Chapter 158
Chapter 158
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 158
Chapter Title: Dispatch Mission Report, Special Operation Proposal
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[158. Dispatch Mission Report, Special Operation Proposal]
*
Beorn was sipping his tea while tidying the table. A monk must always be neat and tidy, and Beorn was a true faithful who embodied the virtues of monastic life down to his bones.
Outside the window, the voices of training Inquisitors echoed loudly. Mostly from the Demonica. They were lifting barbells while letting out bizarre screams.
Beorn let out a short sigh and closed the window. At that moment, someone knocked on the office door.
“Who is it?”
“Zephys Shiradast, Abbot.”
“Oh, come in.”
-Creak.
The door opened, and a burly middle-aged man strode inside. Zephys walked straight up to Beorn without hesitation and stood before him. He swallowed his words for a moment.
“What is it?”
“A report has come in.”
“From which brother? Let’s see, the ones currently on mission...”
“It’s Brother Fernandez’s report.”
“Hmm.”
Beorn carefully set down his teacup and pushed it to a spot just out of reach. Far enough that he wouldn’t accidentally knock it over, even if startled. Only after confirming it was safe did Beorn accept the report.
The report, wrapped in thin leather, bore Fernandez’s wax seal. As Beorn broke the wax and untied the string, he gestured for Zephys to take the seat across from him.
“Whenever this brother sends something, it gives me chills first.”
“Same here.”
“But it’s also something to look forward to. Alright. Let’s take a look.”
*
[Dispatch Mission Report: Ice Fishing]
Operation Area: Northern Sea, Gaimern Fleet.
Operation Summary: Identify and thwart the Maleyrn royal family’s plans in the Northern Sea. Repel the Maleyrn royal family.
Operation Progress:
1) Ambush by Franzrit bloodkin during voyage. Repelled.
2) Sporadic engagements with Franzrit bloodkin. Repelled.
3) Richter von Franzrit utilizes Gaimern royal flagship wreckage to launch major engagement. Repelled.
4) Encountered Maleyrn king’s flagship during engagement. Engagement ongoing.
5) Solo infiltration of Maleyrn king’s flagship. Success.
6) Maleyrn king assassinated.
7) Secured safe waters in Northern Sea, reaffirmed peace treaty with Queen Leia Finn Gaimern.
Operation Task Force:
1) Demonica, Fernandez Cerned – Survived
2) Torchman, Kirhas Hearttaker – Survived
3) Torchman, Abel – Survived
We shall burn demons, heretics, and witches.
Operation Leader: Fernandez Cerned.
*
The report was very short and clear. Beorn finally relaxed, feeling immense satisfaction. Yes, that’s how reports should be. How rare it was to have one end so smoothly, without any dramatic twists.
“Excellent. And as expected, outstanding. Repelled both Franzrit and Maleyrn... Yes, outstanding.”
While he spoke, Zephys watched Beorn silently. He was hesitating. Beorn felt a subtle, very subtle unease as he adjusted his monocle.
“Why so quiet?”
“...Of course it’s excellent. And unbelievable for one man alone.”
“Well, this time our saintly brother didn’t do it solo, and he had the North Sea’s finest golden fleet with him.”
“That’s true. But still...”
Zephys reluctantly pulled out another document folder and handed it over. The seal on it had already been broken. The broken seal was included, and it too was Fernandez’s.
“Two copies arrived, so I read it first.”
“Well, managing the Demonica is your job, isn’t it? That’s fine.”
Why two reports? Beorn frowned slightly as he removed the leather cover. He soon realized this wasn’t a report, but a proposal—and that the next operation was already underway without prior approval.
It was entirely possible under the judgment and discretion of field agents. The post-approval system made the Inquisition more flexible. But sensing a hint of unease in Zephys’s expression, Beorn turned to the first page of the proposal.
*
[Attention, Urgent Order No. 221. Access to this material restricted to Mid-Level 1 Archbishops or higher.]
[Operation Proposal: Mountain Stroll in the Snowy Peaks]
Operation Area: Northern Region, Hazat Palen.
Operation Summary: Investigate and eradicate the source of demon incidents in the north.
1) Evidence uncovered that Maleyrn king contacted northerners and formed some secret pact.
2) Intelligence confirmed on northerners hunting demigods and lesser gods of the material world. (Attachment 1: Field Agent Supplemental Data Report)
3) Successfully recruited northerner who contacted Maleyrn king.
4) Identified signs of civil war in northern interior. Traces of demon worshippers sacrificing divinity detected.
5) Demon worshippers’ mastermind presumed to be the great demon Sadarkelia. (Attachment 2: Field Agent Opinion on Northern Folklore)
6) Under field agent judgment, classified as time-sensitive incident. Preemptive strike proposal issued.
7) All field agents dispatched to northern interior.
Voice Cipher: Omitted.
We shall burn demons, heretics, and witches.
Operation Leader: Demonica, Fernandez Cerned.
*
Beorn silently set down the report and cleaned his monocle. After a brief silence, he let out a deep sigh and lifted his teacup. The tea had gone cold.
“Killed the elf king, stopped the high vampire, and then headed straight north out of nowhere?”
“...Yes.”
“Hah, the north. Ha. Huh... Hazat Palen. Brother Zephys, do you know much about the north?”
“Not more than others.”
“Most people don’t.”
Beorn finished cleaning his monocle and put it away in a drawer. He sipped his tea while gazing out the snow-falling window.
“The north has limited arable land, and most seasons are cold or barren. The people there scrape by amid poverty, famine, or rage. With scant food, all the tribes turn blades on each other and growl.”
Beorn’s gaze was fixed on the distance. Not the snow-covered Dragonspine Mountains, but even farther. Yet the landscape wasn’t much different.
Majestic ranges thick with coniferous forests, where uncleared lands teemed with ice trolls, frost giants, and darker, more insidious monsters.
Until the War in Heaven, they had formed ancient nations thriving to rival continental civilizations, but now they lay buried under tundra and snow peaks.
According to legends, the humans there aren’t truly ‘human.’ They’re said to be devolved giants from the War in Heaven era. They look no different outwardly, with no variance in major organs or structure, but they believed it.
Compared to the continental humans they call ‘southerners,’ their physiques and strength were indeed exceptional. Not on par with Demonica blessed by the gods, but every tribesman surpassed average folk.
“Hazat Palen means ‘village of the Palendar clan.’ Back in my day, the Palendar clan was immensely prosperous. Full of capable jarls and fierce tribal warriors.”
Beorn Shieldbane. Or as he was called in his younger days, Shieldbreaker Beorn. He pulled out the attached document folder from the report and opened it as he spoke.
“Northern folklore. I don’t actually consider it mere superstition. The gods northerners believe in differ greatly from our southern church’s faith, but they’re tales of real existing gods. The Northern Pantheon. Temple of the warrior gods. And this great demon our ‘saintly’ brother uncovered...”
He handed Zephys the document on the World Serpent myth, gazing at him with deep eyes.
“I thought it was just a fairy tale too, an old story. When the world ends, as they call it ‘Ragnarok.’ The world serpent rises, sun and moon are torn asunder, gods fall, the world freezes or burns.”
“Abbot.”
“Yes. Our role isn’t analyzing myths. That’s for other church priests. Ours is exterminating heretics.”
-Thud.
Beorn struck the folders on the table. He glared at Zephys with blazing eyes.
“A great demon stirring? Good. Ragnarok? Interesting. Zephys Shiradast. Do you believe northern legends?”
“Our Lord is one alone. Beitasser only.”
“Our sole light is faith, our path is conviction.”
Zephys slowly rose from his seat. Beorn met his eyes and nodded.
“Go. With our finest brothers, and as swiftly as possible. Aid Brother Fernandez. Exterminate the great demon and show the northerners their ‘end times’ are just fairy tales.”
“Macto.”
“Macto supralaudo. Brother.”
Beorn watched Zephys’s departing back and thought. The great demon of the wasteland had fallen, and life was taking root in its domain.
An feat impossible even during the War in Heaven. The death of a great demon. And its aftermath. The great wasteland was no longer barren. Bushes grew, springs flowed.
War might erupt again over that vast unclaimed fertile land. Sultans, emperors—greedy humans.
But they were ‘human.’ No matter how vast or horrific the war, it would be ‘human.’
If they rooted out material-world demons and their foolish minions one by one, slaying great demons to bring peace...
Even tragic events would be human sins, human evils. Beorn would welcome them gladly.
The Inquisition aimed blades only at demons. The tragedies of civilized society weren’t their concern—unless demons intervened.
The material world, this world, belonged to humans alone. Beorn set down his teacup and took out fresh paper. The regular report to the Papal Court remained.
Burn heretics, witches, and demons. From the ashes, if human civilization, tragedy and comedy—all purely human—could emerge. Beyond good and evil, if it became wholly human.
Clergy don’t beg for miracles. They pray to God. Beorn paused writing, clutching his rosary.
“If another great demon falls, and the world steps closer to peace.”
No matter the sacrifice. Even my own life, if commanded—I shall gladly give it. Perhaps hearing of his homeland stirred him. Beorn turned sentimental, rolling his rosary.
*
At that very hour as Beorn prayed, into the fjord bay of Hazat Palen. Leia’s flagship attempted to enter port.