The New Heresy Inquisitor (1)

A month had passed since the Saintess left the Manfred Barony.

I had formally completed the succession and become a baron of the Laviart Empire.

At the same time, I was on my way to become a Heresy Inquisitor of the Lumenic Church.

A body that was supposed to become a demon worshipper, now becoming a Heresy Inquisitor.

It was a strange feeling.

It felt as though I had escaped the worst possible ending — and yet, at the same time, as though I were racing toward something even worse.

The carriage I rode in now had been sent by the Saintess, bound for the Holy City of Lumenon.

The city that housed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Lumenic Papal Seat.

The Heresy Inquisition was there as well.

Holy City Lumenon sat near the very center of the continent — an ideal position from which to mediate among every nation and keep the Undead King in check.

Through the wars of expansion, the Laviart Empire had swallowed nearly the entire eastern half of the continent, forcing the other nations westward. The Undead King, too, held the west — specifically its northern reaches. Directly beneath his territory lay Anamar, the confederation of beastmen tribes.

The beastmen bandits who had appeared in the barony had been deserters from the Anamar Union.

"Master. Hungry."

"I already told you — you don't need my permission to eat."

Dorothy was coming with me. Accepting her as a Heresy Inquisitor had been one of my conditions.

The wolf girl pulled out a thick strip of jerky and, with her sharp teeth, tore through it and swallowed it in an instant.

Over the past month, I had altered Dorothy's Curse of the Lycanthrope. Reconstructing a curse that lived in someone else's body was extraordinarily complex work, and it had taken a long time. There were moments I wondered whether simply teaching her dark magic would have been faster.

With the Curse of the Lycanthrope altered, she could transform into a wolf at will — and even in wolf form, her intellect no longer diminished.

I had released the Curse of the Puppet. It was a curse for controlling low-intelligence cursed beings, and it no longer served any purpose. I still kept the fang that had been its catalyst, though. Dorothy treated whoever held it as her master — regardless of the curse itself. Simply possessing it was enough.

She was still afraid of living as a person without a master. And for my part, I still needed her. As the Offering of Heresy, she shared the burden of my life-force consumption.

"…Isn't that armor uncomfortable?"

Every time the carriage jolted, a clanking sound came from Dorothy's direction, so ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I asked. She still insisted on wearing her fur cloak and full armor. Before, she had needed a separate set of enormous gear for her wolf form. After the curse was altered, the armor she already wore simply grew with her when she transformed — which was a relief.

"Not uncomfortable."

Dorothy shook her head.

I was wearing the Heresy Inquisitor's uniform the Saintess had sent — a black leather coat similar to the one Veronica wore. Dorothy had been given one as well, of course, but she had refused to put it on.

Come to think of it, of everyone in the Special Task Force, Veronica had been the only one who actually wore the uniform properly. Agnes dressed in armor the same way Dorothy did, and Alexander had been buried under a black cloak, so I couldn't tell what he had on underneath.

"We are now entering Holy City Lumenon!"

At the coachman's call, the sound of a massive iron gate grinding open reached us. Perhaps because this was the Saintess's carriage, we weren't subjected to any separate inspection.

Beyond the window, what had been empty plains mere moments ago transformed in an instant into a cityscape as we passed through the gate. Lumenon was a city raised upon barren earth as if by divine miracle, after all.

"Whoaaa…"

Dorothy let out a breath of wonder, her ears swiveling this way and that atop her head.

White buildings filled every direction. They were plain, without ornament — and beautiful precisely because of it. This was where the clergy and everyone else who served in Lumenon lived with their families.

The carriage pressed deeper into the Holy City. Passing through yet another gate told us we had entered the grounds of the Papal Seat.

"You'll have to walk from here."

The coachman opened the door for us. As I stepped down from the carriage, a familiar voice rang out.

"Heyyy! Young master! No, wait — it's Baron now, right? Anyway, long time no see!"

A girl in armor, bear ears perched on her head. She looked young, but her speech was thick and folksy as could be. Agnes — one of the inquisitors of the Special Task Force.

"It's been a while, Inquisitor Agnes."

"Aw, just call me Agnes. I hate stuffy crap. Our little wolf doing okay too?"

"Yes."

"Did you come out to meet us?"

"Course I did! Somebody's gotta look after the new blood, and that somebody's the oldest, ain't it?"

The oldest. I had suspected she might be older than me, but even so — she looked about Dorothy's age. Still, bringing that up to someone who was now my senior would probably be rude.

"Ahaha! I know exactly what you're thinking. Figured I was the youngest, didn't ya? I'm eighteen. Veronica and Alexander are seventeen. What about you and the wolf, Baron?"

"Sixteen. Dorothy is fourteen."

"The babies of the bunch! Ahaha! All right, let's get moving."

Agnes grinned and started off somewhere. Dorothy and I followed.

I had a rough memory of Lumenon from visiting it in Luke's Biography. Among the white buildings, the place that shone most brilliantly was the Great Cathedral, where the Pope resided. The Heresy Inquisition sat behind it.

"Baron. The road here wasn't exactly easy, was it?"

"It was fine. And please — feel free to drop the formality. I'm hardly a proper baron."

"This is how I like it! You know how long we've been looked down on around here? Having an imperial noble with us is the best thing that's happened in ages!"

The Great Cathedral was so vast that simply walking past it took a considerable time. At last, the Heresy Inquisition building came into view behind it. Unlike the other structures, it was the color of ash. People in inquisitor uniforms like mine moved through its grounds. The looks they gave us were none too friendly.

"Don't mind the other inquisitors. We keep to ourselves anyway."

"Is that so?"

"Yep. Those model students clawed their way here through every hellish trial imaginable. Us? The Saintess just stuck us in."

Fair enough. Heresy Inquisitors were the Lumenic Church's elite forces. They had reached this place through innate talent and bone-grinding effort. In their eyes, we must have looked thoroughly undeserving. Worse still, the people they ordinarily burned at the stake were dark mages. They might well see us as the same breed.

Well. As long as I carried a cursed body, unfriendly stares were inevitable wherever I went. I had accepted that much when I left the barony and came here.

"The Heresy Inquisition's got four big divisions. Inspection, Deliberation, Enforcement, and Archives. Special Task Force falls under Archives for now."

I didn't know the detailed lore of the Heresy Inquisition, so this piqued my interest. It had been slated to appear as a selectable class for the player later in Luke's Biography.

"What does the Archives Division handle?"

"Managing the forbidden books and dark magic tools left over after they burn the heretics."

"Does that mean the Special Task Force can access those materials as well?"

"Course! Archives just dumps the stuff on us, honestly. Those ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠guys don't even wanna look at anything related to dark magic. Sorting it's our job."

Unrestricted access to dark magic texts and tools gathered from every corner of the continent. Coming to the Heresy Inquisition had been the right call.

Agnes led us into the building and toward its most secluded corner. Squinting through the gloom, I made out a sign that read Forbidden Archives. When Agnes opened the door, the distinctive smell of old paper filled the air.

"Chief!"

"Haaah…?"

At the desk by the entrance, a Heresy Inquisitor sat with one leg crossed over the other, reading a book. The archives were dark, but I could tell he was a middle-aged man whose face was covered in scars.

"Inquisitor Agnes? I believe I told you not to talk to me when I'm busy."

"Yeah. That's why I'm talking to you now."

"…"

The man closed his book. Between his fingers, I caught a glimpse of the title: The Bewitching Witch and the Tormented Priest: Kidnapping, Confinement, and Pure Love…

"Hey! What are you peeking at?!"

"Ah. My apologies."

Noticing my gaze, the chief slammed the desk and shot to his feet.

"Go on, introduce yourselves. This here's Baron Karl Manfred, new inquisitor with the Special Task Force. And next to him, Dorothy."

"A pleasure to meet you."

"A. Pleasure. To meet you."

"Ahh, so the new blood's arrived. I see. I'm Samuel, Chief of the Archives Division of the Heresy Inquisition. Inquisitor Karl. Inquisitor Dorothy. We'll be seeing plenty of each other — just try to stay out of my sight as much as possible. Every time I lay eyes on you cursed types, I get this overwhelming urge to burn you all… heh heh…"

"There. Courtesy introductions with the chief are done. Let's go, Baron."

"Hey! Hold it!"

As Agnes and I turned to leave, Samuel caught my shoulder. The moment he touched me, Dorothy fixed him with a look of pure hostility — though fortunately, he didn't seem to notice.

"Heh heh… Heard a newbie was coming, so I brought this leftover junk for you to deal with. Take it."

He pulled out a box containing a cake and held it out.

"It'll go bad soon enough and I'd have to throw it out anyway. Hurry up and go stuff your faces with the rest of your cursed lot."

"…Thank you."

"Ohhh, don't mind if we do, Chief!"

"I'll carry it, Master."

Dorothy took the cake from me. She had been tagging along after Sophie, my former personal maid, asking about this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and that — and somewhere along the way, she had started acting the part of a proper attendant herself.

The chief chuckled and propped his feet back up on the desk, returning to his book. Compared to the clergy who had been glaring at us outside, he seemed like a decent enough person.

"Ah!"

I was following Agnes deeper into the Forbidden Archives when someone coming from the side collided with me. The darkness must have kept us from noticing each other. The person dropped the armful of books they had been carrying.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't see well in the dark."

"Ah… n-no, it's… it was my fault…"

Something about the voice was familiar. As I helped gather the books, I took a closer look.

Short white hair and blue eyes. It wasn't that the darkness had hidden the face — it was a face I genuinely didn't recognize. Judging by the uniform, this was a Heresy Inquisitor… and an exceptionally beautiful woman.

"What? Alexander, you were in here? I brought the newbies!"

"Ah…! A-Agnes…! Come to think of it… you're the Baron, aren't you…"

Alexander. One of the inquisitors of the Special Task Force. Afflicted with the Curse of the Hermit, his presence was so faint that in a place this dark, you could fail to notice him even standing right beside you.

"Inquisitor Alexander…?"

"You were supposed to arrive today… hehe… I've been waiting…"

"I'd only ever seen you in a cloak, so I didn't recognize you. I assumed you were a woman…"

"Hehe… thank you, but… I'm a man…"

"Ah."

Why were there so many unusual people in this place? I had been careful all this time, but this time I had truly put my foot in it.