Episode 165
Episode 165
However, if the Holy Nation was to label him a heretic, it would be normal for the stigmata to have disappeared.
I had to check for myself to see if it was really true.
“What should we do?”
“We have to find it. Before the Inquisitor.”
If Nadia's stigmata are intact, then something is wrong with the Holy Nation, and if not, then she is truly a problem child.
The question was where she was now.
The strong divine power unique to the saint is currently impossible to precisely distinguish due to the divine power that is spread everywhere, and it is also not easy to grasp it here and there with the heart of the machine god.
If only there were people who knew where she was… … .
Bam!!
That was when.
The main gate of the branch office opened and a man was seen being dragged in, bound by heresy investigators.
ah.
Found it.
The man who was brought in by the interrogators was a man I had seen before.
The saint's escort knight.
He was the man who had been guarding Nadia when she had previously gone to the forbidden area.
“You traitors!! How dare you accuse Nabel of being a heretic?!”
“Shut up and follow me, heretic. If you don’t want to be summarily executed.”
“Navel will never be found. He has already left this fortress! The Lord will sigh. Those who serve God and are supposed to be the most pure dare to commit such apostasy… bang!”
One of the heretic inquisitors knocks the paladin unconscious and drags him in.
Given that I currently don't know where the saint is, I feel I have to meet her somehow.
“Push in?”
“No, let’s go in quietly when it gets dark.”
Whatever the course of events, there was no word of Nabel's capture before dark.
* * *
“Damn… Today is the beginning again.”
There is an interrogation room in the basement of the Inquisitor's office.
Of course, it was an interrogation room, but torture was a common occurrence there, so on days when heretics were dragged into the basement, screams would echo through the air.
Of course, it was impossible for those guarding this place to survive unless they got used to it or went crazy.
And the soldier currently guarding this place must have been suffering from a strong desire to put an end to this matter at any moment.
No matter how heretical it may be, it is not easy to get used to the sound of human screams.
“Wake up. There are orders from above to be especially careful.”
The interrogation ended a little while ago.
Even during the horrific interrogation, or rather torture, that lasted for hours, Idan did not open his mouth.
“They say he was a high-ranking knight.”
“Ha. I guess even high-ranking knights are just like humans.”
It is truly a bitter thing that even a person who is in a position where he cannot rise unless he is devout becomes a heretic.
“Okay. What does it matter what the higher-ups think? We just have to do our job.”
“Let’s do that.”
At his fellow soldier's words, the man quietly adjusted his posture and closed his eyes.
“Let’s go have a drink when we’re done. If we don’t drink, we’ll have nightmares tonight.”
Normally, I would hear a positive response.
For some reason it was quiet.
“Hey… Huh?”
He turned his head and made a puzzled expression when he didn't see his colleague who was supposed to be guarding the door.
And that was the last thing he saw before losing consciousness.
Thud… … .
In an instant, his body fell unconscious and someone dragged it into the darkness.
And then slowly it revealed itself.
“Is this it?”
The man who appeared from the underground passage opened his robe slightly and opened the firmly locked iron door with a loud clank.
Inside, a man was seen hanging down with both arms bound in chains.
His entire body was covered in wounds, and it was so gruesome that there was not a single clean spot left.
“These guys never get tired of it…….”
The man lowered his head and shouted desperately.
“I have no information to share with those heretics. He is not someone you would dare to frame! He is more devout than anyone else!!”
“Luna, we need to start treating this human. He’ll die if we leave him alone.”
"yap."
As he waved his hand in a flat voice that showed no emotion, a five-colored light seeped into the man.
At the same time, his miserable body quickly recovers.
"uh?"
He raised his head with a blank expression and looked around his body.
“Are you done?”
“…….”
“Then let’s go. We need to find the saintess.”
The magic of the restraints, which also have protective magic, is made of divine magic.
It's impossible to cleanly remove it with command magic or elemental magic, so it would be best to just destroy it.
It seemed that if you tried to tear it apart using a force like mana, it would absorb that force.
That is, you have to simply tear it off with brute force, which is not easy for a normal human to do.
“What should I do with this?”
Kwajik!!
Then Luna reached out and tore the restraints apart with both hands.
At the same time, the paladin's eyes opened wide in surprise, then he nodded his head as if he understood.
“What kind of power is this…….”
Although his body was healed, he was mentally exhausted from the ordeal.
Because of that, he sat down as if his legs had lost their strength.
“This is not the time. Nabel is in danger.”
“Is the Holy Nation crazy? Is he accusing the Saintess of being a heretic?”
“I guess it’s internal… Yes? Just now… what did you say?”
His eyes opened wide as if they were going to tear apart.
“You wouldn’t have thought I didn’t know and pretended not to know, would you? That’s not important right now. Just get up. I plan to secure the saint and then leave right away.”
No matter what happened with the Hael tribe, the saint's life must be saved.
If she were to do something really wrong, it could spread into a huge conflict that would extend beyond the Hael tribe and the Holy Land.
“How on earth did you get in here? If you get involved in this, you might not be able to handle it.”
“As long as you don’t get caught, it’s fine.”
I quickly looked outside and there seemed to be no problems yet.
“Please follow me quietly and don’t make any noise.”
After setting up a suitable illusion magic, I quickly escaped from the basement after blocking out all sounds in the surrounding area.
Despite the darkness of the night, the Inquisitors were searching quickly, so it seemed that Saint Nadia had not yet been captured.
“How are you here?”
“Didn’t the saint call you?”
Didn't you send us the meeting time and place in the first place?
He looked puzzled at my question.
“That’s not possible. It wasn’t a situation where I could properly contact you, and I can’t let outsiders get involved in the current situation, so Nabel-nim ordered me not to contact you.”
He was still checking various parts of his body, as if he couldn't believe that his body had recovered so quickly.
“It would be troublesome if we were caught. Let’s talk about the details later. Where is the saint hiding?”
“Master Nabel is in one of the hidden hideouts here… but he is not ready to leave yet.”
“Please guide me right away.”
“Can I trust you?”
Although it was true that he had saved him, it seemed that from Nabel's perspective, it was difficult to trust anyone right now.
“I can’t help you all. But I can help you two escape.”
“……I would appreciate just that much.”
He immediately led us into the ditch, away from the gaze of the inquisitors.
Luna, who was uncomfortable with the musty smell, looked around and clapped her hands inaudibly.
Then, a five-colored energy spread around her and pushed away all the dirt.
After walking for a while like that, he opened the door to a hidden passage that seemed familiar.
“He is hiding somewhere in this hidden secret passage. Please help me. Right now, you are the only ones who can help Nabel.”
Although the situation was dire, fortunately there was no sign of intrusion at the entrance to the secret passage.
In other words, it also meant that Nabel, who was still hiding inside, was safe.
At this moment, I was about to increase my speed and call Nabel.
I grabbed the knight by the back of his neck and pulled.
“Why are you acting like an amateur? Shh.”
His eyes widened at my actions.
He nodded his head and pointed somewhere.
This was because there were figures wearing the robes of black inquisitors moving stealthily in the darkness, relying on a very faint light.
“Has information leaked out? This passage is definitely one that even the heresy interrogators at the branch office don’t know about.”
It appears that this secret passage was an escape route only open to the very highest levels.
If there's an entrance, there's an exit.
It seems likely that they came in from the other side.
Judging by the fact that it was still quiet, it seemed like Nabel hadn't been caught, but there were quite a few of them, so it would be difficult to rescue Nabel alone without making a sound.
I don't know if teleportation magic is unimpeded, but here, there is a strangely strange power that interferes with the casting of my magic.
It's probably a system to shake off wizards among the pursuers.
To be honest, I also thought it was clear that it was impossible to solve immediately because the principle was similar to magic.
Then, a question arose.
With a structure this dense, can communication magic work?
“Here, is there any communication with the outside world?”
“It would be almost impossible now.”
Oh, really?
“Don’t get any strange thoughts. They say there’s no communication, but this passage has a special magic circle set up to suppress the activity of anything other than divine magic. Aura magic, too.”
“Hmm… I don’t think immortality is a very good idea.”
“Those who are here are probably trying to get rid of Lord Nabel in some way. They are heretics who will definitely be dragged to the execution grounds someday.”
“Well then, from here on out, let’s leave it to the experts.”
“Are you an expert?”
After saying that, I threw the stone fragments on the floor somewhere.
At the same time, he was quickly approached by three inquisitors approaching from around the corner.
Their gaze naturally turned in that direction at the sudden sound.
If you look away without thinking, it will be bad.
So this is what happens.
Before the first interrogator who spots me can even scream, my hand is already hitting him in the face.
Boom!!
“Huh?!”
His body reflexively lurches and his head bows, accompanied by a sharp intake of breath.
Got it, got it!!
It guided his actions naturally, as if flowing water, and struck his vital point in an instant, blacking out his consciousness.
The two people who followed behind seemed to not understand what was happening and just stood there blankly for a while before hurriedly trying to draw their swords.
But it didn't take long for them all to fall.
