TRSDICI 09

Chapter 9

When Going Outside.

As soon as Mordin Scalen boarded the carriage alone, the smile covering his face disappeared.

‘Why is that bastard here?’

Kael Luminara.

Mordin already knew that the kidnapped Kael had killed the watchers and returned to his family.

And if he looked that healthy after killing the watchers, then Kael was probably also the one who burned down the pleasure district.

He had heard Kael wandered around for about half a year, so he must have grown much stronger during that time.

‘That alone is a variable, but I never imagined he would come to take the Inquisitor examination.’

Kael was not a devout follower of Ella. There was no reason for him to become an Inquisitor.

Then why?

‘Could it be to catch me?’

If Kael destroyed the pleasure district, then there was a high chance he learned Mordin was behind it.

But that alone was not enough to bring down someone like Mordin, who had a good reputation in both the territory and the Church.

So Kael planned to become an Inquisitor and kill Mordin himself.

‘There is no other reason for him to become an Inquisitor. Leaving him alone like this is too dangerous.’

Mordin pulled out a pendant and a small magic stone from inside his clothes.

The pendant carried the symbol of the Church of Ella — a sprout with two leaves.

The magic stone was a one-time communication tool.

When he poured mana into it, another person’s voice could be heard.

— Yes, Apostle.

Mordin clasped the pendant and magic stone together with both hands like he was praying and brought them to his forehead.

“The eldest son of the Luminara family, Kael, has come to take the Inquisitor examination. Gather whoever can move immediately and kill Kael.”

— …Will that be alright? Even if the assassination succeeds, you may become suspicious afterward. Especially since the Saintess of Truth is here as well.

That was true.

Not many people knew the location of the examination site.

“It’s fine. I still have this pendant. At this point, all I can do is trust the reputation I’ve built.”

— I understand.

“Even if we must take risks, we need to deal with him here. If he truly becomes an Inquisitor, there’s no telling what may happen.”

If things went according to plan, Mordin would soon receive the rank of Bishop, and his position within the “Akseo Society” would become even stronger.

The Luminara territory was merely a stepping stone for that goal.

He had climbed this far already. He could not allow everything to collapse because of one Kael.

— He must be killed.

Suddenly remembering something, Mordin shook his head and spoke.

“Be careful. He is definitely not ordinary.”

— Is he really that strong?

“I haven’t seen it personally, so I don’t know. But the calmness he shows makes me uneasy. I can’t understand what he’s thinking at all.”

— In other words, he’s insane.

“Yes. When fighting him, it’s probably best not to try understanding him.”

— Thank you for the warning. Then, may all go well.

The communication ended there.

Mordin threw the small magic stone out the window and looked up at the sky.

As his mind slowly calmed, Kael’s mouth movements suddenly came to mind.

“Smile, you bastard.”

Mordin forced out a smile while cold sweat ran down his body, as though he had witnessed a creature he had never seen before.

“Crazy bastard….”

I rode toward the ruins in the same carriage as the group members assigned to me beforehand.

There were five people in total, and except for one person, nobody looked especially suspicious.

“Hm.”

I stared directly at the woman sitting beside me.

A simple hairpin rested in her brown hair. Other than being a cute-looking beauty with a soft appearance, she had no special traits.

‘And that’s exactly the problem.’

The others all carried weapons or had muscular bodies, but this woman carried nothing except a huge bag.

Just in case, I grabbed her forearm.

As expected, it was soft and completely untrained.

Her name was Bella, I think.

“A-Ah, that hurts….”

I crossed my arms and asked Bella:

“What are you good at?”

“Um… cleaning, cooking, singing?”

Hearing that answer, I could not help but admire her.

“So you plan to clean the ruins? And when you get hungry, you’ll hunt monsters there and cook them? Maybe you can sing lullabies if the group gets sleepy.”

“…….”

“And what’s with that bag? Is there a turtle inside? Even I’ve never seen such a huge turtle.”

Bella swallowed dryly and forced out her voice.

“I packed all kinds of things just in case…. We don’t know what might happen….”

“Can you even move properly with that?”

“My stamina and lower body strength are good….”

Bella glared at me with difficulty.

Though honestly, her lower body did not look that strong.

Still, even I could not exactly check that myself.

I came here to become an Inquisitor, not a criminal.

“To be honest, you don’t really fit the role of an Inquisitor. Why did you apply?”

“I wanted to help the orphanage that raised me….”

Now I really had nothing to say.

“Mm. I can understand that feeling somewhat.”

“Huh? Are you an orphan too?”

“There was a time when I was.”

At that moment, the man sitting across from me suddenly interrupted.

“Don’t you think you’re being too rude to a lady?”

“Rude?”

“Yes. More importantly, you’re the only one here who hasn’t introduced himself.”

As Myron said, I was the only one who had not introduced myself.

“I see. My name is Kael Luminara.”

Myron tilted his head.

“Luminara? You mean the Baron Luminara family?”

“You know my family?”

“Of course. Sometimes food donations arrive at the monastery under the Luminara name….”

So Father was even donating to monasteries.

Tsk. No wonder the family never had money even during good harvests. Sriben really needed to do his job properly.

“Wait, didn’t you just say you were an orphan?”

“There was a time when I was.”

“Ah, then are you adopted?”

“No. I’m their real son.”

“……?”

Myron blinked blankly. The others wore similar expressions.

“Don’t worry about small details.”

“That doesn’t sound like a small detail….”

After thinking for a moment, Myron looked at me.

“Could it be that you’re the heretic in this group?”

“Why do you think that?”

“I heard the Luminara family are devout followers of Ella. But judging from your speech and behavior, you don’t seem like someone from that family at all. Perhaps you’re pretending to be from some distant noble family to hide the fact that you’re a heretic?”

“Oh?”

I looked at Myron with interest.

“So it’s fine for you to treat me sharply, but rude to question a lady?”

“I was only making a reasonable suspicion.”

“So was I. An Inquisitor needs strength, but this woman has no weapon and doesn’t even look strong. Is that suspicion strange?”

“I said your method was rude. Couldn’t you be more kind?”

“Kindness….”

A faint laugh escaped me.

“Fine, I admit my way of speaking was rough. Normally, I would agree and let it go. But aren’t you misunderstanding something?”

“What do you mean?”

I spoke coldly.

“We are not going on a picnic. We are being tested to see if we are fit to become Inquisitors. So we should show the qualities of an Inquisitor, not just a kind person.”

I pointed at Myron.

“Would you still act politely toward a heretic? Keep hesitating like that, and soon people will be preparing your funeral table.”

“…….”

“Demons and evil people always try to deceive and destroy humans. That’s why you must always stay cautious and suspicious when strangers approach you.”

Myron narrowed his eyes.

“I understand what you mean, but aren’t you too cold-hearted?”

“It’s better to be cold-hearted than dead. Death is like a storm. You never know when, where, or how it will arrive. It’s not too late to show kindness after understanding the storm’s intentions.”

Myron frowned.

“You talk as if death has always followed you around. Yet you don’t even look that old.”

I chuckled.

“You have no future as an Inquisitor. Your pride blinds you from making proper judgments.”

“…….”

“If you’re the heretic in this mission, then you’re doing an excellent job.”

Myron stared at me for a while before sighing.

“I understand your attitude. But this mission is not only about finding the heretic. We also need to search for the relic together.”

“So?”

“So before doubting each other, we should cooperate—”

I raised my hand and cut him off.

“Shut up for a moment.”

Then I looked around.

At some point, the carriage had entered the forest.

Myron frowned at my attitude.

“No matter what, this is too much. If you’re really not the heretic—”

I suddenly shouted loudly at him on purpose.

“I SAID SHUT UP!!!”

The group members jumped in shock at the loud roar.

Myron sat there with his mouth open in complete confusion.

Still, the silence I wanted finally arrived, so I stepped out of the slowly stopping carriage.

The coachman asked me:

“Did something happen? Why were you suddenly shouting…?”

“Quiet for a moment. Stay close to the carriage.”

I drew my sword and stood in the middle of the forest.

Then I took a deep breath.

‘The smell of blood.’

Monster blood?

Since they never told us the exact location of the ruins, perhaps we had already entered the examination area.

‘But something feels different.’

Cleaner and softer than sticky monster blood.

And because of that, the smell felt even worse.

‘This is human blood.’

At the very least, someone had been heavily injured or murdered for me to smell it from this far away.

‘So it’s hard to believe another group is simply fighting among themselves.’

To understand the situation better, I closed my eyes and used divine power.

According to the Realm of Joy, I could release wind, and if I infused divine power into that wind, I could sense presences.

‘Following Wind.’

Fwoooooosh—

Thread-like divine power spread in every direction with the wind.

Not long after, it touched human presences.

One, two, three….

‘Around twenty people are approaching from all sides. Some of them are fairly strong too.’

I opened my eyes and spoke to my group members.

“Prepare for an ambush. We’re surrounded.”

Myron reflexively drew his sword and asked:

“Surrounded? By who?”

“People who came to kill us, obviously.”

At that moment, figures wearing black hoods and clothes landed around us in a circle.

Seeing us armed and ready, one of them asked:

“You knew we were coming?”

“Of course. Didn’t your master tell you?”

“…….”

I waited for an answer, but he stayed silent.

Behind me, Bella shrank back nervously.

“This isn’t part of the test or another group, right…?”

Their killing intent was thick.

These were people who lived beside death and darkness.

Baron Scalen must have ordered them to kill me.

Honestly, I never expected him to make a move while the Saintess of Truth was still here.

‘So in the end, he made the wrong move. Thanks to that, I’ll catch him sooner than planned.’

I spoke to the group members.

“Stay behind the carriage and focus only on defending yourselves. I’ll handle the rest.”

Myron swallowed dryly.

“Is that even possible?”

I looked over the enemies.

These men were stronger than the ones I met in the pleasure district. One of them alone could probably kill the other group members.

Seeing their sticky killing intent made me laugh quietly.

“It’s possible. I’ve already experienced storms like this many times before.”

“What does that even—”

Suddenly, I looked up at the sky.

Bright sunlight poured down from the blue sky, so I placed a hand over my forehead.

“The weather is nice today. But it feels like a storm is coming, so you should be careful when going outside. Don’t you think?”

Both my allies and the enemies looked confused by my nonsense.

But in my eyes, I could only see the enemies’ weak points.

Whoosh!

Sharp wind wrapped around my sword blade.

Was this a breeze, a favorable wind, or a storm wind?

I did not know myself.

But to the enemies, it would probably feel like a typhoon.

The enemies hesitated, and some of their expressions darkened deeply.

The moment they hesitated, I kicked off the ground first and charged forward.

Like the wind itself, I melted into the air.

Slash!

My sword cut through one man’s neck.

Then I landed lightly in the middle of their formation.

That alone shattered their encirclement.

Their eyes widened because they had never expected this level of strength from me.

But neither they nor I had anywhere left to retreat.

“Kill him!”

Most of the enemies rushed toward me.

Like a butterfly, I leaped through the air and swung my sword.

Before anyone realized it, the sky itself was being dyed red with blood.

(To be continued)