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Inquisition Erant territory branch.

32 inquisitors were gathered in a huge sparring arena.

These were the new inquisitors recruited in the recent inquisitor selection.

There had been a couple of deployments since joining the Inquisition, but they still hadn’t shed their rookie status.

This was because they were deployed without proper training and couldn’t pull their own weight.

As if to prove this, over half of the 32 were bandaged.

Nevertheless, their eyes were all fierce.

Quite a few of them looked ready to throw away their lives to tear apart those Followers of the Moon bastards if given the chance.

“They said there wouldn’t be any deployments for a while.”

“Maybe they’re planning to gather only the good ones and deploy them again?”

“I hope so. Damn it, I joined to get revenge. I need to send at least one more of those bastards to hell.”

The new inquisitors gathered in groups, speculating on the reason for the assembly.

But no one really knew.

Just then, a veteran inquisitor entered.

His hair was snow white, but his face looked to be in his 40s.

Retoma.

He was a veteran who had dealt with countless heretics, occupying a unique position within the Inquisition.

“Everyone quiet. Greenhorns, glad to see you all still alive. I called you here today because there’s very good news for you.”

“Good news, you say?”

“You’ve found the Followers of the Moon’s base! Are we deploying?”

“Half of you are injured, and you want to be deployed right now? Do you all want to die?”

Retoma looked at the rookies incredulously.

“I understand your enthusiasm, but rushing in with only conviction and no strength is suicidal.”

“But we’re short on manpower! We’ll go and tear them apart. We don’t care if we die in the process!”

Retoma shook his head at their moth-to-a-flame attitude.

It was good that they weren’t afraid, but they were too eager.

The fundamental principle of an inquisitor was to not die.

Their mission was not to be martyred in the process of dealing with heretics, but to somehow return alive and spread the teachings of the Holy Light Goddess.

‘This makes it difficult to use them properly.’

They didn’t need people who wanted to be cannon fodder.

They needed to recruit those who could survive for a long time like himself and eventually exert influence in the Inquisition.

“You’re all still lacking. Originally, you should have received training from an education instructor, but unfortunately the instructor retired, so you didn’t get proper training.”

They were hastily recruited and hastily deployed.

The result was as everyone knew.

“So this time, the director has brought in a proper instructor.”

Retoma said, frowning slightly.

‘I had a bad feeling about this ever since he said he was going to the academy.’

Jeryd had fewer years than Retoma, but he had risen to the position of director thanks to his skills and fame.

Of course, his abilities weren’t insufficient for the director role, but in veteran Retoma’s eyes, he had too many lacking areas.

‘Can someone who teaches young kids at the academy really serve as an Inquisition instructor?’

Retoma was extremely skeptical.

‘He said he wanted to bring academy students, make a good impression, and turn them into future inquisitors.’

Why on earth did he bring an academy teacher as an instructor?

“A new instructor…?”

“Does this mean we can now receive proper training?”

“Yes, you’ll be able to receive proper training.”

Of course, Retoma didn’t think that this academy teacher could provide proper training, but he thought it would at least be better than nothing.

“Ohhh…!”

“Who’s coming?”

“Could it be the famous Black Panther?”

“Or maybe Sir Holy Sword?”

“It could be the White Reaper. He’s the most famous in our empire these days.”

“If they’re coming as an Inquisition instructor, it must be someone with an amazing reputation. But can we receive training right away?”

Everyone started getting excited about the news of a new instructor coming.

“We know from our own experience. The Inquisition manual is thick and difficult. They’ll need to understand it all and be able to perform it perfectly to teach us.”

“Hmm, then it could be a retired senior coming back.”

“It really could be a senior coming.”

Everyone made predictions and looked forward to the new incoming instructor.

“Do you know who’s coming, Sir Retoma?”

Retoma was silent for a moment.

“The Director will be coming soon with the new instructor. I hear it’s a current teacher at the famous Ivecar Academy. Someone called Ethan Whiskers.”

The excited expressions of the inquisitors hardened at Retoma’s words.

“An academy teacher?”

“Who is that?”

“Ethan Whiskers? Never heard of him.”

“Come on, this isn’t right.”

“What’s an academy teacher doing coming as our Inquisition instructor?”

“We’re not little kids.”

“A person who teaches children is going to teach us? Even if he’s a teacher from a prestigious academy, still.”

The new inquisitors clicked their tongues, disapproving of the newly incoming instructor.

It was understandable. Most students attending prestigious academies are children of noble families. Most of them don’t go to dangerous front lines.

Their education is just superficial.

They don’t receive proper practical training. There’s absolutely no education on situations where one mistake could lead to your death or your comrade’s death.

Hothouse flowers. (+)^[1]TLN: A person who is very fragile and vulnerable as a result of having been sheltered.

That description fit academy students perfectly.

In contrast, the Inquisition was the wild. To survive in the wild, they needed thorough, practical-oriented training that matched it.

What was just an experience for academy students was a life-or-death reality for the Inquisition.

And now an academy teacher with excellent skills in teaching those hothouse flowers was coming as an Inquisition instructor?

This made no sense.

“Even if he’s a teacher from a prestigious academy, it doesn’t seem right for him to come as our Inquisition instructor.”

An inquisitor with a scar on his face spoke.

He looked the youngest among the gathered new inquisitors but had the most vicious gaze.

“Alendre, this is the director’s choice.”

Retoma said to the scarred inquisitor, Alendre.

In fact, there was little he could say. This was all already decided by the Director.

Just as discontent seemed about to explode.

“The director is entering.”

An inquisitor entered first with the deputy director, and then Jeryd, the director of the Inquisition, stepped into the sparring arena.

Retoma and the new inquisitors focused on the person following behind rather than the entering director.

‘Damn it.’

As feared, worry became reality.

Retoma inwardly cursed as soon as he saw Ethan’s face.

He had hoped for at least a tough person.

Since he was already brought, they couldn’t send him back. If so, he should at least be able to train these rough inquisitors a little.

For that, toughness was essential.

But Ethan showed no signs of toughness at all.

“None of you look very happy. Have your wounds not all healed yet?”

Jeryd said, looking at the new inquisitors. Retoma hurriedly went to Jeryd and whispered in his ear.

“Are you sure you brought the right person?”

To Retoma, Jeryd was a junior in the Inquisition before being the director. That’s why he could speak a bit more freely.

“Please trust me, Retoma.”

Jeryd put his hand on Retoma’s shoulder.

“I brought the right person.”

Jeryd formally introduced Ethan while looking at the new inquisitors who were openly showing their dissatisfaction.

“This is Sir Ethan Whiskers, whom I’ve newly invited as an instructor. For a short period, Sir Ethan will be your instructor.”

“I’m Ethan Whiskers.”

Ethan greeted briefly.

“Instructor Ethan is a teacher at the prestigious Ivecar Academy that you all know well. He’s a very professional educator.”

“Can a teacher who teaches kids raised in a protected greenhouse really teach us?”

At that moment, Alendre raised his hand and spoke.

“You seem doubtful, Alendre. And I’m sure it’s not just Alendre’s doubt.”

The other new inquisitors felt the same way.

“We may be new to the Inquisition, but we’re not new to the outside world.”

Though called new, they were all experienced individuals who had accumulated various experiences outside. They had shed their rookie status long ago.

Ethan looked at Jeryd briefly, seeing the inquisitors who looked ready to pounce at any moment.

“May I be a bit rough?”

“Ah, yes, I’ll take responsibility. Please make it clear!”

Ethan smiled at Jeryd’s permission.

Clearly, the new inquisitors were all experienced individuals who had experienced the field in their respective positions.

In other words, there was no need to handle them gently like students.

‘Much better.’

Ethan stepped down from the platform and approached the inquisitor standing at the very front.

“It seems you’re all unhappy that I’m here.”

“Well, it’s not exactly that we’re unhappy. It’s an honor that an academy teacher has come to teach us, but just remember that we’re not students. Do you really think you can teach us?”

‘This attitude even with Jeryd here.’

From the start, Ethan was someone Jeryd personally brought. Whether he was an academy lecturer or whatever, he was someone their superior personally brought to educate them.

Yet there wasn’t even a speck of politeness to be found.

‘He must have had quite a headache.’

He could fully understand how Jeryd felt when he shared his concerns.

Ethan examined the inquisitors with the Eye of Horus.

They certainly had the skills to enter the Inquisition. Compared to students, they definitely looked tougher.

They all seemed to have quite a decent amount of mana as well.

‘Normally, they would have been quite difficult to handle.’

Mana is restricted within the academy.

Thanks to that, even Ethan, who had almost no mana due to Extinction, could easily handle the students.

But this wasn’t the academy.

The mana possessed by the new inquisitors before him was incomparably more than Ethan’s.

If they tried to resist Ethan with that mana, they could resist as much as they wanted.

Mana was that powerful a force.

‘But that was before mastering Heo’s Acupuncture.’

Ethan, who had mastered Heo’s Acupuncture, was in a much stronger state than before.

He judged that he could control these rough rookies as much as he wanted.

“The reason you don’t trust your instructor is because of skill, right?”

Ethan spread both arms.

Then he instantly reached out to the inquisitor standing in front. It was exactly where the acupoint was located.

Whoosh-!

Ethan accurately struck the acupoint with a needle he instantly created. The new inquisitor, attacked without warning, collapsed on the spot.

“What is this…!”

“Don’t treat you guys like a student? That’s exactly what I want to say. Don’t ask me later to be as gentle as if I’m teaching students.”

Ethan said.

“All of you, come at me.”

• 1. TLN: A person who is very fragile and vulnerable as a result of having been sheltered.

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