Inquisition – 3

Stella’s face, which always bore an ever-present, fresh smile, showed a different expression for the first time. Embarrassment devoured her smile, and shock swallowed her composure.

“This can’t be… This shouldn’t be happening…? Why…?”

As if she hadn’t even imagined the possibility of me being proven not to be a heretic, she kept repeating, ‘This can’t be,’ over and over, with an incredibly flustered expression.

It looked as if her mind would collapse at any moment. Her pupils rolled restlessly. Her fingertips trembled, her legs swayed, and her entire body expressed the shock she had received.

The battle nuns surrounding us were equally shocked.

The battle nun called Iris, who had performed a strip show alone in front of me, was frozen stiff with a look of ‘Huh…?’ on her face, her bare chest and genitals fully exposed.

The hands gripping my shoulders and arms also loosened as if I could shake them off at any moment. The two behind me probably had expressions not much different from Iris’s.

Since I couldn’t just openly stare at other people’s private parts like this, I quickly lowered my head. The method of heretic discernment I remembered wasn’t this kind of public exposure.

“Y-you! Why… why aren’t you a heretic?”

I noticed that the way Stella addressed me had changed from ‘you’ (informal) or ‘heretic’ to ‘you’ (formal/polite), and chuckled inwardly.

If she still considered me a heretic, given her personality, she would never have used a familiar address like ‘you’ (formal/polite).

“How many times do I have to tell you I’m not involved with demon worship at all? Rije, Erica, and Claudia are the same. You just barked up the wrong tree.”

“That’s, that’s absurd… I clearly smell a demon…”

“Didn’t Erica tell you that too? We were involved with demons, but we never did anything that would make us called heretics, I told you! We emphasized several times that we were clearly victims, did you even listen to what people said?”

“Ugh… Then I’ll do it until you’re proven a heretic! Everyone, come out! Come out and verify this person’s purity!”

Stella trembled all over, then looked behind me and shouted. The battle nuns who were holding me from both sides suddenly let go of my arms and walked towards Stella.

As the support disappeared, my body, which was about to topple forward, was roughly grabbed by someone.

It was Stella. Stella, who had approached me from behind at some point, firmly fixed my face between the handle of her mace and her forearm.

The battle nuns stood in a line. Every one of them held their underwear in their right hand and placed their left hand on their chest covering. I immediately realized what they were about to do.

These guys were clearly going to collectively imitate what Iris had just done.

“Are you serious? You’re going to strip naked as a group here? Don’t you have any shame?”

“Be quiet! This isn’t just an act of loosening our holy garments, it’s to verify your purity!”

“You already verified it, didn’t you?”

Then what was Iris’s action just now? Was it a strip show by an exhibitionist?

“There’s no need to listen to the words of such a heretic! Begin, right now!”

Stella’s voice echoed loudly. She was an unreasonable person. Wondering if Rije or Erica could help, I rolled my eyes as much as possible to look sideways.

Rije and Erica seemed unable to comprehend the situation unfolding before their eyes, both staring blankly at us with their mouths half-open. It was unreasonable to expect help from them in that state.

The battle nun standing at the very front thrust her lower abdomen towards my face. And then, just like Iris had done, she began to lift her chest covering and lower garments, exposing her bare skin.

Naturally, her clothes rolled up without any hindrance.

From then on, it was a repetition of them looking down with horrified expressions at the pink nubs at the tips of their breasts and their private parts, fully exposed because they had discarded their underwear, then repeatedly plopping down.

I was semi-forced to watch beauties boasting overwhelming beauty and violent figures perform strip shows one after another, right in front of my face.

Of course, I didn’t entirely dislike it. If there was a man who disliked this situation, he’d either be gay or like men, one of the two.

But to openly enjoy this, my mind was too confused.

‘They can discern heretics with this kind of thing? What on earth is the meaning behind it?’

What meaning could there possibly be in discarding underwear and exposing breasts and private parts, that they would judge whether I’m a demon worshipper or not with such an act?

Regardless of my confusion, what they called ‘purity verification’ quickly ended.

From the start, it was a repetition of them approaching me, who was held captive, lifting their clothes, being horrified, and retreating, so there was no need for it to take a long time or anything.

All the battle nuns wore expressions as if the sky had fallen, and Stella was no different. Every one of them looked as if their faith had been denied.

No, actually, their faith being denied was correct. The one who branded me a heretic must have been either God or the Pope of the Sun, and both are objects of faith and worship from their perspective.

“H-how… how…”

Stella was kneeling on the floor, with her legs spread to the sides, her buttocks on the ground, and staring at me with a bewildered expression. Was that a posture only women could do?

Finally free, I triumphantly met Stella’s gaze and stood up.

“See?”

There was no longer any reason for me to shrink back. While heretics are condemned by any means necessary, the Inquisitors of the Holy Nation are endlessly kind to good people.

Since the purity verification was complete, it was as good as their God confirming that I had no connection to demons. Therefore, there was no way they could harm me.

If they were to commit such an act, it would be an act of betraying their own God.

“……”

Stella bowed her head deeply. The battle nuns were similar. It seemed the shock was truly immense. With the situation settled, I was about to help Rije and Erica stand up.

“I can’t accept it.”

“Huh?”

Stella’s green eyes, which she had raised again, met mine. Burning emotions resided in those eyes. Slightly tensed, I gripped the hilt of my blood-stained sword.

Surely she wasn’t going to recklessly attack, was she?

“I’ll have to verify it myself.”

Fortunately, it didn’t seem like she was going to recklessly attack me, so I felt relieved inwardly, but I didn’t let my guard down. She said she’d verify it herself, what was she planning to do now?

“I can’t understand. How can someone who broke the demon’s seal and even stole it not be a heretic?”

Stella, who strode towards me, firmly grabbed my right wrist. It was a force strong enough to make me frown instantly. Compared to this, the strength with which the battle nuns held me was child’s play.

Stella pulled my arm towards her chest, then lifted her covering with her other hand and put my hand underneath it. A warm heat was felt on my hand hidden beneath the covering.

“Grip it.”

“What?”

“Did you not understand, or are you pretending not to understand? I said, grip it tightly.”

To ask ‘Grip what?’ in return, the object was too obvious. The soft, squishy sensation I was feeling in my palm even now. Of course, she must have meant for me to knead it.

“Not enough with public exposure, now you want me to touch your breasts too?”

“It’s the final step to verify purity. Why, are you afraid of being proven a heretic?”

“……”

I tried to pull my arm away, but it didn’t budge. It wasn’t just firmly held somewhere; it felt as if my wrist and palm had simply merged into one.

My wrist was pulled even tighter. My palm was completely buried in Stella’s breast. Her breast softly compressed between my fingers, and a little flesh swelled up.

As if this wasn’t enough, Stella pressed down firmly on the back of my hand with her other hand, burying it even deeper. Squish. I unconsciously gripped my palm.

“…Eugh!”

Then, a faint moan, ‘Eugh,’ escaped Stella’s lips. Hearing that moan, I barely managed to piece together my reason, which was about to snap. If I did anything foolish here, I’d end up with nothing.

“This, what on earth…?”

While I was desperately struggling with an internal conflict to maintain my reason, Stella met my gaze with an even more astonished voice than before. Her grass-green eyes trembled.

The hand gripping my wrist tightened. Naturally, my hand was buried even deeper into her breast. Without minding that at all, Stella opened her mouth.

“Why… why do I feel holy power from you, who has not even a shred of faith in God…?”

At Stella’s shocking remark, even the battle nuns, who had been collectively spaced out, looked at me as if they had suddenly snapped awake. They looked even more shocked than Rije and Erica had been a moment ago.

‘Ah, so that was it. I wondered what was going on when she suddenly did this.’

Regardless of Stella’s or the battle nuns’ reactions, I was calm. When she suddenly lowered her voice and spoke urgently, I had been very tense, wondering what it was, but it was nothing special.

What Stella had just said was a small event that players could see in the game when they first met an Inquisitor.

Players can raise stats however they want, so it’s possible to skip faith and only raise divine power like me, but people in the world of BraDk 4 can’t do that.

It was a common belief among the people of the Holy Nation that as faith deepened, divine power would naturally follow. Therefore, the fact that I possessed divine power without any faith would be utterly perplexing.

For us, it was like confirming that a smartphone without a battery was working perfectly fine.

For reference, if faith is higher than divine power, they say that the power one can exert is less than their faith, so they should train harder. And if divine power is higher than faith, they say that the power one can exert is greater than their faith, and laugh heartily, saying it’s clear they are loved by God.

Besides that, there were many variations, such as when neither faith nor divine power were raised at all, when both stats were 99, or when only one of them was 99, making it quite entertaining to watch.

“Then you… perhaps…”

Stella mumbled something incomprehensible with a blank expression. Just as her lips parted once more towards me, about to say something, someone firmly grabbed Stella’s hand.

“What are you doing right now?”

It was Rije.