Night of the Soulless Heathens – 76



#76. Judgement Jecht 1

“Tsk your status is low and you’re not even pretty. Stop talking nonsense and just wait for your disciplinary action.”

Bishop William said so and raised his hand. Then the young acolyte next to him put a glass of wine in the bishop’s hand. They were all young and beautiful reflecting the bishop’s taste.

Bishop William Salasma likes young and beautiful people. So he dismissed Lord Zibek who was in his thirties and had more than enough ability to become the head of the church and instead filled the posts of head of the church with young and pretty men and women who had good family backgrounds and were outstandingly beautiful even though they lacked experience.

Because of that Lord Jibek suffered the humiliation of being surpassed by his own disciple Maya. And now something happened that could tarnish the bishop’s reputation and it was Lord Jibek who had to deal with it…

From the bishop’s point of view it was one more reason to hate Lord Zibek.

“You’d better make sure that no useless rumors get out. If the Count is involved in black magic then it’s a matter of prestige for the King’s Church!”

“Yes I understand.”

Sir Jibek answered as such but felt dizzy at the bishop’s words.

It is clear that the Count was involved in black magic. But are you going to cover up the incident by defining it as something that undermines the prestige of the King’s Church? Are you saying you are going to manipulate it?

If you cover up and manipulate the incident the aftermath will be impossible. The people servants soldiers knights you and me everyone will be curious and spread rumors…

It was hard to even imagine what would happen if we tried to stop it.

“Then your punishment is…”

At that moment the door to the bishop’s residence opened wide. A knight in golden armor walked in.

“Hello Bishop.”

“omg?”

When the bishop saw that sight he trembled like an aspen leaf.

“Oh Lord Zibek. You’re here too. Did something happen recently that could be considered a confessional?”

The knight spoke to Lord Zibek without permission even though the bishop was present.

“Yes sir.”

“Then please become my assistant and carry out the repentance ritual.”

As he spoke Lord Jecht took off his helmet. Those with strong Yaegasu blood usually had silver hair but Lord Jecht had only part of his bangs that were silver among his golden hair.

His narrow eyes which always seem to be squinting as if the world is dazzling and which give him a smiling expression look back and forth between Jebeck and the bishop.

“Will you grant my petition Bishop?”

“Oh yes of course. Who would dare to refuse the petition of the Judge Lord Jecht?”

The bishop nodded to Lord Zibek trembling.

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“Then let’s just step aside together.”

“I’m sorry.”

Lord Jecht smiled and walked away from the bishop.

*********

Among the heresy inquisitors of the church the judge is a high-ranking official of which there are only 16 in the entire church of the king.

According to church principles the knights do not get involved in politics or policy but only in the use of force to carry out the work that the clergy have decided. However the judge who is at the top of the Inquisitors could easily get involved in the internal strife of the King’s Church under the pretext of expelling heretics or infiltrating cultists within the church.

These were the people who had the authority to investigate the organization so they could be said to be the core of the power of the Knights Templar. Lord Jecht who held such a high position praised Lord Jebeck for his efforts.

“It’s been a lot of work Sir Jibek to support that idiot.”

“Oh no.”

Zibek was thrilled that Lord Jecht remembered him. When he entered the King’s Church he learned sacred magic under Lord Jecht.

The knights of the King’s Church prefer to focus on learning only one of the most combative and effective divine magics thereby increasing their combat power in a short period of time. Sir Jibek was noted among these knights for his high level of understanding of divine magic.

However because of his poor birth and weak magical power he was released during the training process and the period was only two weeks. During that two-week training process Lord Jecht remembered Jibek and even memorized his name. So Jibek couldn’t help but be touched.

“But why did you come here?”

“I came here because I heard that there was a drought in Salasma and that there were many monsters. Something interesting happened on the way there.”

“yes?”

Then as he walked out of the church Sir Jebeck found a cart carrying a corpse.

“Sir Gazrek?”

Lord Gazrek and his apprentices were being loaded onto carts as corpses. They had been dead for some time and were giving off a foul odor but the stench of the corpses rotting away was nothing unusual in the entire Salasma region.

“Do you know him? The body is quite rotten yet you still recognize him?”

“Oh I only recognize the sword and weapon because they belong to Lord Gazrek.”

“Yes. Whoever killed this knight did not loot Lord Gazrek’s armor. It may have been because it belonged to a paladin but…”

Beside the cart were the sergeants and soldiers that Lord Jecht was carrying. They were holding back peasants and children the survivors of the farm massacred by Lord Gazrek and his men.

“At first those who killed the knights were buried without looting but these people were caught digging up the graves. After questioning them I heard testimony that the Herald Clan killed them.”

“yes?”

“The Emperor’s messenger. Those who follow the Emperor and are called the God-Kingslayers. Well I guess they have to be at least that bad to harm the knights of our order.”

“….”

The young man who was being held at that time shouted vomiting blood.

“Don’t make me laugh! That holy man killed my father! He killed my family when his arrow missed while we were hunting and then he tried to kill all the people on the farm to keep his mouth shut!”

Then Lord Jecht looked at the sergeants with his usual smiling face. The sergeant whipped the young man’s lips.

“Shut your mouth! You lowly thing!”

He was whipped in the face his lips split and flesh tore off.

“….”

Lord Jibek’s face hardened as he watched the scene. This was because Lord Maya the chief officer happened to be watching from the other side.

She came running in surprise examined the corpse on the cart and knelt down.

“This is…..”

“Who are you?”

“Ah! I’m sorry Lord Jecht. I….”

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“She is Lord Maya. She is the daughter of Lord Gazrek here.”

“Hmm? Daughter? A knight you say?”

Ject nodded his head as he asked that question.

“Well that could be the case.”

The young man who was being held at that time snickered.

“The daughter of that murderer?!”

“Shut up!”

The sergeant tried to whip his face again but Sir Zibek blocked the whip with his scabbard.

“People are watching. This kind of behavior in this place is not good for the public sentiment.”

“But I can’t let this guy talk…”

“Let’s put a gag on it and clean it up.”

Sir Jibek said so and looked at Maya’s expression. Maya was confused as she looked at her father’s corpse in a miserable state.

“What does this mean… that my father is a murderer?”

“That’s it.”

“Oh please share the investigation records. I guess she’s the daughter of Lord Gazrek so she’d be interested to know.”

Ject gave permission to his non-commissioned officers to share investigative information with Maya then turned to Zibek.

“So Lord Jibek I intend to take care of the chaos here in Salasma. I need your help.”

When Maya heard those words she bowed her head before Lord Jecht.

“Please allow me to assist Lord Jecht.”

The duty of the chief officer Maya is to guard the diocese where the bishop is. She may go on investigations here and there according to the bishop’s orders and sometimes act separately but fundamentally her direct superior is the bishop. She must follow the bishop’s will.

However she was driven by a desire to learn the truth about the murder of Sir Gazrek and to seek revenge as the investigative report shown to her omitted any testimony about the massacre of civilians.

The Jechts and their non-commissioned officers are those who work to strengthen the authority of the Knights Templar. Naturally the scandal must be covered up.

“Hmm this is true.”

Ject Sir laughed when he heard Maya’s request.

“Let me tell you in advance that we are not specifically chasing whoever killed Lord Gazrek. We are simply investigating what happened in Salasma and coming up with countermeasures. But would you as the chief officer be allowed to follow me without the bishop’s permission?”

“That’s… I’m sorry. But I want to follow Lord Jecht.”

“Ah I understand. Then Lord Jibek.”

“yes.”

“Please transfer her proceedings to me for a moment as we are in great need of articles at the moment.”

“Is it temporary? Or is it permanent?”

“That would depend on her wishes and the bishop’s wishes wouldn’t it?”

The position of the chief of staff is a comfortable and easy one with many downsides. On the other hand following the Inquisitors especially the Judge Jecht was an honorable but also the most dangerous job for the knights.

Normally one would not want to give up the position of chief inspector to become an Inquisitor. However Maya blinded by revenge wanted to change positions entirely.

“I will become an Inquisitor!”

“That’s great. We shouldn’t ignore that kind of motivation.”

Lord Jecht accepted Maya’s request for exclusive employment.

“But can I look at those investigative records?”

Sir Jebeck asked his non-commissioned officers to look through the investigation records as well.

“This is…..”

Anyone can see that it is a fabricated investigative record. It says that Lord Gazrek and his party were ambushed and killed by the vile messenger clan and the farm people who were followers of the Emperor while they were resting on the farm.

It doesn’t seem like what that young man is saying is false….

‘Even after seeing this situation right before your eyes does Lord Maya believe this investigative record?’

Sir Jibek smiled bitterly.

He knew the messenger who had killed Lord Gazrek. Messenger Azadin. If he had touched the paladins it would be because the young man from the farm testified.

*********

“Hmm.”

Azadin opened his eyes in bed. A sharp pain surged through his entire body as if it were being torn apart.

“Oh my gosh I’m dying.”

When he opened his mouth a sob came out on its own. He seemed to have muscle pain bruises a concussion and internal bleeding. At least he had no fractures. Azadin turned his head around with difficulty.

‘If the Emperor’s voice was there I could have asked him to look around instead. This is really inconvenient. If I don’t quickly withdraw my dismissal and get the Emperor’s voice back…’

The Emperor’s voice made me feel the empty space and I looked around. It was the mansion of Baroness Noord.

“Ugh. Ah I’m thirsty.”

I reached for the water bowl on the bedside console and ended up spilling it. My muscles were so sore that I made a mistake like this.