Appearing on the Surface
No one could stop Jenkinson as he dragged the queen by her hair toward the plaza. Not the knights, not the soldiers, not even the citizens. They all witnessed the scene yet none could bring themselves to intervene. Reeking of the metallic stench of blood, one hand clutching a man's severed head and the other gripping the queen's hair as he hauled her along—the sight was terror itself. It was horror incarnate.
"Se-Sezanne..." The king, who had rushed out at the commotion, froze in terror the moment he saw Jenkinson. Only then did he understand. The sweet boy who once hid behind his father's coattails was gone. What he had summoned to this kingdom was...
"Thank you for your cooperation, Brother Seron."
...nothing but a monster. The very inquisitor who had already dragged down a king in the Yura Kingdom—the strongest and most insane man in the entire history of the Inquisition. Seron had realized it.
"Must it... truly end in burning at the stake?"
Seron's cautious question left me slightly stunned. Well, I suppose that was possible. From a king's perspective, no matter how deeply she had betrayed him, she was still the woman he loved. What did it matter if that woman had killed a few attendants, a few maids, and yes... a few knights? The weight of the queen's life and the weight of theirs were different things to him.
But...
"I apologize, Brother Seron. The Church has not been taught to overlook heresy of this magnitude."
To me, a servant of the Goddess, it was no different. Their lives carried the same weight as this queen's. She had taken so many. Therefore, only the pyre awaited her.
"If I were to stand in your way..."
Pfft. When Seron asked in a trembling voice, I answered with a smile. Stand in my way?
"Do you believe you could?"
He could not. In truth...
"Are they not all trembling?"
The knights Seron had brought were shaking at the sight of Simus's head in my hand.
"I... I..."
I waited for his answer as he struggled to speak. Because that answer could change the fate of this woman—or perhaps the fate of the entire kingdom.
"Y-Your Majesty..."
Cezanne gazed at Seron with desperate eyes, and Seron squeezed his own shut. He had not wanted this. He had only wanted simple prayer rituals so she might reflect... He never imagined her sins ran this deep. Seron had not even considered the possibility.
"How foolish of you... Why did you betray me? You foolish woman."
In the end, what Seron chose was to abandon her. He could not afford to make an enemy of that man. He could not turn the monster called Jenkinson Beckett against him.
At the king's reaction, Jenkinson nodded as if he had expected nothing less and resumed walking. Left without the king's protection, Cezanne regained her senses and screamed like a woman possessed.
"You—you! Do you even know who I am? If you lay a hand on me, the Lipianne family will—"
Of course, to Jenkinson it was nothing but noise.
"Be quiet. I have no interest in that sort of family."
The Lipianne family was a well-known noble house in Rucella, but honestly it no longer held the slightest importance to me. So what if she belonged to the Lipianne family?
"Are you truly prepared to wage war against the Holy Kingdom?"
An inquisitor's verdict was, by nature, the verdict of the Holy Kingdom. To defy it was to defy the Holy Kingdom itself—effectively the will of the Goddess.
"...!"
No matter how prestigious the Lipianne family might be within Rucella, they were merely the nobility of a minor nation. They could never contend with the Holy Kingdom, which rivaled the Empire, and honestly...
They wouldn't even stand a chance against the Abnaigel family.
The gap was so vast that my father alone could slaughter their soldiers. It seemed she had only now realized that fact.
Cezanne's attitude changed in an instant.
"W-wait! If you spare me, I will give you vast quantities of gold and treasure. No! Anything you desire—I will give it all! So please, just my life—"
"...I'm afraid I cannot grant that request. Alkai, bind her."
I had no wish to hear any more. Jenkinson felt that way. Would the dead return to life if she offered gold and treasure? Could she restore their lives by fulfilling his wishes?
Thinking that, Jenkinson tossed her to Alkai. The massive warrior caught her lightly and bound her atop the pyre.
"Release me! You barbarian! Do you know who I am!"
Ignoring her frantic struggles, Alkai diligently secured her to the wood, then stepped down. Jenkinson summoned flames in his palm and declared,
"The sinner Cezanne has taken countless lives and shattered the sacred vows of family. Her crimes are grave. Therefore, I sentence her to excommunication and burning at the stake."
The crowd stared at her in shock. Never in their wildest dreams had they imagined the figure upon the pyre would be the queen herself.
"F-fire! Put it out! Extinguish it at once! What are you all doing? Is there truly no one who will help me!"
Paying no heed to her thrashing screams, Jenkinson set the pyre alight and turned away without a backward glance. As he left the execution ground, he noticed Asa standing there awkwardly and spoke to her.
"You came."
"Ah... yes. It's finished."
At those words Asa scratched her head sheepishly. The princess who had followed her stood frozen, watching her mother burn.
"U-um..."
The princess hesitated. Seeing this, Jenkinson asked in a gentle voice.
"What is it?"
A chill ran down her spine. The princess was seized by fear at his tone. In that instant she understood. The man she had known was gone. What stood here now was...
Clenching her fists tightly.
"No... I only hope my mother may receive the Goddess's forgiveness."
She had realized he was no longer the gentle boy from before, but a stern servant of the Goddess.
"She will be forgiven if she repents."
Jenkinson offered her a soft smile. It was undoubtedly the same smile she remembered. It should have been... yet now the princess could no longer view that smile as she once had.
The princess suddenly recalled the first time she met him. She remembered the boy who had approached her while she cried after breaking her father's favorite bowl without permission, comforting her with those same gentle words. That smile still lingered clearly in her memory.
"I liked you."
The princess spoke to Jenkinson, and his eyes widened in genuine surprise. Seeing his reaction, she continued with a sorrowful expression.
"But now I understand. You and I... have already grown so far apart."
The boy she had loved was gone. What remained was merely the Goddess's faithful servant and mouthpiece. The princess had come to see that truth.
He nodded.
"If this appearance makes you feel I have changed, then you are correct."
Jenkinson gave an indifferent nod at her desperate plea and walked past her. His work in Rucella was finished. Jenkinson could sense it. The cooing of a pigeon reached his ears—the bird that signaled the end of his mission.
"I-it'll be different if we fight again, okay? Really?"
Greg laughed as he watched the situation reverse completely. At first he had suffered a string of miserable defeats against Limia. But as time passed, his win rate rose noticeably. It was only natural. Greg was one of the continent's foremost multi-unique magic users and the undisputed master of mana reinforcement. The current Greg was confident he would not lose so pathetically to Gilbert again.
Now I see why that boy took a liking to her.
Greg smiled at Limia, who had cast aside all dignity and was begging for another match.
She's actually cute, acting like that with a body that size.
He finally understood why Jenkinson had said this woman was acceptable.
"More importantly, where is Hermann? I'd like to set out soon."
Greg looked around for Hermann. His body was now in peak condition; he wanted to depart again and finish the man's business.
"He went to buy liquor? That fellow? A-anyway, one more time."
Seeing her still pleading like a child, Greg eventually rose once more.
"If you lose this time, it's over."
"Really... I'll win for sure this time!"
Limia declared boldly as she stretched her limbs. Of course, the outcome had been decided the moment she chose to start a physical brawl with that Greg.
I've bought all the liquor.
Hermann stored the purchased alcohol in his magic space and lifted his bag. It was time to leave again. That was what he thought as he headed back toward the castle.
"Are you Archbishop Hermann Volseik?"
A shiver. The spine-chillingly beautiful voice from behind sent a thrill through Hermann's entire body. He turned around.
A small boy... or so he appeared. An exceptionally cute boy. His glossy black hair resembled the night sky, and his mysterious purple eyes held no visible focus yet somehow conveyed that they were looking straight at him. Outwardly, a boy. But...
Hermann instinctively knew this was no ordinary child.
"Who... are you?"
That was why Hermann kept a hand on the pistol hidden in his coat while watching the boy warily. Then the boy—no...
"Ah, did I forget to introduce myself? I am called Beelzebub."
Beelzebub spoke lightly.
"Though it may be insufficient, I am the king of all flies and all the demons who follow me."
He smiled gently as he spoke. Upon hearing those words, Hermann shuddered. This was an event without precedent in history. It was the moment one of the two kings who divided Hell—not some mere high-ranking demon—had descended upon the surface of the mortal realm.