CH 121

“He is the last of the villagers. We have not purified the parasitic mushroom, just as you said. Be careful.”

“Thank you, you two. Ah… Zahle?”

The last villager of Toma that Ahri and Roa bring me is the one I’ve talked to the most, Zahle.

Half of his face is covered by the black mushroom, and even though he’s restrained with rope, he’s still trying to attack us.

It looks like every infected person retains varying levels of humanity. I’m not sure of this, but I believe it has to do with where on the body the black mushroom is. That said, that’s just the feeling that I get.

We are in front of the house of the chief of Toma.

Ahri and the others have been wonderful since we charged into Toma. The three women purified villagers one after the other with spears and a sword covered with potion.

Potion dripped with every swing, and the trajectory of the sword and spears shined.

It was like a beautiful dance. I was so entranced by it that Toma was under our control before I knew it.

“It looks like the mushrooms don’t infect just by touching them.”

Says Taula from another direction. She’s bringing me people who were purified and passed out.

“Thank you Taula. Your skills with the sword really are great.”

“This is no big deal, they are all people with no knowledge of military arts. And even though I tried not to injure them, they suffered some minor wounds, but thanks to you coating my sword with potion, they were healed immediately, right?”

“Yes, at least that should be the case. But you three are too skilled, so I couldn’t actually check anyone.”

I say to Taula. All three handled their weapons so well, that not a single villager is injured. In fact, towards the end they were debating whether to use a sword or spears in order to spend as little potion as possible.

“So, what do you intend to do with Zahle? I want to purify this parasitic mushroom as soon as possible, but…”

Says Taula while looking at the bound Zahle.

“Yes, soon. You still have your magic crests, right?”

I see the three of them nodding, so I take out the twin-linehorn knife I used when I formed the contract with Seilook, and a scroll.

I activate the scroll, and then scrape off part of the mushroom growing on Zahle’s face.

“《Purify》”

I activate the scroll and target the mushroom bit on the tip of my knife, and it extracts the parasitic components of the mushroom. Everything else melts and drains through the groove etched onto the knife.

What’s left on the knife is a small pile of what looks like pure black magic elements.

I’m careful not to drop the knife, take out a special diluted potion from my backpack, and drink it.

“Master Rust, you aren’t…!?”

“If a mushroom grows out of me, you know what to do.”

I tell them before I stab my upper arm with the knife.