The Demon of the Wasteland (8)
The residents of Junk Town were by no means good neighbors. It was more accurate to view them as a pack of outlaws who only kept their tempers in check because they knew that causing a ruckus here would get them slaughtered by Wilhelm.
"Hieeeek!"
"My house!"
Those very residents of Junk Town were now in a collective state of panic. This situation had gone far, far beyond any "ordinary" crisis.
"What the hell happened in just a few minutes?"
"The atmosphere is quite chaotic."
Hurrying out of the tavern, Yohan and Agnes exchanged brief words.
As Yohan watched the residents fleeing in utter panic, the Goddess spoke to him in his mind once more. Yohan gave a silent nod. He felt it. Beyond the flames engulfing the wooden houses, the unmistakable presence of a demon loomed.
Yohan turned his head to look at Agnes. Even if she couldn't perform Miracle Arts, he figured that someone who had hunted heretics for so long would sense the enemy beyond the flames just as he did.
"An enemy attack?"
"Looks like it."
Just as Yohan expected, Agnes frowned, realizing that this commotion wasn't caused by some internal dispute within the town.
"I heard this town was a gathering place for formidable outcasts, but seeing them run away in such a panic is quite pathetic."
"Well... I guess that just shows the enemy is no joke."
If Yohan hadn't sensed the demon's presence, he would have fully agreed with Agnes's assessment. If it had been a run-of-the-mill band of raiders or monsters, the residents would have handled it themselves without Wilhelm even needing to step in. But even for those living in this perilous wilderness, a demon was not an opponent to be taken lightly.
"By the way."
"What is it?"
"If the great Inquisitor personally dispatches the enemy in the midst of this chaos, wouldn't these wary townspeople become a bit more welcoming?"
An opportunity to witness the combat prowess of a Holy Kingdom Heresy Inquisitor had presented itself. Yohan had no intention of letting it slip by.
"You have a point," Agnes replied with a serious expression. "But there is one error in your statement."
Yohan tilted his head at her follow-up.
"The Central Church is not an organization that acts based on profit and loss."
Uh...
Yohan swallowed the urge to point out that their habit of declaring heresies left and right looked exactly like a business run on profit and loss. He exercised superhuman patience to hold his tongue. Well, the fact that the higher-ups of the Holy Kingdom merged religion and politics was one thing; the mindset of the boots-on-the-ground agents was another.
The Goddess offered a brief, firm compliment to Agnes's mindset. Yohan inwardly thought how wonderful it would be if he could let this woman—who had never heard the voice of the Primary God despite countless prayers—hear the praise of his own slightly dimwitted Goddess. At the same time, he couldn't help but feel that the Primary God of the Central Church, who had stubbornly refused to answer Agnes, was a real petty jerk.
Agnes suddenly patted Yohan lightly on the shoulder and stepped forward. "It seems you're curious about how an Inquisitor of the Holy Kingdom fights. This is a rare opportunity, so keep your eyes wide open."
"R-Right."
It seemed she had read his mind. Yohan replied with a slightly awkward face and took a step back.
"What on earth is all the racket outside?"
At that moment, the tavern door swung open, and Falco and Billy walked out. Yohan glanced at them, then jerked his chin toward Agnes.
"Our Inquisitor is about to personally teach the bad guys a lesson."
"So we just stand here and watch?"
At Falco's question, Yohan shook his head. "Come on, of course not."
He had already fought a demon and even a demon-possessed pure-blood troll. Furthermore, as the Apostle of the Unnamed Goddess, he couldn't just stand by and let some monster terrorize the innocent... well, not-so-innocent residents. The problem was that he couldn't just recklessly unleash his Apostle's Authority to slay the demon.
"Got it," Yohan muttered in a low voice to the Goddess's worried advice. While he couldn't summon the divine flames to incinerate the demon like last time, delivering a powerful strike enhanced by Divine Power should be perfectly fine. With that thought, Yohan drew his sword from the scabbard at his waist, channeling his Apostle's Authority to drastically boost his physical abilities. "Alright. Power up!"
With the Goddess's blessing secured, there was no longer any reason to just stand and watch. Just as he was about to charge toward the demon emerging from beyond the flames—
Flash!
Suddenly, a streak of light flashed from behind Yohan. A beat later, a violent gust of wind swept through, centering on the path the light had traveled.
"W-What the hell?!" Yohan cried out in surprise. But he quickly realized the identity of the flash and the accompanying gale.
The Sheriff of Junk Town and the strongest man in the settlement. Wilhelm had finally arrived on the scene.
Covering dozens of meters in the blink of an eye, Wilhelm drew his sword and swung it in a single, fluid motion. The flames that had been using several houses as kindling were not only split in half but extinguished in an instant. He had suppressed the fire using nothing but the wind pressure generated by his swing.
"Whoa... that man... he's definitely strong," Billy murmured.
"Yeah. There's a reason the townspeople don't mess with that old geezer. They can't mess with him."
Watching from behind, not only Yohan but Falco and Billy were left in utter awe of his skill.
"It's the Sheriff!"
"Yes! We've won!"
With Wilhelm appearing on the scene, the residents who had been screaming and fleeing in panic just moments ago quickly regained their composure.
"The atmosphere completely changes with just one man arriving."
"Yeah. That old guy is exactly as insanely strong as he looks."
Wilhelm was powerful. On top of that, a Heresy Inquisitor of the Holy Kingdom happened to be staying in town, so the invading demon was having some incredibly bad luck. Perhaps there was no need for Yohan's group to join the fray at all. Yohan drove his sword into the ground and watched Wilhelm and Agnes.
"Hey, old man! Watch out! It's no ordinary enemy!"
Still, he had to warn him. Yohan shouted at the top of his lungs toward Wilhelm. Wilhelm turned his head and made eye contact with Yohan.
"It's a demon! It's not just some monster!"
Like gods, demons were entities that only kept one foot in this physical world. Because of this, they were on an entirely different level compared to ordinary monsters. Mortals, including humans, felt an instinctive terror the moment they faced a demon. In fact, if not for the Goddess's power, Yohan himself wouldn't have been able to overcome the dread exuded by the demon possessing Big Boss. Sure enough, at Yohan's warning, Wilhelm's expression grew serious. He gave Yohan a firm nod.
Crash!
Soon, a massive, heavy figure completely pulverized a house as it revealed itself. At the same time, Yohan felt the faint, unpleasant energy rapidly grow stronger.
"What? A demon?"
"Why is a demon here?"
Perhaps because the demon, which had only been destroying random buildings until now, had fully revealed itself, the residents who had calmed down upon Wilhelm's arrival immediately began to tremble with anxiety once more.
"Hey, you cowardly bastards! Stop whining and get the hell out of here!"
If they stayed, it would only make things more chaotic. Yohan barked at the surrounding residents.
"R-Right! Let's run!"
"Don't worry about your stuff, just run!"
Fortunately, the residents fled immediately at Yohan's shouting. It was a reaction perfectly befitting a crowd that excelled at self-preservation.
"Well, that's that. Then you should also start..." Yohan turned his head to speak to Agnes.
"She just dashed out," Falco said.
"Ah."
But where Agnes had been standing, only a footprint left in the dirt remained.
How did an Inquisitor who couldn't use Miracle Arts hunt demons? Yohan closely observed Agnes's back as she joined Wilhelm to confront the demon. A Sheriff rumored to have once held the title of Swordmaster, and an Inquisitor who had traveled all the way from the Holy Kingdom in the center of the continent to this remote borderland. This was a golden opportunity to witness the martial prowess of both right before his eyes.
He thought the battle would begin immediately, but for some reason, Wilhelm and Agnes exchanged a brief conversation.
"Hey, what are those two saying?"
"I-I'm not sure. They're too far away to hear," Billy replied, tilting his head.
"She's telling him to step back, saying that if an ordinary person faces a demon, their mind could be corrupted," Falco said, having apparently caught their conversation from afar. Just as she said, Wilhelm made a highly displeased face before ultimately yielding the field to Agnes.
*Whoosh!*
Wilhelm returned to his original spot at nearly the same speed he had dashed out, kicking up another gust of wind.
"What a shame. I was hoping to see your skills in action after so long, old man," Yohan said.
Wilhelm clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction. "If an ordinary person fights recklessly, their mind is at risk of breaking. It is correct to defer to the Inquisitor's judgment this time."
He then crossed his arms and joined Yohan in watching Agnes's back.
"Right? So let's just watch how the Inquisitor fights together."
"Whew."
While Yohan and Wilhelm exchanged words, Agnes and the demon had entered a tense standoff, facing each other. The demon, which had been gleefully burning and smashing houses, seemed to grow somewhat calm upon spotting Agnes. Of course, this was only on the surface. Yohan could instinctively tell that the massive demon could unleash its latent destructive urges at any second.
"It seems there are no other casualties. That is a relief."
Unlike Yohan, who was solely focused on the impending battle between Agnes and the demon, Wilhelm scanned the destroyed houses to assess the damage.
"Yeah. But still, fixing all those smashed houses is going to be a pain."
"As long as everyone has their limbs intact, it is fine. They are the ones who will regret having their houses burned down."
"True enough."
The stage was set. Now it was time to witness the Inquisitor's martial prowess. Yohan crossed his arms and focused his gaze on Agnes's movements. After a brief standoff, Agnes swiftly pulled a glass vial of Holy Water from her robes and hurled it at the demon. Her execution was so fluid and practiced that even Yohan's eyes could barely track her rapid hand movement.
*Graaaah!*
Hit directly by the vial of Holy Water, the demon let out a horrific shriek of agony. The Holy Water, which had merely run off harmlessly when poured onto the palms of Yohan's party, erupted into thick, billowing smoke the moment it touched the demon's body, melting its flesh away.
"Hell yeah, now that's what I'm talking about."
Yes. That was a real exorcist. Seeing the scene he had secretly hoped for play out before his eyes, Yohan clenched his fists in excitement. What would the next step be? Would she chant a spell in the holy tongue to destroy the demon's soul? Or perhaps shoot silver arrows blessed by priests?
*Clack.*
Finally, she drew her weapon. Following the vial of Holy Water, Agnes gripped the mace she always kept at her waist with both hands.
"Is it the secret weapon arts of the Inquisitors used to purify evil?"
Wilhelm, too, had become fully absorbed in Agnes's fight. Yohan nodded in agreement at his murmur. Agnes raised her mace high toward the demon, which was still writhing in pain from the Holy Water.
*Crunch!*
Immediately after, a dull sound of flesh and bone being utterly crushed echoed through the air.
"What...?"
*Crunch! Crunch!*
Agnes swung her mace with movements that lacked even a shred of grace or discipline. Every time the mace connected, the demon writhed in such agony that it almost looked like the pitiful victim in this scenario.
"W-Wait a minute."
Was this the Holy Kingdom's method of exorcism? No, this was definitely not the visual he had been expecting... Yohan spoke in a flustered voice, but there was no way his words could reach Agnes.
"She's saying, 'You son of a bitch, you absolute bastard! How dare you make me work overtime? I'm going to mince you from head to toe into bite-sized pieces...'" Falco translated, mimicking Agnes's exact words.
"Um... I think I finally understand why the Primary God never answered her prayers," Billy said in a quiet, subdued voice.
No one present could find a single argument to refute his awkward theory.