Ch.86Chapter 86. This Blasphemer!!!

“Do you have business with our order? Why are you all gathered here?”

“Ah, just who I was looking for.”

As the Paladin Order was about to enter the cathedral, their attention suddenly focused on Jaseong.

Soon, a splendidly dressed man crossed through the group, representing the knights, and turned his menacing face toward Jaseong.

“Hero of the Meter Order. Have you been enjoying your comfortable life all this time?”

“…Well, if it isn’t His Eminence Cardinal Helix.”

“That’s right, I am Helix, Cardinal and Inquisitor of the Friga Order, the imperial state religion. I’m of a completely different class from someone like you who worships false gods!”

Cardinal Helix displayed an authoritative attitude from the moment they met.

It’s nothing new for those in power to be rude, but the position he mentioned was intensifying my sense of unease.

Not just a cardinal, but an inquisitor personally coming here.

Isn’t the reason painfully obvious?

“And I’ve come here strictly as an inquisitor to carry out my duties. Look, do you see this warrant bearing the imperial seal?”

As if to confirm my predictions becoming reality, he soon pulled out a warrant with the imperial seal and shouted at Jaseong.

“Hero Jaseong Nam! I’m arresting you and the entire Meter Order on charges of conspiring with the Demon Lord’s army! Come quietly and prepare for your heresy trial!”

“…A heresy trial?”

Despite the intimidating words that should have frightened him, Jaseong let out a hollow laugh.

Even though he had clearly admitted to doing something that would provoke them, he was far from scared, shrugging his shoulders and trying to play it cool.

“What strange talk. All our order does is cook meals with donations to share with people and lend labor for reconstruction work.”

“Are you trying to play dumb even after a warrant has been issued?”

“Even if you brought a warrant, if the other party doesn’t understand, you should explain properly. Should I just submit because you came to arrest me without explanation?”

“Heh, this is why barbaric creatures who worship false gods…”

Was Cardinal Helix’s anger rising at Jaseong’s words?

Soon, Helix began shouting at Jaseong with a hostile voice.

“Listen well, you primitive heretic. There is only one reason humanity has survived until now: the protection of Friga, who has embraced humanity with infinite love since the beginning!!!”

“The fact that foolish humans who lack faith in Friga can establish themselves and live in this land, and the fact that heretics like you aren’t immediately executed but treated with leniency, is only possible because of Friga’s mercy!”

The obvious sense of chosen people in his lengthy speech.

Jaseong let the words go in one ear and out the other, but through those words, I began to understand why someone as high-ranking as a cardinal had personally come here.

“I don’t care what gods you worshipped in other countries, but at a point when all countries except the Empire have ceased to function, they have essentially lost divine protection. In other words, you who have crawled into the Empire should be grateful for Friga’s protection and have an obligation to worship Friga as well!”

Yes, ranking religions has been somewhat common in my original world too.

But in this world, where all countries except the Empire are dysfunctional, the power and status of religious orders other than the state religion Friga are quite low.

At best, they’re tolerated to preserve the traditions and history of their origins, and for the “political convenience” of gathering certain numbers of people and providing volunteer services.

But some of these tolerated orders have grown in influence over time, and this expansion of influence could be perceived as a threat by the Friga Order.

After all, the growth of other orders means a corresponding decrease in the number of their own followers.

“In such circumstances, not only do you fail to show gratitude toward Friga, but you act arrogantly as if you’re our equals, and worse, you commit the insane act of revering a demon as a saint. Isn’t that essentially repaying Friga’s grace with enmity!?”

For Friga, the growing size of another order led by a famous hero must feel like a significant threat.

In such a situation, if allegations surface that the newly revered saint is actually a demon, they would naturally seize the opportunity to attack on that point.

Whether true or false, if they can incite people and brand the order as heretical, the situation can be conveniently resolved.

“…The saint is a demon.”

And Jaseong had already told me directly that the demon girl he saw two years ago had become a saint.

At this point, they must have solid evidence since they’re targeting this specifically, but even so, Jaseong merely shrugged his shoulders at the accusation, as if trying to deny it.

“That’s strange. The only time our order showed the saint to other orders was at the religious gathering held recently. Did you come to suspect the saint as a demon just from seeing her once?”

“That’s an obvious question. You might be able to deceive others’ eyes, but thinking you could deceive my eyes would be a grave miscalculation!”

Helix shouted with a voice full of conviction.

Overcome with emotion, he soon left the protection of the Paladin Order behind him and approached Jaseong.

“When I encountered that woman you brought as a so-called saint, I could clearly sense it. That sinister woman is not just an ordinary demon, but a succubus with the power, albeit weak, to enchant people!”

-Crunch.

As strength entered the shovel on his shoulder.

Seemingly unaware of this, Helix continued to shout at Jaseong, glaring at him.

“The people present might not have noticed, but you can’t deceive my eyes! The dizziness and ecstasy I felt just from seeing that damned woman was faint, but it was the same as when being seduced by succubi!”

“Heh, I see. Everyone else was fine, but you noticed the aphrodisiac effect from a child who doesn’t even know how to drain life force…?”

A low murmur flowed from beneath his helmet.

Along with this, he raised his empty hand and began to grip the shovel handle on his shoulder.

“I heard your answer well, Cardinal.”

The moment he gripped the shovel with both hands at full strength.

Helix sensed danger but was too preoccupied with the thought of exposing Jaseong to anticipate what was about to happen to him.

“In other words, you’re a ‘pedophile’ who got aroused by a ‘female child+demon’, a being that a virtuous believer should never feel sexual desire for, and you’re trying to hold a heresy trial based on that evidence.”

“Of course… What?”

“You unholy pedophile bastard!!”

-CRASH!!!!!

With a shout, the shovel handle swung down.

The cardinal’s head, taking the attack directly to the face, was smashed into the ground, causing cracks to spread across the road and even flipping the earth.

“Huh? Wh-what?”

As the Friga Order inquisitors watching the situation had their mouths hanging open in unison.

In the silence that followed, Jaseong lifted the shovel he had embedded in the ground and placed it back on his shoulder.

“Pedophiles like you have no right to live. Don’t cause any more trouble while alive and go burn in hell.”

No less than the imperial state religion.

The moment he turned a cardinal, whose status alone was considered above nobility, and an inquisitor tasked with punishing heretics, into a pulp.

“Aaaaargh!”

The moment they realized such an outrageous event had occurred in the middle of the city, the paladins began to scream and draw their swords.

“Wh-what is this crazy hero doing in the middle of the road!!”

“Cardinal! Cardinal!!!”

“Execute that damned heretic right now…”

-BOOM!!

A thunderous sound suppressing the commotion.

As the shovel in his hand struck the ground where the corpse was buried, soil erupted, showering dirt in all directions like rain.

“Everyone be quiet and pay attention.”

The fragments of the road falling, along with blood and flesh.

The realization that an imperial authority figure had vanished without a trace was enough to silence the noble believers.

“I’ll smash the head of anyone who interferes, so from now on, don’t speak unless answering my questions.”

Of course, having clearly defined the opponent as evil, they might charge again soon, but Jaseong showed no particular hostility toward the other paladins apart from Helix.

Soon, he stuck the end of his shovel into the ground and asked them.

“Among you, raise your hands if you followed this bastard to the recent gathering.”

“…What?”

“I said raise your hands if you followed him. Like this, okay?”

A calmness that seemed impossible for someone who had just killed a cardinal.

After exchanging glances briefly, some of the knights began to raise their hands, as if deciding it was best to comply with the situation.

“Did you get aroused too?”

Soon Jaseong stared at them and asked.

“What?”

“I asked if you got excited seeing our saint.”

Whether they were sexually aroused by the young succubus he had taken in two years ago.

“Th-there’s no way!”

At those absurd words, the paladins began to shout in unison.

“That’s right! We are clergy! We who serve God would never feel sexual desire for a young girl!”

“Especially if the subject is a demon…”

“But this guy said he did.”

Snap, the mouths of the shouting paladins closed all at once.

Soon, Jaseong shouldered the blood-stained shovel again and explained to the bewildered paladins why he had committed this act.

“Sensing a demon’s energy that you all failed to notice is practically impossible unless you felt attraction toward that child. Toward a subject—a female child+demon—that a pure-hearted clergyman should never feel such things for.”

…You crazy old man.

I wondered why he revered a demon as a saint, but he did it for a reason even more beyond common sense than I had imagined.

“So I judged him to be garbage that shouldn’t exist in this world without needing a trial and killed him. Is there a problem?”

But he proudly presented such an absurd conviction to the paladins.

Of course, an execution without proper logic or procedure would never be accepted normally.

“H-how can you say that…”

“Oh! Hero! You’ve come at the perfect time!”

The anticipated protest was interrupted.

Soon, followers of the Meter Order who had heard the commotion and come out from inside the cathedral rushed forward, showing what they held in their hands.

“Hero, Helix came and we were hiding, but should we show it here?”

“Yeah~! No need to waste time, just reveal it all here!”

-Thud, thud, thump.

The followers from the cathedral repeatedly dropped what they held onto the chaotic ground.

Jaseong unfolded the massive amount of documents one by one and began to present their contents to the paladins.

“Come on, gentlemen, read this before charging at me.”

“…What is this?”

“The so-called cardinal embezzled donations, gambled, engaged in illegal prostitution… Wow, there’s even a record of him taking bribes from human trafficking groups targeting orphans under the pretext of confession?”

All sorts of evidence of corruption and wrongdoing committed by a papal candidate and inquisitor who was supposed to punish heretics…

It was too detailed to be merely fabricated evidence, and much of it seemed to align with actual incidents.

“Y-you, Hero Jaseong Nam. Where did you get all this…”

“With so many crimes, it’s easy to find. It hasn’t been exposed until now because any attempt to make it public gets shut down with heresy accusations.”

The two eyes beneath the helmet gleamed coldly as his gaze gradually moved downward, eventually focusing on the pieces of the cardinal’s body scattered across the overturned street.

“So I was waiting for the right time to reveal it, and oh my goodness, he crawled right up to me, so wasn’t it better to just deal with him without delay? After all, the dead can’t speak, so there won’t be any attempts to block it from going public.”

“N-no. Even if punishment is necessary, it should be after a strict trial…”

“That trial nonsense again… If we waste time waiting for a trial and the evidence gets destroyed, will you take responsibility? You probably noticed while working under him what kind of person he was and what he was doing.”

“……”

“Well, what power do low-ranking people who just follow orders have anyway?”

Jaseong kicked away the documents strewn on the ground with his shovel and nodded to the followers who had come out of the cathedral.

Despite having killed a cardinal, he showed no remorse and was preparing to resolve the situation.

“I’ll assign one of our people to you. If you’re not part of his group, take all these documents and submit them to the judiciary. After that, whether they revoke my hero status or brand me a heretic, I’ll go to prison when they issue a warrant.”

“Y-yes. Under, stood.”

“Alright, job’s done. Hyoseong, let’s go in~!”

Jaseong beckoned to me, urging me to follow him into the cathedral.

Although his blood-covered appearance was somewhat frightening, I ultimately decided to follow him without concern.

It was shocking in many ways, but I also felt that this kind of behavior was natural for him.

My only worry was whether he could handle the consequences of what he had done.

“Sorry, Hyoseong. I should have handled this while you were away. Were you shocked to see something so ugly suddenly?”

“No, I’m used to it, so it’s fine.”

Seeing people die isn’t anything new to me anymore, so there’s nothing to be surprised about.

But this was the first time I’d seen someone who could be called an authority figure die in the Empire, where law and order supposedly prevail, rather than in a lawless zone.

“But Jaseong, even if the cardinal was trash, is this really okay?”

“That’s why I brought that child in as a saint. Someone who feels sexual desire toward a little kid who can’t even properly handle life force extraction, let alone aphrodisiacs, can’t possibly be a proper human. Actually, when you investigate such people, all sorts of things tend to come up.”

“But still, the responsibility…”

“Oh, by the way, Hyoseong. I’m late in asking this.”

As I was about to express my concerns, Jaseong turned to me and asked a question.

“When you saw that child, did you possibly…”

“Don’t say crazy things. I’ve told you my preferences several times over meals, have you forgotten?”

My preference is for older women who listen well.

No matter if she’s a succubus, I would never go crazy enough to turn my eyes toward a child.

“I haven’t forgotten. I may be reckless, but my memory isn’t that bad, you rascal.”

Jaseong patted my back as he walked ahead.

From the reassuring feeling of his back, I felt my worries about him gradually disappearing.

No matter how reckless he might be, the act of killing a corrupt authority figure regardless of law or authority is something only a “true hero” could do.