Chapter 163: interlude: The cleansing.

Chapter 163: interlude: The cleansing.

Pov: The inquisitor.

So, inquisitor? What do you think happened here? the young pursuer asked me. He had only graduated from the academy and subsequently joined the corps a few months ago, but already he was acting like my right-hand man. If it wasnt for his background, I would have long since kicked him out. Unfortunately, politics still held a grip on me, even after all these years.

That didnt change the issue at hand, though.

Question me again and Ill have you drawn and quartered for insubordination, child. Back to your station! I barked, making the kid jump. A moment later, I was left to my thoughts. Finally. Helios knew I needed it.

Usually, the job of an inquisitor stationed in the holy land of Alterian itself was a cushy one. Lots of paper-pushing, but very little action. After all, who would dare inconvenience the church within its own borders?

Unfortunately, that also meant that when something did happen, it was usually serious business. This case was shaping up to be nothing but, as I had anticipated.

The first sign of unrest had been a report from the Caltian temple, a destitute place only surviving because of its role as the start of the pilgrims way. Normally, some ordinary cleric would have been sent to calm the masses. When it came out that a statue of Helios had been defaced, however, I realised that something more sinister was happening.

The other inquisitors had grown too fat to leave their cushy chairs, both metaphorically and literally, so the task of finding the culprit had been left to me.

When I first saw the defaced statue, my initial suspicions had been thrown out of the window immediately. Instead of an ugly coat of paint, the previous, heroic statue of Helios in his younger years had been replaced by a completely new one. It depicted a young boy embracing an older, yet still young, man, who had been pierced by swords from all angles.

This strange scene evoked melancholy, grief, regret, and a tinge of courage, all in one. Had it been up to me, I would have called this an act from Helios himself and closed the case immediately. The new statue was far more meaningful than the previous one, even though no holy man would ever be caught admitting it for fear of retribution. The fact of the matter was that this statue was seen as a blemish on the perfect image of Helios that the church liked to taut. If I wanted to complete my ambition, I would have to play along, no matter my personal opinion.

Unfortunately, there were signs of human intervention. At the base of the statue, a key-shaped crack had formed. My skills told me the change had started from there, but the mana affinities involved stumped me.

[Delusion eye] allowed me to pick up traces of mana after changes to objects and people had occurred. For the first time ever, I had encountered some mana types I simply didnt recognise. The crack was tainted with holy, dream, light, and nature mana, among many others. One of them stood out like a beacon in the dark, however. Dark affinity mana.

Something was strange about this mana, though. The trace amounts that lingered behaved erratically, like boiling water or sizzling oil. It refused to stay still, for some reason.

I found my old friend a few leagues away, at the other end of the battle zone. There, more corpses were strewn across the savanna plain. They hadnt escaped my notice, but I had yet to inspect them more closely.

Whats going on, Rodrick? Why did you interrupt me? I asked, though my words held no bite.

These corpses, sir The mana traces they have a holy affinity!

What?!

A holy affinity? But how?! There wasnt any trace of holy mana near the other half of the battlefield! Had the dark-aligned escaped before this person could engage them? But why were they fighting the same tribe? Did they have a common enemy?

I shook the thought from my mind and quickly went to work inspecting each and every corpse, determined not to miss anymore important details. It turned out that the vast majority of corpses were left by the holy-aligned classer. This person wielded a spear and, apparent from the battlefield itself, hadnt been particularly careful with whether or nor their attack struck true. Instead, it looked like the holy-aligned had gone on a rampage

Whats on your mind, sir? Rodrick asked. Since he had been the one to ask, I decided to indulge him.

Several things, Rodrick. Why would a holy aligned work together with a dark-aligned, no matter how temporary? And why would they fight in such a self-destructive manner? Questions that remain unanswered, for now.

Any idea who the dark-aligned could be, sir? Wasnt that rogue gravity wielder in the area? Rodrick proposed.

Dalius, you mean? I asked, considering the thought. No, that seems unlikely. Of the two suspicious affinities, he possesses neither. His philosophy and actions are known to be barbaric and cruel, but I dont suspect him. That being said I wondered aloud, when, suddenly, a thought struck me.

I had been getting tunnel vision. Even if Dalius hadnt been involved in this particular battle, that didnt mean that he hadnt met the two perpetrators Unfortunately, the cursed-beast corpse was entirely covered in gravity mana, making it impossible for me to find any traces of them there, if they ever were there in the first place.

That left me with but one option, to find Dalius and question him.

I groaned. The very notion of getting anything out of such a man gave me a headache. We hadnt even found him yet