The Bishop (3)
"Kgh...! It's not over yet!"
Bam-bam-bang!
I had clearly stabbed him through the heart, and yet the Bishop unleashed a shockwave that hurled me away.
Before I could even steady my stance, he was already winding up a follow-up strike. He raised both arms high into the air, and the red magic stones embedded in his palms, as if exerting their full power, spewed out mist-like crimson mana without restraint.
"Pain is the trial! And it is the trial that transforms mankind!"
Shuaaaaa—
A small vortex sprang from the Bishop's hands, and in an instant it devoured the surrounding mana and swelled in size.
An overwhelming suction force. Noah and I drove our weapons into the ground and strained with all our might to keep from being dragged in.
Kugagagak!!
But the unconscious cultists had no strength left to resist. They were swallowed whole by the vortex the Bishop had created, and the horrific sound of human beings being ground alive in a shredder rang in my ears.
The cultists vanished without leaving so much as a trace of dust behind. And yet the Bishop laughed himself mad with delight, spinning the vortex even wider and stronger.
"Kwahahahaha—! Behold! This pain! The pain that flashes past in the space of a single instant is the one and only truth of this false world!"
"What a load of crap..."
I had been bound for far too long in ropes made by butchering human beings whole. My body refused to summon its strength properly, and Noah, whose dependence on energy was even higher than mine, was weaker still—so I had to hold onto her as well. Under the vortex's ever-growing pull, our bodies were already half-lifted off the ground.
Delighted at the sight, the Bishop bellowed with joy.
"Become one with me—"
"Become one with your mom!"
"...What?"
The one who appeared alongside profanity that didn't suit her clear, bright voice was none other than Rena.
Floating in midair—or rather, tied to a long, long rope and somehow defying the vortex's pull—she had approached to point-blank range of the Bishop before anyone noticed.
Which meant she was within range of Provocation.
Provocation
"Nnnghh... not this strange technique again..."
Rena unleashed her taunt, but the Bishop staggered and somehow managed to resist it. He was a horrifyingly strong, stubborn bastard, to be sure—
"Guuuuuuh... n-no!"
—but apparently he couldn't resist the taunt and control the vortex at the same time. The vortex hovering above the Bishop's hands momentarily lost its shape, and in the blink of an eye it came sweeping down his own arms.
Grakagagak!
With the sound of bone and flesh being pulverized, nothing remained of the Bishop above the elbows. But the vortex, having devoured its fill of human life force, now coveted even its own master and began to sink lower still.
"No... no! The sacred relics! I can't control it...!"
So the technique the Bishop had been using was a Divine Authority after all, not magic. He'd lost the crimson magic stones embedded in both palms, and with them, his control.
And so, at last, the Bishop—
"To think! In a place like this—! It makes no sense—!"
Krrrrrik!
With a grotesque shriek, the ominous vortex silently swallowed the Bishop's head whole.
Even his final death rattle with it.
Pshhhsh...
The moment the Bishop died, the vortex sputtered out, shrinking until it dwindled into nothing. I'd been half-afraid it might go berserk, so it was a genuine relief.
Rena, who had been dangling in the air under the vortex's ferocious pull, landed with a safe break-fall and came running over to us.
"Mister! Unni! Are you okay?"
"I told you to go on ahead... Well, good work. You saved our lives. What's with the rope, though?"
"I made it by tearing up a tent. Everyone helped, you know!"
Rena showed me the rope still coiled around her waist. Rough monster hide that had once been tent material, twisted together with clumsy, amateur stitching. And at the far end of the long rope stretched Henry and the hostages, waving their hands—they must have been gripping Rena's rope and holding on this whole time.
"Phew... I honestly thought we were dead for real that time."
"I concur. Under normal circumstances, we could never have won. We were fortunate in a great many ways."
"That magic of yours, Noah—actually, no. We should talk about this later."
I had plenty of questions about the fire magic Noah had displayed, but there were far too many ears around to hear it. Henry was already approaching, leading the people along. He supported those of us too weakened to stand and helped us into a nearby intact tent.
I lay down on a cot for a while and focused on recovering my strength. At first even breathing was difficult, but the moment my Inner Heart gave a throb and pumped aura through my entire body, I recovered in no time.
Noah, however, was still listless and drained.
"Noah, are you alright?"
"Mm... give me a day and I'll be fine."
It felt like something from the impossibly distant past now, but Noah had been receiving power remotely through some unidentified something she'd obtained from Dr. Ilena back at the laboratory. The problem was that the supply amount was fixed. With her stored energy drained to the dregs like now, recovery would take time.
I sat up abruptly and spoke to Rena.
"Stay here and watch over Noah."
"What about you, Mister?"
"We can't linger here. We need to get ready to move out fast. More of those cult bastards might come as reinforcements."
"Ahh... got it."
I brushed aside the tattered tent flap and stepped outside. The first things I saw were Henry rummaging through the Bishop's corpse, and Catherine clinging to his side.
Plundering a corpse right in front of it? So this was medieval sensibility...
"Henry... ah, Lady de Bornier, you were here too. I heard you were the one who asked them to help us. I owe you my life."
I gave my thanks to Henry and Catherine—Henry had given me a brief rundown of the whole affair while carrying me over earlier.
The original plan had been to escape first through the secret passage, but when the atmosphere turned dire, Catherine had proposed to Henry and Rena that they come to our aid. ...For someone who'd spent that whole ordeal as a hostage, it was not an easy choice to make. Truly formidable mental fortitude.
"She says you may simply call her Catherine from now on. And a debt? If it weren't for all of you, I wouldn't have even dreamed of the things that happened today."
"The young lady is quite right. Though, Senior... you said this one was a Bishop. Is that certain? He was unmistakably an extraordinary specimen, but..."
"Well, he did call himself a Bishop, at least. I doubt he was lying about it. He used all sorts of grotesque techniques. You saw it yourself, didn't you?"
"I did. It was terrifying."
I looked down at the Bishop's corpse that Henry had laid out. Where was that confident figure of his in life? Thanks to the vortex's aftermath, his body remained intact only up to his chest—barely. Staring at the grotesque armless remains, I felt the loss of the crimson magic stones that had been embedded in the Bishop's palms ache fresh in my bones all over again.
'They'd have given me more points than the Priest did. Two of them, too... Ah, come to think of it, there might be one more in his heart.'
It had been such chaos that the thought only occurred to me now. But everyone had already seen the Bishop's corpse. Digging open the man's chest to search for a magic stone in this state wouldn't look great. I'd be lucky if they didn't take me for a madman.
"Bring the corpse back in good condition and you'll be recognized for a great achievement. You almost never hear rumors of anyone executing a cult Bishop, after all."
"Really? But can we actually prove he was a Bishop...?"
"It should be fine. As I understand it, high-ranking cultists have unusual internal anatomy. Apparently they have magic stones inside them, like monsters do. In any case, as long as the corpse is brought back intact, your achievement will be recognized."
"And if proof proves difficult, I will testify myself."
Catherine—smaller even than Rena—placed a hand on her chest and declared it with perfect confidence. With the bloodline of high nobility stepping forward, that was reassuring. An achievement like this should be more than enough to promote to Rank 7. Perhaps even Rank 6...?
"Sir- Knight-!"
I was grinning to myself, imagining the promotion that awaited back at the guild, when someone came running from far off, waving at us. Seeing them call for Henry, something must have happened.
"What is it?"
"They say they've found something. Apparently they'd like to look for some food, since everyone needs to recover their strength."
"Let's take what we need and leave right away. Staying here any longer feels far too uneasy."
"Agreed. The Bishop's corpse... I'll carry it. You should see to your companion, Senior."
We gathered only what we needed and hurried out of the cult's secret base.
With a Bishop stationed here, this base hadn't been mere kidnapping—it had been moving with some specific purpose. There was no telling when other cultists might come to assess the situation.
Still, we hadn't come away empty-handed. For one thing, we'd secured the horses and wagon the cult had apparently been using, along with some simple provisions.
Clop... clop...
A wagon drawn by four horses, carrying dozens of people, wound its way through the snow-covered forest. Most of the hostages were dressed in utter rags, their exposed forearms skeletal from prolonged starvation—but the mood among them wasn't bad. Small clusters of people had gathered here and there, talking among themselves.
"To think I'd make it back alive... I still can't believe it."
"And we got gold coins on top of it! With this money..."
"They're truly good people. I always thought adventurers were nothing but greedy sorts. Knights never spare so much as a glance for folk like us, you know?"
"A blessing amid misfortune, that's what it is."
The hostages who could barely walk, along with Noah, were loaded onto the wagon, while those with any strength left wrung it out of themselves and moved on two feet. Even the nearest village was a full day away, so we'd be traveling like this for quite a while.
Normally spirits would be low in a situation like this—but what put that glimmering hope in everyone's eyes was none other than the chest loaded onto the wagon. A chest full of money, at that.
"Thank goodness we found that thing, truly."
"Are you certain, though? That money is entirely your share, Senior."
"Well, everyone did help bring down the Bishop in the end, didn't they? I couldn't very well pretend otherwise."
"Hmmm... you really are a rare breed of adventurer. More than qualified to be Henry's senior."
"I'm honored, Lady Catherine."
We had taken the horses and wagon the hostages had found and were about to depart when something odd caught my eye—a tent with a certain peculiarity about it. The design was identical to the others, but somehow it felt as though it was made of a different material altogether.
Suspicious, I stepped inside, and it turned out to be the Bishop's personal tent, filled with luxurious furnishings. And the most eye-catching thing of all was a small chest sitting beneath the desk. Inside were an enormous quantity of silver coins and a modest amount of gold.
"Unfortunately, no orders or documents of any kind."
"The Bishop himself was effectively a walking set of orders, I'd imagine. It would have been wonderful to learn what they were planning."
"Mister. Hey, Mister."
"What?"
While I was talking with Henry, Rena—who'd been following along so well—tugged at my sleeve, eyes sparkling.
"How much of that money is our share?"
"Hmm, once it's all divided up... probably around 300 gold coins?"
"Oooh—! And my share is included in that, right?"
"...It is."
"How much are you giving me?"
I fell deep into thought at Rena's question. Considering everything she'd done, I ought to give her around 50 coins—but was it really wise to hand a kid who'd been poor her whole life that much money all at once? I felt, keenly, what it must feel like to be a mother confiscating her child's New Year's money.
But I couldn't ignore the girl staring holes through me with those burning eyes forever. After much deliberation, I spoke.
"I'll give you 50 gold coins."
"Wah! I'm rich now! Rich, I tell you~"
"But you're depositing it in your guild member card. You remember from when I explained before—it has a deposit function."
Rena's beaming smile froze solid on her face. She racked her brain for a moment, as if assessing my true intentions, then finally tossed out a confirmation check with a small sigh.
"...That card is with Noah Unni right now, isn't it? Because you said I'd lose it..."
"You ask permission before you spend it."
"Hiiiing..."
At last grasping the truth, Rena's eyes drooped endlessly, like a puppy caught in the rain. Sorry, but you do need a little supervision.
Rena trudging along with slumped shoulders was so funny to Catherine that she clutched her belly and cackled without a shred of restraint.
And so we pressed onward, amid bright laughter.