A Priest's Life as a Villain

Chapter 002

Ran recalled the faces of Iscarang and the Archbishop he had last seen.

It had been three years ago.

"Mmhp, mph, mph!"

The man gagged at the mouth looked up at Ran's back. His pupils quivered. He was tightly bound with rope, so struggling did no good.

The woman standing next to the man spoke up.

"Inquisitor. Should... should we just kill him??"

"Mmhp! Mmhmh?!"

Ran undid his hands behind his back and turned around. He wore a bird-beak mask on his face.

Ran, masked, tilted his head askew.

"Priestess Jaina? How could you say such an irreverent thing?"

"? Yes, yes?"

"No, think about it. To kill, you say. Have you forgotten the Lord's words to cherish the lives of non-humans as well? Let alone that person is human. The Lord would be outraged, priestess Jaina!"

"S-sorry?"

As Ran took a long stride toward her, Jaina, with her head lowered, retreated.

"And if you keep barking at him, even if I were him, whatever I tried to say would get stuck inside."

Jaina's gaze darted around flustered. Anger welled up inside her.

'Who are you to preach the Lord's words to me? If it weren't for the war, you'd be no more than a mercenary working job-to-job like a mayfly!'

Jaina had been assigned as Ran's subordinate just two days ago. She had nearly burst into tears right then when she received the personnel order from above.

Ran was notorious throughout the order as a 'mad dog'.

"Keep your mind sharp and look carefully, priestess Jaina."

Ran pointed at the man's right wrist, tied to the chair, with his gloved hand.

"Here, see? Cut it here. To make it bleed a little less, where should you cut?"

"Mmhmhmhm!!"

The man shook his head desperately left and right. Sweat dripped from his damp hair.

Ran glanced at the man briefly, then ignored him and continued giving instructions.

"And then slice here, and here, and here?"

"Mmmh!! Mmhm!"

"Oh come on, I'm talking here and you keep making noise."

Ran offhandedly undid the gag.

The man began babbling all at once, barely intelligible between tears, snot, and saliva.

As if pretending to understand, Ran nodded indifferently, gesturing to Jaina with his chin.

"Looks like he's finally in the mood to talk."

Jaina fetched a small stool from somewhere.

Ran dragged the stool to sit opposite the man. He rummaged in his coat's inner pocket and pulled out a thinly rolled leaf.

Ssst―

Ran lit the tip and put the other end inside his bird-beak mask.

The closed room soon filled with hazy smoke. Ran leaned back casually and crossed his legs.

The man couldn't look Ran in the eyes and dropped his head. He struggled to calm his trembling body.

The man's name was Josh.

He had been caught by Ran while smuggling stolen goods into the northern war zone.

"S-sir, I... I'm innocent! I'm just a humble fence! A heretic? Let alone a spy, that's absurd, sir!"

Ran remained unmoved, smoke billowing from the beak-shaped mask.

Jaina watched them silently. She was inwardly curious to see how the mad dog would behave.

Josh pleaded his innocence for a long while, then soon burst into sobs. When he couldn't continue speaking, Ran flicked his smoke to the floor and ground it out with his foot.

"Josh. Real name Hans Carosa. You're from Hailton, and your wife's name is Hertha Muller."

Josh abruptly stopped crying. Even his trembling ceased.

"A six-year-old son and a four-year-old daughter. Do you want me to say their names, too?"

Josh did not answer. Instead, his eyes flashed with venom.

Silence fell. Jaina, quietly watching, suddenly felt a chill.

Ran spoke in an emotionless voice.

"Hans. I mostly hunt magical beasts, but honestly, I've killed a lot of people too. Humans who've been corrupted by fiends. Like you."

"... You filthy monster."

"Now you show your true colors. Good."

Ran lifted himself slightly, scooting his chair closer to Josh.

The tip of the beak was almost touching Josh's forehead.

Josh, his expression transformed, glared at the mask with wet eyes. He felt like he wasn't facing a human, but a beast. Steeling himself, he muttered.

"Just kill me already. Whatever you do, it'll be pointless in the end."

"Heh, Hans. You're not as clever as you look. Listen carefully. I'll cut off your limbs, one by one. If you haven't changed your mind after losing all four, then?"

Ran lifted his index finger and pointed in the air.

"Your wife, Hertha, will be delivered as a present to the Northland savages. Maybe you don't know, but I've heard they don't even treat mainland women as breeding stock? They'll just play around with her as a toy."

Josh closed his eyes stoically. He had always expected he might face such humiliation someday.

"Next, your four-year-old daughter. I'm going to offer her as a sacrifice to the Magic Tower. I don't know what mages do with live humans. The only thing I can tell you is, they drool over children, and His Majesty turns a blind eye to the depravity those people commit."

"Y-you bastard!!"

"Wait, your son's left. I'll give your son a special opportunity. He'll spend his entire life at the Grand Cathedral of Gerinhild, repenting for his father's sins."

Ran tapped the mask's dark eyehole with his finger.

"In exchange, his two eyes will be given to the Lord. In a way, it's an honor. Your son will see nothing but the Lord's image for his whole life."

Josh's neck and face turned scarlet. His veins bulged as if about to burst. He thrashed in his chair and then slumped over to the side. Resting his cheek on the damp floor, he spat ceaseless curses through his mouth.

Watching in silence, Ran clapped his hands.

"Wow, impressive. You tried to take revenge after losing the war, but all you've accomplished is to have your family broken apart and paying the price—at the hands of the barbarians, the Magic Tower, the Church, each villain in turn. Hah."

At Ran's gesture, Jaina left the room.

Now only two remained in the closed room.

Ran checked that Jaina was gone, then leaned close to Josh and quietly whispered.

"Your meeting place, date, and time—spill everything. If you want to save even one more life."

* * *

Once outside, Jaina clutched her chest, letting out a long sigh. She looked back. The stairway leading to the underground torture chamber was shrouded in darkness.

'That's seriously creepy.'

The moment she breathed outside air, she felt her blood start circulating again. She could hardly believe a place like that existed within the church. Fighting down her rising nausea, she feigned calmness but knew she couldn't have withstood it much longer. She was deeply relieved that Ran had told her to leave.

'Ugh, I must be crazy. All because they said the extra pay was good?'

Now she understood why all the other priests shunned the Special Unit, especially Division 3 which handled Heresy Inquisitions. If she could turn back time, she'd do anything to refuse.

"Priestess Jaina."

"Kyaah!"

"What's got you so startled?"

Ran was standing right behind her. With his towering height and mask, he truly looked like a beast.

"S-sorry! Is the interrogation finished already?"

"Yes, well. He was more loose-lipped than I expected."

"Oh, so does that mean for today—?"

"Get ready to leave immediately, priestess Jaina."

"? Yes?"

Without answering, Ran tilted his head up to the sky. It didn't look like rain.

"We'll be camping out tonight, so if there's anything you need to bring along, you'd better hurry. You won't have much time to pack."

Jaina scowled behind Ran's back. She had a big date planned with her boyfriend tonight, but she had no right to object.

They walked together to the inner gate, selected a horse each, and mounted up.

Once beyond the city's outskirts, they sped up. The wheat fields stretching to the horizon glowed gold in the setting sun.

Shading her eyes with one hand, Jaina quietly admired the scene.

"Truly, Gerinhild must be blessed by Asriel."

"Why so suddenly?"

"Isn't this the only place in the Empire where you can see such peace and beauty now? Unless someone tells them, people in Gerinhild wouldn't even know there's a civil war in the country."

Ran felt Jaina's words were nothing but points to contest, but kept it to himself. He recalled the blue skies over Quersa—the deeply buried memory of his homeland. Just imagining it, the crisp air seemed to seep through the mask and linger at his nose's tip.

"The continent is vast, priestess Jaina. There are plenty of places more magnificent than Gerinhild."

"Where?"

"Hmm, I can't say. Anyway, when the civil war is truly over, you should travel around a bit."

Jaina pouted. Maybe because of the atmosphere, her tension eased considerably. A strange courage welled up in her, and she asked a question she normally wouldn't dare.

"Where are you from, inquisitor?"

"A village called Hameln in the Salisbury region. Ever heard of it?"

"I don't know Hameln, but I do know Salisbury's in the south. I never would have guessed you were from the South."

Jaina giggled—then stopped abruptly when Ran looked back at her.

"What? Is there something about me?"

"W-well, I heard people from the south are all cheerful and optimistic, that's all?"

"So I don't seem that way, you mean?"

"?? Sorry. That was rude of me."

Ran didn't seem to care and tugged his reins again.

The golden wheat fields stretched on for quite some distance. The sky soon grew dusky.

Ran led the way without hesitation, as if traveling down an old, familiar path.

Jaina realized she hadn't even bothered to ask their destination. As she was about to ask, Ran instructed her to prepare for camping.

Crackle, crackle.

"Is it alright to light a fire? What if wild animals or bandits smell it?"

Jaina glanced around warily. They were in the middle of an open field, which made her feel all the more uneasy.

Ran, unfazed, gathered firewood for kindling.

"I'm very familiar with this area. You don't have to worry."

The two of them sat facing each other with the campfire between them.

Jaina blankly watched the sparks dancing through the air. The tranquility, and the warm, flickering flames, softened a part of her heart that had been frozen stiff.

As if spellbound, Jaina said,

"Inquisitor, how did you end up doing such dangerous work?"

"Well, let's say the Lord guided me. Didn't the same happen to you, priestess Jaina?"

"Maybe so?."

"How did you join the order, priestess Jaina?"

She'd worked the back-alleys since before adulthood, selling herself, and as she grew older she managed a few children, even playing madam. The secretive business did well and she made quite a bit of money, too.

"Then things went wrong, and I ended up here and repented. I suppose you're right. The Lord did guide me."

"?? Amen."

Jaina rested her chin on her knees and snorted a little laugh. She felt airy, almost drunk. She narrowed her eyes slightly.

"That mask. Isn't it uncomfortable? You could take it off."

"Oh, this?"

Ran straightened his back but just kept stirring the firewood with his arm.

"I meet more dead people than living ones, so this feels easier. I'm also very shy."

Jaina choked on her warmed milk, coughing at his nonchalance. That he could talk so calmly was uncanny. She wanted to assign watches and go to sleep as quickly as possible.

"Oh, right. First watch. I'm so used to traveling alone that I forgot. Here's what we'll do: I'll sleep for one hour first. After that, you can sleep deeply."

"Will you be alright? You must be plenty tired."

"It's fine. I have terrible insomnia anyway. But could you lend me your lap for an hour?"

Jaina frowned. If Ran weren't her superior, she'd have cussed him out on the spot.

Sensing this, Ran hastily waved both hands.

"Oh, don't get the wrong idea, priestess Jaina. It's not like that."

"Inquisitor, are you saying this after hearing about my past?"

"Of course not! Don't misunderstand, priestess Jaina! I just meant could I rest my head on your lap for an hour—?"

"Inquisitor, I'll pretend I didn't hear that. I thought all the rumors about you might just be nonsense, but for a moment I must've been mistaken."

Jaina scooted far away, lay down, and yanked her blanket up over her head.

"Oh, and by the way, I have a boyfriend."

Only the sound of burning wood remained.

Ran, feeling a bit gloomy, quietly hugged his own knees.

* * *

At the sound of rustling, Jaina opened her eyes. The sun was rising. She hadn't even realized when she'd fallen asleep. She let out a long yawn.

"Oh? You're up early, priestess Jaina. You could've slept in more."

Ran was stamping out the ashes with his foot. There was no trace of bedding. Either he'd packed up already, or as he said, he hadn't slept because of insomnia. Jaina instinctively thought it was the latter.

"Inquisitor. Did you stay up all night?"

"Yes. Don't worry about it—I never sleep well anyway. Oh, and Priestess Jaina, about last night—I'm sorry. Thinking it over, I was really rude."

Ran deeply bowed his waist.

Jaina, caught off guard by the apology, couldn't say anything. She started to doubt the rumors of 'Mad Dog Ran'.

Come to think of it, his way of handling Josh hadn't been especially cruel. There isn't an inquisitor of heresy who's gentle with apostates or nonbelievers.

'He's just a bit eccentric but polite and pure.'

Just being a pervert didn't warrant the label of 'mad dog'. She began to think she wanted to observe Ran a little more.

"Are you listening to me, priestess Jaina?"

"Huh? Oh. Yes!"

They were riding again. Ran was talking about something, but she didn't hear a word.

'I want to see under that mask.'

That was all that was on Jaina's mind. She licked her lips, imagining a fair-skinned, blond, beautiful boy's face.

Swoosh—!

A sharp slicing sound cut through the air. Then came a dull thud, and Jaina's head snapped back.

Ran looked around quickly. An arrow was stuck in the center of Jaina's forehead.

"Damn."

As soon as Jaina fell from her horse, her mount reared up in agitation.

Ran swiftly dismounted, crouching low. Jaina had collapsed right beside him, her pupils unfocused.

'You have truly repented.'

Ran closed her eyelids. He immediately lifted his head. Between the horse's legs, he could sense killing intent lurking in the distant brush.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
The fuck?
Well, apparently she wasn't his disciple.
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】