Chapter 284: Ch 283: Proving innocence - Part 1

’Darn it! This is not good. The corruption is moving too late. I did not expect it to affect Seraphina and the others, but I was clearly wrong.’

Leon bit his lip as he kept running away from Kael’s house and getting as far as he could. The situation was turning from bad to worse, and in a way that was different from last time.

Before, when Seraphina and the others got affected, they still had their sanity and could make their decisions just fine. The corruption was still present, but they could control it to a certain extent and even opened a path to the past.

But now it seemed like they had lost their minds and were attacking even him, the one who was on their side.

"Can it be...the corruption has taken over? But how-"

As the Hero, Leon had a little knowledge of what corruption was and how it came to be, but even he did not know everything about this topic.

Moreover, his authority as the Hero belonged to the god who had died a long time ago. Even if he had all of the god’s powers and authority, there was only so much he could do.

For now, he needed to get into the temple and gather every last speck of divine magic he could find. If he could harness it for purification, then there was a chance he might be able to drive this corruption out.

What he needed to do was bring Seraphina and the others back so that they could perform the sealing magic with him.

And to make sure it happened, he first needed to find Kael.

So he was heading to the council’s meeting hall. But he could sense that something had happened as soon as he reached the hall. It was filled with darkness and corruption, and it was currently being sealed by the guards from the temple and the tower.

"Hero Leon? What are you doing here? Are you here for the purification? That’s good! Do you know that Grand Master Kael did this-"

"Get away from this place. It is brimming with corruption. If you are too close, then you might get caught in it as well."

Leon warned as he placed a divine shield in front of the people.

The corruption surged as soon as it sensed his power, but Leon held his ground and used his power to repel the corruption.

It was not easy to clear the hall, but his powers were equipped to take care of it.

"We knew that our Hero would be able to help us. Now hurry, we need to take care of a traitor as well. Your former teacher is responsible for all of this. Grand Master Kael needs to be punished-"

"What are you talking about? Kael came here because he got a message asking for help. And he is not a traitor. I can swear it on my life...What did you do to Kael? Where is he?"

Leon felt startled hearing the guard’s words before his senses kicked in and reminded him that he needed to go and find Kael before something happened.

But he did not have time to flounder around. He needed Kael’s exact location, and fast.

The guard saw this and bit his lip in agitation. He did not know what was happening and thus, he was not able to reply to the question Leon had asked.

Seeing this, Leon forced himself to calm down and talked to the guard a little more sweetly.

"Do you know where Grand Master Kael is right now? I need to talk to him regarding something important."

Leon told the guard, who looked reluctant to tell him anything. But then he looked into Leon’s eyes and flinched at the sincerity in the Hero’s eyes.

"I...the remaining council called for him to arrive at the emperor’s court. Apparently, they are going to punish him for what happened. But Sir Hero, please don’t interfere. That culprit behind these murders needs to be punished-"

"But it is not Kael. I can swear it on my life. Now, I need to head out. Please figure out things here yourself."

Leon no longer had an obligation to help these people out. Especially not when they were responsible for what Kael was going through.

The people he was leaving behind looked beyond shocked, and he could see their jaws hanging open in disbelief. But frankly, he did not care.

It was something they needed to figure out among themselves.

...

"Hey, stop moving around too much. Don’t you realize that you are a criminal and you need to act decently if you want a chance to lighten your punishment?"

The guard who accompanied Kael told him as he tried to poke him with a staff. But he was stopped by Grand Master Cecil’s glare.

It made the guard flinch and look away while Grand Master Cecil calmed himself down.

"Tsk, this journey is horrible. I knew I should have just used my magic to get us back to the capital."

Grand Master Cecil grumbled as he looked down at Kael with an annoyed expression, almost as if blaming him for what he was going through.

"I swear that none of this is my fault. It’s just a giant misunderstanding on the guard’s part. Can’t I just take a vow to clear my name here and now?"

Kael asked the other Grand Master, who sighed and sat down beside him.

"I am not saying that I don’t believe you, Kael. But it would be better to save your vow for the main court. That way, you will be able to save yourself the headache of doing this twice."

Grand Master Cecil pointed out, and Kael wanted to argue that he had enough power to do this twice. But he was too tired to argue. He could see that the guards were starting to get annoyed as well, so he settled down and closed his eyes.

If he was going to be stuck here, then he might as well get some rest out of it.