That Was Enough
That was enough.
As a precaution, I had hidden Bella nearby. If the children or I looked to be in danger, she was to step in on her own.
Perfect for striking at a blind spot.
Had Bella simply stood out in the open, someone would have spotted her. Instead she cloaked her presence with magic—sound-dampening and the rest. Even the one-eyed man never once realized she was there.
Still, even if I had protected the children and then given chase, I probably would have caught him anyway.
I had Saint Bertior’s Sandals, which healed the fatigue in my body with every step. They weren’t all-purpose, but for a pursuit they were useful in all sorts of ways.
“An Inquisitor, you said… So you had a sub-deacon with you.”
“What, did you think that was a lie too?”
“I’ve never seen a mad Inquisitor like you.”
“Sounds like you’ve killed a few Inquisitors yourself.”
“Hah. You think no Inquisitors ever came after us?”
I tilted my head at his attitude.
“This bastard’s laughing. Is it because going from two eyes down to one isn’t a first for you?”
“……”
“Come to think of it, what’s your name? Second meeting and I still don’t know it.”
He studied my face carefully.
“When have we ever met? Not a face you’d forget.”
“We’ve crossed paths, whether you knew it or not.”
“…I see. I am Bear’s Fang, Volcan.”
I nodded and answered.
“Right. One-eyed Volcan. Any last words?”
“…I hope we don’t meet a third time.”
“That so.”
I dropped my stance and grinned.
“I’d like that too.”
I closed the distance in an instant and carved a line of steel toward Volcan’s arm and the side without an eye. He swung his axe in a final thrash, but I struck it aside first.
Clang!
His throat and torso lay wide open. I hesitated for a heartbeat over where to cut—then remembered that in my past life I had taken the body, and this time settled on the neck.
Shhk!
Flame drew a clean horizontal line, and Volcan’s head sailed into the air. His corpse sprawled across the ground. Neither of us would be seeing this sight a third time, just as we had both hoped.
I’d love to take Lopes, the one behind him, while I’m at it—but now isn’t the time.
Lopes hid in his rat hole and almost never stuck his head out. Even when he issued orders to Volcan, he wouldn’t have done it in person. Still, he would crawl out for the auction house he hosted. That would be the moment to strike.
Come to think of it, it was from then on that I reached the stage of Wrath in my past life—and earned the name Wrath among the Seven Deadly Sins.
If I hadn’t obtained the Sword of Wrath back then, Lopes might well have killed me. He was that strong. The infamy of Lust of the Seven Deadly Sins wasn’t empty talk.
But I already hold the Sword of Wrath.
So for now, I only had to wait for the day I would meet him.
“Sub-deacon Bella, you can come out now.”
Rustling rose from the forest, and a wild turtle came bursting out. Astonishingly, that turtle was running toward me on two legs.
“Inquisitor! How did I do?”
“Adequately.”
“Hehe.”
During the month she had spent in the territory, Bella’s magic had grown by leaps. Still, she wasn’t yet ready to sing hymns for the children. The problem with her singing wasn’t so much mana control as the fact that her body’s vessel still couldn’t properly hold the volume of mana she carried. For something like today’s assignment, though, her skill was more than enough.
“Then let’s head back.”
“Yes, sir! Kids, let’s go!”
Above all, her bright disposition covered the parts of me that never could.
We returned to the city and tore up the floor of Marcken’s office—to take his fortune with us.
“He piled up quite a bit.”
Beneath the floor was something like a warehouse, packed with goods and assorted valuables. I packed only as much as would fit in Bella’s bag. Of course, light as it was, the value meant “only as much” was a relative term.
“At this rate we’ll get rich.”
Seen this way, being an Inquisitor looked like an easy path to wealth—but I was the exception. There weren’t many Inquisitors who could smell money the way I did.
Above all, Inquisitors are devout believers who work for the Goddess.
That I had still managed to become one was only because, at the ordination, I had slipped past the Saint of Truth’s question with Baron Scallen’s necklace.
“Cael Luminara, eldest son of Benedict Luminara. Do you swear to cast aside worldly fame and fortune, become the Goddess’s hammer, and grant mercy to the good and judgment to the wicked?”
I hadn’t cast aside worldly fame and fortune—but I had delivered judgment to the wicked. Wasn’t that enough?
Of course it was.
Before leaving Marcken’s warehouse, I briefly pressed my hands together and prayed.
Goddess, I will put this fortune to good use.
Bella eyed the unfamiliar sight with puzzlement, but after nearly a month without prayer I felt holy power well up in me, if only a little. The Goddess herself was acknowledging that my path was of service to the world.
Or not. Either way.
After that I went to see Bishop-Lord Bartello. Ordinarily one reported such cases to the nearest diocesan office—but Bartello was both a marquis and a bishop. More surprising still, he also held the rank of cardinal, making him a considerable power within the Holy Empire.
“Hmm. Human trafficking…. I never imagined such vile business was unfolding within my own territory.”
A middle-aged man with heavy shadows under his eyes. Edmon Bartello stroked his chin.
“You truly didn’t know? Marcken was still the head of a major merchant company that ran Darsein City.”
“As with any trading house, I never assumed his backside was entirely clean. I simply never imagined it went that far.”
The Bishop-Lord pressed hard at his eyes.
“As you know, I am a Bishop-Lord. That means my work piles higher than any ordinary noble’s.”
“Then how about setting a few things down?”
“Heh. That would be one approach.”
He gave a weary smile.
“But it isn’t easy. If one never held them to begin with, perhaps—but once you’ve gripped something, letting go is hard. That is the creature called human greed.”
“A terrifying one, yes.”
“Indeed. Even I am sometimes startled by it.”
He continued.
“At any rate, with this, the dressmaker’s good name is cleared.”
“You already roughly knew, didn’t you—that she had been deceived.”
If the Bishop-Lord had truly thought Katrina the culprit, she would have been seized on the spot.
“I didn’t believe she was the sort of woman for it. I merely allowed that my instinct might be wrong, and that it wasn’t worth pouring my strength into.”
“Hmm. I thought it was more than worth it.”
“Haha. If you say so, then so it is. I’ve heard plenty about you.”
Among the high clergy, it seemed I was already a known name. Killing a fallen bishop, dealing with a demon, catching one of the Seven Deadly Sins—it was little wonder.
“Then I’ll take my leave. I’ll leave the cleanup to you.”
“You have my thanks for this matter.”
I nodded roughly and turned. As I opened the door, the Bishop-Lord spoke.
“Until we meet again, Inquisitor Cael.”
I stopped and looked back at him.
“May we meet again?”
Inquisitors had a stock phrase: Until we meet again. Ordinary nobles dreaded Inquisitors, so the words were usually a threat. This time the Bishop-Lord had simply offered me the same parting line.
“Ah…. Habit. A farewell spoken in the hope that this connection does not end here.”
“I see.”
I suddenly recalled what had happened to Bishop-Lord Bartello in my past life. He had been killed by a demon—though I hadn’t witnessed it myself, only heard the Holy See’s announcement, so I couldn’t be certain.
After a brief hesitation I spoke without preamble.
“Bishop-Lord Bartello. The demon is always at your side.”
Bartello blinked, then answered.
“What…?”
No particular reaction. I had hoped for even a small clue.
I pointed a thumb at my own chest.
“It means beware the wicked whisperings of the heart. My blade does not cling to fleeting connections.”
The Bishop-Lord lifted the corner of his mouth slightly, as if he understood.
“I will take care.”
“Then until we meet again.”
I opened the door and left the Bishop-Lord’s office.
My next stop was Katrina’s dress shop. I told her first about Marcken.
“Truly trash beyond imagination…. Impersonating a Bishop-Lord, and human trafficking on top of it. To have become that man’s wife—it would have been a nightmare.”
“He would have treated you well enough until he got his hands on Lumen’s fabric, at least.”
“Even so, I wouldn’t have made him clothes.”
“Then he would have killed you.”
“……”
Knowing it wasn’t a lie, Katrina swallowed dryly.
“More importantly—what do you intend to do with Lumen’s fabric now? Keep holding onto it and someone will come after it again.”
“You’re right. Someone, someday, would find out.”
“If you want, I’ll burn it for you.”
I had come here for a holy relic—but I had already gotten the satisfaction of putting down a pig, so it would be fine even if I didn’t obtain the relic. A little regrettable, that was all.
No—truthfully, deep in my heart I might weep as I burned Lumen’s fabric.
Katrina thought for a while, then spoke.
“I’ll do away with it after all. I want to cut short the disaster that clung to the holy relic, right here.”
Her eyes drooped as she looked at me.
“I’m sorry. Someone as weak as I am can’t make clothes for you, Inquisitor….”
In a way, it was only natural. To others, Lumen’s fabric was a precious holy relic beyond measure—but to her it was the disaster that had stolen her grandparents and her parents. This time it had even come for her own life.
And I, too, came here for Lumen’s fabric.
But Lumen’s fabric was hers by right. So for all my regret, I would respect her choice.
“That’s enough. You’ve chosen your path.”
“You helped me so much—I’m truly sorry….”
“This is my work. Don’t trouble yourself over it.”
“Yes….”
“Then bring me Lumen’s fabric. No reason to drag this out.”
“Understood.”
Katrina nodded and went inside. Before long she returned carrying a great armful of white cloth.
“Here it is, Inquisitor.”
I took it in both hands. I felt no special energy. Lumen’s fabric only functioned as a holy relic when it had the blood of its descendants.
Still, I thought something would happen if I touched it myself. Strange.
Aside from the quality of the cloth looking fine, there was nothing remarkable about it. No wonder others couldn’t recognize it either.
I stared down at the fabric. Why did something so light feel so heavy? Probably because my greed had soaked into it.
But I cut an enemy’s neck in a single stroke. Drawing a deep breath, I poured out flame with force.
Whoosh!
Fire swallowed the cloth in an instant. Ash scattered, and the holy relic vanished before my eyes.
Honestly, it was intensely, extremely regrettable. At this rate I might even reach the stage of Sorrow.
But who was I? A man who left no regret on a path already chosen.
“Haa….”
Before I knew it, Lumen’s fabric had become a small heap of ash. The smoke drifted out through the door Bella had left open. Perhaps that smoke was my greed given form—flaring for a moment, then vanishing somewhere.
Farewell….
But I had no desire to breathe it back in, so I only watched until it was gone. I dusted off my hands and looked at Katrina.
“That’s the end of it.”
Katrina smiled faintly.
“Yes. Thank you, Inquisitor.”
Right. That was enough.
“While we’re at it—how about coming to our territory with us?”
“Your territory, Inquisitor?”
“Yes. Even without Lumen’s fabric, your skill is outstanding. The people would like you.”
Katrina fidgeted with her fingers, then asked,
“W-would that really be all right?”
“No reason it wouldn’t.”
“Ah….”
She still wavered, looking troubled. Knowing it was because of Lumen’s fabric, I turned first.
“Then we leave at once. It’s a long road.”
“Kids, let’s go!”
“Yes!”
Just as Bella and the children trailed after me like chicks—
“U-um, Inquisitor!”
Katrina, who had been shifting from foot to foot, hurriedly called me to a stop.
“What is it?”
“I-I’m sorry!”
She bowed deeply at the waist. I folded my arms.
“If it’s about Lumen’s fabric, that’s enough. If you regret it, then I’ll be left with lingering attachments too.”
“I-it’s not that!”
“Not that?”
“No….”
Straightening, Katrina slowly explained.
“Actually, there’s a truth about Lumen’s fabric that isn’t known outside.”
“What is it?”
“If someone forcibly takes our blood to make clothes, the holy relic’s original power won’t manifest. Conversely, clothes made wholly by our own will draw out that power completely.”
Come to think of it, the clothes Marcken had worn in my past life had been cut far too easily for a holy relic. I had assumed it was because dead blood had been used, or because Marcken was weak—but that hadn’t been it?
“And the people who received those clothes were always people who had never coveted them.”
I grasped at once what that meant.
“Temperance of the Seven Great Goods.”
“Yes. But from the moment you first saw me, Inquisitor, you wanted those clothes.”
Indeed, I had come here primarily for Lumen’s fabric. And yet just now I had been about to burn it and leave.
“So just now you were testing my reaction?”
“Given that state, I couldn’t be sure how things would go…. But you burned it, Inquisitor—and without clinging to it, you offered me kindness again.”
In a crawling voice, Katrina bowed once more.
“I’m truly sorry! Honestly, from the start I intended to make clothes for you. I never forget a person I’m grateful to.”
She gently clasped her hands.
“Inquisitor Cael, you are my benefactor. Without you, that pig would have taken me.”
As someone who knew the past life, I couldn’t say otherwise.
“Having the nerve to test an Inquisitor—you’ve got guts, at least.”
“Even with two mouths I couldn’t defend myself…. Hic….”
Tears dripped from Katrina’s face.
“That was praise.”
“Y-yes….”
She straightened and wiped her tears with a handkerchief. Watching her, I tilted my head.
“But what’s the point of saying this now? I’ve already burned every last scrap of Lumen’s fabric that remained.”
“Ah—that wasn’t the real thing. It was cloth I wove myself. The real one is somewhere else….”
No wonder even I, a Holy Knight, felt nothing when I touched it. It hadn’t been real to begin with.
“After you left before, Inquisitor, I kept thinking. Even after watching my grandparents and parents die, why had I gone on clinging to Lumen’s fabric?”
Katrina bit her lip hard.
“I knew the truth, really. The ones who coveted it were at fault—not Lumen, and not the Goddess….”
She was right. Human greed had invited that disaster. Lumen and the Goddess had only acted for the sake of their descendants.
“So I, too, want to make those clothes for someone precious, as Lumen intended. That fabric exists for that purpose.”
Her gaze turned to me.
“Then you never hated them in the first place?”
“No. At first, I did hate them. Because of that fabric, the people I loved were gone.”
“……”
“But at some point the hatred gradually faded, and I simply started wondering what heart Lumen must have had while weaving that cloth.”
“I see.”
“Once again, I’m sorry, Inquisitor.”
Katrina bowed deeply. Knowing it had been done not from malice but to help me, I would think no more of it. That didn’t mean I would simply let it pass as if nothing had happened.
“If you’re sorry, then come to my territory and make fine clothes for the people—so they won’t be looked down on wherever they go.”
“Yes. I will, without fail.”
Katrina nodded with grave resolve.
“Then, Inquisitor.”
“What.”
“Would it be all right if I took your measurements?”
I stared at her with my arms still crossed. Then, as if I had no choice, I spread both arms wide.
“As much as you like.”
Yes….
That was enough.