Level Up Inquisitor [EN]: Chapter 22

“Are you really trying to kill me? Don’t you know you get dragged away by the guards for killing another user in the city? You won’t get away with it either…”

Trixie spoke, half arguing, in a rapid-fire manner.

Seeing that her opponent had no intention of letting her go quietly, she felt the need to be a little more assertive.

But Aile was not so easily swayed.

“Who do you think you’re fooling… I know very well that retaliatory attacks against someone who committed a crime first have no consequences.”

“That’s…”

Trixie was momentarily speechless at his words.

Throwing out a shallow trick that would only fool newbies had only worsened the situation.

“Please, just let me go this once. I really won’t do it again. Okay? I really didn’t have any money.”

Trixie said sweetly, with a touch of coquetry in her voice.

She had grown up hearing she was beautiful since she was young, and men had always fallen head over heels for her.

But of course, it didn’t work on Aile at all.

“Enough, let’s just die.”

[You have been sentenced to be burned at the stake!]

“B-Burned at the stake?”

A system message must have appeared in front of her as well, as she jumped up in surprise.

‘But now that I’m actually going to burn her at the stake, I don’t have anything to light the fire with…’

Aile paused for a moment and pondered.

He was wondering if he should go to the store to get some suitable firewood and a spark when additional messages appeared.

[Specify the location of the stake.]

Quick-witted Aile pointed to one side of the floor and pressed the message, and a long wooden pole suddenly rose from the floor, with piles of hay underneath.

Materials that looked perfect for starting a fire.

‘Ah, so they’re providing this much convenience.’

Aile smiled as if he found it amusing.

However, while he was exploring the skill with an intrigued look, Trixie, who was looking at him in front of her, was terrified.

“W-Wait a minute, what are you trying to do!”

“Since you didn’t choose, I chose for you. Let’s go with burning at the stake.”

Whirr!

Suddenly, a blazing torch appeared in Aile’s hand.

Whether Trixie was struggling or not, Aile lifted her up and tied her tightly to the pole on top of the hay.

Then, the thought that she had completely messed up filled her head.

“Hey, you perverted bastard! Let me go!!”

“Then who told you to steal other users’ money?”

“It’s just content! What’s wrong with a thief stealing!”

“I’m also doing this because it’s content. A very important main content at that.”

Aile said with a smile, completely changing his tone.

If she was really a thief doing thievery according to the concept, then Aile was just an Inquisitor burning heretics.

Moreover, this wasn’t just for fun, but an important content that could raise two dedicated stats, so it was incomparable to her.

Tap!

Aile picked up the torch with the flames blazing again and slowly brought the flame to the hay, enjoying the reaction.

Then, Trixie struggled, trying to escape, but she couldn’t escape from the firmly fixed log.

It didn’t seem like a clumsy threat at all, and it seemed like he was really going to kill her like this.

To think that he was going to burn her alive, not just a normal death, Trixie cried out with tears in her eyes.

“W-Wait, wait… just a minute! Just a minute!”

Then, Aile’s hand, holding the torch, stopped just in time, and Trixie quickly racked her brain to overcome this situation.

If she continued like this, she would suffer the worst death of a Warlord, being burned at the stake, and she had to do something.

Above all, she couldn’t take all the death penalties in this way.

“I’ll give you back the money I stole! That’s the goal, right? I’ll give it back, so let’s not get blood on our hands and hold grudges. Huh?”

“The money you stole… that’s not enough.”

Aile pretended to ponder, touching his chin.

He couldn’t end it by just getting the principal back after all this trouble.

He needed some additional compensation, and he didn’t forget to glance at the torch in the middle.

Then, Trixie, who had become desperate, spat out the words with difficulty.

“A-Alright! Then double… because I was wrong.”

Unlike other games where you respawn around the area as soon as you die, life in Warlord was more important than anything else.

Because death always came with a powerful penalty that made you shudder, players cherished their lives like real lives, even though they knew it was just a game.

Moreover, Trixie was in a situation where she was caught by a complete madman and was about to suffer the infamous burning at the stake, so her situation was quite urgent.

“Hmm…”

Then, Aile, who had been pondering for a while, slowly nodded.

Double the stolen money was a whopping 60 shillings.

With that much compensation, it didn’t seem bad to forgive her like this.

“That’s doable.”

“Phew, I’m glad he’s a guy who can talk. Then let me go quickly.”

“No, I’ve already been tricked once, so what if I get backstabbed again? Shouldn’t you hand over the money first?”

Aile drew his longsword and freed only one of Trixie’s hands.

“Hey… you really have to keep your promise? If you kill me here after receiving this, you’re not even human, you know…?”

“I always keep my word once I say it. Unlike someone.”

Aile confidently declared.

Then, Trixie looked at him, conflicted for a moment.

His face, his voice, and his tone.

Even if they weren’t acquaintances, he was somehow trustworthy, at least he seemed like a man you could trust.

“Ugh… alright. Here.”

Trixie, with a displeased expression, took out a coin pouch from her bosom.

Aile nodded as he opened the pouch full of silver coins and checked the amount she handed over.

It was definitely 60 shillings.

“Now let me go quickly.”

“Just a moment… oops, my mistake.”

Aile dropped the torch and dropped it down.

Whirr!

The fire quickly spread from the dropped torch to the dry straw, and the flames soared.

It was such a fierce flame as if oil had been poured on it, and a dizzyingly hot energy rose to Trixie, who was momentarily bewildered.

“Y-You… you crazy bastard!!”

“Sorry.”

Aile apologized with a seemingly sincere expression.

This was definitely not intentional.

He just slipped.

* * *

[You have executed a heretic!]

[You have successfully executed the designated punishment according to ‘Sentence of Punishment.’ The stat bonus is doubled due to the skill’s effect.]

[Favor of the Goddess +0.31% (Currently 52.38%)]

[Light Order Contribution +70]

[Faith Stat +2]

[Madness Stat +2]

Apostle-exclusive skill, ‘Sentence of Punishment.’

If you succeed in executing the heretic according to the punishment sentenced through the skill, the increase in Faith and Madness, which are the stats that increase when executing heretics, doubles.

That was the effect of the Sentence of Punishment skill.

It was cumbersome to incapacitate and capture them alive, and to carry out the punishment according to the prescribed punishment, but it was a skill with a tremendous merit that allowed growth twice as fast as ordinary heretic hunting.

Furthermore, since the Favor value and Order Contribution increased significantly more than the original level, its value was far superior to any growth-oriented skill in Warlord.

[Attack power of the Inquisitor is increased by 10% for 60 minutes due to the execution by burning at the stake. (Maximum 24 times, time can be stacked)]

Even that wasn’t the end, a system message appeared in front of Aile’s eyes.

Although there was no room to utilize it since he was already in the city, he received an attack power buff that lasted for 60 minutes by executing the heretic.

The buff types seemed to vary depending on the method of execution.

Normal monsters in hunting grounds cannot be designated as heretics or blasphemers, so it cannot be easily applied, but 60 minutes was a very decent time, and since it could be stacked, it was certain to be very useful if there were users who provoked him in the hunting grounds.

He didn’t know how much it would be since it was an apostle-exclusive skill, but it was more amazing than he thought.

Even if it was a low-level cheap skill, if it was added without affecting the maximum skill limit. Everyone would have tried to receive it no matter how much they paid, but he received two of these for free, so it was a great advantage.

‘The income is also good.’

Aile smiled as he checked his holdings.

He received 60 shillings, which was double the stolen money, and he was able to loot additional items and money by killing Trixie.

Even if he couldn’t get the item value, he earned at least more than 1 gold.

He was almost grateful to the thief who chose to come and find him.

“But… how do I clean up this mess.”

Aile muttered, looking at the completely burned stake.

He suddenly started a fire on the rooftop of a perfectly fine building in the middle of the city and made such a fuss, so it was difficult to clean up.

Aile tried to erase the evidence somehow and tried to pull out the pillar that had tied up the pickpocket, but only a message appeared saying that it could not be recovered within the allotted time.

The only fortunate thing was that the fire did not spread systemically outside the stake, so it did not lead to a large fire.

However, people began to look up at the screams and black smoke that echoed from the rooftop.

Feeling the murmuring, Aile moved to leave the place quickly before someone came up here.

“Well… it’ll work out somehow.”

* * *

“Wow… this is really crazy.”

A man muttered, lying face down in his room, looking at his laptop.

Then, his friend, who was rolling around next to him, leaned over and approached.

“Why, why? Are you watching something fun?”

“Take a look at this.”

The man turned the screen and slid the laptop to the side.

A post in Warlord’s community was displayed on the screen, with several photos registered.

“What… what is this…”

The friend rubbed his eyes and looked at the photos again.

At first glance, it was a photo of many people gathered on the rooftop, but in the middle of the crowd, the corpse of a user who had been burned to death on the stake remained.

It was also a photo of the great disaster that took place in Queens Blonde, the city known for its beauty.

It was also a hot topic in the ‘Esmeier’ area incident bulletin board, which included Queens Blonde.

“Isn’t this the work of those crazy goddess followers?”

“Yeah, the Light Order is the only one who would do something like this.”

“Wow… even so, I never thought there would be such a crazy guy…”

The friend, who had been staring blankly at the screen, clicked his tongue.

Due to the nature of Warlord, which had a large population, there were all sorts of strange concepts such as fanatics and murderers, but he had never imagined that they would create such a grand execution ground in the middle of the city and burn someone at the stake.

In particular, the most notable point was the burnt marks under the stake.

The Light Order’s emblem, which was strongly engraved with the floor blackened around the burnt stake, combined with the victim’s corpse, left a strong impression on people that was hard to forget.

After catching and burning the user alive, thinking about how they carefully drew each stroke on the floor, you could see how deeply they were immersed in the faith of the mad goddess Lugh [a fictional deity in the game].

Of course, Aile, who had committed this act, had no thoughts about the traces, and it was just a phenomenon that occurred as the ‘Sentence of Punishment’ skill was applied, but from the perspective of people who had never heard of this type of skill, they naturally had no way of knowing about it.

“Can you see the goosebumps I have right now? I hope I don’t get caught by a crazy guy like that…”

“Seriously… if I run into a guy like that, I’ll break the access device and force a log out.”

The two men shuddered and made a fuss.

Without Aile, the person involved, knowing, the notoriety of the mad Inquisitor was spreading widely.