After doing a few more small experiences like that, they finally arrived in front of the prayer room, which was their original destination.
“Is it here?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm.”
Rowy looked around inside the small building with interest. The prayer room, divided into several small rooms, was a simple and ordinary place. However, to Rowy, for whom the space called a temple was unfamiliar, it looked quite fascinating.
‘So they go into this small place and pray….’
Rowy recalled the image of Van praying at his bedside every night. Had Van prayed alone here every time back then?
“The Mammon painting is here.”
“Where?”
Mammon! Rowy looked at the wall Van was pointing to with expectant eyes. However… the painting drawn there was a bit different from Rowy’s imagination.
“This is Mammon? Hmm….”
The painting was smaller than expected. And it didn’t look very scary. At the demon drawn like an emaciated old man, Rowy was openly disappointed. Seeing the face where emotions showed transparently, Van laughed and led Rowy further inside.
“There are more paintings this way.”
“There are more Mammon paintings?”
“Of course. There are countless Mammons.”
From when the Order was established until now, the priests who devoted their lives solely to executing demons drew their respective Mammons on the prayer room walls. It was part of their training. Van took Rowy around and showed him the Mammons drawn in each prayer room.
“If you look here….”
“There’s one here too!”
The paintings were found on walls and even on floors. Those paintings, each different in size and form, were more fun to find than to appreciate. Rowy examined them with interest.
“…But I imagined something more monster-like since it’s a great demon. They all don’t look that strong.”
“Is that so?”
“They just look ordinary.”
At those words, Van nodded. Most of the Mammons in the paintings had human forms, depicted as a child in some paintings and as an old person in others. Certainly, as Rowy said, they didn’t have appearances that looked strong. However, from Van’s perspective, who knew demons well… that point was precisely Mammon’s most frightening aspect. Mammon enjoyed making humans let their guard down.
“What does the real Mammon look like?”
“Well….”
At Rowy’s question, Van trailed off. Mammon could appear in any form. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say it had no substance. However, instead of giving a detailed explanation, Van led Rowy to the innermost prayer room. It was the smallest of the prayer rooms they’d seen so far.
“The painting here is probably the most similar.”
“Here? It’s cramped.”
“Watch your step.”
When both entered together, the already small space felt even more cramped. Carefully bringing Rowy to the center of the prayer room so he wouldn’t bump into furniture, Van placed his hand on Rowy’s shoulder and recited a short prayer. Then he raised his hand and pointed at the prayer room ceiling.
“Up there.”
“Huh?”
Rowy’s gaze followed Van’s hand toward the ceiling. And… he made direct eye contact with the demon.
“Gasp….”
At the eyes he met head-on, Rowy inhaled. Goosebumps instantly rose all over his body. What was drawn on the ceiling… certainly wasn’t much different from the other Mammon paintings he’d seen until now. Except those endlessly pitch-black eyes were too….
“It looks eerie.”
“They say if you look into those eyes, you come face to face with your own sins. So this painting is often sought for repentance prayers.”
“You mean you really see them? Or is it just something people say?”
“Well. Try seeing for yourself once.”
Van gave an ambiguous answer, then asked Rowy if he could pray for a moment. At Rowy casually nodding, Rowy looked at the ceiling again as if entranced.
‘You see something in the eyes?’
Rowy looked at the demon’s eyes passionately. However, no matter how intently he stared, he only saw pupils painted pitch black. The painting that felt somewhat scary at first now felt like nothing after glaring at it so much…. Eventually losing interest, Rowy turned his head toward Van. And hesitated for a moment at the sight before his eyes.
“……”
Van was kneeling toward an empty wall and praying. He was so concentrated that light wrinkles had formed between his brows.
‘I shouldn’t disturb him….’
Though he knew nothing about religion, he at least had the basic knowledge that one shouldn’t disturb such moments. Rowy stood awkwardly in one corner of the prayer room and waited for Van’s prayer to end. However, Van’s prayer was taking longer than expected.
The face continuously reciting something with eyes closed was serious. Rowy stared at that appearance intently. From an objective viewpoint, Van had quite a cool appearance. Moreover, when his expression hardened like that, combined with that large build, he looked somewhat scary… but that had nothing to do with Rowy. Van always smiled at Rowy with kind eyes.
‘Though he does sometimes look scary….’
Rowy recalled when he was caught hiding the demon. …That was definitely scary.
‘But he smiled again right away.’
He’d thought Van was someone whose smiles were cheap enough to seem foolish… but since coming to the temple, Van’s expression had been continually poor. He said he’d left the temple, but now that he’d returned, his mood must have soured again. It was obvious with that personality.
‘They all seem to be doing just fine.’
Rowy pouted his lips, recalling how Van had forced a smile earlier for that kid named Max or whatever.
‘Anyway, he’s mine now. What does the temple matter?’
Why is he praying so earnestly? Gradually Rowy’s eyes grew sharp. However, Van’s earnest prayer, unaware of Rowy’s state, showed no signs of stopping. Eventually, with mischief fully risen, Rowy suddenly rushed at Van’s back as he knelt.
“…Master?”
Though his eyes were closed and he was praying, Van easily caught Rowy who suddenly rushed at him.
“Finished looking around?”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
“Yes.”
Rowy, who’d been inwardly worried about whether Van might get angry, let out a sigh of relief seeing Van smile as usual. Then he grabbed Van’s hand and started dragging him arbitrarily.
“I want to leave. It’s stuffy here.”
“Understood. Move slowly. Watch your step. And just a moment….”
Even while being dragged by his capricious master, Van held Rowy and recited another short prayer. It was a prayer filled with all his heart and sincerity. Making Rowy’s mischief meaningless… throughout the prayer, Van only wished for Rowy’s safety.
* * *
At that time when Rowy and Van were looking around the temple here and there, Seilan, who had already arrived at the temple quite a while ago, had occupied an empty room and was frantically examining documents there.
There was a lot of work to do. Though he’d grumbled plenty to Rowy about being forced to go to Marzen, in a way, this was a very good opportunity. Whatever it was, Seilan had officially come to Marzen under orders from the Duke of Irad… and because of that, he could use the magic crest. For instance,
‘Ah, I came to Marzen because the Duke of Irad personally! requested something.’
Like that. Just slipping in one sentence like this made everything surprisingly smooth. It was the power of an Imperial ducal house’s name.
‘Well, what the Duke ordered me to do is monitor that kid Rowy, but… anyway, it’s not a lie.’
Thanks to that, Seilan hummed a tune, having satisfactorily processed all the deals he’d been eyeing.
‘It would be nice if we could return without incident. Though I’m not expecting it.’
Whenever Rowy got involved, things always went strangely. This time, he suddenly said he met a demon out of nowhere….
‘No, this time it’s still a bearable outcome. Hehe.’
A thick smile of satisfaction appeared on Seilan’s face as he skimmed through the contract.
“…But why aren’t they coming?”
He’d definitely heard they arrived at the temple quite a while ago, yet Rowy still hadn’t shown even his nose.
“They’re not doing something weird somewhere together again, are they?”
Seilan’s eyes narrowed recalling the two who always stuck together.
‘Van, that guy isn’t trustworthy either.’
Seilan, who had no faith in Rowy at all, likewise had no faith in Van at all. Why, isn’t there a saying about birds of a feather?
‘Anyway, similar guys are bound to hang out together, aren’t they?’
Seilan completely failed to realize that to others, he himself also appeared as Rowy’s friend. Just when Seilan was wondering whether he should go find the two who weren’t coming, the office door opened and finally Rowy and Van revealed themselves. The way they stuck together was particularly irritating today. Seilan shouted with irritation.
“Hey, Rowy! What were you doing to be this late again?”
“Huh? You came early.”
“Early, you guys are late!”
“Ugh, I’m tired.”
“Sit here.”
Whether he heard Seilan’s words or not, Van quickly sat Rowy in a chair at the words “I’m tired,” then knelt in front of him and started massaging his legs.
“You overdid it yesterday and walked too much today.”
“Mmm, gently.”
“Shh, if you endure just a little, it’ll get better.”
“Haah, it hurts… mm, stop…!”
At the hand pressing firmly on his calf, Rowy made groaning sounds and fell backward. At the sounds that somehow sounded suggestive, Seilan shouted in shock.
“Hey, hey! Do you think this is your bedroom at home?”
…However, the two still had no interest in Seilan.
“That’s why I said I’d carry you on my back earlier.”
“…Then carry me on your back when we go later.”
“Rowy, are you a child? Carry what! …Are you both ignoring me right now?”
Eventually unable to hold back, Seilan rushed over and personally separated the two.
“Get apart! Do you think I followed you all the way here to watch your love games?”
“You’re really noisy.”
“Ugh, you brat! Go meet the Head Priest quickly! You said you had to do an exorcism or whatever!”
At the sight of waving his hands as if shooing away bugs, Rowy’s eyes gradually grew sharp. Van, catching on to Rowy’s mood, quickly interjected into the conversation. He declined having his back suffer again in their fight.
“Haha, the Head Priest said he’s busy today. He told us to wait until closing time.”
“Huh? Of course I cleared the time.”
“You made a reservation in advance?”
At Van’s puzzled question, Seilan said “Ah” and finally explained the situation.
“Ah, I didn’t tell you. Right now the Elysion Temple is being managed by Veloa Trading Company.”
“What? Does that mean Seilan-nim is currently managing this place?”
So, Seilan made this into a tourist spot? Then he’s the one who made all those strange experience booths too…. Van’s gaze looking at Seilan instantly grew cold.
