Chapter 44

“…Liar. Cough, cough!”

“Anne.”

“Louis, if I die…”

044

The Most Precious (Part 2)

By the time I stepped outside the silver bars, leaving the reformatory was already a foregone conclusion. Anne didn’t say it outright, but it was proof enough. Whether my will had grown stronger or the divine barrier had weakened, the pain remained, but unlike before, I no longer collapsed unconscious.

Of course, the distorted space of the reformatory still appeared to me as nothing but a white horizon, but what followed was swift. Anne led me out of the reformatory.

Outside, the temple’s army, eyes wide with hatred and fury, awaited me.

Clank. Clank.

Though I was frightened by their menacing appearance, Anne’s promise was kept. Instead of being beheaded on the spot, I was dragged by rough hands and loaded onto a slave cart.

Originally used to transport beasts or gladiator slaves, the cart still reeked of a foul stench despite hasty cleaning. I let out a hollow laugh as I saw the reinforced walls and ceiling, layered to prevent escape.

I am not a heretic. I am not a monster. I am Joseph, different from those inhuman beings.

That’s why I couldn’t overturn this cart and escape. Inside the cramped, dark cart, the windows were blocked, and though sunlight couldn’t penetrate, the murmurs outside seeped through the cracks to reach my ears.

“It’s been so long since the procession of atonement began again…”

“This time, it’s just one person? For the Inquisition Temple to go this far, what kind of heinous criminal must they be…”

“Step aside! Clear the way!”

The old man’s lament, the chatter of the ignorant, the soldiers’ shouts—even though I couldn’t see anything, my other senses sharpened in the darkness. People were gathering. For the first time in decades, a rare spectacle drew them in, their voices and heat boiling over.

And so, when the cart finally stopped and the door opened, when I stepped outside for the first time in what felt like an eternity, what I felt wasn’t the joy of escape but a wave of violent sensations.

“……!”

“……”

“……?”

The season was slowly approaching winter. Even the faint sunlight filtering through the clouds was harsh to someone who had been trapped in darkness for so long.

It had been early spring when I reunited with Anne, but in the reformatory, I couldn’t feel the passage of time.

Inside, there was nothing but me, Anne, and pain. My days were a cycle of accumulating pain through Anne and then releasing it through her.

Because of you, life in the reformatory was painful, and because of you, I somehow endured that painful life. And now, you are still by my side.

“Step out.”

Clad in silver armor, fully armed.

The cane I had placed in the middle of the cart wobbled but remained level. Still, getting out of the cart with one leg was no easy task, so Anne helped me.

Her hand on my side was cold. Her kindness ended there.

“Hear ye, citizens of Dein, blessed by Ailim’s grace!”

The largest soldiers among the temple army stepped forward to read the proclamation. Their booming voices echoed not just in front of us but throughout the city.

“Today, by His mercy, a heinous criminal shall walk the procession of atonement!”

I didn’t know the ancient history of when this was a kingdom, but I knew Dein. I had visited a few times.

A small city not far from Yefrinse. Of course, it wasn’t close enough to walk to, so I had only been there a few times when the village needed supplies. My impressions from then were still vivid in my mind.

An unremarkable city, larger than our village but with fewer people and not particularly famous. Perhaps because of the Inquisition Temple, or maybe just because there was nothing to see, it was always quiet and static.

“Waaaaah!”

“Kill! Kill! Kill!”

“Calm down! Calm down! Direct violence against the atoning criminal is prohibited!”

Was there always this many people here?

At least a hundred pairs of eyes stared at me. The hostility in their gazes was transparent, making it all the more chilling. They didn’t know me. They had no connection to me. I had never harmed them.

But sometimes, people’s lives need a bit of excitement. Not the cultured, boring pastimes like reading or tea time that the upper class enjoys.

From five-year-olds running through the alleys to eighty-year-olds lying in bed waiting to die. Something everyone can easily understand and get excited about.

Blood and violence.

“So, what did that guy do?”

“I don’t know… Tsk. Look at his skinny body and missing leg. Poor guy.”

People cursing me without knowing anything. People pitying me. Soldiers shouting to stop the excited crowd from approaching. The noise and heat they created pushed me forward even without touching me.

I clung to my cane, barely keeping my trembling body upright. I hadn’t even taken a step yet, but my limbs, already absorbing the indiscriminate malice of ordinary people, shook and curled on their own.

But Anne offered no comfort, no encouragement. For an Inquisition Judge, her small frame, the blue eyes glimpsed through her helmet, the faint scent of perfume amidst the metallic smell—I couldn’t mistake you for anyone else.

The emotions, gestures, and attitude you showed me were so cold—

Are you not you?

I wish you weren’t you.

Clank.

The chain connected to the iron collar I had worn since before boarding the cart. This was no festival, regardless of the crowd’s excitement. Perhaps it was for the king of a now-vanished kingdom.

For the Religious Order, this was a sacred religious event. They didn’t force piety on the gathered spectators, but the temple soldiers, except for those shouting to control the situation, maintained a solemn silence.

There were no declarations or fireworks to mark the start of the event.

Clink.

The Inquisition Judge simply took a step forward, holding the chain. The chain, like a snake, unraveled from her hand, the metallic scales clinking as a sense of pressure reached me.

The chain was quite long. I could lag a few steps behind. But if I stood still, the Inquisition Judge would mercilessly yank the chain.

My body trembled. I was drenched in sweat before it even began. If I fell once… could I get back up?

“Ugh.”

A short groan escaped my unblocked mouth. It probably didn’t reach the ears of the shouting crowd, but at least one person nearby must have heard it.

The silver helmet didn’t turn. Before the Inquisition Judge took another step, I clenched my teeth and took a step forward.

Leaning on my cane, I hopped forward, landed, then lifted the cane and placed it down again. While lifting the cane, I had to balance on one leg.

If this cane wasn’t something that could stand firm in any situation, I would have collapsed without taking a single proper step. Not that it was easy now.

“Haa, haa.”

I was out of breath before taking ten steps. Looking back, the grotesque cart stood tall at the starting point, and the road ahead was flat. This path circled the city, so walking to the end would bring me back to where I started.

And when I reached the cart, the starting and ending point—everything would be over. When I stepped out of the cart for the second time, I would no longer be a heretic but a human, no longer a wolf persecuted by the Religious Order but a lamb under its protection.

If only I could walk this entire path.

Perhaps because the soldiers shouted and pushed back the approaching crowd, the gathered people simply watched as I took thirty steps.

The Inquisition Judge walked ahead. The distance between her and me grew and shrank. It wasn’t out of consideration but seemed like some predetermined rule, as her armor moved like an automaton in a steady rhythm.

It’s okay, I repeated to myself. I can keep up. Just follow the taut chain ahead. Don’t think about how much is left, just keep looking at it…

Whoosh, thud.

Don’t look back.

If I turned my head now, I might lose my balance. And what would I do even if I looked? It’s okay, it missed. It didn’t even have the force of something thrown by a child or a woman. It’s okay, it’s okay.

The soldiers weren’t blocking people to protect me. They were just preventing others from interfering with the penitent’s path. Only the sinner atoning for their crimes and the overseer had the right to walk this path.

But outside the path, the soldiers turned a blind eye. Unless someone openly threw a knife or a flaming arrow.

People’s hands held things as varied as their lives. Some had stones, some had eggs, spoiled cheese, filth, branches, rotten fruit, clumps of leather, bone fragments…

The sky was as gray-blue as your eyes. The sunlight was faint, and clouds gathered, but it didn’t seem like rain was imminent.

But what were these sounds?

From the hands of humans, not the clouds, rain began to fall.

A small pebble thrown by someone I didn’t know was the start. Of course, it missed miserably, but the people, watching each other, began to join in.

Most missed. Something hit or shattered behind me, and in front of me, the once-flat path was now littered with moldy cheese. Of course, with this body, even slightly changing my path was difficult, so I ended up stepping on the cheese.

The sacred ground wasn’t stained, but the sole of my shoe stuck with something foul. Trying not to smell the stench, I kept muttering to myself.

It’s okay, I’m okay, really, this is nothing, I’ve dealt with worse as a kid, it’s just cheese, I haven’t even been hit yet—

Thud.

A dull pain shot through my side, and half the world turned red.