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The Inquisition.

They are the sharpest blades of the Church of Life, a dagger that never reveals itself.

They are the executioners of those who have sullied the faith of the Church of Life, the flames of purification that burn away all sins.

But fear them not. If you are not a heretic, if you have not forsaken the most holy goddess, they will simply live as ordinary priests.

Yet, if you are a heretic, tremble in fear.

Their eyes are everywhere, and their blades will strike from anywhere.

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And so, the High Priest of the Church of Life selected a few exceptionally devout pilgrims or priests among those who have the ability to protect themselves.

There might be a time when we must battle necromancers, so he chose those with sufficient strength to defend themselves. Primarily selected from the ranks of pilgrims, they underwent concentrated training over a short period and learned the newly developed divine magic I created, before taking up the role of Inquisitors.

Well, being an Inquisitor doesn’t mean you do that job all the time! An Inquisitor simply becomes an ordinary priest when there are no heretics!

They usually live as priests…. but when heretics appear, or those who disturb the Church of Life come forth, they stop their priestly duties and accept their missions as Inquisitors.

Reminds me of some route-shooter TPS game… but what can you do?

Heretics don’t always exist, and we must not let the innocent be burned in the pursuit of uncovering heretics.

Instead, secret police…? Plainclothes police…? Just a vague feeling like that. They live as diligent priests most of the time, but when heretics show up, they jump into action as Inquisitors!

Anyway, trained and bestowed with the new divine magic, the Inquisitors began to hunt down the necromancers, successfully eradicating them in no time.

While they were quite powerful necromancers brimming with energy, we could say they faced a bad matchup. Or perhaps I intentionally let them pick the counter.

The newly created and provided divine magic, the flames of purification, was a sacred magic that returns the corrupted to their original state.

Depending on how it’s used, it could shoot flame arrows, surround weapons, or even be wrapped around oneself to charge into the fray and beat up enemies!

It was optimized for burning away the corrupted, just like the energy of death.

With the outstanding might as a pilgrim traversing the continent, combined with the divine magic for healing and physical enhancement, they created a synergy effect and…

“With this, we can lift our heads high in South Romania.”

“That’s good to hear.”

Seeing the satisfied expression of the High Priest, I couldn’t help but smile back at him.

Yeah. I was quite pleased with the decently crafted divine magic and the Inquisitorial duties.

You never know when some eccentric person might come up with absurd ideas, and there’s a need for power to suppress or quell them.

If the pilgrims are the external force, the Inquisitors are more like the hidden enforcement unit inside.

“However, even if it wasn’t long, the damages in South Romania seem quite substantial.”

“Is that so? It didn’t seem like our response was too late.”

“It seems the necromancers who escaped from the temple scattered across South Romania, increasing the damage. It also took time for the Inquisitors to overpower the necromancers… While the soldiers of South Romania assisted in tracking down the necromancers, they couldn’t defeat the walking corpses.”

“Walking corpses…? You mean the undead?”

“Undead…? Does that mean beings that don’t die?”

Ah, so the term undead isn’t in circulation yet.

“Yes. It’s a name I just made up.”

“That sounds quite fitting. Undead… Ahem. Anyway, it seems there were substantial damages during the process of tracking down the scattered necromancers.”

Indeed, they scattered, causing issues here and there, increasing the damage.

If they had been in one place, it would have been an easy sweep, but scattered around made it drag on.

Even though the Inquisitors held an overwhelming superiority over the necromancers in terms of matchup, the limitation of their numbers posed a problem. It couldn’t be helped.

“How significant are the damages?”

“In our Inquisition, there were only a few minor injuries, and no fatalities. The full damages in South Romania have yet to be tallied… but the minor damages include graves being dug up in the graveyard, and the losses among the soldiers who participated in the necromancer hunt were considerable, while the serious damage included the annihilation of a small settlement.”

“Hm… I can guess about the grave digging, but to annihilate a settlement…”

The necromancers who fled from the temple, rich in the energy of death surrounding the dragon’s tomb, must have realized their methods to increase that energy were limited.

To gather such energy, the most suitable place would be a graveyard.

Especially in a village where they couldn’t afford to cremate bodies, the energy of death would be even thicker.

Though the funeral culture of cremating the dead to alleviate some of the sins is widespread, firewood is not free after all.

To burn corpses down to the bones requires quite a significant amount of firewood.

Thus, a poor village couldn’t spare any to cremate the bodies… And so, the energy of death seeping out from the buried corpses became prime sustenance for the necromancers seeking power.

That’s why they must have ravaged the graveyard…

Hmm. If those who just dug up graves are somewhat moderate, the ones who annihilated the small settlement… well, we could say they are more radical.

If they destroy a settlement and leave the corpses to gather, the energy of death will naturally gather alongside them. The corpses met with unfortunate and unjust deaths would encourage thicker energy to be amassed.

It could be considered an efficient method for harvesting the energy of death, but… it reeks of a humanity-losing act.

“Did you catch all the necromancers?”

“We managed to extract and catch all the ones causing havoc in South Romania. However, there are those who vanished after escaping from the temple and haven’t caused any issues…”

So there are necromancers who went completely underground? Hmmm…

Well, there’s not much that could be done. If they cause problems, it shouldn’t be difficult to find them, but if they went entirely dormant, then the limited number of Inquisitors couldn’t help much.

I’d love to just tell them to catch every last one… but that might lead to the wrongful capture of innocent people. That would be a headache, wouldn’t it?

“For now, if we can’t find clues, we can’t do much about it. Let’s maintain the current state as long as no problems arise.”

“If we employ slightly aggressive measures, we might be able to track them down…”

“Then innocent people might be falsely branded as heretics. The Inquisitors, with their superior powers and divine magic, hold a significant authority over priests, but therefore we must be cautious in wielding their power.”

Heretics end up in burning stakes! Hot-cha!! would be the end-of-the-world-type Inquisitor I’d hate to see! It’s better to stick to reasonable limits!

Well, perhaps that’s a bit soft of a line, but…

“I see. A sharp blade must be wielded with care.”

“Yes. Exactly.”

The High Priest smiled subtly, as if he understood what I wanted to convey.

“Then regarding the necromancers, a considerable number have already fallen to the Inquisitors and the South Romanian troops. While some were captured…”

“But?”

“There are some disputes arising regarding the treatment of the captured necromancers.”

Disputes regarding the treatment of necromancers? What kind of issue is that?

“First, South Romania. They seem eager to execute all captured necromancers, having suffered the most damage.”

Execution… execution you say. Well, that makes sense.

I’d be quite angry about them digging up graves, but since there were likely no casualties, I could overlook it until a point…

However, annihilating a settlement crosses the line.

From South Romania’s perspective, they probably want to rip them apart and kill them all.

“Next up, Procyon.”

“Eh? Procyon?”

“Yes. The city of mages. Procyon.”

Wait, why are they suddenly involved? Procyon? What’s their deal?!

They haven’t even been directly affected, so why is it their business?

Wait, hold on. Could it be…?

“Is it because they are mages? Do they want to research the necromancers?”

“Yes, exactly.”

Oh my! These knowledge-hungry addicts!!!

Well, sure, the mages would be greatly interested in the necromancers’ transformations! There’s no way those knowledge-hungry addicts would let that slide!

“They are demanding the prisoners of the necromancers as a price for assisting with the recovery efforts of the damaged South Romania.”

“Hm… this is going to be troublesome.”

“Yes. It’s indeed a real headache.”

The High Priest said this and began rubbing his forehead.

“And finally, there’s also an opinion within our Church of Life.”

“An internal opinion? Regarding the necromancers?”

“Yes. Since our Church of Life played a significant role in subduing and capturing them, there’s a sentiment that it should be dealt with internally.”

Well, that actually makes sense. Hmmm…

Neither the opinion of South Romania that suffered damage nor the internal opinion of my Church of Life is wrong, and Procyon? You should stay out of it. You’re among the prime culprits.

“What do you want to do?”

At my question, the High Priest began to rub between his eyebrows as he spoke.

 

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