Ch.16Report on the Fall of Innocence (3)

Guido led Kain and Lily to the main building. It wasn’t a pointed structure like typical churches in towns or cities. It was a much lower, gently sloping stone building. Guido sighed deeply in front of the large door before pushing it open.

A revolting smell greeted them. Followed by horrific screams that seemed to come from every part of the body. A moaning, droning sound. The sound of someone crying without the strength to actually cry, just vibrating their body. It was the same wailing they had heard outside, what they had mistaken for the wind.

Mangled people were tied to beds. More than fifty of them in total. It was far worse than what they had seen in the sketches. It was as if a giant had rolled people around just enough not to burst them.

Kain, Lily, and Guido moved closer.

Each bed had two nursing staff assigned to it. But even two seemed insufficient. Those lying on the beds were writhing. Clank. Clank. Despite being firmly bound with chains, they were trying desperately to break free.

“All the bones in their bodies were broken, and healed misaligned. The broken bones pierce muscles and flesh causing hematomas, and no matter how we try to calm them, they won’t stay still for even a moment…”

Urgh.

The second nurse from the left ran out covering her mouth. Guido rushed to fill the empty spot. Clank! Clank! The chains went taut. The mangled person writhed. Arms and legs had broken bones protruding through the skin.

“Eat! You need to eat!”

The nurse tried to pour gruel into the mouth, but the bound person stubbornly refused. They thrashed their body back and forth, violently hitting themselves against the bed. Blood flowed from their back where it had struck repeatedly.

“There might be a way!”

The nurse shouted. It was in vain. Finally, she threw the porridge bowl to the floor. The wooden bowl bounced instead of breaking, and the spoon disappeared somewhere.

Kain thought he understood. They wanted to die. They refused to eat or drink. The pain stabbing them from within was maddening, and unable to express it verbally, they could only harbor blood-soaked resentment.

The person who had been thrashing finally fainted. The blood flowing from their body suddenly stopped, then, as if it were natural, flowed back into the body. Squirming and twitching, like a drunk person determinedly crawling back home. The bruises subsided, and the torn wounds slowly healed. But the traces of torture and abuse remained.

“A miracle.”

No laughter or joy. Only sadness and emptiness.

Kain wondered if Guido had misspoken about the curse.

But Guido repeated hollowly:

“What else would you call this if not a miracle? The blood returns and wounds heal. These people cannot die even if they try. What happens if they refuse food and drink, I don’t know. They don’t know either. All I know for certain is that they want to die. People who know very well that suicide is an unforgivable sin.”

Tears silently flowed from the eyes of the mangled person. Guido wiped them away with the hem of his robe.

“You who have come from the capital. Do you know who did this, and why?”

Kain was barely holding his scattered thoughts together. That’s why he could only nod, unable to express anything else. He moved closer to the collapsed person.

“Can’t they speak at all?”

“None of them can speak. Their throats were crushed and tongues torn out, so they can only wail…”

“And movement…?”

“Their arm and leg tendons were mangled and muscles shriveled.” Guido’s voice was gloomy.

“Strangely, those don’t heal or recover. Just once. We tried to re-break their misaligned bones and set them properly… it didn’t work. They returned. Exactly to this state. If unconsciousness is mercy, then that’s their only mercy.”

Pain. It was filled with nothing but the intention to cause pain. Kain couldn’t think of it any other way. Trapping a person’s mind in their own body and torturing them endlessly.

Kain looked at Lily. She had her fists clenched. Unlike Kain, Lily hadn’t even seen the sketches.

Grooooaaaaaah

Light flickered. It came from the center of the chapel. A person bound to a grand bed was emitting light from their entire body. The place where the man lay had a circular opening in the ceiling, with colorful beams of light falling through stained glass.

Kain, Lily, and Guido approached the man. Unlike the others, his body was even more wretched. Inverted ribs protruded through his lungs like bird wings. His legs and arms were bound to his body with melted iron. Only his genitals. Only that man’s genitals remained intact.

“The Knight of Chastity, Archbishop William. He was a holy knight of the Mercy Knights, one of the heroes, and was serving as Archbishop.”

The Archbishop also rocked his body back and forth, but not violently. If not for his miserable appearance, Kain would have thought he was laughing. No, he really was laughing. With tears flowing from his unblinking eyelids and drool dripping from his mouth, he burst into laughter as if the world was delightful.

“…He eats well. Sleeps well too. What kind of damned bastard would do such a thing…”

Guido covered his face with his hands.

“The Scabbard.”

Lily, pale as a sheet, whispered quietly.

“What?” Kain asked. Guido lowered his hands.

“What did you say?”

“The Scabbard. They were beaten with a scabbard.”

Woo, wooooo.

The Archbishop burst into tears. Like a person from a time before language existed, but like a primitive being wanting to expel sorrow and pain with his entire body, the Archbishop wept.

Those wiping the Archbishop’s body, those quietly praying, and those bound to beds and screaming all wept together.

Soon it became a vibration that shook the corridor. Strangely, it resembled an a cappella hymn. Like a choir practicing a special Sunday hymn throughout the week, away from their busy daily lives.

* * * * *

The lack of a well seemed to be about more than just being on bedrock. This place was near a mountaintop, making it difficult to find groundwater, let alone dig for it.

Instead, there was plenty of water seeping through cracks in the rocks. It formed small streams flowing between rocks, and had been flowing for so long that the crevices were worn smooth.

Perhaps there had been a skilled sculptor. An angel was depicted in the crevice. An angel with hands clasped as if in prayer, with the split crack cleverly drawn to look like closed eyes, making the angel appear to be smiling while crying.

Normally it would make people smile. But not now. Beside the small babbling brook, numerous people just sat.

Nurses who had finished their shifts, exhausted knights. This place was a bit secluded from the monastery, and here the sound of wind or crying wasn’t as audible. But this was the only place that could be called a resting spot.

If someone silently hung their head and sobbed, no one looked. The sobbing soon became contagious. When one person quietly offered a prayer, others would murmur prayers too.

Kain blankly stared at the drifting clouds. He couldn’t think of anything. He didn’t know what words to recall. He thought he had seen everything during his time as a Security Bureau agent, but that didn’t mean he should be emotionless and insensitive to everything he saw.

Right beside him, Lily was trembling, hugging her knees. Inside, she had tried to appear calm, but once outside the chapel, she covered her face and ran to a secluded spot.

The two wandered like ghosts, unconsciously finding this place, and sat on the ground like the others with blank faces staring at the sky.

Kain gently wrapped his arm around Lily’s shoulders. She was still trembling slightly. Kain nodded toward a spot a little away from the stream. Trees grew sparsely there, making it a decent clearing for concealing bodies and voices, if not completely. There was even a fallen tree that looked good for sitting on.

“The scabbard?”

Kain lowered his voice. Lily also looked around to see if anyone was listening. After confirming they were alone, she whispered too.

“Yes. I’m certain. It’s the scabbard. The pattern and spacing of the bruises are similar to the standard Imperial sword scabbard. I couldn’t measure directly, but by eye.”

Why a scabbard? Kain shook his head vigorously. He recalled the bodies of the victims he had seen. There were no cuts, punctures, or burn marks. As Lily said, just marks from being struck with a blunt object.

“How did you know just by looking?”

Lily quietly turned her head.

“…I’ve been hit with it many times, so I know.”

Lily’s shoulders trembled faintly. Kain didn’t ask further. He recalled the vicious face of the White Blood Knight Commander who had reportedly shouted at the campus.

Malice. How much malice would it take to beat someone like that? How much malice would it take to crush people to that extent?

If not malice, was it purely for the pleasure of inflicting pain? Kain couldn’t understand. Looking at how even individual finger bones were broken, bent, crushed, and ground, perhaps that was it.

And then the miracle.

Miracles weren’t the Security Bureau’s jurisdiction. That was the church’s business. Of course, Kain remembered Anna saying that if the church could have resolved it with their own resources, they wouldn’t have requested the Empire’s help.

“Lily.”

Lily turned with a start. Hadn’t they agreed not to use each other’s names?

“Yes.”

“I’m going to catch this bastard.”

Kain gripped his cane firmly.

“Whatever bastard did this. I need to see his face. This… this isn’t right. I’ve seen many human garbage who treat others like toys for their own amusement. But none of them were as persistent and meticulously malicious as this. At least those guys had reasons. What we’re seeing here is just purpose.”

Lily stopped trembling. Like sharpening a dull blade, she steadied her breath. She too was an agent, and before that, a member of the knightly order.

“What purpose do you think it is?”

“A warning.” Kain gripped his cane firmly.

“Lily. This is a warning and a provocation. A provocation to give complete helplessness, that they can’t even die by their own will. A warning saying ‘try to stop me if you can.’ Like ‘I have this much power, try to stop me if you dare.’ It’s what predators do when their territory is invaded. They crush beyond what’s necessary so no one thinks of challenging them again. He won’t stop here. If two have already been attacked, the other five could be next.”

Lily exhaled with emotion. “What should I do?”

“Let’s start from here.”

Kain tapped the ground with his cane.

“The Archbishop was attacked elsewhere. The knights brought him here. The Mercy Knights should know about the scene. Let’s gather whatever information we can. When and where the Archbishop was found, how the Mercy Knights brought the patients here, what the church knows about his movements. Even trivial details are fine. Let’s investigate separately, then compare and verify.”

“Understood.”

“Good. You inquire with the knights. I’ll go to the cathedral.”

“The cathedral?”

Kain nodded.

“I need to see again how the Archbishop was attacked.”