“Look at this guy’s size, man.”
“Is he human?”
“Isn’t he half-monster or something?”
The mercenaries that had contracted with Lard’s travel merchants watched Urbank and clicked their tongues. They were stupefied by the massive size, but they weren’t scared.
“Size isn’t everything, kukh.”
With scoffs, they lined up in front of Urbank – they didn’t even take Roan Lancephil into account.
“If I can’t have it, then I can’t hand it over to anyone else either.”
Lard faced his vicious two eyes at Roan and Urbank. He had judged that it was impossible to capture or make Urbank submit from the start. Rather, he didn’t have such thoughts due to his pride.
“Kill them all!”
He bellowed with all his heart.
Clink.
The mercenaries took large swords and axes out with cruel smiles hanging on their lips.
“Uuuuu.”
Urbank stepped back with an extremely scared expression. He had superb build and strength, but was still only a fainthearted coward.
“Kukuku! Die, you monster!”
“Die!”
They laughed hideously and kicked off the ground.
“Uuhh!”
With his two arms, Urbank guarded his face and shrank down. In that instant, Roan who had been watching over the situation lightly waved his hand.
Suddenly
Kakakang!
Along with a large sound made by metal, their swords and axes were broken apart.
“Hup!”
“Ugh!”
Seeing their empty hands made the mercenaries gulp, with their eyes naturally pointing towards Roan. Roan waved his hand with a smile as their eyes met, and on his face, there was a tender expression that seemed out of place.
Gulp.
The mercenaries became anxious and faces turned rigid. Lard was no different.
“Wh, wh, what…”
He couldn’t even form a proper sentence.
‘I, it just flashed once…’
That was all he saw.
During all that turmoil, Roan that had been standing still turned towards Urbank.
“Mr. Urbank.”
He made a surprised expression at the low voice calling his name.
“H, how did you know my na…”
Surprise was evident on his innocent face. Without caring about that, Roan continued his words with a calm voice and expression.
“You are now free, no-one’s slave. You can do whatever you want, however…”
Roan stared directly at his two eyes.
“You must now protect your own life and freedom yourself. Well, at least you should try to.”
He pointed at Lard and the mercenaries.
“If you give up without trying, then your freedom will be taken once again and you will become a slave. If you’re always sitting back waiting for someone to help, then that means you don’t have the qualifications to be free.”
There was now power entering his voice.
“Are you fine with spending more miserable days as a slave? Kneel before them again, and be treated inhumanely as an object?”
“Th, that’s…”
Urbank’s two eyes fluttered greatly as they faced Roan and the mercenaries.
“Mr. Urbank is not an object.”
Roan made a tight fist.
“Show it to them – that you are a proud human and the same existence as all of us.”
Gulp. Urbank swallowed his nervousness inside, and opening his shrunk back, he looked at Lard and the mercenaries.
‘I, I am a proud human as well…’
Roan’s words filled his head, but then.
“W, what stupidity! Slaves are not humans! They are objects! How can a monster like that be human?!”
Lard gave a large shout to which the mercenaries agreed with a nod.
“Right, to say we’re the same as the likes of slaves…”
“Crazy.”
“Once a slave, forever a slave.”
In that instant where sarcastic comments flew around,
“No!!”
The silent Urbank broke into a roar. That almost resembled the screams of an ogre and their skin trembled in response.
“T, this crazy bastard! What ‘no’!”
One of the mercenaries standing at the front shouted and ran towards Urbank. Instead of the broken axe, there was a little dagger hanging on his hand. The man thought, no matter how ogre-like he was, he was still a human.
‘Made of skin and blood!’
He was planning to stab at the vitals in one flash, but…
“Don’t come!”
Urbank swung his right arm with a cry.
“Uh?!”
The mercenary that had been running with vigor was turned rigid like a statue before the large palm facing his way. And then…
Slaaam!
Along with a terrible sound, his body flew up into the sky, and like a piece of feather he flew up before crashing down. The bones in his neck, ribs, arms and legs had all been broken as the orifices on his face turned into shacks of blood.
The mercenary that crashed down did not make a single movement. Dead – the moment he was hit by a palm, his life had come to an end.
“Ah…”
To the unexpected result, Urbank was greatly taken aback as he looked at his palm. It was his first time killing a person, and strange, complicated feelings filled him up to his throat.
“T, this crazy…”
“Monstrous bastard.”
The leftover mercenaries glared at Urbank and spewed out profanities. Witnessing Urbank’s herculean strength made their legs turn into statues and Lard couldn’t escape from having the same thing happening to him.
‘Damn, I knew I had to buy it. It was a must-buy item!”
He was still full of dirty and hideous thoughts. Then, Roan, who had been nearby, approached and talked to Urbank.
“Perhaps this was your first time?”
It wasn’t a question on murdering experience. He continued with a smile.
“Fighting against the unreasonable, that is…”
Indeed, it was something to be congratulated for. Turning his head, Roan faced the other mercenaries.
Freeze.
Almost instinctively, their hands reached into their waists, and took out the daggers they carried for emergency situations. But none of them moved carelessly – no, they couldn’t move, as they had been completely suppressed by the pressure Roan gave off.
And then,
“What are you doing!”
Lard who had been slightly further away was the quickest to come into his senses, and screamed.
“Kill! Kill!”
He screamed as if there was a demon inside him.
“Uuuu.”
“Damn!”
“Damn it! Whatever!”
The mercenaries that had been trembling away bit down hard and sprinted at Roan in a kamikaze attack. In that instant, Roan’s right hand flashed rapidly.
Pabababat!
Strands of light divided the space. And
“Urgh!”
“Kuk”
“Kuu..”
“Kuuk!”
Moans filled with pain dug into the eardrums. The mercenaries that had no choice but to charge now rolled and filled the ground, and were in situations that wouldn’t be strange if they were to lose their lives immediately.
“I, impossible…”
Lard’s legs lost their strength and he collapsed onto the ground.
‘I, I couldn’t even see it.’
He had no idea why and how they all fell down.
“Uuuuu.”
His teeth shivered and hit itselves, as a tremendous sense of powerlessness and fear crawled in.
“P, please let me live.”
Going on the floor, Lard barely had his words form a shout, but Roan replied slowly with a shake of the head.
“Too much greed brings harm.”
It was something Lard had said to Roan.
“Ah…”
Lard gave out a low murmur. He raised his head to look at Roan, but saw Roan’s right hand slowly moving.
“N, no! Please…”
His words came to a stop as a flash appeared before him. That was the last thing he saw in this world.
Drop.
His head fell on the ground. He who had been urged by endless greed had lost his life in that manner. Turning his head, Roan looked at Urbank.
“Are you okay?”
To the casual question, Urbank responded with a dazed look.
“You are now free, is there anywhere you could go?”
“N, no.”
He quickly shook his head. There was neither a place to go, nor anyone he knew. Suddenly, he lowered his head with a kneel.
“Master, no, benefactor, I would like to follow you.”
The loud voice smacked at the ears but Roan shook his head with a disappointed expression.
“Sorry but you can’t. I have lots of other things to do right now. Instead…”
Taking out a small envelope from within, he handed it over.
“If you feel like it, would you like to head over to Castle Mediasis? There’s a place called Amaranth Training Squad there.”
As if he was possessed by something, Urbank readily accepted the envelope. Roan’s words continued on.
“It is a place that is well suited for Mr. Urbank. Give it some thought and if it’s okay, try heading there once.”
“The Amaranth Training Squad…”
He repeated the same word several times in a small voice. Roan looked at that and emphasised once again.
“Do not forget, Mr. Urbank is now a free person. Just because I said it doesn’t mean you must go there. Everything is your choice, okay?”
“Yes? Ah, yes. I understand.”
Urbank slowly nodded his head, but he had already made a decision.
‘Let’s head over to Capital Castle Mediasis.’
He didn’t have anywhere to go, and since he was going to leave the village anyway, he wanted to go to the biggest city of the kingdom. And for some reason, he liked the word Amaranth Training Squad a lot. Roan stared at his resolute two eyes and waved his hand.
“Then shall we part our ways here? I’m heading towards the kingdom’s North-West region.”
Urbank made a surprised expression in response.
“H, how do I contact sir benefactor? I would like to definitely return the favour in the future.”
“If it is meant to be, then we will definitely meet again.”
Roan shrugged his shoulders with a wide smile but Urbank wore a serious expression and nodded.
“I, I’ll be at Castle Mediasis. I’m bigger than others by a lot so I should be visible from afar. If you see me then please shout my name – Urbank of Purrand.”
“Alright.”
Roan gave a bright smile and nodded.
“I’ll wave my two hands left and right and shout Urbank of Purrand 5 times.”
“Yes, please, please do so. I’ll be waiting.”
Urbank once again gave a bow. After staring at him for a while, Roan waved his hands a little and carried his feet. Urbank likewise watched that before eventually carrying his own feet across. The two of them faced their own directions and diligently walked on.
It was a short separation.
***
“Hulhulhul.”
Beldrica, the pope of Devesis Church sat on top of an ornamented throne and gave out a strange laughter. He was smiling but his two eyes had sunk in deeply, and the cardinals lining up beneath did not dare to raise their heads.
They knew that Beldrica was extremely angered right now.
“Is there still no progress?”
A light, casual question, but none of them could give an answer.
“Tch, tch, tch.”
He stood up from the seat while clicking his tongue, and immediately, young valets approached and held the long ends of the holy gown up. Beldrica carried his feet and stood in front of the men. He then bent his back to stare up at the cardinals’ faces that had been facing the ground.
A cold gaze scanned through their faces.
“I have to call these kinds of guys cardinals and assign tasks to them…”
A warm breath fell on them.
“We have no words, sir, holy pope.”
The cardinals bent their backs further down with their heads still facing down and trembled their bodies. With his wrinkly hands, Beldrica patted the back of several cardinals’ heads.
“It can’t be helped. I must move personally.”
“By personally, you mean…?”
With surprised expressions, the cardinals slurred the ends of their words and Beldrica replied in a whisper with a small smile.
“I’ll open the Inquisition Office.”
“I, Inquisition Office!”
The cardinals opened their eyes wide with expressions that showed astonishments larger than before. The Inquisition Office was a subsidiary department under the Church that only operated during special situations.
Including the Head Officer in charge, it was an elite squad with only 30 people in the department. They would receive complete authority in dealing with heretics from the pope, and had the duty to guard the Devesis Church.
‘In other words, they would blame the royal families and nobles that are opposing the church as heretics and persecute them…’
‘With one mistake, it might end up as a large war between the Church and the Empire.’
‘These periods of reading the atmosphere are pretty much finished now.’
The cardinals shook their heads with pale expressions. As soon as the Inquisition began, a full scale fight would begin.
“As the Head Officer of this Inquisition Office, I’ll assign it to Great Priest Vaint who is currently active in the South region of the Empire.”
“Ah…”
In that instant, small murmurs left the cardinals’ lips.
‘Great Priest Vaint…’
‘The holy pope is planning to completely cut down the empire’s opposition with this chance.’
‘That devil-like Vaint is becoming the Head Officer of the Inquisition…’
‘A storm of blood will go through the Capital, no, the entire Empire…’
Loads of worries filled their bodies, but that didn’t mean they could go against Beldrica’s wishes. They all rapidly lowered their heads.
“We shall follow the holy pope’s words.”
In response, Beldrica made a satisfied expression and nodded.
“Hulhulhul.”
A bizarre laughter filled the audience room. On that day, the Inquisition Office was opened under the pope Beldrica’s name. To the sudden announcement, not only the Estia Empire but also the Church had become extremely rowdy. And on that very night, coincidentally the three young knights that had been opposing the Church had been named heretics and had their heads cut off with their hearts divided.
Several nobles that had been on the opposing side of the Church immediately broke out into a rebuttal. However, the other nobles that were together with the Church said there were no problems and in fact showed their agreements to the Inquisition.
The Estia Empire had become separated into two with the Church and the Inquisition Office forming one side. It was the beginning of a full-scale battle of authority.
And that had given birth to a completely unexpected incident.
Translator: Lunargrasp
Proofreader: Deathwing
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