Chapter 125 - Bellini Franco, The Investigator (R-16)

R-16 (The chapter may have trigger scenes, so be careful when reading.)

Although surrounded by the entire territory of the Kingdom of Dawn, there is a small part of the territory connected to the border city of the Aurore Empire, where the Infernal Volcano could be seen in the distance.

This city under Duke Celerion of the Aurore Empire was well protected and traded openly with the Northern Tribe, which caused impotence and fear in the Kingdom of Dawn.

This was a bomb preparing to explode should the Kingdom of Dawn turn to attack the Northern Tribe.

It could be said that the Aurore Empire was anxiously waiting for the Kingdom of Dawn to let the bomb go off.

Returning to the armored men who camped out peacefully.

"Are we lost, Captain Ricci?" a man in leather pants and a long black tunic with a collar similar to the ones the priests wore asked, taking a seat next to one of the men who was taking off his upper arm.

"Father Bellini, it shouldn't take long for us to arrive, just a little longer than before, we should arrive with another two or three days' journey" the strong man with a chipped canine tooth replied taking a map and placing it on the makeshift table with boxes.

The tents were being erected in a hurry, the men were tired, and the squires were running about with lighting instruments, some setting up and lighting fires here and there, forming small groups and dividing the supplies.

"Two or three days... It was only a few hours' trips to a small town..." the man said angrily and looked at another man who wore a long white tunic embroidered in gold and silver, with small jewelry here and there in the noble fabric which was now smudged with road dust and which complained to the squire of some knight who must be far away.

The man's aide himself had already gone out to prepare food for the man who complained and cursed as if he were some common thug in the capital, far from the dignity expected of a cleric.

That was Giorgio Savoia, Bishop Savoia and younger brother of Marquis Savoia, also the younger brother-in-law of the Kingdom of Dawn information guild leader wants to eliminate no matter what the cost.

The reason their group is camping near the Divine Mountain in the middle of the night is the fault of Bishop Savoia, who for some reason incomprehensible to the rest of them decided to wander through a small village.

Investigator Bellini narrowed his eyes, noting the small scratches on Bishop Savoia's arms that showed part of his skin when he shook out his long sleeves.

Bellini Franco is a priest who is part of the capital's investigation team, he led a small group to investigate violent and supernatural cases of possessions that led to the murder of women and children for evil rituals.

Not all were caused by supernatural beings, but by human causes, which made the priest and investigator Bellini disgusted. All of this made him take a very keen eye on the behavior of people around him.

People who were possessed had a kind of sinister energy that he as a cleric and exorcist felt naturally when approaching, people who were crazy or just mean (psychopaths) showed some symptoms similar to those possessed to him.

Because of the discomfort, they caused him, as a hardworking priest who lived more on the streets of the capital than inside the church in the capital, he did not cross paths with Bishop Savoy, occasionally meeting the Marquis or Marquise of Savoy, although they have a strong aura especially his wife, they didn't have anything more than that.

The first time he laid eyes on Bishop Savoy was as he returned from a grueling mission to chase a demon that was stirring up the night fair, he was tired but was warned by Archbishop Domenico, who was the leader of the archbishops from the capital and had been his mentor.

That archbishop was responsible for the investigation group, so Bellini could only take his old professor's package and put it on his back to set off on a journey that promised to be short and that he could sleep early.

Too bad, he was completely wrong.

He should have known that as soon as he laid eyes on Bishop Savoia he felt something sinister and inhuman in his man's eyes.

In the small village where Bishop Savoia wanted to rest by forcing everyone to dismount their horses and they camped near a barn of two elderly people with their grandchildren who were busy saving the harvest for the winter.

Bellini and the others built a fire and had something hot with some jerky and hard biscuits, luckily the old man's wife in the barn had given them some big red apples, which at least sweetened their lives a little.

At some point Bishop Savoia disappeared, which caused concern on the part of the holy knights, but strangely despite the worried words, their faces were like stones and indifferent.

Bellini sensed that there was something strange and taking advantage of what he said he would alleviate the needs, he went to look for Bishop Savoia.

Only to discover that the man who swore loyalty and purity to the God of Light was molesting a 15-year-old who wanted to flee but feared the bishop's power and found himself trapped.

Bellini was shocked and barely reacted in time, when I come back to himself the young man scratched the bishop's arms to get away, but Bishop Savoia took something from the leather pouch which was a dimensional item, it was a kind of staff.

Fortunately, Bellini took the item and separated the young man from Bishop Savoia.

"What are you doing?!" Bishop Savoia roared at Bellini. His arrogant look said it all how he felt that a little priest who had no status in the great power of the church dared to stop him or touch him.

"On here. That bit of silver for your silence. Go into town with your grandfather or someone older to buy you some more groceries in winter or something warm for you to wear," Bellini told the 15-year-old boy, handing over a small cloth bag containing 30 silver coins.

That silverware in a small town could buy warm clothes for the whole village and a little extra supply for the winter... If he was a little smarter they could buy medicine to prevent freezing of the fingers and feet to help his grandparents and younger siblings did not let the limbs freeze.

"If you use this, they might even give you more extras." Bellini looked at the young man with features that were pretty and delicate, with pretty, clear brown eyes like pure honey, his skin had a healthy color like those who live in the sun in outdoor activities.

Strangely the young man looked quite strong and tall, but the innocent face betrayed his age and ignorance, what was peculiar was that everyone in the village was thin and much more sunburned than this young man.

It must be for this reason that he caught the attention of Bishop Savoia.

Besides this bishop being a human beast, Bellini thought, handing over a token that could be used to show that the church favored a certain person, in villages the token is useless, but in small or larger towns in the Kingdom of Dawn it was taken very seriously.

Bellini felt that there weren't enough coins, but he couldn't give more without putting the young man's life at risk for others to steal, so he found it more useful to hand over this wooden token.

He had a lot of that, as an investigator who needed to protect witnesses or even for someone to come looking for him in the future with clues it was necessary to leave some protection and some way for them to be able to contact him.

So he thought that handing over the token was no big deal and he still felt slightly dissatisfied, but he greeted the young man with a nod in farewell to him as he led Bishop Savoia half pulling and half dragging, the man still struggled a little, but it was useless. Bellini who faced physically strong demons almost every week, the man in his hands was too weak in comparison.

Even the possessed superhuman strengths so Bellini had cultivated a strength superior to ordinary humans for some time.

After moving away from the frightened, confused, embarrassed, and grateful young boy, Bishop Savoia finally calmed down and saw that his situation was not good, he looked at Father Bellini's unattractive face and tried to speak, but he ended up being thrown into a group of wild, tall bushes.

"Save your lies and arrogance for other people. I only have one warning to make, as long as we're on the same team, keep yourself a decent human being, otherwise, I have a lot of ways to make you not even a human anymore." Bellini said taking a rock the size of a human head and crushing it into small pieces with just his bare hands.

Bishop Savoia turned pale and kept his mouth shut, but his blue eyes gleamed with anger and resentment.

"Believe my words, Your Excellency, Bishop Savoia, unlike many people... I am a man of my word"

Bellini said staring into Giorgio Savoia's eyes without fear, his dark brown eyes looked black and scary as if he could kill the bishop without blinking.

Bishop Savoia turned even paler, he was the kind of monster that attacks the weak and fears monsters like him who have already killed.

For he knows well that there is no pity or hesitation when it comes to murdering someone.