Chapter 136: I Thought It Was Just a Small Scratch, Go Tell That to My Holy Light
Maya followed the clues on the ground and checked the area, then looked at everyone.
“I agree with Miss Peiya. I miscalculated, I didn’t consider the human factor. Let’s investigate this lead first.”
As her voice faded into the distance, Elise walked closer to the injured people. The wounds caught her attention.
At first glance, they looked like normal bite wounds. Irregular, torn flesh, nothing too clean or neat.
But soon, the color of the wounds made her alert. Normally, they should be dark purple or bright red. But these wounds had a blackened look.
And the damaged area was still spreading.
“Wait…”
Elise stopped Peiya and pointed at the wounds.
“There are signs of ‘karmic fire’ erosion on them. This kind of injury usually only appears with the curse from Blackwater City.”
“What?”
Peiya crouched down and looked carefully at the injured person. Sure enough, she saw similar signs.
“What will happen because of this?”
“If it’s from a demon wolf bite, then it’s probably related to the Beast Tamer Association you mentioned. Do you remember the Red Tiger attack before? That was also a case of magical beasts going out of control. At first, I thought they just wanted to control magical beasts. But now it seems they want much more than we imagined. I think I need to meet my parents soon. I feel like they didn’t tell me everything.”
“I see… that makes sense. If it’s ‘karmic fire’ corruption, I don’t have any experience with it at all.”
Peiya usually liked to act only when she was sure about things. Missing the best timing would be a big loss.
“Yeah. Let’s go. I’ll inform Maya and ask her to call people from the church to treat them. This isn’t something normal healing mages can handle.”
“If it’s holy light, I might be able to do something. Did you forget? I’m a support class.”
“Oh, right.”
Elise almost forgot she had a walking healer right next to her.
Peiya raised her hand. A beam of healing light, like holy light, covered the wounds. The injuries that were just rotting started to slowly heal, until they looked almost normal again.
Seeing this unbelievable scene, Elise asked in confusion,
“You can heal karmic fire?”
“Yeah, I guess. I thought it was just a small scratch. I didn’t expect it to heal so easily.”
Elise: “……”
“I don’t feel pain anymore?”
The injured person, who had been crying out loudly before, suddenly sat up with a confused face after being healed.
“Are you a doctor? Thank you… thank you so much!”
“Uh… you’re welcome.”
Just as Peiya stood up, several people from the Holy Institute arrived at the entrance as support. The one leading them was Victoria. When she saw Peiya, she waved.
“So you’re here. What’s the situation? Where are the injured?”
Victoria looked around but couldn’t see any injured people at all.
“The injured are right here.”
Peiya pointed at the person on the ground, who was now jumping around happily, shouting “Woohoo! Woohoo!” and nodded seriously.
Victoria followed the direction of the voice. Her small face frowned when she saw the “injured” person jumping around.
For a moment, she was confused. Weren’t the injured supposed to be unconscious?
And now you’re telling her this is an injured person?
Since when can injured people jump around like that? Did something happen to their head?
“It’s hard to explain here. Let’s go somewhere else. There are still some people over there with minor injuries and infections, please take care of them.”
“Oh, okay.” Victoria turned to the church members behind her. “Mary, take a team and treat the injured. Be quick. Miss Peiya, let’s go.”
They entered a more private office. Peiya spoke directly:
“She really was injured at first. But it was urgent, so I used healing magic on her. Also, Elise said there were signs of erosion on her body. This injury is probably not simple.”
Peiya didn’t mention “karmic fire.” After all, Victoria was still just a student, and might not know much about such things.
“Is it some kind of evil contamination? Or an unknown kind of corruption?”
“Mm, we can’t be sure yet what type it is. That’s why we asked people from the Holy Institute to confirm.”
“If even you’re not sure, then I’m probably even less helpful. And from your tone, it sounds like you already have an idea. There are only three of us here, why not speak more clearly?”
Peiya glanced at Elise. After getting her approval, she said,
“It’s the curse of Blackwater City. She has similar marks on her body. Also, do you remember what happened in the Calamity Forest? Back then, I ran into a crazed Red Tiger. It’s similar to what’s happening now, people attacked by out-of-control magical beasts. And those beasts targeted members of the Beast Tamer Association. There might be something big behind this. I’ve already told Maya. After she finishes dealing with things here, she’ll probably organize an investigation into the Beast Tamer Association. I believe the truth will come out soon.”
Victoria took a sharp breath. This was something serious, yet Peiya spoke about it so calmly.
“I hope so. Unfortunately, I’m just a student from the Holy Institute, so my ability is limited. But I do know a bit about Blackwater City. The origin of ‘karmic fire’ is recorded in some books at the Institute. Another day, I can copy some materials for you.”
“You can access books from the Holy Institute…?”
“Shh—” Victoria pressed a finger to her lips. “You can’t say things like that. I didn’t ‘take’ anything. For scholars, borrowing knowledge isn’t stealing, it’s learning.”
“Oh… thank you.”
Peiya quickly thanked her. After agreeing on checking the materials later, it was already late. They went out and informed Guild Leader Maya. After learning that things were mostly handled, Peiya and the others left the guild.
On the way back, Peiya sighed softly.
“I didn’t expect something like this to happen. Should we get involved?”
Elise nodded. “Since it’s related to Blackwater City, I probably can’t ignore it for now. If it’s true, it might mean someone is using the curse to create some kind of weapon. This is definitely not a small matter. My family also has connections in the medical field. If this is real, it could seriously affect our family’s interests.”
Peiya sighed. “That must be tough for you. Are you going back by carriage? I’ll take a different way.”
“Okay. Be careful on the way.”
Elise watched Peiya leave. She stood there for a long time, only getting back into the carriage after Peiya was completely out of sight.
As soon as she got in, a maid handed her a package.
“Miss, there’s a letter from the master. He said it’s for you.”
Why would her father send a letter at a time like this?
He should be busy with other matters right now and normally wouldn’t send one. This felt strange.
It seemed she would only understand after reading it.
With a slightly uneasy feeling, Elise slowly opened the envelope…