Chapter 48

The village looked desolate and bleak even upon a second glance.

It was a complete contrast to the prosperous and beautiful scenery of the capital.

The bustling areas and places frequented by nobles were all as peaceful and perfect as if they were from a dream.

However, the village where the poor commoners lived had a completely different atmosphere.

Seeing this place, I could vividly feel that the world of "God's Play" was a dystopia.

Looking at the black, polluted soil, I muttered to myself with a heavy heart.

"The erosion has progressed so much already."

That's why no one lived in this area.

Or rather, no one could live here.

The Squire bloodline couldn't sense the characteristic foul smell of miasma.

They also hardly felt the eerie and oppressive atmosphere.

I was fine too, right now.

In other words, ordinary humans could sense these things in the eroded land.

My heart felt heavy.

"Rrrr."

Startled!

A beast's cry echoed from a short distance away.

Lifting my head, I saw the form of a blackened monster illuminated by the sunset.

'What? It's too early for a monster to appear, right?'

"Neigh!"

The horse, startled by the monster's aura, went into a frenzy.

In the game, the horse was fine, but in reality, this aspect of plausibility had been improved.

Damn it!

"Ugh! Calm down!"

"Neigh!"

If this continued, I would be injured by falling off, so I used magic to safely dismount.

The horse, once out of my control, immediately ran away.

The monsters, emitting a black miasma, moved with a red glow in their eyes, leaving afterimages as they moved.

I quickly sent a magic message and slowly took a few steps back.

It was only a 5-minute walk from here to the temporary base.

'Just 5 more minutes.'

Cold sweat trickled down my back.

This was my first battle. A real battle where I might lose my life.

'Will the magic I've learned work in a real fight?'

I watched the group of monsters with tense eyes.

Just in case, I had studied the method of purifying magical creatures to the point of exhaustion.

I had also learned a few combat spells in my spare time.

But standing in front of the monsters, I felt inadequate, and a wave of regret washed over me.

'I should have studied more!'

At that moment, the monsters let out threatening roars.

"Roar!"

"Roar!"

Although the monsters didn't approach, I was so startled that I cast a wide-area purification spell.

"Purified be the eroded life! Purified be! Purified be! Purified be! Purified be! Purified be!"

Ding!

[Throne 'ProHunSuler' has donated 10,000 coins.]

[Stop it; it's all purified;]

"Huh?"

So it was all purified so easily?

'Because I cast the purification spell in a wide area, the power should have been extremely weak, right?'

I looked at the wolves with a puzzled expression.

Clearly eroded by black miasma, the wolves were now panting happily and running towards me.

...Is this possible?

"Am I stronger than I thought?"

At that moment, new monsters approached, making threatening sounds.

I was no longer tense.

Thud. Thud.

I stretched my neck from side to side and loosened my body.

"Shall we have some purification time?"

* * *

I was running to the point of almost vomiting.

Running away?

No.

"Hey! Stop there! You won't stop?!"

To catch the fleeing monsters.

Ding!

[Throne 'RomancePass' has donated 10,000 coins.]

[I didn't expect to see a chase scene in a romance broadcast.]

Feeling wronged, I shouted.

"Phew! Huh! What is this! There was no setting for monsters to run away!"

Ding!

[Throne 'FactIsViolence' has donated 10,000 coins.]

[They probably weren't set to be purified one-sidedly by you;]

Ding!

[Throne 'AsLongAsNotMe' has donated 10,000 coins.]

[That's true.]

Even with the purified wolves helping to herd the monsters, the purification work was not easy.

Then, a group of people on horseback rushed over. They were the guards.

"There they are! The monsters are attacking the lady...!"

"Purified be! Purified be!"

"Attacking...?"

"Please, just stop! Purified be!"

"Help! The monsters are running away! Stop them!"

At that moment, Damian broke through the guards and instantly blocked the monsters' escape route.

"Purified be!"

Thus, I was finally able to purify the last monster.

I collapsed on the ground, panting heavily.

"Huh...! Huh...!"

Professor Ilya was right.

A mage's stamina is more important than mana.

The purified wolves wagged their tails and licked my face as I lay on the ground.

Lick lick!

With twenty of them swarming around me, I was almost crushed.

Damian, who saved me, helped me up and asked worriedly.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Uh... Not okay... I feel like I'm dying..."

"Fortunately, you're fine."

By the way, the book clearly stated that recovery was necessary, yet the wolves, who had just been freed from erosion, were not sickly but very lively, playing around.

Anyone would think that the one who had been eroded and recovered was me.

While I was petting the wolves, who were turning my school uniform into fur, Damian slowly scanned me with his eyes.

"Lately, I've been seeing a lot of unfamiliar things from you."

I looked at him with a questioning gaze.

Damian smiled nonchalantly.

"Did you always have a good rapport with magical creatures?"

Damian knew better that this was not the case.

"No, it suddenly became like this."

I didn't say anything more.

It seemed better to give less information than to lie to a probing question.

'I must be causing him to constantly doubt how different I am from the original Therese.'

At that moment, one of the guards said with an excited face.

"This isn't just a good rapport. It's an unprecedented phenomenon!"

The guard's uniform had a badge of the Magic Association.

This meant he was a fairly skilled mage.

'By the way, does this person not know who I am?'

Therese was a well-known figure in the capital, known to almost everyone.

In modern times, if a famous rich brat were to become a daily issue, how much more stimulating and interesting would it be in this era, where entertainment is severely lacking?

Yet, this guard looked at me with an excited expression, almost as if I were a hero, without any fear of Therese's notorious reputation.

"Purifying a magical creature eroded by miasma is an extremely difficult task. The failure rate is very high. But Lady, you succeeded so easily!"

As he said, I had a 100% success rate.

"Moreover, the purification strength was incredibly weak! Could it be that one of the ancestors of the Squire family was a celestial being?"

"Maybe. They were all humans, I think."

While having this somewhat absurd conversation, Clyde appeared with the guards.

Magical creatures generally don't like humans.

More accurately, they ignored them.

They considered humans to be an inferior species.

That's why people didn't find it strange that magical creatures crowded around me, avoiding Clyde.

On the contrary, I was the strange one.

"Hmm, magical creatures can follow humans."

"Moreover, they all look healthy. The wolves we purified were not in good condition."

Clyde clenched his fists tightly as he looked at the magical creatures who clearly distrusted him.

He knew he was being rejected because he was a half-demon.

It was a moment when he realized again that he was a cursed being who shouldn't remain on this land.

'Sigh.'

I deliberately spoke to the dejected Clyde.

"Do you need something from me?"

I had to treat him as if he were invisible, but for now, I made an exception.

Otherwise, he would keep digging holes in the ground forever.

Clyde relaxed his clenched fists and looked at me with a composed face.

"We need to write a report, so come with me."

"Okay. Wait a moment."

Before following him, I petted the wolves and gave them strict instructions.

"Guys, go back to where you lived. If the land is eroded, move to another place."

"Heck heck heck!"

"Once purified, magical creatures develop resistance to miasma and won't be eroded again. Still, be careful."

The wolves, seemingly enjoying my concern, wagged their tails and suddenly started howling one by one.

"Auuuuu!"

The sacred magic power of the magical creatures spread in all directions and seeped into the village.

Then, something amazing happened.

"...! The eroded land is being purified!"

The soil, clearly polluted and black, began to take on a healthy brown color.