This much is easy. (2)
Shuri couldn't make sense of the situation at all.
"Tyah! Tyah-ya! (I told you not there!)"
"Tyah (Not going straight)?"
"Tyah-ya (Do you want to die?)!"
No matter how much she thought about it, the situation where she was walking while getting hit by her younger cousin was clearly messed up—something was way off.
And it wasn't even like she was just walking.
"Tyah (I said this way)!"
"Tyah-ya (You don't even understand, you idiot)!"
…Was she imagining it, or was she really being cursed at since earlier?
Shuri, holding Isaac, was wandering around the Duke's mansion.
She had originally planned to leave Isaac behind and go back to her room, but the damn brat refused to let go of her at all.
What kind of baby was this, with so much strength?
Clinging to her back, hanging from her neck.
And when she didn't hold on properly, he started beating her up, complaining about the discomfort.
She thought he might just want to play, but when she looked at him, he pointed somewhere, as if saying "What the hell are you doing?"
When she moved in that direction, he kicked her in the backside, complaining that it wasn't the right way.
'Dammit, I wouldn't even treat a horse like this!'
The Duke's heir, who had turned into a horse, almost had tears in his eyes.
Of course, Isaac was still a baby.
If she really wanted to, she could drop him into the pond or something.
[What are you doing without moving the king?]
"Aaagh!"
Every time she had a different thought, the Shadow Lich appeared.
'Damn, it wasn't a dream after all!'
She tried to deny reality, but sure enough, this monstrous thing was still following Isaac.
The reason was unclear.
But one thing was certain.
The moment she harmed the little one, she would die by the Shadow Lich's hands.
That was why Shuri was almost driven crazy with frustration.
'What the hell did my uncle bring home?'
Did he even pick up some demon from trying to catch the Skull King?
But what was even more mind-boggling was the place Isaac had led her to.
'Why the hell are we here of all places?'
Shuri shivered at the sight of the towering second annex.
'This is the Ghost Mansion!'
It was a mansion that even the family members avoided.
No one lived there now, and even Shuri had been scolded by her parents, forbidden from ever going near the place.
'I heard many of the family members died here…'
It was the so-called cursed place.
That's why Shuri thought maybe he wanted to go toward the garden next to it, wondering if she had made a wrong turn. But when she glanced at the direction, she was immediately smacked by the brat she was carrying.
"Tyah-ya-ya-ya (You want to die? Not going straight)?!!"
She was left utterly confused.
'Damn, why did the family head bring us here?'
If the adults found out, it wouldn't just end in a scolding!
Meanwhile, Isaac, who was looking at the mansion, was grinning.
Just seeing the eerie atmosphere, it was clear how long this place had been abandoned.
At the same time, now that they were here, it was even more obvious.
'As expected, there's a magic core here.'
In fact, there was far more than the amount she had sensed at first.
It was magic power that would have taken decades of training to accumulate.
Which meant, there were hundreds or even thousands of demon corpses around here.
'Well, it's a magic core, so technically, they're not corpses. But still.'
So, there was one thing that surprised him.
This amount of magic energy couldn't just be from a simple exorcist family.
War?
No, with this level, it was more like the demons came here on their own, like moths to a flame.
But it was strange that the Saint family had used a spell to summon and kill demons, yet they had left this place as a haunted mansion.
'If they'd dealt with the demons here, this would have been classified as a sanctum by now.'
Whenever there was even the slightest achievement, the clergy would immediately create sanctuaries and shrines to torment demons.
But this place—being treated like a haunted house despite its story?
There were a lot of questions, but it wasn't something that mattered too much.
The important thing now was that there was a magic core here.
If they consumed it all, they would gain decades' worth of magic power in an instant.
So Isaac immediately tugged on Bunggungi's hair.
Bunggungi screamed, saying they couldn't go in, that it would be a huge problem if they were caught, and resisted, but was silenced in an instant by a single strike from the Shadow Lich.
The interior of the annex was far colder than the outside, and it was—how to put it…
[It feels like we're seeing the master's filthy poverty.]
Shut up.
[This is troubling. The magic core seems to be inside the room, but of course, it's the Saint family's place. The entire mansion is sealed, and all the doors are locked. We probably can't get in.]
Why can't we get in?
If it's locked, we can break in.
Isaac looked at Shuri.
Shuri was trembling even more than before.
"Hey, we've come this far. Let's go back… anyway, all the doors are locked, and we can't get in."
"Tyah!"
"Dammit, what now? What did you see this time?"
Isaac's gaze stopped at the high wall of the lobby, leading up to the second-floor stairs.
There were portraits hanging there.
They seemed to be portraits of past family heads.
As she was looking at the portraits, Shuri, trying to look impressive, scoffed.
"You little brat, now you want to eye the family head too? Are you paying your respects to the great ancestors? It's pointless. When it's just the women, they bring in a son-in-law, but this generation has more men, so the next family head will be me…"
"Tyah."
Isaac flicked his finger, and the portraits shattered to pieces.
"Ahh! Ancestors!"
Crash! Crash!
Shattering!
When the revered ancestral portraits didn't just fly off the walls but actually crashed to the floor, Shuri let out a scream.
"The ancestors!"
More than that—what was that power just now?!
No, wait. That wasn't important right now.
"Are you insane?! What do you think you're doing to the great family heads?! Are you actually trying to get kicked out?!"
But Isaac, who had casually blasted all the portraits away with magic like they were just dust on a shelf, simply scoffed.
Great family heads? Please.
He was going to replace them all with his own portrait anyway.
Besides, Isaac wasn't interested in the paintings themselves, but in the enchantments embedded inside them.
Rrrrnnnkkk!
"Aaaaack! What now?!"
As the portraits fell, the mansion shook like it was in the middle of an earthquake.
But it wasn't an earthquake. It was just that the enchantments locking every room in the house had been broken all at once.
RUMMMMBLE!
'Looks like they used a holy dragon's magic to keep the rest of the family out.'
Whether it was dragon magic or demon magic—if it was magic, it was the Skull King's specialty.
Dispelling it was child's play.
The whole mechanism was simple: remove the portrait that carried the enchantment, and the lock unraveled like solving a puzzle.
So technically, there was no need to blast all the portraits off the walls… but they were annoying. That was reason enough.
But Shuri, having no clue what was going on, screamed again like he'd just seen a ghost.
Isaac grabbed him by the hair and dragged him toward a nearby room.
"Ttaya, ttaya! (C'mon, open up already, you punk!)"
"Ow, what the hell! The door's—huh?!"
Shoved forward by Isaac, Shuri grabbed the doorknob—only to find the supposedly locked door swinging open.
And as soon as the door opened, Isaac—his business with Shuri apparently done—dropped to all fours and scuttled inside like a cockroach.
"Hey! You can't just go in there!"
Isaac's eyes sparkled like diamonds the moment he stepped in.
One, two, three, four… roughly 500!
And they were high quality, too!
With this stash, reclaiming his body from the vault wouldn't be a problem.
And this was just one room!
Shuri, on the other hand, had a very different reaction.
"We need to get out of here—now! This is bad. Really bad! And don't even think about touching those mana cores! You can look, but don't touch!"
But Isaac simply pointed a finger at Shuri, who looked ready to pick him up and throw him out.
"Ttaya!"
"Huh?"
Without thinking, Shuri turned to see what Isaac was pointing at.
In that instant, Isaac released a Whisper.
[Kuhahahaha! Thanks for the meal!]
The Whisper shot from Isaac's body and instantly devoured a mana core.
It looked like a slime swallowing an object whole.
And just as quickly, Shuri turned back—and freaked out.
"What the—where'd they all go?!"
The floor was empty. Completely bare.
"Where are all the mana cores?!"
Isaac calmly reached out a small hand.
"Ttaya! Ttayayayaya!"
He pointed behind Shuri, looking terrified.
Shuri turned the opposite direction.
"What? Over there?"
[Kuhahahaha! Sweet like honey!]
Once again, the Whisper slurped up the remaining mana cores with a wet gurgle.
And when Shuri turned back, Isaac was already under suspicion.
"Hey! There's nothing left! What the hell did you do—ah! They're gone again?!"
As the last of the mana cores vanished from the room, Shuri looked like his soul had left his body.
But he wasn't stupid.
The fact that this little brat had insisted on coming to the forbidden annex… and now the magically sealed doors were open?
"You! It was you, wasn't it? You took the mana cores!"
Shuri grabbed Isaac by the collar.
Sure, he'd been dragged out here by that damn Shadow Lich, but thinking back, this kid had been suspicious from the start.
Being the eldest son's boy, he was an enemy anyway. And really, what kind of demon follows a human?
Especially from a saint's family?
"I'm going to tell the elders everything! Once they hear you're using demons, you're out of here—!"
Just then—
"Shuri!"
A familiar voice echoed from outside the mansion. Footsteps followed, loud and numerous.
"Shuri!"
It was Rilai, the attendants, and a few elders.
Had they sensed the burst of mana?
They were murmuring in shock in the entrance hall.
Of course they were.
The portraits were all blasted to pieces, the mansion's seal had been broken, and the mana cores had vanished.
Shuri smiled, relieved. Perfect timing. Time to tell all.
The elders were on his side.
This would be the end of the annoying little "saint candidate."
He pointed at Isaac.
"Uncle! Listen! It was him! He—"
"Shuri! How could you do something so wicked?!"
…Huh?
Shuri stared, stunned, as the elders all glared—at him.
Apparently, one of the attendants had seen Shuri and Isaac heading toward the annex together.
More specifically, they'd reported seeing Shuri carrying the totem and heading off, which had concerned them enough to tell Rilai.
"We heard everything. You brought Isaac here, didn't you?"
"I—I mean…"
The elders' eyes narrowed.
"Are you trying to deny it? The attendants saw you carrying him into the annex."
Well, yes, technically, he had brought him…
"There are even traces of sacred magic attacks in the hallways!"
"You used combat magic on a child?! And you call yourself a child of a saintly house?"
Wait, he attacked me! I'm the one who got hit!
"And you took the totem and marched off to confront Isaac! Still want to deny it?"
Okay… sure, technically he had gone to mess with the kid…
Shuri clutched his chest in frustration.
"Young master! Something terrible's happened—the mana cores from the rooms!"
"!"
The word mana cores snapped Shuri back to focus.
"Exactly! That little punk did it! He—wait, where'd he go?!"
Just then, they heard banging from another room.
"Ttaya! Ttayaya!"
The frantic voice sounded like someone begging for rescue.
The attendants rushed over in alarm.
Rilai scooped Isaac up, who looked like he'd been locked in.
"Shuri! You've gone too far! Locking up a child and tormenting him? What were you thinking?!"
"…???"
Locking him up? When did that happen?
Meanwhile, Isaac, having just drained another room of mana cores, let out a quiet burp.
Seeing his smug little grin, Shuri's face twisted in realization.
"What the—no! It wasn't me! He wanted to come here! The portraits, the attacks—it was all him!"
"Who taught you it was okay for a priest to lie?"
"I'm not lying!"
"Then are you telling us Isaac—who can't even use sacred magic—did all this himself?"
"I saw him summon demons! We have to kick him out of the family—now!"
"Shuri! Accusing your own brother now? Have you no shame?"
Shuri clutched his chest again, full of rage and disbelief. He lunged for Isaac's collar.
"Stop lying already! Spit out the Shadow Lich right now!"
"Ttaya…"
Isaac gave him a teary-eyed, wounded look as if to say, What are you talking about?
Rilai's expression hardened.
"Shuri!"
And then—Shuri burst into tears.
Cradled in his uncle's arms, Isaac grinned mischievously behind his back.
Don't take it so hard.
If you behave, maybe I'll toss you a few scraps.
He had been wondering how to deal with the guardian of the treasure vault.
After all, if it really was guarded by a rank-8 demon and a dragon, he'd need a solid plan to reclaim his body.
But now that he'd absorbed this much mana—
That plan might just work.
The first birthday ritual was just around the corner.
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