Monza knocked on my office door three days after that.
“Commander, is it ok?”
“Yes, please”
Calm faced Monza slips into the room without making a single footstep sound.
Even though she looks like this, she is a master hunter.
She laid the obtained documents on my desk.
“These are the records of tailing those six people. Simply put, all of them are believers of radiant church. At the same time, they all worship at the same place. There is no other contact besides this.”
“I see.”
So, the religion is the common point.
If that is the link, I can understand the weird attack on the other day.
Unless they penetrate the castle gate, the bow cavalry had no choice but to move around in confusion. That was rough tactics, perhaps there was some absurd pretext.
Smilingly Monza asks me.
“Shall we do it?”
The question she asked is, in short, ‘Will you kill off all radiant believers?’.
Although it is sufficiently disturbing thought, but it’s common sense for demons. Once you go against the strong, you should be ready for death.
Be that as it may, against humans I don’t really want to do it.
Because they would begrudge immediately.
I shook my head.
“If you want to eat the chicken, let it lay the eggs first. Let’s watch the situation”
“Eh?”
Monza looked dissatisfied. You, showing an attitude like that towards me, the boss, are also considerably insolent.
Since I know her spoiled attitude, I replied with a wry smile.
“Boss of Radiant Church… Priest Yuhito, right, keep an eye on him. If something happens, inform me immediately. Investigate his personal history. Especially the relationship with Tuban.”
“Yes, roger!”
Monza saluted me.
On the same day, my suspicion towards Priest Yuhito turned into conviction. Yuhito, the Priest of Radiant Church, Ryun Height, was born in the the neighbouring industrial town Tuban. From the deacon of Tuban, as a promotion, he became the chief of neighboring church of Ryun Height.
Naturally, he has an influence among radiant believers in Tuban.
As in any city, most of the palace guards are radiant believers who believe in discipline and cooperation.
Then the final clue is this.
“All of the six people we caught were always praising Yuhito. Seems he was very enthusiastic about ‘preaching’. The neighborhood heretics were very much bothered by it.”
Monza said that while sniffing the tea leaves in my room.
“Oi, that tea is my favourite. Don’t open that much, the fragrance will spread.”
This tea, I found at last in this world, is the closest to japanese tea. Grabbing that out of Monza’s hand, I locked it in the drawer of my office table.
Monza making a disgruntled face, asked me.
“Stingy commander. So, what do we do? This time for sure…”
“I won’t do it.”
I smiled at the discontent Monza.
“This is my job from this point onwards. You people return to the surveillance of the six people we had caught. I, with Jerik squad, will meet Yuhito.”
“What are you going to do? Ah, commander will deal with it himself.”
“No… but why, do you want to kill so much”
As a demon, that is natural, but I can not keep pace with it.
Opening another drawer, I take out the prepared sealed letter.
“I will deal with the human in human way. Well, leave it to me.”
“Commander is also a werewolf, right?”
“Well, that is true.”
There are many places of worship of the radiant faith in Ryun height, but there is only one church where ceremonies are held. It is a majestic stone building.
Night has fallen. Lamps are lighted here and there making the church stand out with whimsical light. The suspended sculpture in the middle of darkness imitating the sun is quite mysterious.
Climbing the stone steps, I requested the doorkeeper in front of the door for a meeting with the priest.
“I am the vice-commander of third division of demon army, Vaito. I want to meet with Priest Yuhito-dono.”
Being led into a guest room with splendid interior, I waited for Yuhito sitting on a chair.
After sometime, the middle aged priest came in.
“Since I had prayer duties, I was late. I’m sorry.”
“No, I also apologize for this sudden visit.”
Well, let’s begin the fight.
At first, I apologized about arresting the six people of radiant belief. It is a light jab.
“Since it was an emergency situation, I restrained the six people and had them investigated. But that is also my duty, please forgive me.”
“No no, not at all”
Hmm, seems he is not trembling. There is no smell.
As expected of a man who leads a faith exceeding a thousand followers.
“By the way, I heard Yuhito-dono is from Tuban.”
I did not overlook eyebrows of the priest which moved for an instant.
Remaining very calm, he fleetingly glances at me.
“Eh, that is true. What about it?”
Seems he wants to play dumb thoroughly.
Here is the ruler. If the other party wants to play dumb, then there is no need for sluggish moves.
“Yuhito-dono, did you incite the radiant believers of Tuban?”
He is silent. He doesn’t deny.
Even if he denies, I would never believe it. Looks like he already knew that.
The Priest takes a deep breath.
Then, he muttered this.
“When I was in Tuban, I had doves.”
Without interrupting his remarks, I patiently listened carefully.
Priest Yuhito continued.
“When I was newly appointed in Ryun Height, I brought a few of them with me. They still remembered the pigeon house in Tuban.”
I see, he used carrier pigeons instead.
This time, Yuhito asks me a question.
“I think, you came here with the intention to kill me?”
Without answering that, I told him this.
“Because of you, I ended up killing four hundred of the Tuban soldiers who I had no grudges against to begin with. All of them.”
Yuhito’s complexion changed quickly.
In field battle, he never expected that all of four hundred people would die. Practically, in general, if there are around a hundred casualties, then they should have retreated.
“All, all of them, is it…?”
The priest’s voice is trembling.
To daunt him, I purposefully grin broadly.
“You underestimated us. Demon army doesn’t forgive those who defy us.”
After causing the feeling of despair a plenty, I drew closer to Priest Yuhito.
“You made a stupid move, Priest-dono. But why do you antagonize us going to such length? Are you dissatisfied with the freedom of belief.”
Then Yuhito taking a deep breath, stroked his own cheeks.
“Humans…”
Stopping for a little bit after saying that, he continued in one go.
“Humans must not be ruled by someone other than human.”
I see, so it’s like that.
I was also a human in previous life, I understand the feeling. It is not fun to be ruled by werewolves.
Therefore without hiding my intention, I ask the necessary question.
“Is that your opinion as the leader of Radiant faith?”
Immediately, Yuhito shook is head.
“Not at all. This is strictly my personal opinion.”
“Yuhito-dono, even though you don’t have enough power to dispel demons, seems to dislike living together with demons.”
I made him listen to plenty of irony.
I am the one holding the sword of life and death. If I have even a second, I can roll that head on the red carpet.
But Yuhito without fear, looked straight at me.
“This world should be ruled by humans, not the demons. Same as it had been until now.”
If a demon hears it, he would not be able to hold his laughter, but I understand that feeling all too well.
Even if I say it, we occupied Ryun Height with our military power. With the power of words, we should not let go of that right.
What’s more, denying the rule of demons itself, doesn’t leave a room for compromise.
However much of a human I may have been previously, I would not concede on that part.
I can understand that emotion, but the time for negotiation seems to be over.
Moving my face closer to him, I showed him the expression I had practiced just for times like this.
“Interesting. In that case, let me subdue you with the power of humans.”
I took it out from my breast pocket.
Monza knocked on my office door three days after that.
“Commander, is it ok?”
“Yes, please”
Calm faced Monza slips into the room without making a single footstep sound.
Even though she looks like this, she is a master hunter.
She laid the obtained documents on my desk.
“These are the records of tailing those six people. Simply put, all of them are believers of radiant church. At the same time, they all worship at the same place. There is no other contact besides this.”
“I see.”
So, the religion is the common point.
If that is the link, I can understand the weird attack on the other day.
Unless they penetrate the castle gate, the bow cavalry had no choice but to move around in confusion. That was rough tactics, perhaps there was some absurd pretext.
Smilingly Monza asks me.
“Shall we do it?”
The question she asked is, in short, ‘Will you kill off all radiant believers?’.
Although it is sufficiently disturbing thought, but it’s common sense for demons. Once you go against the strong, you should be ready for death.
Be that as it may, against humans I don’t really want to do it.
Because they would begrudge immediately.
I shook my head.
“If you want to eat the chicken, let it lay the eggs first. Let’s watch the situation”
“Eh?”
Monza looked dissatisfied. You, showing an attitude like that towards me, the boss, are also considerably insolent.
Since I know her spoiled attitude, I replied with a wry smile.
“Boss of Radiant Church… Priest Yuhito, right, keep an eye on him. If something happens, inform me immediately. Investigate his personal history. Especially the relationship with Tuban.”
“Yes, roger!”
Monza saluted me.
On the same day, my suspicion towards Priest Yuhito turned into conviction. Yuhito, the Priest of Radiant Church, Ryun Height, was born in the the neighbouring industrial town Tuban. From the deacon of Tuban, as a promotion, he became the chief of neighboring church of Ryun Height.
Naturally, he has an influence among radiant believers in Tuban.
As in any city, most of the palace guards are radiant believers who believe in discipline and cooperation.
Then the final clue is this.
“All of the six people we caught were always praising Yuhito. Seems he was very enthusiastic about ‘preaching’. The neighborhood heretics were very much bothered by it.”
Monza said that while sniffing the tea leaves in my room.
“Oi, that tea is my favourite. Don’t open that much, the fragrance will spread.”
This tea, I found at last in this world, is the closest to japanese tea. Grabbing that out of Monza’s hand, I locked it in the drawer of my office table.
Monza making a disgruntled face, asked me.
“Stingy commander. So, what do we do? This time for sure…”
“I won’t do it.”
I smiled at the discontent Monza.
“This is my job from this point onwards. You people return to the surveillance of the six people we had caught. I, with Jerik squad, will meet Yuhito.”
“What are you going to do? Ah, commander will deal with it himself.”
“No… but why, do you want to kill so much”
As a demon, that is natural, but I can not keep pace with it.
Opening another drawer, I take out the prepared sealed letter.
“I will deal with the human in human way. Well, leave it to me.”
“Commander is also a werewolf, right?”
“Well, that is true.”
There are many places of worship of the radiant faith in Ryun height, but there is only one church where ceremonies are held. It is a majestic stone building.
Night has fallen. Lamps are lighted here and there making the church stand out with whimsical light. The suspended sculpture in the middle of darkness imitating the sun is quite mysterious.
Climbing the stone steps, I requested the doorkeeper in front of the door for a meeting with the priest.
“I am the vice-commander of third division of demon army, Vaito. I want to meet with Priest Yuhito-dono.”
Being led into a guest room with splendid interior, I waited for Yuhito sitting on a chair.
After sometime, the middle aged priest came in.
“Since I had prayer duties, I was late. I’m sorry.”
“No, I also apologize for this sudden visit.”
Well, let’s begin the fight.
At first, I apologized about arresting the six people of radiant belief. It is a light jab.
“Since it was an emergency situation, I restrained the six people and had them investigated. But that is also my duty, please forgive me.”
“No no, not at all”
Hmm, seems he is not trembling. There is no smell.
As expected of a man who leads a faith exceeding a thousand followers.
“By the way, I heard Yuhito-dono is from Tuban.”
I did not overlook eyebrows of the priest which moved for an instant.
Remaining very calm, he fleetingly glances at me.
“Eh, that is true. What about it?”
Seems he wants to play dumb thoroughly.
Here is the ruler. If the other party wants to play dumb, then there is no need for sluggish moves.
“Yuhito-dono, did you incite the radiant believers of Tuban?”
He is silent. He doesn’t deny.
Even if he denies, I would never believe it. Looks like he already knew that.
The Priest takes a deep breath.
Then, he muttered this.
“When I was in Tuban, I had doves.”
Without interrupting his remarks, I patiently listened carefully.
Priest Yuhito continued.
“When I was newly appointed in Ryun Height, I brought a few of them with me. They still remembered the pigeon house in Tuban.”
I see, he used carrier pigeons instead.
This time, Yuhito asks me a question.
“I think, you came here with the intention to kill me?”
Without answering that, I told him this.
“Because of you, I ended up killing four hundred of the Tuban soldiers who I had no grudges against to begin with. All of them.”
Yuhito’s complexion changed quickly.
In field battle, he never expected that all of four hundred people would die. Practically, in general, if there are around a hundred casualties, then they should have retreated.
“All, all of them, is it…?”
The priest’s voice is trembling.
To daunt him, I purposefully grin broadly.
“You underestimated us. Demon army doesn’t forgive those who defy us.”
After causing the feeling of despair a plenty, I drew closer to Priest Yuhito.
“You made a stupid move, Priest-dono. But why do you antagonize us going to such length? Are you dissatisfied with the freedom of belief.”
Then Yuhito taking a deep breath, stroked his own cheeks.
“Humans…”
Stopping for a little bit after saying that, he continued in one go.
“Humans must not be ruled by someone other than human.”
I see, so it’s like that.
I was also a human in previous life, I understand the feeling. It is not fun to be ruled by werewolves.
Therefore without hiding my intention, I ask the necessary question.
“Is that your opinion as the leader of Radiant faith?”
Immediately, Yuhito shook is head.
“Not at all. This is strictly my personal opinion.”
“Yuhito-dono, even though you don’t have enough power to dispel demons, seems to dislike living together with demons.”
I made him listen to plenty of irony.
I am the one holding the sword of life and death. If I have even a second, I can roll that head on the red carpet.
But Yuhito without fear, looked straight at me.
“This world should be ruled by humans, not the demons. Same as it had been until now.”
If a demon hears it, he would not be able to hold his laughter, but I understand that feeling all too well.
Even if I say it, we occupied Ryun Height with our military power. With the power of words, we should not let go of that right.
What’s more, denying the rule of demons itself, doesn’t leave a room for compromise.
However much of a human I may have been previously, I would not concede on that part.
I can understand that emotion, but the time for negotiation seems to be over.
Moving my face closer to him, I showed him the expression I had practiced just for times like this.
“Interesting. In that case, let me subdue you with the power of humans.”
I took it out from my breast pocket.
