Purifying Tissa

Azra was about to encourage the villagers to distance themselves after placing the bunny on the ground and readying his mana. But that was before he realized the only one who stood close to him and the bunny was Mahenny. And he probably wouldn't listen to anything Azra said about stepping further away from the bunny.

Azra turned directly to the bunny and stretched out with his hands. He moved his holy attribute mana into them, intentionally making them glow brighter than they would if Azra only focused on purging the Rage Powder from the beast in front of him.

With his eyes closed, Azra took a deep breath and put on an expression of concentration as he sent his divine power into the bunny with the same visualization he had when helping Erlo. Though, his mind was slightly clearer this time, so his mental image was even better, and the purification of the bunny's body progressed smoothly.

The bunny, who had been relentlessly ferocious, almost immediately calmed down while accepting Azra's divine power. Much to Mahenny's joy. It also earned a few gasps of awe from the crowd of villagers.

However, the villagers' expressions of awe soon turned into disgust. Mahenny forced himself to keep smiling since it was proof of Tissa's recovery, but he was on the verge of tearing up.

The smell of the Rage Powder waste that poured out of Tissa's orifices was horribly pungent, and it made their noses burn and itch, in addition to wanting to make them puke.

One of the villagers began directing the smell away from the crowd using wind magic. But there was no way Azra and Mahenny could escape the stench. Despite wanting to stick close to Tissa, the smell forced Mahenny a few steps back. However, Mahenny still ended up choking and gagging at the sticky smell that crept up his nose and blanketed his tongue in a layer of wastage fumes.

It took Mahenny and the villagers a few moments to recover from the stench assaulting their sense of smell, so they didn't notice Azra's continued composure. When they saw how Azra focused on healing the bunny without a change in expression, the villagers felt a little silly at their exaggerated reactions. Their respect for Azra also soared.

The building respect and awe for Azra was enough to make him sense a small stir at the symbol of his inclination. It was still far from being able to generate mana for him, but it at least showed Azra that he was on the right track to how he should grow stronger. Just a few villagers had been enough to make his inclination sense something. Maybe twenty villagers feeling the same amount of respect toward him would be able to increase his mana.

Azra knew it would be impossible to make everyone believe in him as ardently as Lo did, so knowing that he could supplement quality with quantity made him quite at ease.

Azra's mind had gotten so hazy by the stench that he barely noticed that he was about to finish purifying the bunny. He was worried that he had relaxed his expression and accidentally compromising himself to the villagers. However, he realized that his expression was still the same. One of serene concentration. And that it was also the most likely the reason that the villager's respect toward him had bloomed. He himself was stunned that he managed to maintain a straight face at the stench that was even worse than the time with Erlo.

Since Erlo had already managed to recover naturally from the Rage Powder, Azra only had to squeeze out the Rage Powder from the bull meat that Erlo ate. Azra didn' know what the difference between the bunny and Erlo was, but the bunny was nowhere close to getting rid of the Rage Powder on its own.

Compared to the waste from Erlo's purification, Tissa's was a lot worse. The grey sludge was a deeper color, thicker, and more pungent. If Azra hadn't already experienced the smell once, he would have let his disgust show on his face, despite his ambition-fueled resolve.

Eventually, Azra finished purifying Tissa. The waste still covered her face, but at least there wasn't any more pouring out of her orifices. The only thing leaving Tissa's unconscious body was puke and froth from her mouth. Considering she had been in direct contact with the grey sludge, everyone thought it incredibly reasonable that she fainted.

Azra kept up the act and reached for the bucket with water, soap, and a cloth. Mahenny looked like he wanted to stop Azra and do it himself. However, the stench made him too reluctant, and he ended up letting Azra clean Tissa.

"Thank you!"

Azra's lack of hesitation while opening the cage and grabbing the bunny increased Mahenny's respect and gratitude toward Azra.

Azra was slightly miffed since he was counting on Mahenny's devotion toward Tissa. Azra thought that Mahenny would stop him while he moved toward the bucket and would clean the bunny himself. However, Azra's plan to show his helpfulness backfired, and he had to wash the vomit-inducingly dirty bunny.

Azra didn't let his dissatisfaction show on his face, but he certainly wasn't smiling as he splashed the bunny with water before rubbing off as much of the waste as he could using the cloth and the soap.

The bunny was clean compared to before Azra began washing it, but it came at the cost of Azra wanting to chop his fingers off. Deliberately avoiding the waste and making sure he didn't touch it would make it very difficult to wash the bunny. It would also contrast with his image of selflessness and grace. That, unfortunately, led to diluted wastewater covering Azra's fingers. The waste could be washed away to some degree, but it was difficult doing so with dirty water and a dirt cloth. But even if Azra got rid of the waste itself, the stench clung to him once again.

Azra's only solace was the fact that his clothes were clean, even if they stunk.

Only able to lament his path and the difficulties he would face in the future, Azra stood up and handed the soaked Tissa over to Mahenny, who gratefully received her as he began baby-talking to her.

Mahenny quickly realized his impoliteness as he turned to Azra.

"Thank you so much! I don't feel like I can ever repay you!"

Azra almost felt like Mahenny would have tried to hug him while in tears if it weren't for the bunny in his arms and his tear ducts being toast due to the stench.

"It's nothing much. I only did what I should have. But if you really want to repay me, a set of clothes and a meal will do."

Azra smiled at Mahenny as he finished his response. A humble response that wasn't over the top since it left a way for Mahenny to feel at ease instead of guilty due to being unable to repay the favor.

"Of course, of course! I'm childhood friends with Gus. I'll get him to fit you some clothes. You're staying with the Thorns, right? I'll prepare dinner for everyone tomorrow night."

"Sounds lovely. I'm looking forward to it."

Azra's smile of acknowledging Mahenny's favor repayment was blinding, and Mahenny didn't know what to say, so he buried his face in Tissa's slowly drying fur, which he immediately regretted. Azra had managed to wash away most of the waste, but Mahenny would still need to do a lot more before he could cuddle Tissa without using a clothespin on his nose.