Chapter 274
Chapter 274
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 274
Chapter Title: Operation Report: Wildfire
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“저는 반대예요.”
From around the two hundredth time, even counting the repetitions had stopped. Fernandez no longer shrugged his shoulders; he simply walked on in silence.
“I’m against it. I’m against it. I’m against it.”
“…….”
“I’m! Against! It!!”
“…….”
“Benefactor!!”
Kirhas shrieked and waved her hands in front of his eyes. Only then did Fernandez turn his head, and she puffed out her cheeks, crossed her arms, and shouted.
“I’m not following you!”
“Then rest at the mansion.”
“You’re going to see that woman? Right now? Absolutely not! Of course I’m coming with you!”
“Then follow quietly. This is a covert operation.”
“Hmph! Does anyone in this city not know our faces anyway? Don’t you see them pretending not to notice even when they do?”
She was right. The citizens paled the moment they recognized their faces, hurriedly bowing their heads and stepping aside.
Her identity as the great chieftain of the beastkin tribes. And his as the staff officer of the Tiger Clan Alliance. These facts had spread openly among the capital’s citizens. There was no stopping the rumors. He hadn’t even tried.
Rumors grow stronger the more they swell. And power feeds on the edge of the blade and fear. The capital’s citizens were terrified of the foreign invaders they faced for the first time in imperial history.
“It’s not just fear.”
“Yeah. Disgust comes with it.”
“Foolish creatures. They don’t even know not to bare their fangs at something they can’t bite……. That’s the trait of so-called civilized folk. Ones who’ve never been hurt because their fences are sturdy.”
Even if slavery had been abolished, beastkin were still openly traded on the black market. And in the eyes of imperial citizens, tiger beastkin were no more than barbarians who thrived in chaos and formed warlord bands.
Even though one elector count had fallen to the beastkin, and the most likely next emperor had allied with them, this hadn’t changed. Kirhas’s eyes shifted to those of the great chieftain. A chill killing intent emanated from her embrace.
“Enough.”
-Pat.
Fernandez placed a hand on her head and whispered. A dissatisfied growl rumbled faintly beneath his palm. It felt like taming a wild beast. A chilling sensation of suppressing savage ferocity and murderous aura.
“So anyway, I’m really against it, Benefactor. Marrying the emperor isn’t just any ordinary thing. It’s like putting on a collar for life.”
“Kirhas. That topic is over. Just think of it as one of our usual operational roles.”
“No! What if the empire declares you missing after the operation ends? Is that ordinary? Your face will be known to everyone—how will you handle classified ops then!”
“I won’t need to personally command classified ops anymore.”
“……Pardon?”
The long-planned scheme was nearly complete. Fernandez chuckled faintly and stroked Kirhas’s hair. They wove through alleys toward the depths of the capital’s slums.
* * *
Religiosa Maledica. Not an organization officially recognized by the Papal Court—and never likely to be. Their role was spies and scapegoats. Heretics and cultists who could be liquidated anytime without regret, with blades planted at their throats, to be used and discarded at whim.
They knew their place. There were two reasons they couldn’t rebel. First, the blade lurking at their throats. The eyes of the Inquisition.
Once their faces were known, escape meant certain capture, and capture meant certain burning at the stake. Inquisitors were thorough with heretics and cultists in general, but betrayal warranted an even heavier blade—it was self-evident.
And the second reason—perhaps the greatest—was ‘fear.’
“Damn it. Damn it…….”
“Ca……calm down a bit.”
“How can I calm down? He’s coming himself! After just sending letters these past few days, suddenly!”
“Something must have come up.”
“What if I stutter? Ahh, damn it. Why did I have to become chairman? What if he cuts my head off for stuttering?”
“No way he’d do that? Hm…… Though he might execute you as an example to enforce discipline.”
“Uwaaaah, damn it!”
They knew Fernandez. His skill and ruthlessness. They wouldn’t have bent so thoroughly to some unknown high mage barking orders.
There was something else about that ‘lord.’
“Is he really a prophet or something? How does he know everything?”
“Information reflex independents usually aren’t right in the head. But he seemed perfectly sane?”
“What are you talking about? Someone who crushed the imperial palace with a gesture can’t be in their right mind!”
The orders Fernandez had given them over the past few days were exceedingly simple. Go here. Investigate there. Find this person. Assassinate that one. The kind of directives only someone who precisely knew the limits of his minions could issue.
Difficult, but not impossible. And as long as they didn’t slack off, they could always complete them on time. As they carried out his orders, a creeping chill settled over them.
Sent to capture someone, they’d find the target was invariably a local cultist.
Ordered to secure a location, they’d arrive to find heretics performing a secret rite.
Digging into an area to investigate unearthed an ancient dungeon sealing a demon.
Every order was like that. Given only the results without causes, just doing the job would purify the area naturally.
Even branches the Shadow Academy hadn’t detected. Fernandez seemed to know everything.
-Thud. Thud.
Footsteps echoed. Not just one person’s. The Maledica agents bit their lips and huddled in the shadows, trembling with fear.
At the highest dais of their secret base stood a jade throne they’d carved with utmost devotion. For one person alone. They made way along the path to it, preparing to receive the arrival.
Tension hung thick.
-Creeeak……
Light seeped through the door crack. Silence so deep even the gulping of the man beside could be heard. Through that heavy air, two figures entered.
-Thud, thud.
Cold sweat stung their eyes amid the tension. A graying youth in robes and a slender beastkin woman walked silently down the path between them. At last, the youth sat at the highest seat and nodded.
“Glad to see you’re all safe. No one thought of running, I see.”
Fernandez’s idea of a joke. It might pass as one, depending on the listener. But none of the mages present responded.
“Taking the name Religiosa yet not looking like a monastery at all—quite the problem.”
“Even if the revered one says so…… How could we become monks?”
“Why not? You are monks starting now.”
Fernandez chuckled and drew a scroll from his bosom. Fine parchment stamped clearly with the Papal Court’s seal. He crossed his legs leisurely and unrolled it.
“What does this look like?”
“No way…… Does this mean the Pope truly recognizes us?”
“Yes. With conditions attached, but you’re now officially under the Inquisition.”
With a wave, the scroll floated to Marlin’s eyes. Marlin bowed deeply in respect, then carefully took and read it.
“Not Inquisitors……?”
“What use is some flashy title?”
“Then where is our safety guaranteed?”
“Safety guarantee? Keep dreaming.”
Fernandez tilted his head with a sly smile. On the shadow-shrouded dais, his white fangs gleamed. No one present could dismiss it as mere amusement.
“My direct inspection today means you’re finally under my command from this moment.”
The Pope had promised his seat in exchange for deposing the emperor and enthroning one friendly to the Beitasser Church. Now that the operation was successfully concluded, Fernandez could demand commensurate authority.
He asked for one right. Creation of a new monastery. Independent from St. Bartholomew Monastery and outside the Inquisition’s Religiosa. The papal title held prestige but little power, and Fernandez cared not for noble ranks.
Better loyal hounds to do the dirty work at his command than some revered religious leader title all devotees admired.
“With official name and holy relic delegated. This place will become our monastery in time. From now, call it St. Paul the Martyr Church. You will shed your worldly names and become martyrs from this instant.”
From this hour, none were officially ‘living persons.’ Martyrs. Devotees who gave their lives for the church. Or ‘would give.’
“Inquisitors sometimes call themselves ‘those who walk the darkest paths.’ Quite self-consoling. But we won’t. We have no noble mission guarding the light from shadows. If they walk the muck, we lurk in the abyss.”
No rewards, no honors, no pride. Thrown to the fringes, they’d die. Survive, and it was merely a stay of execution.
“The central priests leave crests on tombs instead of names. Pectus. Incendium. Courage and devotion. But your graves won’t remain on earth. You leave no traces. Only results, then fade. If a flame lights the dark, embers burning beneath are needed too.”
After your deaths, only ruins remain. Heretic deaths and demon ends. Even if you’re the kindling.
“If any reject this, now is your last chance to object.”
“If we refuse now, do we get freedom?”
“No. A chance to leave a name.”
Killing intent occasionally laced his words. All present swallowed and bowed. Not unwillingness to die. Just no desire to oppose him.
Scanning the silent group, Fernandez declared.
“Shed your names, take new ones. You are Religiosa Maledica martyrs. We’ll call you differently from your old names.”
Primus, Secundus, Tertius, Quartus, Quintus……. Number One, Two, Three, Four. Dry terms. Treating humans no longer as humans, but chess pieces.
-Whoosh!
At his gesture, torches blazed in unison. Shadows danced in the flickering flames atop the stands.
[I obey the command.]
Partak Blackpang of the Great Wilderness. The first black mage subjugated by Fernandez.
[As my lord desires.]
Orion Weavingrat of the North. High priest of the Chainshifter heresy, the North’s largest.
“King of Shadows, guide us.”
Finally, Maledica. Shadow Academy chairman Merlin. She bowed deeply and whispered.
* * *
[Operation Report: Wildfire]
Operation Area: Livye, Carvelier Duchy, Levintear Empire.
Operation Summary: Investigation and disposal of imperial corruption.
Operation Progress:
1) Contact with Duke Carvelier Erbe. Secured cooperation.
2) Detected and suppressed heresy near Livye.
3) Contact with Second Prince Robert Benatie Tremure. Secured cooperation.
4) Suppressed and subjugated eastern steppe wraith warlord.
5) Annihilated and subjugated imperial guard forces.
6) Elector Count Sefor of Bullang rises. Detected imperial civil war outbreak.
7) Suppressed House Sefor and subjugated Bullang territory.
8) Occupied Paltenoia, began imperial investigation.
9) Detected and handled internal Paltenoia heresy.
10) Began imperial destruction plot, secured and disposed of emperor.
11) Concluded pact with Duke Carvelier Rene Philippe. Mission complete.
Operation Task Force:
1) Religiosa Demonica, Fernandez Cerned
2) Torchman Kirhas Hearttaker
3) Torchman Abel.
We shall burn demons, heretics, witches.
Operation Commander: Demonica Fernandez Cerned.
* * *
“What do you think? All in half a year.”
“Overthrown the empire’s emperor in half a year. Truly the feats of a saint recognized by His Holiness.”
“Feats of a saint? Too brutal for that. And did I say I recognized him as saint? No, this young man is a saint recognized by the Lord.”
The Pope chuckled dryly and closed the report. Beorn watched him with hesitation. For critiquing the saint’s radical actions, his complexion was bright.
“The report is very concisely summarized. Needs cross-verification, but outwardly certain facts stand. The emperor is dead, young Duke Carvelier eyes the throne, and the empire now favors the church greatly.”
“Expanding influence so in half a year—a blessing for the church.”
“A blessing for civilized society.”
-Thud.
The Pope rose and stood by the window. Dawn over the Dragonspine Mountains. Gazing at the fog-shrouded peaks, he spoke.
“Went here, disposed. Went there, soon disposed. Confirmed this, disposed. Like that. Even omitting processes. No single mistake, no hesitation. All perfectly accomplished. Do you trust this saintly brother?”
“Yes.”
Beorn’s reply was firm. Inquisition entry is rigorous and ruthless, but once in, they treat each other with more than brotherly love. Until corruption is fully confirmed, they never doubt a brother’s faith.
Blindness befitting Inquisitors. Truthfulness as the Lord’s sharpest sword. Yet the Pope slowly shook his head.
“I fear.”
“……Pardon?”
“If this youth turned that ability to other ends, what might happen? I fear it. At his implicit request, eastern kingdoms rebelled against the empire. At his gesture, steppe nomads took up arms. Now, the empire’s next emperor is practically his puppet.”
The Pope wasn’t so naive as to take Rene Philippe’s missive request at pure face value. Fernandez Cerned’s political strength already held international sway. Ties to eastern and western powers, even elven fleets—consider it all.
Rene Philippe wanting Fernandez. It could mean the next emperor’s ambitions spanned civilized society. Half the continent east of the steppes. Emperor’s power entwined with Fernandez’s connections—what couldn’t be?
Added to that. Fernandez’s request to the Pope. An irrefutable proposal.
“Maledica…… haha.”
Hunt pagans with pagans. The church stays out of methods and fallout. Backed by imperial authority, and with empire diplomacy in mind, the Pope couldn’t refuse.
A meticulously laid trap. One you know yet can’t escape. Sometimes, reading Fernandez’s letters and reports, the Pope felt confusion. Truly a 20s youth? Felt like facing a cunning, seasoned politician or schemer.
“This youth a brother under the Lord’s peace. A blessing for this age.”
The Pope shook his head ruefully and left the office.