How was one supposed to find demons in a crowd?
"… Toss them into the water. Those that don't drown are demons, and those that drown are humans."
How was one supposed to resist the demons' evil witchcraft?
"… Shout out the name of the God of Holy Light, and demons will be unable to harm devout believers. Our God will not protect believers who aren't devout enough … That sounds nice. Those that die aren't devout enough? It's not like the dead can speak. "
How was one supposed to kill demons?
"… Toss them into Holy Fire. Those that die are demons, but those that can't be burned to death … there shouldn't be any demons that can't be burned to death. It doesn't even mention what to do if you meet a demon that can't be burned to death. Also, it doesn't mention how to toss a demon into Holy Fire. "
I had a helpless expression as I tossed aside this booklet. "The Holy Church's Exorcism Handbook (AD 324 Revision)" sounded quite reliable, but the methods used in this handbook reminded me of a certain world's medieval witches who tried witches.
"What the hell is this? The Holy Church has been using this to search for demons for so many years? This is obviously a handbook for murdering the innocent. "
"Actually, this was originally meant for religious propaganda. The demons that were able to hide among humans in the mortal plane were all at least high-level demons. Many of them were projections or incarnations of powerful demons. There were even some Cardinals that managed to sneak into the Holy Church. How could any ordinary person possibly find them?"
"… That's why the Holy Church sent out a booklet to calm people down? This seemingly barbecued crusader is actually a candle that can calm people down? It really is filled with evil intentions. It would seem that everyone in that world is just as dark. "
I walked through a long black hallway. Diffindor's prison district was truly indescribable.
Perhaps it was because most of the prison's funds were used to renovate the old and new city districts. Or perhaps it was because the crime rate had drastically decreased after Diffindor's city became a reality. Most of the prisons were unoccupied, and this place still retained its old style.
As I walked down the hallway, I couldn't help but cover my nose with the smell of dust. The light from the torches perfectly illuminated the empty prison cells. The empty atmosphere made this prison, which was filled with the smell of blood, seem rather frightening. As I listened to the prison warden's report, I also observed the prisoners.
Besides the prison warden's complaints about his work, I also obtained the information that I wanted to know. Only 127 new prisoners had been sent here in the past two months … but that was already half a year's worth of prisoners. Even so, it was still strange that there were several times more prison wardens than prisoners.
Hearing this, I started to wonder if there was even a need to build a prison. This was a metropolis with a population of several million, but the total number of prisoners was less than a thousand. When any crime would be instantly arrested, the crime rate would actually drop to such a level. Furthermore, most of the criminals were impulsive criminals who committed unplanned crimes.
"… Looks like I've come at the right time. In a few months, I'll be sent to hard labor."
"Yes. Recently, the number of laborers in the mines and stone factories has been lacking. They have already complained to us many times. However, I heard that they have recently started hiring necromancer apprentices to use zombies and skeletons to open up the mines. For noble Lord Mages to actually be hired by commoners like us, this era is too inconceivable …"
The young jailer seemed rather talkative, but what he said was probably what I expected.
Unlike a relatively peaceful world where imprisonment was the main form of punishment, the countries of Aichy's world weren't nearly as wealthy … Yes, wealthy. Criminals who committed crimes still had their country pay for them. They didn't have to do manual labor or hard labor, and they could even get some wages to eat and wear. All they had to do was lie down and live. If the countries in the Northlands also used such punishments, it was likely that their prisons would immediately be filled to the brim. Countless people would voluntarily commit crimes just for the sake of a living.
Most countries in Aichy's world treated prisoners like criminals who committed crimes such as theft. They would be sentenced to hard labor for a short period of time before being released. This period would normally be no more than two years. Most of the time, it would only be a few months. But in order to not make them feel too comfortable, not only would they have to do hard labor every day, but they would also be punished regularly. When they were finally released, they would even have their faces tattooed. This was a mark that would mark them for the rest of their lives, a shame that they would have to wash away with their lives.
Yes, this was only a minor crime. After all, this was a chaotic era with many punishments. If it was a major crime like murder, it would be even more straightforward. They would simply be sentenced to death. But in some countries, they would use hard labor, demotion to slaves, or even war cannon fodder in place of the death penalty. But in most cases, those prisoners would have a fate worse than death.
Obviously, such punishments were extremely unscientific and inhumane. Some crimes weren't too serious, but they were sentenced to a lifetime of hard labor, which was equivalent to the death penalty. Some crimes were even worse, but they were released after only two years of hard labor.
However, to the people of this world, such punishments couldn't be any more normal. After all, this was how it had been for thousands of years. However, a certain former judge who had a bit of obsessive-compulsive disorder had spent a lot of effort and forcibly created an extremely detailed code of law. From the types of punishments to the number of years and the type of punishment one should receive, everything was stipulated. And with the rise of the Church of Law, this system was also popularized. The punishments became even stricter, which was also more fitting for the prisoner's crimes. The core of this system was probably that they wouldn't feed idlers, but they also wouldn't kill people. Under the premise that the prisoner's life was guaranteed, they would use punishment as a substitute for punishment. They would think of ways to make the prisoner pay for his crimes. They would do their best to reduce physical punishments that would result in crippling or fatal injuries.
At the very least, judging from the current situation, it was quite good. The country was saving money, and the prisoner wouldn't die a worthless death. They would also have a chance to turn over a new leaf. They wouldn't have to suffer the shame of having a tattoo on their face, which would make it impossible for them to find a job ever again. It would be quite easy for them to commit crimes again.
It could be said that with the interference of a certain "transmigrator", especially with the influence of the Church of Law, Aichy's progress in the legal system over the past hundred years was far greater than what he had made in the past several tens of thousands of years.
No matter how good the system was, it was unlikely that there would be a situation where there weren't enough prisoners. Not only was the prison empty, the mines that had previously used prisoners as free labor were now in a difficult situation. Of course, I didn't care about all this. It was naturally a good thing that no one was committing crimes. With the rise of undead labor, the labor shortage wasn't actually that difficult to solve.
It was already winter, and the open-air heavy labor areas had all stopped working. If I had waited another two or three months, these prisoners would have started working at the beginning of spring. At that time, they would have been scattered all over the mines and factories, and it would have been too late to find them.
It had been less than two months since the Demon Abyss's magical reaction had begun. All I needed to do was look for the prisoners that had recently arrived.
Rather than using the unreliable method in that little booklet, I had many more direct and effective methods.
"Look, a mystical compass, a devil detector, and the famous detective Roland's mystical watch (without anesthetic needles) … Fine, I'll stop messing around. This is a Contract Hero's bracelet."
The Contract Hero system had long since become a popular tool in order to deal with dimensional invasions. Apart from recording the dimensional invaders that the Contract Hero destroyed, it was also capable of guiding the dimensional invaders that had been infected by the net of stars. Of course, the high-power, high-precision radar was also quite large, so it could only be placed in churches and mercenary guilds. The mass-produced bracelet for personal use had limited detection range and precision, so it was more suitable for recording combat results.
After the divine power forbidden spell Starry Sky's net covered the entire mortal plane, any outsider that entered this plane would be smeared with starlight. The moment that the outsider entered this plane would be the equivalent of exposing their location to the entire plane.
This didn't seem like much at all, but it was becoming more and more useful in battle. It was thanks to the existence of Starry Sky's net that we were able to learn about the Demon Abyss's activities and how many lower plane residents had been sent here.
Starry Sky's net was a large-scale, perpetual forbidden spell. It had the same advantages and disadvantages as other forbidden spells. The advantage was that it had a large area of effect, and it would be easy to kill the unlucky ones. However, the disadvantage was that it was weak against a single target. Not only that, it could also be defended against.
At the time, we had created Starry Sky's net. Apart from encouraging Contract Heroes to hunt, it was also strategically in order to prevent dimensional invasions. In such a situation, mass-producing anti-detection magical equipment or spending a lot of effort to maintain anti-detection spells on a few individuals would be completely useless.
But this time, even though the devils revealed themselves for a brief moment when they first entered, they immediately hid themselves. This doubtlessly meant that they were either super powerful mages who were capable of cleansing their starlight imprints, or that they were equipped with anti-detection magical equipment. The former was obviously impossible, but the latter …
"Strip all the prisoners. Don't leave even a single sock behind. Then, use this bracelet to test them one by one. I refuse to believe that they'll be able to escape."
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