Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: Encounter with the Heresy Inquisitor
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The opportunity arrived swiftly. Not even three days had passed since she'd started walking wherever her feet took her, when Stella finally laid eyes on the heretic she'd been longing for.
'Truly, the Lord has guided me here.'
Stella flashed a pure smile as she gazed at a group of humans conversing with grave expressions in the distance. It was a smile that seemed utterly innocent and kind.
Though the truth behind it was something else entirely.
Even from this far away, the demon's stench carried on the wind filled her with thoughts of torturing the heretic, and the laughter bubbling up uncontrollably was from the sheer joy of it.
No doubt about it. A single man mingled among three women. That man had undoubtedly broken the demon's seal.
'But... something's off...'
Her green eyes scanned the heretic's surroundings.
A blue-haired woman with a serious expression, a red-haired woman with the same, and a pink-haired woman slumped weakly against a tree. Faces she'd seen before.
They were the captains of the Silver Dawn Knights, the empire's elite order tasked with guarding the imperial palace. Stella was certain her eyes weren't deceiving her.
So why were such people traveling with a demon worshiper?
It wasn't coercion or deception. Those women were acting alongside the demon worshiper of their own free will, showing considerable camaraderie at that.
'I'll need to confirm this.'
Kaykilia might be a bit of a bitch, but she was no one who'd summon a demon, so she could let that slide. But her subordinates were another story.
Perhaps demonic heresy was happening behind Kaykilia's back in places she couldn't see.
She'd have to request an investigation from the Heresy Interrogators later. With that thought, Stella made her smile even more innocently pure before walking toward the heretic, who had now noticed her presence.
"You seem to need some help?"
'......Who the hell is she?'
I heightened my vigilance to the max. I'd never encountered an event where someone approached the player right after the Arachnaira boss fight. So what came next was uncharted territory for me.
Hoping to figure out her identity, I observed the woman closely.
Golden hair with gentle waves cascaded in graceful curves over her collarbone and shoulders. Her bangs covered her brows and the corners of her eyes, and through them, green eyes gleamed faintly.
But what drew the eye most was the highly revealing nun's habit.
A semicircular white cloth draped over her shoulders, from which a triangular breastplate descended, barely covering her breasts that were as large as my head.
Naturally, there were no straps or fabric holding it in place. A gust of wind from the side might expose them entirely. The undersides and sides of her breasts were practically on full display.
The fabric along her sides plunged nearly to her solar plexus, baring smooth skin. At the high slits, there was literally nothing—no undergarment straps in sight.
The only thing covering her intimate areas was the long hem of the nun's habit draping downward, while a buckle tightly cinched below her breasts, accentuating their already immense size.
Her thighs were sheathed in black mesh stockings, and high heels adorned her feet.
'......Looks like a Holy Kingdom NPC, but that's all I got.'
With the appearance change mode applied, turning priests into nuns, the Holy Kingdom's nun NPCs probably dressed like that. It was so long ago, my memory was fuzzy.
At least the nun outfits I remembered weren't that outrageously revealing. You could tell at a glance they were based on nun habits, though.
Plus, why would Holy Kingdom priests show up in front of the Arachnaira boss room? What business did they have here?
"Help us?"
Lize's demeanor sharpened further. She looked ready to clash weapons with the woman at the slightest misstep. Erika's vibe was pretty hostile too.
"Yes, of course. The one behind you seems to be in quite critical condition."
The blonde pointed at Claudia with her finger. Seeing the gesture, Lize snapped back irritably.
"Don't point fingers at Claudia. That's your warning."
"Warning? A warning? You're warning me? Pfft, puhaha, puhahahaha!"
In an instant, the blonde woman's atmosphere shifted.
She clutched her flawless, taut abdomen and laughed uproariously until she was gasping for breath, finally wiping tears from the corners of her eyes with a finger.
"Kkhuhuhu... Ah, it's been so long since I laughed this hard. A warning? To me? Oh, it's been ages since I saw a heretic with such spirit."
'......Heretic?'
The word brought one NPC to mind immediately.
Heretic. And a nun's habit.
"But funny is funny, and the rest is separate."
Stella raised her hand. In response, the sound of trees splintering—crack!—echoed from somewhere. Without thinking, I glanced behind the woman, toward the source.
The culprit was a flail.
A solid iron weight at the end, about the size of two human heads combined, hurtled toward the blonde woman, smashing through everything in its path.
The blonde casually caught the terrifying-looking flail with one hand. A dull clang rang through the forest.
The moment I saw it, I realized her identity. Only one character wielded such a distinctive flail.
'Heresy Inquisitor...!'
The leader of the Holy Kingdom's strongest force, directly commanded by the Sun Pope. It had to be the Heresy Inquisitor. Her appearance was so different from what I remembered that I hadn't recognized her.
'Why is the Heresy Inquisitor all the way out here?'
I'd pegged her identity, but I still had no clue why she'd come here.
Holy Kingdom battle priests could pop up around the empire now and then, but the Heresy Inquisitor, like the two Popes, never left the Holy Kingdom.
Something was off.
"I am Stella, Heresy Inquisitor under the direct command of the Sun Pope. And you are heretics who worship demons."
Boom! Stella slammed her flail vertically into the ground. Even lightly placed, the weight sank halfway into the earth.
I glanced around. If the Sun Pope's Heresy Inquisitor was here, maybe the Moon Pope's Heresy Interrogator was too. Why wouldn't both come if one did?
In BRD4's combat, where difficulty spiked exponentially with more enemies, facing two bosses at once was something even I wasn't confident about.
"Did you think you could release a demon sealed by the Holy Kingdom's priests at the cost of their lives and escape judgment?"
The word "demon" made us all flinch collectively. Of course, the knight captains knew the plan I'd devised to kill the lord.
All else aside, we had been connected to a demon.
Not that we worshiped it or tried to summon it into the world, but to this Heresy Inquisitor, such nuances apparently didn't matter.
"We won't deny any connection to a demon. But we've never committed acts worthy of being branded heretics by the Holy Kingdom. If anything, we were the victims. His Imperial Majesty confirmed it personally. Please lower your weapon."
Erika pointed her sword tip at the ground to show she had no intent to fight, calmly attempting to persuade Stella.
We needed to treat Claudia as soon as possible—no time to waste fighting here—and conflict with the Holy Kingdom was best avoided.
Though dragged to the empire's fringes, the Silver Dawn Knights still served the emperor. This could escalate into a diplomatic incident.
But it was all for naught. Stella grinned widely as she raised her flail's weight toward us.
"You're under a gross misunderstanding. Judging guilt or innocence isn't for heretics to decide."
Footsteps echoed from all directions. Startled, Erika raised her sword again. Women in nun habits similar to Stella's but slightly less revealing had surrounded us.
I lacked sharp instincts, and Claudia was out of commission from poison, but how had they slipped past Lize and Erika's senses to encircle us?
Thud. Now the flail's weight pointed at me.
"The price for breaking the demon's seal can only be judged by the Lord."
"......Ah. So you're saying you'll kill us all right now?"
"If you're guilty, you'll die. If innocent, you'll live. If you're truly unconnected to demons, the Lord will save you. But..."
Her eyelids curved like a crescent moon around her green eyes.
"Do you really think you can survive?"
"Why wouldn't we?"
The air between Lize and Stella grew taut, ready to snap. They looked poised to lunge at each other any second.
"Heresy Inquisitor, you seem to be under a massive misunderstanding. If we'd truly done that, His Imperial Majesty would have executed us already—?!"
White light burst from Stella's hand. Lize and Erika both shielded their eyes. Only I, knowing what that light was, rolled aside to dodge it swiftly.
Seeing me evade the light made Stella's smile even more menacing.
I knew what misunderstanding she'd formed. Dodging holy power meant I was definitely a demon worshiper in her eyes. A normal person would just shield their eyes.
'Getting hit by that guarantees a status ailment—how the hell am I supposed to deal?'
Fighting battle nuns with a status debuff from holy attacks was impossible. If I'd had time, I'd have warned the others, but sadly, I didn't.
I calmly surveyed our surroundings, bloodied sword at the ready. Twelve battle nuns in total. Not an unwinnable number if we weren't surrounded.
Breaking the encirclement was the bitch of it.
"Fine. Let's do this then?"
Ice enveloped Lize's body as she charged Stella first. With the Heresy Inquisitor convinced we were demon worshipers, fighting was inevitable. One side would die—either them or us.
That's what Heresy Inquisitors were.
Erika seemed to abandon persuasion too, gripping her weapon with both hands and sticking close to my side, alert to our surroundings. She'd realized combat was our only option now.
Lize closed the distance in a flash. Her blade aimed precisely for Stella's nape. A clean, efficient strike.
But the problem was that Lize had been hit by that white light earlier, inflicting a status ailment. Before I could stop her, knowing that, the dagger sank into her neck.
—Stab!
"You can't kill me with something like this."
Well, it tried to sink in.
Despite taking the attack head-on, Stella stood unmoved, not batting an eye.
HP meant a single hit wouldn't be fatal, but this was different. She'd taken almost no damage at all.
Seeing Stella unscathed, Lize pressed the next attack immediately. This time, her right eye. The dagger in her left hand plunged toward Stella's right eye.
"Didn't I tell you?"
"......!"
Yet, even with the dagger clearly piercing her eye, Stella's expression remained calm. In fact, Lize's arm trembled from overexertion.
"You can't kill me with something like this."
The bluish blade was halted at Stella's eye.