Hero’s Downfall Report

107 – Then the devil came in through the front door (1)

(…) Even if all of the above procedures have been completed, the Inquisitor must seriously consider the following. It’s the level of proactiveness.

Devils are things that cannot be understood or judged based on common sense, that persistently delve into and tempt people’s weakest parts. Wasn’t it the devil who tried to tempt even the prophet of life and death?

Therefore, the Inquisitor must take into account the fact that ‘anyone, anyone’ can fall in the face of temptation.

Sometimes, some temptations come as if they were natural disasters. Just as being damaged by a disaster is not solely a person’s fault, failure to resist the devil’s temptation should not be understood as a matter of will.

Isn’t it possible to overcome a storm with willpower alone?

So, keep in mind that even if you fall for the devil’s temptation, you cannot and should not be punished with extreme punishment. ‘In any case, I will deal with severe punishment.’ Saying that scares people. People who are scared are prone to being pushed down dead ends and evil paths!

The judgment of a person in a difficult situation cannot be the same as the judgment of a person making decisions in a happy home. So, remember. ‘Why did that happen?’ Just as important is ‘how could such a thing have been committed?’ It is done.

Distinguish between one rotten apple causing all the apples in the box to rot, and the case where the box itself is rotting and damaging all the apples inside.(…)

– Guidelines for judging wizards and witches, Magdeburg Inquisition headquarters

* * * * *

A man was lying bleeding from his forehead. He was dressed in simple leather clothes and had a dagger strapped to his waist. Cain pointed his sword at the man who was frowning and holding his forehead.

“Who are you?” Who was spying on us? It’s better not to talk nonsense. “Unless you want to become a nameless corpse in the Black Forest.”

Her man tried to talk down to her, but the blade tickling her uvula silenced her.

“Alvin… “He is an herbalist.”

Cain stabbed me with her sword. It grazed the cheek of her man named Alvin. His blood spurted out.

“aaah!”

Instead of responding, Cain thrust her sword at her. Her man, Alvin, hurriedly waved her hand away.

“Ah, I understand. I understand! It’s the security guard. “I am the Count’s guard!”

‘Could it be Count Wördem’s guards?’ A ragtag group of people who could not possibly be called guards came to Cain’s mind.

It is nice to see that they are security guards when on duty, but then turn into thugs when they are off duty. Normally, he would have dismissed it as nonsense, but because of what he had seen and experienced, Cain could not just dismiss it as nonsense.

“Stand up.”

Cain placed her sword on Alvin’s chin. She lifted up She lifted up. Alvin quickly stood up before his chin was cut again.

“Stand still.”

Cain snatched her dagger from Alvin’s waist. Alvin didn’t know what to do due to the pain in his forehead and cheeks, but he somehow managed to stay upright.

“What are the earl’s guards doing here? Rather, are the guards really this poorly armed? “What can prove your identity?”

Alvin growled, probably thinking he couldn’t be pushed further.

“You… Do you think you can go out smoothly?”

“You said Alvin, right?” Cain placed the dagger on the hem of Alvin’s shirt.

“Choose one of the two. One. Becoming a corpse with its head pierced. It’s easier for me too. No one will know that I killed you anyway. Two. Obediently cooperate and walk out of the forest on all fours. Three. Two.”

“This bastard. Hey!”

Suddenly, Alvin huffed.

“Isn’t that too much for everyone in the same situation?”

“Are we all in the same situation?”

“You didn’t crawl into the Black Forest because you had a hard time making a living! Considering that he came with two women, it doesn’t seem like an ordinary story. Please don’t push me too hard. Let’s go easy. How is it. Huh?”

Now he even laughs vulgarly. It was such a rapid change that it was difficult to follow.

“You.” Cain asked with eyes full of suspicion. “Bandits. Yes?”

“Do you really have to say that?” Alvin grunted. “You dude… If you live like that, you won’t last long. Although the Black Forest is said to be wide, rumors say it is narrow. “Because you’re as good as me, you can get away with doing this. If it were anyone else, you’d be dead already.”

Next moment. Cain suddenly turned behind Alvin. She wrapped her arms around Alvin’s torso and placed her dagger next to her neck. If she even slightly passed by, Alvin’s head would be cut off.

“Hey… hey!”

“Tell all you bastards to come out.”

“You’re shaking, you’re shaking?”

“Everyone hiding behind the trees, come out. Otherwise, this guy will die.” Cain shouted. Sure enough, people did indeed appear from behind the tree.

There were five men and women. There were worn-out knives, pitchforks, clumsy wooden spears, and a scythe tied to the end of her baton. One of the women even had a bulging belly.

“Alvin!”

But his eyes are poisonous.

“Hold still, I’ll rip open that guy’s stomach!”

The answer came from an unexpected place.

“Do it.”

When I first appeared, Maria was sitting leisurely on a tree branch a little distance away.

“I’m also curious about what’s in that guy’s stomach.”

“What is that again?”

One of the party members groaned. Maria smiled and showed her open palm. Clenching her fist, she quickly pulled out one of her throwing daggers.

“I hope you don’t do anything hasty.”

The woman with a full stomach was excited again, but her pale-faced man stepped forward.

“Look at these. I don’t know what the misunderstanding is, but let’s talk. In words. We are the Count’s soldiers. If it gets noisy, we both get tired. Do you understand?”

Cain glanced at the woman with a full stomach.

“Does Count Wördem select pregnant women as guards?”

The pale-faced man scrunched up his face.

“What? What are you talking about? “Count Wördem?”

“They said they were the earl’s soldiers.”

Perhaps dumbfounded, the pale man gaped his mouth like a fish. But he seemed to understand before long, and smiled with great satisfaction.

“You don’t know, you guys. Nothing. The Count of the Black Forest is not Count Wördem. “This is Count Roberta.”

“Roberta?” Cain asked back. “You mean Roberta, one of the seven heroes?”

“How on earth did you guys get in here?” The pale man scratched his arm.

“Seeing as you don’t know anything about the forest, it seems like this is your first time here, or maybe you’re just trying to grab a piece and get out of here. Wake up from your dream. Count Roberta is keeping order here. I don’t know what the story is, but I never dreamed of doing business… “

The pale man caught his breath. Cain wrapped his arms around Alvin’s neck. Alvin fell down with one strangle.

Maria jumped from the tree. She kicked the man holding the rusty sword in the chest with her foot, and she belatedly tripped the leg of the woman who was lifting her wooden spear, knocking him down. Cain sheathed the imperial sword and struck down each person with his fist.

The only one standing unharmed was a pregnant woman. His arms trembled and he swung the scythe tied to the end of his baton.

“What? What are you doing… What are they doing… “

Cain approached with long strides. She swung the baton in a clumsy motion, but Cain simply snatched away the weapon that did not even look like a weapon.

“Ah. Ugh… “

“Is it acidic?”

Cain asked. The pregnant woman dropped her shoulders.

“… Okay.”

“How did I get here?”

“I have nothing to eat.”

“Do they all know each other?”

“We were all from the same village. The one who fell over there is my husband… “

“Why did I have to come here?”

The pregnant woman looked at Cain with eyes that she could not understand. Her eyes were empty. It’s an empty tone to say you don’t even know that.

“Because it’s safe.”

* * * * *

The pregnant woman was not touched. Instead, others tied them to sturdy tree trunks. Lily, who joined late, looked down at them with her arms crossed.

When Alvin woke up stuttering, his wife cried and carefully cleaned her wounds. When Maria threw her leftover ointment, she repeatedly bowed her head in gratitude.

When Alvin woke up, the others also opened their eyes. She became completely desperate and Alvin confessed her situation to her.

“… We were serfs. The count’s serfs. Don’t ask where. Even if you hear it, you won’t know it anyway. As you know, there has been a drought recently, and the harvest has not been good. However, Count Wördem only raised taxes further. “I heard the emperor ordered it.”

Lily wriggled her body, but Cain shook her head. It is useless to tell a serf who knows nothing that the emperor has never raised taxes. It was worth pointing out that he did not pay taxes directly to the Emperor, but to Elector Reinhardt.

“… It’s hard to just collect taxes, and even thieves come down from the mountains. Do you know what’s really obnoxious? I never take it all at once. Little by little, there was barely enough left over to eat and work. That way, you can eat it over and over again.

So I pleaded countless times to the Count to please protect us. I don’t know if they were security guards or Korean soldiers, but they increased the number, but after climbing up the mountain, I realized that they were thieves.

When off duty, he is a thief, and when on duty, he is a guard. Even the people living in the mountains were serfs like us. “Because they were fellow serfs, they knew clearly what they could and could not touch.”

The story was so absurd that Cain forgot what he was going to say. He is a vicious cycle. Serfs become bandits and steal from other serfs, and when they can no longer bear it, they climb the mountains again…

It is clear that in the end, the amount of taxes that can be collected decreases. However, Count Wördem does not seem to be actively trying to correct this.

“Roberta… “What did the ‘Earl’ do for you?”

“Give order to the forest.” Alvin sighed.

“He provided the precepts. If there is a fight, settle it with your fists. Don’t pick up a weapon, and don’t kill. If even one bone breaks, that’s it.

Other than that… Each person must prepare their own food. Do not covet what belongs to ‘brothers of the forest.’ Especially don’t touch Berta Village.

There are also good things instead. They provided us with enough grain and medicine to prevent us from starving to death. However, because the person who received it should not have to receive it again, a kind of organization was created. That’s Roberta’s army.”

“What does that mean?”

Alvin grinned at Maria’s question.

“It doesn’t mean much. Still, secretly… Just being under the same flag created a strange sense of kinship. If we had been alone in this dark forest, we would have been really lonely.

But we are the military. It’s Count Roberta’s army. As long as the army is in this forest, there is nothing to be afraid of. Therefore… It seems like you guys are pretty capable too. How is it? Come in. Swordsmen like you will be especially welcome.”

“Why?”

“Outlanders.” Alvin sighed deeply.

“Perhaps because life has become difficult, ‘real’ people are coming up. It’s not the countrymen like us, but people who were just hanging out somewhere, and they’re coming up to try to run a proper business.

The most unruly ones appeared about a month ago, ugh… There are so many misfortunes. No matter what I did, I couldn’t beat them. “Those crazy people don’t even do ‘business’.”

“Then?”

“I don’t know its identity or purpose. He’s amazingly good at fighting. One person can easily take on ten guys like us. Sometimes they go down to the village to buy various supplies, but they’re like wild boars that run at you to fight if you do anything.

As if it couldn’t be done, Roberta told me not to have any contact with them at all. He told me not to even go near him. But where does that come from? Aren’t they people with no sense of respect… “

Cain and Lily’s eyes met. It is obvious that it is an armed group that appeared a month ago, is suspiciously good at fighting, has settled down here, but never leaves. They must be members of the White Blood Knights.

“Where is it?”

Alvin shook her head.

“What, what?”

“That armed group. “Where are you?”

“No. Excuse me. That is… Do you know where it is? “Looking at you, it looks like this is your first time here.”

Alvin looked up at Cain and sighed. Seeing the number so clearly visible, Cain silently took out her dagger and placed it on her floor. Alvin’s surprised wife hugged her husband tightly.

“Loosen it.”

Despite fumbling, the woman cut the knot tying her laces. Perhaps because she was tied up so tightly, the bandits massaged her body here and there. Cain glared at her Alvin.

“Guide me.”

“… “But you’re quick to talk.”

Alvin smiled sinisterly. Cain thought that her intentions were also obvious.