Preparation for Escort Duty
Preparation for Escort Duty
Until the long, long hell of paperwork ended, the members of the 1st Special Inquisition Department never returned to the office.
"They must be working their asses off."
It seemed the guys who went out to the field were having a really tough time.
To be honest... I felt a tiny bit of pity as a colleague, but in truth, I felt subtly good. No, to be honest, it felt fucking amazing.
That was because today was peaceful to a degree that couldn't even be compared to the horrific dispatch duties I usually did.
Of course, it was simple labor—repeating the tedious, mind-numbing task of stamping and signing documents—but compared to the process of tracking, interrogating, and chopping off the heads of heretics, the difficulty level wasn't even worth comparing.
For starters, there was no smell of blood, and I didn't have to listen to any screaming. It was easy, not strenuous, and comfortable. Sure, it might be a little tedious, tiresome, and boring, but what of it?
For a salaryman, the most important thing is leaving work on time.
Since I could leave work much earlier than the grueling heretic interrogation dispatches, everything was A-OK from my perspective.
And since there were so, so many damn heretics in this world, it was my fate to live in a hell of work every single day under normal circumstances.
However, after living such a life and then having a peaceful day like today...
It felt like witnessing a miracle.
It was like finding an oasis in a scorching desert.
It was like finding a warm ember in an endless snowy field.
When I first saw the thickness of the documents Juliana brought, I genuinely wanted to die, but to think she would gift me such a lovely day.
Gratitude toward Juliana gushed out like an oil well in the desert.
...
But still, well...
No matter how good it is, today is the last day for a honey-like day like this.
As the Chief Inquisitor, I finished my remaining overtime and personal affairs today.
Because from tomorrow, I have to prepare for the escort duty in earnest.
And the escort preparations won't be easy either.
It would be tens of thousands of times harder than just sitting around stamping and signing all day, wouldn't it?
I trudged out of the Holy Inquisition Bureau building, stuck a cigarette in my mouth, and lit it.
"Escort, huh..."
It was something I had never even imagined in my life.
To think the word 'escort' would intrude upon my life.
Of course, when I first joined the Goddess Church and received holy military training and education, I might have thought about it vaguely at least once.
Because I had the immature thought that if I were assigned to the Escort Headquarters, my body might be a bit more comfortable.
However, unfortunately, I wasn't assigned to the Escort Headquarters and was shoved straight into the Heretic Inquisition of the Holy Inquisition Bureau.
They said my tenacity and personality were perfectly suited for the Holy Inquisition Bureau, or something like that.
I started as an interrogation team member there and rolled from the bottom...
No, I'm not trying to reminisce about this depressing past right now.
Anyway, it means that up until now, I've had zero connection to escort missions in my life.
But after living such a life, I was suddenly, out of the blue, given an escort duty.
And it was for one of the two pinnacles of the Goddess Church—the exclusive escort of The Saint-nim.
In fact, I had only met The Saint-nim once until now.
And that was just watching her look like a dot far away at some big event a long time ago.
Even though I've been in the church for over 20 years, to think it was only once in all that long time.
Well, this was partly because I had too much work and almost no time to stick around the Goddess Church Headquarters, but more than that, it was because of the bizarre, unique nature of the Holy Inquisition Bureau, which the Heretic Inquisition belongs to.
The Holy Inquisition Bureau is an institution belonging to the Goddess Church Headquarters in name only; in reality, it is a very independent and dogmatic organization.
It has more than enough authority to act as it pleases, and it doesn't even listen to the orders of the Goddess Church Headquarters' Holy Decision Council, the Holy Law Ministers, or even the Holy Total Military Command Headquarters.
In a way, even though it belongs to the Goddess Church Headquarters, it wouldn't be wrong to call it just an individual armed group.
There is only one reason for the existence of such a Holy Inquisition Bureau.
The complete annihilation of the Goddess's enemies, that is, heretics.
It is a group that exists solely for that one purpose, and the only person who can give direct orders to the Chief of the Holy Inquisition Bureau is His Holiness the Pope.
Well, honestly, that's closer to a recommendation, suggestion, or earnest request than an order.
That is how much the Holy Inquisition Bureau is a heterogeneous organization that isn't considered family within the Goddess Church Headquarters, and it is a gloomy presence that everyone within the Goddess Church Headquarters avoids.
To begin with, who would like a group that doesn't engage in any exchanges, doesn't even listen to orders, and independently goes around beating people to death under the goal of annihilating heretics?
Even if they are people who believe in the same Goddess and work for the Goddess, since the paths they walk are completely different, being ostracized was inevitable.
Also, the organizations officially counted as the Goddess Church's combat power are the four holy organizations: 'Holy Knights Order, Holy Warriors Corps, Holy Magic Tower, and Escort Headquarters.'
It is safe to say that the Holy Inquisition Bureau is almost never included in the Goddess Church's official combat power figures.
This is because there is no need to show all our cards to the heretics and show off our strength.
Rather, if they don't know the true power of the Heretic Inquisitors, and if they don't know the intelligence capabilities of our intelligence unit, we can lower the heretics' guard and cut them off at the root more easily.
So, it was a natural result that there was zero interaction with The Saint-nim, who is the face of the Goddess Church Headquarters, the leader of the nunnery, and the mother of all believers.
Protecting high-ranking officials like The Saint, the Head Abbess of the nunnery, or the Abbess within the castle, and becoming their sword, is the role of the Goddess Church Headquarters' four holy combat organizations, not a group gathered with gloomy psychopaths, murderers, and demons like us.
Well, even so, I didn't have any feelings of being sad or upset about being ostracized by the Headquarters.
If the bright part of the Goddess Church is the Papal Palace and the nunnery, then the deepest darkness of the Goddess Church is our Holy Inquisition Bureau.
Light and darkness coexist like two sides of a coin, but they can never mix and be together.
I understand. I think that's perfectly possible.
...
Well, anyway, for that reason, I had never properly faced The Saint-nim.
And I lived thinking that I would never have a connection with The Saint-nim for the rest of my life... but people's lives are truly unpredictable.
Yesterday at dawn, when I went to His Holiness the Pope's audience chamber, there was a beautiful girl sitting next to that benevolent old man.
With dazzling blonde curly hair, brilliant gold eyes that looked like they were custom-made just for her, and a face like the second coming of a Goddess that was fresh, pure, and modest.
A girl who looked somewhat reckless yet simultaneously held deep compassion.
It was The Saint, Triana Oquel-nim.
Honestly, I barely managed to stop my jaw from dropping the moment I saw her face-to-face.
Having experienced all sorts of hardships and trained my mentality through heretic interrogations, my expression usually doesn't change, but I almost looked surprised with a stupid, idiotic expression.
There was an indescribable, mysterious atmosphere that couldn't be summed up by just saying she was pretty.
It was no exaggeration to say she was the biological daughter personally crafted by the Goddess herself.
Well, looking only at her face, it seems similar to my only friend, but anyway.
Facing The Saint-nim up close like this, I could truly feel the aura of her holiness and nobility with my whole body.
So I knew at once.
She's the protagonist.
She is the true center and protagonist of this worldview.
She is the rightful female protagonist of this novel.
She wasn't just at the level of a key character in the work. She was the axis that penetrated this entire world.
So, fragments of that worthless conversation I had with my brother a long, long time ago came to mind.
─ Hey little brother. Have you ever heard of a harem?
─ No. What's that, you nerd?
─ ...Well, a structure where multiple women feel affection for one man is called a harem.
─ Is that like King Uija from back in the day or something?
─ Hmm, you could say it's roughly that feeling.
─ But what about that? Is the work you're writing, that War of Love or whatever, a harem story?
─ No, this is a reverse harem.
─ Reverse harem? Then is it the opposite, a structure where multiple men like one woman?
─ That's right. That's exactly it.
─ Hmm, then is it a work for women? But for a nerd like you to write something for women is a bit...
─ That's why harem elements are mixed in too.
─ Huh. What does that mean? You said it was a reverse harem earlier.
─ I told you the background is an Academy. So most of the female students like the male protagonist, and most of the male students like the female protagonist, it's a mess.
─ Then what... is it like a feeling where the school's queenkas and kingkas are dating...
─ But in the end, it's pure love.
─ What? Are you kidding me?
─ Because the male protagonist eventually chooses the female protagonist, and the female protagonist also shakes off countless temptations and eventually chooses the male protagonist.
─ ...Why don't you just quit now?
─ Why, why are you like this, little brother? Do you think this is going to fail?
─ Yeah, I think it's going to fail spectacularly.
...
Then, according to the setting, does The Saint-nim end up with that handsome male protagonist?
Then can't this be called a harem or a reverse harem?
Isn't who you end up with at the end the most important thing?
Or is it not? Do you poke around here and there and do everything you want to do during the process?
...
'Oh, fuck.'
I was confused.
I still couldn't figure out what the hell that guy was babbling about.
And at the same time, I could clearly understand why my brother couldn't succeed as a novelist and was struggling.
He tried to be greedy and shove everything in, so it ended up being neither one thing nor the other and failed.
Anyway, in the end, the ending is the male protagonist and the female protagonist loving each other to death and ending up together.
Since the genre of this novel is strictly Romance Fantasy.
Since it came out of the mouth of the creator who made this novel, this is probably correct.
Then, is the story beginning in earnest now that The Saint-nim, the female protagonist, meets the male protagonist like destiny at the Academy?
And am I going to get dragged very deeply into the center of the novel's main stream?
Hmm...
"Am I fucked?"
My simple dream was to live rolling around peacefully and leisurely.
Of course, I've lived a rough life very far from that kind of life until now, and it seems I won't be able to live like that in the future either, but I had lived harboring a thin hope that I might be able to retire and rest someday.
But if I'm being forcibly dragged into the middle of the novel's main story...
Doesn't that mean I'm saying goodbye forever to that comfortable life I wanted?
...
"Or is it not? Is it actually an opportunity?"
Suddenly, an optimistic thought occurred to me instead.
In any case, isn't this novel a romance fantasy, not a bloody action story?
Then wouldn't the main story of this novel consist of cringey love stories?
Childish and poignant, but at the same time, heartwarming, fluffy love stories.
So, if I enter the novel's main story, wouldn't I be able to escape the battlefield-like scene and live peacefully and leisurely?
Wouldn't it be a cushy job where I just watch the dating of a fresh girl and boy from afar with a satisfied smile?
"Oh."
A very small and cute seed of hope sprouted deep in my heart.
If my prediction is correct, as long as The Saint-nim is attending the Academy, couldn't I live the peaceful life I've longed for so much?
Of course, my life has never flowed according to my will or expectations until now, but...
Now is finally the time to go in the direction I want to live.
"Yeah, it's about time for that."
I carefully put the cigarette, which had only the filter left and had gone out, into my pocket and headed to the Chief Inquisitor [Dormitory].
My steps were much lighter and more cheerful than usual.
+++*
3 days before the Academy opening and entrance ceremony.
Golar Empire Diplomatic Office.
"Did you hear? The Saint is entering the Sepenteria Continental General Academy!"
"W-what? The, The Saint?"
"Yes, but there is an even bigger matter than that."
"What is it...? You're so startled..."
"Lu Niginna."
"Lu, Lu Niginna? Are you talking about the demon of the Church? Why on earth are you suddenly mentioning that name..."
"Chief Inquisitor Lu Niginna is going to the Academy as The Saint's escort!"
"W-what!"
+*
Lechatos General Bureau Exchange Coordinator
"Chief Inquisitor Lu Niginna is coming as The Saint's escort. What should we do about this, Your Excellency."
"...The General's precious daughter, Her Highness the General Saint, is entering this time. But that slaughter demon in an angel's mask is going to reside at the Academy as well?"
"We can't just sit idly by, can we? We must prepare countermeasures."
"...What is the General of the New Beginning doing now?"
"He is currently commanding the war directly on the Eastern Front. He won't be able to spare any time."
"...Damn it."
+*
Kingdom Alliance Group Communication Log.
/Ruben Kingdom : The Saint, entering Sepenteria Continental General Academy, confirmed.
/Ruben Kingdom : Chief Inquisitor Lu Niginna, scheduled to reside at the Academy as The Saint's escort, confirmed.
/Selman Kingdom : What the... fuck.
/Totia Kingdom : ...confir m ed... con... firm.
/Sobian Kingdom : Reception confirmed
/King of Beltonoa : Emergency meeting needs to be convened...
...
..
.
+*
An abandoned castle located in a place called the land where the dead live.
Those representing 10 ominous factions gathered there.
"The Saint is going to the Sepenteria Continental Academy."
"Meaning she's leaving the Goddess Church~ Headquarters. She's leaving the arms of that old fox, the Pope."
"I have heard. And so, I shed tears yesterday."
"Haha! Giving us all these opportunities. Thank you, really?"
"Are we going to join forces?"
"Absolutely not. Are you crazy? We'll each do our own thing. You guys are the same bastards anyway."
Among them, a woman with white-dyed hair wearing a mask with a black crown rested her chin on her hand and said indifferently.
"I know you're excited, but... let me give you some advice. It would be better not to move rashly."
"Should not move rashly? Why is that, Fragment of the Demon King?"
The woman wearing the mask with the black crown burst into a pfft- laugh and said.
"Think about that for yourselves. You stupid bastards."