I'm an Inquisitor, and You're a Heretic (2)
For at least the past few decades, the Holy Kingdom had been enjoying a peaceful era without any major incidents. Occasionally, heretics destined for hell would crop up, but before long, they were "reformed" at the hands of the Inquisitors dispatched by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Aside from them, a group of high-level devils calling themselves Pandemonium had been active for about two hundred years, but compared to the massive wars fought in the distant past, they were hardly worth mentioning. In the first place, the devils of Pandemonium could barely operate in the shadows to evade the Holy Kingdom's pursuit, let alone run rampant in broad daylight. Thus, looking back through the entire history of the continent, it was difficult to find an era of peace quite like this one.
Conflicts between nations were virtually nonexistent, thanks to the absolute hegemony wielded by the alliance of the Empire and the Holy Kingdom, which acted as a massive deterrent across the continent. Yes, today is an era of peace worthy of being recorded in history. And I, who ruled the Holy Kingdom during this time, will surely go down in the history books as a leader who loved peace.
The Pope, the supreme ruler of the Holy Kingdom, had believed this without a shadow of a doubt. Or rather, he had believed it.
"..."
Inside the Pope's office, situated at the highest point of the Papal Palace, a suffocatingly tense atmosphere hung in the air, unlike any other day.
"This is... a brief summary of the history of the past thousand years."
"I see. It seems indeed that nothing of great import has occurred."
"Yes. Thanks to the grace and protection of our Main God..."
"Yaaawn—"
Before the Pope could even finish his sentence, the woman with long, flowing white hair let out a massive yawn. This was an act of sheer irreverence that no one would ever dare commit in front of the Pope. Yet, far from reprimanding her, the Pope was busy trembling and walking on eggshells around her. In fact, he didn't even dare look her in the eyes.
A brilliant halo floated behind her head, and a radiant aura emanated from her entire body. The divine energy she exuded was so overwhelming that an ordinary human would lose consciousness and collapse just by looking at her. To tell the truth, even the Pope was feeling a pressure so intense it felt as if his heart might stop.
"I cannot stop yawning. Perhaps I have not fully awakened yet."
The white-haired woman was Justia, the Goddess of Justice, who had awakened after a thousand years. Her awakening from her long slumber in the Dormitory of Dormancy, where she had slept for over a millennium, was an event monumental enough to turn the entire Holy Kingdom upside down. Concerned about the repercussions, the Pope personally attended to the Main God Justia, while also altering the memories of the children who had first encountered her and fainted, and ordering that the news not be spread to others.
But this was merely a temporary measure. If the awakened deity wished it, they would eventually have to announce the return of the Main God to the countless believers scattered across the continent.
"At any rate, it is quite interesting that the war with the pointy-ears ended on a good note."
Through the Pope, the Main God Justia grasped how much the world had changed during her slumber.
"I-is that so?"
"The pointy-ears I knew loved war more than anyone else in the world. They were always slaughtering my believers and destroying my temples."
"Yes, yes..."
The Pope nodded repeatedly at Justia's words. He had indeed heard that in the very distant past, wars between races were common. However, the elves the Pope knew lived in seclusion within the Great Forest, which was nominally part of the Empire. Though they occasionally fought among their own tribes, they were a race that rarely ventured outside their forest.
Just how long ago was the past the deity spoke of? For the Pope, a mere human who would live a hundred years at most, it was something beyond his comprehension.
"Pope. You have been wondering since earlier why I have awakened from my long slumber."
As he was fretting internally, Justia suddenly stared intently at him and spoke.
"T-that is..."
Flustered, the Pope stammered. But it was only for a moment; realizing that lying in front of the Main God Justia would bring no good, he bowed his head deeply.
"Y-yes, that is true. However, I thought it would be irreverent to ask the Main God directly..."
Justia suddenly shook her head.
"It is not so."
She then offered a benevolent smile and spoke to the Pope.
"P-pardon?"
"I am Justia, the Goddess of Justice. And since you are my faithful believer, how could I hide my heart from the lambs who follow me?"
"O-O Main God..."
At Justia's words, the Pope suddenly fell to his knees on the floor. A sharp pain shot through him as his knees hit the hard tiles, but far from grimacing, he began to weep fat, heavy tears.
"Pope. The reason I woke from my long slumber is that I felt an explosion of divinity not far from my resting place."
Justia approached the Pope, using her sleeve to wipe away the tears pooling in his eyes. At her touch, the Pope felt a rapture so profound it was as if he had been reborn as a clergyman. It had been decades since he first walked the path of a priest. By the time he climbed to the upper echelons of the Holy Kingdom, he had long stopped cultivating a devout heart, instead becoming entangled in power struggles and friction between various factions within the Church.
He had ascended to the papacy at the end of that muddy brawl, but it was by no means the end of the political games. Rather, a different kind of battle had begun, and with his soul repeatedly chipped away, the Pope had eventually become a hollow shell, wishing only for peace of mind. But not anymore. For the Main God herself had personally reminded him of the joy of being a priest—no, a believer.
The Pope naturally clasped his hands together. Closing his eyes gently, he basked in the spiritual ecstasy overflowing within his chest. But it was short-lived. While the Pope was deeply moved by Justia's mercy, he also picked up on a highly significant phrase in her statement.
"A-an explosion of divinity, you say..."
Opening his eyes, the Pope cautiously questioned Justia.
"I felt that a certain god had unleashed their Authority."
"A certain god... Do you mean to say that the god of the heretics has appeared nearby?"
At his question, Justia shook her head.
"No, that is not it. Rather, I awakened because I felt an energy identical to my own."
For a moment, the Pope could not fully comprehend her words. Did she mean there was an entity that had unleashed divine power identical to that of the Main God Justia?
"It seems my other half, who was imprisoned long ago, is still alive."
Justia looked at the Pope and spoke in a low, quiet voice.
"An Inquisitor? That Agnes woman?"
"Yeah."
Wilhelm nodded in response to Yohan's question.
"Why all of a sudden?"
Did she find out I can use the Goddess's power? Yohan feigned ignorance on the outside, but internally, he racked his brain trying to figure out why Agnes was hunting him down.
"I don't know the reason either. In fact, I almost got dragged away myself just because I'm close to you."
"Uh, wait..."
Even so, it was impossible to imagine this massive wall of muscle of a sheriff getting captured by Agnes and dragged all the way to the Holy Kingdom.
"But my innocence has already been personally guaranteed by an Inquisitor. Once I pointed that out, she backed off on her own."
"W-well, that's a relief."
Yohan replied with an awkward look. Behind him, Falco nodded vigorously in agreement.
"At any rate, you'd better stay away from Junk Town for a while. I'll handle any devil attacks myself, so just worry about keeping your own skin intact."
"Whew—"
Normally, Yohan would have smirked and teased Wilhelm about his reliable nature, but given the gravity of the situation, he wasn't in the mood for jokes.
"But you know,"
After a brief pause, Yohan spoke up again as a thought crossed his mind.
"What is it?"
"If that Inquisitor woman is hunting me down right now, shouldn't you be capturing me and handing me over to her?"
From Wilhelm's perspective, that would be the most foolproof way to prove his own innocence. Wilhelm nodded slightly, acknowledging that Yohan had a point.
"True. In fact, if I hadn't been here, the other bastards in town would have jumped you the moment you set foot inside."
"Ah."
So that was why. Yohan finally fully grasped the situation. This trash heap of a town had always been crawling with bastards who didn't know the first thing about loyalty. Yohan subtly turned his head, scanning the residents passing by one by one.
Even though we vanquished the devils of Pandemonium for them, they are still full of schemes to capture and sell us out.
The Goddess's lament echoed in his mind. Yohan strongly agreed with her sentiment. Yet, Wilhelm was different. He was actually worrying about Yohan's safety right now.
"Whew, well, yeah."
Under normal circumstances, he would have beaten those damn villagers to a pulp. Yohan let out a soft sigh.
"What can we do? We'd better beat it before Her Ladyship the Inquisitor comes back."
Saying so, Yohan turned his head and looked at Falco and Billy.
"Why would an Inquisitor suddenly be chasing us?"
"Who knows."
Yohan played dumb at Billy's question. In truth, all three of them, including Yohan, had a pretty good idea of why Agnes was looking for them. Agnes had said she came here under orders from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to track down traces of heresy in Valifield. Naturally, during that process, she must have investigated the scene where Yohan fought Big Boss and the demon residing in his body.
On top of that, there was a high probability she had discovered traces of Yohan's battle against the two devils while scouting the wastelands around the town over the past few days. Once is a fluke, twice is a coincidence, but three times is a pattern—it was only natural for her to be suspicious.
"Anyway, we need to get out of here fast."
Currently, the party was completely broke, lacking not only horses to ride but even a backpack to carry their gear. If there was any saving grace, it was that the pouch containing their cash was still secured at his waist.
"But Yohan. What on earth happened in just a few days?"
Just as they were about to make a hasty exit from the town, Wilhelm suddenly threw a question at him.
"Your pointy-eared companion seems to have recovered, but did you really travel all the way to the Great Forest and back in just a few days?"
"T-that's..."
Wilhelm's question was sharp. Even in a world where teleportation existed, traveling from the southwestern fringes of the continent to the central Great Forest and back in a matter of days was no ordinary feat. He had been too careless. Yohan admitted that his decision to revisit Junk Town after only a few days was a blunder. Having fought a major battle with a guardian deity and nearly clashing with a pack of elves right after, he had completely forgotten to prepare a proper alibi.
"Well, whatever. If you have circumstances that are difficult to talk about, I won't pry."
Fortunately, Wilhelm merely snorted once and didn't press any further. He probably felt a certain level of gratitude toward Yohan for helping with the town's reconstruction.
"But you'd still better be careful."
Saying so, Wilhelm suddenly picked up a backpack he had set on the ground and handed it to Yohan.
"There's some dried horse meat and various other foods inside. There's also a bit of water, but you'd better ration it."
"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind."
It seemed this sheriff had been waiting here with this intention from the very beginning. Yohan expressed his sincere gratitude as he took the backpack.
Their conversation was over. He turned back toward the town entrance they had just walked through, and Falco and Billy immediately followed closely behind him.
"Yohan. What are we going to do now?"
"Who knows. Honestly, once you become a target, it's not like you can run forever."
The Inquisitors of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith were relentless. They were persistent enough to hunt the devils of Pandemonium for nearly two centuries.
"Maybe it'd be better if she just popped out right now? At least we could try to talk to her."
Yohan spoke in a light, joking tone. At his words, the corners of Falco's mouth curled up slightly.
They walked aimlessly through the wilderness as a dry wind whipped past them.
"You're here."
"..."
Speak of the devil. Agnes, who was perched on a large boulder, greeted the party.
"What? Were you in cahoots with Wilhelm from the start?"
"Not at all. In fact, when I first went to him and asked for your location, he told me I'd have to fight him if I wanted to know."
Agnes shook her head as she replied to Yohan's question. In other words, Agnes had respected Wilhelm's resolve; despite being fully capable of storming into the town, she had chosen to wait out here instead.
Thud.
Agnes lightly landed on the ground from the boulder. She then stepped directly in front of Yohan.
"Right, right. So, what crime did I commit to have you chasing me down?"
In truth, he already knew the reason. He was merely asking to confirm.
Agnes remained silent at Yohan's question. She simply stared at the three of them, who were openly on guard against her.
"Yohan. What is your true identity? Are you a Holy Knight operating in secret under a hidden identity? Or are you a pagan wielding the power of a heretical god?"