Chapter 431

Audin examined the Taboos placed on his body through inward observation.

Soon, a mindscape of golden chains tightly binding his entire body emerged. Because he had drawn a little on Divinity during this time, the thin strips of cloth wrapped around the chains looked frayed and faded, but the chains themselves remained unchanged.

The chains were Taboos he had placed on himself, while the cloth strips covering them were Taboos placed by others.

As he examined those Taboos for the first time in a long while, memories of the past surged up like a tide.

Moments he had deliberately avoided facing.

– “Defending heretics—do you think that’s an inquisitor’s duty?!”

First came the corrupt bishop, flying into a rage.

– “To think I valued you so highly because you believed in the War God. Hmph!”

Another priest’s words also came to mind.

– “What will you do?”

There was also the man who had taught him and led him this far.

The former pope, a man who could not see the present but could glimpse the future of others.

He had stepped down just ten days after becoming pope.

– “This is not where I belong, brothers and sisters.”

After casting off authority, he had secretly said to Audin:

– “I did it because I felt I wouldn’t live long if I stayed in that position.”

It was an absurd reason, but he said it was the conclusion he had reached after divining his own future.

The memories tangled together, but in any case, Audin had found it hard to answer the question of the man who had shown him fatherly affection, when he had never had blood relatives of his own.

It was right after he became a sinner by failing to fulfill his duty as an inquisitor.

– “You don’t know what to do?”

– “Yes, I have lost my way.”

Audin answered while kneeling.

– “There is only one place for a shepherd who has lost his way.”

The former pope, the man like a father to him, spoke in a stern tone.

– “I must go to that place in the abyss, embraced by darkness.”

Audin answered again.

It is the God of the Scales, who governs the sun and moon, that judges sin.

If one commits a sin, one goes before the War God and receives judgment from him.

And those punished by the War God are imprisoned in the abyssal prison.

It was part of the doctrine. Words written in the sacred texts.

Audin served the War God, while the former pope served the two-faced god.

One of its two faces was both the warden of the prison created by the god and the God of Love, while the other was the God of Judgment, symbolizing radiance and holy light.

The two Divinities seemed completely opposed, but the sacred texts said they were originally one.

There was a god who descended deep underground into the abyssal prison for the sole purpose of bestowing love.

He left the light he carried within himself on the surface to illuminate the world.

Thus, one god became the warden of the underground prison, symbolizing darkness and love, embracing sinners.

The other became the one who punished sinners with radiance and holy light.

– “You are the one who will lead the light of radiance.”

Drawn by those words, Audin became someone who punished heretics.

Because the War God had given him an exceptional physique.

While training as a priest, Audin immediately turned to the path of a Warrior Priest. Naturally, he was extraordinary even among Warrior Priests.

– “You are the first to delve so deeply into the Valaf Style and attain such enlightenment.”

His exceptional talent immediately led him to Divinity.

The light of radiance and holy light descended upon his body through the War God.

– “It is a miracle!”

Everyone said it. Everyone blessed him.

While training to become a paladin, Audin was appointed as an inquisitor.

– “Pray there, and there, temper your body and mind.”

Those were the words of an archbishop. The archbishop, whose unnaturally slit eyes and sinister appearance stood out, told Audin to become a judge who punished heretics.

Audin did so.

As an inquisitor, he resolved to punish people with the light of radiance and holy light.

Then, in the course of his duties, he punished and killed the hidden son of a sinful bishop.

It was while dealing with a few more matters after that.

In a small town the bishop ordered him to visit, Audin felt doubt.

One person accused of heresy set himself on fire to prove his innocence.

Watching him burn his own body, Audin instinctively felt that something was wrong.

Then what was wrong?

Me, who believed in God?

Or the corrupted temple?

The archbishop drunk on power?

The man who claimed to have glimpsed the future and cast aside the seat of pope?

If not that, then.

‘Should I see it as the fault of the God who gave power to someone as lacking as me?’

That could not be. It simply meant he had failed to understand the will of the Lord Father.

Then came wandering. His faith shook. The foundation that made up Audin cracked and crumbled from the cornerstone.

The dream of subduing demons and eradicating evil—of becoming a paladin who would lead the charge against evil, of sending devils before the Lord and wiping out wickedness—shattered.

The tower built on faith collapsed like that.

– “If you dislike punishing with radiance, then go into darkness and hide yourself.”

Following the words of the man he thought of as a father—honestly, because he wanted to do nothing at all—Audin placed Taboos on himself.

As if that were not enough, several others who handled Divinity added a few more Taboos to Audin’s body.

– “I’m sorry, brother.”

There were brothers who would have given their lives for him.

– “Why did you do that?”

There were sisters who had laughed with him just yesterday, but now looked at him with hatred.

Audin accepted the Taboos without a single excuse, abandoned his position, and left the temple.

On his way out, the words of the father bishop remained vivid in his memory.

– “On the day your path becomes clear, you will step forward on your own.”

– “Is that a prophecy?”

– “Prophecy, my foot. To be honest, I can’t do prophecies or anything like that. It’s conjecture, prediction. If someone whom more people hate than follow becomes pope of the temple, then obviously someone will try to kill him.”

It was the father bishop’s confession.

– “I can’t know everything in a person’s heart, but after watching you until now, I know at least a part of you. If it’s easier to think of it as a prophecy, then think of it that way. It doesn’t matter. I’m only speaking. A part of what I know. On the day you step forward of your own will, God will gain the strongest shield to protect His child.”

With those words, the father bishop turned away. Half a year later, he was accused of heresy and stoned to death. The only Divinity he possessed was simple healing magic.

Audin heard the news another half year later.

The moment he heard it, he could not contain the boiling anger inside him.

He wanted to rush to the temple that very instant and kill them all.

But he couldn’t.

That would mean tearing out and burning the last roots he had left, then pouring water over them to erase even the ashes.

And it likely was not what the father bishop would have wanted either.

‘Lord. Must I die quietly like this?’

He knew he was here because he had killed the bishop’s hidden son.

He knew he was here because, as an inquisitor, he had failed to punish the heretics designated by the temple.

Audin knew all of it.

But he did not act. He could not. His hands only knew how to strike and break.

Thus, he wandered, and in the end remained with the Madman Company.

At the point where he had given up everything, he saw someone who had given up nothing.

That man faced a Knight and survived, overcame war, led a civil war to victory, and did not stop even when confronting a demon.

King of the East, Anu, personally sought him out.

Audin pondered.

Could he ‘not give up’ without releasing the Taboos?

Audin tried to dream the same dream again.

To become the shield and sword of radiance that eradicated evil, the fist that acted in God’s place.

Thus, he wanted to take up the duties given to him once more and walk the path laid out before him, but one problem remained unresolved.

He had sworn the Taboos and could not break that oath arbitrarily.

Moreover, no one currently in the temple would approve of him releasing them.

The past tangled and intertwined, eventually arriving at the questions he had long been throwing at his inner self.

Legion, a remote monastery in the City of Divinity.

He had been without parents from birth.

“What is the reason for my birth?”

Audin had asked countless times. What was this uselessly large body for?

It was the same when he gained Divinity.

To kill the enemies of the temple called heretics?

That couldn’t be.

I will become the fist that eradicates evil.

He had made that his goal, but there had been a time when he could not become that.

He left that time behind. Forgetting the past for a moment, he looked toward a new sun, toward the coming tomorrow instead of the day already gone.

“What did you say you wanted to do as a knight?”

Audin asked, and Encrid answered.

“I want to create a battlefield where children don’t step forward, become a knight who upholds chivalry, and make a world that reveres what is right.”

Ah.

Audin wept the day he heard that answer. He prayed and cried in a secluded spot behind the barracks, trying not to let anyone see.

Jaxson and a few others saw it, but pretended not to.

It was not the first time Audin had cried while praying.

While he was praying like that, Teresa approached. She waited patiently until Audin finished, then spoke.

“I think my body and talents are insignificant. I tried to learn singing to discipline my heart, but it’s not easy.”

“Why do you try to advance further?”

“Because I want to walk the path I believe is right. I think that path lies by that man’s side. Above all, my heart is full of the desire to protect this place.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, it is. I want to prove myself by competing with him, and become someone who can support the path that man walks.”

To set one’s will and carry it out—that is the greatest light a person can possess.

It may not be holy, but it is a light that will not perish.

Reciting the words of the sacred texts, Audin nodded.

“I heard you recruited a few members. Let’s start sincere training together.”

Audin said that, and Teresa regretted speaking up for a very brief moment.

Just hearing the four words ‘sincere training’ gave her a certain feeling.

It sounded like the kind of training that would make imprisonment in the abyssal prison seem preferable.

That was what happened while he was forming a squad by recruiting large, strong, and faithful members as instructed.

And Audin knew that one of the Taboos constricting him in his mind had broken.

‘The words of the temple are absolutely right, so do not defy them.’

Then he had to go to the temple and correct that ‘rightness,’ even if only a little.

If necessary, he would have to release the Taboos.

But he would not release them arbitrarily until given permission. That was because of the faith Audin still held.

Even if he died, he still would not release all of the Taboos.

Releasing the Taboos would come only after first telling the temple what was right.

Even if it was difficult and led to his death, he would do it.

Thanks to the dream shown purely by one person, another person’s life had changed.

===

Ragna fell asleep, and when he woke, he immediately realized the change.

‘Cold air.’

The breath he drew in and let out.

Fallen leaves.

Scattering dust.

Everything felt several times clearer than before, as if he could grasp it in his hand.

If he reached out his hand now, he felt like he could snatch the axe from that ignorant savage sitting way over there.

Though it was about twenty paces away, it felt possible.

Ragna exerted his [Will] and clenched his fist in the air.

Of course, since it was neither a Supernatural Ability nor magic, the distant axe did not obediently fly into his grasp.

However, the instant he made the motion of reaching out and clenching, Rem tightly gripped the handle of his axe.

It happened almost at the same time.

Rem, reacting to Ragna’s gesture, looked at the crazy lazybones and said,

“Crazy bastard, why don’t you disappear?”

It was as if he had read what Ragna wanted in his heart. But it was also something that did not come true.

‘This won’t do.’

It felt as if anything were possible, yet in reality, many things were not.

He had realized something and crossed a wall, but there was still too much he had to sort out one by one.

Ragna recalled the spar between the King of the East and Encrid.

The sight of Encrid resisting a Knight’s martial prowess without giving even a single step.

The King had held back a great deal. It had not quite been a teaching spar, but it was close to helping the other side pour out everything they had.

Ragna saw all of it.

He saw—no, felt—the power flowing from the weapon in the King’s hand gather on Encrid’s sword.

‘Can [Will] be gathered and made real?’

For example, could he earlier have brought Rem’s axe over despite the physical distance?

‘It’s possible.’

To do that, he would have had to step forward and close the gap, but…

He just couldn’t do it by reaching out his hand without moving.

Ragna naturally also realized the principle behind intimidation.

It was not simply about glaring at the opponent with fighting spirit and killing intent.

It was about turning [Will] into a phenomenon.

That is, speaking to the opponent through [Will].

Letting them know that whatever was at hand—the sword at the waist, the spear on the back, the fork used to eat steak—could kill them.

‘No, even a hand blade can do it.’

Thinking of the motion and subtly conveying it to the opponent.

If that was done, their survival instinct would constrict their hands, feet, and heart.

That was intimidation.

Before he knew it, Ragna was in the dining hall, experimenting with a fork.

First at Rem.

“Has this bastard gone mad?”

Rem glared fiercely with the savage temperament unique to barbarians.

“Brother, please restrain yourself.”

Audin said it with a laugh, but a vein bulged on his forehead.

Dunbakel backed away with a “Kyah!” sound.

Teresa frowned quietly and recited part of the sacred texts. While doing so, she subtly pulled her tray closer, using it like a shield.

Roford, right beside him, trembled as he endured. Cold sweat dripped down onto his tray.

“You’ll end up killing someone like that.”

That was the friend from the Shepherds of the Wilds. The man quietly drew his sword a little.

A black blade was visible. It was the sword called Demon Slayer. Ragna also saw something condensed on that blade.

It was said to devour souls, but in truth it was a sword that severed the will to exist.

He could feel something from it, but he could not tell precisely what it contained.

To know, he would have to grasp it and swing it.

Next was that Big-Eyes guy.

Krys, knowing nothing, simply asked if it wasn’t a little chilly today.

‘If there are those who react sensitively…’

Then there are also those who don’t.

Couldn’t this be used to gauge skill or talent? It seemed possible.

Other than eating and sleeping, Ragna devoted himself to swinging his sword.

The words the King of the East left before departing were right.

Now he had to properly set his path.

He had the omnipotent feeling that he could do anything, but in reality, a process was necessary to do anything.

Could he split a mountain with a sword?

There was no sword strike that could split a mountain in one blow, but…

‘I can kill the wizard who tried to use magic to split that mountain.’

He distinguished between what could and could not be done.

For that, he repeated the fundamentals every single day.

He moved without rest until his whole body was drenched in sweat, and at night he ended up snoring through his nose.

After repeating the same thing for several days, Encrid unwrapped the bandages tightly wound around his hand and asked,

“When will it be?”

It was a request to fight.

Ragna looked himself over for a moment and said,

“Two days will be enough.”

By then, it seemed possible. Even controlling his strength was difficult for now, but two days would be enough.

It was insane talent.

Even after crossing a wall and stepping into the level of a Knight, it normally took at least three months, sometimes as long as six, to readjust the body, but Ragna was different.

For him, even half a month was too long.