Hannas, Pristine Holy Nature

An idea?

No, why was there still an idea?

Hearing the Punitive Knights' second-in-command suddenly say that, Jia Xiu felt a little nervous.

This was going bad.

From the sound of it, were they going to find a way to let Hannas go?

Had he acted too well and moved the Punitive Knights enough for them to show mercy?

Weren't the Punitive Knights supposed to be cold and ruthless, unwavering in their enforcement of Church doctrine?

Using the Punitive Knights to deal with Hannas was the best possible outcome. A baron might count as nobility in Creekwood Town, but he was at the very bottom of the noble hierarchy and definitely wouldn't dare cause trouble for the Church.

If the Church didn't handle him, then Hannas would become Jia Xiu's problem.

At that moment, the captain asked, "What idea? We have oaths and discipline."

The second-in-command replied, "Captain, of course I would not violate our oaths. What I mean is, we can use the Brain Purification Technique to restore him to a state of Pristine Holy Nature. Then we will have completed our mission as well."

After hearing the explanation, the captain nodded repeatedly.

"Reasonable. We'll do that."

Do what?

Jia Xiu was anxious. Pristine Holy Nature sounded like a good term!

The captain looked at Jia Xiu sincerely. "Your friendship toward your friend deserves the protection of holy light. For this reason, the Church of Light has specially devised a method to save those who have strayed into cults."

Jia Xiu really wanted to ask whether they could skip the saving part.

As he spoke, the captain took an extremely slender drill bit from another knight.

It reminded Jia Xiu of some rather unpleasant memories involving dentists.

The captain continued, "Those who stray into cults do so because part of their brains has been influenced by evil gods, causing them to fall into evil. As long as we sever the connection between the portion of the brain contaminated by the evil god and the main part of the brain, the evil god will no longer be able to tempt them into sinking deeper into darkness."

Jia Xiu's brain began to ache in phantom pain.

Was the Church of Light's understanding of salvation just a little different from that of normal people?

Wait.

They were cutting off the part of the brain contaminated by an evil god, and they were using a drill bit.

Could this be a prefrontal lobotomy?

The Nobel Prize's infamous black mark: as long as you turned someone into an idiot, they would no longer go insane.

Weren't they treating cultists like psychiatric patients?

Well, it was kind of similar.

"Rest assured. After purification, your friend will once again become kind, gentle, simple, pure, and calm, entering a state of Pristine Holy Nature."

The Church's understanding of Pristine Holy Nature was also completely beyond Jia Xiu's comprehension.

Immediately afterward, a knight firmly restrained Hannas's head. The captain picked up the drill bit and began drilling inward through the eye socket. Once it was deep enough, he even stirred it around.

That savage scene was far more terrifying than the Cult Cave Escape Jia Xiu had designed.

But curiosity was an essential virtue for every researcher.

So, amid a complicated mix of curiosity, nausea, and fear, Jia Xiu watched the entire operation.

It was hard to say whether the Punitive Knights' skills were truly superb, or whether Hannas was simply too tough to kill.

After having his brain drilled in those conditions, he actually survived.

"The purification was highly successful."

The captain wiped the mixture of blood and brain matter from the drill bit.

"Your friend Hannas has successfully returned to the embrace of holy light. He is pure once more. No need to thank me. It is simply my duty."

Jia Xiu looked at Hannas. His gaze was vacant, his eyes slightly crossed, one corner of his mouth crooked as he mumbled indistinctly, "Awoo, awoo..."

He looked like he was about to say, "Wibble wobble," at any moment.

Come to think of it, it was true.

There wasn't a trace of a cultist's madness left in him.

It was just unclear what use holy light had for something like this returning to its embrace.

The knight second-in-command even healed the limbs he had smashed.

They were surprisingly nice people.

The potion Hannas had consumed was not enough to resist the high-level healing spell used by the Punitive Knights.

Yet even after his arms and legs had healed, Hannas merely stood there blankly, showing absolutely no intention of running away.

His intelligence had probably regressed to below that of a three-year-old, and not a particularly bright one at that. In a sense, he really had returned to his "original state."

The captain said, "You are a good child possessed of holy light's virtues. If you wish to pursue the path of holy light, the Church will always welcome you. Farewell."

Then the Punitive Knights vanished in the glow of teleportation.

Only Jia Xiu and Hannas remained in the empty wilderness.

Jia Xiu looked at the baron's son, who had already become a complete idiot. He folded his hands beneath his chin and began to think.

No matter what, Hannas had survived.

In this age, when even noble wars still observed some degree of etiquette, a living noble was more useful than a dead one.

At the very least, Jia Xiu could get some money out of his father.

But Jia Xiu felt that was not enough.

What other residual value could Hannas provide?

A person with a piece of his brain missing...

After thinking for a moment, Jia Xiu cast Dominate Human Spell on Hannas again.

Sure enough, there was no reaction at all.

A thesis topic!

Dominate Human Spell Defensive Measures: A Charm Resistance Method Based on the Church of Light's Brain Purification Technique

If this topic didn't earn at least three points for innovation, that would be downright unreasonable.

Never mind whether the side effects were serious.

The important thing was that it resisted charm, wasn't it?

As for the fact that no one would probably do this in actual practice.

That was perfectly normal. Not every study had to produce practical value.

Who didn't produce a little academic garbage now and then?

Next, Jia Xiu tested every spell he knew that had even the slightest connection to charm on Hannas.

He confirmed several research topics in a row and even completed the experiments along the way.

If he had somewhere to write, Jia Xiu could have drafted most of the paper too.

Thank you, Mr. Hannas, for your indelible contribution to Jia Xiu's evil sorcerer advancement.

Jia Xiu kept experimenting until dawn began to break.

The baron's son had been gone all night. The lord's manor should have noticed by now and sent people looking for him.

Jia Xiu prepared to return him intact—well, perhaps not quite so intact—and explain what had happened. The Punitive Knights had done it all anyway, and he might even collect a reward.

But there was a small problem. The laboratory's Teleportation Anchor could only transport him alone.

How was he supposed to bring the idiot back?

"Hannas, Hannas! Focus your eyes. Look at me. How did you get here? Did you ride a horse?"

"Huh?"

"A horse. You rode a horse. Where's your horse? Is your horse gone?"

"Huh?"

After trying for ages, Jia Xiu failed to communicate with Hannas.

Jia Xiu sighed helplessly. "Forget it, we'll walk. Good thing I put some points into constitution. Come, follow me. Follow me, walk with me. I'll take you home. Hey, don't turn that way—you walked into a tree!"

Watching Hannas ram headfirst into a tree, Jia Xiu felt somewhat depressed. How had he become unable to walk properly?

But this did not stump him. He still had Plan B...

Around noon, at the lord's manor in Creekwood Town.

The baron paced anxiously around his room.

Although Hannas was not a son he found satisfactory, he was still his son.

He had not returned all night. Something must have happened.

The baron had sent people to search, but there was still no news.

At that moment, the butler hurried in. "My lord, my lord! The young master has been found!"

"How is he? Is he alive?"

"Alive, he's alive."

Though this should have been good news, the butler showed no joy at all.

The baron sensed that something was wrong and asked, "What happened?"

"Uh... it's hard to explain, my lord. You should come see for yourself."

Soon, at the entrance of the lord's manor, the baron saw his second son.

Though he was extremely reluctant to admit that this was his son, it was indeed Hannas.

Quite a few onlookers had gathered nearby. At the center of the crowd stood Jia Xiu, holding a rope whose other end was tied around Hannas's hands.

At that moment, Hannas had a wooden stick tied to his head, with a piece of bread dangling in front of it. He stretched his neck and strained toward the bread, occasionally making sounds of "Abba, abba."

Yet judging from the innocent smile on his face, Hannas, who now knew only to chase after bread, might actually have been "happy."

Not long afterward, the bards of Creekwood Town began singing a heartwarming little tale about an evil sorcerer and the Church's Punitive Knights working together to help a noble recover his innocent happiness...