The Demon Hunting Method of the Regressed Inquisitor

Prologue

The world has ended.

The once blue sky has turned black.

By a single demon who has been lurking beneath the surface of the powerful empire, accumulating power and authority for hundreds of years.

It was a fact so clear that even three-year-old snot-nosed kids wandering the slums could understand it.

But the politicians never speak of such an obvious fact.

Is it because they don’t know? No, they too know that the world has ended. They probably know it more concretely than anyone else.

Yet, they don’t speak of it. Because the moment they do, it would mean admitting that everything is truly over.

The politicians hide the situation. They hide it to show hope. Because they haven’t admitted it, there must be something.

There must be something to turn this situation around. They can believe that.

Because they can believe that.

“…There are so many.”

There are people who risk their lives on a battlefield where death is certain.

Someone had to do it.

There had to be someone who would risk their life to buy time against the demon’s army, which was advancing every moment to trample the procession of fleeing refugees.

Someone had to sacrifice for them, so I decided to do it.

“Damn it.”

I reach out and unleash my divine power.

The Pantheon, which records and worships the numerous gods that exist in this world.

Based on the faith in the gods recorded there, I recreate miracles.

Crackle!

The power received in exchange for faith is the lightning of ‘Jupiter’, one of the many gods of the sky recorded in the Pantheon.

The divine power that shone brightly transforms into the power of lightning and takes the form of a spear.

And it flies towards the demon’s army gathered before my eyes.

Crackle!!

The power of one of the highest-ranking gods of the sky burns the demon at the forefront.

The tip of the lightning spear that pierced through the demon splits and spreads to the demons lined up behind.

“Haa…”

About twenty demons fell silent from the recent strike.

If this had been an ordinary one-on-many battle, it would have been a great achievement, but unfortunately, what I am blocking is a legion.

“Are you satisfied?”

A demon, who appears to be an officer, asks with a sly smile.

He is mocking me.

Despite fighting with my life on the line, this is all I could manage.

“You did well for a human.”

“……”

“So be satisfied with this much effort and die.”

“Haha……”

It’s quite amusing to see him act as if he were an honorable knight, even though he came to trample on refugees.

“Why is a b*stard who became a demon out of fear of death still pretending to be a knight?”

A being that was originally human.

But a traitor to humanity who sold his soul to the demons for the temptation of an immortal body. He might have been a knight before becoming a demon, but after betraying humanity, that title is too grand for him.

“I see.”

“Ugh……!”

Crunch!

In the blink of an eye, I am pierced by the attack of the approaching demon officer.

“I understand. The only words a loser can utter are criticisms.”

I am resentful. I couldn’t be more resentful.

He was an unknown figure. Not even a high-ranking officer with a notorious reputation, just one of many knights.

And I lost to such a person.

“Keep advancing. I can’t even bother with such petty tricks.”

The demon who pierced my heart sneers and leads the legion.

Without even a finishing blow, he turns his back on the place where I lay.

“Damn it……”

I was not a hero.

I couldn’t create miracles.

It was something that someone had to do. But I couldn’t even accomplish that.

Despite pouring everything into it, I couldn’t hold back the advancing army for even ten minutes.

I couldn’t buy time.

It wasn’t just me. Everyone around me, wielding their swords with similar resolve, met the same end.

I was just one among many swept away by the enemy’s army.

“What a sight you are, ■■■.”

In the place where the legion had passed.

It was when I was waiting for death.

A woman with pure white wings descended from the sky.

Sky-blue hair and pure white wings.

A person wearing a similarly pure white mask and attire.

“Saint.”

One of the two apostles of the gods, loved by all the gods in the Pantheon.

Commonly known as the Saint of the Sky.

She descended before me.

“Why is my attendant dying in such a place? Wasn’t today supposed to be a day for paperwork?”

“Indeed.”

I was a priest and inquisitor directly under the Saint, but I wasn’t someone who particularly sought to live righteously.

If anything, I was someone who would fit better in the back alleys.

Why did someone like me risk my life in this situation? Did I want to protect someone now?

No…

Not me. I couldn’t do that. If I were to do that, I had dozens of chances. But I was someone who repeatedly ran away each time.

Even so, the reason I tried to buy time to protect the refugees.

The reason I wanted to burn this one life.

“After all, I couldn’t become like you, Saint.”

Because I admired someone who lived such a life.

Because I wanted to stand proudly before that person.

“Is the evacuation over?”

“Yes, ■■■. Thanks to you, thousands of people were saved.”

“Is that a lie?”

“It’s the truth.”

I don’t know if those words were truly sincere, or if they were the last comfort she was giving to a dying me.

Her pure white mask shows no emotion.

This is the world we live in.

It is not strange that the ‘Saintess’, who should be a beacon of hope for the people, does not show a despairing expression to the masses.

But it is a bit cruel that she does not show any emotion even in front of me, who is dying.

“It seems like the time has come.”

My vision is blurry.

The voice I hear is muffled.

“Aren’t you going to ask if you can be healed?”

“I have been by the Saintess’s side for the past three years, assisting her. I know that it is impossible to heal me.”

“……I see.”

I was truly a nobody. But the Saintess took me in, made me a priest, and appointed me as her attendant.

“Please tell Claire that I am sorry.”

“You two hated each other so much, and now you say this?”

“What face do I have to say that to her?”

If I am the Saintess’s left arm, then her right arm is the escort knight and the strongest paladin of the order, ‘Claire Ryan’.

And I am her enemy.

When her brother died, I ran away from the scene.

I wanted to live.

So I ran away from something I couldn’t handle. And thus, the only family Claire could rely on died.

But Claire did not blame me. She just hated me.

So I acted in a way that she could comfortably hate me. That was all I could do for her.

“■■■, if you had the chance to turn back time, would you have acted differently then?”

“Even if I had acted differently, our relationship would have ended up the same.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, because Burke was a bigger b*stard than I thought.”

Claire’s brother Burke was a b*stard. Unfortunately, he was destined to be that way.

Because he died, Claire lived. That is what I believe.

And if one of them had to live, I believe it should have been Claire, not Burke.

Of course, even compared to me.

If someone has to live, it should be a hero praised by everyone, not someone mediocre like me.

“`

So, I die here.

If my death here has bought even a little time for those called heroes, then that’s enough.

“I’m tired now.”

Now, all I can see in front of me is white and sky blue.

Both are the colors of the Saint.

The sky that used to represent that is no longer blue.

Covered by the wings of that demon that appeared like a nightmare, only a black sky without a single star remains.

“■■■ worked day and night with insomnia. It’s understandable to be tired.”

“It was a world where day and night were indistinguishable. But today, I think I can finally get some sleep.”

“That’s a relief.”

It’s a trivial joke.

I know how much such jokes can comfort the heart, and so does the Saint. That’s why I drew a tomorrow that will never come again.

Having tea time together, the Saint preparing strange snacks, and me grumbling while eating them.

The Saint who prepared the snacks wouldn’t even touch them and would mock us.

If I got angry at that, Claire would glare at me with a look of blasphemy.

I drew such a trivial tomorrow.

While drawing that tomorrow, I became unable to see in front of me.

“You’ve worked hard. ■■■.”

“Yes… Saint.”

I barely respond, holding back the drowsiness that pours out at the Saint’s indifferent words.

I opened my eyes wide.

No matter how hard I tried, it was so dark in front of me that I couldn’t see the Saint’s figure well.

So I don’t know if she is really indifferent, but probably not.

“Although today is like this, we can do better ‘tomorrow’, right?”

“Of course. We will do better.”

I have always been like that.

I have always strived not to repeat the same mistakes.

Tomorrow will be better.

That tomorrow will be better.

That’s how I’ve endured until now. That’s how I rose to the position of high priest.

“`

So…

“I believe you.”

At the last moment.

I was able to answer like that.

“Yes… definitely…”

And when I opened my eyes again.

I felt the warm sunlight that I could no longer feel.

*     *      *

“Ugh.”

The light that seemed to pierce my eyes.

But it doesn’t feel entirely unpleasant, it feels almost natural.

“……”

The moment I realized it was the sunlight coming through the crack in the window, I felt a chilling coldness that was the complete opposite of that warmth.

“What?”

What I saw when I opened my eyes was a bright landscape.

I am speechless at the distortion of perception that makes me doubt even myself.

“What is this…?”

Am I dreaming?

Or was everything until now a dream?

I raise my hands and look down at them.

I had both hands. Even though one arm had been blown off in the fight, I now had both arms.

My body condition is exceptionally good.

Only then did I check the surroundings. It felt like an inn, with only the necessary items provided.

“Huh?”

Next to the bed, on the table, were items that seemed to be my belongings.

Among them, the first thing I saw was the sword my master had passed down to me.

It was the sword I had lost to a thief while heading to the city without knowing anything.

The situation becomes clearer.

“A dream? Was it all a dream?”

The time when I had just left my master and teacher to venture into the world.

A time zone that is ten years apart from the reality I remembered.

“Dream…”

Why?

If that’s the case, it should just be dismissed as a nightmare. There was no such painful time.

But why do I feel so empty?

“No.”

Why do I want to believe that it wasn’t all a dream?

Even if it wasn’t a dream, why can’t I be happy about returning to the moment when everything was normal?

“…That can’t be.”

I opened my hand.

If it wasn’t a dream, if all of that was the life I lived.

There is a way to prove it. It must be possible.

If training the body and honing skills is the strength accumulated in the mind and body, then divine power is the strength accumulated in the soul.

Even if my body has returned to the past, my soul remains the same.

I became a priest five years from now, and if everything until now was a dream, then the miracle I am about to perform would be impossible.

Then this will be the proof.

I take a deep breath and focus my mind. Although I had already become able to handle divine power as if it were a part of my body, this is the first time I feel this tense.

Slowly, with confidence, yet cautiously. I borrow the power of Baldur, the god of light, recorded in the pantheon in exchange for faith.

“Ha…”

Then, a small light naturally rises above my open hand.

If everything I experienced was just a dream, I wouldn’t have been able to use this, the proof of faith that was there.

“Haha…”

Everything became clear.

None of it was a dream. This moment is not a dream either.

I have returned to the past, ten years ago.

-Although today is like this, I can do better ‘tomorrow’, right?

A ‘tomorrow’ that wouldn’t have come originally. And now I have obtained the ‘tomorrow’ named ten years ago.

“Is that so.”

I found the reason for my emptiness.

I have gained an opportunity.

And I lost a lot.

I got the chance to redo the moments of wrong choices in the past.

All the relationships I had built up after rolling in the mud collapsed.

My heavy body became lighter, and the arm that had flown away returned.

The sense of achievement from the few successes I had built up through repeated failures disappeared.

“Saint, I just…”

I didn’t wish for this opportunity.

It was undoubtedly a painful and difficult time. Objectively, it cannot be said that it was a great life.

But…

“I liked it. That miserable and insignificant life.”

I was feeling happiness in that insignificant life.

Because there was a ray of light even in that misery.

But what is this?

I was satisfied.

Even if it was such a death.

I was proud that the moments I spent with you were enjoyable and happy.

“Saint, you are too much.”

But in the end, she said that ‘tomorrow’ would be better.

And I answered yes.

Then shouldn’t I do better? Shouldn’t I seize this opportunity and create the best result I can?

“Thanks to you, everything I achieved has collapsed.”

The world was ruined.

But now, only my world was like that.

Because I won’t allow anything beyond that.

I remember that horrific scene.

Only I will remember and keep that horrific scene inside.

Now, I have decided what I must do from ‘tomorrow’.

“I will kill that demon on behalf of the Saint.”

That demon has been preparing from beneath the surface of the empire. Probably for tens, hundreds of years, it would be laughable.

Against the one who started to act only after finishing such preparations. Winning was impossible from the beginning.

So, I shake the board.

When he thinks he can win and rises from beneath the surface, he realizes too late that it’s not the case.

In my own way, tightening the noose slowly.

In the way of the inquisitor.

Hunting the demon, the Dark King ‘Belial’, who was lurking and operating in the Empire.