After the Pure White Saintess left, Iver immediately headed for the Eleventh Ring, preparing to apologize for the Night Demon's reckless act and do his best to mitigate its effects.
But even though Iver rushed over at the first opportunity, he still arrived far too late.
"Still... one step too late."
Iver muttered to himself.
It wasn't that anyone had gotten hurt.
—It was that everyone had already recovered.
Everyone looked perfectly normal. There was no way to tell who had been injured.
But perhaps because the Pure White Saintess had mentioned the matter beforehand, the elven priests immediately understood why Iver had come and took the initiative to gather around him.
As expected, everyone was very gentle—no one made things difficult for Iver. Quite a few elves even smiled and comforted him, showing off their skin, which had returned to its original spotless state. Although quite a number of them belonged to Controlled Fire, their attitudes were also very good.
When it came to Cardinal Loki's death, at least among the elves of the Eleventh Ring who had been affected by Iver, not a single person tried to hold him accountable.
Instead, some members of Controlled Fire felt so guilty that they wanted to apologize for Loki's attack on Iver... even though the matter had nothing to do with them at all.
Their purpose was to clear Controlled Fire's reputation—or, to put it more precisely, to distance themselves from Loki.
As a result, Iver's prepared condolence gifts never made it out. Instead, he received another batch of gifts.
Most of them were expensive snacks and candies, along with local specialties from various countries... Iver had no idea who had taught the elves this habit. The elves now seemed accustomed to expressing friendship and apologies through gift-giving, probably because they