As the parade went on, Irene and Herman would single out random people as heretics over the most absurd reasons and kill them instantly. I could only witness the public executions from afar, and I wouldn't even be able to see them if it weren't for my enchanted glasses, which allowed me to zoom in and magnify the images.
Often, I was too far away to help because I had to keep a distance out of fear of being singled out by the psychotic couple. There was no clear pattern to their decisions, though I noticed that Irene tended to pick the pretty, beautiful ladies. Mostly because she saw them as a threat to her charms as a woman or some bullshit like that. But the excuses ranged from seduction to doing illegal business to "I don't like your face, therefore you are a heretic."
And when the crowd got unhappy or upset, Herman would kill a few to set an example. Because, you know, if you are angry at the decisions of the Heroes who had slain the Demonic Emperor, that must make you a heretic.
So twelve people lost their lives in a single parade that day, and were brought to the stakes. The stakes were located in the main square of Herman's district, a colossal open space that could fit a few thousand people. The parade eventually came to a halt when it reached the massive square, with the knights and carriages spreading out to form a ceremonial ring.
At the center of them, the carriage of the Hero couple slowly rolled toward the foot of the stakes, where a single knight with a burning torch awaited their arrival with impeccable discipline.
The stakes was a gigantic funeral pyre made of wood that was stacked to several stories high, where people were hammered into wooden crucifixes and burned. Herman and Irene might have already killed them, so there wouldn't be any burning alive, but they still enjoyed the public display of incineration. Some people just wanted to see the world burn, or so the saying went.
However, I was surprised to see that someone was already bound to the stakes. He resembled a knight commander, still clad in his gleaming armor. Blood was matted at the side of his head, mixing with the stubble of a beard that covered his jaw. His dark, handsome face was swollen, indicating that he had received quite the beating. And there was a hole in his otherwise pristine armor, near his chest. My glasses picked up high holy mana readings from the wound, indicating that it was done by a holy weapon.
My eyes drifted to Herman's holy sword, which emanated identical mana readings. I didn't have to be a genius to figure out what had happened.
The twelve corpses were nailed into the stakes, joining the knight commander in the gigantic funeral pyre. It was a mercy that they were already dead, but the Hero couple wanted to desecrate their bodies, to humiliate their corpses in front of everybody. Such a demonstration stood as a warning against those who might intend to displease them, as a reminder of who was in power.
And nobody could challenge them. I could sense the foul mood of the masses, but nobody dared to speak up. They had witnessed the outcome a few minutes prior.
"And thus the fate of all heretics is for all to see!" Herman declared.
"Those who sin against the gods and their envoys must be punished!" Irene added.
And their gestures, a knight stepped forward and threw a flaming torch into the stakes. The dried wood combusted almost immediately and the fires ravenously spread all over the pyre. I watched numbly as the thirteen bodies staked there were set ablaze, the flesh blackening and their figures slowly being reduced to ash and cinders. A stink rose over the main square, and a few people gagged. Most turned away, unable to bear the horrible sight. A few had to duck into alleyways and throw up.
"Remember the price of heresy!" Irene said seriously.
"And the price of treachery!" Herman bellowed. "All those who go against the Hero – me – will suffer divine punishment!"
And with that, the parade was finally over. Unable to believe what I had just witnessed, I returned to the inn.
Well, I did hear rumors of brutality coming out of the capital, but I didn't think it would be that bad. Apparently the truth had been suppressed by the authorities, for the royal family didn't want the other cities and towns to know what sort of monsters their Hero and his Priestess wife had become. They might have rioted. Or more likely, nobody believed in those rumors, thinking it was slander, and thus they didn't transmit them as far out to the other provinces as they would otherwise have.
Hell, I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen them with my own eyes. Not that I would have cared. I wanted my revenge, and would have taken it even if Herman and Irene had reformed themselves and transformed into saints (which would be even more unbelievable, to be frank). But I never imagined they would go over the edge like this.
They were worse tyrants than even the Demonic Emperor. At least that guy didn't randomly kill people over no reason.
"Ugh…"
Closing my eyes when I remembered the burning at stake, I downed a cup of water. While I nursed my drink, a contingent of soldiers entered the tavern and sat around a table. I glanced at them, my gaze hard, and then looked away.
Best not to draw unwanted attention.
To my surprise, however, the knights were in a somber mood.
"Fuck!" one of them smashed his mug against the table, spilling his drink over the surface. He didn't care that it was dripping over his armor. "I can't believe the Hero killed Knight Commander Gregory!"
"I can't believe it too," his comrade muttered. "Are they…really the Heroes?"
"Even when they were fighting the demonic legions, they were already assholes," a third knight muttered. "The only decent one out of them was the kind-hearted mage, Klein Pearson, and he died in the battle half a year ago."
"That's when everything got worse," the first knight growled. "Even though the kind-hearted mage clearly sacrificed his life to save us, to allow us to retreat from the vampire lord, that damned Hero party tried to ruin his reputation by branding him a traitor! If it weren't for the witnesses from the 12th regiment standing up for him, history would have remembered him as a traitor!"
"And now…the Hero and the Supreme Priestess even killed Commander Gregory…all because he spoke up against them!" the second knight clutched his head. "He just voiced criticism over their stupid conduct and needless killing of commoners, and they executed him like that! Called him a heretic!"
"They are the fucking heretics!" the first knight roared, banging his fist against the table. "What Hero? What Supreme Priestess? They are just bloody tyrants!"
"Sh!" the third knight raised a finger to his lips, looking around worriedly. "Stop that! You never know who might be listening! You want to end up like Commander Gregory?!"
"Damn it…!" the first knight hunched over, gritting his teeth. "Then what are we supposed to do? Continue serving those bastards!? I can't take it any longer!"
"We don't have a choice," the second knight said softly. "If we protest, they will kill us. You saw what they did to Commander Gregory."
They fell into a subdued silence, drinking in a surly manner. I listened intently, putting the pieces together. So the Knight Commander who was burned at the stakes was Gregory. Herman and Irene had killed him because he protested against their atrocities.
Wow, this was just getting better and better.
Rising from my table, I left a few coins on the table as payment, and then exited the inn.
I was going to need to gather more information.
*
Over the next few days, I was able to collect quite a bit of intelligence.
Firstly, Herman and Irene lived in a palace not far away from the main square. It was heavily guarded, and served as a fortress in its own right, guarded by two full regiments of knights. They regularly patrolled the perimeter, looking out for intruders and the like.
It was going to be very difficult to sneak into the Hero's palace. A frontal assault was going to be impossible. No matter how powerful I was (and I wasn't very strong, to be honest), I couldn't simply barge in from the front gate and slaughter everybody. Not to mention, from the conversation I heard from the tavern, most of the knights were unhappy with the way Herman and Irene were running things. I didn't want them to end up as collateral damage in my grudge against the fuckers.
Secondly, Herman and Irene had a lot of links to the church. There were also quite a lot priests and the like submitting petitions. Since Irene was the Supreme Priestess, she handled all of the "generous" donations that she had extorted from the people, but true to her nature, she refused to share them or distribute them. A lot of the church branches in Royales had suffered neglect as a result. Even so, Irene maintained close connections with the high-ranking priests and priestesses, those who were known for their healing magic prowess. And that was on top of her own powerful healing magic.
In other words, I had to kill them quickly and decisively, or they would just get healed immediately. Well, it wasn't as if the priests and priestesses could teleport, and the nearest church was a few miles away from the palace, so it would take them some time to get there. But Irene's healing magic and holy blessings were capable of delaying me long enough, so if the other priests and priestesses finally arrive before I could kill both her and her husband, then I was pretty much screwed.
This was going to be a very difficult task. Conventional fighting wasn't going to work. And I was up against not one but two of the members of the strongest Hero party. As an aside, they were known as the strongest Hero party because they were the ones who slew the Demonic Emperor.
All the more reason I couldn't afford to underestimate them.
However, it was not all bad news. That was where the third piece of information came in useful.
True to their rotten character, Herman and Irene had been recklessly killing servants and maids over the most inane reasons. Irene, for example, killed three maids for being "beautiful" because she was worried that they would tempt her husband into adultery. And therefore they had committed a heretical sin and thus must be executed.
Then Herman stabbed the previous head butler who had protested over the killing of the maids under his charge, because it meant that he was a traitor for going against the orders of the Hero and the Supreme Priestess.
I couldn't even…
On the other hand, because of their reckless murders of servants over every little thing, the palace was understaffed. And so they were hiring.
Normally, most people would jump at the chance to work in the Hero's palace because not only was the pay actually decent, they would receive accommodation and the meals were paid for. Unfortunately, by now, most people had realized just how awful the Hero and the Supreme Priestess were, and nobody wanted to serve the psychotic couple. It just wasn't worth risking their lives for a roof over their heads, not when the murderous husband and wife could kill you over the most stupid reason. Such as your appearance, for example.
As such, the palace staff was having trouble hiring. Most people avoided them like the plague, especially when they saw the maid uniforms. I had half a mind to evade them too, but when a maid thrust a flyer into my hand, begging me to at least consider the job, I decided to comply.
Looking at the paper brochure that was recruiting for servants to work in the palace, I smirked and pushed up my gleaming glasses.
This was going to be my ticket in.