Martin's Fables, Part 2
"It looks exactly like... what those guys used to do," Billy said, a heavy, complicated emotion bleeding into his voice.
Yohan nodded silently in response.
What the two had discovered at the far end of the cave was a magic circle drawn in what appeared to be human blood, surrounded by various ritualistic tools. It looked exactly like an altar used to offer sacrifices to an evil god.
The metallic stench of blood they had caught at the cave entrance was emanating from that dark red magic circle.
"So this wasn't just a bandit hideout, but a cultist den."
The Unnamed Goddess, who had materialized beside them at some point, scanned the cave interior with a look of sheer disgust, as if she were looking at a swarm of filthy insects.
"Apostle."
"Yeah, yeah."
Yohan replied instantly to the Goddess's call, summoning his Light Sword. An abomination like this needed to be destroyed as quickly as possible.
Yohan swung his sword toward the altar.
Upon returning to the village, Yohan explained what they had witnessed in the bandit hideout to Annie.
"Bandits worshipping an evil cult. They are an enemy we encounter quite often when tracking down traces of heresy," Annie remarked.
"True, but I feel like we've been running into them way too often lately."
The continent of this world was unimaginably vast, and there were plenty of bad guys like bandits and highwaymen to go around. However, cultist bandits weren't supposed to be this common.
"Lately, you say?"
"Yeah. Maybe it's because we're traveling all over Westania now instead of just clearing out the areas around Balifield?"
Recently, there had been a noticeable spike in wanted criminals who worshipped devils or followed bizarre cults. For a Heresy Inquisitor like Annie, hunting down and beating the crap out of such people was literally her job description. But even though Yohan wasn't actively seeking out heretics, the frequency with which he crossed paths with them had skyrocketed.
"Well, maybe it's just a coincidence."
In all honesty, it was highly likely he was just worrying over nothing. Yohan shrugged it off with a casual laugh.
"Still, we should keep it in mind. You know the saying, right? 'Anomalies are the traces of heresy.'"
"I do," Annie replied, and Yohan nodded.
Inquisitors of the Holy Kingdom shared some similarities with detectives from his original world. Annie's caution likely stemmed from the sharp intuition she had honed during her years as an active Inquisitor.
"Anyway, that's enough about my end. Everything quiet on yours?"
"Of course. Above all, my mind is much more at ease now that I don't have to drag myself from place to place, watching everyone I meet recoil in disgust."
As she spoke, Annie's expression genuinely looked brighter than before. Compared to the days when she would chug alcohol with a face that screamed she found everything in life a chore...
"Ughhhhh..."
Yohan instinctively turned his head at the sound of a zombie-like groan rising from behind Annie. Annie certainly seemed to have more mental breathing room now. The biggest factor was likely the fact that she no longer had to deal with people being constantly on guard around her wherever she went.
However, those receiving her "true education" were wishing they were dead.
Yohan clicked his tongue as he watched several of the village youths sprawled out flat on their backs under the shade of a tree, gasping desperately for air. Among them was the young man Yohan and Falco had gotten into a scuffle with when they first visited the village. He had apparently returned to the village at the end of winter after finishing his travels.
To be fair, their first impression of him had been terrible, but Yohan didn't really harbor any ill will toward him now...
Yohan cast a look of deep pity at the young man, who looked half-dead among the other exhausted youths.
"You really don't hold back, do you? Why are you pushing them so hard? Are you trying to kill them?"
This woman might have finally unleashed her long-suppressed nature by training these village boys, Yohan thought.
"Heh. If I recall correctly, you were the one who ordered me to teach the village youths how to swing a weapon, Yohan," Annie retorted with a mischievous glint in her eye.
At this rate, they might actually end up with a real "Knight Order" instead of just calling themselves one. Does that make me the Knight Commander? Yohan briefly imagined himself clad in gleaming plate armor, commanding a grand host of knights.
"Ahem. Anyway, don't you think we should head back to the Holy City soon just to show our faces?"
Annie stroked her chin at Yohan's follow-up question. The two of them were officially Inquisitors belonging to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, currently tasked with investigating the entire continent to track down the missing Original Scriptures.
"Indeed. Since we have already completed the scriptures for our own church, it is about time we returned the Central Church's scriptures."
"Exactly. We just temporarily relocated them; we didn't steal them."
Stealing something permanently and temporarily borrowing it were two completely different things, after all. The two looked at each other and nodded in perfect agreement.
"We can find a suitable time to sneak them back and leave them in an outlying region like Easthold."
"So we don't need to go all the way to the Holy City?"
"That should be fine. It is not uncommon for Inquisitors sent on missions to go radio silent for years. Many of them die or get severely injured and never return at all."
"Whoa..."
Come to think of it, being an Inquisitor for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was an extreme, high-risk job that no sane person would do without absolute, blind faith. Yohan let out a soft sigh as he looked at Annie, who was joking about such a grim reality.
About two weeks after Yohan and Billy cleared out the bandit hideout, the Fable Book containing the doctrines of the Unnamed Goddess's faith was finally completed. Yohan first shared the final manuscript of the Fable Book with his companions. Although he had written it with the Goddess's guidance, he wanted to get the feedback of people native to this world to see if any parts needed revising.
"It feels... strangely familiar, yet unfamiliar at the same time," Falco remarked.
"And the core message really hits home," Billy added.
Falco and Billy offered their respective thoughts. Annie didn't say much, but her silence was a sign that it was perfectly acceptable even by the standards of this fantasy world's inhabitants.
"Well, myths and folklore tend to share similar themes no matter where you go in the world," Yohan said with a light shrug. "Now, all we have to do is print this into books and sell them far and wide."
The plan was to distribute books infused with the Goddess's doctrines across the continent to quietly build awareness of her faith, while covertly converting the Holy Kingdom's clergymen to gradually surpass the Central Church. He had used the fancy term "Silent Crusade" to sound impressive in front of the villagers, but to put it bluntly, what Yohan was doing was almost identical to the covert operations of the very cults that Inquisitors hunted down with a vengeance.
Of course, only the methods were similar; there was absolutely nothing wrong with the faith he was trying to spread.
"And how do you plan on doing that?" Falco asked.
"Don't worry. As long as we have money, anything is possible."
There were several printing shops in the Royal Capital of Westania. Yohan had already confirmed beforehand that as long as you paid them, they would publish books for almost any private client.
"Then it looks like we must go earn some money again," Annie said, taking the words right out of Yohan's mouth.
The Knight Order's method of making money: track down the dens of bad guys, beat them to a pulp, and "confiscate" their ill-gotten gains.
"Exactly. Mass-producing and selling the potions Billy made would bring in a decent amount of coin, but..."
Wait a minute. A brilliant idea suddenly flashed through Yohan's mind.
"Alright, everyone, listen up."
Yohan immediately explained his sudden brainwave to the group.
"So you're saying we should use our cover identity, Pharmacist Martin, to publish the Fable Book as well."
"Yeah. If we just release a book out of nowhere, the snobbish nobles of Westania—and the rest of the continent—won't even bother to glance at it."
But what if the author wasn't some random storyteller, but a highly respected pharmacist who crafted handmade High Potions? That would completely change the game.
"So we maximize our profits by selling the book you wrote and the potions I make under a single name?"
"Spot on. Unlike us old folks, you're young and quick on the uptake."
Yohan patted Billy lightly on the shoulder. Falco's eyebrow twitched at the word "old folks," but Yohan decided to ignore it. In truth, he had thrown that word out precisely to get a reaction out of her.
"Anyway, I'm the 'Mar' and you're the 'tin.' We sell the books, we sell the medicine," Yohan said playfully, looking at Billy.
A few days later, Yohan visited Henry and Charles's shop in Balifield alone. Since it happened to be the shop's day off, he asked Henry for his understanding, just as he had done before, and met with Charles privately inside his Single-room.
"So this is the book?" Charles asked.
"Yeah. I took some famous stories from my hometown and mixed them together nicely."
The reason Yohan had stopped by Balifield first instead of heading straight to the Royal Capital was to show Charles the completed manuscript of the Fable Book.
"And..."
Once Charles finished reading the entire manuscript, Yohan explained his plan to spread the Goddess's doctrines using the pseudonym "Pharmacist Martin."
"That makes perfect sense. A book written by an anonymous author wouldn't turn any heads, but if a reclusive pharmacist who made a name for himself through the Royal Capital's Magic Tower wrote a book, even the nobles of Westania would naturally be curious."
Flash!
"Even if you fund the printing in the Royal Capital using the money you plundered from those bandits, how do you plan to distribute the published books far and wide?"
The Unnamed Goddess, who had remained in her spiritual form until now, materialized and asked.
"Ah, Goddess."
"Charles, it is good to see you after such a long time."
She exchanged a brief greeting with Charles. The Goddess gave Charles a gentle smile and patted his head. Watching one kid patting another kid's head made it incredibly difficult for Yohan to hold back his laughter. If he let out even a tiny chuckle here, that little blockhead of a Goddess would undoubtedly punch him in the stomach or ribs again. Yohan clenched his teeth and held it in.
"Ahem. Anyway, the reason I dropped by so suddenly today is to secure a distribution route for the books."
Yohan cleared his throat and got straight to the point.
"I see what you mean. You want to see if we can stock the books in Uncle Henry's shop or other stores in Balifield, right?"
"Yeah."
As expected of a genius kid. Yohan nodded vigorously at Charles's question.
"To give you my honest opinion, I don't think we need to start selling the books in Balifield at all."
"Oh?"
That was actually a very good point. Yohan's eyes widened as he realized Charles had successfully pointed out a blind spot in his plan.
"Wait! You two are speaking in riddles again. Speak in a language I can understand!" the Goddess complained.
"Since we're using the pseudonym 'Martin' anyway, there's no reason to start our business in Balifield, which is basically our home turf."
"According to Yohan's explanation, Pharmacist 'Martin' is a reclusive figure with absolutely no known background. So, even though we actually live hidden away in a mountain corner west of Balifield, pretending to be from an entirely different region when acting as the author of the fables is much safer for our security."
Yohan and Charles took turns explaining. Only then did the Goddess seem to grasp their meaning.
"So, do you have a recommended starting point? Excluding the Holy Kingdom, of course."
"Hmm. If we're looking for a place with a high demand for luxury goods like books, then naturally..."
"It has to be there, right?"
"Exactly."
Yohan and Charles looked at each other, their lips curling into identical smirks.
"The Empire."
They spoke the word in perfect unison.