Chapter 169
Chapter 169
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 169
Chapter Title: Tea with the Heretic Inquisitor
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“What would you like to drink? Black tea? Or coffee?”
“Anything is fine. Please serve whatever Your Excellency the Bishop desires.”
“Then, black tea it shall be.”
“Yes.”
Unlike our first high-pressure encounter, after dragging me all the way to the church, Bishop Bianca treated me with surprising warmth, as if I were a guest.
Though they'd supposedly improved a great deal since the old days, the image of a Heretic Inquisitor was still that of a human butcher, so I'd been terrified the entire way here. Being greeted with such a gentle atmosphere eased my tension just a little.
“Here you are. Add sugar to your taste.”
“Thank you. I'll enjoy it.”
Of course, I couldn't let my guard down completely since she might turn on me at any moment, but as she personally brewed the tea and offered a soft smile, it was hard not to hope things might go smoothly.
“Slurp...”
I wasn't one to add sugar usually, so I lightly stirred it with a teaspoon to cool it down and took a sip.
“......”
Then, quietly, I dropped two sugar cubes into the tea.
For some reason, the tea was incredibly bitter.
Black tea was supposed to have a slight bitterness, but this was on another level—I nearly spat it out the moment it touched my tongue.
Was it cheap tea leaves?
Or had the leaves gone bad...?
She offered sugar along with it, so it probably wasn't a budget issue. Or was serving awful black tea the first stage of a Heretic Inquisition?
“Slurp...”
Even I thought that was a ridiculous notion, so after fully dissolving the sugar, I wet my lips with the tea again.
With the sugar, it was at least drinkable.
“Haha... Your Excellency the Bishop seems quite skilled at brewing black tea.”
Even if it didn't taste great, she'd served me, so I offered a clichéd compliment with a smile.
“Hehe~”
Bishop Bianca let out a kind laugh at the praise, lightly covering her mouth, then casually pushed her own cup of black tea aside and spoke.
“You tasted it first, then added sugar before complimenting me. You're not someone skilled at lying, are you?”
“I simply wanted it sweeter belatedly.”
“Come now, wasn't it terribly bitter?”
“......”
I couldn't fathom her sudden intent, so I chose silence over a reply.
Bishop Bianca flashed a seductive smile, pulled something from her bosom, and lightly shook it.
“Truth serum in the black tea, actually. It's so bitter that most people spit it out right away, but your mental fortitude is stronger than it looks?”
“......”
I stared blankly at the teacup in my trembling hands, eyes wide.
They said things had improved a lot!
That Heretic Inquisitors now respected human rights a bit!
This didn't match at all...
“Wh... why...”
I forced the words out, glaring at Bishop Bianca with eyes full of resentment.
“For the investigation, naturally. Lying while fully sober is far too easy, and information from torture isn't reliable. So, the alternative is something that prevents lying.”
“Insane...”
“Don't worry, it's not as potent as you fear. If just drinking it made your true thoughts spill out effortlessly, why bother with investigations? If you have the willpower to endure having your nails pulled without screaming, you might even withhold answers.”
“So it's still nearly impossible?”
“Nearly impossible and impossible are worlds apart. If you're truly innocent, God will protect you.”
“......”
Her romantic treatment of suspects made my head spin.
I desperately missed the right to silence or to appoint a lawyer.
The right to silence existed even in 17th-century England, and legal representation dated back to the Middle Ages...
“May I bring a legal representative?”
“Most versed in Church law are priests like me. Would that be alright? Also, no blood relatives allowed.”
I'd hoped to call my sister, but of course, that was impossible.
Calling a priest felt like evolving the investigator into two, which made me uneasy.
“On second thought, handling this alone seems best.”
“Right?”
And so, with no choice but to swallow my tears and face it solo.
“So, why exactly am I here...?”
I wanted to cry already, but that might roughen the mood further, so I calmed my surging emotions and asked what I'd wondered since we met.
I was wronged, but I still needed to know why I'd been brought in.
“Oh right, how absent-minded of me—I haven't explained that yet.”
Bishop Bianca snapped her fingers lightly as if remembering a forgotten lunchbox, rose from her seat, and headed to a bookshelf in the corner. She pulled out various items, placed them on the table, then picked up the top stack of papers, flipped through a few pages, raised an eyebrow, and began reading the entries one by one.
“Disrupting public morals, use of perverse sorcery, collaboration with antisocial groups, denial of doctrine... life creation? You've collected quite the assortment of rare charges.”
“None of that rings a bell...”
Every single one was absurd.
Disrupting public morals might be debatable depending on perspective, but the rest were utterly baffling crimes, making the emotions I'd barely suppressed surge up again.
“Even to us, these seem excessively outrageous. So many charges at once usually point to a frame-up.”
“Then why...”
“That doesn't mean all are innocent, especially disrupting public morals—don't you have nothing to say about that yourself?”
“Well... I admit I may have left room for misunderstanding there.”
“Misunderstanding... We'll discuss that in detail later.”
Bishop Bianca smirked, set the paper down, rested her arms on the table, and fixed me with a stare like she was demanding I board a massive purple robot.
“First, let's address collaboration with antisocial groups.”
“Never happened.”
“Yes, so we concluded no charges.”
“What?”
It ended so anticlimactically that I frowned and glared at Bishop Bianca.
Why bring it up then?
“A report came in, so I had to ask. We need records showing a thorough investigation. You can't see them, but recorders and observers are watching us from beyond that wall.”
“Ah, yes...”
Tricking me with truth serum, yet progressive in weird ways.
If only they'd invest that record-keeping zeal into human rights...
“Your Excellency, what exactly is an antisocial group?”
“We investigated internally at the church since you asked. Turns out, they called witches an antisocial group.”
Witches had a poor reputation, but not to the level of antisocial organizations.
I'd checked myself, fearing trouble.
My witch friends obsessed over Yard Pound, lived in remote deserts or swamps, pursued their own sorcery and magic—gloomy folk, sure, but not heretics.
They even kept crosses at home, attended church, and viewed spirits as God's aid for manifesting sorcery—church-friendly types.
The witches who treated spirits as gods rather than phenomena were long exterminated.
Framing me alone was one thing, but insulting the witch collective carried different weight.
Openly labeling a well-integrated group over centuries as antisocial?
Witches could fight back, too. Mess up, and you'd get medieval Pitch Harbor or Oppenheimer-level backlash.
“Obviously 100% a frame-up, so the lunatic who filed such nonsense is under imperial investigation with our cooperation. If no basis for calling them antisocial, they'll be punished for false accusation.”
“I see...”
I looked at Bishop Bianca with pity, having to investigate even this rubbish report.
But she eyed me lazily, one corner of her mouth curling up.
“One down, and you're relaxing already? Four charges remain.”
“If it's all forced framing like this, I can explain the rest easily.”
“Such confidence. I like it.”
“Because I'm innocent.”
“Then, shall we discuss distributing obscene materials in the Imperial Capital for a month?”
“That's on me.”
“......”
Unable to deny it, I admitted faster than light, and Bishop Bianca's relaxed, smiling expression cracked for an instant.
She furrowed her brow, her elbow-on-table hand-over-mouth pose loosened, and her hand went to her forehead.
“You crumbled faster than your confidence suggests.”
“I didn't expect an already punished imperial law matter to come up...”
No right to silence here yet, but double jeopardy was strictly upheld, so I genuinely hadn't anticipated it.
“Wait, already punished?”
I could tell from her visibly flustered flipping through documents.
“Are you sure you were punished?”
“Yes, all three cases ended with fines. The knight order has records—check there. Or I can submit the fine receipts if needed.”
“Hmm... Submit related documents later, then. If confirmed punished, we'll drop it.”
“Yes.”
The second passed smoothly.
‘Ads too sexy’ level meant light community service and confession would end it anyway, but early momentum mattered most in these situations.
Hesitate, and testimony twists oddly.
“Ahem... Next, then.”
“Yes.”
Clearing her throat a few times, Bishop Bianca composed her shattered expression, looked away from the papers, and met my eyes again.
“Life creation next—no charges. Pregnancy promotion suspected as such isn't life creation.”
“Yes...”
“But whether that pregnancy promotion is perverse sorcery is another matter. Opinions were split; debates lasted days... Ultimately, we concluded pregnancy promotion magic is fine.”
“Yes...?”
What was this?
Wasn't the church all about natural pregnancy?
I'd expected issues...
“Some in the church disapprove of artificial intervention in the sacred act of conception, but we considered the beneficiaries were a married couple, and it was just minor aid for smooth pregnancy, not artificially implanting life. Normal lust through intercourse ensured conception, after all.”
“The church's view is intriguing, but I don't know such magic, can't use it, and never have.”
“Yes, confirmed. No issues with the garments claimed enchanted.”
“Phew...”
This passed smoothly too.
Most cleared, then?
I could swear I'd never opposed church doctrine, whatever that was.
I wasn't crazy enough to hang myself over clothes.
“But you know.”
“...?”
As I smiled with slight relief, Bishop Bianca grinned slyly, pulled something from the paper stack, and slid it toward me.
The paper had photos attached—all outfits I'd designed and spread.
“Among clothes you and your staff made, many are unsightly. They seem far from the purity and chastity we value...”
Bishop Bianca jabbed each photo with her finger, glaring sharply.
The atmosphere grew heavy in an instant.
“Any explanations for these garments?”
“......”
Finally, it had arrived.