novelraw Chapter 218 : Chapter 218
Chapter 218 : Chapter 218
Chapter 218: Inquisitor (4)
The scriptures are the words of God.
The interpretation of a mere human is bound to differ.
Fire was born for warmth, so prioritize that.
Laan spoke thus.
Therefore, His children must prioritize this.
One must convey warmth to brothers and sisters and to those who have not yet become brothers and sisters, and prioritize them.
So, that comes first.
Judgment comes after.
After protecting people, after prioritizing them.
That is the interpretation of the priest called Seria.
However, it is not satisfactory.
If she discovers a Demon or a suspect, she becomes agitated.
It is because she herself is insufficient.
"Priest Seria, you are right."
However, that insufficiency was an interpretation to someone else.
"You have the qualities."
Seria's agitation is the same as the Inquisitor's interpretation.
"Judgment is what prioritizes us. Your agitation is proof of that."
It was the reason Seria had been internally appointed as the next Inquisitor.
Furthermore, it was the reason she had been appointed to an even higher position and was learning under Badelots.
Inquisitor Badelots would soon become a candidate for Apostle and receive the call from the Church's Main temple, the Sanctuary.
When he received the call, Seria would accompany him on the pilgrimage route and enter the Sanctuary.
She would be assigned to the position thus designated and have an audience with the Saintess.
"Badelots, you must not break your promise."
"Priest Seria, you must not lose your original intent. We must prioritize."
"Ellen and Harad agreed to cooperate."
"No."
Badelots shook his head firmly.
"He is a troublesome man. Suspicious enough to be suspected of heresy."
"......I have experienced it directly, it is a characteristic of the North. Is not the exclusion severe?"
"What I experienced was not exclusion but obstruction. If it had truly been exclusion, they would have driven us out from the start."
From the moment Harad gave permission, Badelots began to suspect him.
It was the gaze one would direct at a suspect.
That was the reason Badelots did not share the treacherous path across the sea.
"Badelots, I learned that trust is the fuel for fire."
Therefore, it must not be discarded or lost.
"Priest Seria! You must not forget the doctrine. The North is still an existence outside the warmth."
There is no accumulated trust with the North.
If it ever develops, it will be after judging the North's Demons. Originally, judgment comes first.
"But......"
"Priest Seria."
Badelots cut her off.
"I do not understand this situation. Why do you seek to turn trust outward?"
"......"
"Is your trust in a friend outside the fence, with whom you have only recently become acquainted, deeper than your trust in me, who pursues the same light?"
Badelots spoke as if pressing her.
His expression was extremely stern.
"......I learned that even if one stole a silver candlestick to read the scriptures, it would not be forgiven."
"A famous saying."
As if nothing had happened, Badelots smiled gently.
"I am sorry, Priest Seria. I know your faithfulness better than anyone. You must have felt apologetic to the heavens, not Serzila."
Badelots drew a Holy sign toward the moon hanging at the center of the sky.
They had violated the night and broken their promise.
The former was a clear sin, the latter was the sin of one who interpreted it as a sin.
"I respect your faith. I promise to confess this sin to Laan afterward and repent."
Badelots drew a Holy sign again.
It was directed at Seria. It was proof of a promise.
"So please board, Priest Seria. I need you, and you need me."
The Great Devil of the Sanctuary of Fire.
It would be the final achievement Badelots would build before becoming a candidate for Apostle.
No, such personal matters are not the reason.
The Great Devil of the Sanctuary of Fire is a harm that must be judged and a teaching that must be obtained.
Through it, His children will become one step stronger.
However, does judgment truly come first?
"There is no time. Even at this very moment, the Great Devil of the Sanctuary of Fire is moving farther away across the sea. We must judge it before it reaches the Otherworld."
Is the Great Devil of the Sanctuary of Fire, who would disappear to the Otherworld—far more distant than the surroundings and then the nearby North—truly the priority?
"Come, quickly."
Badelots extended his hand from atop the pure white raft.
They must board the raft and catch the Great Devil of the Sanctuary of Fire.
And they must confess to violating the night and repent for abandoning trust with a friend.
She recalled the moment of death.
Seria had experienced the most deaths in Serzila. Ellen had burst her head countless times.
Was it to protect a suspect, or to protect the surroundings? Seria had not yet proven that. However, the North is a land overflowing with trust.
Judgment and trust. Demons and warmth.
Badelots said the former was the correct interpretation.
Seria felt the latter was also correct.
Neighbors come before Demons. That was why she had apologized individually to the suspects in Serzila.
However, she ultimately could not determine which was the right answer.
It was because she herself was insufficient, becoming agitated from time to time.
That was why she was caught by the scruff of the neck.
"Seria."
By Ellen.
"Where are you going?"
And by that one smiling suspiciously......
* * *
There was a raft at the shore.
A pure white raft manifested through Divine power.
Badelots was on top of that raft, Seria in front of it. The implications were significant.
'A friend.'
Just as Ellen did, Seria was also conscious of Ellen.
Even if simple Ellen was one thing, Seria too.
'How much have they even seen each other?'
The time needed varies from person to person, and concentration is more important than time, they say.
Harad smiled faintly. Indeed, she must be a unique priest. The two had become close rapidly and deeply. It was enviable enough to be jealous.
It was not entirely incomprehensible.
Harad was proof of that. Ellen had a charm that one could not help but fall for.
"Ellen."
"I won't jump to conclusions. Let's talk first."
That occasionally sharp perception and the decisiveness that arises when needed are also part of the charm.
Seria and Ellen met each other's eyes silently.
The longer that time lasted, the more similar their faces became. Anxiety was washed away.
"What is in the sea?"
Harad looked at Badelots.
He was smiling, but seemed angry.
"How did you know?"
"It's the Intelligence Bureau."
"I understand that Serzila's Intelligence Bureau operates on the continent."
"We know all of the North, so we expanded to the continent we didn't know. From old times, the North has been in the palm of Serzila's hand."
Harad gestured with his chin toward Ellen and smiled.
"Then you must also know what is beyond that sea."
"The sea? I don't know that. It's a land that doesn't use the sea much."
"......"
"But you seem to know. What is there?"
"Small heresies are drawn to great heresies. Demons have a homing instinct. So I made a path in the sea. A path leading to the Otherworld."
Harad scratched his neck briefly.
The cause was wrong, but the result was correct.
"So the Great Devil of the Sanctuary of Fire was a pretext. Does it actually exist?"
"Of course. The Great Devil of the Sanctuary of Fire will cross the sea and head to the Otherworld."
Meaning it is not only the Great Devil crossing the sea.
'Homing instinct.'
Badelots knows of the path to the Otherworld, not the path of Asylum.
Of course, that path is probably the same path.
'The source must be a continent Mage.'
Otherwise, the expression "homing instinct" would not have come up.
"A sea path. Why didn't you mention that?"
"I thought you knew, since you said you knew all of the North."
"I just said that."
"Did you?"
Badelots sneered gently.
"I have told you everything."
"Thank you."
Badelots obediently told everything.
"It seems you came because we broke our promise."
"That's right."
"It is correct that we broke our promise. What will you do now?"
His eyes were quite menacing.
The raft composed of Divine power blazed like fire. If they blocked him, he looked ready to kill.
'It is an opportunity, though.'
Harad turned his gaze.
Ellen and Seria seemed to have roughly reconciled. Voices saying let's talk after this is over, Badelots, could be heard.
It was a good thing, but Seria was still an obstacle.
A justification to kill Badelots before her eyes had not yet arisen.
'Even if it did, now wouldn't be the time.'
The path of Asylum had been discovered.
He had to think about handling that too.
"The raft is small."
Harad pointed at the raft.
"Make it a bit bigger. Enough for four people to ride."
The blazing raft melted and became soft.
Badelots's face looked even more idiotic.
The justification had passed to this side.
If he attacked even so, Seria would no longer be able to take Badelots's side.
"I will help as promised. Though you broke it."
"......"
"The North is a land overflowing with trust."
The raft grew larger.
* * *
'The Church knows of the path of Asylum.'
An unbelievable story.
The sea path of the previous life had been maintained for quite a long time.
If the Church of this period had grasped it, it would be an impossible story.
'It must be because of me.'
Whether the Great Devil of the Sanctuary of Fire or the continent Mage who confessed the path of Asylum, that influence must have started because of Harad.
'It must be the Great Devil of the Sanctuary of Fire. The caught continent Mage was probably unluckily caught up in it.'
The Great Devil of the Sanctuary of Fire, who had been active on the continent, came to Lohit to use the sea path.
Badelots must have discovered the sea path while chasing after him.
That Great Devil's decision to return home must have been because of Harad.
Because it became known that there was a Star of the Red Tower at the Boundary.
'If it has changed, it needs to change more.'
The sea path had been exposed.
It was only a matter of time before the Church ransacked and dominated it. In that case, it was better for this side to make the first move.
That was the reason for boarding Badelots's raft.
'Even if I kill him, I must kill him at sea.'
If he killed him at the shore, Serzila might be falsely accused of protecting the Demons' homing instinct.
'How should I kill him?'
Seria was Ellen's friend, not Harad's friend.
To him, she was an inconvenient witness.
'It would be good if the Great Devil of the Sanctuary of Fire were exquisitely strong.'
The only way to stop an Inquisitor is death.
"We're going far. West, not north."
The raft was advancing west, toward a more distant sea, not north where the Boundary and Otherworld were.
"It is a treacherous path that deceives the eyes of the world."
In other words, they had to go around far.
Badelots knew the sea path precisely.
The rough sea became rougher, and the floating ice grew larger. The direction was slowly shifting to the northwest.
"Can you swim here?"
Suddenly, Ellen blurted out something out of the blue.
Seria made a dumbfounded expression. Harad smiled faintly. Balbebron had crossed this sea with Alena on his back.
The pure white raft advanced calmly across the distant and hardening night sea.
Ice that touched the raft melted as if touching fire, and high waves evaporated as if blocked by fire.
The raft looked shabby, but it was the sturdiest ship in the world.
"An enviable ability."
"It is not an ability but the grace of Laan. He wishes for us to judge the Great Devil of the Sanctuary of Fire."
That is why the raft is strong.
"Did He say so?"
"It is Laan. Even if He does not speak, it is felt."
He did not know the origin of Divine power, but the one using that power now was Badelots.
"Remarkable."
"......"
"I mean it as admiration."
How far had they advanced? Suddenly, the raft shook violently. The sea surface was being sucked in, drawing curves.
Such enormous holes were densely packed everywhere.
The raft had fallen into the middle of dozens of whirlpools.
"Demons!"
Badelots cried out in ecstasy.
It was not a natural phenomenon but Magical.
The sea path. It is under the jurisdiction of the Tower of the Deep.
The raft swelled and transformed.
The bow, which had risen tall like a sailing ship, rode up the whirlpool and advanced.
The whirlpool they had crossed chased the ship as if it had a will of its own. Divine power flared up as fire at the shaking stern and blocked the whirlpool.
The more whirlpools they crossed, the more violent the sea became.
It seemed natural, yet it also seemed mixed with Magical. It was a dizzying spectacle. Seawater surging here and there fell like rain from the sky.
"Conserve it!"
Badelots shouted while being drenched in seawater.
He seemed to want Seria to save her Divine power.
When they crossed one whirlpool, another whirlpool appeared ahead again. Their number gradually increased. Their scale also grew. The one before their eyes had a hole as large as a house.
However, Badelots was indeed a competent Inquisitor. The raft-turned-ship leaped over the whirlpool as if it had wings. Jets of water surging like whips from the hole evaporated in the pure white Divine power.
Feeling it, that was the last barrier.
The distant sea suddenly became calm. The wind stopped as if cut off, and the waves became still.
It was a sense of stability as if they were in the middle of a vast plain, not the sea.
"Ahh!"
Badelots seemed to intuitively realize this was the path of Demons.
He drew a Holy sign toward the pitch-black sky.
The hand that finished the Holy sign cut through the air.
At its end, a ship existed.
A small sailing ship as black as the night sky and sea.
Its form was unique.
The sail that should have been attached to the mast was not visible. A smuggling ship that could only be used in a sea calmed by Magical, a ship that functioned through Magical.
The smuggling ship Balbebron had not known of.
"I shall follow the light!"
Badelots shouted toward the sky.
Divine power that flowed beneath the raft surged up like a wave. The raft that flew up landed on the bow of the sailing ship.
Originally, it was Divine power, not a raft.
So when it landed, no sound was made. However, the gazes of all those standing on the sailing ship gathered there.
"Demons!"
Badelots met the eyes of all of them.
There were men and women, old people and children.
"Demon! Demon! Demon! Demon! Demon!"
Badelots pointed at them one by one and counted.
"Twelve Demons!"
His gleaming eyes whipped around to the side.
"Priest Seria!"
"Badelots."
"Yes!"
Badelots, spreading both arms wide, smiled so brightly it was dazzling.
"Bestow purification upon them!"
"......"
"That is the light bestowed upon you, who will come to assist the Saintess!"
Fire surged up over the sailing ship.
Whose fire was it?