But Clement did not think much of it. He detached a palm-sized black box from his waist.
The surface of the box was covered in dense runes on all six sides, each line looking as if it had been carved with the tip of a needle. He held the box in his palm and aimed it at the stone heart on the altar.
The stone heart began to tremble.
As if something that had been asleep for a long time had been startled awake, the eerie power radiating from the stone heart began to warp the surrounding space. A few drops of black liquid seeped from its cracks, making a faint sizzling sound.
Harvey's smile froze on his face.
He glanced at the box, then at the trembling stone heart. The confusion on his face gradually morphed into unease. At the same time, his heart began to ache inexplicably.
“My Lord, what... what are you doing?”
Clement did not look up. His gaze remained locked on the stone heart as he said calmly,
“Containing it, of course.”
As he spoke, the playful look on his face grew even more pronounced.
Harvey's face paled, and he took a step back, his voice tightening.
“B-But, My Lord, weren't you here to investigate Lovene?”
His purpose in plotting against Lovene was to keep the stone heart in the village. If the Inquisitor before him was also going to take it away, wouldn't everything he had done before be in vain?
“Indeed. But I am also here to resolve your village's contamination problem. Otherwise, why would the church dispatch a Heresy Inquisitor here?”
He looked at Harvey, his eyes filled with pity—not for his life, but for his intelligence.
What a fool. Had he really not realized his own situation even now?
Harvey was pinned in place by that gaze. He wanted to say something, but the words caught in his throat. At the same time, the pain in his heart intensified, causing his legs to go weak.
“W-What's happening?!”
With a thud, he collapsed to his knees, his face deathly pale.
It was not just him; every villager in the settlement was the same. Clutching their chests, they collapsed miserably to the ground, writhing like maggots.
“Stop!”
A weak but clear voice echoed from the corner of the cellar.
Accompanying it was a silver-white longsword.
Clang!
Clement sidestepped. The blade scraped past his shoulder guard with a harsh screech. His stance remained as steady as a mountain, his feet not moving an inch.
However, the black magic box in his hand was knocked away, and the containment process of the stone heart was forced to a halt.
“Hey, hey, hey. I belong to the Church of the Morning Light too. Are you trying to kill me, Lady Saintess?”
His tone carried a hint of teasing, but there was no laughter in his eyes.
Lovene rushed in, her pale face completely devoid of color. Beside her, Mia waved her hand, and the silver-white longsword flew back into her grasp.
Although Mia lowered the sword, the tip of the blade still pointed toward the ground, ready to strike again at any moment.
Clement's gaze fell upon Lovene, scanning her from head to toe.
Seeing her bloodless lips, he raised an eyebrow and said with slight confusion, “Lady Saintess, you look rather weak.”
Lovene took a step forward. Mia reached out to support her, but Lovene gently pushed her away. She stood before Clement, lifting her head to look him straight in the eye.
“One day. Just give me one more day, and I can completely purify this stone heart.”
She was incredibly weak at this moment; these words seemed squeezed from her chest with the very last of her strength.
Clement shook his head.
“I'm afraid that won't do. I wouldn't dare disobey His Holiness the Pope's orders.”
Lovene's fingers clenched the hem of her holy robe. She swept a gaze over the surrounding villagers and took a deep breath, her tone growing even more humble.
“Whatever you want from me, I will agree to it. Just... just give me one more day...”
Clement fell silent.
He looked into Lovene's eyes. In those golden pupils, there was no pleading, no calculation—only a near-stubborn persistence he had never seen in any other Saintess, and...
An incomparable tenderness.
His voice lowered, as if asking a question to which he already knew the answer.
“His Holiness the Pope's mission never required you to purify this stone heart. Are the lives of these villagers really that important to you?”
Harvey, whose chest had inexplicably stopped hurting, stood to the side, the confusion on his face deepening.
“What do you mean?”
What did purifying this stone heart have to do with the lives of the villagers?
Clement turned his head and glanced at him, a trace of surprise faintly showing on his face.
But soon, that surprise gave way to a knowing look.
“Oh? You actually didn't know?”
He let out a cold snort at Harvey, then looked back at Lovene, his tone turning somewhat complex.
“Lady Saintess, why didn't you tell them the truth? Or is it because you weren't confident you could purify this stone heart within three days yourself?”
“The truth? What truth?”
The confusion on the faces of Harvey and the nearby villagers deepened even further. Seeing this, Clement simply formed his right hand into a claw and slashed a gash across Harvey's chest.
In terror, Harvey clutched his chest and stumbled back. He had wanted to scream, but what happened next terrified him so much that he forgot how to.
Once the skin on his chest was cut open, what flowed out was not red, pungent blood, but a grayish-white liquid.
It was the exact same color as the stone heart.
“You have all long been contaminated by this stone heart.”
Clement pulled back his right hand and said flatly, “Once it is forcibly contained, you will all lose your lives. The only way to save you is to completely purify this stone heart, severing the connection between you.”
“The reason the Lady Saintess did not tell you this truth was likely because she didn't want you to worry. After all, she wasn't sure she could save you—three days was just too short.”
At this point, his gaze fell upon Lovene's pale face.
This was the first time he had ever encountered a Saintess like this.
Although previous Saintesses were also known for being gentle and kind, when faced with such an impossible mission, they would ultimately choose to protect themselves.
Saintess Lovene...
Was she persistent, was she naive and kind, or... was she just foolish?
Clement found himself unable to judge for the moment.
The truth he spoke spread through the entire cellar in an instant. The cellar erupted into chaos, everyone's faces turning deathly pale.
“What? We'll die?!”
“Aren't they here to save us?!”
“Harvey! Didn't you say the Inquisitor was here to protect us?!”
Accusations flooded in from all directions, swallowing Harvey like a tidal wave.
Harvey's legs gave out, and he slumped onto the ground. His lips trembled, and his eyes went blank. This truth fell like a meteorite, completely shattering his worldview.
It turned out Saintess Lovene had been trying to save them all along...
Yet he had stubbornly insisted on his own way, not only persecuting Lovene but also nearly killing everyone in the village.
Feeling the angry gazes of the surrounding villagers, he instinctively covered his head and howled in agony.
He told himself none of this was real, that he was just dreaming. As long as he got through this, he would still be the village chief grandmother's grandson, still the future hope of the village.
But the agony of death and the crushing weight of reality left him unable to breathe. Clutching his chest, tears and snot flowing freely, he wept as he lunged toward Clement, throwing his arms around his leg.
Rate on N.U.
