22 - The Bride of the Great Lord is a Warrior from Hell
“What is that?”
Next to the central tower of the Forest Prayer House was the Dawn Library.
Right beside the Dawn Library, covered in ivy, stood a shabby, single-story building.
That was the entrance to the Religious Tribunal, which heretics feared the most.
The Tribunal’s dilapidated building had stairs leading down.
Basement level 1, basement level 2, basement level 3, all the way to basement level 4.
It was rumored that the stairs spiraled down, but that information wasn’t accurate.
It was said that the stone steps, weathered by time, were stained with blood, but that too was just a rumor.
Judges passed through the seemingly crumbling entrance of the Tribunal dozens of times a day.
The judges, with their stiff robes, looked drained and perpetually exhausted.
Unlike the judges, who looked like they could collapse with a single touch, the Heretic Inquisitors had stern expressions.
The Heretic Inquisitors, who seemed like they wouldn't bleed even if pricked with a needle, were objects of terror.
More than six Heretic Inquisitors stood in front of the shabby building.
In front of the Inquisitors in black cloaks, someone lay sprawled like rags.
A young man shone a torch on the fallen figure.
“Check him.”
As the bright light illuminated the fallen man, the large heretical symbol around his neck was the first thing that caught the eye.
“Oh, my…!”
One of the Heretic Inquisitors expressed strong anger upon seeing it.
The trainee Inquisitor shifted the torch’s position.
The light moved from around the face to the arms and legs.
A man who looked to be about the same age as the trainee Inquisitor approached and rolled up the left sleeve.
The heretical necklace was wrapped around his wrist like a bracelet.
“Who brought this one?”
An elderly Inquisitor spoke with a deeply furrowed brow.
His face looked as if he were standing next to something foul-smelling.
“This disciple found him collapsed here while going out for dawn prayers with a friend.”
“We asked our masters about the mark of an impious group that caused a big problem a few years ago.”
The two trainee Inquisitors spoke respectfully.
“But what is that?”
While listening to the trainees, a middle-aged man pointed to something around the fallen man’s waist.
The trainee closest to it opened a thick pouch.
“…!”
It was filled with heretical symbols.
Clatter.
The trainee, as if seeing a severed head, dropped the pouch in surprise.
The heretical symbols poured out from the pouch’s opening.
“Th-that…”
“Ugh.”
“I don’t like it!”
A noisy sound echoed from a group of girls wearing bonnets.
“What is that?”
“That’s a heretical symbol that was a big problem six years ago. They said they killed children to practice eternal life. Human trafficking became so rampant to sell them to Eternal Life Church believers that we couldn’t even go outside for a while.”
The girls’ thin voices rose and fell under the dawn sky.
“Cough, cough…!”
Just then, the fallen heretic woke up, coughing.
“Take the sinner to the third floor.”
“Yes.”
“I will interrogate him myself. Prepare thoroughly.”
“Yes!”
The trainee judges quickly gathered up the fallen body and headed towards the dilapidated entrance.
“H-hey…”
Bick, who had just woken up, opened his mouth in the sudden situation.
Without exchanging words, the trainee judges immediately took out a black cloth from their robes and gagged the sinner.
“Uub, uub!”
Muffled cries echoed urgently.
“He woke up?”
“Who is he?”
“Is he really an impious heretic?”
The girls stood close together, trying to see the struggling body.
The skinniest middle-aged man among the Inquisitors stepped forward.
“You lot! The sun will rise soon! Have you all finished your tasks!?”
At the Inquisitor’s stern voice, the girls scattered and went their separate ways.
“It’s still a long way until sunrise!”
A girl who looked quite like a young lady retorted defiantly before leaving with her friends.
“These days, kids…”
Joseph grumbled at the lively shout as he turned around.
Although he grumbled, a wry smile lingered on his dry lips.
But the smile disappeared the moment he entered the Tribunal.
Thump, thump, thump.
The stone staircase echoed loudly, as if the sinner was resisting quite a bit.
“Could they be back in the world?”
At the question from his junior Inquisitor, Joseph tilted his head.
“We dealt with those guys completely, you and I. I don’t know why they suddenly appeared. Have the adjutants look into a group or person called ‘Bick’.”
“Bick?”
“It was written on his belongings earlier.”
“I will investigate.”
That morning, rumors about the impious heretic who appeared in the capital spread like wildfire.
Around that time, the Grigen Clan, a medicinal herb merchant group, halted all their activities in the capital and disappeared.
Rumors circulated that they had returned to their base.
People were puzzled that the merchant group, which had painstakingly crossed the desert and passed through Tessen, had turned back in the harsh winter without even unpacking their belongings properly.
However, merchants and clan members were generally seen as different from ordinary people, so they were quickly forgotten.
For two days after the heretic rumors in the capital, the Graitz barony remained silent.
The Baron sent Butler Luther to Reikart again.
Luther opened the conversation by asking if he remembered the sudden death of a member of the barony a few days ago, whose whereabouts had been unclear.
Reikart casually asked, “What was his name again?”
Luther, looking apologetic, said that the deceased they had been looking for a few days ago was a new person who had been at the barony for less than a week.
Although he was a new member, he was still a member of the family, so they had been urgently searching for him, but it turned out that he was an impious individual, he added.
The barony repeatedly clarified that they had nothing to do with the disappeared member and presented a letter from Baron Graitz.
The letter was sealed with wax.
“What’s his name?”
Reikart, after opening the letter, confirmed the butler’s name anew.
“It is Luther, Your Highness.”
The windows of the reception room were covered with double curtains.
The thick carpet on the floor completely muffled any footsteps.
The warm and luxurious space was silent.
“Luther.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Reikart held out the unfolded paper in front of the wrinkled man’s face.
The middle-aged man, with the marks of time etched all over his face, must have dedicated his life to serving his master, the Baron.
“Tell the Baron that I understand his intentions well. Tell your master he may return.”
“I am sorry, Your Highness. Please find me anytime if I am needed. I shall take my leave.”
The butler respectfully rose and bowed.
His face was stiff as he turned away from the chair.
Reikart retracted the letter he had held out and gazed at the elegant handwriting.
[I wish to make amends with the life of the one who took the letter.
Dispose of him as you see fit.
Always grateful for the Grand Duke’s grace.
Graitz.]
Hearing the sound of the reception room door closing, he folded the paper and slipped it into the envelope.
A thick fog hung over the forest as the dawn light fell.
The silent forest stirred from afar.
Juan Lukens was high up in a tree.
Crouching between the trunk and sturdy branches, he said quietly.
“They’re coming.”
As if responding to Juan’s words, a sharp whistle rang out.
In response to the signal, the soldiers who had been scattered ran through the trees.
As the rumbling of the ground beneath their feet intensified, the hands holding their weapons tightened.
“Screech—!”
The beasts, covered in red fur all over their bodies, had longer arms than legs.
The reason they were called limbs rather than legs was that they used four limbs when running, but when they stopped, they stood on two feet and used their arms to attack or use weapons.
Therefore, the beasts looked like monkeys or gorillas at first glance.
However, their faces were more similar to hunting dogs due to their pointed snouts and protruding eyes.
Their dull brown eyes, without any whites, looked as if their blood vessels had burst, giving them a gruesome impression.
The Gotlans, smaller than mountain bears but larger than gorillas, came running in packs.
“Pour the water!”
Water poured down on the Gotlans running from the 12 o’clock direction.
The Gotlans, startled by the water pouring from the front and sides, changed direction.
“Block the 3 o’clock direction!”
A massive obstacle rose from the direction the Gotlans had turned their heads.
Sharp weapons were densely packed on a wide board.
Mobile obstacles that had been buried in the ground in advance were erected, creating a wall on one side of the forest.
Bang! Crash! Thwack!
Some of the Gotlans, unable to stop in time while running away from the water, crashed into the obstacle wall.
Seeing the blood and flesh splattering, a soldier from the obstacle team let out a ‘ugh’ sound.
He could understand why Lady Alisha had opposed the obstacles.
The appearance of the Gotlans left on the obstacle wall was beyond recognition.
The clearing inside the forest, prepared to capture the Gotlans, was bustling.
The Gotlans were at a loss in front of the artificially poured water.
A mace came down on the heads of the creatures, whose movements had slowed as if they had turned to stone at the slightest touch of water.
Juan’s hand, which had been sketching on the tree, stopped.
The Gotlan pack was isolated, blocked by the water and obstacles.
The Gotlans, unable to react properly, fell one by one in succession.
The soldiers, following instructions, worked in teams to target the Gotlans’ weaknesses.
But among them, there was an axe smashing the heads of the Gotlans.
It was a merciless movement.
Each time the axe moved, the left side of the Gotlans’ heads, who were floundering in front of the water, was crushed.
“Who…”
Alisha had opposed blocking the Gotlans’ path with obstacles.
This was because Gotlan leather had many uses.
Until just before going to lure the Gotlan pack, Alisha had constantly worried that capturing the Gotlans with obstacles would damage the valuable leather.
Alisha’s worries were so great that Juan had vaguely told the soldiers not to harm the Gotlans before entering the operation.
He could imagine how upset Alisha would be if she saw the Gotlans with one side of their faces blown away.
Juan, who had risen, wondering who on earth was doing such a thing, sat back down.
“Where is Alisha?”
“She’s near the Musto Spring!”
Behind Reikart and Black Steed, Gotlans with their faces blown off were falling one after another.
The Grand Duke’s Black Steed galloped quickly, emitting white steam.
Reikart was fully armed.
It seemed he had come straight from the battlefield to the forest.
This winter, it had been strangely snowless.
Thanks to this, battles frequently broke out on the western border.
They were seeing the full effect of the large number of reinforcements that had been sent before winter.
The Grand Duke had deployed the reinforced troops as scouts and small combat units.
The Vice Commander of the West, after hearing the scouts’ reports, sent out the combat units as an advance party and contacted Tessen.
Reikart acted according to the reported situation.
Regardless of whether he went to the border himself or not, the Grand Duke went to inspect the border whenever a battle broke out.
Reikart was contemplating not going to the border even after receiving the battle report for the first time since becoming the Grand Duke of Tessen.
It was a situation that would have surprised everyone who had watched him by his side.
On the one hand, it was understandable.
What had made Reikart hesitate was the Musto Forest.
