Hero’s Downfall Report

98 – Report on the Fall of Kindness (8)

The old monk jumped up and grabbed Cain.

My eyes are shining like they’re about to pop out, and the veins are bulging on my hands, but I can’t bring myself to say anything.

“What are you so afraid of? “Friar.”

Cain asked a question.

“What else do priests have to fear other than God? You tried so hard to protect us from ‘that’, but now you pretend not to know and just rip us off?”

The monk’s hands seemed to be shaking, and he soon let go of Cain’s collar.

“Because it’s better not to know. There are so many things in the world that we don’t even know about. “It’s the same in this town.”

“Then you need to tell us even more.” Maria cheered.

“Friar. We are shepherds, not sheep. A shepherd who has to drive away wolves with a stick in one hand and a knife in the other.

There are things sheep don’t need to know, but they are not shepherds. Didn’t you write that in your treatise ‘Attitude of a Clergy’?”

“But even a shepherd must run away from a lion.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to run away and scream to avoid someone than to die from being bitten without even knowing they were coming? Just as running away isn’t always something to be ashamed of.”

The monk lowered his head. He weakly returned to his chair and sat down.

Lily, who was watching the window, waved her hand at the thin man outside the window. She responded by shaking the thin man’s hand.

“I didn’t have courage.” Master Noh covered his head.

“Sister Maria. I came here to know that even running away requires courage… “

* * * * *

More than 10 years ago, Brother Henry was studying an emerging heretical religion.

If the heresy so far was to distort and twist the teachings of the ‘prophet of life and death’ to its own will, the new heresy was of a completely different kind.

They claimed that they were not ‘heretics’ but ‘fundamentals’.

The prophet of life and death was a lie, the two-headed eagle was just a mutant eagle that happened to be born, and the only thing to truly believe in and follow was the tree of life.

Of course, that doesn’t make sense. I don’t know exactly when the Tree of Life Church began, but it is known to have been cut off a long time ago.

Therefore, Brother Henry believed that they were simply appropriating the glory of the past.

But as he listened to their arguments, Henry naturally fell into temptation.

‘What on earth was the tree of life?’

There is an abundance of research data on the Tree of Life Church. However, most of the materials were written by the empire and religious organizations, and the only content was ‘a barbaric, primitive, and violent religion that prayed for blessings by sacrificing people.’

However, if it were simply such a religion, it cannot explain the prophets of life and death, and the fact that they spread their power even to pagan lands far away before the emergence of the empire.

Henry searched for very old documents and even received permission to enter the imperial archives.

Former Emperor Alexios I was a more generous person than one might think.

I could not enter a place containing confidential information, that is, a place where the orders of the emperor and the imperial army were stored.

Instead, the only place Henry could search was the ‘old archives’.

Among the things so worn that it was hard to tell whether they were pieces of parchment or dried dust, Henry found a clue.

“It was here. That longhouse was originally a sacred place for the Tree of Life Church. “If my guess is correct, a festival to pray for abundance would have been held there.”

“If it’s a festival… “

Henry answered Cain’s question.

“On the night when the old moon rises, everyone eats, drinks, gets drunk, and then both men and women take off their clothes and roll around…” “Catch the most beautiful men and women alive, tear them apart, bury them underground, and plant saplings on top of them.”

Lily frowned in disgust. Cain struggled to remain calm. Brother Henry stuttered as he continued his words.

“That was their custom. A ritual to pray for abundance… A woman who wants everyone to sow seeds and a man who wants everyone to receive seeds…

I believed that if I sent them into the embrace of nature, nature would give them more. Like a cat leaving a dead mouse at the door as a gift to his landlord.

Even those who face death consider it an honor. Because I believed that I would live and breathe forever in the embrace of nature.

So we planted trees on top of them. Trees live longer than people, and sometimes even survive until the end of the world… “

Cain remembered the ugly patterns on the wall. A person screaming with a missing jaw.

“That pattern… “

“When I came, there was no such pattern.”

Brother Henry trembled slightly. He glanced at the door as if he were afraid.

Cain tried to tell her that she had nothing to worry about, but she saw a shadow creeping under the crack in the door.

If it’s water, that can happen. It could be water, blood, or alcohol flowing through a crack in the door. But shadows cannot do that. It shouldn’t be like that.

Maria followed Cain’s gaze and snapped her fingers.

Holy fire flowed down the floor of the hut.

Mary recited her prayers with her eyes closed. The heatless flames that flowed like sweat from her hands lit up the floor.

The shadow that was faltering could not hold on any longer and ran away.

The monk closed his eyes. His body lost all strength.

“I noticed.”

“Who are you talking about?”

Instead of answering, the monk stood up. He was no longer shaking.

Like people who have cut off their way back with their own hands, like people who have given up their last hope, an expression of resignation and anger appeared on his face.

The monk opened the closet and took out the blessed candle. He placed them on the floor as if he were placing his pieces on a game board and lit them.

“You can put away the fire. “It must be difficult.”

Mary extinguished the sacred fire. The candle will take over that role for a while.

Exhausted, Maria sat down on the bed. Brother Henry looked towards her doorway as if he were resentful.

“When I came, there was nothing like this. It was only Roberta and her bandits who surrendered to her. I had also finished talking with the lord of this place, Count Wördem.

There was no problem at first.

Roberta said she wanted to create a village for criminals here, and I came here to do research. We were able to make up for each other’s shortcomings.

Roberta and her group brought what was lacking in my life, and I taught them about living like a man, about faith, and about love. Oh.

Surprisingly, they had no idea why people should help each other.

The only method of communication they knew was violence. Because no one taught them that. Parents too. The world too…

So me and Roberta taught. However… “Things became increasingly strange.”

Lily sent a hand signal.

‘Encirclement’ ‘Reinforcement’

From Noble mtl dot com

This is a sign that villagers have begun to gather here. Cain sent the same signal to Mary. Lily took out two imperial swords and Cain’s staff from her pack.

“So. “What happened?”

Cain asked as he adjusted his sword and staff. The monk cleared his throat and continued his speech.

“Roberta and I discussed many things. We spent a lot of time together, and neither of us thought it was strange at all… Even those thieves. Because we have a big age difference.

After talking about how the village handles business, the conversation continued about my research. About my research on the Church of Life.

‘I need you to help me,’ Roberta confessed one night.

‘While fighting the devil, I often saw very terrible things. Things I didn’t even know existed in the world before, the fact that I was standing under the same sky…

But now that I listen to it, it seems like the Life Church that the monk is talking about is quite closely related to the Devil.’

The devil was a difficult problem. No one knows why he appeared, where he came from, or what his exact purpose is.

I think maybe that’s… I thought, ‘Me and Roberta might be the ones who can uncover the identity of the Demon King.’

I told her everything I know. However… “

The commotion got louder. The sound of people gathering. The sound of people talking softly to each other. The sound of metal clanking.

It was a very small sound, but to Cain’s ears trained through long training and experience, it was heard as clearly as the sound of words.

“But. As we talked, something happened… Something was strange. Roberta… “I knew it.”

“What do you mean?”

The monk looked at Cain with empty eyes.

“She already ‘knew’ everything I said. Asking me is like, how much do I know? And it seemed like he was checking to see if what he knew was correct.

I also taught students. If you just talk to him, you will know whether this student knows and is pretending not to know, or if he does not know and is pretending to know…

But Roberta’s words went beyond that scope. It put her into the realm of possibility: ‘What if I did this?’ Ah. I should have known that was the beginning of her downfall…

He who spies on a person taking off his clothes will eventually open the doorway and enter…

At some point, I thought it was no longer dangerous. But Roberta didn’t let me go.

Sometimes it was blatant, and sometimes it was threatening. Sometimes they drink too much alcohol on purpose, sometimes they wear thin clothes… Sometimes I would yell and throw my hunting knife at the wall.

I shouted that I couldn’t do it like this. ‘What you are doing is crossing the line. ‘This is blasphemous!’

Roberta’s expression is unforgettable.

‘After taking a step together, you are now going to take your step away? No. That can’t be possible. If you don’t want to say anything. There are many ways to force it out. A noble person.’

And then he forced me… “

The monk lowered her head. Cain waited. A little sob. Humiliation, resentment, and anger toward oneself for being weak. Tendons rose on the monk’s neck.

“… I don’t know how long it went on. When I came to, I was tied up and there were patterns drawn with animal blood around me.

Things that could be the s*xual organs of some kind of animal were tied to each end of the pentagram. Roberta… Holding a dagger. I was there naked.

I cried out that this should not be done. God won’t forgive. But Roberta laughed at me.

‘Do you know that? God, who created everything in the world, created evil with his own hands.

People who suffered from evil cried out for evil to be destroyed, but God could not kill his own children.

So we blocked our ears to the cries of evil and the cries of good. That’s what I was certain about while fighting the Demon King.

There is a God. Brother. He was always with us. Voyeurism. Peeping. While having fun.

I am curious. How much can God tolerate me? I wonder how much they will tolerate taunting the prophet of God. You can’t do anything in vain.

I have already taken you, Brother, so as long as what comes from your body is in my body, you are completely mine.

I muttered such unpleasant and gloomy words. My body really didn’t listen. Until a sharp dagger sliced through my stomach like clay.

Absurdly, it didn’t hurt at all. Not a single drop of blood flowed. Instead, blood was flowing from the animal’s penis, which had clearly been cut off…

‘Rest assured. ‘It’s my second time doing it.’

And took out my heart.

It wriggled and jumped in Roberta’s hands.

‘You’re healthy.’ She was as happy as a mother who received her baby. Oh. Dragging me… He took me to the forest out back, and as if my heart were a flower pot, he stuck a finger-sized sapling in it…

Then the tree grew. Let your heart beat. The tree thuds as it jumps. It grew bigger with a thud.

‘I did it. What he did, I did too! ‘I can be like him!’

I cried and screamed at her. Roberta transplanted the tree from my heart into a previously dug hole.

My face appeared in the tree, like it was emerging from the water, like it was emerging from behind a veil… And it started making noises and shouting and crying just like me, but then burst into laughter.

My jaw dropped and I burst out laughing…

Lily covered her mouth, and Maria stuttered, turning pale.

“… Brother. Brother Henry. What on earth are you talking about? “

“I still don’t know. Maria?” Brother Henry shed tears.

“Roberta is a witch. She is a very powerful witch. She is a witch who has been avoiding persecution in the world, and decides to create a world for herself.

This village of Berta is the world she created. “Everyone in this village, including me, lost her heart to her.”

“Why…What on earth…”

Lily mumbled in disbelief. Henry gave the answer in a clear voice.

“To create a world where those who have sinned are forgiven and never sin again. Everyone is kind and happy to everyone.

‘It is better to cut it off and go to heaven than to go to hell carrying a body that has caused sin…’

To do that, you need time to wash away your evil deeds. An infinitely long time.

So she tied our lives to a tree. “Live as long as a tree, and never die until you have done something good.”

A shadow covered the cabin like a flock of crows flying out of the forest.

The villagers walked out from the other side.

Everyone seemed good and kind.