episode_0167

Chapter 6 Episode 23 – Punishment

After the Mine incident broke out, the Audit Bureau led by Raphael took over the parliament. Although this was an obvious coup, the Audit Bureau detained all members under the pretext of a special audit.

The original council is protected by the special knight Mars. It was impossible to penetrate his powerful defensive gift, even if it was Raphael, a fellow special knight.

But for some reason, Mars sided with Raphael. The Parliament, with its absolute shield gone, was all too easily taken over.

“The investigation has been completed.”

“It took quite a long time this time. Well, since there are so many hairs, it can’t be helped.”

Raphael, the Empire’s special knight and chief auditor. He received the report handed to him by his aide and looked at it lightly. As he expected, all kinds of corruption and crimes were recorded in the report.

“This is true. The most important virtue of a politician is integrity, but the government of an empire is worse than sewage.”

“How should I handle it?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know? Of course it’s execution.”

“Do you want to do it yourself?”

“Okay. He is a 6-term lawmaker. I think we should show sincerity here too.”

Raphael leaves the office and moves to the court by hand.

The simple trial court had no judge, jury, lawyers, or prosecutors. Just the defendant and Raphael. To be precise, Raphael is the prosecutor and judge.

“Rep. Pietro Morgan. For a 73-year-old, you look pretty good. Is sucking up the blood of the people the secret to youth?”

“……Who instigated this? Prime Minister? Or that cheap management bureau brat?”

“I did not receive orders from anyone.”

“Then why did you stage a coup?”

“A coup. This is a special audit.”

“It’s not even funny. Who would believe such a meaningless excuse?”

No matter what Representative Pietro said, Raphael unfolded a long piece of paper and read Representative Pietro’s sins written on it one by one.

“……How about doing a deal?”

Because he was the embodiment of corruption, it took him over 3 minutes just to read all the sins. It stopped in the middle because Rep. Pietro, who had not even heard that, intervened.

“The Audit Bureau alone would not be enough to rule the empire. So I… . I will help you. How about it? I can give you absolute power that no one can surpass!”

Congressman Pietro must have thought it was a very sweet offer, but he was full of confidence. But Raphael was still looking at him with a dull expression, and he shouted even more urgently.

“I will never cheat again! I will give up all my possessions! And, yeah… ! If anything, I don’t mind being monitored 24 hours a day! Please, please just let me live!”

“……Is that the end of what I have to say?”

Raphael’s answer to Representative Pietro’s earnest cry was very cold.

“, profit… . What right do you have to judge me!”

“Qualifications? I am the chief auditor of the Audit Office. I think the qualifications are more than enough.”

“Disgusting hypocrite. I’ve been rolling on this floor for several years, but I wonder if they don’t know about the audit bureau’s corruption. You guys are no different from us!”

“……”

“Why isn’t there anything to say? You don’t want to admit it!?”

Rep. Pietro thought he was pushing Raphael when he kept silent. But this was a big mistake.

“Pietro Morgan. It took quite a long time for the Audit Bureau to uncover your fraud. Do you know why?”

“Reason? That’s probably because you guys are incompetent.”

“Wrong.”

Raphael stretched out his hand. Then, light gathered in his hand and took the shape of a sword.

“This is because all corrupt auditors were executed and there was a shortage of manpower.”

“This is crazy… .”

It was only then that Representative Pietro realized.

That there was no point in offering him a deal.

The fact that it was not a coup disguised as a special audit, but a coup for the special audit.

The fact that the man named Raphael before my eyes was insane.

Only then did I realize it.

“I… . I don’t understand! This is not a formal trial! My, I have rights! The right to trial… !”

Representative Pietro changed his method. Since I knew that it was impossible to appease him, I decided to dig into the loopholes in his logic in order to survive.

“That is correct. All citizens have the right to a fair trial.”

“Yes! So hurry up and free yourself! Due process… !”

Suddenly –.

“But those who abandon their duties have no rights.”

Tuk–. Representative Pietro’s head fell to the floor.

The heat of the sword of light had burned the wounds and no blood flowed, and his limp body looked no different from a headless pig in a slaughterhouse.

*

*

The robbers’ hideout that Zeke had just left. There, a middle-aged man wearing a revamped pure white priest’s robe was looking around. The greatsword that did not match his attire showed that he was not just a priest.

“……I know everything is there. Come on out.”

“Hee, hee… .”

Ryuka, who was hiding in a corner, was secretly watching the man. However, he was quickly caught and made eye contact with the man. She had no choice but to show herself hesitantly. The heights of the two were similar, but the man was slightly taller.

“Nice to meet you, sister. I am Lot, a temple priest of the Virgin Mary Church who serves the Virgin Mary.”

Lot, a man who greets Ryuka with a smile as if there is no hostility. But Ryuka was shaking even with that smile.

“You’re shaking. Did something bad happen to you? If that’s the case, I’m here so don’t worry. In the name of the Virgin Mary, I will protect you.”

Lot approaches with great strides. Ryuka shouted at this.

“Don’t come near!”

“Ah… . I wasn’t considerate enough. Don’t be scared. I am not a suspicious person.”

“Z, Zeke… . There is a message left… .”

As soon as Ryuka uttered the name Zeke, Lot’s eyes suddenly changed.

“Ugh… .”

Ryuka was even more frightened by this. I wanted to run away right away, but I held back because I had work to do.

“I guess Brother Zeke knew I was coming. So, what message did you leave?”

“Well, that’s… .”

Ryuka took the paper out of her pocket and read it clearly.

“Well, the fact that you came here… . The Virgin Mary’s clairvoyance… . It’s proof that it’s false… It says… .”

“……”

“Ah… Ugh… .”

Lot stared at Lyuka without any reaction,

“Ahahahahaha!”

He suddenly let out a lively laugh.

“Ugh, uh… . I’ll just go!”

Pak!

The great sword blocked Ryuka’s path as he tried to quickly run away.

“Sister. No matter how urgent it is, you can have a brief conversation, right?”

“Hiik–!”

Lot approaches with a bright expression. The quick walk soon turned into a run, and the distance between him and Ryuka was shortened in one go.

Kwaaa!

Ryuka, terrified, spewed flames at Lot. However, he quickly rolled on the floor to avoid it, and approached Ryuka from behind, wrapping his arms around her neck and strangling her.

“Kkeup… .”

“Oh my. I guess you didn’t tell me who would come.”

Ryuka, whose breathing was cut off and looked like she was going to faint at any moment, eventually revealed her real face to escape from the stranglehold.

Lot, who was thrown back due to the sudden increase in mass along with the intense light, pulled out the great sword that was stuck in the middle of the flight.

“I knew about it thanks to what Our Lady said, but… . Dragons really existed. Isn’t this really cool?”

“Me, I am the great blue dragon! Lowly humans, quickly kneel… !”

“It’s meaningless to talk down your voice now.”

“Ugh… !”

A fierce flame erupts again. The intense heat was enough to melt the ground, and because it was fired in the form of a dragon, its range was even wider. But even so, it was not possible to hit the fast-moving lot.

Of course, Ryuka’s purpose was not to kill Lot. I just tried to take advantage of the time he was preoccupied with avoiding the fire and run away.

It spewed fire from its mouth, kicked the ground with its legs, and flapped its wings to fly up into the sky. I felt floating in my huge body, and now all I had to do was run away to Zeke.

Push!

“@ -! ◦ ◦ ◦

Concentrated energy ejected from Lot’s great sword and penetrated Ryuka’s wings. The hole in the wing made it impossible to maintain balance, and Ryuka fell straight down.

“It’s a good thing I came in person. If it had been other brothers, they wouldn’t have been able to stop the sister. Would it have melted in flames? Ahahahaha.”

Crack-tap-. Lot shook the dust off his chest. Then, the ornately decorated insignia hidden in the dust sparkled again.

A crusader known to have individual skills comparable to those of knights. Among them, the sacred badge is given only to those with the highest level of skill. Lot was a man with unrivaled skills among the temple warriors with the sacred badge.

“Honestly… . I didn’t really know what Brother Zeke was doing or why Our Lady was so obsessed. But looking at you now, I feel quite interested. The legend of Arthur the adventurer. I really like it. I heard there are also vampires. Is it true?”

“Hmm… .”

“Oh, my. It hurts a lot, right? Let’s see, painkillers… . It’s here. I’m not sure if this is a human standard, but roughly 10 pills would be enough, huh.”

Lot took out a painkiller from his pocket and roughly poured it into Ryuka’s mouth. However, Ryuka did not swallow it and just spit it out.

“Oh, that’s right. It was common sense not to take medicine given by enemies carelessly, right? I forgot. Ahaha. I lack common sense.”

Ryuka felt afraid at Lot’s attitude, as if there was a screw missing somewhere. Anyway, Lot was still muttering to himself with a smile on his face.

“True. You said that our Lady’s clairvoyance was fake, right? actually… . I already know. Also, the Virgin Mary is fake. To be honest, I don’t really have any religious beliefs. So even if they say the Virgin Mary is fake… . Does it matter? I want to.”

Lot aims his greatsword at Ryuka’s neck.

“Okay then. Can you tell me where Brother Zeke is?”

He still had a smile on his face.