebos acolytes all nodded in unison, save for the man holding the heart.
The streets were still roiling in turmoil from the curse. The people must be plunged into greater chaos. The Erebos acolytes were driven only by these sentiments of pure malice.