Chapter 319: 168. Heresy Inquisitors -2 (Part One)

Translated by A Passing Wanderer

Edited by RED

**

Lengthy crimson robes flapped in the winds.

The member of the Order of the Crimson Cross, his face hidden beneath his bird-beak mask, dashed furiously ahead on his horse, accompanied by the Duchy’s soldiers.

“What the heck, without any warning…?!”

“Be careful!”

Citizens travelling on the thoroughfare jumped up in surprise and hurriedly ran out of the way of the charging steed.

In that brief moment of him passing them by on his horse, the Crimson Cross member shifted his eyes, rapidly scanned the faces of the citizens, and confirmed their information.

And then…

‘…Found one!’

The Crimson Cross pulled on the reins and brought his mount to a halt. The horse neighed roughly and reared up, kicking the air with its front hooves.

“Heot!”

The individual this Crimson Cross member was focusing on was an ordinary-looking peddler with a rather rotund physique.

[Name: Rani

Ag-: 5-

Attributes: –, Greedy, –, –, Selfish perso-.

+ Fo- o- Lord Farmer! The Glory – Lord Farmer wi- grant us all etern- life!]

The information itself came in fragments. However, the [Mind’s Eye] still accurately peered into and displayed this fat peddler’s information regardless.

Rani the peddler broke out in buckets of cold sweat. He realised that the Crimson Cross member had singled him out and immediately sensed that something had gone wrong here. “H-how may I help you, good sirs?”

The peddler couldn’t help but stutter just then. He even bowed his head before asking his question, to avoid rousing suspicion as much as possible.

It should be fine. There was no way that the Crimson Cross knew about him being a devil worshipper…

His opponent was merely a Paladin, that’s all. Without any proof, this holy knight wouldn’t be able to do anything to Rani in the middle of a public road like this.

Unfortunately for him…

“So, you’re a heretic.”

The ‘Paladin’ in the red robe was confident of his finding.

Rani the peddler flinched in shock, and hurriedly raised his head. That was when he noticed that the Crimson Cross member had already raised his shovel up high.

The weapon mercilessly slammed down hard on the fat peddler.

Rani crashed to the floor. The nearby citizens all screamed, while the soldiers accompanying the Crimson Cross member also flinched and froze in their places.

The Heresy Inquisitor dismounted from his ride.

“Uwaaaahk!” The peddler writhed on the ground from the pain of being struck on the head by the flat side of a shovel. “H-help me! A lunatic is going on a rampage!”

“We now possess the eyes of our Lord Saint. Oh hear ye, you foul devil worshipper! Do not dare to hide your corrupted soul!”

“N-no wait! That’s not true! I’m not a devil worshi…!”

The Crimson Cross member grabbed Rani the peddler’s arm. “You still dare to spout lies when we can see through everything?! ‘For our Lord Farmer, the glory of Lord Farmer will grant you eternal life’, is that not your true inner belief!”

The peddler’s jaw fell to the ground. He then urgently shook his head as if to deny it.

The eyes of the Crimson Cross beneath the mask narrowed to slits. “I’ll get rid of that belief of yours, heretic.”

He then broke the peddler’s arm on the spot.

“Uwaaaahk?!”

Rani was shoved down to the ground without mercy.

“Let us all witness how long your beliefs will last.”

The Crimson Cross member yanked up the broken arm even higher in the air. Tragic screaming sounded out, while the nearby citizens began shouting out in shock and disbelief.

“What is the meaning of…?!”

“Hey, soldiers! What are you all doing, not stopping that madman?!”

The complexions of the soldiers were getting paler by the second. They didn’t have the authority to stop the Crimson Cross.

The Order of the Crimson Cross was directly under the command of the Imperial Family. If any one of them tried to step in and stop this event, then they wouldn’t be able to escape the inquisition process of these crimson-robed people, either.

“Now, speak! Reveal who you truly are!” The Crimson Cross member ruthlessly pressured the peddler.

Rani’s eyes rolled over, but he hadn’t blacked out yet.

“I asked you who you are!”

Finally, the peddler’s beliefs began changing.

{Aaah, it hurts! I, I want to live! I, dammit, I shouldn’t have worshipped the Farmer!}

“Y-yes, I’m a devil worshipper! You’re right! Bloody hell, p-please release my arm…!”

“And what’s the proof that you’re one of the devil worshippers?”

“O-ouch… U-under my back skin, the words worshipping the Farmer…”

The eyes of the nearby citizens opened wider. Even the soldiers were stunned by that testimony and put away their weapons. They no longer had to debate on whether to stop the Crimson Cross member or not.

The Crimson Cross pressed the peddler flat to the ground, and used his hands to rip open the back of the latter’s clothes. Then, he used a dagger to cut open the skin on the fat man’s back, revealing a set of hideous scars branded into the exposed muscles.

The scarred symbols meant to worship the devil could be seen by everyone!

The soldiers stood there utterly frozen, shock and astonishment filling their expressions.

Holy cow, what kind of madman would engrave runes under their skin? This was the reason why they couldn’t find any evidence until now!

The Crimson Cross member, having confirmed the proof for himself, quietly closed his eyes. “Oh, our dear Holy King-!”

Now behold! Here was the proof of their Lord Saint’s greatness! The omniscience of their Saint, who could even see straight through someone else’s beliefs!

As expected, that noble personage knew everything!

The Crimson Cross member opened his eyes again. The corners of his lips curled up under the bird-beak mask. “Oh, our Lord Saint. Under your name, I shall carry on with the judgement of the heretics.”

He then grabbed the scruff of the downed peddler’s neck.

——

Soon, tragic screams began ringing out from all corners of the city.

The soldiers were aiming their spears at a married couple. They stepped forward and forcibly separated the husband from his wife.

The Crimson Cross member leading them then glared at the wife.

“N-no! Sir, I’m not a devil worshipper! I’m speaking the truth…!”

“She’s right, sir! My wife cannot be one! Our son went missing only recently and she had been drowning in sorrow…!” the husband desperately cried out.

But the Crimson Cross member held his head high and replied in a disinterest voice. “I have heard that devil worshippers are even capable of selling their own children to vampires.”

“…!”

“So, you even used your own son as an offering?”

The wife’s expression hardened.

The husband seemed to have suffered considerable mental shock just then, but he still stared pleadingly at his wife. “N-no, there’s… there’s no way… Dear, please say it’s not true. It must be a misunderstanding, isn’t it? Dear!”

“…”

All she could do was to tremble faintly away after her face went pale as snow.

“Please say something!!!”

—

At around the same time…

Local hoodlums hiding in a back alley were gripping their weapons. They were shabby, make-shift things consisting of some daggers and other farming equipment.

“We need to fight back.”

“Wha?! What bullsh*t are you saying? Those people are the Crimson Cross, man! They are one of the six main forces of the Theocratic…”

“So what? You want to sit back and wait until you get hunted down? Out of everyone they have captured so far, some of them must know about us, too! If they prattle on us after getting tortured, then we…!”

Crunch!

The sound of a wooden panel shattering suddenly rocked the alleyway.

The hoodlums jumped up in fright, then hurriedly looked behind them, only to discover a grim reaper-like existence standing there, right at the entrance to the alleyway.

It was a Heresy Inquisitor, fully kitted out in their bird-beak mask and a crimson robe, carrying a large scythe easily over his shoulder.

The hoodlums swallowed nervously when they saw this.

One of them managed to speak. “W-what brings a noble Heresy Inquisitor such as yourself to this loca…”

“You are all heretics, then.”

The eyes of the Crimson Cross member, hidden under the darkness of his helm, gleamed sharply.

The hoodlums got even more scared and stumbled backward. ‘…He saw right through us!’

The Crimson Cross pointed the tip of his scythe at the hoodlums and asked, while holding his head up high, “This is a heresy inquisition. And so, I shall now ask you some questions.” He paused for grim effect. “Where is The Farmer?”

“…Kill the bastard!”

The hoodlums rushed forward, but the Crimson Cross simply gripped his scythe tightly while pulling the weapon back. He used his waist to snap his arched weapon around in a powerful swing.

A sharp light flashed for a moment there, and the legs of the hoodlums were severed.

“…Huh?!”

They couldn’t even feel any pain, yet their bodies still tilted and fell to the ground.

The eyes of the Crimson Cross member inside the mask arched up like a pair of new moons. “Receive your judgement, you devil worshippers.”

The scythe was raised up, then stabbed down into a hoodlum’s shoulder. One by one they were dragged away while screaming tragically.