Entering the underground chamber, I walked through the cleansing chamber without bothering them. The people doing the cleansing also pretended not to see me and continued what they did silently.

The dot was located deeper. I remembered something about my conversation with Lara regarding the eye with black sclera.

I was certain the eye wasn't this [Purple Eye] monster because I had appraised it. What they found was someone's eye that was left after they got infected by the curse.

However…

A Parasite-type monster from Hell that infected people with a deadly curse <Extra Weaken> through its spore. The spore will become a small eye that will pop and spread curse inside the body of infected people within 7 days.

It can also procreate using its spore by sacrificing its life.

It seemed like that shadow squad member was unlucky when he touched that eye; the spore the monster used to procreate entered his body.

The fact it was a monster from Hell was making me slightly worried.

'Is the encroachment of Hell has progressed that far? There is no sign of it here.'

And because that member was poisoned, I doubted Lara would bring him to investigate Viscount Steelwill and his sons today.

'The possibility that the owner of this monster is Viscount Steelwill's second son, Mair Steelwill, has increased. He probably panicked because the church suspected his family and ordered the monster under his control to spread the curse.'

The (Familiar) tag beside the monster's name indicated that this monster was either tamed or summoned. Someone could order the monster to do something even from a distance.

Arriving at the shadow squad base at the end of the hallway, I pushed it open immediately. Only one person was there. His body was covered in the assassin's grab. Unlike the others, his face and hair were also hidden.

Hearing the door screeched open, he raised his body slowly from the couch. His hard breath was audible. He was clearly having a problem breathing.

"Y-Y-Your Holiness."

"Stop it. Just sit."

As he saw me, he immediately wanted to kneel, but I stopped him immediately by blinking in front of him. I pushed him to sit on the couch with a little force.

"Are you feeling under the weather?" I asked as I used <Appraisal> on him. As expected, there was (Cursed) status beside his name, Liam Castitas.

And there was also another status written beside it.

Name: Liam Castitas (Cursed) (Parasitized)

"Y-Yes. I was embarrassed." He answered with a coarse tone as he pulled down his hood, revealing his face for a second before bowing deeply. "Please forgive me. I was just a burden and couldn't help with the investigation."

His black hair had a patch of whiteness, and a part of his face had turned purple.

"No, don't be sorry," I said to him in a calm voice. "You've done a great job."

"Sorry?" He raised his head in surprise.

"I said you've done a great job. I will cure you, but it will be painful. Prepare yourself."

After I repeated what I said and explained what I would do, he nodded firmly.

"We're trained to handle pain and have <Pain Resistance>. Please feel free to do whatever you need, Your Holiness. My life is y– Gah!"

Before he finished his sentence, I punched his stomach and caused him to gasp and vomit air.

"Not yet."

There was no sign of the <Purple Eye> yet. The parasite was deep inside his body, so I punched him again.

"Agh!"

Once again, he gasped loudly and vomited. This time, not only air but also food he ate before. It was disgusting but worth it.

A small purple eye with 1 cm diameter was among the vomit, moving around, and I immediately used <Holy Barrier> to trap it inside. A hexagonal barrier with a golden glow appeared around the small purple eye with four limbs. It tried to breach through but was unable to.

"Good work." I praised the shadow squad member, Liam, and used both <High Heal> and <Lift Curse> to cure him.

His body was covered in a yellow light that disappeared a second later.

"T-This is…" He muttered in wonder, looking at his body. "I am cured?"

The purple patch on his face and white hair had turned normal. He looked at me with a widened eye before kneeling on the ground, a bit away from his vomit.

"Thank you very much, Your Holiness. This debt… I swear I will repay it in the future!"

"No need to worry. I have gotten what I need for your repayment." I looked at the eye creature contained inside my <Holy Barrier> and picked it up after using <Purification> to clean the vomit.

The barrier was solid, and I could move it around as I pleased. I brought it near my face, and the <Purple Eye> narrowed its eyelids as if to intimidate me.

"This will become a great clue to know who cursed Ertha. Once again, good job."

"Thank you for your praise, Your Holiness." Liam bowed his head further.

At that moment, hurried footsteps rang from outside. It was light, and the blue dot in my <Presence Detection> had detected that the owner of the footstep was Sana.

The door burst open after that, and the cute Archbishop appeared with a quick breath.

"Sir Arthur… Huff… Is what Tristan told me truly happened in Academy City? I heard that a monster cursed many people at once?!"

Exhausted after running and combined with surprising information, she couldn't really form a good sentence. However, I understood what she meant.

"That information is correct. I have just extracted the monster from his body." I raised the monster contained inside my <Holy Barrier> to show Sana. "Quite a cute monster, but this one came from Hell and is a parasite."

"Hell?!" Her eyes widened in surprise. She looked at Liam for a second and seemed to recognize him, but she didn't say anything and turned to me again. "But Hell is…"

"A domain that not even the Goddess can touch." I finished her sentence. "Anyway, I hope you can plan something for me. We need to cure those people at once without raising any panic."

"Anything for you, Sir Arthur." She answered calmly after regaining her breath. "But I believe spreading the information about how many people got cursed at once would cause panic among the citizens. This will be hard."

"No, it won't be that hard." I smiled at her. "Let's just hold a charity event. We will heal everyone for free tomorrow to celebrate my engagement with Trist and Eli. Prepare one in the Capital City too."

Sana's eyes widened in realization. "I see. That will solve this problem without causing any panic." She said, "I will prepare at once, Sir Arthur."

"Yes. I am counting on you."

"Please leave it to me." She nodded firmly and blossomed into a smile. "Also, congratulations. Fufufu, I hope I will be next." She giggled cutely.

'This girl...' I smiled back at her. 'And here I want to support her goal. If she said something like that, I would take her for real.'

"Thank you, Sana. Look forward to it."

"Fufufu, I will."

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