Chapter 701 – 701. The Holy Trial (3)
The place where the arrested priests were sent was the place where heretics who were decided to be executed were hanged and hanged.
Their execution has not yet been decided, but the priests already had a sense of their future to some degree from the fact that they were sent to this place.
It was because he knew what the end of many people who were sent to this place to be tried was.
“Shit… Why… Why i…”
“Wrong… Now… It’s all over…”
Some did not understand why they were brought here, and especially the young priests looked desperate as if they had given up everything from the moment they were brought here.
The total number of priests who committed corruption and committed evil in secret was 17.
Five of them were high-ranking priests who all occupied a high position in the temple.
It wasn’t that many, but considering that the total number of high-ranking priests working within the main school of the temple was no more than 30, it was by no means a small number.
This is because how corrupt the person in power who occupies a high position in the temple is a matter that greatly affects the authority of the temple.
‘Is it like this…’
Seeing the number of priests on trial, Agies frowned.
He knew it was corrupt, but the number was greater than he knew.
In the end, Eunhyeon’s insistence that she should move as quickly as possible was correct this time as well.
“Tsk.”
When Agies clicked his tongue and felt annoyed at the current situation, Darian, the head of the Heretic Inquisition, who would judge and sentence the corrupt priests, appeared and took his seat.
“Then let the trial begin.”
Darian read all the oaths that had been prepared in advance on the table.
The trial began with an oath to decide the sentence with the right judgment, excluding private feelings for the sake of the sacred kingdom of Erenia in the future trial.
Darian looked at the corrupt priests with cold eyes and asked.
“Do you admit the sins you have committed so far?”
One of the top priests among the corrupt priests immediately opened his mouth as if he had been waiting.
“I won’t admit it!”
Before long, the high-ranking priest made a really sad expression and appealed.
“Darian… Inquisitor! I am really sorry!”
“…”
“I have been for the peaceful life of the citizens! And for the future of priests and temples, we have been working tirelessly until now! However… But why… ! You can’t do this to me! Inquisitor!”
“Yes, yes!”
“I feel bad!”
When a high-ranking priest among them desperately appealed, even the younger priests who began to sympathize with him actively opened their mouths and asserted their innocence.
Darian tried to insist on neutrality by acting as expressionless as possible, but it was impossible to endure the subtle distortion of his expression to endure the twisted feeling inside.
As expected, the corruption priests did not admit their sins.
I knew it and expected it, but as expected, facing it directly made me feel sick.
However, pretending to be as calm as possible, Darian spoke again.
“It’s unfortunate…”
Darian opened the document he had prepared beforehand and read the contents one after another.
“Isn’t it true that apprentice priestesses who have completed their training are overscheduled to certain regions abroad and receive aid in return?”
“Yes… ?”
The bewildered high priest asked in a bewildered voice, but Darian read the contents of the document in turn.
“What was the embezzlement of the offerings paid to the temple? How did you tamper with apprentice priestesses in the middle of their training and get them expelled from the temple by accusing them of absurd crimes?”
Besides that, many corruptions and obscene desires.
In the document, everything from trivial to large scale was recorded without omission.
As he read through the contents of the document, Darian marveled inwardly.
‘That’s amazing.’
All of these documents that Darian was currently reading were filled with the information Eunhyeon had collected.
It contained a lot of information secretly collected by the Heretic Questioner, but the quantity and quality of the written information was on a different level.
In addition, I had no choice but to stick out my tongue when I saw that all of the minor irregularities such as who embezzled where, when, and how much money were embezzled were written down.
The sacred kingdom of Erenia must be an away area for Eunhyeon.
His ability to collect such a high level of information in large quantities without any proper intelligence agency or personal connections is to the point of being afraid.
But even so, the priests denied them even though their corruption was revealed in detail.
“Well, those are not my own!”
“You’re right! Well, it’s not our sins! Someone is trying to lay the blame on us!”
The priests desperately denied it.
All of these are documentary evidence.
It was because he believed that if he was caught and denied that he had been falsely accused, a breakthrough would be made to live somehow.
But as if even that had already been expected, Darian proceeded with the trial like water flowing.
“Let the witnesses in.”
“Witness… ?”
The priests hardened their complexions and stared at the door that slowly began to open at Darian’s command.
I checked a number of people who appeared there, some with a puzzled expression, and another with a shocked expression.
“I-that woman… !”
Soon after, the witnesses who had entered slowly headed to the witness stand following the guidance of the priests conducting the trial.
One of the witnesses, a woman, appeared before the courtroom.
“… !”
When the high-ranking priest with whom she had a bad relationship glared at her with a terrifying look, the woman flinched slightly.
However, having already made up her mind, she responded to the man’s gaze with a firm look.
“Witness.”
“… Yes. Inquisitor.”
“Can a witness swear that from now on he will testify only to the correct truth?”
“I swear.”
“Great. Witness Then I will ask you from now on.”
Darian began his interrogation by asking the woman’s brief background.
According to the witness woman’s name, age, origin, and occupation, she was a woman who became a priest of the Temple of Vesta three years ago.
“And… For unknown reasons, it has been decided that I will be dispatched to a temple branch in another country.”
It was an incomprehensible personnel transfer.
Assignment to perform the priest’s duties is determined by the grade of the training received at the main school during the apprentice priest’s days.
The range from the main school to temple branches in distant places is very wide, and the female witnesses belonged to the top ranks in the training center, and their grades were never enough to be assigned to temple branches in other countries.
“I only found out after I was assigned. That it was the result of someone’s influence.”
It is said that the nobility of the territory to which the witness woman was assigned tipped the inside of the temple to send an intelligent young priestess.
The nobility of the territory was also their supporter in collusion with the high priest Velas or the high priest currently being interrogated.
“I am… It was sold to the estate in exchange for their aid.”
The witness woman felt betrayed by her when she realized that the filthy breath of the temple’s high-ranking officials had worked to see her own body and use it as a plaything to quench her lust, rather than to fulfill her duties as a priest. Shook his teeth
She gave up her priesthood and ran away from the assigned estate and lived a normal life farming in a foreign land.
“No, that is nonsense! Do you really believe what that woman says!? She has nothing to do with me, and I never did anything like that!”
“We have already secured evidence that not only this witness, but also a number of priestesses were forcibly assigned to foreign temple branches. The more absurd you are, the more severely punished you will be for the crime of denying the truth and lying.”
“Nice… Ugh!”
“I will continue to listen to the testimony of the witnesses.”
The high priest contorted her face.
The content of the testimony that follows is all the evil deeds and corruption committed secretly by himself and the factions of the higher priests of Velas, including himself.
All of the things in the past that used the temple’s status and authority as a shield were revealed.
‘How on earth…’
How on earth could he have persuaded those who had been thoroughly cracked down and brought them here?
What I didn’t understand the most was the means by which they found the witnesses, inquired about them, and brought them to this place.
Among the witnesses gathered at the courthouse were those who had been victimized by the factions of the High Priest and the High Priest Velas, and had already had their careers blocked within the temple, or some had even quit their priesthood, like the woman who was the first witness. .
Not all of the witnesses were in one place from the beginning, but how could they be gathered in one place as they were scattered all over the place and leading their own lives?
Even if the flow of events is fast, it is too fast.
‘Could it be that you were preparing for this trial before the necromancer’s attack… ?’
As if they had waited, high priest Velas, the head of the faction, disappeared, and the current situation soon followed.
In the high priest’s head, this guess was the most accurate.
Of course, that wasn’t the answer at all.
“The high priest… You threatened me. If this embezzlement case is not covered, not only me but also my family… I’m afraid I won’t be able to receive the support of the temple’s main school in this Erenium…”
“My, when did I ever say something like that! Lie… ! It’s a lie… ! This is a mother ship… !”
This really wasn’t true.
A higher priest had never really made such a threat.
He had really done a lot of evil, and he might have forgotten some of them, but at least the high-ranking priest felt a tantrum in resentment as he added a crime he hadn’t committed.
‘Who are you… ! Who the hell are you… !’
The High Priest realized that someone was trying to trample him thoroughly with the intention of burying him as if he would not even give him a chance to set foot in this temple.
And that opponent was never a person who belonged to the temple.
It feels like being entangled in a spider’s web that you can never escape.
The Temple of Vesta is a country where exchanges with foreign countries are more active than any other country, and the temple’s authority and honor are valued as much.
If he belonged to the temple, there was no way he would punish himself with such a public trial.
This is because it is a foolish act that is different from revealing one’s own shame.
Someone behind the scenes induced and set the stage for this trial to take place.
‘Wait for a sec. It’s strange when you think about it. Why did she temporarily issue her heretic inquisitor’s qualifications to that woman?’
The high-ranking priest, who had been locked in contemplation in his restraints, involuntarily moved his gaze toward the seat where Eleanor was sitting.
To be precise, the husband of Eleanor, who is sitting next to the next saintess.
A man who is also the husband of a woman named Erin who raided his mansion where they had a secret conversation.
And at the same time, he was a man who had the connection point of being a friend of Agnes.
‘You are the author! The author… !’
However, even if they realized the truth, this situation could not be overcome.
I felt helpless and humiliated about myself now that I couldn’t do anything, and the emotions that turned into anger began to burn.
While the high-ranking priest was glaring at Eun-hyeon, the trial, after all the witnesses had testified, ran toward the end.
“I will make a decision. All of them committed dirty evil and corruption with their status as priests who had to save and take care of people. They are removed from the priestly position and given a new status as slaves who repeat labor until death.”
“Oh, no… !”
“This can’t be… !”
“Please, just once… ! Give me one chance!”
“I have committed a mortal sin! Please forgive me just once… !”
While a number of priests who had heard the verdict were begging with desperate expressions, Eleanor, who was sitting in the seat next to the jury, raised her body and moved her steps toward the center of the judge.
“Saint, please… !”
If I could, I wanted to hold on to the hem of Eleanor’s skirt and beg her earnestly, but the priests, who tied her hands behind her back, couldn’t do anything other than appeal with a distorted expression pouring out tears and snot.
“…”
But Eleanor looked down at them without answering.
The corruption priests soon saw her face and gave her a frightened expression.
Because she realized that she didn’t step here on her own to help herself.
Eleanor said nothing.
She simply knelt down and stretched out her hands toward the bound corrupt priests.
[Eleanor River God]
[Sacred Recovery]
The bright lights that existed inside the bodies of the corruption priests began to gather in Eleanor’s hands as if they were being pulled out of the body all at once.
“Ahhh… !”
It was the first time they had seen and felt this phenomenon, but the corrupt priests screamed in astonishment when they realized that their holy power was being forcibly gathered by Eleanor.
At this moment, they lost their divinity and became ordinary human beings with nothing.
