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Chapter 18: The Key (6)
At the foot of Mount Fehern.
Having safely reached the place where we had tethered the horses provided by the Order, we were currently making preparations to return to Herentica.
Kooooo. . . . . .
Along with the faint vibrations that could be heard from afar, dirt and dust were gushing out of the collapsed cave entrance halfway up the mountain.
“I wonder if this makes sense.”
Inquisitor Lefra asked.
Thirty minutes had passed since we emerged from the collapsed cave along with the ‘Fehern Pond’, which had been purified by pouring three entire bottles of holy water brought from the Inquisition.
She had regained her composure once more.
I calmly fastened the horse’s reins and replied.
“An absolutely certain cause and an all too obvious effect. What is there to question here?”
Prrr.
Perhaps due to its good training, the horse, which had neither run away nor moved from its spot, seemed to sense the slight vibrations coming from halfway up the mountain and began snorting and pawing the ground somewhat fiercely as if urging us to hurry.
“. . . . . .There are more than a few things I’d like to ask.”
Lefra said.
“It is all in God’s will.”
I replied indifferently to her.
“. . . . . .”
As I tightened my grip on the reins and answered, the snorting horse quieted down, and her words were cut off.
Now that I actually use it, it’s a very convenient all-purpose answer.
I felt like I could understand a little why the foolish paladins and inquisitors always had it on the tip of their tongues.
As I nodded my head in satisfaction and mounted the horse, I felt an awkward gaze.
Wait.
“. . . . . .”
I spoke to her in an unpleasant tone as she stared blankly at me on my horse.
“Where is your horse, Inquisitor?”
There was only one horse here. I looked around the surrounding grass, just in case, but there was nothing in sight.
“. . . . . .”
There was a brief silence.
Soon, she turned her head abruptly as she looked at me and said.
“. . . . . .I lost it on my last mission.”
“Hmm.”
I nodded slightly. It must have been sad news, but I did not offer any particular words of comfort.
I thought it was funny to offer words of comfort to someone who had taken the lives of others for a mission that had only resulted in the loss of a horse.
‘So you came here on foot. I guess you’re physically beyond the realm of ordinary humans.’
That was all I thought.
After looking at her for a moment, I reached out my hand and said.
“Get on.”
Swoosh.
She paused for a moment when she saw my outstretched right hand.
‘Oh.’
My right hand was still pitch black. The bandaged inside was burning and tingling, but it was bearable.
If I received treatment at the Inquisition, this level of injury would heal quickly.
It’s not like my hand was completely severed. I could pay any price for this.
“. . . . . .Is your hand okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. ”
She nodded her head and lightly jumped onto the horse without taking my hand.
The deeply pressed robe moved, and Inquisitor Lefra’s face was briefly revealed. Her face, which rarely saw sunlight, was pale.
She was still wearing a thick robe and armor that covered her whole body, and there was a faint smell of medicine coming from her.
“. . . . . .Let’s go.”
She seemed to have her own circumstances, but I did not ask. It was not something I needed to know.
I looked ahead and said calmly.
“We shall depart.”
The two inquisitors, Lefra and I, on our black horses, quickly left Mount Fehern and began to ride along the narrow path leading to the plains.
🔹🔹🔹
“I wonder if this makes sense.”
“. . . . . .”
Lefra and I looked at Support Department Chief Baroque, who uttered the exact same words that she had said to me, with different expressions.
I ignored Lefra’s gaze, which seemed to be saying ‘See’, and waited for Baroque’s next words with a face that was slightly amused.
“I know well that your talent is unprecedented, but. . . . . .”
He scratched his bushy beard.
The incident on Mount Fehern was certainly not something that an inquisitor who had just embarked on their first mission could handle alone.
“. . . . . .”
However, it was not suspicious enough to make you doubt it. In any case, it was hard to see Bergezia Cult as the real deal.
“ Beginner’s luck, perhaps? God must have been on your side. ”
Baroque, who was nodding his head in satisfaction, suddenly raised his head as if he had remembered something.
“Wait, if that’s the case. . . . . .”
His gaze turned to Lefra, who looked somewhat disappointed.
“What did you do?”
“. . . . . .”
There was a brief silence.
In response to Baroque’s question, Lefra silently pulled down her hood and walked out abruptly. Was her pride hurt?
Baroque chuckled as he watched her, and then turned his gaze to me and said.
“Oh, by the way. Where is the ‘Resounding Voice of Louveris’? You didn’t break it, did you━”
“It’s here.”
Before he could finish speaking, I took the relic out of my arms and handed it to him.
It was completely intact and in perfect condition.
“Hmm.”
After examining the relic carefully, he nodded in satisfaction and glanced down at my hand.
“Let me see your hand.”
Was he going to heal it right away? Baroque, who was in charge of the support department, was not known to be particularly skilled in healing spells.
I shrugged and placed my right hand on his palm, which was twice the size of mine. And then.
BAM.
“. . . . . .!”
Baroque suddenly grabbed my hand. He asked me naturally.
“I guess you’re still feeling it?”
“. . . . . .Yes. Unfortunately.”
I replied, barely holding back a harsh curse.
“Haha! That’s good then. Go to the friar downstairs. He’ll heal you in no time.”
What a wonderfully friendly way to check. I nodded with an unpleasant expression and was about to go outside when I suddenly stopped.
Oh, I still had something to return.
Thud.
I took the silver-plated sword from my waist and placed it on the table.
“. . . . . .?”
The expression on Baroque’s face as he looked at it changed from doubt to disappointment as I slowly pulled the sword out of its scabbard.
“. . . . . .Huh.”
“It was a great help.”
Baroque looked at the sword that was chipped here and there and asked in disbelief.
“You were supposed to borrow a silver-plated sword, weren’t you? ”
“I did.”
“. . . . . .It’s all chipped, dammit. I’ll have to re-plate it.”
“I see.”
As I turned to leave the room, he called out to me urgently.
“Hey, wait! Luciel, didn’t you also borrow three bottles of holy water directly from the Great Temple of Mount Calimpus?”
“Oh, that.”
I shrugged and said as I walked out.
“I used it all.”
“You, you used it all? Wait, wait!”
I ignored Baroque, who was calling out to me in a hurry, and walked downstairs.
🔹🔹🔹
As Baroque had said, and as I had thought, it did not take long for my hand to heal completely.
The wound caused by storing magic in the Stone of the Gap was no different from the wounds that inquisitors often suffered when dealing with warlocks, and naturally no one suspected it.
Rather, it was a more plausible wound that could have been used to cover up the fact that there had been no crisis at all.
The few remaining doubts that some inquisitors and friars had about me joining the final test so suddenly seemed to have disappeared because of this incident.
And then, a few days later.
I was called by Chairman Marcell Pavlino while I was taking a much-needed break, and I headed to his room. He probably wanted to talk about the conclusion of this mission and the next one.
“As expected, their forces are not yet that large. God must have helped us.”
The Chairman’s room was sparsely furnished. And the conversation was as smooth as I had thought.
A brief explanation of what had happened on Mount Fehern and a brief explanation of the next mission.
I lifted my teacup with my fully healed right hand.
There was not a single scar left. Holy power is convenient.
Marcell Pavlino looked at me with a calm gaze.
He was not the type to put on airs, and he did not even ask me if my wound was okay, just as a matter of courtesy.
“There are those like you.”
He spoke slowly.
“Those with such brilliant talent that I cannot help but think that it is fortunate that they are on our side.”
His expression was still cold.
He was still a difficult old man to read. He was different from Anton, who was simply somewhat taciturn but whose values were easy to understand.
There was no longer any reason to do so, but he still watched me with caution.
Of course, it could simply be a kind of test for someone who had shown exceptional talent in a long time. To see if their faith was true.
Yes, doubt and test me as much as you want. My goal is to reach a place that you could never even imagine.
“We cannot fathom the full extent of God’s stern will. We merely brush the surface of a sturdy box with thousands of locks.”
God’s will.
I smiled slightly. Yes, this time I must see the end of it.
“I will try to be that key.”
He smiled dryly at my words.
“I look forward to seeing how far you, the key, can unlock.”
“You will have to live a long time to see it all.”
Snicker.
The Chairman chuckled softly at my words. Unlike before, it was a somewhat lively laugh.
“Don’t worry about that, I am still strong.”
After looking at me for a moment, he spoke slowly.
“May God’s help be with you on your journey ahead.”
🔹🔹🔹
Halfway up Mount Fehern.
As if something had happened, two men and women appeared at the entrance of the cave that had completely collapsed and was blocked.
The man, who had climbed the steep mountain without any change in expression, reached out his hand to the collapsed ruins.
Whooong.
A wave of force could be felt around them, and small stones shook.
A moment later, the man, who had taken his hand off the stone, spoke with a dry face.
“‘Fehern’s Pond’ has been completely closed.”
The woman who heard his explanation clicked her tongue and said.
“I was going to fatten it up before eating it, but it collapsed so quickly. I wonder if someone tipped off those half-assed fools. ”
“It has been quite effectively destroyed. It seems that it will be impossible to rebuild this place.”
There were no traces of many people passing through. This meant that those who had destroyed this place were not the soldiers of the kingdom or the paladins of the Order, who moved in groups, but an exceptionally skilled few.
After all, who would come to find heretics hiding in such a corner?
It was an easy guess and an obvious answer. The woman raised her head and looked to the east, her red eyes gleaming.
“The inquisitors of Herentica.”
She glared at the horizon for a long time, and then turned around and walked down the mountain.
“. . . . . .”
The man, who had been silently narrowing his eyes at the remains of the cave for a while, soon followed her.