A Priest's Life as a Villain

Chapter 14

The carriage only stopped after traveling quite a while longer.

It was a secluded lakeside. Nearby, a neatly built log cabin stood out.

'A noble's villa, perhaps.'

Ran had heard somewhere that there were nobles who liked to build such retreats in remote places and visit them from time to time to contemplate in solitude.

"Ran. What do you think? Isn't the atmosphere picturesque?"

"It is. Where is this place?"

"It's a place with memories for me and Viola."

Viola had been silent, as if dead, throughout the journey. She had not spared him a single glance. She was the same now.

"I think it's best if I give you two some privacy around here. I'll be going in first, Ran."

"Go ahead."

Walter led his subordinates into the log cabin.

Ran and Viola got out of the carriage and stood side by side, looking out over the lake.

"So it was you who pulled off that clever little trick."

Viola spoke first.

Ran was slightly surprised, but he looked at her calmly.

* * *

"Boss. Is it tonight?"

As soon as they entered, Malik looked outside and spoke. Through the window, they could see Ran and Viola talking near the lakeside.

"Yes. Tonight, I will kill Viola and settle my grudge."

Malik, Edwick, Dunn, Kael, and Nikol gathered around Walter. Their faces were all set with grim determination.

Edwick scratched the back of his head and spoke.

"B-boss. I feel awkward saying this, but... Is that woman really Viola?"

"? Edwick. I know what you're getting at. I was shocked at first, too. Time is merciless, isn't it?"

The beauty of Viola in her youth was still vividly etched in his memory. No amount of compliment seemed sufficient; she was an unrivaled beauty. Whenever men gathered, they would gossip about Viola's looks, and the women admired her. In those days, Viola was the talk of high society.

Walter's subordinates, including Edwick, had always wondered just what kind of woman could shake a man's entire life this way.

'No matter how much someone ages, how could such a great beauty become so unattractive?'

It wasn't just Edwick thinking this. Everyone felt the same doubt, though they didn't voice it. Even Walter found it puzzling.

"Never mind. What matters is she's really Viola."

"Boss, what about the mad dog?"

Malik asked. Walter didn't hesitate; the answer was obvious.

"What else? We put him down."

"Yes, sir. We'll handle it. You just get your closure, boss."

Walter took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes.

'Finally.'

Thirty years ago, right here, Viola had whispered sweet words to him.

There was an obstacle to them being together forever. Viola's fiancé. She was a victim of a political marriage.

Viola had wanted it, and Walter was blinded by love. Of all possible men, the once-in-a-lifetime beauty had chosen him.

Walter had resolved to do anything for her.

When he finished everything and came back—

Viola had pretended not to know him. With no explanation, Walter had fallen into despair, and was arrested by the Imperial Guard.

So much time had passed since then.

'And after that, you became a clergy.'

Using the Special Unit's privileges and intelligence, he had barely managed to discover Viola's whereabouts.

The higher-ups had never sent Walter any orders regarding Viola.

"Once today is over, we move south."

Walter clenched his teeth.

Revenge was so close.

* * *

"You want to know why the Holy Church made the demons out to be the cause of the civil war?"

"Yes."

"You went through all this just for that?"

"Yes. Is that a problem?"

Viola was dumbfounded.

"Anyone you ask could tell you. What answer are you looking for?"

It was a rebellion by a minority people who could not endure discrimination and contempt. The war had been fabricated by powerful nobles, using that as a pretense.

That was the justification the Emperor announced for the civil war.

"I don't believe that's all there is to it. There must be others who think as I do."

"You're a mercenary with quite the passion for learning. Don't make life so hard for yourself. Nothing in excess is good for you."

"A mercenary doesn't study Old Imperial just out of academic zeal."

Even Viola couldn't answer to that immediately.

The inquisitor's letter given to the lord was written in Old Imperial.

'If you can read this, you'll surely be curious about me.'

In Quersa, it was a language blended with the imperial tongue, but on the mainland, very few knew it. Viola was one of them.

She was curious about the true identity of the inquisitor who wrote the letter.

"Then I can't help but ask in turn. Who taught you the ancient language?"

"Oh, so you call it the ancient language?"

"Keep being cheeky and this conversation is over, young mercenary."

"If the Special Unit wanted to, they could even find out how many times you relieve yourself in a day. Self-studying to that extent isn't hard."

Viola had left the order just before the outbreak of civil war. For a high-ranking clergy to take off her vestments was a clear act of heresy, yet the bishop let her go without fuss. The details were shrouded in secrecy and hardly anyone knew them, not even the Special Unit.

The Special Unit had been covertly monitoring Viola on their own. But it had amounted to nothing. She lived in seclusion in a small monastery on the frontier, only returning to Rell recently.

"I think you know a particular reason, Viola."

"? How amusing. Why do you think that?"

"Then and now, there's no clergy with your ability to interpret the holy scriptures or your knowledge of the New Religion. You must have felt guilty. The Holy Church supporting such a war—one with no doctrinal justification or higher cause."

"And?"

"Ah, I'm not finished. I don't think you left the order so irresponsibly just over disillusionment. If you'd at least considered becoming a bishop and reforming the Holy Church, maybe I'd understand."

Viola's face hardened more and more. She was not good at hiding emotions; Ran, on the other hand, was. He persistently dug into the crack he'd noticed in her brief lapse.

"You found out something. Something that made you despair enough to leave the order you'd been devoted to for so long. What was it?"

"?? What do you really want?"

A twitch played at the corner of Ran's mouth.

"The reason the mainland order became corrupt."

A silence fell. Viola snorted and then soon doubled over laughing.

"That's a good one. You're not just passionate for learning, but you've got quite the imagination, young mercenary."

"So you came up with a suitable excuse after all?"

Viola dropped her laughter. Her gaze turned to the lake. Her mind calmed like the gentle ripples on the water.

"You're right. I once dreamed of becoming a bishop. At least until I realized I didn't have much time left to live."

Ran turned his head to look at Viola. She wasn't lying.

"I may look like this now, but I made many men cry. Hard to believe, isn't it? Walter over there was one of them."

Viola's body was large. Even her baggy dress couldn't quite cover it. Ran had merely thought of her as a plump middle-aged woman.

"One day, my body just started swelling up, and it got worse and worse. I thought it was just middle-age weight gain, but no. It's an illness. A serious one. I'm just accepting it all as karma now."

Ran didn't know what to say, so he just rubbed his chin.

"Let's go in. The wind's cold out here by the water. Still, it was a pleasant conversation, young mercenary."

Walter's men were sitting around a campfire in the small yard ahead.

Malik, who'd been sipping some meaty stew, stood up and gestured to Viola.

"Ma'am, please go inside. The boss is waiting for you."

"I'm a maiden, you know. Watch your mouth."

"Ah, yes. The brother inquisitor can stay here and wait with us."

Snickering laughter broke out. Ran sidled up to Viola.

"Why don't you just stay here?"

"I should at least hear Walter out. You—don't hang out with these bad types, just eat quietly and behave."

Viola went up the wooden steps and entered the house without looking back.

"Heheh, man, look at that rear. Edwick, it looks like you've got four faces."

"Nikol. If the boss heard you say that, you'd have lost your nose. If you're done eating, shut up and go feed the horses."

"Ugh, acting all proper. Honestly, even you think the boss's taste is weird, huh? Is it possible to pine for a woman like that a whole lifetime?"

"The boss probably doesn't want to accept reality, either."

Walter's men bantered. Their teasing of Viola soon veered into lewd jokes about women.

While they laughed and joked, Ran stared absentmindedly into the campfire.

'It's fine. I never expected to be able to persuade her on the first try anyway.'

If Viola had immediately opened up and said all sorts of things, it would have felt off. Ran carefully recalled each expression, glance, tone in their conversation. They were feelings that could not come from someone accustomed to lying.

"Hey, have this. I put extra meat in it."

"Ah, thank you."

"Heheheh. You're going on a long journey soon, so make sure your stomach's full."

As Malik said, the stew had plenty of meat.

Ran quietly looked down at it, then glanced over at Walter's men.

"By the way, I saw somewhere that there are many shapes of love."

"Is our brother inquisitor going through puberty?"

"Humans come in all kinds, after all."

The firelight flickered across the faces of the men sitting around it. Gradually, their laughter faded.

Only the sound of Ran's spoon clinking against the stew bowl could be heard.

"Hey, we don't get the complicated stuff. Just say it simply."

"It just means everyone has their story, doesn't it?"

Without looking at Dunn, who'd asked beside him, Ran gulped down the stew and wiped his lips.

"There may be uninteresting people, but there are no uninteresting lives. You're proof of that yourselves."

Ran then looked at Edwick.

The day they first met at a bar, and even now—Ran had sensed demonic energy from him. A strong killing intent bubbled beneath, ready to burst.

Ran and Edwick locked eyes.

Ting—

Ran flicked his spoon from his palm into a reverse grip and plunged it into Dunn's throat.

Dunn hadn't even realized anything had happened. He just thought maybe a bug had passed by.

"? Huh?"

"Wh-what the hell... damn! Dunn! Move!"

Edwick's thrown axe buried itself in Dunn's forehead. Edwick, seeing Ran hiding behind Dunn, had thrown the weapon.

As Ran yanked out the lodged axe, he stomped on Nikol's ankle and chest one after another.

Malik reacted fast. He swung his curved blade at Ran.

Thunk!

There was a thick tearing sound as leather was split. Malik's eyes widened. The slash had landed on Dunn's body. As Dunn split apart like raw meat, Malik felt a hollow chill below his waist.

Ran tossed Dunn's corpse aside and immediately ducked low to snatch the dagger from Malik's thigh.

Sshk, sshk.

Two more times.

Malik fell helplessly, heels slashed, and his vision faded to black.

"Oh, no...?"

Edwick and Kael could not believe what they were seeing. In a flash, three comrades died senselessly. They stared at Ran, who was pulling the dagger from Malik's neck—like a hunter retrieving an arrowhead from a kill. He, too, was someone unfazed by taking lives.

Kael, who was closest, attacked first.

Crack!

Ran sidestepped Kael's sword and stabbed him in the nape. Having witnessed such gruesome deaths, Kael was psychologically shrunk and his movements dulled.

Kael fell, clutching his neck, mouthing silently like a fish out of water.

"S-stay—stay back?!"

Edwick's sword-tip trembled. Ran slowly approached, glanced around, and then dropped the dagger to the ground.

"You bastard!"

It was a chance for a seasoned fighter. The foe had let down his guard. Edwick lowered his blade and rushed in. His small,-nimble frame moved quickly.

Thud.

Tripping over Ran's foot, Edwick toppled and landed his face right in the fire. Sparks sprayed. Ran yanked him out and then lugged him over to the lakeshore, dunking his head in the water.

Edwick's struggles soon ceased.

Ran let out a sigh. Blood, sweat, or lake water dripped from his temple to his jawline—his body felt strange. He couldn't even remember the last time he fought without a mask.

"Walter."

He opened the log cabin's door.

Creak.

Inside was bigger than it looked from outside. It was a split-level. No one was on the lower floor. Ran looked up at the stairs—there was another room above. He swallowed hard.

'It's quiet.'

Ran mounted the stairs, piecing together the situation in his mind.

The Special Unit had never actually ordered Walter the executioner to capture Viola. Walter, abusing his privileges, had brought her out with plans to disappear somewhere. Any sudden interference could be conveniently used and disposed of.

'There are many shapes to love. Humans each come in all forms.'

Creak.

Ran opened the door.

Walter's naked back stood exposed.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Fuck.
【(⩌_⩌ )】