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Chapter 144: Inquisition (2)

“Me as an instructor?”

Ethan’s expression turned to surprise at Jeryd’s proposal.

He never imagined they would ask him to be an instructor.

He had naturally assumed they would take the students as recruits for the Inquisition. After all, the Inquisition must be short-staffed in many ways due to the Followers of the Moon.

If that was the reason, he had been planning to recommend other students instead of his three disciples.

‘It’s dangerous to fight the Followers of the Moon in their current state. It’s not time yet.’

While there’s no better place to gain practical experience, it’s equally high in danger.

The students, whose skills were still incomplete and who were emotionally immature, were not ready to fight against the Followers of the Moon with their vicious methods.

So he had planned to politely decline or recommend other talent to make them give up entirely.

But this changes the situation.

As Ethan showed a bewildered expression, Jeryd smiled.

“I know it’s a sudden proposal, Teacher Ethan. But there’s a reason I have to make this offer.”

“What reason is that?”

Ethan feigned ignorance and asked back.

“The Inquisition is in a difficult situation in many ways right now, Teacher Ethan. You probably know roughly what we do. Currently, we’re fighting against the so-called Followers of the Moon who follow Moon Mother. Unlike other cults, these Followers of the Moon came from the Demon Empire and are showing surprisingly strong influence. What we thought would be an easy fight at first has become prolonged, and many inquisitors are getting injured or retiring.”

Jeryd explained the situation with a regretful expression.

The Followers of the Moon from the Demon Empire.

The story was that the Inquisition was struggling because the Followers of the Moon were stronger than expected.

Currently, the Inquisition had many veterans, but due to the Followers of the Moon showing unexpected strength and obsession, they had become severely short-staffed.

“We’ve lost quite a few colleagues too. Because of that, we’ve been continuously recruiting new inquisitors, but…”

Basically, inquisitors needed to be highly skilled. Especially since many of the Followers of the Moon attack in various ways, excellent skills were needed to deal with them.

Therefore, the Inquisition filled their shortage by recruiting those who were renowned in various knightly orders and mercenary groups, choosing those with exceptional devotion and faith in religion.

In addition, they also recruited those with strong hatred towards the Followers of the Moon. Even if their skills were lacking, having a desire for revenge against the Followers of the Moon would make them useful in many ways.

They were recruiting personnel like that, but a problem arose.

There was no one to teach the newly recruited members.

While they all had decent skills, fighting as an inquisitor was a different matter.

“Until a few years ago, we had a veteran instructor, but he retired due to old age. We’ve been looking for a successor since then, but… it’s not easy to find the right person.”

In this state, they kept accepting new inquisitors without being able to provide proper education.

They tried deploying some greenhorns a few times, but perhaps because they hadn’t learned from a proper instructor, they often got seriously injured.

It would be troublesome if the hard-recruited greenhorns died. But if they didn’t deploy them, they would become idle personnel, which was a big predicament for Jeryd.

“Although they’re greenhorns, they have various experiences, so it’s difficult to teach our inquisitor techniques with just rough training. They all have habits ingrained from their original fields.”

“So that’s why you’re asking me.”

“Yes, I thought if it’s Teacher Ethan who taught those two students, there would be no problem teaching our greenhorns as well. It’s an impertinent request, but would you consider coming as a temporary instructor for our Inquisition?”

Ethan pretended to contemplate for a moment, keeping his mouth shut.

‘It’s an opportunity to create a debt with the Inquisition.’

Even excluding fame and achievements, this offer was worth accepting.

‘The Inquisition is connected to the Saint after all.’

Nevertheless, Ethan folded his arms for now. Although he was going to accept the offer anyway, maximizing the benefits was a given.

“Let’s hear the conditions.”

***

The state religion of the Holy Empire was a religion called Holylight.

This Holylight religion worshipped Holylight, the goddess of compassion.

The Inquisition’s purpose was to deal with heretics who went against the goddess’s compassion, based on the doctrines of Holylight.

Therefore, the Inquisition was directly under the emperor while also being influenced by the Holylight Order.

‘Creating a debt with the Inquisition is essentially the same as creating a debt with the Holylight Order.’

Creating a debt with the Holylight Order also increases the possibility of meeting the Saint.

‘It’s not huge, but it’s not something to be ignored either.’

The priority is to increase the chance of meeting the Saint in any way possible.

Ethan accepted the temporary instructor position after receiving various conditions from Jeryd.

Having confirmed Ethan’s skills, the conditions offered were quite generous.

“I didn’t expect you to refuse the money.”

“Please use that money for the Inquisition to deal with the Followers of the Moon.”

“I’ll make sure to mention that Teacher Ethan donated it. And I’ll process and provide the conditions you mentioned as soon as possible.”

Ethan donated the money Jeryd offered as it was. He had more than enough money anyway.

‘The goal is to create a debt after all.’

Instead, he requested materials that could be obtained from the Inquisition.

‘Holylight holy water.’

Befitting their name as inquisitors, they were receiving quite a lot of holy water imbued with divine power through the Holylight Order.

Ethan planned to use that holy water as an ingredient for decoctions.

‘Basically, items imbued with divine power are of high grade. When used as ingredients, the probability of producing high-grade items increases.’

This meant it had many useful aspects.

After finishing their negotiation, the two immediately headed to the Inquisition’s branch in the nearby territory.

***

“Welcome, Teacher Ethan. This is the Erant branch of the Holy Empire’s Inquisition.”

The Inquisition’s branch was located in the Erant territory, quite far from Marquis Rond’s domain.

Although not as grand as the Academy, the Inquisition’s branch was also quite impressive.

Right next to the branch was a church of the Holylight Order. Its sharp spire, seemingly piercing the sky, was striking.

“Please come in.”

The two inquisitors guarding the main gate greeted Jeryd.

‘It certainly has style.’

The well-fitted uniforms and hats, along with the Inquisition badge on their chests.

As the saying goes, “the position makes the man,” their attire made them look completely different.

“Teacher Ethan, please turn these newcomers into proper people in your own way. All we want is for them to be able to pull their own weight.”

Jeryd said.

“But you need to be careful. The newcomers we recruited this time are extremely rough. Since the Followers of the Moon attack in so many different ways, we deliberately recruited only rough individuals.”

In fact, Jeryd was quite worried.

Ethan certainly has ability. He’s undoubtedly excellent at teaching someone.

But the problem was that he was a teacher at the Academy.

The ones recruited this time had been working in rough frontlines, so their level was completely different from students.

So if they were told that an Academy teacher would be teaching them, there might be a strong rejection.

They might even refuse to be taught, ignoring the fact that Jeryd brought him.

“Don’t worry. I’ve been holding back a lot at the Academy. After all, I can’t treat young students roughly.”

“Hearing that gives me some relief. Well then, please take this for now.”

Jeryd took out a bundle of parchments from his chest and handed it to Ethan.

It was quite a heavy bundle of parchments.

“This is a textbook recording the basic formations and attack methods of inquisitors. We primarily use maces as weapons, and basically aim for 3-person teams. Three inquisitors complement each other…”

Jeryd explained in detail while handing over more than ten pages of parchment to Ethan.

“You don’t have to start the training right away. It will take quite a while to familiarize yourself with this.”

The parchment Jeryd handed over described the overall attack patterns of inquisitors. As the Inquisition had a long history, the content was quite extensive.

“Since it was written by a veteran instructor, there might be many parts that are excessively abbreviated. As he was such a veteran, there might be parts that you find difficult to understand. I’ll interpret those parts for you separately.”

First, one needs to perfectly understand this voluminous inquisitor training manual to be able to train new inquisitors.

Jeryd planned to introduce Ethan to the new inquisitors in advance during this period to eliminate any resistance.

It’s not just any academy, but a teacher from the prestigious Ivecar Academy.

This should be enough to say that he can teach anyone.

“Hmm, when do you think you might be able to start the training?”

Ethan was reading the parchment Jeryd had handed over carefully. He was so focused that his expression was quite fierce.

Seeing Ethan’s expression, Jeryd’s mouth opened slightly.

He felt that he had truly brought the right person.

After skimming through the parchment, Ethan held up three fingers.

“Three weeks, I see. As I thought, I’ve been observing since the Interdepartmental Exchange Event. Well then, let me guide you to your quarters first. Unpack your things roughly and let’s have a meal!”

Ethan shook his head.

“Ah, I misunderstood. Three weeks is indeed a bit short. To teach, I need to thoroughly understand it. Thirty days. A month, that should be enough. For now, there are veteran inquisitors out on missions, so if we have them block the Followers of the Moon…”

Ethan shook his head once more.

“Do you need more time? If not, then…”

Jeryd, suddenly flustered, made an expression as if to say, “It can’t be…”

“Three days is enough for you!?”

It’s an impossible level.

What’s described in the textbook can be called the essence of the history built up by the Inquisition. In fact, even a month was quite a short period in Jeryd’s opinion.

But three days?

Three days would be bragging. Definite bragging.

“There’s plenty of time, Teacher Ethan. There’s no need to rush…”

However, Ethan shook his head even at the mention of three days.

“Give me 30 minutes. That’s how much time I need to thoroughly understand it.”

At those words, Jeryd gaped in astonishment.

What he had brought wasn’t a teacher, but a monster.

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