Ch.8787. What Was Left in the Past (2)

Twelve years old.

That was the age when Marianne became an Inquisitor. Marianne awakened her Holy Scripture at an excessively young age. The process of raising an Inquisitor is quite harsh. Much more so than training any soldier or knight. Marianne endured all that brutal training without changing her expression once. From the beginning, she didn’t even properly understand what the word “harsh” meant.

“She’s a tough child.”

Another Inquisitor who was watching Marianne said. The head of the Inquisitors, Andre Zabine, nodded as he looked at Marianne panting in front of the slaughtered heretics. The heretics they had found this time were essentially an armed independence group. A cult-like group that killed people, illegally occupied territories, and ranted about establishing a new faith and a new kingdom.

“I’m not sure if she’s tough or just doesn’t feel anything.”

Marianne brushed past Bishop Andre. The girl’s body was covered in wounds. Her clothes, which had been intact until the battle began, were now torn to shreds.

“How did you come to bring her in? Marianne, I mean.”

“Remember that incident from long ago? When they caught someone trying to sell thirty children from the Holy Nation’s orphanage all at once. It was probably before you became an Inquisitor.”

The bishop said this while taking out a cigarette and putting it in his mouth. As always, he lit it, took a long drag, and exhaled.

“Yes, I remember. Was that about five years ago? Is she one of the children rescued then?”

“I was there at the scene. When all the other children were crying or trembling in terror, Marianne, that child alone, was sitting there as if nothing was wrong. Though Marianne must have known what was happening.”

Marianne, who caught Bishop Andre’s eye, was entrusted to a special educational institution of the Holy Nation from that day on. A gathering of those who work only for the Holy Nation and serve to protect the Blue Orthodox Church from its shadows. An educational institution that raises Inquisitors.

“…There are quite a few Inquisitors who came in like that child, aren’t there?”

“Children with no connections. Children living without hope, pickpocketing in back alleys. A group created by gathering those who have nothing more to lose in life.”

The bishop removed the cigarette from his mouth and exhaled smoke.

“It’s not strange at all.”

Bishop Andre waved his hand and looked at Marianne walking back. She had received only the most basic first aid and changed her clothes before returning. It was neither an expression nor an appearance that a twelve-year-old girl should have. Marianne opened her mouth with an emotionless face.

“It’s all done, Bishop.”

“Yes, good work, Marianne. Leave the cleanup to others and go home for the day.”

As soon as Bishop Andre gave his permission, Marianne turned her head and walked away. Today, Marianne had killed five armed heretics who resisted fiercely. Five. Marianne counted the number. She was becoming numb to the count. It wasn’t the first time she had killed people. At some point, it had become a job, a habit.

“If you hadn’t killed them, they would have killed more than ten times the number of people who died today. And they would have dared to rebel against the Orthodox Church.”

That’s what the bishop had said. Was it comfort? Even if he hadn’t said it that way, she would have killed people as ordered by the Blue Orthodox Church. Because Marianne had no choice. Because she never had anything like her own will. Because she had neither deep faith nor hatred for heretics. So she didn’t have much attachment to her own life either. Marianne extremely loathed herself for that.

That’s why Marianne kept killing herself inside. Waiting only for the day when someone else’s blade would pierce her neck and kill her.

==

Dawn broke. Marianne sat alone in the dim bedroom. The sound of birds chirping came from the blue-tinged window outside. Marianne was about to pick up her rosary, but then lowered her hand and turned her head to the side. There was a compass she had flipped over before going to sleep last night. Marianne reached out toward the compass with a hesitant gesture.

“…”

Marianne picked up the compass and flipped it over. The needle continued its pendulum movement, tick, tock, before stopping at a certain point. She knew where the tip of the needle was pointing. However, the compass kept moving unstably now. Marianne tilted her head and extended her spiritual sense.

“…Are you outside?”

Ilroy wasn’t in the room. Marianne blinked and looked at the compass. Judging by the constant movement of the needle, was he perhaps doing morning exercises? Marianne stared at the needle for a while, then put the compass in her bosom and stood up.

Unless there was a major issue, the hero’s party gathered in Ilroy’s room every morning. Marianne washed herself, changed clothes, and stood in front of Ilroy’s door. Ilroy’s presence was still absent from the room. As Marianne hesitated, Daphne Ephiphone walked up behind her.

“What’s wrong, Marianne? Is Ilroy not opening the door yet?”

Marianne shook her head.

“No… It seems he hasn’t returned to his room yet.”

At Marianne’s answer, Daphne tilted her head in confusion. Not back yet? Ilroy? Daphne carefully placed her hand on the doorknob and turned it. The door wasn’t locked, and the two entered Ilroy’s room with puzzled expressions.

“Hey, everyone’s early today.”

Soon after, George Gunther’s voice was heard from the doorway. Marianne and Daphne turned their heads simultaneously, and George also looked into Ilroy’s room with a surprised expression.

“Huh? Where’s Ilroy?”

“We don’t know either. Maybe he went to the Papal Office urgently this morning. Otherwise, he wouldn’t leave without saying anything.”

At Daphne’s words, Marianne tightly gripped the compass in her bosom.

“Let’s sit and wait for now. We’ll properly question our party leader for being late to the meeting.”

George joked as he crossed his arms. They quietly waited for Ilroy in an atmosphere tinged with anxiety. But even after thirty minutes passed, and an hour passed, Ilroy did not return. Daphne, who had been speaking intermittently, fell silent, and even George looked around the room with anxious eyes.

“…He’s late.”

George’s expression was heavy. Something had happened. They were vaguely realizing that fact in the silence. Marianne took out the compass and gripped it. The needle was still not fixed and was moving around like a pendulum.

“I think we should go to the Papal Office. We can’t just sit here doing nothing.”

George stood up first, followed by Marianne and Daphne.

The streets of the Holy Nation were the same as usual. Marianne followed behind George, suppressing her increasingly restless heart. And at the front of the Papal Office they arrived at, they encountered an unexpected figure.

“Your Holiness the Pope…? How are you here so early…”

“The hero is currently fighting against the Calamity… the Mist.”

At the Pope’s words, the party’s expressions froze.

“Why… is that…”

As George painfully uttered the words, the Pope sighed.

“The hero judged that it would be better to go alone when attacking this Calamity. He said that if all of you entered the Mist together, it might actually make the attack more difficult.”

George furrowed his brows.

“Did he… really say that?”

“I have no reason to lie. And I couldn’t stop the hero either. His will was firm. I, who have never even faced a Calamity, had no way to persuade him.”

George sighed, scratched his head vigorously, and then hung his head low. Behind him, Daphne opened her mouth with a pale face.

“I want to go in too. I can’t just let Ilroy fight the Calamity alone.”

“You cannot.”

The Pope’s voice was firm. Before Daphne could continue, the Pope cut her off.

“It was the hero’s request. For you all, it would be an order from your party leader. He asked that no one be allowed into the Mist until he returns.”

The Holy Knights lined up beside the Pope. Like a wall saying you cannot go beyond this point.

“I respected the hero’s request. The hero must have asked me to do this because he trusted me as a person.”

“I can’t accept this. That conscientious guy wouldn’t do something like this without leaving a word. What exactly happened?”

George opened his mouth with a slightly agitated voice.

“The hero did not tell me all the details. He only told me why he couldn’t go on the attack with you all.”

Along with the words to please trust him and wait.

The Pope’s voice echoed in Marianne’s ears.

==

Rustle. The grass on the ground made a crushing sound as it was stepped on. I was moving my footsteps while touching the tip of the Holy Sword, when I stopped at a certain point.

“These are some creative bastards.”

I frowned. The forest, which had continued so deeply that I wondered when it would end, had now changed to a familiar terrain. This terrain, I remembered it. I looked around, turning my head left and right. This forest, the shadows cast, and above all,

“It’s been a while.”

A dark cave gaping wide open before my eyes. I stared blankly at the entrance without approaching the cave. The ant cave seemed to be tempting me to enter.

“…I should go in, right?”

As I muttered to myself and was about to step forward, someone’s hand was placed on my shoulder.

“Brother, what are you doing here?”

A voice I’ve heard somewhere before. I turned around. The three adventurers who had entered the ant cave with me. I blinked as I looked at the adventurer captain, Lea, approaching me.

“…Aren’t you the hero? This is the first time I’m seeing you up close!”

I looked at the adventurers who were eagerly shaking my hand. The sensation felt unfamiliar. It felt exactly like I had gone back to that time and was facing them. Lea’s hand holding mine, the flow of magic, the information my eyes were receiving. All of it was reality.

Before I knew it, I was inside the ant cave.

“Now, let’s go further. It will be a short time, but I look forward to working with you, Hero!”

The adventurers took the lead. I frowned as I looked at the ant cave illuminated by lanterns. It’s vivid. Almost unpleasantly so. I touched the wall of the ant cave with my hand and felt the damp yet cool air. My spiritual sense detected all sorts of magical beasts roaming the ant cave. Like back then, the adventurers skillfully guided me. As promised then, I defeated the appearing magical beasts, and like then, the adventurers admired my performance.

“You see, our leader is actually a fan of the hero. If the hero could accompany us just once on this mission, our leader would be really happy…”

“Hey, shut up. Stop it. What useless things are you saying?”

“Kak.”

The adventurers’ banter is also the same as back then. I closed my eyes for a moment, indulging in nostalgic feelings as I listened to the adventurers’ conversation, then opened them.

I shouldn’t have done that.

“Since I’m in my breeding season, I need a lot of food.”

When I opened my eyes again, there was a giant spider with a human upper body standing in front of me. And at the spider’s feet were the three adventurers, collapsed and covered in blood. I stared at them with a stupid expression. The male adventurer, Harby, lifted his bloodied face and moved his lips.

“Hero… run away quickly…”

Crunch.

And the spider’s foot crushed Harby’s head. Harby’s blood splattered on my clothes.

“Quite different, isn’t it?”

The spider, Aragrid, said mockingly. I knelt down, looking at the adventurers at my feet. This is an illusion. This is an unreality shown to me by the Mist. Those people are still alive and well, working as adventurers in the royal city.

“If I had been hungry then, if I had needed food, could you have saved these people?”

Aragrid said in a coquettish voice. This isn’t reality. I denied it, shaking my head. But I could only kneel and look at them.

“Hero…”

Lea raised her head and looked at me with desperate eyes. I held her hand. The sensation of blood on her hand, the warmth, everything was too vivid. My hand holding Lea’s trembled. No. This isn’t reality. I could have saved her back then.

“Wasn’t it just that you were lucky? Because at that time, I wasn’t that hungry. Because I didn’t need much food, I didn’t kill them and let them go.”

Aragrid giggled.

“Or maybe you were too late in defeating me, and they were caught by baby spiders and left to slowly dissolve.”

This isn’t reality. This is just an illusion allowing the Mist to disturb my mind. I repeated that in my head and sighed.

But I couldn’t help feeling angry.

I drew the Holy Sword. A breath escaped me. Yes. If the goal was to disturb my mind a little, I have to give credit. You succeeded.

“Do you know what it’s called when you keep adding hypotheticals to the past, Mist?”

“What is it?”

Aragrid tilted her head with a smile all over her face, and I said in a chilled voice:

“It’s called a mental victory. In other words,”

I launched my body forward as I continued:

“It’s also called masturbation.”