Ch.107107. Inquisitor (1)

There’s a reason why I’ve organized the hierarchy of priests in my head like this.

Until now, I’ve simply categorized priests by their profession and rank, but as time passed and the scale of the church continued to grow, I felt the need to establish new ranks.

Especially since I’ve somehow been managing most of the personnel alone, but even my divine thought-distribution ability is starting to feel the strain.

I thought I needed a means to solve the various issues that are emerging in the church.

Currently, my believers… that is, those who have been officially baptized by priests and recognized by the system, number around 40,000. Among the souls I’ve brought to my divine realm, there are 60,000 ordinary souls and about 25,000 souls of sinners.

In addition, there are roughly 60,000 people who pray to me without having received official baptism from priests, worshipping me as part of their folk beliefs.

In total, with believers in the material world numbering around 100,000, it’s inevitable that some strange individuals emerge among the faithful.

Of course, I am an extremely merciful god.

Therefore, even those who violate doctrine while claiming to believe in me can be forgiven ‘initially’ if they recognize their wrongdoing and sincerely repent. In fact, quite a number of fanatics are forgiven in this way.

Among these fanatics, those who focus more on “faith” than “fanaticism” are often so shocked by the realization that they’ve gone against their god’s will that they sometimes harm themselves.

So I created a separate group for fanatics who consider themselves sinners for violating doctrine, where they can belong for the purpose of “atonement.”

This is one of the newly established ranks: the Holy Shock Troopers.

They shave all body hair and undergo a procedure that permanently prevents hair growth, then have a symbol carved into their foreheads that signifies both their state of atonement and their identity as Holy Shock Troopers.

These individuals, whose bodies are distinctly altered to set them apart from others, are subjected to training so brutal that people die during it. Those who survive this entire process are incorporated into the Avenger Legion, but are not treated as full members.

They receive the same blessings as other Avenger Legion members, but they are not permitted to wear the distinctive red armor that symbolizes me.

Instead, they wear black armor that proves they are in a state of atonement, and they serve as shock troopers who charge without hesitation to the frontlines of battle.

These are the Holy Shock Troopers, who live their entire lives fighting on the front lines until death.

On the other hand, there are inevitably fools who focus more on “fanaticism” than “faith,” who merely use god as an excuse to run wild.

These people ignore doctrine and act however they please from the moment they claim to believe in me, whether or not they realize their souls are bound to me, contributing to the deterioration of the Roman Empire’s reputation.

What’s worse is that their targets aren’t just the imperial government, whose reputation could be ignored if damaged… these heretics target ordinary citizens, making them no different from followers of the Dark Pantheon who worsen public opinion.

And this wasn’t the only thing giving me a headache. The Avenger Legion, which would need to stand at the vanguard in an all-out war with the Roman Empire, was experiencing a gradual spread of elitism within its ranks.

Objectively speaking, the Avenger Legion itself is an environment conducive to the spread of such chosen people ideology or supremacism.

Members pass rigorous tests of intelligence, physical ability, and mental fortitude, then undergo extremely arduous training and gain practical experience before finally “qualifying” to join the Avenger Legion.

Inevitably, those who pass the qualification process develop a sense of pride in having overcome such difficult challenges…

In this situation, these individuals receive various blessings that transform them into superhumans who, while not as powerful as intermediate warriors, clearly surpass ordinary people, naturally further inflating their already elevated pride.

Moreover, since the weapons and equipment they use are beyond imagination in this era, most Avenger Legion members naturally come to think of themselves as extraordinary beings.

Of course, such thoughts mostly disappear when they experience dungeon raids or actual combat, as their inflated self-esteem is largely eliminated after facing various monsters and humans.

Additionally, they must undergo intermediate response training for hunting intermediate monsters, during which casualties inevitably occur, causing unfounded self-love to disappear “for the most part.”

Yes, “for the most part.”

Some legion members stubbornly refuse to let go of their pride until the very end.

Despite knowing full well through their blessed enhanced intellect that their supposed superiority is nonsense, they deny this realization in their minds because they cannot bear to accept it.

Naturally, this arbitrary internal division of ranks could not possibly look good to me, and such ideology was essentially harboring the latent threat of civil war.

Despite my repeated emphasis in scripture against such behavior, the number of those who insist on their own subjective views while doing exactly what they’re told not to do—all while claiming they’re following my true intentions—continues to grow.

‘…This won’t do. I need to handle this quickly, somehow.’

I finally decided to use a hardline approach and established a new rank: the Inquisitor.

This rank, inspired by how Christianity and other religions identify heretics and orthodox sects, has the duty of identifying and dealing with heretics within the church and troublemakers from outside.

In other words, they function as a kind of internal audit organization… but if such an organization were to become corrupt, the side effects would be immeasurable.

Therefore, I resolved to personally select these Inquisitors and place them directly under my command without any superior organization above them.

※ ※ ※

First, the selection method is extremely simple.

‘You, you, and… you.’

Those who would never even think of betrayal, who have almost no personal greed, and who are truly loyal in the sense that they are devoted to my will and judge my intentions to be right.

I selected priests who perfectly matched these criteria without the slightest deviation, resulting in a total of 4 individuals.

One was an intermediate priest, and the other three were lower priests.

They belonged to different departments and temples… but that hardly matters to me now.

These individuals, highly evaluated for their loyalty and potential, and matching none of the numerous disqualifying factors, will work directly under me and receive certain privileges.

The authority of the church or interference from others will be nullified before them, and they will be protected by the indomitable privilege of being punishable only by my hand.

Their judgments will be equivalent to judgments I personally deliver, and their executions will be no different from my own—the privilege of being my representatives.

And most importantly, the privilege of executioners who can execute anyone who deviates from the standards.

Among countless other privileges that shield them from external interference so they can focus solely on their purpose, these individuals will also bear extremely heavy responsibilities.

The moment they become Inquisitors, they must spend their lives identifying heretics, with rest permitted only after death.

Furthermore, upon becoming an Inquisitor, one must completely abandon their previous identity and relationships, while also taking and upholding hundreds of oaths.

If for any reason an Inquisitor breaks their oath while holding the position, or becomes corrupted—whether by turning to another god or succumbing to threats—I will abandon all flexibility and rationality and bestow upon them the worst possible future.

This would also apply if an Inquisitor were to interfere with heresy judgments based on personal desires or prioritize their subjective views over the standards I’ve established.

Since the final gateway to becoming an Inquisitor is one’s own choice, I hardly need to explain how irritating it is when someone makes up their mind and then changes their story later.

Anyway, having decided to officially select Inquisitors as auditors, I resolved to create a separate Inquisitor profession exclusively for the God of Vengeance.

The fact that I can create an exclusive profession, which is normally only possible for higher gods, well…

Recently, at the exact moment when the total number of all my believers exceeded 100,000, I finally attained the position of higher god that I had so long desired and wished for.