The Heretic Inquisitor (1)
The heretic inquisitor’s expression hardened into a rigid mask, as if the flood of goodwill in everyone’s eyes was more burden than blessing.
“Yes.”
I hadn’t managed to learn much about her yet, but I already suspected that even if something made her uncomfortable, she would never mention it to us.
She looks like the type who would simply endure any discomfort in silence.
People like that required us to pay extra attention and check in proactively. Only then could we notice the problem and fix it. Some might find that kind of stoicism frustrating, but I had no desire to criticize differences in personality.
The temple, which had been buzzing with tension at the inquisitor’s arrival, soon grew noisy again for an entirely different reason as patients began streaming in.
“I’ll be on duty inside the temple all day today. What will you do, Sister Melody?”
I was essentially telling her that staying by my side would only mean yawning through idle hours, so she might as well take some personal time.
“Then I’ll take a look around the area.”
“Of course. There’s a cafeteria in the temple where you can eat. If you don’t plan to eat outside, please use that.”
“Yes.”
Her first long reply must have been an effort to be polite in front of so many strangers. The longer the conversation went on, the shorter her answers became.
So speaking at length was actually her way of trying hard.
She really was a peculiar character.
As soon as the heretic inquisitor left to scout the surroundings, the priests who had supposedly been busy treating patients began approaching me one by one.
“Wow~ She’s incredibly charismatic.”
“As expected of a heretic inquisitor. Every single word carries such weight!”
While her entrance had been so eerie that even I was startled at first, I hadn’t thought much of it afterward. The others, however, clearly found her quite intimidating. Calling it charisma was just a polite way of saying she was terrifying, wasn’t it?
That kind of fuss would probably fade once they saw her face more often. That is, if a blood-soaked man hadn’t been dragged in right around lunchtime when everyone was starting to feel drowsy.
“Kyaaak!!”
“?!”
“!!”
Screams were one of the more common sounds heard inside the temple. Most were usually cries of pain from patients, but this one felt different.
“Wasn’t that Nurse Priestess Tune’s voice?”
“I thought so too.”
The voice that had screamed was familiar. I hurried toward the source of the cry.
“What on earth is going on?”
The treatment room lobby was a complete mess of blood. Since this was already a place where a lot of bleeding occurred, a little gore alone wouldn’t have caused anyone to scream. Following the crowd’s gaze, I finally located the cause of the incident.
“Sister Melody?”
“I apologize for the disturbance.”
“…What exactly is…”
Was that what I thought she was holding?
I now understood why Nurse Priestess Tune had screamed. She must have seen something utterly horrifying. The heretic inquisitor who had quietly gone out to look around the area had returned dragging a blood-drenched man into the treatment center.
The problem was that the person she had dragged in was covered in blood that had clearly been spilled by the inquisitor herself.
“May I ask for treatment?”
“You don’t appear to be injured, so I assume you’re requesting treatment for this person. Is that correct?”
Since the other priests hesitated to step forward, I moved ahead myself.
“Yes.”
“From what I can see, it looks like you’re the one who put him in that state, Sister Melody.”
“Correct.”
“Looking at the wounds… it appears you tortured him.”
“Yes.”
I’d heard that most heretic inquisitors were half-mad, but watching her speak so casually about torturing someone made the back of my head throb.
“Why did you do this? Did this man commit a grave crime?”
“I cannot disclose details while the investigation is ongoing.”
“……”
The wounds of people brought to the treatment center after being attacked by monsters were horrific, but torture wounds carried a level of shock and terror that made one’s mind reel.
“Why go this far…”
I knew it was for the sake of the Holy Empire. I knew this person had probably done terrible things. And yet.
Even so, the sight of that mangled body instinctively filled me with revulsion.
So this is why they say not just anyone can become a heretic inquisitor.
Heretic inquisitors who, despite being priests of light, must swim through darkness to protect the world. I must never forget that it is thanks to their efforts that we can live in peace.
Even people who understand that still look at her with those eyes. It really must be an incredibly difficult job.
The other priests were frozen in place. I couldn’t expect them to step up, so I knew I had to move.
Her face remains completely blank, but there’s no way to know if her heart is equally unmoved.
The fact that she was asking me to save the man she had tortured suggested she hadn’t yet extracted all the information she needed. Even if I healed him now, he would clearly be hurt again, but I couldn’t refuse her request.
“First, we need to lay the patient down.”
“He’s dangerous, so I’ll do it.”
When a nursing priestess tried to approach, the inquisitor blocked her and personally laid the man she was carrying onto a medical bed.
“Ugh…”
The man let out a groan at the rough movement, proving he was still alive, but he looked as though he might stop breathing at any moment.
“Since you said he’s dangerous, we can’t place him near the regular patients. Let’s move him first. Is that all right?”
“Yes.”
As expected, her answer was brief. She began pushing the medical bed herself.
“Where should I take him?”
“Could you check for an empty room?”
“Ah! Please come this way!”
The nursing priestess, who had been momentarily dazed by my words, snapped back to attention and hurriedly guided us to an empty room.
After moving him into the room, I quickly gathered my divine power at the sound of his increasingly labored breathing. If we waited any longer, he really might die.
That was when she spoke.
“You don’t need to heal everything.”
“Pardon?”
The heretic inquisitor delivered those deflating words just as I was about to begin treatment.
“Just heal him enough so he doesn’t die.”
I knew she was trying to be considerate in her own way, knowing that any effort I put in would be undone by further torture. Even so, this time I couldn’t keep my voice from turning cold.
“Treating a patient half-heartedly is something I cannot do. From the theology I studied since childhood, I was never taught to hold life in such contempt.”
“……”
The inquisitor flinched at my words, then nodded and took a step back. It seemed she would respect what I said.
Even if the divine power I used for treatment would soon become useless.
I would not hesitate to heal the patient before me. That was one principle I had always tried to uphold in this profession.
“Treatment is complete.”
I couldn’t relax my expression even as I watched the man fall into a peaceful sleep. Having healed him, I had seen exactly how and where every injury had been inflicted.
I had witnessed in vivid detail exactly how this man had been tortured.
How can one human being do something this horrific to another?
What crime could this person possibly have committed? Was it truly unforgivable?
“When will he regain consciousness?”
“He’s simply exhausted and sleeping. He’ll probably rest for seven to eight hours.”
Assuming there was no external stimulus, of course.
At my answer, the heretic inquisitor suddenly lifted the patient up. Though she was tall, her frame was small. It was astonishing to see her hoist an adult man so easily.
“I’ll take him back now.”
“…That… Never mind.”
It wasn’t my place to interfere with the work of a heretic inquisitor. She waited as if she knew what I wanted to say, but when I trailed off, she looked at me with a slightly surprised gaze.
“If he needs treatment again in the future, please call for me. I will take care of it.”
Since the man had ended up here because of me, I felt it was my responsibility to see it through.
“…Yes.”
Once again answering briefly, the heretic inquisitor walked away with the man in her arms. From that man’s perspective, having all his wounds healed must have felt like a disaster.
Is this the beginning of repeated torture?
Torture, heal, torture, heal. If that cycle continued, no matter how tough the person was, they would eventually break.
When I stepped out of the inpatient room and confirmed that the inquisitor was no longer nearby, the priests swarmed around me.
“What happened?”
“Did you heal the patient completely?”
“Did you ask why she tortured him?”
To be honest, even I would have been curious about this incident. I understood how the priests felt, but I knew nothing concrete, and I certainly couldn’t speak carelessly about a heretic inquisitor’s work.
“I’d appreciate it if everyone would pretend this incident never happened. After all, this is the business of a heretic inquisitor.”
“Ah…”
“I know very well how shocked you all are and how much you want to say. But please remember that the reason we can peacefully and freely study His teachings under the light is because there are people who carry out the dirty work in the shadows.”
“……”
“……”
My words must have carried some weight. The priests, who had looked deeply disappointed in the inquisitor, quickly regained their composure. Some even fell into deep thought. A few looked so guilty they were practically fidgeting in place.
“Just as we feel revulsion at such acts, the people who actually carry them out must feel the same emotions. Even if they pretend otherwise, they must be hurt too.”
“…What should we do? I unknowingly looked at her with eyes full of criticism.”
“I even screamed, for goodness’ sake.”
I spoke to the dejected priests.
“When you see her again, don’t avoid her. Greet her first and apologize. If you have the courage to admit your mistake and apologize, I believe you will be forgiven.”
I wasn’t sure whether an apology would mean anything to her, someone who hadn’t flinched even under public condemnation. But I believed that pretending nothing had happened would be far worse.
I, too, owed her an apology. Although I had tried not to show it, while treating the man whose body had been mangled by torture, I had felt nothing but disgust.