Project Necro is an official initiative by Re:Library.

Three days later, Monsa knocked on the door to my office.

“Boss, got a minute?”
“Yeah, come in.”

Monsa, with her usual calm expression, slipped into the room without a sound. She may not look it, but she’s a skilled hunter.
She placed a set of documents on my desk.

“This is the report on tailing those six. Long story short: they’re all followers of the Sonnenlicht Faith. Same temple, same prayer times. No other connections.”
“I see.”

So religion is the link.
That would explain that strange attack the other day, too.
If you can’t break through the gate, mounted archers are basically useless. Sloppy tactics, but maybe they had some irrational reason for it.

Monsa smiled and asked; “We doing it?”

In other words: Are we wiping out the Sonnenlicht followers?
Sounds extreme, but for demons, this is common sense. If you defy the strong, you’d better be ready to die.
Still, I don’t want to go that far with humans.
They hold grudges too easily.

I shook my head.

“If we’re eating chickens, we might as well let them lay eggs first. Let’s wait and watch.”
“Aw…”

Monsa made a sulky face. Pretty bold of her to act like that toward her superior, don’t you think?
But I know she’s just acting spoiled, so I gave her a wry smile.

“The boss of the Sonnenlicht Faith—Priest Jucht, was it? Keep him under surveillance. Report anything strange. Also look into his background—especially ties to Tübahn.”

“Roooger that.” She gave me a salute.

That same day, I turned my suspicions of Priest Jucht into certainty.
Jucht, the current priest at the Sonnenlicht Church in Lüenheit, was originally from the neighboring industrial city of Tübahn. He had been promoted from deacon in Tübahn to lead the temple in Lüenheit.
Naturally, he had strong ties to the Sonnenlicht community in Tübahn.
As with most cities, a majority of the city guard are members of the Sonnenlicht Faith, valuing discipline and cooperation.

Then came the clincher:

“Apparently, all six guys we caught used to praise Jucht all the time. Said he was especially passionate about his missionary work. He even annoyed the local pagans.”

Monsa said this while sniffing at my tea leaves.

“Hey, that’s my favorite tea. Don’t open it so much, you’ll ruin the scent.”

It took forever to find tea similar to Japanese green tea in this world. I snatched it from Monsa and locked it away in my desk drawer.

She pouted and asked:

“Stingy. So, what’s the plan this time? We finally gonna—”
“Nope.”

I smiled at Monsa, who looked annoyed.

“From here on, this is my job. You go back to monitoring those six. I’ll take Jerich’s squad and go see Jucht.”
“What are you gonna do? Ah—you’re gonna off him yourself!”
“No…. And why do you always jump to murder?”

Demons might see that as normal, but I’m still not used to it.
I opened another drawer and pulled out a sealed letter I’d prepared earlier.

“When you’re a human, you do it the human way. Leave it to me.”
“Aren’t you a werewolf, too?”
“Well, I am.”

There are several Sonnenlicht chapels in Lüenheit, but only one actual temple where rituals are held. A grand, stone-built building.
It was nighttime. Lamps glowed throughout the area, casting a mystical light on the temple. The sun-shaped carvings floating in the darkness looked pretty magical.
I climbed the stone steps and asked the guard at the door for an audience with the priest.

“I’m Veit, vice-commander of the Demon Lord’s Third Army Division. I’d like to speak with Priest Jucht.”

I was led to an elegant reception room and sat in one of the chairs to wait.
After a short while, the elderly priest arrived.

“My apologies. I was in the middle of a prayer service.”
“No, I should apologize for showing up unannounced.”

Alright—let’s begin the battle.

I started by apologizing for detaining the six Sonnenlicht followers. Just a soft jab.

“It was an emergency, so I had them taken into custody and interrogated. As part of my duties, I hope you can understand.”
“Not at all, no need to apologize.”

Hmm, he’s not shaken. Doesn’t even smell nervous.
No surprise, I guess—he does lead over a thousand followers.

“By the way, I heard you’re from Tübahn, Priest Jucht.”

His eyebrows twitched—just slightly. I didn’t miss it.
He gave me a calm look and replied.

“Yes, that’s correct. Is there a problem?”

So, he’s playing dumb all the way.

But I’m the one in charge here. If he wants to fake ignorance, no need for subtlety.

“Priest Jucht, you incited the Sonnenlicht followers in Tübahn, didn’t you?”

He said nothing. Didn’t even try to deny it.
He knew I wouldn’t believe him if he did.

The priest let out a long sigh. Then murmured:

“When I was in Tübahn, we used to raise pigeons at the temple.”

I didn’t interrupt. Just listened quietly.
He continued.

“When I was assigned to Lüenheit, I brought a few with me. They still remember the coop in Tübahn.”

Ah—carrier pigeons. Makes sense.

Then he asked me:

“Are you here to kill me?”

I didn’t answer. I said something else.

“Because of you, I had to kill four hundred Tübahn soldiers—people I had no personal grudge against. Every last one.”

Jucht’s face went pale.

He probably assumed some survived. That’s usually how battles go—after 100 casualties, most armies pull back.

“A-all of them…?”

His voice trembled.

I gave him a deliberately menacing grin.

“You underestimated us. The Demon Lord’s Army shows no mercy to those who defy us.”

After letting the despair sink in, I leaned in.

“You made a foolish move, Priest. But tell me—why go so far to oppose us? Isn’t freedom of religion enough?”

Jucht let out a heavy sigh and brushed his cheek with one hand.

“Humans…” He paused, then said in one breath: “Humans must never be ruled by anything other than humans.”

So that’s what this is about.

I get it. I used to be human, too. Being ruled by werewolves must suck.
Still, I didn’t get angry. I just asked what I needed to.

“Is that your stance as a leader of the Sonnenlicht Faith?”

He immediately shook his head; “Not at all. This is just my personal belief.”

“Sir Jucth, you possess no strength to defy us demons, yet you don’t want to live alongside us either, huh?”

I laced the words with thick sarcasm.
His life and death were in my hands. I could spill his blood across this red carpet in a second.
But Jucht looked me straight in the eye, unflinching.

“This world should be ruled by humans—not demons. Just like it always has been.”

Demons would laugh at that. But I get where he’s coming from.

That said, we did conquer Lüenheit through force. We’re not giving that up because of a speech.
Especially if he’s denying the legitimacy of demon rule entirely—there’s no room for compromise. Even I, former human or not, won’t budge on that.
I understand him, but the time for talk is over.

I leaned in close, flashing the nasty grin I’d practiced for just such an occasion.

“Very well. Then let’s have humans handle things their way.”

And with that, I took the letter out from my coat.