Chapter 85
Chapter 85
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: The Inquisitor's Verdict
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“Are you refusing to answer? If so, I can force it out of you.”
Selene leaned her face in even closer. Our bodies pressed together naturally. Her thigh, wrapped in tights, slipped between my legs, and I could feel the smooth texture against me.
A rapier had appeared in her right hand at some point. The blade hovered right under my chin, poised to run me through at the slightest provocation, conversation be damned.
Her left hand gripped my throat tightly, inflicting pain without choking off my air or silencing me completely.
It was a exquisitely controlled strength, befitting the title of heresy inquisitor.
I had anticipated this much. After all, I had laid hands on the pope herself—the closest thing to her faith incarnate—and she hadn’t killed me on the spot. That alone showed remarkable restraint.
“Of course I’ll answer. But could you let go of my throat first?”
“Why should I?”
“…Understood. I’ll talk like this, then. Where should I start?”
“Everything.”
A chilling tone slipped through her lips.
“Tell me everything you know, every last bit, without a shred of falsehood. If not…”
The rapier’s blade gleamed with a dusky silver. The tip pressed lightly against the underside of my chin. A cold, moonlit chill seeped in.
Just as the sun’s divine power carried a warm glow, the moon’s held an icy bite. The cold crept up from my chin.
“I’ll give you a tour of the lowest level of the Heresy Inquisition. It’s a place where you’ll spill everything you know—and everything you don’t. You’ll never see the sky again, so choose your words wisely.”
“Very well.”
I answered readily.
My goal was to convince Selene and skip straight to facing the DLC’s final boss. There was no point in a staring contest here.
“You know that when I and the other knight captains went to pay respects to His Holiness the Sun Pope, Her Holiness the Moon Pope descended there in person, right?”
“Nothing that happens within the Holy Kingdom escapes us. From the very moment Her Holiness the Moon Pope visited the Great Sun Cathedral, we watched everything that unfolded inside.”
“Then you must have seen her wield violence against His Holiness the Sun Pope as well.”
“We saw it all. But that was an act of His Holiness. It’s not our place to intervene or judge. Are you trying to make an issue of it now?”
“That’s not what I’m getting at. It’s why she had to do it.”
“…”
Selene furrowed her brow. From a heresy inquisitor’s perspective, dredging up that day’s events was distasteful in itself, so her reaction was only natural.
The unprecedented scandal of the Moon Pope striking the Sun Pope had been witnessed by people from the Empire—no, by high-ranking figures like the captains of the Silver Dawn Knights.
They’d want to bury it, but here I was, bringing it up again and again. No wonder her face soured.
“‘Fate cannot be changed.’ And ‘I cannot abandon Her Holiness the Moon Pope.’ Doesn’t that suggest something to you, Inquisitor?”
“Don’t try to gloss over it with vague words or turn the question back on me. Just spit out everything you know, plainly. Did you really think I’d fall for such a shallow trick and start babbling on my own?”
The grip on my throat tightened further. But it still wasn’t enough to stop me from speaking or make me pass out from lack of air. It just piled on the pain.
“Here’s the conclusion: Her Holiness the Moon Pope views His Holiness the Sun Pope’s intended actions as meaningless—even though they’re for her sake, and hers alone.”
“…”
Anyone who’d witnessed the events in the cathedral could infer this much with a little thought, so Selene just frowned without much rebuttal.
I had no idea why the Moon Pope pulled that stunt right in front of us. She could’ve waited until we left.
If the situation had been that urgent, it might make sense, but her expression and actions showed no urgency at all. That was another mystery.
I’d have to ask her myself after beating the boss.
“So the key question is this: What exactly is His Holiness the Sun Pope trying to do for Her Holiness the Moon Pope?”
“…”
“But the answer’s practically staring us in the face. She said she couldn’t abandon her, which implies their bond will be twisted beyond repair—or that they’ll never meet again.”
“…”
Selene remained silent. Either I’d hit the mark, or she was deep in thought. One or the other.
Truth be told, what happened during our audience with the Sun Pope was pure coincidence. Who could’ve imagined the popes pulling something like that? It wasn’t even a game event.
But that night, as I pieced things together, I concluded that if I played this right, I could skip the entire DLC mid-story.
The Sun Pope wasn’t thrilled about her sister’s sacrifice. And for some reason, she trusted me intensely.
*The backstory hasn’t changed much.*
The reason the Moon Pope mentioned sacrifice tied into the DLC’s final boss: a forsaken creation of the gods. A prophecy demanded one pope sacrifice herself to defeat it.
The Moon Pope had volunteered for the role.
Of course, without the protagonist’s intervention, the Holy Kingdom falls—which meant the plan failed, and the other pope died in battle too.
*In the game, I just shrugged it off as ‘that’s how it has to be.’*
Here, the Sun Pope—who was meant to inherit the power—rejected that future and sought another way. Unlike the game, where both accepted their fates stoically.
That’s why I decided to skip ahead. If one rejected destiny, convincing them would be far easier than in the game.
“So the word ‘sacrifice’—?!”
At that moment, Selene hurled me away with force. I flew across the chapel, tumbling several times over the silver carpet on the floor.
“Ugh?!”
“There’s more explanation, but this is enough. What you’ve said so far is plenty to reach a verdict.”
A chilling voice echoed from behind. I scrambled to right myself. Selene approached with an expressionless face, her aura ominous.
Divine catalyst in her left hand. The rapier in her right emitted a dusky moonlight glow. Soon, thick silver divine power erupted from the catalyst as well.
“At first, I thought you were the type who wouldn’t talk carelessly, so I planned to ask you to keep the cathedral incident secret to prevent rumors.”
The click of her high heels echoed off the marble walls and floor.
“But now, my instincts tell me that won’t do.”
I hurriedly drew my bloodstained sword. The moment I raised it, a silver flash streaked in. I instinctively swung my arm along its path.
—Clang!
A sharp sound like shattering glass rang out, and intense impact jolted my arm. That silver flash was one of the patterns from the heresy inquisitor’s boss fight.
It was as good as a declaration of battle, but inwardly, I breathed a sigh of relief.
*Not killing me outright means I’m already halfway there.*
I’d worried most about her stabbing me mid-conversation. Dodging that, I just needed to persuade her step by step.
“Why did you tell me all that?”
Even so, I doubted we could avoid a fight now.
Behind Selene, as she advanced, a small moon rose. A shadow born of moonlight silhouetted against it, with full moons melting into the darkness.
“You could’ve stayed silent forever. Yet you maneuvered us into this private moment and spilled what you know. Why go to such lengths?”
Another moon rose—on the left, the right, and above.
“What was your goal?”
Four full moons now floated within the chapel.
“What you know must never leak outside. But you don’t strike me as tight-lipped. I can’t trust any vow of silence from you.”
The rapier’s tip aimed at me.
I’d seen this coming too. A heresy inquisitor would kill to prevent word of the pope’s sacrifice from spreading.
Once the fact that one pope must sacrifice herself got out, “why?” would follow, and rumors would snowball uncontrollably.
Revealing the underground monster’s existence was a problem; hiding it was too. Either way, it shattered the foundation of their faith.
“I know the Emperor takes a keen interest in you. Even if it means offering my life to his wrath, I’ll do what must be done.”
Selene assumed the rapier’s signature thrusting stance. Matching silver rapiers emerged from the moons surrounding us.
“You’ll come with me to the Heresy Inquisition.”
She angled the blade tip downward slightly. Persuasion hadn’t worked right away, but I had a backup plan. I had no intention of fighting her boss battle here.
Time to cut the explanations and get to the point.
Selene charged, tracing a silver arc. Once—just once—I needed to parry. As she came, I positioned my sword in her attack path and shouted.
“There’s a way to defeat it without a sacrifice!”
—Clang!
My bloodstained sword met her rapier with a vicious burst. The blade halted inches from my face, and the illusory attacks flickered away.
The full moons faded. The chapel dimmed to a hazy silver once more. The divine power around the rapier and catalyst vanished.
I lowered my voice and spoke calmly.
“If there’s a way to slay that monster without His Holiness’s sacrifice, and that’s why I spoke up—what then?”
Selene’s eyes trembled faintly.
“…What?”