After a good rest, Grush began to wander around like a headless fly.

What made him feel powerless was that he didn't find anything, not only did he not find anything, but he also wasted a lot of time.

Think about it, and know that if a person commits a crime and is faced with a search of the whole city, how can he commit it again in the same place?

Now that Grush's belongings were all he had, he had only a compass, a sword, and an artifact to change his underwear, and a water bladder and food were the necessary items, without which he would not have survived.

As a holy warrior, he spends all his money on causes related to 'justice', and he is a crazy person who is difficult to communicate with in the eyes of others, so it is rare for a holy warrior to have a descendant by blood, because no one will want to marry a 'holy warrior'.

Relying on an obsession, Grush wandered in the mountains and forests for two or three days, and did not find any clues or traces, which made him feel very depressed and very lucky.

Because once he finds the 'clue', it means that someone else may have suffered, and like the last time he saw the village, it may not be just 'a few people', but 'one village' that has been slaughtered.

With this mixed feeling, he walked back to the village.

He didn't know if the souls of those villagers had entered the River Styx, or if they had been taken by the 'Slayers', but he was going to apologize to them......

Even if no one entrusted him with anything, he didn't owe anything to the villagers, but his heart condemned himself - condemned himself for being so incompetent!

Grush knew that something must be wrong with his psyche, because he had never been so 'kind' before, and now he would even condemn himself for not helping others, so he felt that something must be wrong with him.

Most likely, it was the power given to him by His Majesty Karl, and in addition, it was the 'artifact' [Principle of Justice] that had an impact on him.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have become like this.

'There is a crack in my heart!' Grush himself sensed that now his will was not as strong as before, and now he seemed to be assimilating little by little by the concept of 'justice'.

'It's not what I want......

What Grush wants is not 'pure justice', but 'justice' - all he has always wanted to pursue is 'justice', but now he has stood on two seemingly one, but in fact divergent paths, if he keeps going, sooner or later he will need to make a choice again.

To give 'justice' or to give 'justice'?

If it was before, Grush would not hesitate to choose the latter, but now, faced with these two choices, he has begun to hesitate.

With heart-wrenching self-blame and painful choices, Grush returned to the burned village once again, and this time, he was surprised to find that someone seemed to have been there before.

Not just 'one or two', most likely 'an army'!

Treading on the wet ground with a heavy weight, messy footprints and horseshoe prints were laid out in front of Grush, and near the entrance to the village, he also saw a few ruts, probably adventurers or merchants, but more likely an army.

Has the army come?

In other words, the royal army may already know about the situation here?

At this moment, Grushh couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, because he was only one person, no matter how powerful he was now, he was just one person, but if the army knew about the situation here, even if it was just for show, they would send someone to investigate.

Compared to him, maybe those who came to investigate didn't pay much attention to it, but there were many of them, and maybe they could find some clues that he hadn't noticed.

Grush put the 'artifact' in his arms, padded it under his breastplate, carried his long sword behind his waist, held the hilt of the sword with his left hand, and slowly walked into the village, which had been burned to ruins.

In the village, he found more traces of rummaging, which also made him feel more at ease.

No matter how lax the army was, they must have noticed that the 'corpses' were gone, and as long as they did, then the rest would have been easier.

The dry wind blew up the ashes on the ground, and a gust of wind blew in his face, and Grush couldn't help but sneeze, "Ah...... Ahh

Grush sniffed, feeling the discomfort in his nasal cavity disappear with the sneeze, and now all that was left was 'patency'.

Looking at the ashes all over the ground, Grush's originally relaxed mood suddenly became heavy again.

The killer is unknown, and even how the murderer killed these innocent villagers is unknown...... He shouldn't have been so relaxed!

Putting all your expectations in someone else's hands is not something a paladin would do.

Grush took a deep breath, and then, he couldn't help but cough twice, and the dust and ashes in the wind tried to pass through the trachea, but were repelled by the human instinct.

He walked to the edge of the well, looked at the charred houses around him, and sighed, his eyes full of indescribable sadness.

The paladin, who was in search of justice, knelt down on one knee and closed his eyes in silence praying for the dead villagers—for there was nothing he could do for them otherwise.

'May you—'

At this point, Grush froze, and the rest of his prayers were choked in his heart by 'a doubt'.

Even the corpses are gone, so what about their souls?

As a former paladin, and now a paladin, Grush knew from books and the words of the elders about the existence of 'cultists' and 'necromancers', and that those damned 'evil' would sacrifice their souls to evil gods or use themselves in magical experiments, and now he was very suspicious that they might have done it.

Thinking of this possibility, Grush couldn't contain the anger burning in his chest.

Bang!

"Damn it!"

Grush's eyes opened in anger and slammed his fist to the ground, now that he was too distraught to continue praying for the dead villagers.

Then he closed his eyes again and took a few deep breaths, but choked on the dust and ashes kicked up by his fist, and coughed violently.

"Ahem!"

Grush stood up and opened his eyes, looking at the bloodstained ground with sorrow.

Why is there a war? Why is this happening?

It wasn't the first time he had thought about it, but every time he couldn't get an answer that satisfied him.

His gaze slid from the ground to the collapsed house next to him, and Grush's anger could not be vented, and he could only sigh deeply......

"Alas...... Huh?"

Grush blinked, crouched down again, and picked up what looked like a small stone from the ground.

But it doesn't seem to be a stone......

About half the length of his index finger, a little narrower than his two fingers together, charred yellow throughout, but slightly white, one end uneven, slightly curved, and the other end ...... But it's broken!

This is......

Grush's eyes widened, and he exclaimed, "Bones!"

Although he didn't know which part of his body it was, why was there a 'bone' here?

Grush's heart pounded at the sight of the bone, and he lowered his head to the ground and the ashes that he had been ignoring.

'If there's one piece, isn't there more?'

The paladin's heart suddenly sounded with such a voice.

He looked at the ashes and the floating earth, and suddenly fell to his knees, rummaging through the ground despite the dirt......

"Six ......"

Grush sat on the ground, staring blankly at the sky.

He rummaged through the ashes and eventually found six bones.

That is, the corpses in this village did not 'disappear'!

It's all here!

The 'corpses' were beneath him - these 'ashes' were the 'bones' of the dead villagers!