Stolen by a Heretic
“Just an ordinary thief, right? Maybe they suddenly lost their mind and decided to target only my room. Or perhaps one of those children’s group is still alive…!”
“You know that’s impossible, Priest.”
It was a slip of the tongue, born from my desperate wish to deny reality, but Sister Melody refused to allow even the slightest evasion. She forced me to face the truth at once. In the end, I had no choice but to accept it.
“Then it really is a heretic here in the temple….”
When I couldn’t bring myself to finish the sentence, she gave a calm nod.
“I sensed the power of heresy being used to enter this place.”
“I don’t understand.”
“If you aren’t familiar with the power heretics wield, you wouldn’t be able to detect it.”
Dear god. The incident was so shocking that I could barely process it. A heretic had broken into my room and done this…
“It was a stroke of luck that you were busy all day and didn’t return to rest in your quarters, Priest.”
“!!!”
I had been lamenting that I should have been in the room, yet Sister Melody called it fortunate.
“If you had been inside, the intruder would have attacked you. I apologize, but from now on I will need to guard you from even closer range. You have essentially been exposed to them.”
I already thought we were close enough. And now even more?
“What will you do now?”
“I intend to follow the traces.”
“I…”
“Before I pursue them, I will summon the holy knights. Please tidy the room while I am gone.”
Sister Melody left the room in a hurry. She opened the window and leaped straight through it.
“This floor is so high! Ah!”
Startled, I rushed to check whether Sister Melody had landed safely after dropping from the window.
“Wow… she’s fast.”
Given the overwhelming strength she had displayed inside the Labyrinth, I knew a fall from a window wouldn’t seriously injure her. Still, it was only natural to be shocked when someone dropped right before your eyes.
“When exactly did they take it?”
She said traces remained, but I wondered whether following them would actually let us catch the thief.
The fact that they even knew about the Holy Relic was strange enough, but the idea that they knew I possessed it was even more unsettling.
I grew worried that Sister Melody might have walked into a trap set by the one who stole it. I had no idea how long I had been lost in thought.
“Excuse us, Priest.”
“We came as soon as we received the report.”
“Oh god, it really happened?”
Even while chasing the traces, Sister Melody had taken the time to worry about me and call the holy knights. Gratitude for her thoughtful concern left me at a complete loss for how to respond.
“Are you all right?!”
The theft of a priest’s quarters could be seen as a failure on the holy knights’ part. Their duty was to protect the temple, after all. The fact that they had remained unaware of the intruder until now was understandably alarming.
“I was busy all day and only returned late, only to find my room in this state.”
“Is anything missing?”
“I’ll need to check more thoroughly, but… one of the items I brought out of the Labyrinth has disappeared.”
“This is terrible! Was it something important?”
Having witnessed the damage themselves, everyone’s faces had gone pale. Should I comfort them, or tell them enough of the truth to help them understand the situation quickly? I couldn’t reveal the relic’s true nature, but I decided it was right to share what I could. Handling this as nothing more than the theft of a few valuables would only cause them greater problems later.
“I intended to send it upward.”
“!!”
“!!”
The holy knights’ faces turned ashen. They clearly understood that “sending it upward” meant far more than mere valuables.
“I believe the culprit is a heretic. For security reasons I cannot disclose the item’s identity, but it is crucial and must be recovered at all costs.”
“We will report to the captain and mobilize immediately.”
“Do you have any suspects in mind?”
Even the holy knights would struggle if they had to investigate blindly. Unfortunately, this was exactly that kind of case. The only clue was the trace Sister Melody had gone to follow.
“No. I only suspect it is a heretic. I have no specific person in mind.”
“In cases like this, it is often someone familiar with the item.”
“No. That is impossible. Only Sister Melody and I knew of its existence.”
If they had any sense, they would realize neither the heretic inquisitor nor the victim who had lost the item could possibly be the culprit.
“Information could have leaked without your knowledge. Your subjugation team members will need to be investigated.”
“Those people wouldn’t know anything about it…”
I knew the culprit was statistically likely to be someone close to me.
“For now, since Sister Melody has gone after the trace, let us wait for her results. If a heretic had been among my team, I would have noticed.”
“Understood. We will focus our efforts on searching the surrounding area. Could you describe the missing item’s appearance and size?”
“It was sealed inside a box about this large. Even if stolen, they likely cannot open the seal easily.”
Unless the thief was the one who had placed the seal, it would not yield easily. I trusted Sister Melody’s skill, so the item itself should not be in immediate danger. Still, if they kept hammering at it, the seal would eventually break.
“It must be found. Please help me.”
“Yes. We will recover it without fail.”
It was a night when everyone should have been resting, yet bright lights now burned in the quarters of the knight order guarding the temple.
The priests could hardly have remained unaware of the commotion that had lasted all night.
“What happened last night?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t know the details either.”
“Doesn’t anyone know anything?”
They seemed curious about the events that had taken place at dawn.
“You really don’t know?”
“They won’t answer even when I ask what happened, so how could I find out?”
“Something definitely happened, though…”
The knight order rarely displayed such behavior, so everyone’s interest was intense.
“They seem to be watching strangers with extreme wariness. Maybe some incredibly vicious criminal has appeared nearby?”
“That sounds plausible!”
I ate my meal in silence, listening to their speculative conversation. The aftermath of staying up all night kept forcing yawns from me.
“Haaam.”
“You must not have slept well. Or did you overwork yourself yesterday?”
“You traveled so far. There’s no way your fatigue would vanish overnight. You’ll need several days of rest before your stamina returns.”
“Finish eating and go back to bed.”
Rest? The sudden theft had filled me with anxiety and worry that made sleep impossible.
Is Sister Melody all right…?
My greatest concern now was whether she would return safely after following the trail. The person who had vanished yesterday still had not come back, so worry was inevitable. I finished the meal that refused to go down easily, unable to hide my sigh, and was heading to my room to rest when a holy knight approached.
“Priest.”
“Ah! Yes.”
“We are still searching, but we have found no suspicious individuals. Neither the item you described nor Sister Melody…”
“I see. Thank you for your hard work. It can’t be helped. I’m sorry for making you go through so much trouble searching without any clear leads. I only hope Sister Melody returns safely.”
“We will continue searching the perimeter.”
“I’m sorry.”
The entire knight order had been thrown into chaos because an item meant to be sent upward had been stolen from the temple. I felt genuine guilt. From their perspective, it must have felt like a lightning bolt striking from a clear sky.
“I will try to report this with as little damage to your order as possible.”
“No, this is clearly our fault, so please convey the facts exactly as they are. The fact that an impure person entered the temple without anyone noticing is a serious problem. This incident will serve to tighten discipline among the knights who had grown somewhat lax. In that sense, it may be for the best.”
There had been minor incidents before, but nothing on this scale. Everyone had let their guard down, and this event was the result. The knights’ training would likely become much stricter for a while because of it.
“Understood…”
What could I say when they asked me to report accurately? It pained me to see the knight beside me looking so despairing, but there was nothing I could do.
This one seems to follow the rules to the letter.
I would have to be careful with my report. If I added that the knight order’s excellent cooperation had kept me from panicking and that their response had been exemplary, perhaps the punishment would be lighter?
After the knights left without good news, I decided to finish cleaning the room I had been unable to complete at dawn. Every time I looked at the ruined objects, my fists clenched on their own.
“They could have simply searched the place, but they deliberately smashed everything.”
What had I done to deserve this? Anger burned inside me, but I had no choice but to endure it. I would repay this someday.
“If I throw all this away, I’ll have to go shopping again.”
It felt as though someone harbored a personal grudge against me. But who?
What do they plan to do with an object tied to the Evil God?
Did they simply not want to return the Holy Relic to the Holy Empire? That seemed too petty. Which meant they had taken it to use that vicious energy… I could only pray that this incident would not lead to something far worse.
Is the pursuit going well?
I hoped so… Telling myself that no news was good news, I struggled to push down my growing anxiety.
She wouldn’t single-handedly wipe out another heretic den, would she?
My imagination kept drifting toward grim possibilities. If Sister Melody did not return today, I doubted I would sleep at all. I spent the entire day trembling with worry and prepared the report that needed to be sent to the Holy Empire. Late into the night, just as I finally fell into a shallow sleep, the sound of footsteps outside made every trace of drowsiness vanish. My eyes flew open.