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“Three hours had passed since I encountered Lucia, who suddenly packed her bags. We stood in a remote valley far from the Cathedral.

“Is this path certain?”

“I told you, it is.”

I pushed through the underbrush while Lucia silently followed with her luggage.

Just before curfew, Lucia approached me, requesting guidance. To the village where a kid who was caught using sorcery lived.

“What do you intend to do in the village? If you happen to run into that brat…”

“It’s fine. I just need to confirm something.”

“……”

“There truly won’t be any trouble. It’s just a matter of taking a look around the village. Given your wound and the cold wind, let’s check quickly and head back to the Cathedral.”

Lucia urged me on with a soft smile.

I still didn’t understand what she wanted to confirm. However, through the faint moonlight, I could see Lucia’s tense expression.

Occasionally wincing from the pain rising in my chest, Lucia would halt momentarily, using her cloak to shield the light, then channeling the divine to prevent my wound from worsening.

Lucia and I reached the village where we had previously visited with the Inquisition Officers, stopping repeatedly as we walked.

But.

We had no choice but to halt at the entrance, unable to enter the village.

“…What’s going on here?”

“…….”

“Where are all the people?”

—

Episode 12 – The Strongest Magician Ever

I had once visited a remote northern village with Priest Rebecca and the Inquisition Officers.

A village where a kid was caught using sorcery. It was a small place, populated by old men, women, and children, excluding the conscripted adult males.

In fact, it hadn’t been that long ago.

I had moved to the Cathedral just yesterday. It had been three hours since the curfew siren rang, so the date must have changed, but even considering that, it hadn’t been more than a day since I visited the village.

Yet, even in that less-than-day time frame, the village had changed beyond recognition.

As I stood dazed at the village entrance, I surveyed the nearby houses.

“…….”

The houses were empty. No, there was no one in the entire village.

Even if it was late, there wasn’t a trace of activity. A village lacking light or people exuded a gloomy atmosphere resembling a ruin or a graveyard.

“What the heck is going on….”

“…….”

Lucia, surveying the dreary village, remained silent.

Unlike me, she didn’t seem perturbed at all.

“…How many people used to live here?”

“More than a hundred, I think. I haven’t counted precisely.”

“I heard there were a lot of old men, women, and children. Is that right?”

Nodding, Lucia looked down, falling into silence. As if contemplating, she pressed her hands together, closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them to trace a small cross.

After finishing her prayer, Lucia began to open the houses nearby. There was not a single sign of anyone living inside, but Lucia knocked patiently, waiting for a response before opening each door.

Of course, there were no people inside. It was the same for every house she checked.

“The belongings remain untouched… but everyone is gone.”

The houses still had a sense of life, with dishes and furniture left behind. It was as if people had vanished, leaving all their possessions intact.

Determined, Lucia knocked on the doors of every house. She inspected more than ten homes, while I circled the nearby houses, hoping to hear someone’s voice.

However, not a single person appeared after more than thirty minutes.

“This house is also empty.”

“…….”

“Let’s move to the next house.”

We followed the dirt path made by the residents toward the direction of the houses.

On that dirt path, after spending fifty minutes in the village, we finally encountered a living creature.

—

It was a dog.

-Growl…!

On the dirt path surrounded by houses was a dog that looked like it had been mauled by wild beasts.

Its skin, and internal organs were torn apart, dragging entrails as it bared its teeth at us.

A low prayer sounded in the air.

“…Light of judgment, dispeller of darkness, sword that mows down the wicked like grass. Where light shines, darkness shall not comprehend it.”

After drawing her cross, Lucia caught the charging dog in her arms.

Then, with a gentle motion, she broke its neck.

The sound of breaking bones echoed for a moment.

Held in Lucia’s embrace, the little dog slept peacefully.

“…….”

Lucia, not caring about the blood staining her clothes, gently laid the dog on the ground. I put my pistol away and asked her.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No, thankfully.”

I examined the lifeless dog on the ground. Inspecting a dog’s corpse was far simpler than examining a human’s.

My observations were brief and succinct.

“It’s an undead.”

Lucia replied, “…Yes, unfortunately, that’s right.”

—

We quickly returned to the Cathedral.

Lucia took the body of the dog she’d found in the village to the Archbishop, while I lay on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

The wound from the Inquisitor’s knife was rotting, causing lingering pain. Although it had subsided greatly thanks to Lucia, it was still painful.

I even thought of getting some sutures and thread to stitch it up, but I couldn’t bring myself to stitch the necrotic skin, so I had to leave the gaping wound as it was.

“I’m back. How’s the wound?”

“It’s a bit better now.”

Lucia…”

Without showing signs of fatigue, I grabbed a chair and sat down next to the bed.

I leaned my upper body against the wall for her to check the wound.

Lucia’s expression as she examined the injury was anything but good. Well, with a wound rotting like that, it was no surprise.

After checking the condition for a while, Lucia dipped a clean cloth into the holy water and began to speak in a gentle tone that felt calming just to hear.

“Just my personal opinion, but I think it would be best for you to stay here for a while. Even if you don’t, you should at least visit the Cathedral regularly. We need to prevent the wound from getting worse until we find a treatment.”

“I’m fine with whatever, but…”

I trailed off, glancing at the ceiling.

Given the circumstances, would staying at the Cathedral not raise suspicions with the Information Agency? That thought kept swirling in my head.

With four Inquisition Officers dead and several receiving treatment in the infirmary, staying here was definitely not an option. I’d better use Lucia’s safety as an excuse to visit the Cathedral often.

After tidying my thoughts, I glanced at Lucia and spoke up.

“Still, I think it’s better to find the Saint than to stay in the Cathedral. There’s much to do.”

“Oh, speaking of which, you need to have that finger injury treated too, don’t you? You used to come regularly, but suddenly, your visits have become sparse.”

“I’m just a very busy person…”

“The Cathedral is not a place to come back to life. Please take care of your health.”

Lucia, who lightly threw out a joke, narrowed her eyes and shot me a glare. Though she didn’t say it, it felt like she was scolding me for not taking care of myself, and all I could do was turn my gaze away, feeling awkward.

I decided to change the subject. Since Lucia had just returned from meeting the Archbishop, I needed to find out how things were progressing.

With a displeased expression, I threw out my question.

“What did His Excellency say?”

“He said there’s no doubt it’s a definite undead.”

Lucia’s voice delivering the news was neutral, but my feelings were anything but.

It was no wonder; an undead had appeared right in the heart of the Northern Regions.

An undead, in simple terms, is a corpse that moves despite being dead. Or, to put it differently, a walking corpse.

In a fantasy world, especially a dark fantasy one, it wouldn’t be surprising if undead roamed around, but that didn’t mean they were harmless.

“Though there have been reports of corpses affected by high concentrations of magic moving as if they were alive…”

“The dog we saw was not that kind of case.”

“Right.”

Undead can arise from natural causes or be artificially created. Usually, underdeveloped countries have more naturally occurring undead, while developed countries tend to have more artificially created ones.

Of course, creating an undead requires prior authorization from the Magic Department and strict supervision, but occasionally, a mad magician might create one, either by mistake or on purpose.

A magician caught creating an undead without permission faces a prison sentence of five or ten years without parole. If they create an undead from a human corpse, it’s an outright death penalty.

And monitoring and tracking those magicians is the job of the Magic Department and Information Agency. It’s somewhat similar to how the FBI tackles domestic terror groups, or juvenile drug rings in the U.S.

I let out a deep sigh and muttered.

“Murders, terror, Inquisition Officers getting killed, sorceries uncovered… and now people have started to disappear. An entire village too.”

Lucia spoke with a face that was anything but her usual cheerful self.

“Now that the undead has been discovered, we can no longer bury this issue. We need to take action before more serious damage occurs.”

“That investigator… could he be the cause?”

“Based on the circumstances, it seems so. With the power to kill Inquisition Officers and let wounds fester, he must either be a necromancer or a possessed person. The appearance of the undead in the village is surely related to him.”

I looked at Lucia.

“What about the villagers then…?”

“……”

There was no answer coming back. Did she not know, or did she want to pretend she didn’t?

Instead of answering, Lucia made a small sign of the cross. The shadow that draped over her face as her hand passed was darker than usual, and her blue eyes were filled with concern.

“In any case, to solve this issue, Archbishop Theodosius has sent another letter to the Holy See. He has informed both the National Affairs Council and the Inquisition.”

“What happened? Did a reply come?”

Lucia nodded.

“They plan to officially request a joint investigation from the Empire. To be precise, the senior executives of the Inquisition are currently explaining the situation to the ambassador of the Kien Empire. Also, as soon as dawn breaks, the Archbishop will personally send a letter to the imperial government about our situation.”

“…I hope for a positive response.”

“That’s why I’m considering writing a letter as well.”

I raised an eyebrow at the thought of her sending a letter.

To receive a letter from a Saint of the Cult, who on earth would that be?

As I rolled my eyes filled with questions, Lucia quickly cleared my doubts.

In a calm tone, she answered precisely.

“I’m planning to send a letter asking for help to the Duke of the Northern Regions.”

 

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