Ch.247Episode 12 – The Strongest Mage in History

Priestess Rebecca introduced several staff members from the Inquisition. They were inquisitors dispatched to the northern part of the Kiyen Empire, and also intelligence officers who would be participating in this operation.

“Is everyone ready?”

“Yes.”

I pushed open a small door of the cathedral leading to a secluded alley and addressed the inquisitors.

“Let’s head to the village.”

Episode 12 – The Most Powerful Mage in History

I departed for the village where the child caught using sorcery lived, accompanied by the inquisitors. It was located in a remote area far from the city, and so distant from other cities that sending even a single letter required a professional courier to deliver it personally.

“How did that kid even make it near the city?”

“I heard the child frequently traveled back and forth with parents to purchase goods. With few young people in the village, they’ve been taking turns visiting the city for a long time.”

“What do the parents do?”

“The mother appears to be an ordinary housewife, and we’ve confirmed the father died after being conscripted. Being from a minority ethnic group, he was recruited by conscription officers who visited the village at the beginning of the conflict.”

“What about the monk?”

“Reportedly, he started visiting the village a few months ago. The village suffers from severe food shortages and is in such a remote location that, with only the elderly and children remaining, they experienced many minor illnesses, but things improved after the monk arrived.”

At first glance, the monk who allegedly taught sorcery seemed like a typical heretic, but considering the current situation in the north, the timing of the monk’s appearance was remarkably convenient.

The northern region was already in turmoil because a church cleric had been identified as a suspect in the murder of mages and soldiers.

Although the investigation results hadn’t been officially announced, rumors implicating the cleric were openly circulating among people from both the Empire and the Magic Tower.

While everyone, regardless of nationality, was treading carefully in this tense atmosphere, a monk suddenly appeared out of nowhere and taught sorcery to a child—in a village where the diocese had never dispatched any clergy.

The monk’s identity was suspicious from every angle.

What was the intention behind spreading sorcery? What purpose did the monk have for wandering around remote northern villages?

As we headed toward the village identified by the inquisitors, walking through the snow, I posed a question to Priestess Rebecca.

“Do you really think this monk the kid mentioned is an apostate?”

“Given that he spread sorcery among civilians without permission, it seems highly likely. To be precise, he’s more of a heretic than an apostate.”

Priestess Rebecca, an active inquisitor, suspected the monk who taught sorcery was a heretic.

Heresy and apostasy.

I knew the general concepts, but I wasn’t clear on the exact difference between heresy and apostasy.

“Is heresy common?”

“More than you might think.”

“So what’s the difference between apostasy and heresy?”

“While heresy involves receiving baptism and then denying or questioning the church’s teachings, apostasy means abandoning faith altogether. Though subtle, there is a distinction between the two.”

Priestess Rebecca, carefully walking on the icy path, asserted confidently.

“Therefore, the monk who taught sorcery to the child is likely a heretic. If he were truly an apostate who had abandoned his faith, he wouldn’t be wearing church garments.”

Hmm. If an active inquisitor says so, I should believe it. What choice do I have?

“Well, we’ll find out when we meet this monk. Watch out for the ice ahead.”

*

The inquisitors and I, along with Priestess Rebecca, slipped past checkpoints to leave the city. Moving with trained individuals made bypassing checkpoints relatively easy.

“There’s a checkpoint straight ahead on the main road.”

“I saw a river nearby on our way here. We can reach it through the sewers.”

“Let’s cross the river. Everyone prepare for river crossing.”

I guided the inquisitors to the riverbank.

True to their clerical training, the inquisitors quickly recited prayers and jumped into the river.

“Receive this prayer.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Simon saw the man warming himself and said, ‘You are with the Lord.'”

Though the winter river was colder than ice, the cold posed no problem for the inquisitors.

Judging by the warmth I felt as soon as the priest bestowed a prayer upon me, it seemed to be a prayer that prevented cold and maintained body temperature.

I crossed the river and moved into the underbrush, out of sight of the checkpoint guards. There, I regrouped with Priestess Rebecca and the inquisitors, and we began moving on foot after leaving the city.

“Northern checkpoints are mostly concentrated in cities and major routes. There probably won’t be any more checkpoints in the direction we’re heading. Even if there are, we have plenty of ways to bypass them.”

“Are you certain, Officer?”

“I travel throughout the north daily, so I generally know where checkpoints are located. Even if I don’t know their exact positions, we should be fine as long as we avoid paved roads.”

“Understood. Let’s move.”

Nothing eventful happened afterward.

We just walked, walked, and walked some more.

Since checkpoints were established at regular intervals along paved roads, we primarily used unpaved roads.

The Kiyen Empire possessed vast territories rivaling Russia’s, and the north had a much lower population density than other regions, resulting in far more unpaved roads than paved ones.

However, due to the vast territory and lack of government maintenance since the declaration of martial law, traveling on unpaved roads was extremely challenging.

“Uphill ahead. The ground is frozen solid—should we go around?”

“It’s not even a mountain. Let’s just push through.”

“It’s icy—if you fall, you’ll slide. Injuries will slow us down.”

“Going around would be harder. There’s no moonlight, so we can barely see ahead.”

“The snow is piled up to our thighs. We might get frostbite—should we still proceed?”

“We’ll rest, then move. Everyone conserve your divine power; we don’t know what might happen.”

Frozen ground, bitter cold that formed icicles on our clothes, and no moonlight. Each element was a challenge and obstacle.

Fortunately, we were in an area far from the Naroda Mountains with mostly flat terrain and unpaved roads without checkpoints. Had this been Gangwon Province, we would have been in serious trouble.

“The prayer’s effect is gradually fading. The cold is stronger than expected.”

“Ten minutes’ rest. We’ll renew the prayers and then move on.”

Priestess Rebecca commanded the inquisitors and regulated our marching pace. Meanwhile, I took out a map and compass, oriented the map, measured the bearing angle to determine our position relative to known points, and calculated the distance to our destination.

Though finding our position was challenging without moonlight and in mostly flat terrain, it was still manageable compared to navigating deserts where even GPS failed.

“We’re getting quite close. At this rate, we should arrive before sunrise, Priestess Rebecca.”

“That’s good news. Does anyone have frostbite?”

“No.”

“Let’s move. Everyone forward.”

I guided Priestess Rebecca and the inquisitors to our destination, checking the map periodically. We bypassed checkpoints when they appeared and hid in the underbrush when vehicles passed by, then returned to the road.

Though we called it movement, it was essentially an infiltration, so everyone maintained silence. While it would be a lie to say I wasn’t bored without conversation partners, the well-preserved natural environment offered a clear view of twinkling stars with just a slight tilt of the head, which made it somewhat less tedious.

After hours of trudging through snow and mud, we finally reached our destination before dawn.

*

“…I see it.”

The inquisitor walking in front muttered.

Priestess Rebecca signaled for the inquisitors to stop. I approached her as she crouched behind some bushes, walking in a half-bent duck-like posture.

“Have we reached the village?”

“Yes. Do you see those lights?”

There was no need to ask where she meant.

Even a lighter is visible from a distance at night, so there was no way I wouldn’t notice light coming from buildings. The surroundings were dark due to the complete absence of moonlight, making the artificial lights in the distance remarkably clear.

Leaning against a snow-covered mound, I spread out the map and observed the village through binoculars.

“I can see it clearly.”

“Are you certain this is our destination?”

“The terrain matches the map. I believe our position is around here.”

The destination was confirmed—meaning this was indeed the village where the child caught using sorcery lived.

Upon hearing my answer and checking the map, Priestess Rebecca immediately gathered the inquisitors. They crawled across the snow and knelt in a tight circle to receive her instructions.

“We’ve reached the target location. Since we don’t know where the heretic might be hiding, spread out and search. Report immediately if you notice anything suspicious. Be cautious as we don’t know what dangers might…”

“One moment, Priestess Rebecca.”

I interrupted as she was about to dispatch the inquisitors.

“I understand your urgency, but we can’t just enter the village without a plan.”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t you see?”

I gestured toward the village.

“This is a remote village.”

Though the exact size was difficult to determine at night, from what I could observe, the village wasn’t particularly large. It probably housed at most a few hundred people.

One characteristic of such villages is that residents typically know their neighbors’ faces.

“If outsiders enter a place like that, the villagers will notice immediately.”

Residents of areas rarely visited by outsiders easily detect the presence of strangers. That’s why my team and I nearly got into serious trouble several times when trying to secretly cross border villages in Southeast Asian countries like Laos or Myanmar. The same was true in the Middle East.

Of course, the racial differences might have played a role in Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia, and the Middle East. But in my over ten years working in intelligence, foreign intelligence officers I met faced similar situations. Even Middle Eastern intelligence officers had numerous bad experiences poking their heads into remote villages.

Priestess Rebecca nodded, seemingly realizing she hadn’t considered this aspect. Having quickly acknowledged the point, she asked me a more productive question.

“Then how should we enter?”

“First, we need a purpose for our visit. And identities.”

Sitting on the mound to shield myself from the wind, I continued.

“According to the kid, the monk has been visiting the village frequently for months, right? If he’s not a permanent resident, the chances of encountering him now are slim.”

“Then we’ll need to monitor the village for several days.”

“With bad luck, it could take weeks.”

Therefore, we needed a purpose that would allow us to visit the village frequently and stay for extended periods without arousing suspicion among the residents. Ideally, one that would let us move around the village without seeming suspicious.

Hearing this, Priestess Rebecca fell into contemplation.

“It seems we’ll need to create some identification. I hadn’t anticipated this…”

“It’s fine. I just had a good idea.”

“…?”

Ugh.

I stood up, surveyed the village through binoculars, and asked the inquisitors a question.

“Have any of you ever impersonated government officials?”

“Foreign government officials, yes.”

“How proficient are you in the Kiyen language?”

“Everyone can handle basic conversation without difficulty. Some can even manage business-level conversation.”

“That should be sufficient.”

I lowered my binoculars and folded the map.

A remote village.

Small population.

Food shortages.

Virtually non-existent medical facilities.

The village was generally underdeveloped, and due to the conflict, most adult males had been conscripted, leaving only the elderly, women, and children.

Checking the luggage we brought from Dvok, I found several decent sets of clothes. How fortunate.

Though our resources and intelligence were limited, I had a rough idea of what to do.

“Let’s go play government officials.”

Time to exploit some people.