Don't
"Don't."
Bishop of Divinar Parish.
Roselle waited in the chapel of the parish office for word to arrive.
At last I can erase that stain on my record.
Roselle had despised magic since childhood.
His parents, both Inquisitors, had been killed by a demon that wielded magic.
So he too became an Inquisitor—to slay demons and cast magic out of the world.
Along the way I met a couple researching magic.
He could not understand them.
Researching magic, the remnant of demons? Was that not the work of heretics trying to aid the enemy?
So I executed them in the name of the Inquisition.
Their resistance had been fierce, yet they could never defeat Roselle, a veteran of long years as an Inquisitor.
He reported to the Holy See that he had slain a magic-wielding demon.
To him a mage couple and a demon were no different; he felt not a shred of guilt.
After that incident I was ordained bishop and given Divinar Parish.
It was a life without flaw—save for one enormous stain.
The demon child I let slip away fifteen years ago.
The mage couple had a daughter.
She too must have inherited the demon’s gift, so he meant to dispose of her, but the couple’s last stand forced him to watch her escape.
I had given up for fifteen years—until I finally found the clue.
There was a barrier on the couple’s house; opening it required a diamond-shaped mana-stone necklace. He had only recently realized that.
Had he studied magic he would have known at once, but in the Holy Empire there was nowhere to obtain magical texts, so it took time.
Afterward I ordered Inquisitor Veritus to find a nineteen-year-old girl, an orphan who wore a diamond-shaped mana-stone necklace.
Those mages would surely have left their child the key to the barrier.
And what do you know? Using that information, Veritus found the girl almost immediately.
I never imagined it would be Sub-deacon Bella who arrived this time.
She hadn’t been wearing the necklace then, so he failed to recognize her.
Still, Veritus should be returning soon.
Veritus was a man Roselle had watched and raised for years.
One who hated magic and possessed overwhelming martial power—someone of the same bent, so of course Roselle approved of him.
Veritus will not fail.
He was an Inquisitor who had slain countless heretics.
Even if any noise arose from this affair, the bishop’s authority could smother it.
The only variable is that Cael who stood beside Bella.
Cael had become an Inquisitor in the recent examination.
Roselle had yet to hear what happened during that test, so he knew nothing of the man.
Still, it was certain Cael was no match for Veritus.
“Y-you can’t just barge in like this!”
A commotion rose outside the chapel.
“Oh? Blocking the way… so this is the place.”
“P-please wait a moment!”
BOOM!
The chapel doors crashed open.
A man strode inside with measured steps.
His appearance was noble beyond compare, yet his eyes were as savage as a demon’s.
Roselle’s brow furrowed.
“Inquisitor Cael?”
Cael halted and flashed a grin.
“You know me well. Who I am.”
I stared at Roselle standing there blankly.
Behind me Bella and the other clergy watched.
“What is the meaning of this outrage, Inquisitor Cael?”
Roselle recovered and hardened his expression.
“You know better than I do, Bishop Roselle. Who ordered the murder of an innocent orphanage child?”
“I have no idea what you are talking about.”
His eyes never so much as flickered.
“Haha, why play dumb? You already know how this will look to others, don’t you?”
I raised my voice on purpose.
“If not, then say it proudly! I became bishop by slaughtering an innocent mage couple because I hate magic!”
The clergy behind me stirred.
“Is that not your conviction? Or are you ashamed to speak it aloud?”
“…….”
“Then it is no conviction—only personal desire. A man of true conviction never feels shame for his actions.”
My head suddenly burned; I swept my hair back from my forehead.
“I don’t care that you hate magic. That’s your business.”
“…….”
“But you should never have touched the innocent. Did they show you malice? Did they aim magic at you first?”
“Inquisitor Cael. If you continue to frame me like this—”
“Shut your mouth!!!”
I barked once, then continued.
“I heard everything from the men you ordered. I have evidence, I have witnesses, I have motive.”
I held up two fingers.
“I’ll give you two choices. First: submit quietly and be dragged to the Holy See for interrogation. You’ll receive the punishment your sins deserve.”
I folded the index finger, leaving only the middle.
“Second: kill me—the one who knows the truth—and run. Just as you did to that mage couple.”
“…….”
“There will be no second chance. It’s simply a matter of whether you draw the blade hidden inside your staff.”
Roselle, who had been fiddling with the staff, flinched. Behind me the clergy still murmured.
He watched me and the others for a long moment, then exhaled a heavy sigh.
“You ignorant, foolish creatures…”
In an instant his entire presence changed.
“Because of you, everyone here will die. No—that is exactly what will happen. I will simply have killed a mad Inquisitor who slaughtered his fellow clergy.”
He offered a third option. A fanatic beyond even my expectations.
I spoke to those behind me.
“Withdraw. I believe you understand the situation well enough.”
The clergy recoiled in alarm and scrambled away.
Only Bella remained at my back.
“Inquisitor, shall I sing a hymn?”
I froze for a heartbeat, then answered calmly.
“Don’t.”
“Yes.”
I glanced at her.
“What do you want done with him?”
On the way I had explained everything. It must have been a shock, yet she had listened with eerie composure.
Bella’s eyes sank deep.
No longer the bright, sparkling gaze of ordinary days—now they held the savage light of a witch.
“I want to kill him.”
A voice like winter frost spread through the air.
Though I had never met the Witch of Jealousy in my past life, for a moment that icy figure rose before me.
“I told you the only memories from my childhood were fire and rainbows, right?”
“You did.”
“Hearing the story, I finally remember. That ‘fire’ was the battle between him and my parents. Back then all I could do was run.”
Bella clenched both fists.
“So this time I want to kill him with my own hands. The one who murdered my parents that day.”
She fixed Roselle with eyes full of deep darkness.
Watching her, a future unfurled in my mind.
Bella the mage killing Roselle and reducing the Divinar parish office to rubble.
Then becoming the Witch of Jealousy and thrashing in hell.
“But how am I supposed to kill him? I don’t even have any power.”
Bella forced a smile and scratched the back of her head.
“No. It’s possible. Do you know when a mage first awakens their magic?”
“When?”
“That’s—”
“Inquisitor, behind you!”
Roselle was already upon me, sword descending.
I had known; I simply turned and caught the blade on my own.
Still locked, I spoke.
“It happens when they truly feel they need it. Recalling the magic in your memories should be enough.”
“Th-this doesn’t seem like the time for a lecture!”
“But I won’t force you. Choosing your future isn’t my place.”
I swept my sword hard and flung Roselle away. The instant he landed I launched forward, painting the air with steel.
A flurry of exchanges in the blink of an eye.
He was no weakling. Roselle stood roughly on the same level as the bean-bug I had faced moments earlier.
“Why can’t you understand?!”
Roselle swung, grinding his teeth.
“Magic destroys everything! Bonds, lives! If that demon becomes a mage she will become a great evil that burns the Holy Empire to ash!”
He wasn’t wrong. In the future Bella would claim the title of Jealousy among the Seven Deadly Sins and become a monstrous witch.
But he was the one who made her that witch. Without him she would have lived a decent life.
So what about now…?
Now, as the root of that hatred was being cut away—could I, a former villain, and Bella walk toward the light?
Could villains like us ever be praised by anyone?
I don’t know.
I blew the thoughts away with a dry laugh.
I would live by my own creed anyway; no point fretting over useless things.
“It’s simply a demon born of demons! What’s wrong with killing them?!”
He kept ranting; I was about to retort when—
“Shut up!!”
Not my voice.
Bella’s.
“I said shut up, you son of a bitch!!”
Bella squeezed her eyes shut and thrust both hands forward. Ominous mana surged upward.
Oh…
Sensing the danger I sprang clear of Roselle. The idiot, however, turned toward the defenseless Bella.
“Die!”
Thud!
Roselle charged. His blade aimed straight for her heart.
Yet for some reason he looked to me like a moth flinging itself into a great blaze.
Ssssssss—!
Vast mana erupted from Bella.
It scattered wildly, untamed, until a crimson point bloomed at her fingertips.
Then—
KRAAAAAAAAAANG!
An earth-shaking roar as a fist of flame shot forth.
Roselle recoiled in shock and tried to open distance, but the firestorm swallowed him whole.
The blaze kept tearing through empty air and finally blasted a hole clean through the chapel wall.
I expected it, yet this exceeds imagination.
That was the true nature of a mage—destructive power no ordinary swordsman could ever match.
Of course Bella’s talent far surpassed the average.
Even so…
“…I almost died.”
Roselle had survived the inferno. Skin blistered red, half his hair burned away, yet he still moved.
“Truly the child of a demon. This time I will not let you escape.”
His ruined face twisted as he advanced. Panicked, Bella gathered mana again.
“…Huh?”
Her body suddenly tipped backward as though she had missed a step—every drop of mana spent in a single release.
Cornering Roselle with a first-ever spell had already been absurd.
I caught her head before it struck the floor.
Tears welled in her eyes.
“I failed…”
“It’s all right. You chose for yourself.”
“But…”
“Act like a proper sub-deacon. Catching heretics is my job.”
I set her gently on the floor and faced the approaching Roselle.
He snarled.
“Out of my way! If you mean to protect the demon child, then you too—!”
My body shot forward like a rain of arrows.
His eyes flew wide and he tried to swing, but Bella’s magic had already dealt him a mortal wound.
Wind-wrapped steel whispered across his throat.
“Disappear.”
I met the eyes of the head floating in midair.
“And stop talking.”
His head hit the floor and rolled like a ball. His lips twitched desperately, yet no sound emerged before he faded.
Behind me Bella asked quietly,
“Is he dead…?”
“Even a demon would have died from that.”
“I see…. You’re amazing after all.”
“He was already dying.”
“Hehe, still.”
I snorted and stepped closer.
“Can you stand?”
“Yes, just a moment…”
Bella trembled, tried to rise, then flopped flat on her back like a starfish.
“I can’t…”
“Mana exhaustion. Looks like controlling it will take time.”
“I see…”
“Though if you sing while completely drained like this, we’ll only hear your voice.”
“R-really?”
“Yes. So sing if you want.”
“Ah…”
She sighed softly, thought a moment, then shook her head.
“I don’t feel like singing today. It’s just… not the mood.”
In the past life the Witch always sang after slaughtering clergy—songs filled only with jealousy toward others and her own despair.
Yet this Bella, having avenged her parents, chose not to sing.
Was it a change? Or simply a difference in mood?
I could not say, but perhaps many things truly were shifting at the tip of my sword.
“But as a sub-deacon I should still—”
I considered briefly, then answered.
“No need. We’ll say your injuries prevented it. Besides, there’s no audience.”
“But you’re here, Inquisitor.”
“I’ll have plenty of chances. Sing when you actually want to. I’ll decide based on the state of my eardrums and your mana.”
“Yes, Inquisitor.”
Bella grinned—and the chapel ceiling rumbled and began to collapse.
It made little difference; her magic had already blown a hole straight through it.
“Inquisitor, I’m really sorry, but could you carry me? I honestly can’t move.”
Bella’s flames still raged, consuming the chapel. They spread farther by the second, creeping toward us.
Hmm, come to think of it…
Exactly like the past life. Bella destroying the Divinar parish office.
The only difference was that this time I witnessed it—not as the Sword Demon, but as an Inquisitor.
“…Inquisitor?”
The source of every misunderstanding—the Divinar parish office—was gone, and Baron Scalen had been handled lawfully.
Which meant, unlike the past, Ludian would not be hunting me.
“I-Inquisitor…? I think we need to get out of here…?”
“…….”
“Uh, uh… the flames!!”
I looked at the fire now licking close and thrust both hands high.
“Liberation!”
“What?! We’re not liberated—we’re trapped by fire!”
“Hooray!”
“Aaaah! I-Inquisitor!!”
Bella could wait…
Anyway, it seemed I had succeeded in rewriting the future where Ludian chased me.
Fortunately I came to my senses in time, hoisted Bella onto my back, and got out.
I left the aftermath and the bean-bug’s sub-deacon to the clergy; we headed for the orphanage. That sub-deacon would be escorted to the Holy See.
“So what do we do now?”
Bella, draped over my back, asked.
“We killed the bishop and wrecked the Divinar parish office.”
“Don’t worry. We simply fulfilled our duties as Inquisitors. No one will arrest us.”
“Aha!”
Before long we reached the orphanage.
Dominica, waiting at the gate, spotted us and hurried over.
“You’re safe, Inquisitor! Is Miss Bella all right?”
“She’s fine. Only mana exhaustion.”
“I see…”
Dominica exhaled in deep relief, then bowed low.
“Thank you for your help. Without Inquisitor Cael I dread to think what would have happened.”
She was right.
Had I not been there—or had I been even a little slower—today the orphanage, not the parish office, would have burned.
“But Miss Bella…”
Dominica looked at the girl on my back.
“Yes, Director?”
“Have you considered visiting the place where your parents once lived?”
Bella glanced at me for permission.
“Why look at me? Do as you like.”
“Thank you, Inquisitor.”
She nodded and faced Dominica.
“I would like to go.”
Dominica smiled bitterly.
“Understood. Then rest tonight; I’ll guide you tomorrow.”
“What? Tomorrow…?”
“Yes. Both of you must be exhausted.”
“Ah…”
Seeing Bella’s disappointment, I wordlessly set her down.
“If you’re that impatient, crawl there yourself. Becoming a real turtle for once might not be so bad.”
Bella lay limp on the ground, beads of sweat popping out.
“I’m sorry, Inquisitor. I’ll sleep and go.”
“Good. Then crawl to the cathedral.”
“What? Really?”
“Yes. Really.”
I yawned and started toward the cathedral. A cluster of children stood in front of it, staring our way.
I pointed at Bella.
“Go fetch the turtle.”
“Yay! It’s Bella the Turtle!”
“I call the right arm!”
I snorted a laugh and stepped inside the cathedral.
“Wake me if any bad guys show up.”