Beside the Gear River.
“Pah! A few templars wearing metal armor wanted to bring me back? Desireless, you’re still too naive, much more naive than when you’re playing Priest!”
The inquisitor Cheryl was squatting atop the roof of an alchemic atelier and looking at the four Ecclesiastical Templars searching for her whereabouts on the bridge below.
Her complacent tone only lasted for a short while when she suddenly felt a burning pain from her shoulder. A deep purple symbol appeared on her shoulder.
“Mark of Shadow?!” She recognized the symbol that appeared on her shoulder. At the same time, the four templars immediately discovered her whereabouts and were running toward her.
“Desireless, you damned dirty priest!”
After shouting in complaint, Cheryl immediately leaped from the roof and into the side alley.
The four templars began to search through this area. But, Cheryl quickly escaped from the alley with her inhuman ability.
Gradually, the pain disappeared from her shoulder. She climbed onto the roof of another alchemic atelier. She began to ponder where she should go next.
But, after pondering for a bit, she felt extremely disappointed... She had gotten lost.
The duty of the Holy Church’s Heresy Tribunal was to kill those rebellious and atrocious individuals detrimental to the Church. But, Cheryl felt that the Heresy Tribunal itself was an extremely atrocious organization.
She had received inhuman powers from the church. But, that power was extremely unstable. She could lose control over that power at any moment.
Because of that, the inquisitors must stay in the Holy City’s central district whenever they’re not out conducting missions.
To the followers of the Holy Church, that was a matter of matchless honor. After all, the central district of the Holy City was the holy land closest to the gods.
But, to Cheryl, it was akin to a cage. If it wasn’t for the fact that the Holy Church’s choir’s singing was able to bring relief to the side effect caused by her powers going out of control, she would’ve escaped from that damned place over a hundred years ago.
But, after coming to Norland, the situation changed completely.
Cheryl took out a pitch-black originium crystal from her pocket. She poured her magic power into the originium crystal. Through that, she could faintly hear a singing voice being emitted from the originium crystal.
The comforting singing voice relaxed her impatient and unstable emotions. But, it only managed to calm her down slightly. If she didn’t find something that could spark joy for her, something that could shift her attention, the crazed mutterings would once again reverberate through her head.
“The Weissenasche Theater is nearby. How about we go and watch ‘Beauty and the Demon?’”
“How many times have we watched that now? Five or six? Sansa, you’re still not tired of watching it?”
“I’m alright. Hyrlan, what about you?”
Hiding atop the alchemic atelier, Cheryl’s attention was caught by a conversation. She looked down to the alchemic atelier and saw a familiar figure.
“The succubus from the Hearthstone Tavern...”
Cheryl stared at the five girls standing before the alchemic atelier. Their mage gowns signified that they were all from the same magic academy. But, a succubus had mingled itself among them.
As an inquisitor, Cheryl had a duty to eliminate that ‘god’s enemy.’ But, Cheryl recognized that succubus to be the only attendant in the Hearthstone Tavern.
As for Norland’s Hearthstone Tavern, it was the only place that could bring her ‘joy’ apart from the Holy City’s choir. No, not joy. It should be called ‘excitement’ instead.
Through that game called ‘Hearthstone,’ she had completely forgotten those damned mutterings for the past two weeks.
Cheryl watched the five girls from the roof. After they finished their short exchange, two of the girls decided to leave the group.
Maybe I can return to the Hearthstone Tavern by following that succubus?
After pondering for a moment, Cheryl decided to follow the succubus. But, she didn’t dare to get too close.
A faint amount of aura of death was lingering around that succubus. It seemed like some sort of undead creature was hovering around the succubus.
Following them, Cheryl walked past the Gear River. She hoped to be able to return to the Hearthstone Tavern with the succubus’s guidance.
Unfortunately, her hope amounted to nothing. They did not choose to return to the Hearthstone Tavern. Instead, they arrived at a theater, the Weissenasche Theater.
“Why would a demon be interested in stage plays?!”
Cheryl stood before the entrance of the Weissenasche Theater and watched the succubus enter it. She was pondering whether to enter the theater after her.
A stage play would take at least an hour or two to finish. If she was to spend that much time, she could just find anyone on the street to ask them where the Hearthstone Tavern was located at.
But, the four templars tracking her with the ‘Mark of Shadow’ rendered her choiceless.
In order to avoid them, she had no choice but to hide herself in the Weissenasche Theater for the time being.
The Weissenasche Theater was an exceptional hiding place. People from all over the world filled the entire theater lounge. The spacious lounge actually appeared very congested.
Cheryl walked past the crowd and arrived at a corner. There were benches for people to sit on located here. Luckily, Cheryl found a seat.
Without hesitation, she sat down on the seat. She has been up all day dealing with the templars trying to bring her back. No matter how outstanding of an inquisitor she might be, she was tired from all of it.
“Young Miss, did you also come here to watch the new movie screening?”
A voice sounded from beside Cheryl. She turned around and saw a familiar figure — the Chaos Demon Joshua. But, she was more fond of addressing him as the tavern owner.
As an inquisitor, she had once accepted the mission to assassinate Joshua. But, the reason why she accepted the mission was not because of her loyalty to the Church. Instead, it was because she wanted to be able to hear the choir’s singing after completing the mission.
Right now, Cheryl had found something far more fascinating than singing. Mission?
To challenge aw Chaos Demon, one that might even be prepared, all alone was simply suicidal.
“Movie?”
Cheryl guessed that Joshua didn’t know her true identity. Because of that, she was able to communicate with him calmly.
She was able to faintly hear the mutterings appearing in her head. If she doesn’t find something that could spark joy, she might be faced with fatal dangers.
At this moment, the audiences in the Weissenasche Theater suddenly exclaimed in surprise.
The reason for that was because the poster for ‘Beauty and the Demon’ had disappeared all of a sudden. It was replaced with a poster for ‘Léon: The Demon.’
A poster of the demon hitman Léon and Mathilda, a little girl carrying a potted plant, walking on the street. In a short few seconds, that poster caught Cheryl’s attention and perked her interest.
“Of course...”
The crazed mutterings grew clearer by the second. Cheryl was forced to respond in a clear-cut manner.
After all, it was not her first time being ‘tempted’ by that demon. Right now, she only hoped that the movie would be interesting enough.