Did a Saintess's blood have the power to purify contamination?
What a joke. The only thing capable of purifying contamination was Lovene's Holy Light.
However, if she simply used Holy Light, the price she had to pay would seem far too trivial. Thus, after careful consideration, she had intentionally infused her Holy Light into her own blood, creating the illusion that her blood itself possessed the power to purify.
The ruse was a resounding success. The middle-aged woman before her, completely oblivious to the truth, looked at her with eyes filled with profound pity and heartache.
This caused the magic power within her body to surge restlessly.
Before long, a flurry of footsteps echoed from the entrance of the cellar. Mia entered, leading the clueless villagers down into the chamber.
At the head of the crowd was a burly villager carrying a large bow on his back, looking very much like the local hunter. The moment he saw Lovene feeding her blood to the woman, he rushed forward, his eyes widening to the size of saucers.
“What are you doing?! Get away from her!”
His gruff voice boomed throughout the cellar, making the ears of many villagers ring. As he shouted, he lunged toward Lovene, raising a clenched fist high in the air.
Smack!
In a flash, Mia's figure blurred. She raised her hand and caught the hunter's wrist. The cold metal of her gauntlet pressed against his skin, instantly freezing his movements.
Moreover, he was utterly horrified.
He realized that no matter how hard he struggled, he could not break free from the young girl's grip.
“Step back.”
Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable authority.
The hunter's Adam's apple bobbed. Ultimately, he gritted his teeth and took a step back.
“As expected of the church! Not a single one of you is any good!”
Seeing this, the villagers behind him began to stir in unrest.
“Exactly! Don't think we don't know you just killed the village chief!”
“Bah! What a load of church garbage! You're nothing but a bunch of bastards who only know how to exploit us!”
“Yeah! If we had known, we never would have let you in in the first place!”
“Get out of our village!”
For a moment, the entire cellar was filled with angry shouts and curses. Mia, however, remained completely calm, paying no attention to the noise.
The reputation of the Church of the Morning Light had always been this terrible among the common folk.
She had long since grown used to it.
After all, the church's higher-ups were a bunch of lunatics. To them, these commoners were probably not even considered human lives, but merely resources to feed the church.
Compared to their shouts, she was far more concerned about Lovene's wrist.
“Your Highness, what are you doing...?”
Lovene did not look up. Her eyes remained fixed on the woman, whose complexion was steadily improving.
Following her gaze, Mia instantly understood.
“Are you... purifying the contamination? With your blood?”
“Yes,” Lovene replied softly, her face quite pale. “My blood carries the blessing of the Lord of the Morning Light, which allows me to purify the outer god's contamination to some extent. So...”
She didn't finish her sentence, but her meaning was clear. The murmurs of the villagers quieted down slightly upon hearing this. But just then, a young, tender voice cried out from the back of the crowd.
“Mommy!”
A little girl squeezed through the gaps in the crowd. She clutched her pigtails, her eyes red and swollen as if she had just cried her heart out.
She threw herself by the woman's side, kneeling on the ground as her small hands clutched the woman's collar, her entire body trembling.
The woman slowly opened her eyes.
“Alvina...”
Her voice was so weak it was barely audible, but her eyes had regained the spark of life.
“Mommy! Mommy!” The little girl buried her face in the woman's neck, sobbing hysterically. “I... I thought I'd never see you again...”
The woman raised a still-trembling hand and gently placed it on the back of the little girl's head.
“My child, I'm here. I'm right here.”
She held her tightly, her own eyes beginning to well with tears.
The villagers behind them fell silent for a moment before starting to whisper among themselves.
“Wait, isn't she Alvina's mother? Didn't they say she's been missing for three days?”
“She's been missing for three days... Could she have been locked in this cellar all this time? But this is the village chief's cellar!”
“It's not just her, there are others too. Look at those corpses...”
“...Those are all the people who were declared missing. Why are they all here?”
“Could it be... that this Saintess from the church is actually trying to save them?”
The villagers' doubts were quickly answered.
The woman looked up at Lovene. Though her eyes were still red, her despair had vanished, replaced by an unspeakable gratitude and pity.
“Lady Saintess, thank you, thank you so much! If not for you, I would have been killed here by the village chief. All the disappearances in the village... she was the one behind them...”
The villagers were shocked to hear this. They exchanged bewildered glances, seemingly finding it difficult to accept this truth.
The woman's attention, however, was not on them. Her gaze fell upon Lovene's still-bleeding wrist, her voice cracking with emotion.
“Does it... not hurt?”
Lovene tilted her head, a sweet smile gracing her face.
“It hurts. But what is far more important than the pain is that someone is still alive.”
With those words, she stood up. The hem of her holy robes dragged through the pool of blood on the stone floor, staining it with even more dark grime.
Her body swayed slightly, but she steadied herself.
She turned around, her gaze sweeping across the area around the altar. There were still others there—people who were waiting for her, who had not yet drawn their final breaths.
She had to save them.
Lovene walked toward them, and Mia followed close behind, her head lowered.
Though Mia did not speak, the worry and heartache written all over her face could no longer be hidden.
The villagers silently parted to make way for them. No one spoke.
The hunter stood frozen in place. He looked at the woman weeping on the ground while holding her daughter, and then at the trembling back of the young girl who was staggering from losing too much blood. He fell into a deep silence.
Could this girl... really be different from those bastards of the church?
While he stood in silence, Lovene arrived before a dying man.
She knelt down, completely unconcerned about her holy robes getting soiled. Then, she sliced open her other wrist, letting her blood drip from the wound onto the man's lips, drop by drop.
Like parched earth receiving rain after a long drought, the lifeless man gradually regained his color under the nourishment of her blood. Even his breathing became much steadier.
The young girl, however, involuntarily lowered her eyes. Her figure swayed, and she nearly collapsed to the ground.
Yet even so, she did not stop. Dragging her feet, she forced herself up and walked toward the next dying victim.
Mia quickly stepped forward, grabbing her wrist. “Enough! Your Highness, if you keep this up, you'll die!” she cried out in distress.
The cut on Lovene's wrist was still oozing blood. The sleeve of her holy robes had been soaked into a deep crimson, looking horrifyingly stark under the firelight.
She looked up, wanting to give Mia a reassuring smile, but she was so weak she could only manage a pale, faint curve of her lips.
“Indeed, Lady Saintess, there is no need to rush to save everyone all at once.”
An elderly voice broke the silence from the crowd. A lame old man, leaning on a cane, took a trembling step forward.
As he spoke, it was as if a crack had formed in a dam. The villagers' deep-seated prejudice against the church could no longer withstand the sight of this young girl sacrificing her own life to save others.
They released their clenched fists and began to speak up one after another.
“Lady Saintess, please rest. Only by staying alive can you better heal them.”
“Yes, we were wrong, Lady Saintess. We shouldn't have cursed at you like that.”
“You are so kind. We don't want to see you sacrifice yourself here.”
Listening to their words, Lovene gently tried to pull her hand from Mia's grasp, but she couldn't break free.
“Thank you all for your concern. But... I'm really fine. Once I save these dying people, I'll go rest. I-I'm fine...”
Before she could finish, she rubbed her temples and stumbled. Finally, as if all support had been drained from her body, she collapsed limply into Mia's arms.
“Your Highness!”
“Lady Saintess! Lady Saintess!”
“Please, nothing must happen to you!”
The cellar fell into utter chaos.
The villagers gasped and surged forward, crowding around the collapsed Lovene, anxiously asking about her condition.
Standing on the outermost edge of the crowd, the hunter stared at Lovene's bloodless face. Looking at the wound on her wrist that was still dripping blood, an indescribable wave of regret welled up from the depths of his heart.
He recalled how he had rushed forward to throw a punch earlier, and the words he had roared. If Mia hadn't stopped him back then, and his fist had connected...
The hunter shut his eyes tightly.
He didn't dare think any further.
He was terrified that he would regret it for the rest of his life.
Rate on N.U.
