Araceli and the Inquisitor [2]

I frowned at the tavern owner in front of me. "Cleanser?"

'That doesn't sound like the title of a powerful Adventurer...'

"Aye. The bloody one 'n only Ash-smeahred Cleansah that hunts Void fiends 'n cultists affiliated with the <Dahrkest night>. Rumawrs of the Cleansah av been garn ahround fawr almost a month now"

Seeing that the tavern owner had just gone into rambling mode, I kept my mouth shut and listened to every words he said.

"The Cleansah weahrs silvah ahrmawrs, with two books slung on each side of yer bloody waist"

"..."

"People says that the Cleansah 'as a red book contayynin' dirty secrets of every nobles"

"..."

"The othah book 'as a brown covah. No one evah saw the bloody Cleansah open that book, but some av observed the Cleansah touch the book very frequently, as if it was the most impawrtant thin' in the bloody wawrld!"

His voice then lowered into a hushed whisper, as if he was going to tell me some extremely crucial information.

Thus, I had to lean in to carefully hear his next words.

"Theah's a rumawr that should the bloody brown book evah be opened, at least 'alf of the bloody continent will be wiped out!"

Hearing this, I couldn't help but to sigh in frustration.

'Nothing but exaggerated rumors...'

However, I still ultimately decided to see what's this 'Cleanser' guy is for myself. After all, there had to be at least some truths to the rumors going around, right?

'And it's not like I have any other choice at the moment'

Thus, I stared at the tavern owner's eyes with a serious look on my face.

"Where is the Cleanser now?"

"Yer in luck. A customah of mine said that he just saw the Cleansah killin' 3 Cultists in Ascurt town the othah day"

'Ascurt town? Isn't it in viscount Tyeranz's territory? But it's a week away from here! He might have been gone by the time I got there...'

As such, I decided to go to viscount Tyeranz's territory in a straight line from here, cutting through the wilderness and ignoring the main road.

'It's not like anything can harm me anyways'

I then turned towards the tavern owner and bowed in gratitude.

"Thank you for the information!"

"It's nothing", he gestured for me to stop bowing. "Lassie, just make sure to remem'er me when ye make it big kuhahahah!"

...

After saying goodbye to the tavern owner, I bought supplies with the pitiful amount of funds I had left to prepare for my journey.

"Right, I almost forgot about this...", I muttered as I put on a mask.

The mask was one that Sera bought for me a year ago. Well, calling it a mask was a bit of a stretch, as it only covered half of my face. Specifically the half that had the black sclera.

'Sera said that my sclera would attract too much attention... maybe she's right'

Pausing my thoughts there, I began my journey to meet the Cleanser.

...

As I took a straight path to Ascurt town, it only took me 3 days instead of a week.

Standing in front of the entrance to the town, I made a painful realization.

'I have no idea where the Cleanser is...'

This town is fairly big after all. Well, at least bigger than the average town.

After thinking for a while, I finally deduced where I would be looking for him.

'He's an Adventurer, so he should be at the guild, right?'

As such, I hurriedly walked to the guild.

CLANK—!

Unlike what I had expected, no one bothered to turn around to look at me as soon as I entered the guild like they always did so many times before. After all, someone as young as me being an Adventurer was a somewhat rare sight.

'Wait, what's that over there?'

It was then that I noticed the reason why no one was looking at me. It was because everyone had their eyes glued to a particular person.

He was a man with deep blue eyes and deep blonde hair. Judging by the expensive and totally impractical clothes he was wearing, it was painfully obvious that he was a noble.

Nobles playing Adventurers is nothing new, and most people would just give them a glance before going on with their day. However, what he was holding in his hands made everyone pay attention to him.

And I was no different. Just like everyone else, my eyes were drawn towards the… 9 leashes he was holding in his hands.

At the end of the leashes were 9 women, each of them belonging to one of the 9 major races of the Empire.

'Angel, Demon, Human, Elves, Phoenix, Dragon, Dwarf, Beastkin, and Vampire... what the fuck?'

I have never seen all 9 races be in the same place before. Not to mention that they were all beautiful women being bound by a leash like some sort of animal.

I turned my disgusted gaze to the noble again, only to see him looking at a brown-haired receptionist with a lustful gaze that even I could feel all the way over here.

'How vile...'

It was then that I saw the noble turning his head away from the receptionist and facing the Human woman that was talking to him from behind.

He then pushed her to the ground and—

BAM—!

—Kicked her in the stomach.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY, YOU BITCH?"

With teary eyes, the woman answered in a shaky voice. "P- Please let me go home—"

BAM—!

Kicking her yet again, the noble scowled. "Filthy slaves should know their places!"

My fists were clenched at the sight of the man assaulting the woman.

'How can he treat her like that!?'

I glanced around the room to see if anyone would come help her, but everyone was just merely glaring at them, no, glaring at the noble in hatred, but not actually trying to do anything.

I clenched my fists even tighter in anger at this sight.

'H- How can people be so heartless?'

And with that thought, I began to aggressively march towards the noble.

Before I could even take 3 steps forwards, however, I heard a voice calling out to me.

"Kid, I know how you feel, but you shouldn't make a fuss here"

I snapped my head around to face the voice. It belonged to an old man with white hair and beard. He would have looked like any other old men if it wasn't for the fact that his eyes were all swollen and red, as if he had cried for days on end.

How did I know that he constantly cried for several days? Of course, it was because I was doing exactly that a year ago... and 2 weeks ago.

As such, my expressions softened as I asked the man to elaborate. "Why?"

He continued with a sad voice. "That disgusting guy right there is Artest Tyeranz, the only son of viscount Uqas Tyeranz. Your head will be lopped off like.... my son's if you mess with him"

'Like I'm afraid of a mere noble!'

After all, I had my Skill, [SS - Absolute distance]. And I could accept me being hunted by a viscount if it meant that those poor 9 girls could be freed.

As such, I spoke to the man with determination in my eyes.

"I'm not afraid of death!"

"Aye, I suppose all foolish and reckless youths like you don't", the man sighed. "But regardless, don't try to interfere. We won't be able to get our revenge if you do"

"What do you mean—"

Before I could finish my sentence, however, the door to the guild was kicked open.

BAM—!

In fact, the door wasn't kicked open, but it was kicked down instead. This garnered everyone's attention, even the noble's.

Before long, I could see someone in silver armors walking through the now broken doorway.

"Shit...", a soft feminine voice rang out from inside the armor, but what it conveyed was definitely unbefitting of such a beautiful voice. "...I used a bit too much force..."

The woman in silver armors then turned towards the brown-haired receptionist from before, not even sparing at glance in the noble's direction like how someone with common sense would.

'How can she overlook him having 9 women slaves!?'

I was starting to think that everyone in this town had lost their sense of justice already.

Unaware of my thoughts, the woman spoke up again. "Katherine, uh... it was an accident, so don't charge me for the door, okay?"

The receptionist, Katherine, looked relieved by the woman in armors' presence. "Thanks God! Aryl, you're here!"

Scratching the back of her... helmet in confusion, the woman, presumably named 'Aryl', spoke up again. "Haha, I guess I'm here. So... does that mean I don't have to pay for the door?"

Katherine's expression then turned into that of a frown. Her earlier respect was nowhere to be seen. "Of course you do! I'll deduct the payment from your quest this time!"

I could hear Aryl clicking her tongue from inside the armor before she walked towards Katherine's counter, completely oblivious of, or rather, completing ignoring Artest's hateful glare.

I, however, could feel Artest's glare, even if it wasn't directed at me.

'D- Did he get that mad for a such a trivial reason as someone not paying attention to him?'

Nobles were really a weird bunch.

Pausing my thoughts there, I once again rested my gaze on Aryl, who had just gotten to Katherine's counter.

Space mana agglomerated in Aryl's right hand, before she reached into empty space and took out some severed tails, ones that I could immediately identified as belonging to Blooded monkeys, <D> ranked monsters that had tried to attack me while I was on my way to this town.

'So many? But they're <D> ranked monsters!', I widened my eyes in awe at this sight.

Whoever this Aryl woman was, she was definitely more powerful than her... questionable behavior thus far had made her out to be.

Katherine, however, didn't share my admiration for Aryl. Instead, she was looking at her with an annoyed expression.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Get the proof of the quest to the Processing sector, and then come here! I don't want to clean my counter every time you finishes your quests!"

"Yeah, whatever", Aryl waved her hand dismissively. "Just get it done quickly. I'm tired..."

"Okay then... I don't know why I even bothered to reason with you", Katherine sighed. "Face, please"

"Do I really have to?", Aryl looked at Katherine with what I imagined to be pleading eyes.

"It's standard procedures. Come on, it's just for a little bit"

"Fine then...", Aryl sighed as she lightly tapped on the brown book that I had just now noticed.

Poof—!

As soon as Aryl removed her helmet, ashes rushed out of the armor as if it was always filled with ashes.

It took a few seconds for the ashes to disperse. And when it did, everyone's jaws dropped, including mine.

Molten-red eyes, pitch-black vertical pupils, with hair as gray as ashes. Despite ashes having came out of her helmet mere seconds ago, her face wasn't dusty. Instead, it was doll-like and immaculate.

'N- Now I know why they call her 'Ash-smeared'. It isn't because her face is dirty. Rather, it's because of her hair...'

After all, her gray hair made it look like that it was plastered with ashes and dust.

Despite that, however, she was still an absolute beauty. Even I almost blushed at the sight of her.

Seemingly having the same thoughts as mine, Artest, the noble, suddenly stood up and marched towards Aryl.

"You're a Halfling, correct?", Artest spoke as soon as he reached Aryl.

Slowly turning around, Aryl frowned in frustration as if she was expecting this from the very beginning. "Yes, so?"

Clearing his throat, Artest spoke up again in a dignified tone. "Halfling, you're in luck today. A concubine of mine had just revealed herself to be... disobedient"

GULP—!

I could hear the Human woman from before gulping a mouthful of saliva in fear.

Artest then continued. "So there will be an empty slot soon. And I intend on filling that spot with you. Isn't it a great honor for a Halfling like you to be my concubine?"

He smirked confidently, as if fully expecting Aryl to jump at the chance.

Unluckily for him, Aryl was having none of it.

"No."

"Wh- What did you say?", Artest stared at Aryl in disbelief, as if this was the first time he was turned down.

"I said no. Go fuck yourself"

'Cursing really doesn't fit her', I thought.

After all, no one would expect someone with her appearance to fling curse words around as much as she did.

Now flushing red with anger, Artest shouted. "How dare you disrespect me? Do you know who I am? I'm Artest Tyeranz, son of viscount Uqas Tyeranz!"

"Really?", Aryl widened her eyes in surprise.

She then looked around the room with a smile.

Almost instantly, everyone, including the old man who talked to me earlier, nodded their head as if they were confirming something.

Similarly nodding her head back at everyone, Aryl then turned towards Artest again with an even wider smile on her face.

"Hi Artest! My name's Aryl Myrsky. And—"

<[Splice]>

A dagger suddenly appeared in her hand as she disappeared from her spot and reappeared right behind Artest.

"—I'm the Inquisitor of Ashes and Lightning"

Aryl put her dagger to Artest's neck as she spoke her next words.

"I can kill you effortlessly with a flick of my wrist, so be obedient and only talk when I tell you to, got it?"

Artest nodded as he swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Smiling in satisfaction, Aryl took out the red book from her waist and flipped through the pages.

"Let's see...", she muttered as she stopped flipping through the book, apparently having found what she was looking for. "Ah! Here it is!"

She then cleared her throat before speaking up again. "Artest Tyeranz, serial murderer and rapist. You already have more than a dozen bastard children and you aren't even sending them any financial supports. Not too befitting of a noble, huh?"

"What does that got to do with anything? I can do whatever I like in this territory!"

In response, Aryl pressed her dagger against Artest's throat, lightly cutting into his skin. "Shhh... You only talk when I tell you to, remember?"

Artest nodded.

"Good. Now here comes the fun part"

"..."

"At age 20, you came into contact with a high-ranking member of the Darkest night. With the promise of wealth and power, you joined the cult and signed a contract with a Void fiend. You then abducted 15 children and sacrificed them to the fiend"

She then closed her book, put it back to where it was and spoke with a cold tone.

"Did I get everything? Or are you hiding more?"

Hearing this, Artest laughed manically instead of breaking down in anxiety. "Hehahaha! I don't know how you found out about all the thing I did but... I'll make you regret ever trying to go against me!"

Instantly after Artest finished his sentence, foul Void mana exploded him, plunging the entire Guild hall into darkness.

Everyone, including me, were too shock and scared to even form a word.

It was then that I heard Aryl's bored yawn. "Huamm... I thought you'd do something more interesting than this..."

<[A - Authority of fear]: Death>

The Void mana that was obscuring everyone's visions suddenly disappeared.

Still trying to calm my ragged breathing down, I looked to where Aryl was, only to see her still in the same position, holding her dagger to a very frightened Artest.

Artest's face was pale as sheet, and he was sweating all over. It was almost as if he had just seen the Evil God himself descend onto the continent.

'Wait... he would probably be overjoyed if that actually happened...'

As such, I tried to come up with another analogy.

'Ah, that's right. It's almost like he had just saw Goddess Lumaria descending to deliver judgement onto him'

Satisfied, I turned my gaze towards Aryl again.

"Tch, that's disgusting...", Aryl clicked her tongue as her eyes drifted towards Artest's crotch area, which was now wet. "Guess I'll have to end this quickly then"

She then reached into empty space again, taking out a vial containing a liquid that looked just like plain water from thin air.

"See this?", Aryl said as she dangled the vial in front of Artest's hazy eyes. "It's Wyvern poison, straight from a Wyvern's liver. Someone like you should know how dangerous of a poison this is, right?"

She popped the cap off the vial and smeared half of the vial on her dagger.

Spurt—!

Aryl stabbed the dagger into Artest's arm.

"Just so you know, the poison is totally harmless right now, since it has only entered your bloodstream. However—"

She then moved the vial closer to his mouth.

"—As soon as the poison enters your digestive system, you will die a painful death"

Artest clamped his mouth shut upon hearing this, clearly not wanting to take the poison into his mouth.

Seeing this, Aryl shrugged her shoulders. "Hey, don't be scared. You can probably survive if you can find a <B> ranked healer, but..."

She then smiled evilly. "...I don't think anyone here will be willing to help you"

As if on cue, the old man who was talking to me before suddenly stood up and walked towards Aryl.

"Aryl...", he said as soon as he reached them. "Let me p—"

"I know", Aryl interrupted him. "Old Joseph, you can punch him as much as you want"

Hearing this, the old man, Joseph, bowed in gratitude before he cracked his knuckles and glared hatefully at Artest.

"M- Mercy... p- please!", Artest lets out a desperate plead.

Ignoring him, Joseph raised his fist up. "Mercy my ass! This is for my son!"

BAM—!

He delivered a hefty punch, one that had surprising power behind it considering his old age, to Artest's face.

BAM—!

He punched Artest one more time before smiling in satisfaction. "Thank you, Aryl"

It was then that a middle-aged woman stood up from her seat and approached Aryl.

"Aryl, I also want to do it"

"Very well", Aryl smiled.

BAM—!

"Me too!"

BAM—!

"That bastard raped my daughter! Let me punch his nuts!"

BAM—! Crack—!

...

'S- So this is what the old man said when he said that he was getting his revenge?', I shuddered in fright as I saw almost everyone present in the Guild hall standing up and using Artest, a noble, as a punching bag.

Even I had the urge to walk up and punch him too, but I refrained myself from doing so.

'No... I mustn't indulge in needless violence'

After a while, people stopped coming up to beat the noble up.

Artest's face was now an unrecognizable mess. However, he was somehow just barely clinging onto his life.

"It seems that everyone's satisfied", Aryl said. "I take that no one's opposed to me killing this bastard now, right?"

Everyone nodded.

Smiling, Aryl then hovered the vial above his mouth before crushing it, sending both the poison and the glass shards down his throat.

However, his throat being punctured by glass shards was the least of Artest's worries right now, as—

"AHHHHHHHHHH"

—The Wyvern poison took immediately effect.

He then spasmed on the ground, screaming in agony as his insides were being corroded by the poison.

Artest looked like he was in so much pain that even old Joseph couldn't help but to look at him with some pity.

I was no different. But instead of pitying him, I was getting nauseous.

'N- Not again! Why do I always have to watch people die?'

Although I was still somewhat disgusted by the prospect of someone's life fading right in front of me, I still convinced myself to not show any reactions since if what Aryl said was true, then Artest deserved to die more than anyone here. Furthermore—

'Aryl looked so cool!'

—The way that Aryl let everyone have their revenge was... extremely cool in my eyes.

'And she's strong too! Maybe not as strong as the rumor made her out to be but... she might be able to help me!'

And with that thought, I once again gazed at Aryl, who was lightly kicking a now-dead Artest.

"Well, that's was more tiring than usual... at least I still have one vial left though...", she muttered.

She then turned towards Katherine. "Clean this mess and prepare the bounty rewards for me once I get back. I have to wash this disgusting scent off me now"

"What about the girls?", Katherine asked as Aryl was about to turn around and leave.

"Mmmmm... let the Guild decide. I can't be bothered enough to care"

"How irresponsible. You're the one who killed their master, shouldn't you take care of them or something?"

"Nope. Not my problem", Aryl curtly replied.

Katherine sighed at this. "What did I even expect from you? Fine then, the Guild will send them back to their families. If they don't have any, then they'll be sent to the monastery"

Nodding, Aryl then turned around to face everyone else in the Guild hall.

"Everyone, thanks for keeping that blasted Cultist here!"

After a few moments of silence, Joseph shouted on top of his lungs as he lifted his beer mug up high.

"HURRAH FOR ARYL, THE CLEANSER!"

"Fucking hell!", Aryl shouted back in annoyance. "How many times do I have to tell you? I'm an Inquisitor, not a 'Cleanser'!"

""CHEERS FOR THE CLEANSER!"", more people joined Joseph in for the cheers, completely disregarding Aryl's words.

Scowling, Aryl left the celebrating people behind and left the Guild.

'This is my chance!'

And with that thought, I followed her out of the Guild.

...

As soon as I walked out of the Guild, I saw Aryl standing in the middle of the road, trying to put her helmet on.

I called out to her. "Hey, Cleanse—"

Glares—!

However, I had to stop myself from continuing with my sentence as Aryl suddenly snapped her head in my direction and glared at me with those molten-red eyes of hers.

"Keum! I mean hey, Inquisitor", I quickly fixed my words.

Now looking satisfied that I had called her by her 'correct' title, Aryl spoke as she put on her helmet.

"What do you need me for? If it's a request to hunt a Cultist or a Void fiend then I can't take them right now. I need time to recover my Mana"

"No, not that", I quickly shook my head. "My name's Araceli, I heard of you from an owner of a tavern in viscount Nightshade's territory"

Aryl looked at me with what I assumed to be a surprised face. "So words do indeed travel fast..."

'Dammit... I wish I could actually see her expression behind that helmet...'

Pausing my thoughts there, I gulped my saliva in nervousness as I spoke my next words. "I- I've been meaning to ask you. D- Do you have any tips on how to hunt Cultists and b- become strong like you? I want to crush the <Darkest night> too"

Aryl sighed at my words. She then lethargically walked towards me.

"Listen here", she spoke as she was now standing right in front of me. "You look like you're what, 19? Someone as young as you shouldn't get involved with those crazy Cultists"

'But you look even younger than me!'

After all, Aryl looked 17, and that's with me being generous with my estimate. However, I knew better than to actually voice that out loud.

Unaware of my thoughts, Aryl reached her hand out to pat my shoulders.

"I don't know the reason why you wanted to kill those Cultist and frankly, I don't care. But you'd better s—"

However, she suddenly halted her movement and stared at her hand in surprise as she realized that she couldn't touch me.

'Ah... I should have probably told her about my skill'

Thus, I bowed to Aryl apologetically. "S- Sorry, it's just one of my Skills"

Frozen stiff for a while, Aryl eventually recovered from her shock and spoke with genuine surprise apparent in her voice.

"You... What did you say your name is again?"

"Umm... Araceli?"

"Stay still for a bit", Aryl said as she took the red book from her waist and flipped through it.

Stopping at a page near the middle of the book, Aryl alternated her gaze between my long black hair and my... half-mask, before she closed the book with a mutter inaudible to me.

'What did she just say?'

However, I couldn't linger on that thought for long, as I noticed Aryl slowly putting both of her hands on her helmet to remove it.

With her beautiful and immaculate face now visible, Aryl looked at me with a wide smile.

"What do you think about being my apprentice?"

**A/N: We finally meeting totally-not-Theodore**