Chapter 589
The stairs to the basement were not very long. As I went down to the entrance buried in the rubble, there was an unbearable stench, as well as the fishy smell of blood rising to a disgusting level.
“What the hell is there… … .”
Nervous, Ellen opened the door to the basement of the temple.
In the black darkness, the cloak of the sun was draped over Ellen’s shoulders, and soon the blazing flames from the cloak of the sun beside Ellen pushed back the darkness.
Soon after the darkness lifted, a long hallway appeared, with rooms scattered throughout.
The basement was unaffected by the fire.
However, there were dead bodies everywhere in the hallway, whether they hadn’t been found or not.
“Even here… … .”
Ludwig was staring blankly all over the hallway with his eyes wide open.
There was a secret room in the temple.
The stench rising to the ground was the smell of blood and filth from corpses.
“It seems that the original purpose of the attackers was to kill the people here.”
Unlike Ludwig, who was stunned, Ellen calmly walked down the aisle.
What does this temple and the dead underground people mean?
‘In the first place, this really seems to be the original meaning of this place… … .’
It wasn’t too many people, but it wasn’t too few either.
Ellen walked down the hallway in the basement and checked the rooms here and there.
Some spaces looked like dining rooms, others looked like warehouses, and there were bedrooms.
‘The surface is a camouflage, the underground is real. It was a space where more people lived than I had heard… … .’
In Ellen’s eyes, she could find weapons including swords and spears.
‘It’s not a massacre, but traces of battle… … .’
‘Here, the raiders and the people from the underground had a fight.’
But the important thing is, I couldn’t tell which of the bodies was the assailant and who was the victim. Not a single one of them was wearing priestly clothes.
In the basement, there were more stairs going down.
And there was a stench coming up from the basement.
Ludwig wasn’t frightened, but he couldn’t help but be more confused because he knew that more people were dying and that this temple was being operated for a purpose completely different from its appearance.
Ellen reached the second basement level.
“This… … . what the hell is this… … ?”
Ludwig was muttering absentmindedly.
Ellen muttered silently as she looked at the open space.
“Is it a prison?”
There were iron bars in the space that looked like a large-scale accommodation facility.
And the prisoners were dead hanging from the walls.
‘The cause of death is a penetrating wound… … . I was stabbed with a weapon like a spear and died.’
Ellen walks around the second basement floor and checks the bodies behind the bars with her own eyes.
‘All the other corpses have the same cause of death. That means that he was killed by stabbing a window inside from outside the cage… … . He was most likely killed.’
‘Looking at the scars on each corpse, it is clear that they were not only imprisoned, but also tortured. Also, there are quite a few rooms that look like torture chambers.’
‘Confinement and torture.’
‘Did the raiders try to rescue the trapped people?’
‘If that was the purpose, then it should be seen that these people were killed by the people in the basement of this temple, not by the attackers.’
‘I’m not sure if the rescue was the purpose or not, but the rescue must have failed.’
‘Who are these people and why are they imprisoned here?’
“Ellen… … .”
Ellen’s worries were interrupted by Ludwig’s mesmerizing voice.
Ludwig, calling Ellen, stood in front of an iron cage, staring blankly into it.
“me… … . I saw this person yesterday.”
“what?”
At those words, Ellen approached Ludwig.
A mysterious prisoner stabbed to death by a spear. But Ellen, of course, didn’t know who the person in front of her was.
Ludwig’s eyes were trembling violently.
“yesterday… … . Among those who tried to attack the priest with me… … . there was this guy He obviously was… … .”
“You were going to attack?”
Ludwig nods.
Ludwig briefly explained the circumstances of yesterday.
During the purification process, there was a commotion about the heretics, and Rowen seemed to lose his temper when he saw them. However, when he found out that they were warriors, he gave up using his hands.
On the way back after the purification work, the Braves tried to attack Ludwig and Rowen, and Ludwig took Rowen and ran away.
One of those who did is dead in prison.
“I said as if I would leave them alone… … .”
“Actually, we caught them from the refugee camp… … . That must be the situation.”
Ludwig, enraged at Rowen’s death, asked for Ellen’s help.
However, now the circumstances are almost certain that Rowen is far from being a good man.
We don’t know if all those imprisoned are like that, but it’s very likely that they are heretics.
And the attitude of Rowen, who seemed to have lost his mind for a moment after seeing the cultist.
torture chamber.
Now Ludwig has no choice but to know what this place is and who Rowen was.
“no way… … . This is… … . And the priest… … .”
Ludwig muttered blankly, and Ellen spoke briefly while looking at the panoramic view of the prison.
“He must have been the Heretic Inquisitor.”
“… … .”
This must be a place where interrogation, torture, and edification of heretics take place.
If so, Archbishop Rowen would have been a priest corresponding to the leader of the Heretic Inquisitors.
With his eyes wide open, Ludwig couldn’t help but feel betrayed and defeated.
It is almost certain that the infidels in the refugee camps were captured and tortured.
Ellen wasn’t shocked, but that made her wander the dungeon even harder.
Prisons weren’t just prison cells and torture chambers. Ellen inspected the bodies of the dead, making sure there were no other abnormalities on their bodies.
Looking at their skinny appearance because they couldn’t eat properly, I realized that they were residents of the refugee camp.
‘It’s said that he possessed enough strength to carry out heretical interrogation and combat power enough to protect this place… … .’
It was to raid the base of the Heretic Inquisitors.
So it was clear that it was not a simple mob, and that it was not an ordinary group even if it were a group.
‘I raided to rescue people, but they were all killed for silence. And the entrance to the basement was blocked by the collapse… … . I’m still not sure who did it.’
The raiders raided the heretic inquisitor’s stronghold, killed everyone inside, and then evaporated.
‘Anyway, it’s highly likely that the entrance to the basement was blocked by rubble before the guards or looters arrived.’
A fire broke out, and guards were sent in.
The fact that the guards couldn’t figure out this space would have meant that the entrance to the basement had been blocked before that.
Before anyone could find a scene that shouldn’t be seen, the Templars were put in and jurisdiction over the case was handed over to the guards.
‘The reason I didn’t let you in was to prevent you from seeing what’s going on here… … .’
No matter how heretical the interrogation is, it is a spectacle of capturing, torturing, and killing civilians. Seeing that, Ellen would have no choice but to get out of her control.
However, he could not stop Ellen from walking, so he had no choice but to open the way.
Ellen passes the prison cell and torture chamber and heads for the deepest room.
“Ellen… … .”
“huh. I am listening.”
“If it’s the Heretic Questioner… … . Will it be similar to the Paladins? You will have to fight.”
“I don’t know, but I guess so.”
It didn’t have to be, but there might be cases where the heretics deal with dangerous powers, so the Heretic Inquisitors would need practical combat power.
“then… … . It is clear that Rowen-sama is a high-ranking person among the heretic inquisitors.”
“I guess so.”
“Then, Lord Rowen too… … . Wasn’t he actually someone who could fight?”
The head of the Heretic Inquisitor.
Rather, it will require real force.
Of course not. Even though those who sit in the seat of the Pope of the Five Great Priests have enormous divine power that can be used, they are not always chosen from Paladins.
“Maybe not, but since he was a person who did his own outside activities, he must have been.”
But Rowen ran right through the scene. So he must have actually excelled in his fighting skills. Maybe he was better than Ludwig.
“… … Why did you need bodyguards?”
Ludwig couldn’t help but feel confused because of that, and Ellen couldn’t help but think that Ludwig’s question was valid.
“If that person is the Heretic Inquisitor, he will surely be able to fight, and if he is wandering around the refugee camp for the purpose of collecting information or spying on the heretics, there is no reason to be guarded by the guards. He would be more comfortable moving alone. It is right that I do not understand.”
“Why did you do that?”
“I don’t know. Not yet.”
That’s obviously weird.
We can’t rule out the possibility that Rowen really doesn’t have combat skills, but it’s strange that he doesn’t have combat skills even though he’s the head of the Heretic Questioner and a person who goes to the field.
Ellen passed through the prison and reached the end of another hallway.
When she opened the door, Ellen could see a desk, chair, and bookshelf inside.
It was a structure that could only be seen as a space for those in charge.
The bookshelves were packed with books related to theology, including the scriptures, and Ellen approached the table.
Some papers were scattered, most of which were encrypted, so Ellen couldn’t figure out what they meant.
Since we were dealing with confidential information, it was only natural that all documents were encrypted.
but.
at there.
Ellen had one document she could recognize.
“!”
That’s not to say I didn’t know the documents.
Ellen carefully lifts up the sheet of paper.
“Did you find anything?”
Ellen picked up the document and handed it to Ludwig, and Ludwig couldn’t help but widen his eyes.
You can’t read the cryptographic documents, but there’s only one that you can.
The photo contained in the document.
“My face… … . why here… … ?”
There was a picture of Ludwig.
“I don’t know what it is, but it must be a document with your personal details written on it.”
Just because you can’t read it doesn’t mean you can’t infer what it’s about.
“I didn’t need bodyguards.”
Ellen sees Ludwig.
“I don’t know why, but I think I approached you in the first place.”
It was clear that Rowen had intentionally approached Ludwig.
Ellen put the document in her arms.
* * *
The temple of Tuan, which was already in decline, had a place where people were imprisoned and tortured underground.
The base of the Heretic Inquisitors.
I was able to confirm the hidden appearance of the temple.
Most of the Heretic Inquisitors were massacred by unknown assailants.
A fire broke out, and after the fire, looters robbed the temple.
And the entrance to the basement was blocked by collapse after the fire, which was an intentional collapse.
Ludwig was stunned that Rowen was the one who had orchestrated this terrible thing.
The ball is over.
Ellen returns to the surface, taking the distraught Ludwig with her.
As Ellen ordered, the Paladins were unable to enter or leave the spot.
The Paladins had to prevent Ellen from seeing this sight, but they couldn’t stop Ellen in front.
Ellen doesn’t know if these people are related to the Inquisition or not. However, they must have known what kind of place this place was, so they tried to stop Ellen.
Even if you run away from the sword of an angry warrior right now, you have nothing to say.
Without saying anything, the Paladins waited for the words to come out of the mouths of the warriors.
“They say there isn’t enough priests.”
Ellen did not judge them or inquire into the truth.
There was a high probability that they did not know the details anyway.
“It seems there are a lot of priests to mobilize to kill people.”
Ellen just said that, passing them by.
