Chapter 46

The Demon Hunting Method Of The Regressed Inquisitor 46

My ■■■ (5)

“Our child is sorry.”

“…It feels awkward to hear that from someone who looks like that.”

On the outside, they look much younger than Lilia. However, their demeanor is much more mature.

“They don’t even know where their hatred comes from. So they can’t express it properly. As you said, they’re just a child, so even if their memories are confused, they can’t recognize it.”

As a child, they don’t know what makes them angry or sad.

All they can do is cry and throw tantrums. For a child who doesn’t know the world, that’s only natural.

“It must be hard to overlook all the havoc they’ve caused.”

“Indeed. Then how about this? Taking my life?”

“What…?”

“Is it strange for a parent to take responsibility for their child’s mistakes?”

“No, it’s not that, but…”

Is it okay to offer their life so easily?

No, this is already…

“Just kidding. My life is like a candle about to go out anyway. It wouldn’t be enough as a price.”

“You really have a suffocating way of speaking.”

“Hehehe.”

The eerie laughter is the same. But this one feels more childlike.

How can this be? A monster that has lived for thousands of years.

Yet, is it possible to maintain such purity?

“Thank you for initiating a conversation to understand my daughter.”

“That was sudden. And we haven’t even started the conversation yet, so it seems too early to hear such gratitude.”

“Yes, that’s true. Then shall we postpone the thanks for later?”

The boy, ＜The Eroding One＞, said as he walked ahead on the dark path.

“What I’m going to show you now is how we came to be. My daughter would never tell you, even if it kills her, so I have to explain.”

“…Do you hate me too?”

“I used to. But something more important than hating others came up, so I chose that instead.”

There is no need to mention what is more important than hating the shrine. Even though he had only a few days left to live, he was willing to give up his life for his daughter.

“Love, happiness, joy, expectation. Time is not enough to teach those things.”

He hoped his daughter would be happy.

Because of that hope, he had put aside his hatred and worked hard to enjoy a happy daily life.

The boy’s words carried weight.

He could somewhat guess what kind of being he was, so the weight of his words felt different.

“It’s right ahead. My nightmares and hopes are right ahead.”

The boy pointed behind him.

It was a place where nothing could be seen due to the pitch-black darkness.

No matter how you looked at it, it was suspicious…

“As a priest, it’s not right for me to say this, but it’s vague.”

“Hehe! Maybe so.”

He decided not to care.

Anyway, he was rational. Moreover, his gentle personality made him feel like he was facing an old priest.

It was hard to believe that such a being had raised a daughter like Lilia, who was like a wild child.

“Let’s go for now.”

“Yes.”

I turned my back, looking at the smile of the being known as the most feared in this world.

It was surprisingly not a big deal. Turning my back on such a monster.

What on earth am I believing in…

-When will it be?

A dark cave. As I moved forward, touching the wall, I heard a voice.

No, it wasn’t just a voice.

I saw other people. They had all turned into demons.

This is the dream of the ＜Eroding One＞.

So, it would be meaningless to talk to them since these are the things he saw and remembered.

I stopped for a moment and watched the group.

-When will I be able to get out of here? What if my children can’t even remember my face?

Probably the first ones to be trapped.

They couldn’t have guessed how long they would be trapped here.

Among that group, the ＜Eroding One＞ was also included.

Unlike the appearance seen earlier, he was now dazed like a dying patient, far from a gentle smile.

– This, it’s tiring to just sit here blankly, so shall we introduce ourselves?

It was a woman’s voice.

However, her face was not clearly visible. It was hard to tell if her hair was brown, black, or some other color.

– I was !#%$#. Normally, I wouldn’t be in a place like this.

Eventually, noise began to creep into her voice. Upon closer inspection, the only person whose appearance was clearly visible among the gathered people was a boy.

The pitch of the voice changed frequently, and even the appearance and gender changed.

The group continued to introduce themselves.

– That must have been… difficult.

The people gathered here were those who did not resist when the inquisitors came for them. They were given two choices.

To die and become dust, or to live and wait for an uncertain future.

Such choices were given only if they were unjustly victimized.

Those who became demons because they were deceived or had no other choice.

– Kid, how did you become a demon at such a young age?

The people who were asking about each other eventually turned their attention to the boy.

The boy, who was like a patient, turned his head with hollow eyes and answered.

– They didn’t kill me.

– ……

Everyone here understood the meaning of that answer.

The boy chose to die.

It was unknown why he became a demon, but he preferred death over waiting for a future that might never come.

Life had no meaning for him.

– Then, why are you here?

– The masked person couldn’t kill me. So, here I am.

An unexpected answer.

“Damn it…”

A curse slipped out.

The inquisitor had decided on his own, regardless of the boy’s choice.

The boy’s life must have been quite tragic. He probably didn’t want to become a demon, and he likely didn’t even understand what it meant.

He wished for death.

But the inquisitor couldn’t kill him. Even with the mask symbolizing his disgrace, he couldn’t kill his guilt.

This is a disqualification for an inquisitor. Personal feelings interfered with the rules.

To alleviate his own guilt, he pushed an innocent boy into hell.

“I expected it, but it’s an even more disgusting scene than I thought.”

Truly, it was a terrible thing.

*     *      *

What they had left was time.

– Well, I don’t know what it is, but if you live, you’ll find a reason to live. So let’s just try something for now.

So they created a living environment.

Essentially, they were good people, so they were good at uniting.

They dug into the walls of the cave with their hands, creating their own rooms, and gathered moss and insects to extract oil and light a fire to illuminate the darkness.

Life in the dark cave began. Long, very long indeed.

The boy followed them. Without knowing the reason for life, he just did what they did.

Time passed. It kept passing.

New people joined, and they taught them the rules they had set.

They created or abolished new rules and continued to live.

They didn’t need to eat. Being half-immortal, living in the dark cave wasn’t a big problem.

– Now, now I can’t do it anymore!

But that’s the thing about the passage of time. As stagnant humans, they couldn’t endure the mere passage of time.

– How much time has passed? How much time has passed! What happened to everyone! My son, daughter, wife, friends, all of them! Yes, all of them…

It was someone’s cry.

The words couldn’t continue, but everyone knew what would come next.

They didn’t die, they just spent time. The reasons they had to live were disappearing one by one.

– Ah! I hate it now! Just kill me! I’d rather you kill me!

There were those who went mad.

The cave was wide, and they could somehow get oil to light it, but that moment was fleeting.

It was too dark a world to endure with just a small light.

– What are the priests doing! Why aren’t they coming to find us! Haven’t they found a way to turn demons back into humans yet?

Indeed.

Humans never found a way to turn the demons back into humans.

Even up to this very moment.

– Maybe they just forgot about us.

– How can you say that?

– Isn’t it possible? It’s been a hundred years since new people stopped coming in.

The sarcastic assumption made by someone pushed everyone into despair.

Yes, that statement is also true. No, the probability of that is very high.

In a sense, this place was the disgrace of the Pantheon.

– Damn you, Pantheon b*stards!

There were those who tried to find the exit. Of course, there was none.

They were initially buried deep in the cave, and the entrance was physically blocked.

They were abandoned in a place so deep that they could never escape in their lifetime.

– Sob, sob…

Many spent their days in tears. They would rather die.

But they couldn’t.

They chose to be trapped in the darkness because they didn’t want to die in the first place.

They were those who didn’t even have the courage to die.

Of course, over time, some managed to pull themselves together.

But even they…

– Ah, it hurts! I can’t do this! How can I repeat this until I die?!

Because of the demons’ regenerative power, they had to relive the fear again and again.

Such despairing times passed.

The number of people gathered in the cave exceeded hundreds.

Most of them went mad.

And among them

– The oil ran out, so I refilled it, Mr. !@#$.

– …Thank you, Eremus.

The boy was different.

The boy now had a name.

Eremus (ĕrémus). A name given to the boy who was always alone.

Perhaps only the boy was the most humane and full of hope.

When everyone was losing the meaning of life, the boy might have thought the opposite, that he wanted to live.

That was the result of everyone’s efforts.

They told sweet dreams to the child who couldn’t find the meaning of life. So that the boy could hold meaning in his life.

Thanks to that, the boy realized how narrow his world was. Because of those stories, he could think that the world was full of beauty.

Even though those who showed him those dreams were all going mad.

-What did you say? You son of a b*tch! Say it again!

Time passed even in such a situation.

A time when they couldn’t die and only accumulated stress from each other.

Stress and dissatisfaction piled up, and there was no way to relieve it. Therefore, it was expressed in the form of violence.

Even the good-natured people began to show violence. Even those who didn’t want to harm others and chose to lock themselves in caves.

In the end, they were just mere humans.

And that taught them one terrible fact.

-Is he dead…?

Someone’s death.

One among hundreds. Someone ended this terrible life.

They couldn’t die by themselves. So if someone killed them, they could disappear from this world.

It was visible that they were more obsessed with such thoughts than blaming the one who killed their colleague.

It was a terrible world.

-Hey, hey… Can you kill me? If you tie my arms and legs and strangle me, I can endure the pain until I die!

Fortunately, that opinion was dismissed.

But even that had its limits.

-Eremus, the person in the next room, Mr. !@#$, passed away in his sleep yesterday.

Someone died. And peacefully at that.

He was a person who had given up interacting with others and shut himself in.

-…There was such a way.

His death was from exhaustion.

Having spent a long time alone, and having tried to hang himself several times whenever he had the courage, he finally exhausted all the energy left in his body.

After that, one by one.

The number of people dying from exhaustion increased.

It was a strange thing.

Everyone began to regard that death as a blessing, believing that one day they would be the one to experience it.

Of course, there were those who couldn’t endure it. Those who couldn’t bear the pain but wanted to end their lives.

– Ah, anyway, if the magic inside the body disappears, you can die, right?

They analyzed the cause of death. It was quickly discovered that if the magic was consumed, the regenerative ability would disappear.

So how to get rid of the magic? The simplest way would be to release the magic outside the body, but…

– Ha, don’t do it!

The magic released outside was reabsorbed into people’s bodies, perhaps due to the confined space. Not by the person who released it, but by those nearby.

A great commotion ensued.

People emerged who tried to pass on the magic to others and face death themselves.

– Eremus.

– …

In the end, they found someone to pass the magic onto. They prepared a single scapegoat and dumped everything onto him.

Their lives, their despair.

– I, I actually wanted to run a flower shop. I just wanted to live a life surrounded by flowers.

Even their unfulfilled dreams and regrets.

In a sense, it was also a form of torture.

The time of confession before facing death.

In the end, it was just a process of dumping everything onto Eremus.

The number of people filling the vast cave decreased exponentially.

– Eremus. You must live. You must live, at least.

– Yes, I will.

The countless people who filled the cave were now reduced to just two.

Eremus and an honorable knight.

The two of them were accepting all the despair and madness of the people.

– Eremus, any problems recently?

– We’re always together, so is there anything that could be a problem?

It was a name that remained even in Eremus’s faint memories.

Richard was a knight who became a demon to protect his comrades. He did not run away from that sin.

Living under his honor and beliefs, he must have been strong.

-Our Black Lion Knights were the pride of the empire. I was the leader of the knights, but I thought it was more important for many knights to survive than just me. I believed that was for the future. So, I don’t regret what happened.

The leader of the knights who sacrificed himself.

He now missed the Black Lion emblem on his worn-out armor.

The lion he drew on the ground fascinated Eremus.

More vivid than any story, it made the boy’s heart race.

-Eremus.

-…….

But eventually, that day came.

The light disappeared from the eyes of the knight who had such a strong heart.

When he called Eremus, Eremus had already realized.

-Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Richard.

Eremus smiled at Richard, who was hesitating.

He already knew everything, so he didn’t need to hear the answer.

Richard wept, rubbing his eyes. He apologized to Eremus for his weakness.

And in the end…

Eremus was left alone.

There was no one left to talk to him.

-I know now.

Eremus, who had absorbed the power of hundreds of demons, had become a being that transcended all limitations.

The eyes of the boy who once dreamed had now become dull.

No one could kill Eremus, and he couldn’t die himself.

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-The world is not as beautiful as I dreamed it would be.

He had to go out into the world now. In fact, it had been a long time since he could go out.

It was shortly after he was left alone.

He already had the power to remove the shackles that bound him and the walls that blocked the world.

Yet, he stayed in the cave, probably because he was afraid.

If he confirmed that the dream he had was false, he probably wouldn’t be able to endure it.

-Still, I have to check. To see what this world is like, if there is even a little bit of beauty. Because you all hoped and dreamed for it.

The boy who was afraid to wake up from his dream decided to move forward.

-Because you told me to live.

It must have taken at least several decades to make such a decision.

BOOM!!

Eremus collapsed the entire mountain and finally emerged into the world.

The sun, which he hadn’t seen in thousands of years, signaled the scorching summer.

It wasn’t as impressive as he thought.

He could only accept the fact that his world had expanded.

Eremus moved forward. To see and experience the world. In the midst of that…

– Mine, you have two choices. Die here, or be detained in the Pantheon with the hope of becoming human again.

– …

They appeared. The group that had imprisoned him thousands of years ago.

Wearing the same masks, those who dared to abandon and forget them.

They uttered such words.

– Heh…

A hollow laugh burst out.

Something inside Eremus seemed to twist.

And that day, the trial named “The Corruptor” was born.