Chapter 277: Ch 276: You failed the task

Iris’s confession was not surprising for Kael. He could tell that she liked him from her behavior. But he had not expected her to say anything about it throughout her life.

After all, she was not bold like Lyra, and she also had a lot of responsibility.

So hearing her say these words to an unconscious man startled him. But at the same time, he felt a little flattered.

’Should I pretend I am waking up now? No, I should give it a few more seconds so that Iris has no indication that I heard her confession.’

That was what Kael decided as he settled down and closed his eyes. But before he knew it, he fell asleep for real.

He only woke up once the sun had gone down, and Iris was lying on the couch in his room, fast asleep.

Kael stretched his body and quickly checked on his house. He did not find anything odd at first, which reassured him, but then he felt a sudden sharp pain in the back of his head, which made him look to the side.

He faced the wall, but he could feel the sensation coming from beyond it.

"What is-"

[An error has occurred! Contractor Kael has failed his mission.]

[Mission: Turning the calamities into yanderes by maxing their affection meter.]

[Current result: Calamity Seraphina has been affected by the status- corruption.]

[Current state of contamination: 3%]

These words made the blood drain from Kael’s face, and he felt unsteady on his feet.

"What the hell-"

He tried to speak, but the memories of what happened and the corruption’s confession slammed into him with full force, making Kael want to grab himself and shake his head.

"I don’t think this was supposed to happen..."

He complained, but no one replied to him. Instead, he needed to know what to do about it. First, he needed to know whether this corruption was temporary or rooted deep.

And to do that, he needed to visit Seraphina’s room.

He reached for his door handle, only to feel a sudden wave of dizziness.

"What is..."

/My dear follower, are you going to try and drive me out of the Saintess? If you are thinking of doing this, then you might as well not try. I am integrated too deeply into her consciousness that it would kill her to remove me./

The corruption told Kael, but he was not sure he could believe its words.

His instincts told him that the corruption was not lying, but it was a creature filled with deceit and manipulation. How could he believe the words of such an entity that he could not even trust...

/You are breaking my heart. I have no intention of hiding anything from my faithful companion like you. But what can I do to make you understand this?/

The corruption asked, and Kael did not speak to it. He had no intention of saying anything unnecessary, which made the corruption look amused and annoyed at the same time.

/If you think you can rely on the world magic and get rid of me, then I would have to call you an even bigger fool than you already are. Why don’t you ask that logical head of yours and come to a conclusion? Besides, having me around might not be as bad as you think./

Kael ignored the corruption as it kept trying to entice him.

/I mean, just think about it. All those annoying people who look down on you or cause you worry, I can take them out instantly whenever you want me to. All you have to do is command me./

The corruption was making a lot of promises right now, and the worst thing was that they might even work on Kael’s current state of mind. He truly did want to get rid of those annoying people if possible.

But at the same time, he did not know whether he could risk such a thing or not...

/It’s up to you. I won’t try to trick you. After all, you are my precious follower. You should already know what you mean to me./

The corruption fell quiet after those words, and Kael took a deep breath.

He knew that the corruption saw him as precious, but that did not help him. The corruption was too unpredictable to make an ally of.

"For now, I need to check on Seraphina and make sure she is alright. I will think about everything else later."

Kael opened Seraphina’s door, and he instantly felt Leon rushing toward him in order to take him out.

"It’s fine, Leon. I am not here to attack you or take advantage of Seraphina. I just need to check up on her."

Kael assured him as he turned the light source on so that Leon could see him.

It made Leon blink at him, and he went back to sit beside Seraphina’s unconscious body. But his eyes were not tender. They were filled with suspicion when he looked at Seraphina.

"What are you doing here? I don’t think you should be anywhere near Seraphina right now. Somehow, she got corrupted-"

"I know. And I know the reason why she got corrupted as well. But it might not be too late to save her."

After all, Seraphina’s affection meter was about to hit 100%. And as long as it hit 100%, the world magic would protect her like it did the others, right? There was no need for Kael to panic.

"You know how to take care of her? I don’t think you realize how tough dealing with corruption like this is. Even we have never seen anything like this before. To think that the corruption can even corrupt the Saintess..."

Leon looked a little lost, but it was because he did not know the truth about Seraphina being a fragment of the corruption’s progenitor. Nor did Kael want to tell him this.

"It will be fine. For now, let’s treat Seraphina like we always do. The more we stress her, the worse her condition will get-"

"I would rather kill her and get it over with. But I guess you won’t agree to it?"

Leon asked before he sighed in regret and agreed to Kael’s terms.

"Fine, you win! I will let Seraphina go tomorrow. But only after I properly seal her powers."