An Inquisitor in a Certain Village – 2

The doubt in the villagers’ eyes grew even stronger. They didn’t know how Stella’s promised proof of purity would proceed.

“I will obey your command, Inquisitor-nim.”

*Bow*, Iris, who had bowed her head towards Stella, set down the mace and shield in her hands. *Thud*, the head of the mace plunged into the ground, and the shield fell with a *clatter*.

A few faint-hearted people flinched at the sound. Some even started to tear up. The atmosphere created by the nuns surrounding them was so chilling that their tension had skyrocketed.

“Ugh!”

Suddenly, someone grabbed James by the back of his neck. With a feeling like his breath was caught, he floated up into the air for a moment, flying through the sky, then fell face down as soon as his short flight ended.

Right in front of him was the battle nun called Iris. James, who had directly witnessed her sacred form, unconsciously tried to step back but was blocked by another battle nun’s thigh, and then he hiccuped.

Emotionless green eyes turned towards him. James, wondering what they were trying to do, could only tremble, completely shrunken.

A hand clad in black latex gloves was placed on his chest covering.

Startled, James stared blankly at the sight. Iris was slowly trying to lift the covering that concealed her chest. And she was doing it right in plain sight of everyone.

James’s eyes, seeing a nun suddenly opening her holy vestment in the middle of the street to expose her bare chest, were a mix of half confusion and half desire.

Regardless, Iris’s hands moved busily. She carefully untied the intricately tangled strings and supported her lower chest with her arm to make her cleavage stand out even more.

With just a little more movement, the pink protrusion at the end would be visible. James’s eyes involuntarily widened, but the nun’s hand suddenly froze as if caught on something.

‘Why did it stop-‘

-*Crunch!*

His thoughts were cut off there. This was because the massive mace that struck James’s head had completely pulverized his skull, leaving no trace of its form.

The mace, brought down vertically, didn’t just smash his head; it dug into his body, turning his flesh into a pulp. A human’s worth of blood and flesh splattered everywhere.

All sorts of foreign substances streamed out from the lump of meat that had just been a human.

“Kyaaaak!”

“What?! What happened?!”

“Why us……!”

People who saw James’s horribly butchered form screamed individually. Some tried to escape, but they were all restrained by the surrounding battle nuns.

“This one was not pure.”

The culprit was Stella.

Stella, who had slaughtered a person by wielding a mace easily twice the size of her head, declared with a bright smile, hanging her weapon over her shoulder as if screams couldn’t even be heard:

“Next.”

“Hum hum hum~ hum hum~”

Stella, perched on the well in the middle of the village, hummed a tune and lightly swung her legs back and forth. She didn’t seem to mind at all, even though the acrid smell of burning permeated the air.

Next to her, a mace caked with dried blood and fragments of human flesh leaned against the well wall. It was practically smeared with red, as if to show how many humans it had slaughtered.

A little further away, a horribly butchered human was visible. It was so terribly mutilated that its original form was unrecognizable; no, before that, it was impossible to even tell if it had been a man or a woman.

“Krr…… ugh…….”

The more gruesome fact was that it was still clinging to life in such a state. A faint groan of “krrgh” was heard from its mouth, which had all its teeth gone and its lips cut off.

Seeing that, Stella murmured regretfully.

“Why do demon worshippers lack such tenacity these days? In the past, most of them would curse me until their dying breath, screaming, no matter what torture they received, so torturing them was enjoyable, but these days, they bawl just from having their skin peeled……”

Her voice was filled with contemplation and melancholy, but its content was incredibly gruesome. Stella was truly regretting the words she had just uttered.

“Stella Inquisitor-nim!”

“Ah, you’re finally here.”

A resolute voice was heard from afar. It was Iris. Stella leapt down from the well.

Despite her attire making it impossible to conceal her modesty, no intimate parts were revealed at all. It was as if someone was bestowing a blessing.

“Did you find it?”

“Yes, Inquisitor-nim. This.”

Iris held out the bundle of parchment in her hand.

Stella, as if she had never felt regret, wiped her expression clean and hummed a tune again, unfolding the parchment with a beaming smile and examining them one by one.

And before even reading half of the first page, she delivered a verdict.

“It’s Behemoth. How audacious. Where did you find traces of Behemoth?”

“So that’s why the people of this village couldn’t have their purity verified?”

“Yes, that’s right. Because they were destined to be sacrificed to a demon.”

Stella certainly hadn’t just indiscriminately slaughtered innocent people. Preparatory work by demon worshippers had been carried out in a secretly hidden place located beneath this village.

The preparatory work had been ongoing for several years, and when the demon worshippers’ efforts finally bore fruit, every single resident of this village, without exception, fell into a state where their souls were bound to a demon.

Without even knowing it themselves.

Once a soul is bound, there’s no way to reverse it, and the moment the ritual to summon the demon is performed, they would become no different from living bombs.

Their bodies would explode, polluting the surrounding land, and the remaining souls would be dragged to hell, spreading endless screams and strengthening unholy things until that demon was eternally annihilated.

“This monster attack must have been a type of ritual. While they couldn’t summon a demon of Behemoth’s caliber right now, they could certainly use sacrifices to make their presence known to the demon.”

“What about those who died before we arrived?”

“What can we do? We have to give up. Unless Behemoth is completely killed, there’s no way to save humans whose souls have been devoured by demons.”

That was also why Stella used her mace to kill all the remaining villagers. If they die by a weapon imbued with divine power, their souls won’t return to the demon but will be purified and disappear.

It’s a million times better to be painlessly crushed to death by a mace than to be offered as a living sacrifice.

Both when dying and after death.

The act of trying to expose Iris’s chest by lifting her battle nun’s holy vestment in front of the people was also for this reason. Thanks to the consecrated holy vestment, anything related to demons could never reveal it.

At other times, she could open her holy vestment and expose intimate parts as much as she wanted, but in front of unholy beings, that was impossible.

And, when verifying purity, no one saw Iris’s bare skin. It meant their souls were corrupted and they were destined to be offered as living sacrifices.

“Then, Inquisitor-nim, do you have somewhere to go now?”

“We have to pursue the remnants.”

Stella flung the parchment away. The parchment, fallen on the ground, began to burn up, spontaneously generating white flames. It was a flame composed of divine power.

Although she didn’t show it outwardly, Iris admired the sight. To be able to wield divine power so freely! Battle nuns had to concentrate for a long time to generate divine flames.

“Gather all the battle nuns. We’re moving now.”

“Where do you plan to head?”

“Hmm… Since His Holiness the Pope said God would guide us…”

Stella tapped her cheek, lost in thought.

God will guide us. The meaning of those words was simple. To go wherever Stella’s heart led her. It meant that no matter where they headed, their goal would be achieved.

“Let’s just go wherever our feet take us!”

“I understand.”

At first glance, it seemed like an irresponsible statement. But knowing that God’s revelation was absolute, Iris had no doubts.

The position of battle nun was one that only women with faith so devout they could be counted on one hand could attain, even in the Holy Nation of Raphaella. The act of doubting God was impossible for such individuals.

“Are you going to leave that trash?”

“What? Of course not!”

Stella smiled brightly. Iris knew the meaning of that smile. It was a smile that meant she would inflict pain until the very last moment, until the life of the heretic who worshipped demons was extinguished.

“Then I’ll finish up the work, and Iris, you gather the battle nuns. We’ll depart as soon as I’m done.”

“Yes, Inquisitor-nim.”

Iris bowed her head and left to call the other nuns. Stella smiled sweetly and waved her hand, seeing Iris off, then turned her head to look at the demon worshipper.

A beaming smile still graced her face, but the atmosphere was completely different.

“Now, this is going to hurt a lot. You can endure it well without dying in the middle, right?”

The writhing of the human, who was half-dead, intensified. It was unknown whether it understood Stella’s words and reacted that way, even though its ears were completely severed.

“Hum hum~ hum hum~”

Stella hummed a tune and began the torture. She busily moved her hands, using the final screams pouring from the demon worshipper’s empty mouth as music.

Yes. It was a waste to return to the Holy Nation now. If she caught more heretics, she could enjoy more pleasant times. Stella wouldn’t give up such a golden opportunity.

Anyway, demon worshippers weren’t treated as humans in the Holy Nation, let alone the Empire, so whatever she did to it wouldn’t be a problem at all.

What method should I try next? Stella’s hands, whose mind was filled with delightful imaginings, became even busier.

“Are you all gathered?”

“Yes! Stella Inquisitor-nim!”

The battle nuns, lined up in rows and columns, answered in unison with a resounding voice. Stella, with her mace hung over one shoulder, looked around at her subordinates carefully.

A blessed mace and a shield imbued with divine power. And holy nun’s habits with a considerably high level of exposure, though not as much as her own. It was a sight that filled one with holiness just by looking at it.

Next to Stella was a human corpse divided into hundreds of pieces. It was a demon worshipper who couldn’t even die and kept writhing alive until the last part was cut off.

“We are now going to catch another demon worshipper. A very, very wicked demon worshipper who broke the seal that the priests of the Holy Nation had risked their lives to create in the past, and retrieved a demon.”

Stella smiled sweetly.

“No mercy is needed. There’s no need to hold back.”

A smile bloomed on her face as if flowers were scattering.

“That heretic will realize what they’ve done.”