Chapter 108: Monastery and Idol (1)
The basilisk’s eyeball imbued with a curse.
Just as I had easily subdued it, it didn’t have much effect on opponents with magical capabilities to counter it, but it was extremely effective when dealing with a large number of enemies who didn’t know much about curses.
Just like now.
“Jerit.”
I muttered quietly, lifting the large eyeball into the air.
“Close your eyes.”
Instead of asking a stupid question or the reason for the sudden command, he obediently followed my words, quickly closing his eyes and lowering his head.
And the next moment, a pair of eyes floating in the air began to gleam.
Although it had weakened somewhat due to being separated from its owner, it was still a powerful artifact against defenseless enemies.
“……!”
The griffin, sensing the ominous energy emanating from the eyeball, flapped its wings uneasily, but did not resist the touch of my hand gently pressing down on its head.
“What is that……?”
The birdmen, who were looking curiously at the pair of eyes staring ominously at them from the air, froze in place.
Originally, birds are the natural enemies of snakes.
But now, in the dizzying heights of the sky, the opposite was happening.
Hwack!
The advanced curse contained within the basilisk’s eye swept through the winged bandits in an instant.
“……!”
Although physically strong, the birdmen, who had no particular resistance to magic, were instantly exposed to the gaze of the king of snakes.
The reaction was immediate. This was an attack they couldn’t have imagined.
There was no resistance, no screams.
Some with weak mental fortitude lost their lives immediately, and some froze, unable to move.
Slightly different reactions depending on the individual. But the result was the same.
The place where I and the birdmen were located was in the dizzying heights of the sky. The birdmen, having lost the power to stay afloat, began to fall.
Unable to move their wings, the birdmen’s heavy bodies simply became one of the reasons for their fall.
A height where the bottom couldn’t even be seen properly. What became of the bandits who fell beyond the faint fog was a fact that could be known without even having to look.
“……”
I stared blankly at the sight. The fall of a winged creature always evoked a strange feeling.
🔹🔹🔹
After that, it was a piece of cake.
We returned to the plateau after collecting the heavy sacks filled with seeds, given to us by the remaining birdmen who were too terrified to even look me in the eye and pleaded for mercy.
“Good heavens, Inquisitor-nim. What kind of artifact was that?”
Jerit, who hadn’t seen it properly because his eyes were closed, asked curiously, having heard the general situation.
“It’s something I took from the enemies.”
“…… Huh, amazing. You’re so skilled at using the enemy’s weapons too.”
He just clicked his tongue, showing no particular aversion. Partly because he wasn’t so narrow-minded, but fundamentally because his faith in me had now firmly taken root.
Lephra would probably have had a similar reaction.
Seeing the large white-feathered griffin we returned on and the sacks in our hands, she smiled, as if she had expected us to succeed.
“…… Truly amazing.”
The flower keepers expressed their deep gratitude to us for returning with all the seeds in such a short time.
When I told them that the birdmen wouldn’t dare to covet this place again, one of the young flower keepers asked curiously.
“How on earth did you deal with so many birdmen?”
“…… Hmm.”
While I was searching for the right words, an elderly flower keeper chuckled and answered instead.
“It’s not wise to ask about the Inquisitor’s methods.”
He patted the head of the young flower keeper who was tilting his head in wonder and handed me something.
A small pouch containing a few seeds of special flowers grown in the Aerial Garden. And a bracelet that looked like it had been carefully woven by hand.
“They say a three-stranded cord is not easily broken.”
He said with a smile, handing one to Jerit, Lephra, and me.
“Oh, I wonder what kind of flowers it’s made of.”
Jerit, who received the bracelet with a delighted expression, asked curiously. The bracelet seemed to be made of three different kinds of stems. The flower keeper smiled gently and began to explain.
It wasn’t as unusual as the flower that made you lose your memories, but the meaning contained in each flower was quite impressive.
The flower language of each was courage, forgiveness, and choice.
It occurred to me that these might be words that had meaning for each of the three of us, including myself.
“This is truly a joyous occasion.”
Herdin, who had decided to stay here for the time being to help with the restoration of the garden, smiled brightly at us.
He shook hands with each of us as we prepared to leave again, and finally said to me,
“Brother-nim, you are truly a good person.”
Hmm.
It didn’t seem like an appropriate thing to say to a cruel Inquisitor who had just used an artifact containing a wicked curse to make birdmen fall from the sky.
Drrrk. At that moment, the elevator door slowly opened. Lephra, with a somewhat tired expression, made a small sound of’Ugh’and shook her head slightly.
I got on the elevator last and said to Herdin,
“Well. Maybe not entirely.”
Slightly perverse words. Soon, the elevator doors closed and it began to descend slowly.
“Is that so?”
Herdin, who seemed to be grasping the elevator’s position by its general shape and the sounds of its actual movement, looked at the slowly moving elevator and continued in a somewhat playful voice.
“But at least, that’s how it seems to me.”
He smiled kindly and tapped the bandage covering his eyes.
🔹🔹🔹
The central part of the continent was relatively peaceful.
Relatively, that is.
In the midst of a war against heresy, there weren’t many regions that were just warm and beautiful.
The Hesterica Inquisition and the Delphaud Holy See. The central part of the continent, where the two sanctuaries stood firm, was where the power of the Church was strongest.
Even more so now that the two Catacombs that had been hiding and operating in secret here had lost their darkness.
But that didn’t necessarily mean absolute peace and joy. Shadows could be found anywhere there was light.
“Hey, man. What kind of nonsense is that?”
In one region of the central continent. In a village called Bruen, there were disturbing rumors circulating.
The rumors were that a heretic had appeared in the village.
There was plenty of evidence.
A well that had suddenly dried up. Crops that were withering and livestock that were collapsing and becoming sick for unknown reasons.
These were all signs that were said to appear when a wicked devil worshipper was up to something evil.
Quite a bit of time had passed since these suspicious events had begun to occur, but the reason why the villagers hadn’t taken any action was simple.
The mountain behind the village.
On its hillside was a monastery dedicated to God.
And not just any old, ordinary country monastery, but a real monastery whose abbot was a brother dispatched directly from Hesterica, the city famous for its Inquisition.
Inquisitors were people whom even demons feared and trembled before. Even if he wasn’t an Inquisitor, a brother dispatched from Hesterica, a place that trained such individuals, was sure to be far superior to an ordinary country priest.
Therefore, that place was a kind of reliable bulwark.
It gave them the firm belief that as long as that monastery stood firm, no evil would be able to approach the village.
However, as the strange phenomena in the village continued without ceasing, anxiety gradually began to creep onto the faces of the villagers.
Had a truly wicked demon come to the village? Why, when there was a monastery built in the name of God?
Vague questions and speculations like these floated among the villagers.
Of course, they didn’t immediately rush to the monastery. It wasn’t just demons who feared Inquisitors.
The villagers feared Inquisitors as much as they feared demons.
The worship of other faiths, such as the God of Agriculture, the God of Rain, the God of Wind. They had heard the disturbing rumor that entire villages had been burned down for worshipping strange idols brought in from the Cravassia Empire across the sea or beyond the mountains.
Of course, those staying at the monastery on the hillside weren’t Inquisitors, but ordinary priests and brothers, but the fact that they came from Hesterica was enough to frighten the simple villagers.
However, when the stored new grain suddenly began to rot and even large livestock like cows became sick and started to wither, the villagers finally decided to visit the monastery.
A few strong and brave young men, chosen as representatives, climbed the mountain.
The entrance to the monastery, located halfway up the mountain. Passing through the somewhat eerie place, overgrown with weeds due to lack of proper maintenance, the young men boldly knocked on the monastery door.
Knock, knock, knock.
It was a timid knock, polite to the extreme, contrasting with their bold steps, but there was no way those inside couldn’t have heard it. The surroundings were too quiet.
A moment of silence.
Knock, knock—
Before the second knock could even finish, the monastery door burst open.
“……!”
The young men froze at the sight of the brother who appeared, opening the door.
He was wearing the usual brother’s attire, but a strange chill emanated from the middle-aged man’s stiff face.
“What’s the matter?”
The young men, startled by the ordinary question, quickly came to their senses and poured out everything that had been happening in the village to the brother who appeared to be the abbot.
“……”
After listening silently to their increasingly heated explanations, the priest slowly nodded and replied.
“I understand. You may go now.”
A short answer. Creak, slam.
And the door closed.
“……”
“I-Is it over?”
The young men stared blankly at the closed door. It wasn’t the progress they had expected, but they didn’t dare knock again to call the priest back out.
Well, there was nothing they could do.
The young men, looking at each other’s faces for a moment, soon started talking amongst themselves and returned to the village.
They said hopefully that now that they had informed the brother from Hesterica of everything, the village’s troubles would soon disappear.
But of course, not everyone was positive.
A young man named Rosen grabbed people and talked about the strange chill and ominous feeling he had felt from the brother.
“I’m telling you the truth, Village Head!”
“Goodness, you’re saying something that could get you in big trouble!”
But the villagers deliberately ignored the young man’s words. Because they were words that could easily be considered blasphemy.
And the next day.
When the young men who had visited the monastery suddenly started falling ill one by one, the villagers realized that something was wrong.
“……”
But even then, the villagers didn’t dare utter words like’corruption.’
They just glanced nervously and fearfully at the mountain behind the village.
Thus, days passed in an atmosphere of ominousness and chill that gradually tightened around the village.
Then one day, an Inquisitor, who had accomplished the amazing feats of defeating the beasts that had invaded the Great Forest and making bandits fall from the sky, visited the village on his way back to Hesterica after completing his mission.
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