I Don't Say It Twice
I don't say things twice.
The Charity among the Seven Great Goods—the holy relic of Saint Bertior.
Wear those sandals, and every step heals the weariness from your body.
I asked him,
"What's your name?"
"Ra… Rak."
Rak.
Just as I had heard from the Chain Hunter.
"Where did you get those sandals?"
I already knew Rak had possessed them before the Chain Hunter ever got his hands on them, but I had never learned how he acquired them in the first place.
"Ah… some time ago I shared bread with an old man. He saw I was barefoot and handed me the sandals he was wearing…"
"Where is that old man now?"
"A few days later I went back to the same spot. He was dead. Both ankles cut off."
"Hm."
I looked Rak over carefully.
He was so thin his bones showed through his skin. He must have looked much the same when he gave the old man that bread.
Even in the dark, Rak was a man who tried to be good.
"Haa…"
Saint Bertior was the Charity of the Seven Great Goods.
He had once been one of the greatest merchants in the Holy Empire, yet he donated every coin he had ever earned and saved countless lives. That was why another of his titles was Father of the Poor.
Perhaps it was always fated that his relic would find its way to Rak.
My silence stretched long enough that Rak hurriedly pulled the sandals off.
"I-if you need these sandals, please take them. As payment for helping me, Father…"
I stared at the sandals he held out, then at his bare feet.
Would this kid still have offered them if he knew they were a holy relic?
For some reason, I felt certain he would have.
Everything I heard in my previous life seems to check out so far.
When the Chain Hunter decided a debtor would never be able to pay the interest, he simply cut the man's ankles off. Rak had been a debtor too. After the Chain Hunter took his ankles, he noticed the sandals' strange power and started wearing them himself. The man had been a mercenary of some repute, after all.
"Keep them on for now."
If he had been a villain I would have cut his ankles off on the spot and taken them. That was exactly what I had done in my last life.
This time I wanted to obtain the sandals another way.
Snatching them by force would make me no better than trash like the Chain Hunter. Besides, I was in no particular hurry.
"What?"
"I said keep them on. I'll come collect them later."
"Ah… yes…"
Rak glanced at me warily as he slipped the sandals back on.
"Rak, was it?"
"Yes…"
"I hear you're looking after someone. Take me to them."
I already knew where he lived, but simply walking there as if I owned the place would only make him more suspicious. He was already on edge.
"W-why…?"
"Well then, I'll just go looking myself. As an Inquisitor I have the authority to poke through every house in the district—day and night…"
"…"
"Then the angry residents will kick their doors open and demand, 'Just who the hell is this Rak kid?'"
"I-I'll show you the way."
"Good boy."
Rak scurried ahead; Bella and I followed. The place we arrived at was a cramped, dilapidated shack.
"This is it…"
There was no tiny skeleton inside. Only a young girl lying on a rough pallet, breathing hard.
Unlike Rak she still had some flesh on her bones—ordinary, if a little thin.
"Your little sister?"
"Yes… Her name is Lami."
"Parents?"
"I don't really know."
"I see."
I turned to Bella.
"Bella, dig some cold medicine out of that shell of yours."
"Yes, Inquisitor!"
Beaming, Bella rummaged through her enormous backpack and produced the medicine at once, as though she had prepared it from the start. After giving Lami the dose she asked,
"Inquisitor! May I share some bread and water as well?!"
"Go ahead."
"Thank you!"
Bella pulled out bread and a waterskin. I was starting to wonder if there was anything that bottomless bag didn't contain.
Seeing the food on the floor, Rak said,
"We… we don't have money to pay for this…"
"I'm not lending it. This is charity."
"Charity? Why would you give us something like this…?"
Because of the relic he carried, of course. Without it I would never have gotten this involved.
Still, thinking it over, my next words weren't entirely a lie.
"Probably because you once gave something to someone else."
Rak had offered bread to an old man and received a holy relic in return. Now I was offering kindness so that I might receive that relic from him.
None of this would have happened without his small act of charity.
"Ah… thank you."
"Go eat."
"Yes."
Bella watched over Rak as he carefully tore into the bread. Lami's ragged breathing slowly evened out.
I watched them for a moment, then spoke.
"Sub-deacon Bella, on your feet."
"Sir?"
"Time to work. Looks like our visitor has finally arrived."
I turned toward the doorway that no longer had a door. At the same moment a vicious-looking man stepped inside.
I watched him plant his filthy boots on the floor and said,
"Get out."
"What?"
"Take one more dirty step and I'll cut your feet off."
"What the hell are you—"
"Hey, Baldy."
I pointed a finger straight at him.
"I said get lost. You're leaving anyway."
"…"
The man drew a quiet, shaky breath. He swallowed once, forced a snort of laughter, and backed out the door.
I called after him,
"Keep those shoes on. I'll be by to collect them soon."
Rak, still frozen with a mouthful of bread, could only manage a stiff nod.
I stepped outside; Bella followed. Ten burly men were waiting in the street.
"What do you want?"
"Someone wants a word with you."
"The Chain Hunter?"
They exchanged glances; one of them nodded.
"That's right."
"Then why the hell did so many mongrels show up? Master throw you a bone or something?"
The men laughed as one. Apparently I was a funny guy.
"He throws us one now and then. So—coming quietly?"
"Of course I'm coming. Lead the way to your master, you sons of bitches."
Their brows knitted, but they finally turned and started walking. Bella and I trailed behind.
One of them sidled up.
"Hey, buddy."
"What."
"Priest's robes and a sword… Inquisitor, right? Better watch your mouth around here."
"Why's that?"
He laid a hand on my shoulder and whispered,
"This place doesn't care about rank or title. The Holy Empire's reach doesn't stretch into a filthy hole like this."
"…"
"So if you don't want to throw your life away, don't start any trouble. Just keep walking."
I snorted and knocked his hand off my shoulder.
"The Empire's hand may not reach here, but my sword does. So don't test my patience. Shut up and walk."
He clicked his tongue and fell back. A voice drifted from behind us next.
"Nice little deacon you've got there."
"Stay the hell away."
"Doesn't look like she can fight. Why'd you pick her? Don't tell me…?"
I sighed and stopped walking. Looking up, I found the sun smiling down on me as if to say, Patience, Inquisitor…
But I had always been a bastard who never listened to anyone.
"Too many dogs around. My feet just won't move."
I fixed them all with a hard stare.
"First come, first served—one survivor."
"What?"
"From this moment, kill each other. I'll spare only the last one standing."
They gaped for a second, then threw their heads back and howled with laughter. The ugly sound grated on my ears.
Then, abruptly, one laughing face simply vanished.
A head and a spray of blood fell from the sky.
"Ha… ha…?"
Their laughter died by degrees.
I flicked the blood from my blade and looked them over.
"I don't say things twice."
Killing intent rolled off me and crushed them flat.
"One mutt only. First come, first served."
Silence hung for a heartbeat. Then one man yanked an axe free and buried it in the skull of the man beside him.
The moment that body hit the dirt, pure chaos erupted.
I planted my sword in the ground, stepped back, and started clapping.
"Oh man, who is the biggest idiot of them all? This is gonna be good."
A scream tore the air.
"Whoa, you died to that? You should've dodged instead of swinging just now."
A wet gurgle.
"That's it, that's it! Good dogs! Keep going, you bastards!"
My applause and praise only made them froth harder. In no time the fight was over. The last man left standing was the bald one who had tried to enter Rak's house.
"So you lived."
"Y-yes…"
He stood panting, axe still dripping with his comrades' blood.
"Didn't I tell you to shut up and walk? Why don't you listen? Are you the Goddess or something? Testing a man's patience?"
"…I'm sorry."
"Then shut up and walk. Take me to your master."
"Yes…"
We followed him to a two-story wooden building that looked like a mercenary hall.
"Chain Hunter inside?"
"Yes. Probably with a client right now."
"Good work, you son of a bitch."
"Yes!"
He bowed deeply.
"Thank you for sparing—!"
He never finished. Blood erupted from his mouth; my sword was already buried in his heart.
"Why…?"
I answered the bald man's dying question.
"On the way here a glint of light hit my eyes. You ambushed me first with that shiny dome of yours, so no hard feelings, right?"
He tried to speak, then sagged lifelessly.
I yanked the blade free, grabbed him by the scruff, and strode to the door. One hard kick blew it clean off its hinges.
BOOM!
Every eye inside snapped toward me.
"What the—?"
"Priest robes? An Inquisitor?"
"He's lost his mind."
Roughly fifteen of them. Compared to the Chain Hunter they were nothing but strays.
I hoisted the bald corpse high and roared,
"I'm looking for this bald bastard's owner! He murdered every last one of his own comrades! Absolute scum of the earth!"
The building was open in the middle; the second floor looked straight down on the first.
"Anybody know where his master is? Bound to be just as brain-dead, but I really want to see that face!"
They stared at me, dumbfounded. Then, one by one, they started rising from their tables—
"What's all the noise?"
A voice floated down from the second floor.
Hook-nosed, sharp-eyed man. That was the Chain Hunter Mordak—the loan shark who ran this entire slum.
"You the bald one's master?"
Mordak glanced at the body in my fist and nodded.
"And if I am?"
"Then learn how to train your dogs properly!"
I hurled the corpse straight at him.
The body arced through the air, reached Mordak—and split cleanly in half, scattering in pieces.
Whoosh—whoosh—
Mordak was already spinning a sickle chained to a long weight with one hand.
I nodded in approval.
"They say a dog takes after its master. Looks like the old saying's true. Master kills his own hound without blinking—what do you think the rest of the pack is like?"
"You killed him just now."
"Wrong. He was only knocked out. Still breathing. You killed him."
I clicked my tongue.
"I tossed him to you so you'd save him. Cold bastard. The rest of you are going to die the same way under this guy."
"…"
Mordak heaved a long sigh and stopped the whirling sickle.
"So? What brings an Inquisitor all the way out to a dump like this? Don't tell me you came to borrow money."
"I think you already know why."
"Hmm."
He leaned both hands on the railing and looked down at me.
"I was going to talk… but just leave."
"Why? Finally met me in person and now you're pissing yourself like a dog?"
Mordak gave a short, dry laugh.
"Did our Inquisitor stop by the diocesan office first?"
"I'll drop by after I finish here."
"Meaning you didn't. So if you die here, nobody will ever know. They might suspect, sure—but burn the body and no one will ever prove a thing."
He kept talking.
"You're still young. Walk away while you can. I don't feel like taking unnecessary losses either."
My ear suddenly itched; I dug a finger into it.
"Would you stop that damn barking? Maybe put that chain around your own neck for once."
"…"
"Whether you take a loss or not isn't my problem. A man who's spent his whole life snatching other people's bowls suddenly can't stand watching his own get flipped over?"
Mordak's eyes narrowed.
"You're really going to do this?"
"I've always hated dog dealers."
My killing intent made Mordak grind his teeth. Around us the others began drawing weapons one by one.
"Then let the judgment of heresy begin."
I addressed every man in the room.
"Your sins are countless, but the greatest among them is this: you used the desperate hearts of the poor to feed your own greed."
"…"
"Accept it with humility."
I glanced back at Bella waiting behind me.
"Sub-deacon Bella."
"Yes, Inquisitor."
I wrapped my eardrums in divine power and clapped both hands over my ears.
"Show these heretics the glory of the Goddess."
Bella nodded silently and stepped forward. She stopped in front of me, closed her eyes with a devout expression, and pressed her palms together.
The men stared at her, baffled.
Then Bella slowly parted her lips—
RUMBLE—!
I felt a vast surge of mana erupt from her body.
With my hearing completely sealed, I looked at the men and grinned.
I can't be the only one who gets to hear this.
Any moment now, hell itself would unfold in this place.