How a Reincarnated Warlock Lives – Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Movement (1)

It was several days after the Mongma disappeared that the dispatched priests arrived in Browell village for the cleanup.

“A most clean and glorious resolution, Brother Luciel-nim. Honestly, I was a little worried.”

The priests dispatched were not from Hesterica, where the headquarters of the Inquisition is located, but from the Holy Land, where the Holy See is located.

The one who appeared to be their leader spoke to me with a satisfied smile.

These men, who appeared to be somewhere between Holy Knights and priests, were wearing light chainmail armor engraved with a torch emblem.

Their official name is ‘Antorcha de Dios’ , also known as God’s Torch.

They are dispatched to areas visited by Inquisitors to handle the aftermath of the judgment, mainly burning any remaining evidence of evil or assisting and supporting the Inquisitors.

In other words, they were the ones who cleaned up and burned the bodies after the Inquisitors beheaded the heretics.

While their individual skills may be inferior to the Inquisitors of Hesterica, their ruthlessness towards heretics is in no way inferior to the Inquisitors.

The villagers seemed somewhat tense at the sight of the group that appeared on horseback at the crack of dawn.

“The principle is to take those possessed by the Mongma to the underground of the Holy See and confirm that they are indeed free from the clutches of the devil……”

He, who introduced himself as Proudt, looked down at the villagers from atop his horse with a rather arrogant expression. There was no warmth in his eyes as he looked at the farmers.

It was as if he was looking at livestock.

Under the intimidating gaze of these men, the villagers were too frightened to even raise their heads.

“Since we have Brother Luciel-nim’s firm assertion, let’s just overlook it.”

“Overlook it……”

I chuckled softly at his words, spoken as he still looked down at me from his horse.

Judgment and execution are all within the authority of the Inquisitor.

Therefore, what the priest named Proudt had just said was a bit off. Depending on the context, it could even be interpreted as him disregarding me.

Is he a little unsure of me, a newly appointed Inquisitor who has just begun his duties?

I looked around at them with a clear sneer on my face.

There were easily more than a few dozen of them.

“But, it doesn’t seem necessary to dispatch so many Esquires to this small village. No matter how inferior they are to the Inquisitors.”

Proudt’s eyebrows twitched slightly at my words.

Esquire.

It’s a term mainly used to refer to a knight’s attendant, but it’s also often used when referring to those who assist Inquisitors.

Of course, not many were brave or foolish enough to use it openly in front of them.

“Esquire.”

Proudt, still mounted on his horse, raised one corner of his mouth silently.

A somewhat ferocious smile. I met his gaze without flinching.

A moment of silence.

Soon, Proudt shrugged first and opened his mouth. He seemed to have decided that it would do no good to cause further friction with me, a promising Inquisitor of the Church.

“Although I respect the Inquisitors of Hesterica, it’s not a nickname I particularly like……”

He nodded slightly and continued.

“But hearing it from Brother Luciel-nim, it doesn’t feel so bad.”

It was an appropriate retreat, neither servile nor overly arrogant.

“Ahem. So, so, is it over now?”

It was the knight of the lord who ruled the region, including Browell village, who cautiously spoke up, watching our expressions.

He seemed to have been sent directly by the lord to check if there were any problems with the sudden visitors to his territory.

Proudt, without even glancing at the knight, spoke to me.

“Our destination is the Ashitan Kingdom. We only stopped by here to see Brother Luciel-nim.”

The lord’s knight made an uncomfortable expression at Proudt’s words, spoken as if he were casually entering and leaving a territory with a rightful owner.

However, the authority of the Church is not something that even nobles can dare to challenge.

If this were the Empire, it might be different, but a knight from a mere rural territory could hardly openly complain to a member of the Church.

‘By the way, the Ashitan Kingdom.’

So, there was another destination.

Indeed, it wouldn’t make sense for such a large number of Esquires to have come just for the cleanup of this rural village.

Considering the distance between the Holy Land where the Holy See is located and Browell village, it certainly didn’t take long.

In fact, it was almost as if they had dispatched the priests immediately after I left. Perhaps a request for assistance came from the Inquisitor dispatched to the Ashitan Kingdom.

“Ah, I almost forgot.”

Proudt, who was once again grasping the reins of his horse, pulled something out of his pocket as if he had suddenly remembered.

Swoosh.

I took the small piece of paper he offered.

“This is information about your next mission, sent directly from the Inquisition to Brother Luciel-nim.”

“……”

So this was the main reason for stopping by the village.

To act as a messenger to deliver my next mission.

Perhaps he was deliberately giving me a bit of a hard time because his pride was hurt by this order.

Proudt coughed slightly, glancing at my face as I took the paper with a smirk.

“Let’s go.”

Proudt gave a brief order to his subordinates and turned his horse around.

“Ah.”

Just before the horse completely turned and started to move, Proudt, looking at me from atop his horse with its front leg raised, nodded slightly and said.

“May God’s grace be with you, Brother.”

Thud, thud, thud, thud.

Dozens of horses began to move in unison, raising a cloud of dust.

“Phew.”

Then, watching their backs as they slowly moved away, the lord’s knight and the dispatched priest, Henrik Sidman, simultaneously breathed a sigh of relief.

🔹🔹🔹

The Inquisitor had given his judgment, and the Esquires who came for the cleanup left the village without any further action.

The conclusion of the incident.

The incident in Browell village was thus settled.

The official record was of a single Mongma that had infiltrated a small village and harmed the farmers, and Inquisitor Luciel Lumineger, who cleanly eradicated it.

If you exclude the information I deliberately omitted, it was a common commotion that could happen anywhere.

It wasn’t really a big deal, except for the fact that the Caridad Catacomb was involved behind the scenes of what happened in this village.

Although it wouldn’t have been a light incident for a certain girl.

Ah, and of course, for a certain cute little half-demon as well.

As I recalled the back of Kate, who ran into the dark forest path holding the red-eyed child after repeatedly thanking me, my thoughts naturally turned to the cause.

‘Caridad Catacomb.’

I frowned.

I could guess the approximate goal of their disgusting grafting research. I, too, was a black mage who could think from their perspective.

‘They are researching magic to artificially create half-demons.’

But it was clearly a plan that even demons would abhor.

No matter how much demons are beings devoted solely to their own desires, they would not welcome the artificial creation of other half-demons.

Black mages offer sacrifices to demons, and demons provide processed Demonic Energy to black mages.

‘Are they trying to reduce their dependence on demons by artificially creating half-demons?’

I laughed in disbelief. It was a plan so audacious and groundbreaking that it was hard to believe it was concocted by those who worship the Great Demon Caridad as a god.

It was tempting enough that even I, six hundred years ago, would have been somewhat drawn to it, as I sought ways to cast off the traces of contracts and various shackles that remained on my body.

Now that I have awakened anew and can freely absorb Demonic Energy in its natural state like demons, it seemed like a trivial plan.

‘They were infinitely clumsy, but still, they’ve made some progress in five hundred years.’

Of course, the traces of the spell I read from Kate were quite unstable, and the energy I felt from the child was not very significant either.

It was clearly a failed experiment, which is why they abandoned it without regret. If it had been a satisfactory result, they would have definitely taken Kate and the child to analyze them.

That meant they still had a long way to go before creating the perfect magic.

“……”

Suddenly, I recalled the words of Barok, the Head of Support, who lamented that unlike in the distant past, the connection with God had long since faded, and that he wished he could receive divine blessings from God or angels as freely as he could hundreds of years ago.

‘It seems that the Church is not the only thing that has changed in five hundred years.’

God was no longer responding properly to the Church’s calls, and the contract between the Great Demons and the Catacombs had become fainter than before.

I smiled faintly, looking at the sky that was brightening dimly in the distance.

🔹🔹🔹

It was quite a long way to the city where my next mission was assigned. The fact that the nearest Inquisitor was me seemed to show how severe the shortage of personnel was due to the war against heretics that was unfolding across the continent.

An ordinary, devout Inquisitor would have sighed at the bleak situation.

“Phew.”

I, too, let out a deep sigh and looked to the side. Of course, it wasn’t a sigh of regret for the Church’s bleak present situation.

“But why did you stay behind?”

“To assist and support Inquisitor Luciel-nim!”

I looked at the lump, no, the priest that Proudt had left behind with a disapproving eye.

The next mission was in a large city.

There was a high probability that I wouldn’t need to use Demonic Energy in secret to avoid people’s eyes, and it was true that it would be convenient to have someone to help me with trivial matters on the way there.

The problem was that he also, no, he looked quite young.

I asked the boy, who was standing straight with his eyes wide open as if trying to say that he was not a child.

“What’s your name?”

“I, I’m Jerit Frinagen! You can call me Jerit, Inquisitor-nim!”

“How old are you?”

“I had my coming-of-age ceremony last month!”

A kid, indeed.

I pondered for a moment.

Whether to take this boy who seemed to have just become an Esquire.

Gulp.

The boy swallowed nervously under my gaze.

He seemed naive, but at least he wasn’t hiding anything. If he proved useless, I could just part ways with him in Sitdria, the location of my next mission.

“Get ready.”

“Yes!”

Perhaps worried that I might flatly refuse him, the boy’s face brightened at my words and he answered energetically before running off somewhere.

“A, are you leaving right away?”

The dispatched priest, Henrik Sidman, said while looking at me, having seen that.

This incident seemed to have come as a great shock to him in many ways, as he had been living a peaceful and selfish life.

Of course, no one openly blamed him for being of no help in this incident, as he lived on the donations of the villagers, but he seemed to have realized something.

In fact, he had shown a surprisingly serious attitude when praying for the dead youth.

I said casually to him, who was looking at me with eyes filled with regret, relief, a little anxiety, and guilt.

“I won’t say that you can’t buy faith with money, but it’s not very efficient.”

“……!”

He seemed startled by the fact that I knew about the slight corruption he had been secretly committing, and he made a flustered expression.

“I, Inquisitor-nim, that is, that is……”

I raised my hand as if to say it was fine, mounted my horse, and said briefly.

“I hope I don’t see you again, Priest Sidman.”

🔹🔹🔹

“S, Sitdria?”

The young Esquire, Jerit, looked at me with wide, surprised eyes.

He was holding the small piece of paper I had just given him, which contained the orders from the Inquisition.

As I expected, he looked bewildered after reading the contents about the next mission.

“But Sitdria is quite far from here! And besides, this is……”

Jerit took a breath and continued reading the paper.

“‘Request for Inquisitorial consultation in identifying a witch?’ Isn’t that a place where they burn witches at the stake almost every day? Why suddenly there?”

I nodded as I listened to Jerit’s words.

At least he can read the Holy Language well. He’s better than Valent, who couldn’t even read simple words and had to cross the city center twice during the final exam.

“I can explain that when we get to Sitdria, so why don’t you look ahead for now.”

“S, sorry. This is my first assisting mission, so I was too excited…… Whoa!”

Jerit’s horse suddenly lowered its head and stopped, causing his body to be thrown forward.

He seemed to have some athletic ability, as he got up with a flustered expression, seemingly unharmed.

“T, the horse suddenly……”

Jerit looked at me, who had already stopped, and approached the front of his horse.

“……”

The reason why his horse stopped was simple. There was a peculiar obstacle in front of it.

An ordinary horse would have just passed by, but a horse trained by the Church stopped obediently after seeing the obstacle.

Jerit, who had moved forward, muttered with a dark expression.

“This is……”

The identity of the obstacle was a corpse abandoned in the field.

The body, which seemed to belong to an adult male, didn’t appear to have been dead for very long.

It wasn’t a normal situation, but it wasn’t so unusual as to be shocking.

There were plenty of things that could harm people besides demons and black mages.

From common monsters like orcs and goblins to bandits who prey on lone travelers. It was even more likely to happen in a remote field like this, away from the city.

Jerit, wiping the blood from his nose, approached the corpse with a look of pity. While turning the body over to lay it flat on its back facing the sky.

“A simple prayer for the poor deceased…… Whoa!”

I looked at him retreating with a somewhat frightened expression and asked calmly.

“Do you have a habit of screaming while talking?”

“I, Inquisitor-nim! L, look at this!”

Jerit, with a somewhat terrified expression, pointed to the corpse’s mouth.

The corpse’s mouth, revealed by Jerit turning it over, was full of wounds. But what he was pointing at wasn’t the wounds around the mouth.

“……”

Inside the corpse’s mouth.

All the teeth that should have been there were gone.

As if someone had deliberately pulled them all out.

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