Around 500 years ago, corruption ascended from the abyss.

Monster races multiplied rapidly, growing more than usual, and they became several times stronger individually. Races like orcs, goblins, and kobolds soon infected the world with chaos.

Although they were sentient, their hunger was not only for food and survival but also for war. When they were infected by the corruption, they tasted power beyond what they should have had and soon became greedy for world domination.

Before anyone could respond, an evil dragon rose as the Demon Lord.

Not only orcs, goblins, and kobolds, but also giants, ogres, and trolls rose up with him, supporting his march. Some of the beastkin races, as well as vampires and werewolves, began to succumb to corruption, awakened by their desires.

In the name of spreading chaos and raising humans and other races as livestock and slaves, they joined the Demon Lord. Not only them, but even other races like elves, dwarfs, centaurs, griffins, merfolk, and dragons began to betray each other.

The Age of Chaos. It was what that era was called.

In the middle of that, suddenly, God sent down an apostle. His name was Romeuf Lumine.

However, because he was born into a poor, almost fallen noble family, the world couldn’t discover him sooner, and he suffered great trials before he could lead humanity to fight back against evil.

He fought valiantly with other heroes, including Urien, the first King of Soulnaught; Merlin, the first Archmage; and the Infinite Witch, Morgan Le Fay.

Almost at the end of the war, before they were about to kill the Demon Lord, Romeuf actually died after facing the Demon Lord alone. It was an ambush, and there were still unexplained events occurring at the time that led to Romeuf’s death.

This incident prompted the legendary first Holy Grail ceremony by King Urien, who caught Romeuf’s blood on the cross and drank it to make a holy oath.

After a while, the Demon Lord ambushed Urien too, but Merlin and Morgan arrived just in time to help him. Other heroes came to assist, and after a week of intense battle, the Demon Lord was eradicated.

Among them were the original heroes from legend, sitting in the same assembly room today: Morgan, Isaiah, and Vlad.

It was Shorof and Nahwu’s great-grandfather who fought in the war alongside them from the Elves’ righteous side, and it was Wekkoun’s grandfather who accompanied them from the Dwarves’ side.

At the time, even the Merfolk were joining the war, led by Aidyl’s great-grandfather.

The Centaurs, Werewolves, and Beastkin leaders were always chosen from the strongest members of their tribes, so the heroes from their races who fought in the war in the past were mostly their relatives’ elders. But they also shared the pride and glory.

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The one who delivered the final blow to the Demon Lord’s heart was Urien Soulnaught himself. However, it was Romeuf who originally led them. He died, leaving behind a legacy as a martyr.

“Mana poisoning was very common at the time, and it was almost undetectable because the symptoms were very similar to those of a common cold at first. But normal people would soon suffer a great deal in the blink of an eye,” Morgan said.

“But how could we not notice that Shorof was being poisoned by corrupted mana all this time?” Tashr's face fell in shock. “Even though the symptoms were not very particular… how could we…”

“The amount of corrupted mana was not small, but small enough to not cause immediate harm,” Morgan explained.

“Shorof is a very strong girl, and it took time for those items to actually cause an effect on her body. Not to mention, this is the Great Forest, where the World Tree lives,” Morgan continued.

She then explained further that, in this place, where the purification effect was the most intense, those people obviously needed to do something about the corrupted mana to not only hide its presence but also keep it as an effective poison that wouldn’t be purified so easily.

“Your Holiness is saying that it's obvious they designed this especially to harm Shorof?” Tashr was in shock, but more so angry. “They… actually dare?!”

After the long war between the pure souls and the Demon Lord, the world was corrupted with filth. Black, ink-like mud was polluting almost everywhere in this world, and even this continent’s land couldn’t be cultivated for a while.

Morgan and other saints spent a hundred years purifying this continent completely. The other four continents in the world and the rest of the islands were still too barren and corrupted for any living being to survive there. Not to mention the oceans.

Of course, these continents wouldn’t be empty either. Demons, or so people called corrupted creatures, still lived there. But they weren’t many, and they lived miserably in the barren land anyway.

The only creatures still freely walking and multiplying on those corrupted lands were the undead and ghouls.

For the rest of millennia, Morgan worked to purify the land and the water, alone, because she was the only one strong enough to do so, and no other Saints were as free as her.

Not to mention, there was still strife and wars among the survivors of the war. Morgan was tireless. She not only ran around purifying the world little by little but also acted as a judge for humans and other creatures, stopping wars and maintaining order.

“Did you know who poisoned your father?” Morgan softly inquired of Burn, who looked cold and rigid ever since the truth about the disease surfaced.

“Caliburn…” Morgan grasped his arm, looking at him worriedly.

Burn shook his head. “I didn’t know it was Mana Poisoning. He suffered secretly for a very long time, and no doctor or physician—no one—could diagnose him. I only found out three months before his last breath, and after that, his condition worsened rapidly.”

Morgan’s eyes shook. “Not even the experienced Elven physician can diagnose Shorof… what can human physicians, who could mostly live a hundred years, know? Did you blame yourself?”

Burn didn’t answer, but his jaw was stiff. He did kill his father to end his suffering, although forcibly.

He was so stubborn—that man.

But now that he knew the origin of the illness, Burn was as angry, or even angrier, than Tashr. He was actually about to ask Morgan about Shorof and why she removed the items from her room later, after this meeting concluded, but now, he regretted not asking her earlier.

When the topic of his father’s death emerged, he decided to reveal it, but he didn’t expect…

Morgan hugged him tighter.

“There’s something… I need to say to everyone here. It’s been long overdue,” Morgan said. She lifted her face to him and said as gently as possible, calming Burn, “I know you want to go and find the culprit as soon as possible now, but can you… can you listen to what I’m about to say first?”

“Yes,” Burn squeezed her upper arm in his embrace. “That is important, but you are the most important thing to me right now.”