19. The Time of the Inquisition Officer
The [Street of the Gods] in Merlin Port was somewhat biased. The grand cathedral on the central avenue belonged to McLaren, while the temples for other gods were located on the outskirts. One could easily gauge the influence of the McLaren Church in Merlin Port.
The blue sky, clear air, and salty sea breeze were refreshing. It felt like last night’s commotion was a lie. Fernandez pushed open the door of the McLaren Cathedral and pondered.
Merlin Port was now caught in a three-way struggle between the McLaren Cathedral, the Bronze Scales, and the ancient lich Gian-Kel, slowly succumbing to chaos.
From the outside, the city seemed to function normally, but the sight of werewolves committing murders every night and night watchmen and guards fleeing upon hearing screams was anything but normal.
‘Why on earth haven’t they requested an inquisition?’
This was truly strange. The authority to conduct heresy investigations in the Temple of the Gods lay with the Vaitas Church.
Despite being within arm’s reach of the Inquisition Office, the McLaren Cathedral in Merlin Port had not conducted any heresy investigations.
“Ah, Brother. The mass time has passed, but…”
A McLaren priest approached and spoke to him. Fernandez raised the holy relic of Vaitas.
“Magto Superlaudo. Brother. I wish to meet with His Excellency the Bishop.”
“Hmm…? A priest of Vaitas?”
“I am Angelo, the Diemonica Inquisition Officer.”
“Inquisition… Officer? Are you here for military support?”
“Depending on the situation.”
The priest seemed to be seeing an Inquisition Officer for the first time. He told Fernandez to wait and hurriedly left, looking pale.
Soon, Fernandez was granted a private audience with the Bishop of Merlin Port. The Bishop’s audience chamber was extravagantly luxurious.
McLaren’s doctrine was far from frugality, placing significant value on worldly wealth.
McLaren, the god of [Gold], [Sea], [Commerce], and [Fishing]. In port cities serving as trade hubs, they boasted immense influence.
Thanks to their shocking doctrine that even considered bribery as part of commerce, they enjoyed substantial support from merchants.
After all, they promised salvation to those who paid enough.
Thus, even the Bishop’s crimson robe was made of luxurious Eastern silk. The Bishop of Merlin Port sat with his arms crossed, observing Fernandez.
“Is there something on my face?”
“You, are you really Diemonica?”
“…? Yes?”
The Bishop casually spoke and sipped his black tea.
“You look like Diemonica, but… why are you skinnier than a Heretic?”
“…”
Though the question was sudden, it was filled with sarcasm. As Fernandez silently sat, the Bishop chuckled and spoke.
“So, why have you come to this cathedral, Inquisition Officer?”
“I request cooperation in the investigation.”
“Werewolves? My guards told me that last night, a corpse with its throat slit was found.”
“I wasn’t dispatched to this city for just one lycanthrope patient, Your Excellency. The aura of heresy is strong in this city.”
As Fernandez spoke, the Bishop’s eyes sharpened.
“How dare you speak such words in my diocese?”
“Dare? Your Excellency, the Inquisition Officers of Vaitas hold authority equivalent to that of a Bishop.”
Fernandez pushed the black tea aside and slowly placed his clenched fist on the table.
“This is a formal request. The right to exorcise, the judicial authority of the Inquisition, and the license to execute heretics. I will exercise the authority granted by the Temple of the Gods.”
“I refuse.”
The Bishop sank deeply into his chair. His robe crumpled against the soft cushions of the sofa.
“Even if Paul IV himself requested it, I would say the same. Show me evidence, not just circumstances. A heresy trial! Have you considered the immense damage it would cause to McLaren’s commerce?”
“Judging heresy by worldly standards?”
What on earth is this damn Bishop saying? Fernandez was taken aback.
“Let’s say the donations from the merchants fatten the cathedral. But if the merchants and the faithful grow disappointed, won’t heresy seep through the cracks?”
“Are you saying we should ignore the evil at hand for fear of a possible evil?”
“For example, let’s say.”
The Bishop chuckled and took a sip of his tea.
“Look. To request the cathedral’s forces and the city’s military from me, evidence is naturally required, isn’t it? All you’ve told me is that ‘there’s a smell of heresy’!”
The Bishop leaned closer to Fernandez. A faint, familiar, sweet scent emanated from him.
“What heresy have you identified?”
“The Bronze Scales. A cult led by Dale Pertas. And the ancient lich. These are the major heresies infiltrating this city.”
“Oh… An ancient lich, you say…”
Fernandez slowly reached into his pocket. He felt the censer in his hand. The longsword…? He had left it at the cathedral entrance.
“Are you saying the ancient lich is behind the werewolf incidents in Merlin Port?”
“…Why do you think that…?”
“We’re deliberately leaving the Bronze Scales alone. It’s not yet time to stir them up.”
The distance from the Bishop’s audience chamber to the main hall was 10 meters. Crossing the main hall to the entrance was 25 meters. If he ran at full speed…
“Inquisition Officer Angelo. Where is the attendant who came with you?”
“…I came alone.”
The Bishop chuckled and traced the rim of his teacup with his index finger. His bony, twisted finger was thin and gnarled.
“That catfolk woman who left the inn you’re staying at this morning, where did she go?”
Upon hearing this, Fernandez shot up from his seat. The Bishop continued to smile. His eyes glinted with a cold, blue light.
“The tea was good, Your Excellency. I’ll send a reply through the Church.”
Fernandez slowly rose and headed for the door.
He walked out. The bishop did not rise from his seat, merely smiling.
‘Damn it… Could it be that the bishop of McLaren…’
A technique to confirm the life force of a living being. The Lich’s [Life Detection] and [Vision Sight] mana detection.
The information that the McLaren Church, which was supposed to be keeping the Bronze Scales in check, couldn’t have been unaware of the Lich’s existence.
The glowing blue light in the depths was unmistakably the [Mana Heart] of an ancient Lich.
And… the faint, very faint scent emanating from him.
‘The scent of Amnesia.’
It was a narcotic herb that Fernandez had cultivated under his master’s orders in his previous life when he was a servant to his master.
Q1. If the above conditions are true, what is the identity of the bishop of the McLaren diocese?
A1. An ancient Lich.
-Thud.
“?!”
The entrance to the bishop’s audience chamber was firmly locked, not opening even to Fernandez’s strength.
Without any warning, Fernandez swung his fist.
-Bang!
“Ugh!”
“Rough. Inquisition Officer. Attacking the McLaren Cathedral… Are you serious?”
Fernandez’s fist was stopped mid-air. A powerful force field had unfolded before his eyes.
The bishop’s voice echoed from behind him.
“Leaving already?”
-Bang, bang. Bang. Bang.
From the main hall to the chapel, from the sacristy to the priest’s quarters. Every door and window leading outside slammed shut.
-Creak!
Fernandez kicked the door with all his might. Fortunately, the force field tore, and the door shattered. He sprinted towards the longsword hung at the main entrance.
Aside from the censer in his bosom, that was the only sacred relic.
“I didn’t expect this…”
-Indeed. Got hit once.
The McLaren Church has fallen. Not to the Bronze Scales… but to a Lich.
“Gian-Kel! How on earth?”
[Hahaha… Tearing apart a mana force field with brute force? Impressive!]
Gian-Kel’s laughter echoed from afar. An alarm bell rang in Fernandez’s mind. He quickly rolled forward.
-Crash!
A darkly glowing spear flew past him and embedded itself in the ground. The spear shaft, as thick as an arm, trembled and then disintegrated into smoke.
“Gasp!”
-Bang! Thud!
Fernandez barely managed to grab the longsword in front of the main hall.
-Swish…
“Escape route?”
-None… for now. At our level, we can’t dispel the mana force field.
“Chances?”
-None for now. Unless it’s a magic battle.
Fernandez drew the longsword and gripped it tightly, looking across the main hall. The bishop was floating in the air, slowly flying towards him.
Dark energy swirled around him. He no longer seemed to be hiding it.
“Gian-Kel… Impressive. To think you’d infiltrate as a priest… even a bishop.”
[You have many questions, Inquisition Officer. I’ll have to spare some time for you.]
“Ah, I’m a bit busy tomorrow. Can we reschedule for tomorrow?”
[…I’ll have to spare your life too. You’re quite cheeky.]
-Sizzle…
“Gasp!”
Black chains wrapped around Fernandez’s arms. Instinctively, Fernandez recognized the chains. [Kasade’s Black Bonds]. If he had even a shred of mana, breaking them would have been easy… but now he couldn’t use magic.
‘Ha, there was a time when my dream was to kill my master in a magic battle…’
-Too bad…
The dark energy swirling around the bishop slowly dissipated. Beneath the crimson robe was a skeleton made of black bones. Blue flames flickered in the skeleton’s eyes.
The Lich raised its twisted bone fingers like a wand. The Lich’s jaw clattered.
[Inquisition Officer… Inquisition Officer… Very amusing. Welcome to my catacombs.]
-Squeak…
The chains wrapped around Fernandez’s arms twisted, pulling his arms taut as if to rip them out. Fernandez’s shoulders made strange noises as they twisted.
In his pain, Fernandez noticed something strange. Magic…?
“How… are you using magic?”
[What?]
“The sacred relics here are real. This diocese is definitely the McLaren Cathedral. So how is dark magic functioning here?”
Holy spells are the antithesis of dark magic. In this cathedral, meticulously constructed with holy spells, where believers come daily to pray to their god, how is dark magic functioning perfectly?
Moreover, Gian-Kel has lost the divinity and blessing of Yekaset. Meaning, right now… Fernandez laughed.
‘Faijashi. There’s something you don’t know.’
-What?
‘The mana force field. You said at our level, we can’t dispel it, right?’
-…?
‘But we already broke it once. The one on the door.’
No matter how much effort was put in, if the mana force field was functioning normally, it would have been impossible for Fernandez to dispel it with his strength.
Force field magic isn’t a control formula over physical space but a dimensional concept control formula.
But if it was just a wall built through mana without direct dimensional interference… as long as it had a physical form, it could be physically destroyed.
Faijashi might have thought that a Lich wouldn’t use such low-level tricks, but Fernandez, who had directly kicked down the barrier, was certain.
‘All bark and no bite.’
Gian-Kel is undoubtedly a powerful ancient Lich. That’s a clear fact.
But to go to such lengths to hide his identity, infiltrating the McLaren Church with such a clumsy disguise that he couldn’t even hide the scent of Amnesia?
‘He must have incurred Yekaset’s wrath.’
“Gian-Kel. Yekaset’s high priest… an ancient Lich who has lived for 200 years. Haha… in 200 years, you’ve only managed to break two seals?”
[…How?]
“Did it really seem wise for a heretic to face the Inquisition Officer alone, Gian-Kel?”
Fernandez gathered all his strength to pull his arms together. The black chains momentarily resisted the force. His arms trembled violently. Muscles pushed to their limits screamed in pain.
The divinity coursing through his veins boiled fiercely!
[Foolish. This is not a magic that can be broken by strength.]
“Pray.”
[What?]
-Snap!
The chains binding Fernandez’s arms snapped one by one. The chains crumbled into black dust. Fernandez grabbed his wrists and glared at Gian-Kel.
“To any god, any prayer. Sincerely!”
You’re done for now. Fernandez briefly wondered if this was the right way to talk to an undead. I’ll turn the Undead into Dead.
It’s the Inquisition Officer’s time!
![[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return](https://i3.wp.com/novelhitam.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/TS-Obsessed-Gamer-The-Ultimate-Return2.png?resize=85,105 "[TS] Obsessed Gamer: The Ultimate Return")
