The Cause is Poison

“Ugh, what happened?”

Roderick frowned as he spoke.

Ares was snoring on the floor.

Roderick grabbed Ares’s shoulder and shook him.

“Ares, Ares. Hey! Wake up!”

Ares stopped snoring.

“What is it, yelling like that, giving me a headache.”

“Just get up already.”

“Why does my head hurt so much?”

“It seems like someone gave us a sleeping draught.”

“What nonsense, who would dare to do that to me?”

Ares didn’t finish his sentence.

He realized that his last memory was enjoying the banquet.

“Could it be in the food?”

Roderick nodded in agreement.

“They must have used a considerable amount. If it were an ordinary person, they wouldn’t have woken up. It was almost a lethal dose.”

“Ha, I need to find out who committed this crazy act.”

The two men’s eyes met.

Instinctively, they were seized by an ominous premonition.

They rushed to Serina’s room.

The door was open, but no one was inside.

“Were they aiming for the girl?”

“Who on earth….”

“That’s not what’s important. What’s important is that someone stole what I was after.”

Roderick shook his head at Ares.

“You’re really something else in many ways.”

“You’re only realizing that now, my friend?”

“Finding Serina is the priority for now.”

“Of course, it is. She’s the girl I’ve got my eye on.”

Roderick shook his head again and ran out.

The two began searching all over the cathedral.

They navigated the vast corridors and examined the empty chapels.

“Bishop Bertrand, wouldn’t Bishop Bertrand know something?”

“That shady bastard, you mean?”

“Shady bastard?”

“There’s something about him. The way he looks at women is similar to me.”

“So, does that mean you’re a shady bastard too?”

“That’s not it. It’s okay for me, but not for anyone else.”

“……Let’s go.”

They headed to Bishop Bertrand’s room, but it was also empty.

It was difficult to find any trace of him having been there.

As if he had never been there in the first place.

“There’s no choice. We have to meet the Archbishop.”

With their last hope, the two men made their way to the chambers of Archbishop Arwin.

They cautiously opened the door and entered, finding Archbishop Arwin sitting propped up in bed.

But his appearance was not peaceful.

He was holding a spoon, having lost consciousness.

A bowl containing cold soup was placed on the table next to the bed.

“Archbishop!”

Roderick rushed over.

Arwin’s complexion was pale, and even his breathing could not be heard.

Ares immediately picked up the soup bowl.

A faint smell brushed against his nose.

It was poison.

“It’s poison.”

Roderick’s voice trembled violently.

“Who dares…….”

Roderick checked Arwin’s pulse.

His life had not completely faded.

He immediately pushed Mana into Arwin.

Arwin’s complexion seemed to improve slightly.

“There’s a faint pulse left. But at this rate…!”

He had a chilling premonition that the entire cathedral might already be in the hands of the Black market forces.

There was no more time to delay.

“A.res.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve heard that tone.”

“There’s no choice.”

“I guess so.”

Roderick and Ares’s figures disappeared in an instant.

They relentlessly began to find and subdue the priests and guards hidden throughout the cathedral.

Numerous priests fell helplessly.

Some of them tried to use Holy Power, but it was meaningless in the face of the two Marshals’ overwhelming force.

With the exception of Arwin, who was an Archmage, there was no one in the cathedral who could stand against Roderick and Ares.

After subduing everyone in the cathedral, they gathered them in the plaza.

They looked around at those they had subdued, but Bertrand was nowhere to be seen.

Roderick grabbed one of the fallen priests by the collar and lifted him up.

He was one of those who had resisted fiercely, even using Holy Power.

“Where did Bishop Bertrand go?”

The priest trembled in fear and spoke incoherently.

“B, Bishop Bertrand is holy and…….”

Crack-

Roderick’s kick broke one of the priest’s arms.

Aaaagh!!!

“Where did Bertrand go?”

“B, Bishop Bertrand… often frequented the basement of the cathedral.”

Crack-

Ares broke the remaining arm.

Kuaaaagh!!!

“Who am I?”

“A, Ares, Grand Duke… is.”

“I don’t have much patience. Answer my questions quickly.”

The priest, with both arms hanging limply, nodded.

“Do you know the Black market?”

Ares did not miss the moment the priest’s eyes widened.

Crack-

Keueok!!!

Ares broke one of his legs.

“Do you know the Black market?”

The priest opened his mouth, tears and snot mixed together.

“……Veil.”

“Veil, huh. Is that your name?”

“…If I tell you, will you spare me?”

Ares raised one corner of his mouth.

“We’ll see, depending on what you say.”

The priest trembled and bit his lower lip.

“The Ruler of the Veil will not overlook this. You all belong to him.”

Swish-

Roderick scattered the blood on his sword into the air.

“Ruler, my ass. I hate wasting time.”

“You’ve been through a lot, Serion, Young Master… no, I should call you Serina, Miss… right?”

Lily unknowingly used the old title and quickly corrected herself.

“You don’t have to add ‘Miss’.”

Tears welled up in Lily’s eyes.

“It hasn’t been long, but it feels like we’re meeting after several years. And… Serina-nim has become even more beautiful.”

Serina forced a smile and took Lily’s hand.

Lily’s gaze soon turned to the red inscriptions engraved on her body.

She brushed the inscriptions as if chasing away insects with her fingers.

“But I’m… not the Lily from back then anymore. I’ve already… already been Conditioning.”

Lily’s voice sank with despair.

“It doesn’t matter. As long as you’re alive… that’s enough.”

Serina supported Lily and moved towards the dark corridor.

Serina-!

Serina-!

At that moment, a voice that echoed throughout the corridor was heard.

“They’re looking for Serina-nim…?”

“Oh, they are.”

“It’s a man’s voice…?”

“I know.”

“It’s a very urgent voice…?”

“It is….”

“A lover…? Already?”

“It’s not like that.”

“…After all, women should be pretty.”

“It’s not like that.”

While Serina was making excuses, the owner of the voice revealed himself.

“Serina!”

Roderick gasped for breath.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“As you can see, I’m fine.”

Roderick’s gaze turned to Serina’s side.

“This woman is…?”

Lily straightened her posture and bowed.

“Are you Serina-nim’s lover? I am Lily, who serves Serina-nim.”

Roderick turned his head away from her naked figure.

“Serving, does that mean maid or servant?”

“I was a maid dedicated to Serina-nim.”

“That… how did you end up in a place like this?”

Roderick suddenly remembered that the place where he first met Serina was also a branch of the Black market.

“……Could it be that your family has fallen?”

Serina answered indifferently.

“Something like that.”

“Surely… it’s not something like treason, is it?”

“It’s not that. And what if it was?”

Roderick sweated profusely.

Strangely, he always felt like he was losing when talking to Serina.

“Well, it’s not like I’d do anything, I was just curious.”

“How did you know I was here?”

Roderick clapped his hands.

“Oh right, what about Bertrand? I heard he was going in and out of this basement, so I rushed here.”

Lily quickly replied.

“Serina-nim killed those trash.”

Roderick stared at Serina with wide eyes.

It was because he had sensed that Bertrand was quite strong.

“What, why? You’re good at it too, aren’t you? Cleaning up trash.”

“W, well, that’s true, but.”

Lily began to explain Serina and Bertrand’s battle.

“I remember it vaguely, but Serina-nim went papapapak with her fists, then wadadadada, then peokpeokpeok, and they all died in one hit.”

Lily’s chest heaved with the intense action description.

Roderick turned his head to the side.

But his eyes could not leave her pudding-like breasts.

“Ah, I see. You’re quite good at explaining.”

Lily belatedly covered her chest with her hands.

“I, I’m sorry. I’ve shown you an unsightly sight.”

Serina asked Roderick.

“Where’s Ares?”

“He’s holding the priests and guarding them.”

“……All the priests in the cathedral?”

“Otherwise, we wouldn’t know who committed this.”

“Is Ares okay on his own?”

Roderick chuckled.

“I’m worried about his lack of patience, though.”

Roderick and Ares, and Serina and Lily, arrived at Archbishop Arwin’s chambers.

“Couldn’t you wait and broke the arms of eight people?”

“Only eight… I guess?”

“Why don’t you go outside and fight if you’re going to fight?”

Archbishop Arwin, lying unconscious on the bed, looked even more miserable than when Roderick and Ares had first discovered him.

Serina carefully took Arwin’s hand.

She channeled her Mana into him, sensing his physical condition.

The organs throughout his body were gradually shutting down.

The poison had permeated his entire body, into every single cell.

The poison, administered in small doses over a long period of time, had already completely fused with Arwin’s body and Mana.

Serina closed her eyes and followed Arwin’s Mana flow.

An enormous amount of Mana was inherent within his body, but she could feel a sticky, murky poison intertwined like a spider web between the flows of that Mana.

‘It’s vicious.’

If she forcibly stopped the poison with Mana, there was a risk that all of Arwin’s bodily organs would stop together in the process.

Arwin, who had made a name for himself as an Archmage, could not stop the poison that had hidden within him.

And today, the influence of that poison had exceeded its limit.

Thinking that there might be a chance, Serina looked to see if she could absorb this poison with her Trait.

‘Is absorption difficult?’

The poison was cleverly buried within the Mana, making it difficult even to extract it.

To make matters worse, Arwin hardly felt any Pleasure at all.

Since there was no Pleasure energy in his body, Serina’s Trait was useless.

Serina lowered her head, releasing Arwin’s hand.

Roderick placed his hand on Serina’s shoulder.

“We have to let him go.”