Chapter 17: The Purge

The town of Cion was obviously in a ruckus due to the event. People off all ages had probably heard of it now. Seeing the Paladins, this only confirmed the authenticity of the rumour.

A Necromancer is in town!

Naturally, people became afraid. Not just to the Necromancer but also to the church.

The Paladins and priest spared no one. Every nook and cranny of the was searched. People were requested to come out of their houses. Although many wanted to resist, but they couldn't.

What's worse, after the search, the houses would be a mess; tables, chairs, books, and even private areas were thoroughly flipped.

It had only an hour since the Purge of Evil started and the many people were already arrested. These people were not actually a Necromancer but they also dealt with illegal activities.

Although many illegal acts were rooted by the Trion knights, with church's help, the number of arrested people became three times more. These people were bought to the Coliseum dungeon.

In the Town Plaza, many stalls and stores had already closed. But many people were still there covering with each other. Their topic was obviously the Purge. Many of them had a basic understanding of what a Necromancer is: a once human dabbling in evil magic and much worse than a beast.

Most people were relaxed, some only showed signs of worry. Those who are relaxed were certain they are innocent while those worried may have something to hide.

The gates of the town was also closed off. This made the activities outside of town come to a halt. Every exit was guarded by either soldiers or Paladins. This made it impossible to actually leave the town even for a valid reason.

With the church's power and influence, no one dared to resist the Purge; the only one who can actually stop it was the highest nobility in town, but that nobility is also actively joining.

"This is the house of the famous merchant in town, young master." Cavell looked at the two-story house in the distance.

Now, they were in the Deca Street. It's where the wealthy people in town reside. With Ace being the highest nobility, these wealthy people, no matter how rich, would not be able to resist the order of a search.

Deca Street was had a much wider roads and cleaner streets. The houses were relatively large. Some of these residence were home to Lower Nobility: Barons, and Counts.

When these people heard the news, which was just announced this morning, they hastily hid their acts. Some tried to flee the town but was caught instead. The caught ones were brought for interrogations and had their properties thoroughly searched.

Looking at the big house in the distance, Ace noticed a man wearing a black suit outside the house. This man was probably Flaven, the famous town merchant. He was a middle aged man with a well-built body, black hair, green eyes, and thick eyebrows. It seemed that he waited for the young master of Trion to come.

Stepping out of the car—which they used to travel from house to house—Ace looked at the merchant from head to toe. "Sir Flaven, I believe the purpose of our visit is clear."

Gazing at the slim and skinny young man, merchant Flaven, kneeled in one knee. The maids and other people behind him also did the same.

"I are aware, young master. I have already prepared papers from our activities. And I am confident that my business does not link to any of such evil acts."

Ace was handed a stack of papers. He then signalled Cavell to proceed inside. Naturally, Cavell obeyed and went with five other Trion knights while Ace read the contents of the paper.

Although he did not have the slightest belief this merchant was innocent from evil acts. For money hungry people, it was almost impossible.

The sound of ruckus echoed from the house.

Cavell and the five other knights flipped the insides of the house to find clues relating to Necromancers such as hidden corpses, stored bloods, diagrams, Necro books, and others. Naturally, they flipped furnitures, smashed suspicious walls, and fiddled with documents. They didn't fear retaliation from the merchant, as they had the strongest authority backing them.

Unexpectedly, the people of the merchant didn't flinch with the sounds at all. This was not because they had unlimited wealth that they could buy a new one, but because of the young man in front of them.

The didn't dare to show dissatisfaction.

An hour later, Cavell and the knights came out from the house. The knights were exhausted, and that was evident from their faces. But unlike them, Cavell had not sweated a bead and it looked as if he simply walked at a park. He looked at Ace and then the still kneeling merchant.

"The house is clear, young master."

Ace nodded. This meant the house and the merchant was clear from being involved in Necromancy. But this didn't mean they were clear of illegal activities. But for Ace, his focus now was finding the Necromancer, same with the church.

Ace looked at the merchant—who had a visible smile on his lips—and muttered, "You're cleared."

Sighs of relief sounded when they heard that. Although they tried to show a relaxed expression, the merchant, his family, and people, looked pale.

But Ace pretended like he didn't notice at all and simply walked towards the car and got on. Cavell followed, grabbed the wheel and drived. The knights followed with a chariot.

'This is the 10th house. There's still no signs of the Necromancer.' Ace thought in disappointment. The church didn't obtain the specific whereabouts of the Necromancer from Ellesse, she probably didn't know too. This made the search harder, with them not having a specific target area.

Due to this, the forces of the Church and his scattered throughout the town for a wider range of search.

He had been in charged of searching houses of wealthy people and Lower Nobility. This is because the church only spread faith, while nobles rule the land. If the priest request for a search, these clever people would find holes to resist. But a High Nobility request, they had no choice but to comply.

Thinking about searching every houses, streets, and areas, Ace let out an exhausted sigh. The town was big and had a population of atleast 50,000 people, so the houses were aplenty.

"Young master, I think you should rest first." Said Cavell worriedly. He could see the tiny drop of sweat on Ace's forehead, and he also noticed the exhaustion in Ace's breathing.

Looking at him, Ace nodded in agreement.

He didn't push himself, especially with this body. Castileo wasn't the athletic type, so his body wasn't toned. The 'Character' didn't even bother exercising, and instead focused on reading books.

Ace closed his eyes leaned to the side.

Looking at his small figure, Cavell smiled warmly.

'Don't worry, young master. We'll find the Necromancer.' He thought.

He knew his young master purposely joined the purge to hunt the Necromancer. All clues pointed to Ace eager in finding the Necromancer.

Cavell didn't know why, but he believed his young master had an important purpose.

Just he looking at the young man, he caught a glimpse of brown chariots speeding towards them.

***

In contrast to the wealthy Deca Street, the street of Xexus was littered in dirty rags, scrap metal, garbage, and homeless people. The paths were narrow and littered in trash, and haggard humans loitered around.

This area is the home of the poorest of the poor in town, beggars, and slaves.

Walking gracefully at an alley, a woman with fine hourglass figure clenched something in her pocket. The woman wore a clean white cloak that covered most of her body, but her beautiful figure was obvious and hard to miss especially in a place of dirt poor people.

Obviously, the people looked at her in awe, especially the men who stared at her with wide desirous eyes. But no man dare to even come closer to the woman.

The men knew, this was a priestess from the church.

The woman, Mala, glanced at the dumbstruck people gazing at her. She sighed in sadness for these people.

'May the Holy Mother embrace your pitiful souls.' She prayed inside.

These people was the lowest of the low. They work in metal factories in town and sometimes do odd jobs just to earn pennies. And due to the environment they live in, most of them die at young ages or worse, suffer from deformities that made them unable to do anything.

Priestess Mala gazed at the young child staring at her with awe. The child was dirty, covered in soot and mud, but Mala was not disgusted. She smiled warmly at the child.

'May you be loved by Holy Mother, child.'

She shifted her gaze from the child and looked at the tall building in the distance. This building stood out amongst the ragged and old infrastructures at the area.

Made of gray shiny metal, it reflected the light from the morning sun, making it shine beautifully. The building was only ten story tall, but in this town, it was one of the tallest building. And the tallest building in this street.

This was the Actruo Metal Ware Factory, the main contributor of metal wares in town. Situated in the poorest street, the Factory undoubtedly provided help to the people of poor status by giving them jobs, but priestess Mala gazed at it colder than winter.

After some time, she finally arrived in front of the building. Outside, she could smell the odor of metal and rust. She clenched her teeth in frustration, not to the smell, but to the people going in and out of the Factory.

These people were workers, they would work the whole day and only rest at night. Most of them were covered in rags and dirt, evident of being beggars or homeless. These people were carrying large poles of iron on their backs and had a lifeless expression that seemed to have lost meaning in life.

Priestess Mala clenched the object in her pocket tightly. She stared coldly at the man carrying a whip and loudly shouting at the workers.

The man had a sizable belly and oily face. He wore a tight fitting gray suit and black pants. The man was bald but had thick orange brows, and the yellow eyes stared in satisfaction at the workers.

'The Holy Mother will judge you.' She gritted he teeth in anger. She wanted to send the man to Holy mother for judgement, but she held it back and relaxed her expression.

The man caught a glance of the white robed priestess and waved. He then handed the whip to the man at his side began to walk towards the priestess.

She smiled warmly at the man, but her eyes were cold—no amusement or enthusiasm.

"Good to see you again, Mala. Or should I say, 'Priestess'. Haha." The man laughed warmly. The man patted her shoulders with his fat hand. But the priestess didn't mind the blatant disrespect, she simple smiled.

"Good to see you too, Draon." Mala responded with a beautiful smile.

The man, Draon, paused for a second. "... You know, I couldn't help but think how you've grown to such a beauty."

The fat man scratched the back of his neck and signalled his assistant with a nod.

"Lets get inside, Mala." Draon said while sneakily scanning the surrounding cautiously.

The priestess nodded and followed the man inside the Factory with a light smile.