‘The Saint must have vaguely known. That White Ears wasn’t the one who killed his sister.’

I too no longer thought it was White Ears’ doing.

If it were a monster that ate humans, it would have eaten me rather than just some jerky.

Yes, the Saint had taken revenge on the wrong target.

‘I need to change the plan. Finding the real culprit now is impossible. The only option left is to tell the Saint the truth.’

Anyway, I needed to take the Saint back first.

“But what should I do? I don’t know the way back by myself.”

“Grrr!”

Hearing my words, it suddenly got up and approached Allen. Then it rolled Allen over with its snout and moved him towards me.

It even tilted its head, seemingly asking if it did well, with Allen now covered in dirt.

“…Can you understand what I’m saying?”

“Grrrr.”

“Really? Then lie down so I can put this on your back.”

“Grrrreek.”

It willingly lowered its body to let me load Allen on. Then it started waddling ahead somewhere, taking the lead.

“Where are you going? Hey! White Ears… that doesn’t sound right. Whitey!”

“……”

White Ears turned to look at me blankly.

Yep, it definitely understands me.

White Ears started moving forward again like it was telling me to follow, and I had no choice but to follow behind.

Surprisingly, we arrived at the Saint’s cabin.

Is this really a monster?

“Just what are you…”

When I turned around in surprise, it was nowhere to be seen.

Only the unconscious Allen was lying in the dirt.

* * *

In another remote village, far from where Calliphe was.

A group of mages in uniforms strode into the village, trampling dead grass underfoot.

A man in a black hood was leading them.

He tucked the necklace with a fragment of Lumen’s heart that had almost slipped out back inside and closed his collar. Then he ordered the mages.

“This is contaminated land that has become a monster’s den. Eliminate them all without leaving a single one!”

“Yes!”

The mages eagerly formed teams and began searching for and eliminating monsters.

Unlike the magic tower mages who were free in their attire except for armbands, they were different.

They were a special magic research department separately organized by Young Marquis Caiman, called the ‘Special Magic Department.’

Unlike the magic tower that only listened to the Archmage, the Special Magic Department followed the Young Marquis’s orders.

Another difference was that they mainly used artifacts rather than their pure magical abilities.

Kyaaak!

Screech!

The monsters roaming the village were clearly bewildered.

The suppression of monsters ended quickly and easily, with some even trying to flee.

“Collect the cores.”

At the captain’s order, the mages systematically removed the cores from the monsters’ bodies.

The monsters each had cores of varying sizes. Just as magic gathered in human hearts, the monsters’ contaminated magic gathered in their cores.

Then someone approached Henrik, the captain of the Special Magic Department.

“Are there no survivors? Please help us find someone wearing a flower-shaped necklace. They’re a believer our temple is looking for.”

It was the priests from the Grand Temple who had followed the Special Magic Department.

“As you can see. There’s nothing but monsters here.”

Though Henrik’s response was perfunctory, he was right. If there had been survivors, they would have been found long ago.

The priest, letting out a disappointed sigh, insisted again.

“Then it’s our turn now. We will purify the monsters’ cores.”

Priests could request to accompany anyone dealing with monsters, and the other party couldn’t refuse without special reason.

This was because priests had a duty to purify the cores, which were concentrations of contaminated magic.

Henrik snorted.

“You should save your white spirit stones.”

“That’s not for Mr. Henrik to worry about. Don’t obstruct our sacred duty.”

“Ah, of course. How dare I stand in the way of such holy people.”

Henrik stepped back with a mocking bow, as if saying ‘go ahead and try.’

The priests tried to hide their displeasure as they surrounded the monster cores.

They each held white spirit stones and channeled holy power toward the monster cores.

The monster cores writhing with black magic gradually began to fade in color.

However, the white spirit stones the priests had were too small.

They were insufficient to purify all the piled-up monster cores.

“Ugh…!”

Finally, when one priest coughed up blood, the others couldn’t hold on either and started coughing.

When the holy power was cut off, the monster cores reverted to their state before purification.

“See? Wasn’t that just a waste of white spirit stones?”

“Cough cough… T-then we’ll collect these cores. The Grand Temple will take responsibility for purifying—”

“Why should I do that?”

“What did you say?”

At Henrik’s signal, the Special Magic Department mages began collecting the monster cores.

“W-wait! Contaminated magic must be purified by priests in principle!”

“Yes, by ‘priests.'”

Henrik sneered.

“Those who can’t manifest holy power aren’t called priests, are they?”

“Such insolence!”

The priests all bristled at once.

But when the Special Magic Department members all glared at them threateningly, the priests had to swallow their anger.

‘To humiliate us like this…!’

If they had just a bit more white spirit stones.

No, if only the Saint were here, they wouldn’t have been disrespected like this.

These priests had already failed to purify monster cores and lost them to the Special Magic Department several times before.

But they had a feeling this humiliation would only get worse from now on.

‘Where did it all go wrong?’

It felt like being helplessly tossed about by an invisible hand.

“Why don’t you offer a prayer for the victims?”

Henrik smiled at the cowed priests before moving into the devastated village.

There were still monster corpses with uncollected cores scattered about.

As Henrik was urging his subordinates, an unusual monster caught his eye.

A monster wearing a flower-shaped necklace.

Seeing this, Henrik snapped his fingers and his ring artifact sparkled.

Whoosh!

The flames incinerated the monster’s corpse along with the necklace.

“That takes care of another contaminated land.”

Henrik declared the case closed.

* * *

Allen, who had lost White Ears right in front of him, became like wilted seaweed.

“The chance for revenge I finally caught… ah…”

He just stayed curled up on the sofa like a shut-in. From morning until now, past noon.

I thought he would blame me when he woke up, but seeing him only blame himself made me feel a little sorry.

But being sorry was being sorry.

“Cheer up, Allen.”

“Thank you, mother… Aack!”

Thwack thwack!

[Faith +1]

[Faith +1]

I hit his shoulders hard under the pretense of giving him a massage.

“Look how stiff your shoulders are. Does this help you feel better?”

“Ow, it hurts…!”

“Seems like you’re still not feeling better.”

Thwack thwack!

“Aack! I feel better! I feel betterrr!”

I ignored Allen’s screams and twisting body as I kept hitting him.

‘What are you going to do if the familiar suddenly attacks while you’re like this? Huh?’

Lynen had woken up at dawn and was sitting cross-legged, controlling his energy.

So to prepare for potential danger, I had to whip the Saint into shape.

“I-I’m up. I’m up, mother!”

“……”

Thwack!

“Ow. Why, why did you hit me again?”

“Because the priest deserved a beating.”

“Why…”

Allen’s shoulders slumped.

I hesitated for a moment before asking, pretending not to know.

“Aren’t you angry at me? You seemed to have a grudge against that monster, but you lost it because of me.”

“Hmm…”

Allen scratched his cheek awkwardly.

“I should be the one apologizing. You must have been startled, but I haven’t explained anything. I’m just glad you weren’t hurt.”

No, that makes me feel really sorry now.

“Ahem. About that monster, it left without hurting me and just went away. It might be weird to say this about a monster but… it seemed gentle. Why do you hate it so much?”

“……”

At my words, Allen bit his lip with a complicated expression.

Finally, he slowly opened his mouth.

“That monster with white ears killed my sister.”

“……”

“My sister Imelen was a priest… like me. Unlike me who stayed quietly in the temple, she loved going out to help people directly.”

The first Saint siblings. This was information I knew from the original story.

“Imelen sought out places that were far from the city and difficult to receive help from the temple. I warned her that such places had higher risks of monster appearances, but she wasn’t afraid. This village is where we lost contact with her…”

“How did you know that monster killed your sister? You seemed very certain.”

I was planning to start persuading Allen by pointing out there was no definitive evidence.

But unexpectedly, Allen’s reddish-brown eyes blazed with anger.

“Yes. I am certain.”

He clenched his fists so hard his nails dug into his palms.

“Because Imelen’s hairpin was caught in that monster’s fur.”