Ch.188Revelation (2)

When they parted ways in the City of Lombardt, both Kain and Maria were not in the best physical condition.

Yet the stubborn Inquisitor still managed to snap her fingers and summon holy fire.

The city, already unsettled by the previous night’s disturbance, fell into complete chaos.

Who wouldn’t be startled if, just as they stepped out their front door thinking “Let’s start another energetic morning,” they saw an Inquisitor staggering about, bleeding profusely with a pillar of fire at her back, declaring “From this moment, I shall purify this city!”?

The internal strife and paralysis of the city administration only fueled the chaos. When news spread that Hans the Diligence, the mediator of the Council of Seven, and his family had disappeared, the three imperial appointees and three electoral appointees immediately split into two factions and began fighting.

Of course, it was a fight with no end in sight. Neither side knew why this situation had occurred in the first place. But all six held at least one fatal weakness of the others, and the 3-versus-3 confrontation soon devolved into every person for themselves.

The ones who moved more nimbly were the religious orders, especially those closely connected to Hans the Diligence. They burned documents to destroy them, stuffed all important items into sacks, and either boarded ships to escape along the river or fled quickly on horseback.

That’s the kind of entity an Inquisitor is.

The principle may be that secular matters belong to the secular world and divine matters to God, but corruption throws both into the same mire and tramples them together.

When a lord bribes a priest to say favorable things in Sunday sermons, or when a priest provides certain pleasures to a lord and uses the lord’s private soldiers like slaves, how can one separate the sacred from the secular?

In such cases, the Emperor and Electors dispatch inspectors. But they cannot easily touch priests. Conversely, Inquisitors can punish both priests and nobles. After all, priests and nobles are also believers in the Two-headed Eagle, and all believers have a duty to comply with an Inquisitor’s investigation.

Whether someone is truly a heretic or not isn’t particularly important. The mere fact that an Inquisitor has singled out a “specific” person is devastating to nobles who live by their honor.

It’s unlikely any noble could remain sane amid rampant rumors like “I heard you were investigated by an Inquisitor?” or “They say the lord’s second son is a sorcerer.”

Thanks to this, Maria easily took control of the city. As soon as she took command of the Holy Grail Knights and the Mercy Knights, she isolated their leadership in a remote house. The takeover went smoothly with the eager cooperation of soldiers who harbored resentment toward their commanders and junior officers who saw faster promotion opportunities with their superiors gone.

The City of Lombardt became an absolute mess. The city leadership experienced sensational exposés almost daily, leading to the bizarre spectacle of the Elector’s confidants joining forces with the Imperial Inspection Department to conduct investigations. Maria took control of the two knightly orders and thoroughly traced the movement routes of the “real Hans.”

Heretical symbols emerged everywhere. From black fire-shaped brands to withered Asas grass, along with Maria’s own interrogations. The ignorant villagers couldn’t distinguish between the “Black Phoenix,” the “Life Tree,” and the “Two-headed Eagle.”

“How could he do that?”

“He’s like a snake,” Maria shook her head.

“He never directly denied the doctrine of the Two-headed Eagle, but added ‘actually, there was Black Phoenix behind it.’ He would take passages where the Prophet of Life and Death said that on the day of the end, lightning would fall from the sky, and interpret them self-servingly as ‘this means the coming of the Black Phoenix.’ That’s how he recruited people one by one.”

Kain looked at Maria with concerned eyes. Maria responded with a sidelong glance.

“What? Afraid I might have put everyone on the stake shouting ‘Kill them all, the Two-headed Eagle will take their souls!’?”

“No.”

“That’s exactly what your eyes were asking.”

“Then I misread them. The Maria I know isn’t that kind of corrupt authority figure. I was just wondering how you could manage all that when you were exhausted to the point of collapse.”

“Hah.” Maria gave an odd snort and pointed at Kain’s right hand.

“Looks like you’ve been through quite a bit yourself?”

“We’ll talk about that later.” Kain shrugged. “So what exactly happened? From what you’ve told me so far, it sounds like you deserve a medal.”

“Actually, you’re right. I was so tired that I collapsed. I didn’t even realize I was collapsing until I did, but fortunately I was just trying to get up from a chair and sat back down, so I wasn’t badly hurt. My backside was a bit sore, though. But then…”

When she regained consciousness from her faint, she found Maria’s father, Inquisitor Heinrich, standing before her.

“Your father?”

“Hey, don’t be gross with that ‘your father’ stuff!” Maria snapped.

* * * * *

Heinrich hadn’t come alone. He was accompanied by Grand Master Alighieri of the Mercy Knights, dispatched urgently from the Papal Office with 100 knights under his command, and 150 Imperial Royal Guards led by Commander Martin. This count excluded the Elector’s soldiers sent by Bohemond I.

In front of Maria, who hadn’t yet regained her senses, Heinrich read a long declaration.

Behind him, Grand Master Alighieri and Commander Martin were busy glaring at each other, while outside, prisoners tied with ropes were being led away in a line.

“…Therefore, for the reasons stated above, I request that Inquisitor Maria’s duties be suspended and that she be placed under strict supervision. I urge all of us to combine our wisdom and prayers so that healing and recovery may come to her body and faith.”

All Maria understood was “duties be suspended.” Naturally, she wasn’t one to just listen quietly, and she stood up angrily.

Fortunately, Heinrich firmly stepped on Maria’s foot, and she sat back down with a yelp.

“Wh-what happened?”

When the startled Grand Master looked over, Heinrich smoothly covered by saying, “She appears to be deeply moved by His Holiness the Pope’s grace.” The Grand Master obviously didn’t believe it but returned to focusing on his argument with Martin.

“Inquisitor Maria. Come with me now!”

The fact that they were father and daughter was a secret known only to a few, so to others, it would have appeared as “a seasoned superior disciplining an impudent Inquisitor.”

That was somewhat true. Once they entered a private room and Heinrich had checked two or three times that there were no eavesdroppers, he erupted in anger.

“Inquisitor Maria! Do you have any sense at all? Not only have you thrown the honor of the Magdeburg branch and the Inquisition into the dirt, but you’ve also arbitrarily interfered with secular authority that even His Holiness the Pope doesn’t casually intrude upon! Do you truly not understand that this is an overreach of authority?”

Maria looked at Heinrich in disbelief. Her father was shouting furiously while meticulously packing a bag.

“Inspector Heinrich, this doesn’t make sense! Are you telling me to overlook clear injustice and corruption?”

Maria played along appropriately, then shouldered the bag and secretly escaped to the roof through the window. After waiting until midnight, she sneaked out of the fortress.

* * * * *

“It was quite a spectacle,” Maria clenched her fist. She still seemed upset.

“You know what His Holiness meant by ‘strict supervision’? It means throw her in prison and beat her within an inch of her life. Can you believe it? Not only was my authority suspended, but they were going to imprison me!”

“Wait, why? And what about all those troops?”

“You’ll curse when you hear this. Remember those heretics we transported from the Monastery of St. Georgios to Magdeburg? Count Bördem, who was infatuated with the Black Phoenix priest and Roberta the Kindness and gave them everything. Both were found dead just one day after being imprisoned in the Magdeburg Inquisition prison.

Naturally, Magdeburg was in an uproar. Since it wasn’t an ordinary incident, they conducted an internal investigation, and the knightly order on guard duty was also subject to investigation, which is why Grand Master Alighieri came in person. Does that make sense?”

“I understand that part. But then?”

“But then Grand Master Alighieri started asking increasingly strange questions. They say he suddenly inquired about the Seven Heroes. Despite not seeming like someone who would be interested in such unusual matters.

Then he asked outright about two people. What had happened to Roberta the Kindness and Hans the Diligence.

The head of the Magdeburg Inquisition found this suspicious too, I guess? Either way, Berta Village is in Count Bördem’s territory.

Additionally, since Grand Master Alighieri was investigating the prisoner death incident, he apparently needed to visit the Monastery of St. Georgios. They say he had already notified the Empire.”

Kain understood why the Imperial Royal Guards had been deployed. The imperial court must have quickly realized what caused this commotion, and the Empire had sent the Royal Guards as a warning that they were watching this matter with interest.

“So while they were preparing to depart, rumors that Berta Village had been destroyed reached them. You can guess what happened after that, right? They followed our trail and heard stories about three people who appeared at each place where disturbances occurred.

An Inquisitor with short red-gold hair who summoned holy fire, and her two subordinates. A man with black hair, brown eyes, walking with a cane, and a woman about half a span taller than him who was extremely beautiful.”

“Well then.”

“In the midst of all this, when news broke about the disturbance in the City of Lombardt, they rushed right over. Before I escaped to the roof, I saw that Commander Martin and Grand Master Alighieri were arguing about who would take custody of those prisoners. I don’t know how that ended.”

“Wait a minute,” Kain waved his hand. “Who brought the papal letter?”

“I think Grand Master Alighieri brought it. Well, there aren’t many female Inquisitors with short red-gold hair. I’m the only one at Magdeburg headquarters. So it wouldn’t have been difficult to identify me specifically.

What I don’t understand is why they tried to stop my work. I can honestly admit to overstepping my authority. I did go too far in many ways to make our job easier. But the imprisonment order doesn’t make sense. That treats me as a criminal, and there’s no precedent for such imprisonment when an Inquisitor hasn’t even defected.”

Heinrich must have known this too, which is why he helped his daughter escape. And Maria, after much hardship, had made it here. To keep her promise.

“You’ve been through a lot.”

Kain said sincerely. Maria hesitated a little, then blushed.

“Hmph! Wh-what’s so difficult about it? Doesn’t everyone do this much?”

“You really have been through a lot, Maria.”

“Ugh, you’ve gotten more embarrassing since drinking that seawater. Be quiet. Anyway, the Papal Office knows all about our activities.

They knew the Heroes weren’t ordinary people, but they never imagined they would interfere like this.

Anyway… I told those brothers and sisters a convenient lie. I said I was a nun being pursued for various reasons and asked if I could hide here for a while. I mentioned I had friends I absolutely needed to meet here, so please don’t chase them away, and they even took care of all this for me.”

Maria grinned.

“They seem to find it quite entertaining. Actually, it’s hard to see outsiders here, and visits from clergy are even rarer, so they welcomed me gladly. In exchange, I’ve been helping with work around here. It wouldn’t feel right to just sit around, you know?”

Despite her words, Maria looked healthy.

Her once painfully thin body had gained weight nicely. Though she was still thinner than average even with the weight gain, her formerly sharp and harsh impression had softened considerably.

Of course, her sharp and cool demeanor remained, but it no longer had that deadly dagger-like intensity from before.

“You’re not wearing your leather straps.”

“I took them off and stuffed them in my bag. Except for this one.” Maria showed her wrist, where the last remaining leather strap was tightly bound.

“I couldn’t wear them while working. They may be weapons that suit me, but they still clatter around. By the way, tell me honestly.”

“Yes?”

“Do you think I’ve gained weight too? Be honest. I’m thinking about adjusting these straps because I feel like I can’t breathe when I put them on.”

“Yes.”

Maria’s face immediately contorted.

“Hey. That’s too direct…”

Kain answered shamelessly.

“Are you asking me to lie to an Inquisitor?”

“I’m on suspension, you idiot! You could tell one little lie!”

“I’m saying you look good now. This lifestyle suits you…”

“You keep saying the same thing, really. I’m a city person! I don’t want to criticize the people here, but I think I understand why the White Blood Knights were so desperate to escape to the outside.”

“Why? Because it’s cold?”

“There’s nothing to eat,” Maria looked genuinely depressed.

“I’m not joking. There’s really nothing to eat. Beer soup is a luxury. They spread thinly sliced sausage on bread and then put more sausage on top! Cheese comes once in a while, eggs another time, the bread is hard, coarse rye bread, and the only seasoning for meat is herbs. Salt is precious here. Every time I eat something delicious, I understand why Lily was so happy when she ate good food.”

At the mention of Lily, his right hand throbbed. Kain turned his head briefly to hide his expression, then answered cheerfully.

“Maybe you’re actually suited for country life?”

“Say that one more time and I’ll throw you into the goat pen. Anyway, what happened to your right hand? And where did you get that fancy cane?”

Maria’s eyes sparkled with curiosity. Kain wondered where to begin and what to include, but then started his story.

“So I took a ship and reached the eastern region…”