What Is Wrath?
What is wrath?
Benedict woke early, just as he always did.
His wife slept soundly beside him, and morning sunlight poured in through the window.
“How peaceful…”
Problems still lingered in the territory, but the greatest weight on his heart had lifted once Cael returned from his pilgrimage. The boy becoming an Inquisitor had been startling, true, yet looking at the path he walked, it did not seem so terrible.
Because he’s using that power for others.
Or was it really for others? Not simply for himself?
Either way…
Things felt as if they were finally falling into place. If only this peace could last… and if he were allowed a little greed, he hoped his family and the people of the land might live a bit happier still.
— Over there! Ah, careful with that!
Voices rose outside. Lillian stirred and sat up, hair tousled.
“What is all that racket…?”
“Ah, you’re awake?”
“Yes…”
“I don’t know either. We’d better go see.”
They went down to the garden and could only stand with their mouths open at the sight that met them.
Servants hauled treasures in numbers that, at a glance, were anything but ordinary.
“Ah, you’ve risen. My lord, Baroness.”
Scriben, directing the servants, approached.
“Wh-what is all this?”
“Ah, did I not say yesterday that Young Master Cael had gone out to make money?”
“You did.”
Cael had vanished again without even eating breakfast, and Benedict had questioned it; Scriben had answered just so.
“This is the result.”
“Even so, this is far too…”
Gold. Gold. Gold.
The light glittering across the garden outshone the sun itself.
Cael happened to walk up just then, and Benedict found his voice.
“Cael, did you truly bring all of this?”
“Yes. Hauling it by wagon was a bit of work.”
“Where in the world did you get this much money? You didn’t do anything wicked, did you?”
“Father.”
Cael laid a hand over his chest and smiled faintly.
“I am an Inquisitor now. One who works for the Goddess. I swear this is not money that will harm anyone else.”
“Nngh…”
Clearly Cael had no intention of explaining further.
“Lillian, you say something to him as well…”
“Cael! You’re not hurt anywhere?”
Lillian rushed forward and checked him over.
“L-Lillian?”
She shot Benedict a sharp look.
“Darling! Why are you crushing our boy’s spirits? He brought money home—if you can’t praise him, at least don’t scold him!”
“Wh-what?”
While Benedict floundered, Lillian turned back.
“Cael, have you eaten?”
“No. I’m a little hungry.”
“Oh dear, that won’t do. Come inside and eat at once.”
“Yes, Mother.”
Cael and Lillian went into the mansion. Benedict stood frozen like a statue.
She’s been tainted!
As if Lillian had not known the territory’s state was poor. She had watched the people struggle and seen Benedict sigh alone in his study.
She had accepted it. Reality and ideals were different things.
Is this truly all right? For a devout family of the Church of Ella?
In the midst of Benedict’s deep conflict, Aren stepped up beside him.
“Don’t worry, Father.”
“Aren…”
“Brother would never do anything that brings shame upon the family. His methods may be a little… free, but it won’t become a problem.”
“That’s true, yet…”
Benedict let out a long breath and looked up at the blue sky.
Goddess… is this truly all right?
As expected, the Goddess gave no answer.
With this, we won’t have to scrape for money for a while…
I sat on the bed after a short rest and ordered the tasks ahead.
There are more than enough bastards who need killing. The Evil Book Society, the Seven Deadly Sins, and so on…
But to face even more of them with greater ease, I first had to raise my own realm.
The blade of Joy alone could handle most, yet the world was wide, and some still stood stronger than I was now.
I need to reach at least the stage of Wrath before I can feel secure.
By offering Groll to the Goddess I had already gained the physical capacity for the stage of Wrath.
Now all that remained was for my mind to be dyed in rage.
Truthfully, that part doesn’t worry me.
I had always lived alongside wrath. There was a reason I had borne the title of Wrath among the Seven Deadly Sins in my previous life.
Still, ordinary anger won’t do.
It had to be rage that crashed over me like a wave, leaving me no choice at all.
In my past life I had awakened the blade of Wrath the moment I watched children sold as slaves at the auction of Lust of the Seven Deadly Sins.
Of course I had no intention of forcing such a situation into existence or chasing after one. I was not some hound hunting rage, and if I tried I would break first.
Wrath comes of its own accord. Whether I want it or not.
Until then I resolved to keep the peace of my heart.
Knock-knock—
— Brother, it’s Aren. If you’re awake, come eat with us. Rake and Rami are waiting for you too.
So for now it was enough simply to savor the small joys that found me.
“I’m coming.”
Somewhere in a basement of the Holy Empire of Ella.
Inside a cylinder of green liquid floated a monster; the surrounding shelves brimmed with reagents and severed body parts.
“Molt, who left with Groll, still hasn’t returned.”
In that dank laboratory two men spoke.
“Maybe he got eaten? Groll was never a perfect specimen to begin with.”
“True. We barely managed to keep it under control.”
“Still, it wouldn’t have eaten him by accident.”
A tall man entered the laboratory.
“You’ve arrived, Lord Corent!”
It was the laboratory chief himself, Corent.
“Most likely someone interfered while they were recovering the fortune that Baron Skallen—no, Apostle Mordin—had hidden.”
“Was there anyone around there capable of that? Even if Groll wasn’t perfect, that was only a matter of control. Its raw power was more than enough…”
Groll was a specimen that could stand against an apostle of the Evil Book Society.
Who near Skallen territory could have felled such a thing?
“I don’t know the details either. But the fact that they still haven’t returned means someone certainly took them down. That madman obsessed with experiments would never have simply run off with the money.”
“That’s true.”
“Tsk. I was planning to buy a few humans on the black market with that gold.”
They preferred experimenting on humans whenever possible.
Their goal was to turn humans into demons without forcing them to drink demon blood.
“The plan has gone thoroughly awry. Apostle Mordin was supposed to supply us with a great many humans, yet he died, and we couldn’t even recover his fortune.”
“They said the one who killed the Apostle was Cael Luminara, correct?”
“Yes. The eldest son of the Luminara family—the very one Apostle Mordin originally targeted.”
“Is he that strong?”
“Little is known, so I can’t say exactly how strong. But looking at his deeds so far, he is clearly powerful.”
Corent ground his teeth.
“In the end it’s all because of that bastard. When I meet him, I will kill him without fail.”
The man who had been swallowing dryly under the cold killing intent asked,
“Lord Corent, what do you intend to do now?”
“Since every plan we prepared has collapsed, we have no choice but to use another method.”
Corent looked up at the ceiling.
“We draw humans in. Apostle Mordin told us to avoid anything conspicuous, but we no longer have that luxury.”
He left the laboratory with a crooked grin.
“And who listens to the words of the weak who already died?”
I spent one night at the mansion, then mounted my horse once more and set out to cut down heretics.
Arriving at a certain village in Skallen territory, I walked the streets with Bella.
“What is wrath?”
“Pardon?”
“It means the head grows hot and something feels ready to burst from the chest.”
Bella fixed her gaze straight ahead, already sensing I was about to spout nonsense again.
“Then when do I feel wrath?”
“……”
“Exactly when I hear Bella sing.”
“Hey!”
“But even that falls short of true Wrath. People rarely grow so furious.”
I kept rambling.
“Then from whom did my first true Wrath come?”
“……”
“From those Evil Book Society bastards.”
The moment I thought of them, something began to boil deep in my chest.
There were many who needed killing, but first I would stop their filth. That filth of experimenting on humans.
“So that’s why they’re hiding here?”
“Yes. Worms prefer dark, damp places. And the one who ruled this land was a rotten hollow tree itself—of course the worms would swarm.”
I surveyed the surroundings.
Even with their lord gone, the villagers laughed and chattered as usual, yet a faint unease still lurked in their eyes and could not be hidden.
Most of the people in this village die about a month from now.
Because a demon suddenly appeared and swept through the place.
At the time Baron Skallen claimed it was the work of the same group that had wiped out the Luminara family, but I knew better.
It had been an Evil Book Society specimen running wild here.
Which means the laboratory that created that specimen must exist somewhere in this place.
The problem was that I did not know its exact location. I needed to take revenge on the ones who had hurt our Groll, yet it was thoroughly inconvenient.
Still, the incident happens in a month. Some sign is bound to show itself.
While I wandered and observed, something caught my eye.
Hm?
Several people, regardless of age or gender, were wearing identical brooches.
Curiosity stirred, so I asked a child.
“Hey, kid.”
“Yes?”
“What’s that brooch?”
“Oh, this?”
The child held out the small white brooch pinned to his chest.
“If you wear this, the demon won’t kidnap you. Anyone without one might get taken.”
For something like that, I felt no mystical power. And there was no way so many of them would be circulating if they truly worked.
“Which idiot said that?”
“Uh… he’s not an idiot. The priest said so. He even handed these out for free.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“A priest? You’re certain he holds the rank of priest?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“Hmm…”
In my previous life, after the family was destroyed I had occasionally slipped into Skallen territory, yet I had never heard of anything like this.
Which meant the future had changed because of me.
Handing them out free… so probably not a simple swindler…
Yet right before the incident was due to occur, something this strange was happening?
I smell something.
I turned it over slowly in my mind.
Why claim that wearing a brooch kept one safe from demons? What was the gain?
Just a mad priest?
No—too suspicious. Both the timing and the motive.
The Evil Book Society preferred experimenting on humans over monsters.
And here, where the incident would soon unfold, brooches were being given only to humans.
Wait…
A thought struck me like lightning.
Could they be kidnapping the humans who don’t wear them?
Then even if villagers vanished, they could stir the people into believing it was a demon’s doing. Trust in the priest would rise, and he would naturally drop off any list of suspects.
No hard proof—only circumstantial.
Yet an Inquisitor could investigate heresy on circumstantial grounds alone.
Either way, it’s one of two things.
A deluded fool, or a member of the Evil Book Society hiding filthy intentions.
But the antennae in my chest that sought out villains were vibrating hard, so the latter seemed far more likely.
I asked the child to whom Bella had just given food.
“Kid, where is that sick priest?”
“Ah, over at the church. They’re handing out brooches there too.”
I looked where the child pointed. A small church stood there, villagers lingering nearby.
Shadows always fall where light exists.
Found you.
I smirked and started walking.
“Deacon Bella, follow me.”
“Yes! Thanks, little guy!”
Bella offered thanks to the child who had helped, but I had no need. I had always been a man who showed his meaning with a sword rather than words.