Marcus the Monster

Clement stared blankly at Elena, finding it somewhat difficult to accept this fact.

Elena took a deep breath, as if a long-held burden in her heart had finally found an outlet.

“In the beginning, when he first returned to the territory, the level of contamination was still very light. The church would send clerics to purify him, but the results were negligible. Later, as the contamination grew more severe, the church seemed to decide he was beyond saving and stopped sending anyone. His body then slowly began to turn into a monster.”

She paused, her throat bobbing slightly.

“I pleaded with the church many times, but every letter went unanswered. He lost more and more control over himself, becoming manic and restless every night, repeatedly muttering the same sentence over and over: ‘One day, the mist will swallow everything.’

“We had no choice but to lock him in the attic.

“Until a month ago, when I went to see him again, he suddenly regained his senses for a brief moment and begged me to kill him before he completely lost control. He said he didn't want to become a monster, nor did he want to harm this territory.

“I agreed, but I couldn't bring myself to do it.”

The meeting room fell silent. No one spoke. Lovene watched her without rushing her, and Clement did the same.

“Later, the attic could no longer hold him. He escaped during the day when the mist rose and vanished into the white mist. I took that opportunity to hold a funeral and announced to the public that he was dead.”

Elena looked up, her eyes rimmed with red, but no tears fell. After all, during the days Marcus was turning into a monster, she had already cried all her tears dry.

“He was a hero. He did so much for the church and saved so many people. Everyone in this territory loved and respected him, and he was my husband... He didn't deserve an end like this.”

As she spoke, her voice began to tremble, laced with a hint of hatred.

“Those clerics sent by the church weren't here to purify him at all! They conducted experiments on him, using his body to test those immature purification techniques! His initial contamination was clearly not that severe. I don't believe the church couldn't cure him!”

In the beginning, she truly believed the clerics sent by the church would purify the contamination on Marcus.

But gradually, she noticed them inserting all kinds of bizarre tubes into him, and occasionally even injecting him with potions that looked highly suspicious.

At that time, Marcus would still roar in pain, but as the purification progressed, he lost even his last ounce of strength to struggle, left with no choice but to let those clerics do as they pleased.

Yet in his heart, he still harbored hope for the future.

Later, because Marcus's contamination showed no signs of improvement, she slowly began to notice the clues. Those clerics were not purifying Marcus at all; they were treating him as a test subject to conduct their own experiments.

After their deeds were exposed, those clerics fled the territory in a panic. She reported it to the church but received no support. In her despair, she could only abandon any thoughts of revenge.

“I hate the church! I hate those people in black robes! And I hate myself...

“...I couldn't kill Marcus. I couldn't bring myself to do it.”

She lowered her head, staring at her interlaced fingers. Her hands were trembling slightly.

Lovene waited a few seconds. After confirming that Elena had nothing more to say, she spoke up: “Do not worry, I can purify him.”

Elena looked up, her delicate frame trembling slightly.

“Can I really trust you?”

“Mother, I trust Sister Lovene.”

Before Lovene could speak, a childish voice drifted in from the side door. Immediately after, a small figure rushed into the meeting room and ran to her side.

“Dorothy?”

Dorothy was currently wearing an expensive princess dress. The faint reddish blemishes on her face were almost invisible now, leaving only light marks that would probably disappear completely before long.

Once she reached Lovene's side, she threw herself into her embrace without hesitation, taking a deep sniff of the sweet fragrance on her.

“Sister! I finally get to see you again!”

Lovene smiled and stroked her head. Clement cleared his throat and said quite seriously:

“My lady, it is not just your child. The residents of this territory also believe in the Lady Saintess.”

The Saintess's reputation in the territory was currently at its peak. Whenever the residents mentioned her, they always compared her to a legendary goddess or an angel.

He had heard it so many times his ears were practically calloused.

“...Thank you.”

With red eyes, Elena thanked Lovene. Lovene waved her hand to dismiss it, quickly steering the conversation back on track.

“However, to purify Marcus, we must first capture him. Do you have any ideas, my lady?”

Now that they knew the monster in the mist was Marcus, the first step to purifying him was to find his trail and capture him.

On this point, Lovene did not have the slightest clue.

In her eyes, the white mist was extremely bizarre. The monster in the mist might only be one of the reasons for the deaths. Entering the mist without any intelligence would likely lead to disaster.

Capturing Marcus would likely be the most difficult step of the entire operation.

Elena snapped out of her brief daze. She took a breath, reeling in her unsettled emotions, and stood up straight once more.

“Capture him?”

She lowered her head in thought. When she looked up again, her gaze had cleared slightly.

“Rumor has it that when the white mist rises, anyone who enters it will be lost in the mist forever, vanishing without a trace. But as far as I know, there is one person who walked into the white mist and came out completely unscathed.”

“What? Is that person exceptionally strong?”

Clement was utterly shocked.

As a Heresy Inquisitor, his years of intuition told him that the white mist was a terrifying force. No one could walk out of it alive unless their mana rank was extremely high.

The higher a person's mana rank, the stronger their willpower, and the slower they would be contaminated.

This was common knowledge.

“No... Perhaps he was very powerful in the past, but now, he is just a drunkard.”

“A drunkard?”

Lovene and Clement exchanged a glance, both seeing the confusion in each other's eyes.

Elena looked at them, shaking her head as she explained:

“Indeed. His name is Gale. He was once the leader of the Eagle Mercenary Group and the strongest knight in the territory, admired by countless residents.

“He was also a brother-in-arms who went through life and death with my husband, Marcus. Unfortunately, due to certain events later on, he lost his right arm, resigned from his position as a knight... and reduced himself to a drunkard.”

From the strongest knight to a drunkard?

It seemed the events Elena had left unsaid had dealt a massive blow to him.

People like this often provided a very high concentration of emotions.

A glint of cunning flashed through her eyes. Lovene once again keenly sensed an opportunity to increase her strength, though on her face, she still knitted her brows just like Clement.

“I wonder, Lady Elena, if you could take us to see him?” Clement asked.