Hero’s Downfall Report

16 – Report on the Fall of Purity (3)

Guido led Cain and Lily to the main building. It was not a pointed building like a church in a typical city or town, but a much lower and gentler stone structure. Guido let out a deep sigh in front of the large door and pushed it open.

A disgusting smell greeted them. It was followed by a scream that reverberated throughout the body. A moaning sound. The kind of wailing that made a person without the strength to cry shake their body. From outside, it sounded like the wind.

Twisted people were tied to the beds. More than fifty people. It was much worse than what they had seen in the sketches. It seemed as if a giant had rolled them around just enough so that they wouldn’t burst.

Cain, Lily, and Guido approached closer.

There were two nurses assigned to each bed. But even with two, it seemed insufficient. Those lying on the beds thrashed about. Clang. Clang. Even though they were securely bound with chains, they still tried to break free.

“The bones throughout their bodies are broken and set at odd angles. When the broken bones pierce the muscles and flesh, it causes internal bleeding, and no matter how much we try to calm them down, they never stay still for a moment…”

Woo-woo.

The second nurse from the left ran out with

The nurse screamed. It was a hollow cry. In the end, she threw the plate to the ground. Instead of shattering, the wooden plate bounced away, and the spoon disappeared, not showing where it went.

Cain seemed to know. They wanted to die. They refused to eat or drink. The pain stabbed at them from within, driving them insane, unable to express it outwardly, only muttering incoherently.

The one who had been tormenting me finally collapsed. The blood that had been flowing out of my body abruptly stopped and flowed back into my body as if it were natural. Murmuring and hesitating, like a drunkard finding his way home, the bruises disappeared and the torn wounds gradually healed. But the traces of mockery and abuse remained.

“It’s a miracle.”

There was no laughter or joy, only sorrow and emptiness.

Cain thought that Guido had cursed wrongly.

But Guido muttered vacantly.

“If this isn’t called a miracle, what else would you call it? The blood returns and the wounds heal. These people are those who can’t even die when they want to. If they refuse to eat or drink, I don’t know what will happen. They don’t know either. But one thing is for sure, they want to die. They know that suicide is an unforgivable sin.”

Tears quietly flowed from the eyes of the broken one. Guido wiped away the tears with the edge of his robe.

“Those who came from the capital. Do you know who did this and why?”

Cain struggled to hold onto his scattered thoughts. That’s why he could only nod his head, unable to express anything else. He approached the fallen person.

“You can’t speak at all?”

“No one can speak. We can only scream because our throats were crushed and our tongues were torn out.”

“Can you move…?”

“Our tendons are torn and our muscles have withered.” Guido’s voice was gloomy.

“Strangely, they don’t heal or recover. Only once. We tried to break their misaligned bones and put them back together, but it didn’t work. They came back exactly like this. If fainting is mercy, then it’s mercy.”

It’s agony. It was filled only with the intention to inflict pain. Cain could only think of it in that way. Imprisoning a person’s mind in their own body and endlessly torturing them.

Cain looked at Lily. Lily clenched her fist. Unlike Cain, Lily hadn’t even glanced at the sketches.

Groooooan

Light flashed. It came from the center of the chapel. The person bound to the grand bed was emitting light from their whole body. The place where the man lay had a circular hole in the ceiling, and colorful rays of light poured down through the stained glass.

Cain and Lily, the two guardians, approached the man. Unlike others, his body was more gruesome. Twisted ribs protruded like wings of a bird, tearing through the chest. Legs and arms were bound to the body with melted iron. Only his genitals remained intact.

“Sir William, the Knight of Purity. A knight of the Mercy Order, a hero among heroes, and the man who held the position of Archbishop.”

The Archbishop also shook his entire body, but it wasn’t violent. If it weren’t for his pitiful appearance, Cain would have thought he was smiling. No, he was genuinely laughing. Tears streamed from his half-closed eyelids, saliva dribbled from his mouth, and he erupted into laughter as if finding joy in the world.

“…Eats well, too. Sleeps well. Who the hell does such things…”

Guido wrapped his face with his hands.

“Whip.”

Lily, repulsed like a blank sheet, quietly murmured, “What did you say?” Cain asked. Guido lowered his hand.

“I said, whipped with a whip.”

Oooh, oooh.

The Archbishop burst into tears. In a manner reminiscent of people in a time without language, but like a primitive being wanting to express sadness and pain with his entire body, the Archbishop cried.

Those who were wiping the Archbishop’s body, those silently praying, and those groaning while bound to the bed all cried together.

Soon, it became a vibrating resonance that stirred the atmosphere. Strangely, it resembled an acapella hymn without accompaniment, like the special song of the choir practicing Sunday hymns in the busy routine of the week.

* * * * *

The absence of a well was not simply due to the rocky terrain. This place was close to the mountaintop, making it difficult to find groundwater, and digging itself would not be an easy task.

Instead, water seeped through the gaps in the rocks abundantly. It became a stained little stream flowing between the rocks. The crevice, carved silently over time, allowed the water to flow peacefully.

Perhaps there was a skilled sculptor. An angel was painted on the crevice. The angel had hands clasped in prayer, and the eyes were skillfully drawn like cracks, portraying the angel with a smiling and crying expression.

Normally, it would be a shape that would make people smile. Not now. Numerous individuals sat by the gently flowing small stream.

Nurses on shift, exhausted knights, it was a slightly secluded place in the monastery, and the sounds of the wind or crying were not as audible here. However, this was the only place that could be called a resting place.

Someone silently lowered their head and sobbed, but no one paid any attention. The sobbing quickly became contagious. Without realizing it, others began to mutter prayers as well.

Cain stared blankly at the passing clouds. His mind was empty. He couldn’t think of anything to say. He had thought that having worked as a security bureau agent, he had seen everything, but that didn’t mean he had to be indifferent and numb to everything he saw.

Beside him, Lily was trembling, her knees held tightly. She had tried to appear nonchalant inside, but as soon as they left the chapel, she covered her face and hurried to a secluded corner.

The two of them wandered like ghosts and unconsciously found their way here, sitting on the ground like the other people who were staring blankly at the sky.

Cain gently wrapped his arm around Lily. She was still trembling slightly. Cain gestured towards a spot a little away from the stream. There were sporadic trees, providing a decent enough open space to hide their bodies and voices. It looked suitable for sitting, with fallen trees providing support.

“A sword hilt?”

Cain lowered his voice. He glanced around to see if Lily was listening. After confirming that no one was around, she whispered back.

“Yes. I’m sure. It’s a sword hilt. The distance between the notches and the spacing matches the standard sword hilt of the Imperial Guard. I couldn’t bring myself to touch it directly, but I could tell by sight.”

Why a sword hilt? Cain furrowed his brow deeply. He recalled the bodies of the victims he had seen. There were no stab wounds or burns. As Lily said, there were only marks of blunt force.

“How did you know as soon as you saw it?”

Lily turned her head quietly.

“…I’ve been hit with it many times, so I know.”

Lily’s shoulders trembled slightly. Cain didn’t ask any further. He remembered the grim face of the Blood Knights’ commander, who had shouted at the campus.

Malice. How much malice must there be to strike a person like that? How much malice must there be to crush people like that?

If it’s not malice, is it purely the joy of sadism? Cain couldn’t understand. If you break and crush every bone and finger joint, maybe that’s the case.

And miracles.

Miracles are not within the jurisdiction

“I need to catch this bastard.”

Cain tightly gripped the staff.

“Whoever did this, I need to see their face. This… this is not right. I’ve seen people, like human garbage, playing with others’ lives for their own amusement. But none of them were as relentless and malicious as this. At least those people had reasons. Here, it’s just a matter of purpose.”

Lily didn’t tremble. Like sharpening a dull knife, she took a deep breath. She, too, was an agent, a member of the Order before becoming an agent.

“What purpose do you suspect?”

“Warning.” Cain clenched the staff with strength.

“Lily, this is a warning and a provocation. A provocation to instill complete helplessness, even in choosing death. It’s a warning like, ‘do as much as you can because you won’t be able to die as you wish.’ It’s what wild beasts do when their territory is invaded. Crush him beyond necessity so that he never thinks of challenging again. He won’t stop here. If two have already fallen, the remaining five can also be targeted.”

Lily exhaled a breath mixed with passion. “What should I do?”

“Let’s start from here.”

Cain tapped the ground with his staff.

“The Archbishop was attacked elsewhere. The Order brought him. The Paladin Order should know about the scene. Gather information as it is. When the Archbishop was found, where and when, how the Paladin Order brought the patients, what the Church knows about his actions. Even trivial details are fine. Investigate separately and cross-verify.”

“Understood.”

“Good. First, inquire about the Paladin Order. I’ll go to the cathedral.”

“The cathedral, you say?”

Cain nodded.

“I need to reexamine how the Archbishop was attacked.”