“John. You should step aside now.” I informed him.

If he didn’t allow me to do my job, I can’t be blamed for what happens, hehehe. John seems to have grabbed his knife. Oh dear! Things aren’t looking good for old John. He has been making a few bad decisions so far. I’ll give him another chance! I’m nothing if not fair.

“John, I’m just doing my job. All I want to do is chat with your boy, who knows, he may even have seen some suspicious individuals recently. Such information can help me ensure this village is safe. Be reasonable John. Confronting me like this isn’t something you really want. Let me through.”

He seems to be hesitating. Oh the conflict in his heart his just there for the world to see in his facial expressions. How exciting! Let’s see what he does.

“I don trust yer! Yer jus wanna hur ma boy!” shouted John.

It would seem John didn’t take the sensible route. He drew his knife and lunged at me unsteadily, his aim was probably my heart but he was so intoxicated it seemed that he’d miss even if I stood still. He then fell to ground, having tripped up on his own feet. That’s quite sad to watch. I knelt down and took John’s knife from his hand.

“John, you know you just attempted to assault an inspector of god right? That’s heresy, plain and simple. I have the right to kill you now John.” I whispered in his ear.

I wonder how he’ll react. He said nothing and didn’t move. It looks like he’s crying. He then began to tremble.

“Please, yer can kill me! But please don hur ma boy! He don know wha is righ and wrong” sobbed John, “He’s all I got! Even if yer don kill me now, if he’s gone I’ll kill maself later”

How pitiful… What should I do now…? Ok, I’ve decided! In one swift motion I drew my rapier and pierced John through the heart. His eyes widened in shock and he sent his disbelieving gaze towards me. I simply shrugged in response.

“Killing yourself is an affront to Sol, John. Since I’ve already decided I’ll deal with your boy, this is the only favour I can do for you now. Getting killed by someone else isn’t heresy but suicide certainly is.”

I left my rapier embedded in his heart and once again knelt down by his side. John was slowly bleeding out onto the ground outside his house, the dirt soaking up his blood. I made sure that the way he was pierced would prolong his life as much as it could be with such a wound. I leaned in closer and began to speak to him in a soft voice with a comforting smile.

“John, I’m doing this for you. If Sol really does exist I’ve just saved your soul, and by dealing with your boy, I’ll be taking revenge for everyone he’s ever hurt. Don’t cry John, you should be happy.”

Despite my well put argument John continued to cry, his eyes slowly losing their life. In a way, by protecting his boy, he was an accomplice in Nathaniel’s crimes. Once John took his final dying breath I retrieved my rapier, cleaning it with the handkerchief that I kept for such occasions. It was old and a bit worn, with its original vibrant gold fading away. Despite its wear, it was a keepsake of my own father, something he had often used before his death. I smiled fondly at a memory that popped up.

It was when I was 6 and just after my father had lost his job with the guards. I was crying at the time at how unfair it all was. No doubt he too felt his fate was unfair, no doubt he also cursed the ones responsible. But I recall him kneeling down by my side to wipe away my tears with this very handkerchief, telling me it would be alright. That he would never let anything hurt his family, that neither my mother nor I would experience any difficulty because of it. A reckless promise from a good man. He left that handkerchief to me that day. I lightly chuckled as I looked down at the now blood stained memento. I’ve kept it on me for so many years now and will continue to do so in the future.

Now that I think about it, John was also a father, a father that was desperate to protect his child. Kind of similar to how my father was desperate to protect my mother and me from any misfortune. He also met an unfortunate fate, although I think it was kinder than my father’s. I held no malicious feelings towards John after all.

I then decided to wipe away John’s tears with the now blood stained handkerchief, leaving bloody smudges, but removing his tears. My smile became more sincere after that. I then put away my handkerchief and sheathed my rapier. I burnt John’s corpse to ash afterwards, using the tier 4 spell, solar flame, a spell that would coat anything I touch with a burning flame with a colour similar to that of the sun.

“John, you weren’t a half bad guy.” I said to the pile of ashes slowly being blown away in the wind.

I then made my way into the house, following the sounds of banging to a locked door at the back of the building. I circulated a bit of magical energy to my legs and promptly kicked the door. Oops, a bit too much power there. I forgot the house was in a state of disrepair; the door was easily blown off its hinges and sent flying across the room. It smacked into the person standing behind it as it went, sending them sprawling across the ground.

I looked at the figure laying in the ground. It was a boy, around Mary’s age or maybe a bit younger. He had long greasy locks of hair, the colour undiscernible due to the filth present in it. As he began to writhe in pain on the floor he met my gaze. He had wild eyes, blood shot and animalistic like that of a starved beast. They were a light brown in colour. If you tidied him up a bit he would look pretty handsome, but in his current state… only the word savage can be used to describe him.

I could see empty plates of food in one of the corners and a pile of filth in the other… this is really gross. It kind of put me off having an extravagant show where I’d burn the evil child in front of the village and be celebrated a hero. It was just another pitiful scene.

I slowly walked over to the boy while dodging all the filth on the floor. While I approached, the boy began to snarl at me, but I only showed him a smile and kind expression. He got more passive as I came closer and just looked at me confused when I leaned down and put my hand on his shoulder. Poor boy probably never saw a friendly face, no wonder he’s so confused.

In the next moment I set him alight with the same spell I used to dispose of his father’s body. He screeched and began claw at his skin whilst throwing himself into the muck on the floor in an attempt to put the flames out. I just watched the scene. In the end I was doing both him and those around him a favour here. Pleased with my work I began to whistle that beautiful tune as I made my way out of the house, leaving the boy to burn to death.

I had a content smile on my face as I entered the centre of the village. My first proper job, and a job well done indeed! It had all the drama you needed for a successful heretic hunt. The first few outside treetop inn didn’t count, that was just a side job. Now what do I do? I’m pretty sure there aren’t any more heretics or sinners running about. I should probably go and investigate the ruins. I let out a sigh… I didn’t really want to go. I’ll go tomorrow! I still have 2 and a half days left. For now I’ll see what Mary and Gant are doing.

I spent the rest of the day as a 2nd bodyguard for Mary, watching her purify villager after villager… It was pretty dull. No wonder Gant looked so bored the other day. After the job was finished, we headed back to the village chief’s house where I informed him that both John and his son had been heretics, and had been dealt with appropriately. He didn’t seem too happy though. Maybe he was a friend of John’s? Oh well. I then went to bed.

Day 4! Map? Check. Supplies? Check. Positive attitude? … We’ll make do without. I grudgingly moved onto my second task here in the village, and discovered it would take half a day of walking to reach the bloody ruins. I don’t feel very motivated, but in the end that can’t be helped. This isn’t like a heretic hunt with all of its excitement and emotion. I then sighed for the umpteenth time before setting off into the dark forest.

The journey was nerve racking. I used a small light provided by a tier 1 light spell to guide my path and read the map. If I had to be honest, I would say I had no idea if I was going in the right direction. Well, if in doubt, go for it! And so I kept walking in the endless darkness beneath innumerable pine trees.

After 8 hours of nonstop walking I came across my first bump in the road. And by bump I mean a pack of wolven magical beasts. Before I knew it, I found myself encircled by 8 of them. They were like regular wolves, except 3 times the size and ridiculously strong. Their fur looked more like numerous grey spines than hairs. This particular species should have a defence mechanism like that of a porcupine if I my recollection is correct. Ok! So watch out for flying hair darts and beat the crap out of them.

After making my plan, I drew my rapier, engulfing its blade in solar flame. The metal used to form the blade had ridiculously high heat resistance as I had requested when it was forged. Most knights and inspectors don’t really use solar flame very often due to the requirement to come into close physical contact to use. Especially since no one ever thought of I don’t know, using a weapon as an intermediary instead of trying to lay your hands on the enemy.

I then circulated magical energy to all parts of my body, followed by the tier 5 light spell, light barrier, forming a protective shield of light around my body. All of this took only a second of time before I lunged towards the closest wolf with frightening speed, spearing it through the heart. The flames weren’t even needed for that one.

The wolves weren’t put off by my display however and proceeded to pounce on me as I killed their fellow pack member. Or they tried to at least; as I lunged towards that first wolf I had used the tier 4 control type spell, light chains to bind the legs of the closest wolves to the ground, resulting in the spectacular failure of a lunge where they crashed snout first into the ground. I had to hold back a laugh when that happened.

The wolves further away however had launched numerous grey spines towards me. There were too many to dodge so I just let my light barrier absorb the impact. It chipped away some of my remaining store of magical energy, but I was still in a comfortable position in the fight. I swiftly finished off the nearest wolves bound by light chains with accurate, piercing thrusts through the bases of their spinal columns, connected to their skulls, using each of their bodies as meat shields whenever the rain of spines came from the surviving wolves. 5 left to go!

The rest of the battle followed a similar pattern, as I methodically took down one wolf at a time. The entire battle had been easily within my comfort zone, and I didn’t even have to worry about them running away, due to the strong concept of revenge that was always present in all variations of wolven magical beasts. After finishing the last off with thrust through the eye, skewering its brain, I collected a few valuable from their bodies; primarily their magic cores. They could be used to resupply my own store of magical energy when needed and fetch a high price back in the city due to the benefits of incorporating them into weapons and armours forged, for example the high heat tolerance of my rapier. I then continued on my journey towards the ruins further into the forest.