Ch.183183. Heresy Inquisition (1)

# Inquisitor

An Inquisitor is a type of inspector who interrogates, judges, and administers appropriate punishment to internal enemies—those who claim as truth something that deviates from orthodox doctrine.

Unlike the common portrayal in fiction of Inquisitors who imprison and judge innocent people according to their own will, real historical Inquisitors were closer to secret royal inspectors.

In reality, Inquisitors were moral guides for society. In fact, the Inquisition was the first organization to legally prohibit witch hunts.

Their roles primarily consisted of three functions:

First, they were dispatched to areas where public sentiment was unstable due to rebellion or famine, to comfort the people and restore order.

Second, they prevented witch hunts based on absurd accusations, protecting innocent victims from being falsely labeled as witches.

Third, they presided over trials related to marriage and divorce among believers—equivalent to a family court in modern terms.

Of course, not all historical Inquisitors were like this; by the late medieval period, they too became violent and oppressive.

But ultimately, real Inquisitors were closer to internal inspectors or secret royal investigators, quite different from their fictional portrayals.

However, in this world, the Inquisitors of the “Vengeance Order” were “something” that maximized this role of internal inspector.

Their duty was to eliminate heretics operating within the Order, or to cut down false prophets who sold the name of God without belonging to the Order.

Additionally, they sent those who committed sins due to misunderstanding doctrine to the Holy Assault Squad, and when necessary, participated in battle to lend their strength.

To perform these duties smoothly, the power wielded by the Vengeance Order’s Inquisitors was immense.

They belonged to the Inquisition, which reported directly to the Evil God of Vengeance rather than the Vengeance Order itself, meaning no position within the Order held any significance to them.

In other words, they possessed supreme immunity separate from all other powers, allowing them to interrogate any authority figure without hesitation.

Along with this privilege came the right of execution—if someone deviated from the Order’s standards, an Inquisitor could execute them, even a Bjorn, regardless of practicality.

These Inquisitors could requisition anything from the Order if necessary and were exempt from following any procedures without consequence.

Despite being considered above all laws, paradoxically, Inquisitors were bound by rules that applied only to themselves.

Upon becoming an Inquisitor, one had to abandon their entire previous life according to regulations, erasing their former personality if necessary to remove all attachments.

While they could ignore the rules of ordinary humans during inquisitorial processes, they had to strictly adhere to the Inquisitors’ code.

Once heresy was discovered, they had to execute the heretic no matter what, and personal emotions could not interfere with the inquisition process in the slightest.

If an Inquisitor made a serious mistake during an inquisition, they would immediately be executed as a heretic themselves, regardless of rank.

Any personal behavior revealing their former identity was prohibited, and they could not show any tolerance beyond reason and rationality.

Inquisitors went beyond merely following these rules—during their training, the very thought of not following them was completely suppressed.

With obligations as vast as their rights, Inquisitors were commonly called “Tools of Vengeance” and were objects of both reverence and fear.

In any case, the organization where these Inquisitors gathered was the Inquisition.

Often called the Religious Tribunal, despite its name, actual trials rarely took place there.

Most heretics were executed by Inquisitors before any religious trial could occur, following the rule of showing no tolerance. Thus, heresy trials had essentially become a procedure for recruiting the Holy Assault Squad…

However, this doesn’t mean the Inquisition had nothing to do.

While apprentice Inquisitors were directly chosen by the Blood God of Vengeance, the Inquisition was involved in the selection process for candidates.

The education of apprentice Inquisitors also took place within the Inquisition, along with handling minor jurisdictional matters and emergency support.

The education of Inquisitors, separate from what occurred in dreams, followed an apprenticeship model, making it particularly important.

Interestingly, the Inquisition itself had no rights—instead, its individual Inquisitor members held tremendous authority. This unique structure made the Inquisition more like a cell-based organization than a large intelligence agency.

Consequently, experienced veterans typically worked as field Inquisitors, while those remaining at headquarters were mostly newcomers—those who had only recently become full Inquisitors after their apprenticeship.

Naturally, the head of the Inquisition, the Lord of Inquisition, was absurdly someone with moderate experience but still lacking in skill—someone with an awkward amount of time served, offered up like a sacrificial lamb.

And the name of this term’s sacrificial lamb was Eric Bjornson.

As the Order rapidly expanded following the empire’s collapse, he was an administrator suffering from the recently increased number of heretics.

※ ※ ※

As mentioned earlier, the Order’s size swelled to several million following the empire’s collapse.

Fortunately, this population increase was somewhat manageable thanks to feeding people into the Avenger Legion and indiscriminately feeding them into the Black Sun Legion…

But this was only limited control, and incidents eventually began to occur.

Most notably were crimes committed by recent converts who couldn’t break their Imperial-era habits, thinking bribes would solve everything.

These people still seemed to think they lived in the Roman Empire, acting without thinking—until they were injected with “manners.”

Those who committed serious crimes were subjected to the Blood Eagle punishment and displayed in the streets, while others were dragged to gulags, never to return.

Minor offenders might receive leniency if they showed genuine remorse; otherwise, they too were sent to the gulags.

The next category of incidents involved existing believers.

These were people who despised the new converts for their crimes while considering themselves superior just for having joined a few months earlier.

Needless to say, these individuals, clearly heretics by the Order’s standards, might be given a chance to repent in the Holy Assault Squad if their crimes were minor…

But if not… they were executed or sent to the gulags.

Meanwhile, though fewer in number but representing a high percentage within their group, there was another troublesome faction:

Former nobles and high officials of the Roman Empire.

The perceptive nobles quickly adapted to the situation, but the problematic ones were those lacking both awareness and ability—worthless trash.

These were mostly those who had bought their positions with money or risen through family connections, yet claimed it was through their own efforts and insisted they had ability.

The fate of such people was mostly the same.

Someone who demanded a position claiming his father was a senator found himself serving the empire as an excellent battle-machine of the Vengeance Order the next day.

An incident where former Roman nobles gathered to claim their titles ended with dozens of low-level undead joining the forces.

A former noble who attempted to violate a priestess of the Vengeance Order was repeatedly torn apart and healed by the mid-level priestess.

A former official who demanded benefits in exchange for cooperation soon confessed everything with the help of kind water and electric lawyers. The latest search engines, Geegle and Bogle, were also of great assistance.

A former noble who gathered private soldiers to occupy a temple and claim territory was “cleaned up” along with his soldiers and family by a single member of the Avenger Legion.

Thinking of these creatures who still considered their past power their own and showed ugly resistance to change, the Lord of Inquisition, Eric Bjornson, held his dizzy head and secretly mocked their stupidity.

After all, every person within the Order was equal—such actions were meaningless.