My Childhood Friend Became an Inquisitor

“Why do you always play alone?”
“…No one plays with me. They say I’m like a noble lord, that I’m unpleasant.”
“What mean kids! Then let’s play together.”
*

I didn’t know why such an absurd thing was happening.

Just a moment ago, my reunion with Anne had been the biggest concern of my life. Now, an incomparably greater problem was shaking me to my core.
Literally.

The Crusader army attacking our village, how could this make any sense?

“Argh! You spawn of evil!”

“Annihilate them! Stand bravely!”

“Rest to the souls that cannot be saved.”

A cacophony of violence and screams erupting from all directions. The sound of clashing swords and splattering blood. My chest ached dully from my heartbeat, which sounded louder than even the horse hooves.

While I was dazed for a moment, all escape routes were blocked, and I found myself reduced to cowering in a corner of the house, waiting for the catastrophe. My senses became unnaturally keen, and I could vividly feel the unpleasant presence gradually approaching.

Bang! Military boots rip off the shabby door. The soldier who stepped inside was a head taller than me, his body encased in seamless silver armor.

Quickly ambush him while he’s unaware and escape – such a fanciful plan was erased from my mind as soon as it appeared. How could I, unarmed and untrained in combat, take down such a muscular figure?

All I could do was wedge myself into the most secluded corner and hold my breath, praying that this moment would pass without me being discovered.

Thud. Thud.

The soldier walked around the house with slow, heavy steps. Judging by his actions, it seemed he had suspicions but no certainty.

“I thought I saw someone here earlier…”

I worried my heartbeat was so loud it might give me away. Unable to clutch my aching chest, stiff as a corpse, I just waited for this bloodless time to pass.

Fortunately, the soldier didn’t seem to have found me. He walked around the house with leisurely movements like a satiated predator, and finally turned to leave, apparently having found nothing. He was about to leave…

Crack.

Something was crushed under his feet. Straw flew, and the contents inside spilled messily in all directions.
The doll.

Don’t notice, don’t know anything. Just leave like this. Please, please.
Ple…ase…

However, if God truly existed in this world, He would naturally favor the one who had been more faithful to Him.

“There you are.”

The next moment, a brutish hand smashed the furniture I was hiding behind and grabbed me, dragging me out.

My throat is constricted. I can’t breathe. Splintered wood scrapes my body as it passes. The soldier effortlessly subdued me as I struggled desperately to live, as if gripping a kitten by the scruff of its neck.

“P-please spare… Ugh.”

“Found you. Filthy heretic’s minion.”

The soldier’s eyes were filled with incomprehensible, firm, and fierce hostility as he looked at me. Eyes of a fanatic that wouldn’t be swayed by feeble pleas or pity.

His mind was as unyielding as his armor. Without even flinching as my flailing limbs struck him, the soldier lifted me up with just one hand, choking me. Incredible strength.

“Asking to be spared? How many have closed their eyes unable to return to Ailim’s embrace because of you heretics?”

I’m not a heretic.

I’m just an ordinary, insignificant person who had to let go of even the one I loved because of that. A pitiful human who never once exceeded his station.

But no explanation could escape my tightly constricted throat. As the world darkened and my lifeline was about to snap-

Thud. The soldier released his choking grip.

“Gah! Huh, haa, ha…”

Before I could feel the pain of falling, I hit the floor on my backside and gasped for air roughly. My throat throbbed as if bruised, but the air I swallowed was so sweet nonetheless.

Am I alive? Just as I was beginning to harbor such vain hope-
Shing. The low sound of a sword being drawn.

“Foul and shameless one! If you have another life, may you repent then.”

A shadow looms over me as I’m in an awkward posture. The warrior who had drawn his gleaming sword with the sun at his back looked like a judge from a holy painting.

The sword tip points straight at my neck. That killing intent was so intuitive that it silenced me, allowing no rebuttal. Unwavering, drawing a straight line, the iron lightning bolt plunges towards me.

I’m… dying…

Kwaaang!

And then, a typhoon struck.

The overwhelming impact sent not only me but even the soldier who had seemed so sturdy flying and tumbling like fallen leaves. Even through the rising dust and my dizzy mind, I struggled to grasp the situation.

What just happened? A violence like a natural disaster. Something had smashed through one wall of the house entirely, sending us flying like toys.

As the aftermath settles, I gradually see the figure of the other person. Their small stature, even shorter than mine, gave an impression of solidity rather than weakness, and the crimson cross on their armor, even more splendid than the soldier’s, caught my eye.

A terrifying shape that looked as if thorns had sprouted on its surface, or as if blood had congealed into lumps. As the soldier staggered but reached for his sword again, a clear voice that didn’t match the frightening appearance rang out.

“Stop.”

The soldier ended up dropping the sword he had been extending towards me. The figure that approached with heavy steps kicked the sword away, then stood between me and him as if to block.

Once again, my chest swells with futile hope, pounding. It couldn’t be, but maybe, just maybe.

Could it be that they came to save me?
That feeling expanded to its limit as the person turned to look at me and removed their helmet.

“An…ne…?”

It was hard to believe, but that was the reality I encountered.

A girl breathtakingly beautiful even with her slightly sweat-dampened appearance. Her melancholic grayish-blue eyes looked down at me with an indescribable expression.

That face was both familiar and strange. Perhaps I felt that way even more because of the current situation.

The face of the girl who once hesitated to even crush an insect was now cold and hard. The cool flame floating in those eyes was unmistakable. The eyes of a fanatic.

But the instinct to survive denies what it sensed, denies reality. Staggering, unable to stand properly, I approached Anne, half-crawling.

“What, what’s going on…? The villagers are…”

“I couldn’t find one.”

“…What?”

An abrupt answer. One implying a meaning I didn’t want to understand.

“Louis.”

Anne called my name gently. For that moment, you were the you I knew. Kind and beautiful and shining, a little star come down to earth-

Then what is that threatening armor enveloping your body? That small storm you unleashed? The mace you threw had created a crater in the corner of the house.

An all too familiar smile. She asks in a light, casual tone as if inquiring about my well-being.

“Where’s your fiancée?”

The truth I didn’t want to acknowledge rushes in as if being shoved into my head.

Even as a country bumpkin, I had some experience from reading books and traveling to the city. The cross is a symbol only members of the Church can use, and among them, the sword-shaped cross belongs to the Crusaders, the Church’s direct military force.

That thorny red cross, more intimidating than holy, more terrifying than sacred, was the symbol of the most notorious group even within the Church.

“Why…?”

“Hm?”

“Why are you asking that…? What are you… planning to do…?”

Anne just smiled without answering.

Instead, my gaze turned to that remote, cornered spot. The mace Anne had thrown was covered in dirt and wood splinters, with unidentifiable black liquid dripping from it, but – it still emitted a shimmering radiance. Just like her smile.

“Don’t worry, Louis.”

Anne reached out and gently stroked my hair. A light skinship that used to be nothing out of the ordinary.

But what I felt now was not her warmth, but only the cold, sticky touch of iron gauntlets.

“No harm will come to you.”

To me, that sentence sounded a bit different. Only to me.

“I, I don’t know…”

“Are you lying to me too? That’s disappointing.”

Pushing me to my limits where I could no longer doubt or deny, reality thrust its head in and smiled prettily.

What stood there was an Anne I didn’t know. An Inquisitor carrying out a massacre, wielding a vicious armor and destructive mace. And yet, that face, apart from having matured considerably, still retained the features from childhood.

Looking at those eyes burning coldly, a mixture of blindness and fanaticism, I wanted to ask. What on earth had changed you like this?

And if you’ve changed, why are you still the same as in childhood only to me?

“I, I really don’t know. And.”

“Yes?”

“If I were to know, what would…”

Anne tilted her head and asked back. Her clean voice, neither angry nor spiteful, rather instilled fear in me.

“Are you taking another woman’s side in front of me?”

Feeling that any answer would be wrong, I couldn’t say anything. I don’t know how she interpreted my silence, but the smile gradually faded from Anne’s lips.

“If you don’t want to answer, that’s okay.”

“I, I really…”

“Yes, I believe you.”

She didn’t look like she believed me at all. Anne leaned down and caressed my cheek as if petting an animal. But unlike her affectionate touch, her face was terribly expressionless.

“Louis, you’re a coward, but when it comes to protecting someone precious, you become braver than anyone. You’ve always been like that.”

I’m aware that she’s making an absurd misunderstanding. But I wasn’t given a chance to explain.

Whack. Something struck the back of my head. It wasn’t a beheading, but the blunt impact made my body go limp, and the world began to fade away.

The last thing I saw before my eyelids closed completely was the cold back of the Inquisitor, who had put her helmet back on and was giving orders to her subordinates.

“Take him away.”