A Dark Fantasy Spy

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Three hours had passed since I ran into Lucia, who was hastily packing her things. We found ourselves standing in a remote valley far from the cathedral.

“Are you sure this is the right path?”

“Of course it is.”

I pushed through the bushes, and Lucia followed silently with her luggage.

Just before curfew, Lucia had approached me, requesting guidance to the village where a child had been caught using sorcery.

“What do you plan to do in the village? If you run into that brat…”

“It’s fine. I just need to confirm something for a moment.”

“……”

“There really won’t be any trouble. I just want to look around the village. Since you’re injured and the wind is cold, let’s quickly check and return to the cathedral.”

Lucia smiled encouragingly, urging me to hurry.

I was completely clueless about what she wanted to confirm. I could only see the expression on her face, which was tense against the faint moonlight.

Whenever a pang of pain shot up from my chest, Lucia would stop walking, shield the light with her cloak, and summon divine energy to prevent my wound from reopening.

So, we walked, stopped, and eventually arrived at the village we had visited with the Inquisition officers.

But—

We could only stop at the entrance, unable to enter the village.

“…What’s going on here?”

“……”

“Where is everyone?”

*

Episode 12 – The Mightiest Magician

There was a time when I visited a remote village in the North with Priest Rebecca and the Inquisition officers.

The village where a child had been caught using sorcery. It was a small settlement populated mainly by the elderly, women, and children, except for the enlisted adult males.

In fact, it wasn’t too long ago. I had been transferred to the cathedral just yesterday. Three hours had passed since the curfew siren blared, though the date had changed, it had barely been a day since my visit to the village.

Yet, in that short time, the village had drastically changed.

Stumbling at the village’s entrance, I scanned the surrounding houses.

“…….”

All the houses were empty. No, there wasn’t a single person in the entire village.

No matter how late it was, there should have been someone around. A village devoid of light or life exuded an eerie atmosphere, reminiscent of a wasteland or a graveyard.

“What on earth is this…”

“……”

Unlike me, Lucia wasn’t the least bit flustered at the gloomy village.

“…How many people used to live here?”

“About a hundred… maybe a bit more. I didn’t count precisely.”

“I heard there were many elderly, women, and children. Is that right?”

Nodding in response, Lucia looked down and fell silent. With her hands clasped in contemplation, she momentarily closed her eyes, and after a moment of reflection, she traced the sign of the cross.

After finishing her prayer, Lucia began to check the houses. Despite the complete absence of any signs of life, Lucia knocked on every door and waited for a response before opening them.

Of course, there was no one inside. The same went for every house she checked.

“The belongings are still here… but the people have vanished.”

The houses, with their utensils and furniture still intact, exuded a sense of routine. People had disappeared, leaving their things behind. As if they had evaporated into thin air.

Lucia seemed determined to investigate every house in the village. She knocked on over a dozen doors, while I roamed the area, half hoping to hear some sound and find a resident.

Yet, over thirty minutes passed without a single sign of life.

“This house is empty too.”

“……”

“Let’s move on to the next one.”

We walked along the dirt road created by the villagers toward the cluster of houses.

On that path, after fifty minutes of entering the village, we finally encountered a living creature.

*

It was a dog.

– Growl…!

On the dirt trail surrounded by houses lay a dog that looked like it had been savaged by wild beasts.

With its skin and internal organs all torn apart, it snarled at us, dragging its intestines behind.

A low prayer was heard.

“…Light of judgment and the light that dispels darkness, cut down the wicked like grass. When the light shines, darkness shall not comprehend it.”

Finishing her prayer with the sign of the cross, Lucia cradled the charging dog in her arms.

With gentle hands, she snapped its neck.

The sound of bones breaking echoed briefly.

The dog, held in Lucia’s arms, fell into an unexpectedly serene sleep.

“…….”

Lucia paid no mind to the blood staining her clothes as she carefully laid the dog on the ground. I put away my pistol and asked her.

“Are you hurt?”

“Yes, fortunately not.”

I examined the dog on the floor. Inspecting the corpse of something that wasn’t human was a straightforward task for me.

My thoughts were brief and concise.

“It’s undead.”

Lucia replied, “…Yes, unfortunately so.”

*

We headed straight back to the cathedral.

Carrying the corpse of the dog she had found in the village, Lucia sought out Archbishop Theodosius, while I laid in bed, staring at the ceiling.

The painful wound inflicted by the inquisitor’s blade was still festering. Thanks to Lucia, the pain had subsided considerably, but it was still quite bothersome.

I considered stitching the wound myself with suture material and thread but couldn’t bring myself to sew together decaying flesh, so I had to leave the wound as it was.

“I’m back. How is the wound?”

“It’s feeling a bit better now.”

Lucia brought a chair and sat next to my bed without showing any signs of fatigue.

I leaned back against the wall to allow her to examine the wound.

Lucia’s expression while inspecting the injury was grave. Well, it wouldn’t look good with a festering wound, would it?

After a while of checking my condition, Lucia dipped a clean cloth in holy water and began to speak softly, her voice soothing and tranquil.

“In my personal opinion, it would be best for you to stay here for a while. At the very least, you need to visit the cathedral frequently. We have to prevent the wound from becoming worse until a treatment is found.”

“I don’t mind sticking around, but…”

I trailed off, glancing up at the ceiling. With the situation being what it was, would the surveillance agency not grow suspicious if I lingered too long at the cathedral? That thought kept circling in my mind.

After all, several Inquisition officers were dead, and many more were being treated in the hospital. Staying here was absolutely out of the question. I should use Lucia’s safety as an excuse to frequently visit the cathedral.

After summarizing my thoughts, I glanced at Lucia and spoke.

“Nonetheless, I think it would be better to find the Saint than to stay in the cathedral. There’s a lot to do.”

“Oh, by the way, you need to get your finger injury treated too, don’t you? You used to come regularly, but then suddenly stopped coming for a while.”

“I’m a busy person, you see…”

“The cathedral is not a place for resurrection. Please take care of your health.”

After lightly teasing, Lucia narrowed her eyes and shot me a glare. Though she didn’t say it outright, it felt as though she was scolding me for neglecting my health, so I could only divert my gaze awkwardly.

I shifted the topic of conversation. Since Lucia had just met with the Archbishop, it was necessary to find out how things were progressing.

I asked with an expression of discomfort.

“What did His Grace say?”

“He confirmed without a doubt that it is an undead.”

Lucia’s voice was calm as she delivered the message, but my mood was anything but calm.

It was understandable since an undead had appeared right in the middle of the North.

Undead, quite literally, are corpses that move despite having reached death. In other words, living corpses.

In a fantasy setting, particularly in a dark fantasy world, it wouldn’t be surprising to have undead roaming about, but even so, it was certainly dangerous to underestimate the undead.

“There have been reported cases of corpses corroded by high concentrations of magic moving as if they were alive…”

“The dog we saw was not that kind of case.”

“Indeed.”

Undead can arise from both natural and artificial causes. Typically, undeveloped nations have more naturally occurring undead, while developed ones see more artificially created ones.

Of course, creating undead requires prior permission from the Magic Department and strict supervision,

Yet, occasionally, a mad magician might end up creating undead, intentionally or by mistake.

A magician who creates undead without permission receives a sentence of incarceration, with no chance of parole, for five or ten years. If they use a human corpse, the penalty is death.

Monitoring and tracking those magicians falls under the jurisdiction of the Magic Department and the Information Agency, akin to how the FBI targets domestic terror groups or juvenile drug gangs in the United States.

Letting out a deep sigh, I muttered.

“With murders, terrorism… Inquisition officers being killed and sorcery being exposed… Now people are evaporating, an entire village at that.”

Lucia said, her expression stiff instead of her usual cheerful smile.

“Now that the undead has been discovered, we can no longer sweep this issue under the rug. We must take action before more significant harm occurs.”

“Could that Inquisitor be the cause?”

“It seems so, based on the circumstances. If he could kill Inquisition officers and rot their wounds, he’s likely a necromancer or a possessed person. The appearance of undead in the village must be related to him as well.”

I turned to look at Lucia.

“Then what about the villagers…?”

“……”

No response came. Whether she didn’t know or simply didn’t want to acknowledge it, Lucia traced a small sign of the cross in silence. The shadow across her face was darker than usual, and her blue eyes were clouded with worry.

“To address this issue, Archbishop Theodosius has sent another letter to the Holy See, informing both the National Affairs Council and the Inquisition.”

“What happened? Did you get a response?”

Lucia nodded.

“They plan to officially request joint investigations from the Empire. To be more precise, high-ranking officials from the Inquisition are currently briefing the ambassador of the Kien Empire. Additionally, as soon as the sun rises, His Grace will personally send a letter to the imperial government detailing the situation here.”

“…We should hope for a positive reply.”

“That’s why I was thinking of writing a letter myself.”

Her intention to write a letter raised a question in my mind.

To receive a letter from a Saint of the Cult? Who exactly could that be?

As I pondered, Lucia quickly clarified my confusion.

In a calm voice, she replied deliberately.

“I’m thinking of sending a letter requesting assistance to the Duke of the Northern Regions.”