Chapter 65 : Inquisitor (7)

The Inquisitor is an incredible elite.

They carry out covert missions for the Holy Empire with outstanding abilities, protecting the world.

“But no one actually knows just how skilled they really are.”

However, since I was taught under a retired Inquisitor master, I had some shallow knowledge about what they were like.

“My master didn’t show me much, but…”

The glimpses of his abilities occasionally revealed how extraordinary he was.

And the person standing before me now, though not as exceptional as my master, was clearly very special.

“What’s going on?”

Since she told us two weeks ago that she’d be entering the labyrinth, I hadn’t seen much of her.

I was curious about how she was doing after provocatively challenging the prince, and as expected, it seemed trouble had arisen.

“It’s fine. It’s not as serious as it looks.”

“‘Fine’ isn’t the word I’d use when you’re covered in blood.”

Did the prince really do this?

I couldn’t believe someone could leave a person in such a state just because of a few words.

“Did His Highness really do this?”

“No.”

It wasn’t the priority right now, but I couldn’t help asking.

“This isn’t the time to be standing around. Please, come over here. Can you walk?”

Her calm demeanor made me wonder if she was truly injured.

“Where are you hurt? With this much blood, it doesn’t make sense that you’re still standing…”

There wasn’t a spot without blood, making it hard to locate the wounds.

“Not all of this is my blood.”

“Of course, it shouldn’t be. If you’d lost this much blood, you wouldn’t even be conscious. May I cut your clothes a bit to check?”

“Yes, do as you must.”

The first priority was to assess her injuries.

There was a deep wound on her thigh, and smaller cuts on her arms and shoulders.

Additionally, her hand seemed to have a bulging fracture.

It seemed better to examine her entire body instead of focusing on isolated injuries.

Using divine power, I carefully checked the inside of Sister Melody’s body.

“Huh… The external wounds are deep, but the internal injuries are just as severe.”

Her body had no undamaged areas, as if she’d been in an intense fight.

“Did she get tossed around by a massive monster to end up like this?”

While inspecting her condition, I focused on treating the most urgent injuries.

Thanks to my improved healing skills, I could now handle such wounds on my own.

If this had been the old me, I would have needed another healer to finish the treatment, and even then, full recovery might not have been possible.

“Just because you’ve been treated doesn’t mean you can start moving right away.”

Anyone who valued their body would rest after being injured this severely.

But I couldn’t predict how she would act.

She might think the treatment was enough and go back out to fight again.

So, I warned her preemptively.

As expected, Sister Melody replied.

“I’ll handle it appropriately.”

“I doubt you will. Don’t leave the hospital right away; stay admitted. You can see it yourself—your injuries are too severe, and not all of them have been treated yet. You’ll need additional sessions.”

Divine power is beneficial to the body, but it’s not omnipotent.

Blood and stamina already lost don’t return easily.

Proper rest is essential.

“I still have things to do, so I need to leave.”

“Ah… I knew you’d say that. I don’t know what it is, but whatever it is, the answer is no.”

“I must go. You can’t stop me.”

“Patients need to rest. You know your body needs it. At least take two full days to recover.”

I wondered if she realized how inappropriate it was to talk about overexerting herself to the person who had just worked hard to heal her.

“If it’s really that urgent, ask someone else to handle it.”

“I have no one to ask.”

Does that mean there are no other Inquisitors?

“Is it such a critical issue that something terrible will happen if it’s not handled right away?”

“Yes. It cannot be left unattended. There might still be remnants.”

If she’s talking about remnants, she must mean heretics.

So, these wounds weren’t caused by the prince but by fighting against them.

“Then…”

I was worried she was diving headfirst into another complicated situation, but it didn’t seem like there was a way to stop her stubbornness.

“Are you really saying there’s no one else who can handle this?”

“It’s not something just anyone can do.”

“Then I’ll do it. How about that?”

“You, Priest?”

Sister Melody shook her head, as if she’d heard something utterly ridiculous.

“You’re fearless, aren’t you? You don’t even know what this entails. This is not something someone like you should be doing.”

She wasn’t saying this to belittle me.

It must be because this matter was intricately tied to tasks only Inquisitors handle.

“I have a rough idea. I know the kind of work you do, Sister Melody. Don’t you know who my master was?”

“Didn’t you say you’ve never been taught this work by him?”

“Do you think my master would raise his disciple so carelessly? He didn’t teach me everything, but that doesn’t mean he left me completely in the dark about things I was curious about.”

After all, what could heretics be up to other than curses or matters related to evil gods?

I learned about evil gods during my school years, and the knowledge of curses was granted directly by the divine.

“What do I need to do? Even if I don’t know what it is, I believe I can handle it.”

Of course, if it required combat, I couldn’t step in.

That wasn’t something I’d learned, so I couldn’t do it.

But judging by her physical condition, I was certain the fighting was already over.

“If she hadn’t won, she wouldn’t have made it here alive.”

So if the task involved cleaning up what the heretics had done rather than fighting, I was confident I could manage it.

“Stand up and try walking. You’ll understand why I said you can’t do it.”

I said this to wake her up to reality as she still hesitated.

Sister Melody promptly stood up at my words.

Thud!

As expected, her body was so depleted of strength that she couldn’t even stand properly and collapsed.

I grabbed her arm to support her and said,

“See? You can’t do it. My divine power was only enough to treat your wounds. It couldn’t restore your physical strength.”

How many fractures and bleeding wounds did she have?

Even after treating all that, if I had enough divine power to fully restore her strength, I’d be a top-tier healer.

“I don’t understand. I’ve been treated, so why is my body still powerless?”

“If you had studied healing just a little, you’d know this. I guess you’re unfamiliar with this area. Divine power from a humble priest like me isn’t all-powerful.”

What can I say? This is the best I can do with my abilities.

I heard this was her first time being assigned as an Inquisitor and working in the field.

So it makes sense that she wouldn’t know.

“Of course, if you’ve never had such severe injuries, it’s understandable that you wouldn’t know.”

She seemed a bit irritated by my words, as if she wanted to say something but held back.

She didn’t open her heavy mouth easily, even though she was welcome to speak as much as she liked.

I waited patiently with a tinge of regret until Sister Melody finally spoke.

“I discovered a den of heretics and dealt with it. But as you can see, their resistance was fierce, so I couldn’t finish cleaning it up properly.”

A den of heretics.

It was obvious what kind of things would be there.

Leaving it as it was would create countless problems.

“It must have been a large-scale hideout. I had considered the possibility of heretics near the labyrinth, but I didn’t expect them to actually be there.”

It seemed that the incident involving the man brought to the temple’s healing center had already escalated to this point.

Moreover, I didn’t expect it to be not just a group of heretics but a den large enough to warrant such a term.

“So, Sister Melody took them all down by herself?”

Indeed, an Inquisitor.

Just as she didn’t back down in front of the prince, she seemed even more determined when facing heretics.

“I’ll take care of it. I can handle this. So please, rest here in peace.”

“You cannot go alone.”

“Is it dangerous?”

“I killed them all, but the path to get there is complicated. And there might still be remnants left.”

Her inability to rest must have stemmed from her concern about those remnants.

It made sense that the path would be complex since heretics wouldn’t set up their hideout in an obvious place.

“Then…”

“I’ll guide you. But could I ask you to handle the cleanup?”

It seemed that was the best compromise she could make.

Though she couldn’t walk now, she might be able to once she regained some strength.

“All right. Let’s do that.”

“…Thank you for helping. It couldn’t have been an easy decision.”

She wasn’t an ungrateful person; she just wasn’t good at expressing her emotions.

“Oh, how could I stand by while a patient who just received treatment says they’re going to a dangerous place alone? If I didn’t know, it’d be one thing. But now that I do, I can’t just leave it be.”

“…You live such a tiring life. I thought you were strange from the beginning, but not to this extent.”

“That stings a bit when you put it so bluntly.”

I could’ve just treated the patient and left it at that.

After all, it wasn’t my business.

My responsibility was solely to heal the patient.

But I couldn’t help empathizing with her situation.

Because of that, I ended up getting involved in Princess Kanabi’s affairs and even entered the labyrinth with Princess Lasiell.

‘I only wanted to relax and enjoy myself, so how did it come to this?’

This is all because of my obsessive concern for my patients.

I kept telling myself to change, but it seemed that my nature was hard to alter.

“You won’t receive any rewards for helping me.”

“I didn’t offer to help expecting anything in return. You admit you can’t move right now, right? At least recover until you’re able to walk. So please, lie down and rest.”

She obediently lay down on the bed at my words.

“Oh, by the way! Have you eaten?”

Unsurprisingly, her answer was, “No,” so I had no choice but to request a special patient meal from the temple kitchen for her since she couldn’t move.