My Childhood Friend Became an Inquisitor

“Louis, disappear?”
“No, that’s just a figure of speech! Where would I go without you?”
*

Not immediately grabbing that senile old man by the collar was the result of her exerting maximum patience.

“I need to go. Something urgent has come up suddenly.”

Anne spoke coldly. She was trying to maintain her composure, but pitifully, she alone was unaware that she was already struggling with her mask off.

“Is that so? But still…”

Even at the moment when he had pushed the other into the trap as desired, François maintained a gentle, kind smile without a trace of mockery. That expression was closer to a mask than a movement of muscles. As the living change, but the dead do not.

He wasn’t intimidated at all in front of this human weapon who could tear apart a person’s body with bare hands and create gusts of wind by throwing weapons. Rather, calmly picking up the teapot.

Gurgle.

“Surely you have time for one more cup of tea.”

He pours new tea into Anne’s cup, which had emptied without her noticing.

The tea in the teapot was as hot as if freshly boiled, but to the naked eye, there was no steam. Suppressing the urge to immediately leave her seat, Anne lifted the teacup.

She gulps down the tea in one go, discarding all manners and grace. The freshly poured boiling liquid caused pain even to her superhuman body, but even that was nothing compared to the burning rage rising in her chest now.

“Are you satisfied?”

A tone so rude and aggressive it was hard to believe it was directed at the head of the Church. Anne knew, of course, that he wouldn’t get angry, but even if he did, she wouldn’t have cared.

Because she too was angry. In place of the broken mask of coolness remained an impulsive and emotional girl befitting her age.

“Why are you angry, sister?”

But she couldn’t vent her anger at him who still asked kindly. If an Inquisitor became angry for the sake of heretics, wouldn’t that itself prove corruption and betrayal?

Ironically, Anne still believed in Ailim and maintained a devout faith. Only, unlike most clergymen in the world, or like most people in the world, faith was ‘second’ to her.

There was an existence that had guided her to light even before the merciful hand of the Lord. And now it was her turn to repay what had been given to her.

“Huu… of course.”

Why was the world so cruel to her? But Anne calmed her heart that felt like it would burst at any moment.

For Louis’s sake, Anne had to maintain her composure. To protect him, she could commit any harsh words or cruel actions with a smile.

“Even though we don’t count possessions among family, isn’t that heretic my achievement? To give it to another brother without consultation-”

But of course, if one could completely control oneself, they would be called superhuman. Her body, graced by God’s favor, had undoubtedly reached a realm beyond human, but her mind, having lived most of her life in a closed world, was not yet mature enough to that degree.

Try as she might to stay calm, her voice trembles, and try as she might to be cool, personal feelings seep in.

“-You were rash, Cardinal.”

A lightning-like flash sparks in those blue eyes.

Perhaps she was truly the rash one. If François harbored resentment for her arrogant attitude, the repercussions would fall not on her, but on the one she loved.

However, at this moment, Anne had no choice but to warn François.

“I hope you’re sufficiently satisfied. I’ll take my leave now.”

If this much wasn’t enough to satisfy him.

Without waiting for the other’s reaction, Anne stood up. Though that gesture wasn’t violent or rude, anyone with a keen eye could see the passion boiling up inside her, ready to erupt like an active volcano.

Bang! François remained quietly seated for a long time even after the door closed. The moment he finally stood up.

Thud, thudududuk.

With that small impact of the table shaking, the chair Anne had been sitting on crumbles into pieces like a sand castle collapsing. Though made of wood, being the Cardinal’s possession, its sturdiness was incomparable to ordinary ones.

François moved slowly, as if deliberately trying not to show emotion. As he approached the pile of broken chair pieces, one of the fragments caught the old Cardinal’s eye.

And finally, even his composure crumbled.

“Huh, huhuh.”

A dry laugh like winter wind brushing against an old tree, completely different from his usual voice that was as gentle as a spring breeze.

Though the original shape was nothing like it, the piece in François’s hand was broken as if it were a fragment of a cross.

“…I was foolish to listen to the words of a villain like you.”

I glared at the man with burning eyes.

Even in this space so full of light, distinct shadows fell on his face. Originally, I might have praised it as statue-like, but that brilliance was worn and broken by time.

What remained was only evil gleaming under the light. In those eyes, I saw the ugly true face of one who had already been ruined and thus wished for the ruin of others.

“To defend the prison you’re locked in while being a prisoner, not a guard. If what you say is true, isn’t that the same as confessing that you yourself are the worst evil locked in that prison?”

“Keh. That’s right! What reason is there to put on airs now?”

Even the contempt of being called evil didn’t insult him. Rather, the man positively affirmed it and went even further.

“Ruthless murderer, misguided avenger, sinner who defiled blood… Do you know how much the empire was in uproar after I was caught and my story became known? Everyone was shocked and afraid!”

I don’t know. To begin with, where I lived was a remote rural area not even belonging to the empire.

“So, are you proud?”

“……”

“Of the fact that you deserve to fall into hell?”

The thugs in taverns who boasted about how violent and barbaric they were. The man was an incomparably greater evildoer than them, and thus the contempt I sent his way was several times stronger.

Pushed to the limit, all that remained for me was evil, not good. Humans are cunning creatures, finding joy in distinguishing and disparaging others.

Even knowing that it was as ugly an act as the man proudly boasting of his own sins, I sneered with all my might.

“Unfortunately, unlike a monster like you, I’m just an ordinary person.”

I didn’t commit such evil acts in the first place, and even if I had, I wouldn’t proudly boast of my own evil in such an ugly manner like you.

“Kahaha. That’s right, turning a blind eye and forgetting is the privilege of the ordinarily weak.”

“What did I forget and turn away from…!”

I shouted angrily but then closed my mouth without finishing.

Am I really facing reality? I couldn’t dare answer “yes” to that question. The sight of them melting in flames and their facial skin being torn off was still vivid.

The death of loved ones felt strangely unreal. At times, it all felt unfamiliar, as if it had happened to people who had nothing to do with me.

Silence suddenly fell after the anger. I thought he would throw a few mocking words, but the man beyond the silver bars was also silent.

This muteness was rather welcome to my overheated mind. Yes, rather than having a head-splitting conversation with that atrocious murderer.

“Are you such disgusting bastards who stick together with Rowe?”

However, the brief peace was soon broken in an unwelcome direction.

“You’re barking quite noisily, aren’t you? I thought my ears were rotting.”

The voice of a third party suddenly intervened.

I hadn’t seen it when Anne came here as I was unconscious, but this time I saw it clearly.

The red figure of a man suddenly rising up in the vast white space stretching out beyond the bars, where walls, ceiling, floor, and end could not be distinguished.

I didn’t know what kind of optical illusion it was, but it was clearly beyond the laws of nature I knew. However, before I could ponder more on the peculiarity of this space, I gasped at the appearance of the newly arrived person.

It was a familiar attire.
Silver armor and a blood-stained cross, the regalia of an Inquisitor.

“…It’s been a while since you last visited. Long time no see, little brother.”

And this Inquisitor also had an appearance that was twin-like to the man in the prison. That was a fact I realized belatedly after hearing the gloomy voice.

Of course, there was a clear difference between the two. Unlike the man with dark red hair as if dried blood had spread, the Inquisitor had bright red hair that reminded one more of flames than blood, and.

“Haha. I’m deeply honored that you welcome your unworthy younger brother so warmly. Though I’d like to catch up with you, brother…”

The biggest difference was the position of the two.

Heretic and Inquisitor, prisoner and guard, outcast and punisher, inside and outside the bars.

“…Today’s business is with this one.”

I saw once again a scene where reality and common sense clashed.

As the red-haired Inquisitor fiddled with the air a few times, the cell where the man was confined became hazy as if fog had set in, then faded away and eventually disappeared completely.

“This is…”

“Ah, no need to be surprised. This re-education center, unlike other ordinary places, has distorted space. Aren’t you curious why?”

I wasn’t curious at all, but looking at those eyes rolling with madness, I couldn’t easily speak.

The madness held by the previous man was like a crouching beast. Quiet at times, but suddenly erupting and raging, destroying everything around. On the other hand, that of this Inquisitor was…

Fire. As in the first impression, unquenchable and able to spark or spread in any direction at any time.

I reluctantly played along to ensure that it wouldn’t engulf me. If fire followed human will, fires wouldn’t be called disasters.

“…I am curious.”

“Well, you see.”

The Inquisitor waved his hand in the air once more. No, that’s not it. It’s just invisible to my eyes.

Clank. The sound of metal hitting metal. He was pulling out something dark from the light where nothing existed, as if he were the Creator himself.

The moment it fully appeared before my eyes, a dull reverberation of “gwoong” spread along with a strong fishy smell.

“It’s to contain heretics like you, and like our brother… dirty, despicable, powerful, ugly, detestable, deserving to be torn to death, cut to death, burned to death, split to death a thousand, ten thousand times.”

A familiar smell.

“Now, since our friend seems quite perceptive, I’ll give you a special choice.”

The lid clanged open, and what revealed itself inside embodied exactly what I had been imagining since waking up in this prison.

No, even beyond that. The naive imagination of a rural youth could not even begin to depict the human malice passed down through generations.

“Which do you prefer between holy fire and holy water?”