parentshiftbook Chapter 399
Chapter 399
Chapter 399
People had been accused of being part of the Demon God Cult. When we left, the crowd had been furious, and the guards had been trying to hold back the angry mob, telling them not to take justice into their own hands. We didn’t know what had happened during the three hours we were gone, but it was clear the accused had all been executed.
This wasn’t some rural village; it was the capital of a state, albeit a small one, and this was all happening in the grand plaza where the warp gate was located.
Those who had been accused of being demon god worshipers were dead, and the enraged mob was howling for the dead bodies to be burned.
Whether an inquisitor had arrived and branded them as heretics before executing them, or the guards had taken it upon themselves, I didn’t know. But this execution had been carried out so swiftly that it was impossible that the proper procedures had been followed.
“This is insane... all these people...”
Olivia seemed to be feeling something that surpassed disgust and contempt. She clearly had not expected that those people would be killed without even a proper trial. Fear always bred anger. The people’s fear of the Demon King had turned into anger towards their neighbors, and they were seeking a scapegoat.
Olivia turned away from the horrific execution scene and the angry crowd, heading towards the investigation headquarters.
“What on earth are the Levainan royal family and the Church of the Five Great Gods doing?”
“...”
I couldn’t say anything.
“Could they be instigating this on purpose?”
The royal family and the church weren’t just sitting around doing nothing. In fact, they might have even encouraged this whole situation. They could at least have claimed that those people weren’t demon god cultists, but ordinary citizens. The crowd might have believed it, or not.
However, if those scapegoats had not been executed, the raging anger and fear would not subside. Whether those people were demon god cultists or not, their deaths had been necessary to temporarily quell the mob’s anger. The scapegoats had been executed with abnormal speed to give the crowd a sense of resolution.
If the angry crowd had turned into a riotous mob, it would have caused tremendous chaos. Releasing those suspected of being demon god cultists would have only further inflamed the crowd’s anger, so to control the situation, they had killed innocent people.
Olivia understood the circumstances. Whether she reached the truth or not didn’t matter. The purposeless violence of the crowd, engulfed in fear since the Demon King’s attack, was sure to play a decisive role in turning Olivia against humanity.
***
“Are you just going to leave this as it is?” Olivia asked Scotla Kelton, the head of the special investigation team, when we returned to the headquarters.
The middle-aged knight looked calm. He seemed to fully understand what Olivia was implying.
“Miss Olivia, you do understand what you’re saying, don’t you?” he replied.
“I know this could be considered interference in internal affairs, and that this investigation squad doesn’t have the authority for such actions. But... this is...”
Olivia, despite her disillusionment with humanity, would never go along with people being killed indiscriminately.
“Of course, I am aware that if left unchecked, this situation could escalate into a large-scale riot and turn into indiscriminate heretic hunting. However, the special investigation team is here to investigate the truth behind the demon attack, not to influence the internal affairs of the Kingdom of Levaina. We’re not to do anything beyond that,” he said.
Olivia wasn’t foolish. She understood what Kelton was saying. But having witnessed the madness of an expedited heresy trial which had culminated in people being executed, and knowing that this trend could continue or escalate into a riot, she felt frustrated doing nothing.
However, the special investigation unit could only operate according to its purpose, and what was happening in Raziern was clearly outside its scope. Olivia knew she was making an unreasonable request of the investigation head, but she couldn’t just leave the situation as it was. Olivia still had some humanity left in her.
“Of course, even without special authority, expressing a few words of concern about this situation to Levaina could have a meaningful impact,” Kelton said.
As the captain of the 3rd Division of Shanapell, the king of a small state like Levaina didn’t matter much to him. Moreover, he was currently acting under orders from the empire and overseeing a field operation. Although stepping in could be construed as an interference in internal affairs, he seemed to think it was out of the question.
“It isn’t just about Levania. Just doing so could be considered interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state,” he continued.
“Are you referring to the other vassal states...?” Olivia asked.
“Yes.”
It would be possible to interfere in Levaina’s internal affairs. However, if other vassal states learned that the empire had interfered in a vassal state’s internal affairs, they could become very uncomfortable. No matter how small the nation state, it was still an infringement on the sovereignty of a vassal state.
All the nations of humanity were part of the empire, but the empire was ultimately a federation of many states. While there were places like the capital that the empire governed directly, the vassal states had their own laws and sovereignty.
In the case of Levania, imperial investigators had come for the purpose of investigating an incident but getting involved in this incident would mean engaging in actions inconsistent with that purpose by interfering in internal affairs.
There were too many conditions that could be open to dispute, so no matter how dire the situation, Scotla Kelton’s stance was that the special investigation unit couldn’t intervene, and both Olivia and I had to understand that.
“Also, I don’t think this response is that bad. Presenting the truth to an angry crowd will only make them angrier. A few innocent people may die, but things will calm down soon,” Kelton said casually as he continued to read reports and make notes with his pen.
He was right. Telling those seeking a scapegoat that their scapegoat is innocent would only lead them to find another scapegoat or become even angrier. Anger demands resolution, even if its cause is misplaced.
The choice was between facing chaos in the form of a large-scale riot or finding scapegoats, executing a few of them, and restoring stability. The Levainan royal family and the church had chosen the lesser evil. Olivia stared at Scotla Kelton, who was casually twirling his pen, with a vacant expression.
It seemed she wasn’t blaming him for his cold conclusion but was rather at a loss herself, unable to find an answer.
“Of course, I don’t have the authority to step in, but there is someone here who does have the authority to interfere in internal affairs...” Scotla Kelton said, looking at me pointedly.
Raziern was an extreme example, but across the continent, people who were unable to find demons would surely seek out enemies in human form—the demon god cultists.
This place was just the beginning. A large-scale witch hunt for demon god cultists was about to begin.
And then, out of nowhere, we heard...
—Believe in Artorius!
—The hero will be reincarnated and defeat the Demon King!
Olivia, standing by the window, turned to look at me with a puzzled expression.
“...?”
“...?”
‘What did I just hear?’
—Hero Artorius will protect us!
“Did I hear that right? Did they say Artorius?” I asked.
“Yeah... it seems like it,” Olivia replied.
‘No way. What kind of nonsense is this?’
***
While it was understandable that people would be shouting about hunting demon god cultists, Olivia and I were taken aback by an even more unexpected pronouncement.
‘Believe in Artorius?’
Olivia and I immediately rushed out to the street and grabbed the person who was shouting at the top of their lungs.
“Excuse me.”
“Artorius will save us...!”
The person yelling those bizarre words was an elderly man.
“Ah, yes, what is it?” he asked.
“What are you talking about? Believe in Artorius?” she asked.
“You too should believe in the hero and be saved...! There’s no need to fear the Demon King...! None at all...!” he exclaimed with a face full of faith and conviction.
Olivia was dumbfounded, and so was I.
“But, Artorius... he fought the Demon King and... died, right?” I stammered.
The old man shook his head vigorously.
“Oh! Young man, you don’t know what you’re talking about! Sir Artorius didn’t die; he ascended! After achieving the great feat of defeating the Demon King, he ascended to the rank of a martial god...! Yes, a martial god! And now that the Demon King has returned, it’s only natural for Artorius to come back to finish his unfinished mission!”
‘No way.’
“You too should believe in the hero and await the coming salvation!”
‘What kind of bullshit is this?’
The old man moved away from us, crying out at the top of his lungs.
—Believe in Artorius!
—The time of salvation is near!
—The hero will return! So do not be afraid!
As we watched the old man’s back recede into the distance, Olivia and I exchanged glances.
“What is this Hero Cult?” I asked.
“How would I know...?” Olivia replied.
The hunt for demon god cultists was within the realm of possibility, but the emergence of a new religion that worshipped Ragan Artorius was completely unexpected, leaving us both stunned.