Chapter 306: Proof (11)
“So what do we do now?”
In any case, after we finished looking for a way to protect me from the Temple, the Meister abruptly raised the question. Whooooosh. The dusty wind blowing across the barren land seemed to add a sense of futility to those words.
“Do we wait until they come back?”
“…I don’t think that would be a good choice.”
The only reason I had simply watched the Inquisitor leave was the possibility that she might change her mind while I was recovering through the demon’s power. Feeling sorry toward the girl was one thing, but my life was still my life.
Even if I had known she would not change her decision, I probably would have done the same. She had been fiercely agonizing over whether to let me live until only moments earlier. Wouldn’t seeing me borrow a demon’s power right in front of her distress her even more?
I had no choice but to let the Inquisitor leave, not because I did not trust her, but because I did not want to add another burden to everything already weighing on her mind. Well, even if I had wanted to show her the resurrection, I probably would have failed because the demon would have whined about not wanting to gamble. In any event.
“We’ll head there first. There’s no need to make them waste personnel for nothing.”
Anyway, it would have been different if I were still hovering on the brink of death like before. Now that I had made a full recovery, waiting for treatment personnel to arrive would not be right. All the more so because Muenmunt had been in such poor condition when I last saw it. The personnel they would bring to treat me must be precious there as well. I could not make them come all this way for nothing.
[Are you seriously going to—]
「Will you please shut—!」
I ignored the commotion in my head, which I was slowly growing accustomed to.
“Do what you want. I don’t have a choice.”
Meanwhile, why did the Meister have no choice…? Ah, combat power.
I cast the Meister a strangely contemplative look for no reason. Maybe it was their fiery temper, or perhaps it was because I had seen them beat people senseless several times with their mouth and their savage fists. For some reason, I never perceived this person as weak. That was how it felt.
“…I’ll do my utmost to escort you.”
“Isn’t that obvious? The moment I die, you’ll be a wanted man.”
“Yes.”
I casually brushed aside the Meister’s rebuke. With my current strength, failing to protect the Meister would probably require something on the level of a Great Demon to appear.
Of course, when you raised a flag like this, one sometimes did appear again… But surely not.
“…Is the wall in very bad shape?”
“Naturally. Quite a lot of people died.”
“…I see.”
While regretting that I had entertained such flag-like thoughts, I grew solemn once more at the Meister’s reply. Were Mr. Richa and the Young Lord all right? People I knew—or whom Pasha knew—were there, so I found myself more concerned.
“By any chance… Never mind.”
“Don’t start talking and then stop. It pisses people off.”
“…I only thought it would be better to see for myself once we arrive.”
More than anything, the Meister might know about the Young Lord, but I doubted they knew whether Mr. Richa was safe. I pressed my lips firmly together.
‘Hey, don’t you have some kind of movement skill?’
Instead, I badgered the demon inwardly. Now that I was cooperating with her—though on her end it was compulsory—I wondered whether I could obtain something that would free me from traveling everywhere on foot.
[…Do you think I would?]
‘If you don’t, forget it.’
It seemed there truly was no such thing. Having obtained only the answer I wanted without caring whether the demon was angry, I considered the matter for a moment. Did we really have to walk all the way back to the city?
“Right. Hey, what is this made from?”
But then the Meister’s curious question reached my ears. My gaze followed their arm, hand, and finger until it finally reached the white mass quietly gathered on the ground.
“The swords came out of this earlier too.”
“This is….”
While explaining the material of the thing as the demon had described it to me, I refined the idea that had suddenly occurred.
‘Hey.’
[You ignore every word I shout and then ask me questions. Do you really expect me to ans—]
‘You said this can change shape freely. Then can you turn it into some kind of vehicle?’
[…I told you to use your imagination, and you truly came up with something bizarre.]
‘Can you or can’t you? Just tell me that.’
[…It will consume a great deal of Demonic Energy, and you’ll have to regulate it in real time.]
‘Ah, then it doesn’t matter.’
Even if it consumed a great deal of Demonic Energy, it was better than spending hours on foot. I determined the minimum amount of Demonic Energy that had to remain and changed Ratel’s form.
“What is this?”
“A motorcycle.”
“……?”
Ah, I could never resist introducing a modern object into a fantasy world.
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“Representative, that man—that being—”
“…Is it still not enough, even though he saved the city?”
The Inquisitor suddenly began to cry. These tears had a somewhat different quality from those she had shed until now.
“Because he harbors a demon, because he is the vessel of a demon—can none of his accomplishments ever be recognized? Can he never be saved?”
O cruel goodness. O merciless justice. O pitiless righteousness.
“He saved the city.”
If You would be nothing but cruel, if You would be nothing but coldhearted—
then why did the scripture speak of love? Why did You command respect, fraternity, and mercy?
“He saved the city.”
Why did You urge us to forbid sins such as murder, adultery, and theft? The command not to sin could only have arisen from love, mercy, and benevolence.
“He is saving people by setting himself alight and burning himself away. Even for a man like that, is there truly no right to salvation?”
If that was surely so, then why were You so cold only toward him? If You truly gave the commandments out of love, then they should apply to him in exactly the same way.
He too was merely human. The universal love granted to so many humans should be granted to him as well….
“Had it not been for him, none of us would even be standing upon this land, looking at this sight. Yet solely because he harbors a demon. Because a demon has infested him. Because he became a demon’s vessel against his will.”
The Inquisitor opened the scripture inside her heart in a voice that was wet with tears, yet hoarse and dry. She laid before them the doctrines of the scripture she had read and contemplated thousands of times.
“Is it truly right that for a reason so trifling, he should become a sinner denied even salvation?”
Ah! For all these were the words spoken by the heavens on high.
You shall revere Me, but you shall not call My name.
I am the parent of all creation, yet I cannot be beside you at every moment. In My stead, therefore, you must honor the parents who gave you life and cherish your brothers and sisters.
Moreover, I cannot always protect you. Therefore, become wise people who strengthen the fence around you by giving those beside you a chance and extending mercy to them.
It was further said: Murder, adultery, and theft are not permitted. You must be honest with yourself and with all others, never allowing a lie to pass your lips, and with the humility not to covet what belongs to another, you must embrace only what is yours.
Yet in the process of embracing what is yours, do not become certain of the beliefs and justice you have established for yourself. You are not omniscient beings like Me, and so you must always be those who test themselves….
“Is that truly right…?”
No matter how many times she read and reread them, His words were not wrong. The commandments that spoke of loving those around you, guarding against sin, and always reflecting on oneself could not be wrong.
The most fundamental goodness was incontrovertible precisely because it was fundamental.
“‘The one who abandons reason after being consumed by justice shall become the greatest sinner.’ Those are the words the first Hero—the nameless saint and first Pope—spoke while embracing the sinner at whom everyone pointed and discussing the commandments.”
But though the commandments could not be wrong, wrongs could arise because of them.
“Then why did that holy figure cry out as he did at that moment? Was it not because he believed that throwing stones simply because everyone else said to, without judging for oneself, was not justice but mere violence? Was he not saying that because justice cannot be stopped once unleashed, we must police it and guard against it all the more?”
It applied to every last one of those who interpreted scripture through their own thinking and used it as the basis for practicing their own ‘justice.’
“To those who follow evil, the rebuke they deserve. To those who repent, mercy fortified with patience. To those wronged, the chance to explain. To those living ordinary lives, vigilance against sin. To those who cry out for justice, endless reflection.”
And because of that—because they were not omnipotent like God—everything they put forward could be wrong. That much was certain.
But could anyone judge which of their distortions was more righteous and which more mistaken? Was there anyone who could distinguish which interpretation was right and which was wrong?
“Otherwise, it is we who shall become sinners.”
“…Those are the words left by Dismas, the sinner whom the first Hero embraced, the thief who repented, and the second saint.”
“If the nameless saint had not at that time demonstrated the true meaning of the Ninth Commandment through his own actions, if Dismas had not repented because of it, if that holy man had not devoted his life to building the Temple atop the mountain to prove his atonement—would we of the present day ever have been able to behold the great sanctuary of the Grand Temple?”
No. There was no such person, and thus everyone judged and acted however they pleased.
“Of course, the head priest of Bemurchen said this: that the depth of sin differed between Dismas, who had been a mere pickpocket, and a man who fled despite harboring a demon. But is that truly so? Was there really such a great difference between Dismas, at whom everyone stopped pointing the moment the Hero embraced him, and the Demon Knight, who had to endure endless surveillance and contempt even after he was granted permission?”
Then there was no rule that said she could not do the same. This incident had taught her that she was someone incapable of being the Hero. She might as well distort things as she pleased, in a human fashion, and pursue her own ‘righteousness.’ No one could condemn her for that.
“If that is so. If that is truly the case. I shall relinquish the title of Hero. I cannot continue bearing that name when I am unable to save even one man who did not choose to harbor a demon and is condemned despite performing good deeds without end.”
After all, if her decision was likewise founded upon benevolence, mercy, and love, then it would still be one of the actions that followed God’s word.
“It was a title far beyond what I deserved in any case.”
And so the Inquisitor instead cleanly cut away a part of herself. Only when the Demon Knight was on the verge of death had she realized that she was someone who could not give him up, so she discarded the other side.
Ah. What value would she possess once she was no longer the Hero? A momentary pain stabbed her, but even that soon became bearable.
Even if she ceased to be the Hero, she could still follow God. More than anything else, she felt that at least the Demon Knight would not condemn her for it.
“Representative…!”
“Goody-two-shoes, you….”
After all, he had joined their party only to defeat Satan. Not once had he treated her like the Hero. He had focused more on the fact that she could kill demons and had rarely attached any special significance to her being the Hero.
And so the Inquisitor smiled faintly amid the misery of becoming useless and the relief of being freed from the heaviest burden of all.
“Though this is all I am, I would nevertheless like to make one presumptuous request. Young Lord, though I am no longer the Hero, would you please save my benefactor?”
Ah, Demon Knight. Selfish though the thought may be, even if I am no longer the Hero, you will still casually call me an ‘idiot,’ won’t you? Please, let it be so. You never intended it that way, but I was always happy that you consistently treated me like an inexperienced young priest.
“…Yes. I will dispatch them.”
The young woman who had cut away the greatest word defining her life laughed through her tears at the Young Lord’s quiet answer. She prayed that this persuasion had not come too late.
“H-huh!”
“……?”
Still praying that it had not, she turned her head to follow the startled gazes around her. The current of Demonic Energy she had missed while crying was the first thing to strike her awareness.
“Demon Knight…?”
The man she had believed was breathing his last was somehow drawing closer and closer.