episode_0047

The next morning dawned, and after receiving information from the king about a heretic running rampant in the kingdom, he headed to the place where the heretic last went on a rampage.

There were already knights there investigating heresy.

I revealed my identity to them and received a report on what they had investigated.

‘Crying out that the Goddess of Light is a false being and shouting that the Demon King is the true God, brainwashing all those who believe in the Goddess of Light and forcing them to believe in it? If you don’t believe me, I’ll kill you. These are complete fanatics.’

Although it was already insane to deny the goddess and worship the demon king as a god.

Even taking that into account, he was the biggest fanatic among fanatics.

‘But funny enough, it works.’

In response to the people who are afraid of being killed by these guys and the situation that cannot be properly resolved, people who deny the goddess began to appear.

Although it is still a minority and there are still incomparably large numbers of people who believe in the goddess, we never know when this situation will turn around.

‘So we have to catch it quickly.’

The most important point in this matter was to clear it out as quickly as possible.

But these guys aren’t stupid, and if they go on such a rampage, is there any reason why they haven’t been caught yet?

It was said that he had something to hide.

‘Maybe I should get help from a wizard.’

There was no one as effective as a wizard at following any trace.

The problem is that there is no connection with the wizard.

‘The possibility of making connections with those who are confined to the Magic Tower in the first place is significantly low.’

It was difficult to create a relationship with a wizard unless you visited him in person or under special circumstances.

Of course, I’m only talking about high-ranking wizards.

Although common wizards are not common, they can be said to be considerably more common than high-ranking wizards.

‘And what I need is a high-ranking wizard.’

In fact, at the moment, it was a long way to get help from a high-ranking wizard.

‘Then we have to guess where they appear.’

No matter how much they go on a rampage denying the goddess, if they are really doing it without thinking, they have already been caught. If so, if we found out what kind of system exists and what the commonalities are in the places where they attack, we could roughly infer the next point.

I immediately told the driver to find out the characteristics of the place where they attacked.

I went out and looked for traces of their attack.

‘There is no magic.’

Demonic energy is the exclusive property of the demon race, so of course there is no such thing, but at least there will be some culprit that will cause them to worship the demon king as a god.

And there was a very high probability that the culprit was related to demons.

‘It may be directly related to the demons, though.’

Due to their nature, they don’t do things like this.

Rather, this method is closer to the method committed by humans.

‘hmm? What is this?’

As I looked around, I discovered something unusual.

There was a unique pattern left along with the mark of a special knife mark.

It looks like patterns and marks left by heretics.

It didn’t seem like it had any meaning.

‘Let’s remember this.’

After engraving in my mind the patterns and marks that might serve as clues later.

I continued to look for other traces, but nothing more came out.

Unfortunately, after I stopped looking for traces, the place I headed to was a place where people were receiving treatment due to a heretic attack.

As soon as we got there, we heard several screams and groans of pain.

“Ahh! It hurts!”

“Uh, Mom… ”

“Please save me… Help me… Help me… ”

Everyone looks like they are in a panic.

Although priests treated people, their number was so small that it was difficult to cover everyone.

‘Let me try it out.’

I released the divine power that I had been suppressing.

When I stopped suppressing it, the divine power that was circling my entire body began to emit a huge light and cover the space I was currently in.

At the same time, the pain-filled screams and groans faded away.

I was busy taking a look at how well I looked.

I laughed out loud at the sight of everyone being cured in an instant.

‘It’s huge.’

Basically, the light of divine power has a healing effect.

Not to this extent.

But perhaps it was due to the influence of the light that emitted from the holy sword.

The life force of that time was fully contained in my divine power.

How absurd is this?

In fact, it always has an effect comparable to that of an elixir.

‘As long as my sacred power doesn’t run out, my wounds will continue to heal.’

If you get cut somewhere, you can just pour elixir into it.

You can even give it to others, and even if it runs out, it can be seen as an infinite elixir that will refill after a short period of time.

‘No matter how much you think about it, it’s a complete fraud.’

Instead, it has a certain recovery effect.

It took a lot more than I imagined, but considering my current state of having divine power that makes me feel like I can see an endless sea, it wasn’t that much.

As I was admiring my divine power, the priests who were treating the patients approached me.

They stood in front of me and bowed their heads deeply.

“Meeting the great warrior.”

“… ”

To be honest, I want to tell you not to be nervous, but to the church, a warrior is a representative of God.

In particular, ordinary priests tend to look up to warriors like gods, so such a reaction was not incomprehensible.

After nodding roughly, I walked past them and stood in front of the people who were still looking confused.

By the time their eyes focused on me.

I opened my mouth to them.

“A warrior who came to suppress heresy. I would like to ask you something regarding heresy. Is there anyone who would like to cooperate?”

“Huh-up! Yo, hero!?”

“Then this light… ?”

When I revealed my identity, everyone started whispering.

Everyone had eyes of admiration and respect.

‘It’s been a while since I’ve seen you look like that.’

Is it because I have been receiving unfavorable views from nobles and high-ranking priests?

Those looks were just amazing.

‘If it’s obvious, is it obvious?’

I’m spreading rumors, but who would believe that the only warrior who can save the world is doing such a thing? Even though it was common for nobles to slander others and be jealous, ordinary people did not do that.

So, in a way, such a view was natural.

I asked back to those who were still whispering among themselves.

“This is a measure to catch heretics, so I hope that at least one person will cooperate. There is nothing difficult and you only need to answer a few questions, so there is no need to feel burdened.”

“I… I will do it.”

A middle-aged man speaks while raising his hand.

I approached him as his eyes seemed to contain a lot of determination.

“Do you mind?”

“… it’s okay. Anything is fine as long as it can help the warrior.”

“Then, at the risk of being rude, I will ask you a question. Could you explain exactly the situation at that time?”

The man took a deep breath and nodded.

“I was on my way out to buy something with my daughter at the time. I was about to go back after purchasing the necessary items. Suddenly, a huge vibration sounded. The ground overturned and the buildings collapsed, so I had no choice but to be trapped among the rubble.”

As if they were remembering that time, everyone here’s expressions turned bad.

It was a situation where I could have died, so just thinking about it must have been hard work.

I would like to say that there was no need to overdo it, but the man’s eyes were still straight.

“… When you’re trapped under rubble and can’t do anything. They appeared… They called themselves servants of the devil. The goddess cried out that she was a false being and killed those who believed in her. I am… I survived because I was under rubble and couldn’t see well… but… My daughter… ”

The man could no longer speak.

My body began to tremble, and it seemed difficult to even recall the scene at that time anymore.

He managed to calm his trembling body and finally spoke.

“… I was caught by these guys and died… They who killed many people, including my daughter, cried out that they would completely change the Kingdom of Dillun and further change the world. Then, they told us to remember their symbol… It had a pattern engraved on it. Although it disappeared quickly, I saw it clearly. The symbol of the devil.”

If it was the devil’s symbol, there was a high probability that it was the symbol I had seen.

I tried to ask if there were any knife marks.

I felt bad asking him any more questions about the man shaking like crazy.

However, we are in a situation where we must somehow obtain information about the heretics.

I asked him without any hesitation.

“Did you leave any marks such as knife marks?”

“… There was no such thing.”

The man shook his head.

I bowed my head in gratitude.

“I see. Thank you for telling me even though it must have been difficult.”

The moment I turned around like that.

A man’s voice was heard crying.

“My daughter… Dead… Because of them… Please hold on to them… please… ”

Starting with him, the others also burst into tears.

Some have lost spouses, some have lost parents, some have lost children, and some have lost friends.

A huge sadness that cannot be compared to anything else spreads.

The priests who were present also bowed their heads and wiped away tears, and other officials expressed their sorrow in silence.

And I am.

Although I recognized these facts late.

At least I was aware of it and made a commitment to it.

I hope there will be no more victims like this.

Also, I hope that tears of blood will flow from the eyes of those who ruined the daily lives of good people.