Seeing the frozen scene, Jenerba finally regained composure.

“As expected, you recognize this at once, right? Hmm. Does that mean you’ve heard about the Dae Sinjeon incident and the incident with Empress Lysa of Esteria?”

Jenerba playfully tilted the vial from side to side, looking around.

“What if I pour this into a well? What if I pour it into a river?”

“You bastard. Do you take human lives lightly?”

“Or maybe I should give a drop to the guy known as the strongest sword in the empire. Curious to see what happens. He’s called the strongest in the empire, but can he handle this?”

I bit my lower lip forcefully. The scent of blood lingered, but the wounds were promptly healed.

“People died because of you.”

Jenerba tilted his head, seemingly unable to comprehend.

“Is that my fault?”

“…What?”

“I tried to save this world. It’s not like I wanted to kill them out of hatred. All the experiments I conducted were unavoidable necessities.”

Already having rationalized it, Jenerba’s face showed no trace of remorse.

“You lunatic.”

“Ha. Empress, you don’t understand.”

Jenerba sighed and then provided an example.

“Empress, it’s convenient for me to just pour this everywhere in the empire. I just need to find the survivors. But do you know why I haven’t done that?”

“How would I know the mind of a mad murderer?”

“That would be indiscriminate killing, not an experiment. That would be a massacre!”

Jenerba shouted, asserting his justification.

“I don’t want to commit a massacre! I’m an alchemist who wants to save everyone! I want to prevent the destruction of this world!”

Jenerba blinked his eyes. He then burst into laughter.

“It’s okay if you don’t understand. It’s okay if everyone curses me. Because I just want to save more people out of a benevolent heart.”

“You lunatic.”

“Even if everyone curses me now, if I really save this world later, everyone will understand my sincerity then.”

Disgusting laughter spread through the sky.

“You’re not a savior creating another destruction to prevent the destruction of this world.”

Jenerba closed his mouth firmly.

“…Even if you’re not a saint, Empress… You’re really… a subject I would love to experiment on. I’m curious if that pretty face will be dyed with despair or if it will endure. I’m so curious.”

At that moment, the sound of approaching footsteps echoed on the ground. It was clear that the security force was rushing over.

One of Jenerba’s followers, who had been listening to the footsteps with his ear to the ground, whispered to him.

Jenerba looked around and then shrugged, getting onto the carriage.
“There was no particular gain, so I’ll leave now.”

When Jenerba gestured to leave, the assassin, who had been facing off with Clint, stepped back and quickly mounted a horse at his command.

Although the assassin had blood flowing from various parts of his body, he wasn’t dead. All the surviving followers mounted their horses.

“Where to?”

Muttering, Clint sliced the legs of the horses that the followers had mounted, not cutting too deep. As the wounded horse swayed or hesitated in place, the followers on top fell off.

“Is this really going to be poured into a well or river?”

Watching the scene, Jenerba shook the vial.

“If poured into a river or well, everyone won’t be able to drink water and will die of thirst. Shall we experiment on how many people will die?”

Jenerba glanced at the followers who had fallen below with a chilling gaze.

Then they suddenly drew their swords. Mercilessly, they ruthlessly pierced the chests of their fallen comrades, who were already bleeding from Clint’s sword, and simultaneously took their own lives with the bloodied swords.

“What…!!”

Trying to urgently intervene in the brutal murders happening right in front, it was already too late.

They stabbed their fallen comrades several times and then, with the blood-stained swords, all took their own lives simultaneously.

Watching this, Jenerba chuckled softly.

“If there’s anyone alive, they might betray us.”

“…Even like this, even like this, do you still want to prevent the destruction of this world?”

“These sacrifices are for a great cause.”

Jenerba, who finished speaking, moved. The carriage he rode and the horses escorting him moved at the same time. They fled in the opposite direction from where the security forces were coming.

“Empress, what should we do? If you order, we will chase them immediately.”

“That’s a village over there. It might cause casualties if we chase them for no reason.”

“But if we let them go like this…”

“Don’t worry. They’ll probably come back on their own feet.”

“What?”

I clenched my fist, watching the retreating carriage.

“I suspect they found out about me being a saint. That’s why I revealed myself.”

“Isn’t this even more dangerous?”

“Is there anything more dangerous than that guy?”

“…”

“If I throw them bait, they’ll reveal themselves again on the surface. That’s probably my last resort.”