Whip!

Whip!

Whip!

The lashing sounds continued, echoing in the silence of the room, as Peter let loose without hesitation.

The blows came down consistently, without fail, as the flog dug into his flesh.

For all that he did, for all the pain he bought.

It was worth it.

The actions he took would lead to the betterment of the temple, it's purity, the image of Isis violated no more.

He knew that it would hurt innocent people, but that was unimportant.

Irrelevant.

Knock!, knock!

The frantic sound caused him to halt his self-flagellation as he sighed, getting up and putting on his tunic, as the injuries quickly healed, with not a trace of the pain he had gone through, leaving only the memory of what he had done, the least he could do.

He opened the door and spoke gruffly.

"Speak"

The messenger was frantic. "Lord P-P-Peter sir!" he stammered as he looked around frantically.

"The s-s-s-site! It's gone!" he screeched, causing Peter's to pause as he remembered the promise the man in the mask had said, his words ominously coming to mind at this moment.

---

The child awoke to a startling shape before his very eyes, jumping back as he stared warily at the very thing that had been in his arms just a few seconds ago.

A teddy bear.

The boy stared at the bear, watching it for any movement.

The bear did not move.

He tentatively tapped the bear before quickly retreating.

Silence

Carefully, the boy took the bear, holding it in his hands as the bear innocently looked back at him.

Well, blankly.

The weird moving rock was nowhere to be seen, only the food and the conspicuous bear he found before him.

Gingerly, the boy hugged the bear, finding satisfaction in its warmth.

It was very cute, Grant noted.

"Gyaaaah!"

Interrupted by a very annoying noise.

"Hush now!" demanded Grant as he shook the source of annoyance, a fanatic self-proclaimed believer just like the rest.

He'd broken into this territory of the fanatics, with the intent to destroy something valuable.

The corpses they'd been keeping.

Bodies of both humans and non human's alike, these bodies were stored here until they were planted into provocative locations, selectively chosen to rile the populace into a frenzy.

The fools had kept it well hidden, but well defended? No, not in the least.

Only 3 believers were here, of the C-rank admittedly, but dangerous, they were not.

The first was dispatched of quickly and efficiently, her name seeming to be Emma.

After quickly pinning down the other two, Grant was interrupted by a recording sent to him by Berg, showing the child gingerly holding the teddy bear, which had amused him.

Of course, the mood was ruined now.

"Ivy, was it?" he asked calmly, yet there was no mistaking the coldness in the voice.

Before she or the one called Jayne could scream, both of their mouths were shut with a gag.

Grant gripped her neck, and with a firm tug, pulled.

Her muffled screams came out desperately as her spine came out of her body, but spine it was no more than a long thick trunk, plagued with ivy's and soon Ivy's face was also covered in ivy, leaving nothing but the despined body limply laying there.

Seeing her friend's fate, Jayne's eyes widened with fright as Grant turned his attention to her, his wicked thoughts flooding him as he taunted her.

"And what am I going to do with you, Jayne doe?" he said as the woman silently screamed.

---

"Face burned off, there is no trace of the woman's previous identity. No other signifying traits. She's a real john doe" reported the forensic worker as he went over his report to the investigator.

"And the other one?" the lizardman asked as he eyed the other corpse dressed in priestly clothes. It was a gruesome sight that when they first went to investigate had caused some of the guards to throw up at the sight.

The man looked nauseous for a minute before speaking. "Her spine is entirely missing, yet everything else is clearly intact. It's like her spine was never even there." he shivered.

"As for her spine, well" he cast a glance at the weird tree sitting in the corner. "It's weird how much that looks like a spine." he muttered before continuing. "No trace. Not a thing. I was almost convinced that the tree over there was signs of a alchemical change of the higher level but-" he sighed. "I don't see any traces of magic on the tree, and it doesn't answer where the head went to either, since all that tree ends in is a head full of leaves and branches. Besides, what about the rest of them?" he said while carefully pointing at the collection of bodies, something equally sickening.

Looking at the confusing crime scene, the investigator sighed. "I'll have to speak with the town's overseer for that. This seems to be something a little more than just a mere crime scene." his tongue flicked in and out in frustration.

It wasn't something small either. The reason why they'd all rushed to get here had been a loud explosion that had been set off, causing people to freak out, as guards were dispatched to investigate alongside some healers. Once this ruin was discovered, the healers were traded for coroners.

The man hesitated. "Do you think this has anything to do with the way the towns been heating up?" he asked, as the same thought raced through their heads.

'A conspiracy was brewing'

---

Overseer Donnie sighed as he put the report down.

The crime scene, the clothes that the corpses were dressed in, and the conspiracy that had arose, involving the church of Isis were all coming together, causing a larger headache than he had anticipated.

Truly, he couldn't get a break.

He'd also received a report that Grant the adventurer had been close to the crime scene at the time, scene leaving in the opposite direction with a tray filled with honey muffins, made by his familiar. The bear and his trets had quickly become well known, as the bear had been seen wandering the streets as he shared his treats to children and sold others to the adults.

Normally, this would've been a coincidence, but after his meeting with the merchant whom ratted out the fanatics, and his current collaboration with the guild leader, he had begun gleaming it was far more than a mere coincidence, but rather all of it was starting to shape up as the schemes of this man called Grant.

Gulp gulp

With a quick gulp out of his tin, the overseer steeled his nerves, but groaned regardless.

He was only here because he had to be. His father had pushed him to stop staying home and tinkering with his gadgets and forced him to get a job.

His father, an earl, had managed to get him into a low-level job at an outpost on the far corners of the empire.

It was good, he had time to tinker with his little gadgets.

And when the followers of Isis arrived, he welcomed them with open arms as they settled quietly and began their business.

And then paladins Peter came.

And a famous retired S class hero came and started acting as guildmaster.

Maybe that's when it all went downhill.

Donnie now realized the reason the guildmaster was here was to keep an eye on the paladin, and his actions.

And now there was all this commotion, with the fights breaking out and the scheming and the-

gulp

-crazy guy selling honey muffins and tearing down the schemes of the church and casually showing off terrifying feats of strength.

He was A-rank at least, based off the reports, say nothing of the fact that he truly knew nothing of the man to say the least.

Sigh. Why him!?

---

Ursa Major watched as Grant pulled out a sugar cube, and began crushing it, sprinkling it on the ground.

He didn't quite get it, but he was sure this weird man was creating another magic trick.

The last time with the condensed milk slime was fun and interesting, teaching him how to make condensed milk, and giving him a new ingredient to use.

The bear wasn't sure why he could not simply use simple sugar, but his master insisted that magical ingredients accentuated the taste of the honey, and if this was the case, then why would he disagree.

The sugar did not stop sprinkling, and as the master kept sprinkling, the bear realized that sugar had been falling out of the sky, sprinkled by an unseen force, and soon the barren land they had been standing on was drowned in sugar, seemingly becoming a white desert.

"I'll call this the sugar sands." he said, beholding the desert of sugar he had made. With a wave of his hand, gummy serpents and chocolate crunch ants and lizards.

Juicy gusher cacti began springing up, with sharp spines made of hard candy.

An oasis of syrup popped up here and there, as jawbreaker scorpions and crabs settled into the sand, and hard-shelled fish settled into the syrupy lake. Palm trees made of a gummy core and hard shelled chocolate covering the inner truck, with jawbreaker coconuts ready to drop at a moment's notice.

None of the creatures here were sapient, so he gave none of them received the rebirth function, but their souls would reincarnate here after death. His way of optimizing the mana usage, since bringing creature's back with their memories intact was expensive.

Satisfied, Grant addressed his furry partner. "Come here once in a while and see if there's anything you'd like as an ingredient. For now, you can use the sugar from here, as over time it'll develop greater magical properties, and go even better with honey."

Seeing the bear's expressing his understanding, Grant was about to leave, before he paused. "Actually..." he said, turning around to the bear.

"How about I teach you how to make porridge?"

---

The child opened his eyes, as the smell lured him and his stomach rumbled in spite of his wariness.

A small bowl before him, the smell calling to him.

Walking over to it warily, he eyed it, and with hesitation, tasted it, dipping his finger into his mouth.

pop

His eyes widened as he started using his hands to dig into it, shoveling it into his mouth, as he savored the warm and soft texture of the porridge, hesitating not even a second as he happily ate it, disregarding all wariness he had but a second ago.

Berg frowned as he watched over camera.

"Is my porridge that bad?" he grumbled, complaining as he recalled how slowly the child ate his porridge,

Grant rolled his eyes. "He was more wary of the random pop-up food then" Grant pointed out, before adding. "Besides, he's been having nonstop meat up until now, and his parent's flesh no less, so chances are, he's happy to eat something not meaty. Condensed milk porridge is perfect for this."

"Yeah, I guess cannibalism tends to ruin one's appetite for meat."

"Yup"