After leaving the clinic, we got back on Logan and returned to the main street.

"When we meet Count Coluna, after handing over the letter, we’ll have to check every well in the town."

"So the wells really have been poisoned?"

"Yeah. If they dumped too much, there would be dead bodies everywhere, so they’re probably controlling the amount perfectly, or maybe someone higher up just gave them a specific amount and said ’put this in.’"

"In that case, this is pretty organized."

"Indeed."

...We’re having a surprisingly serious conversation, Irina and I.

So she can talk like this.

Squeeze squeeze squeeze!

"Whaa—?!"

Irina, your hand is changing shape again!

『Piyo—! (Boss! There’s a big crowd of people up ahead on the street!)』

"What now?"

『Piyo piyo~! (It feels a bit suspicious!)』

"Hmm?"

If the chicks say it’s suspicious, there’s definitely something going on. Their senses are surprisingly sharp!

"Buy the Holy God Church’s Prayer Medicine and your current suffering will be relieved! It’s only one silver coin! Just join the Holy God Church and pay one silver coin and your pain will disappear!"

A suspicious-looking priest was shouting. Join the Holy God Church, pay one silver coin, and your suffering improves? In other words, drink their "prayer medicine" and feel better. I’d like to get my hands on some to analyze it, but stealing from shady people still feels wrong, and while paying money is fine, I don’t want to join a suspicious religion...

"Hey, big bro, did you buy the prayer medicine?"

I called out to a sickly-looking young man who had just left the crowd around the suspicious priest.

"Y-yeah... My body feels heavy and I have no strength..."

I took out one silver coin from my pocket (actually from subspace compressed storage).

"Can I see the prayer medicine for a second? Here’s a tip for your trouble."

I pressed the silver coin into his hand.

"Sure, but... give it back, okay?"

"Of course, of course."

I held the so-called prayer medicine up above my head, then casually turned my back for a moment to block his view.

"(Now!)"

I instantly stored it in my subspace and analyzed it.

[Carnolesse Fruit Powder (Inferior)]

[Antidote for Poison Water Drake venom. However, it is mostly wheat flour with only a tiny amount of Carnolesse fruit powder mixed in. Detoxification effect (Inferior)]

...This is the worst.

What’s worst is not just that they’re selling something that only slightly relieves symptoms — selling this is basically admitting they’re the culprits. According to Bonteak, both Poison Water Drake venom and Carnolesse fruit are extremely rare and hard to obtain.

"Thanks, big bro."

I handed the prayer medicine back.

"Hey, one more favor."

"W-what?"

"Buy three more portions for me? Here’s payment for your trouble."

This time I handed him five silver coins. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"O-oh, got it."

The young man went back into the crowd.

"What’s going on? Is there something wrong with that prayer medicine?" Irina asked, tilting her head cutely.

"Yeah. It looks like a degraded fake antidote. The fact that they’re selling something like this basically proves they’re the ones behind the Poison Water Drake venom terror attack."

"So the Holy God Church is the culprit?"

"Yeah. Or there might be an even bigger organization behind them."

After a while, the young man came back.

"Here, three portions."

"Thanks."

"See ya."

I received the three portions of prayer medicine.

"What are you going to do with that medicine?"

"I’m not going to do anything special with it, but I should at least show this to Count Coluna and report that the Holy God Church is suspicious."

"I see. So it’s one piece of evidence?"

"Exactly."

I smiled brightly at Irina, and we headed toward Count Coluna’s residence.

"So this is the Frontier Count’s mansion. It’s huge."

We had arrived in front of Count Coluna’s residence.

Guards stood on both sides of the large gate.

"Is this the residence of Count Coluna?"

"Yes. What’s your business?"

"I carry an urgent letter from Nise, the town magistrate of Solenalini. I’d like to deliver it directly to Count Coluna. There was no prior notice, but please inform him."

I showed them the seal on the letter.

"No mistake. It’s Magistrate Nise’s seal. Could you wait a moment?"

One of the guards went inside the mansion.

He soon returned with a maid.

"Please come in. This maid will guide you."

"This way, please. I will show you the way."

"Thank you."

"Please have your tamed beasts wait in that garden over there."

"Understood. Logan, wait here for us."

『Woof! (Understood!)』

I deliberately didn’t call out to the chick squad because they were hiding on Irina’s shoulder.

"Then I shall guide you."

We entered the mansion, but...

"You bastard! Are you even a man of the clergy?!"

An incredibly angry roar echoed through the halls.

"Kiiihihihi~ Of course I am a model clergyman. See? I’ve brought holy water right here."

"I’ll pay any amount of money! If that holy water can cure my daughter, use it!"

"As I’ve said, what I want isn’t money... it’s the management rights to this land."

"Ridiculous! There’s no way I can hand over something like that!"

"Then your daughter has no choice but to die."

"Aah, Luciana!"

"U-um... Please wait a moment..."

The maid was flustered. Of course she was — she suddenly walked into a battlefield.

Just from hearing it through the door, it was clear the Count was in big trouble. The fact that the guy called himself a clergyman meant he was probably from the Holy God Church.

Bang! Bang!

I slammed the door loudly.

"M-Master guest?!"

The maid’s eyes widened. She had told us to wait, but here I was barging into this mess.

"What is it?!"

"Excuse me~ Justice Hero, reporting for duty."

I raised my left hand slightly and strode boldly into the room.

"Y-Yabe! That greeting is really questionable!!"

Irina grabbed the hem of my robe and followed me in.

"W-Who the hell are you?! How did you get in here?!"

The extremely furious man was probably Fenbelk von Coluna, the Frontier Count. The girl lying in the bed was his daughter Luciana, and the woman holding her hand and crying was probably his wife. The maids and butler weren’t present — they had probably cleared the room for this shady priest’s negotiation.

"If you’re asking how I got in, it was through the front door. By the way, I’m Yabe. This is Irina. I was entrusted with an urgent letter from Magistrate Nise of Solenalini."

I held out the letter.

"Urgent business?! This is not the time for that! Get out!"

Count Fenbelk angrily swatted my hand away. He looked to be in his middle age — a handsome, silver-haired dandy of a man. But he was clearly too distraught over his daughter.

"Well, if you tell me to leave, I’ll leave. But like I said, I came here as a hero of justice. You might regret it later regarding your daughter, though?"

"What did you say?! Are you threatening Fenbelk von Coluna?!"

The Count grabbed me by the collar of my robe.

"No, the one being threatened is that guy over there, not me."

"Hmm? ...Well, that’s true... Then who are you?"

He seemed to have calmed down a little after going full circle.

"Anyway, just read the letter. I’m also the one who prevented a poison terror attack in Solenalini. It should be written in Nise’s letter."

"What?!"

Count Fenbelk hurriedly read the letter.

"You... prevented it?"

The suspicious priest glared at me menacingly.

"Are you a villain from the Holy God Church? I stopped the poison spreading in Solenalini. By the way, I also know that you’ve been putting Poison Water Drake venom into the town wells, causing the residents to suffer from poisoning, and that you’re selling these pathetic fake antidotes called ’prayer medicine’ at exorbitant prices."

"W-What did you say?!"

The priest looked shocked.

"I won’t forgive you!"

"Do you have any proof?! This is extremely rude!"

The priest boldly declared to the Count, who was about to grab him.

"I have never been treated so rudely before. I will not hand over this holy water. Excuse me!"

As the priest tried to leave, I grabbed him.

"Don’t run away, you villain."

I glared at him intimidatingly.

"Here’s one piece of evidence."

I tossed the prayer medicine to Count Fenbelk.

"This is what the Holy God Church was selling as ’prayer medicine’ for one silver coin. It’s mostly wheat flour with a tiny bit of Carnolesse fruit powder mixed in. You wouldn’t be able to prepare something like this unless you knew people were suffering from Poison Water Drake venom poisoning."

"Indeed!"

Count Fenbelk glared at the corrupt priest with eyes that could kill.

"Also, before entering the mansion, I already ordered my subordinates to round up everyone selling this prayer medicine under the Holy God Church name. Once we interrogate them, they’ll spill everything, right?"

"Ohh!"

This time Count Fenbelk’s face lit up with joy. He finally seemed to recognize me as an ally.

"You bastards! Then you can regret it for eternity!"

The priest threw the bottle he was holding onto the floor and stomped on it, shattering it.

"You! What have you done?!"

"Now your daughter can never be saved! Serves you right! Hahaha!"

Crack!

Count Fenbelk’s furious punch smashed into the corrupt priest’s right cheek.

If left like this, both the corrupt priest and Luciana would definitely die. I didn’t care if the priest died, but I couldn’t let Luciana die.

I walked over to Luciana, who was lying in bed.

"Aah, please... please save my daughter..."

The Countess grabbed my robe, tears streaming down her face.

"Leave it to me. I’ll do everything I can."

I looked at Luciana. She looked extremely pained. Her cheeks were sunken and her complexion was terrible. It was clearly severe Poison Water Drake venom poisoning. There was no way a powerful man like Count Coluna wouldn’t have asked the church for help. That meant had already failed. They would have tried as well, but it wasn’t enough.

The reason Poison Water Drake venom couldn’t be cured with was probably because the poison wasn’t accumulating in just one spot. If that’s the case, where is the poison? I had one hypothesis. In Japan, there was something called "artificial dialysis" — when kidney function declines, waste products can’t be filtered from the blood, causing all sorts of problems. What if this venom circulated in the bloodstream and the kidneys couldn’t process it, continuously damaging the body...?

I grabbed Luciana’s right wrist.

"Ah..."

She blushed slightly despite her terrible complexion — embarrassed because a member of the opposite sex was holding her hand (well, technically her wrist). Was she feeling shy?

"Now then..."

I sent some of my slime cells into a part of her wrist and ordered them to "assimilate with the target’s cells."

The slime cells advanced, infiltrating her wrist and reaching her blood vessels. I connected them to the blood vessels, of course making sure to return the blood I extracted.

What am I doing? Obviously, "Slime Dialysis."

Using the blessing power of the water spirit Wintia, I performed blood purification! I’ll detoxify her blood, make it clean and smooth, and return it! With the power of circulation, it should work!

I drew out Luciana’s blood, purified and detoxified it, then returned it to her veins.

"Ahh... it feels... so... much... better..."

Luciana spoke in a hoarse, broken voice.

"You don’t have to force yourself to speak. I’ll give you some water. Drink it slowly."

I extended one tentacle and gently put it to her mouth.

"Hii...!"

"What is that?!"

Luciana flinched slightly, and Count Fenbelk exploded in anger.

But this is necessary, so please don’t make too much noise.

"Calm down and drink the water slowly."

"Fwaa..."

Luciana drank the water with small gulps.

"It’s... delicious..."

She smiled faintly as she told me. Of course it tastes good — it’s water from the Fountain of Miracles, blessed by the water spirit Wintia.

Color gradually returned to Luciana’s face. She should be fine now.

"I-Impossible! Poison Water Drake venom can’t be cured without the juice of Carnolesse fruit! What did you do?!"

"Thanks for the full confession. So you’re the one who poisoned the townspeople and Luciana."

"I-Impossible! How did you know?!"

"You literally just said it yourself."

I was too stunned to speak.

"So you’re the one who made Luciana suffer?!"

Thud!

A powerful body blow sank into the suspicious priest.

"Gobeh—! Guro—!"

Yeah, something that shouldn’t come out is coming out. I’ll pretend I didn’t see it.

I calmly and steadily continued purifying Luciana’s blood.