The bishop fell backward with the impact. The werewolf statue fell from their small hand, and the shattered mask hit the ground.
Rock stood there with her fist out for a long while.
As an amateur fighter, she thought that pose better prepared her to get another hit in. But anyone looking would only see it as her frozen in place.
Meanwhile, the bishop who was struck by Rock’s weak punch didn’t move either.
They showed no signs of getting up from where they laid flat on their back. They neither moaned nor cursed her. Rather, the lack of movement made her worry they’d stopped breathing.
Eventually, she was concerned enough to check, so she cautiously approached them while keeping her fist out.
The face she saw was as strikingly young as the voice.
“What…? This child was behind it all?”
She could tell he was an innocent little boy even with his eyes pressed shut. He looked around ten years old, had light-brown hair, a round face, and freckled cheeks. He didn’t look like a villain or someone capable of leading a cult.
His cheek was swollen, but he was still breathing. Rock didn’t think her punch was strong enough to knock him unconscious, but he didn’t move even while she was closely staring at his face.
“Roxy, are you all right?” Ebel called, his hands still full with keeping Placido pinned.
“Yes,” Rock responded, just as Lauretta suddenly started screaming like someone who’d just woken up from a trance.
“What…what was I about to do— Noooooooooooooo!”
Apparently, she’d regained her senses. She tightly hugged her shoulders and started shaking on the ground from her overwhelming fear.
“I-I was just about to become a werewolf too! About to give my body and soul over to that…that curse! I was trying to gain power to kill people! But I n-never wanted that!”
“Auntie, calm down, please!” Rock raced over to her aunt and pulled her to her chest to stop her shaking. “You were being controlled. You know that, right? You didn’t do anything bad, right?”
Lauretta clung to Rock too.
“No, no! I wasn’t trying to! I never wanted to kill anyone!”
“I know that, Auntie! I do! So please don’t beat yourself up!”
“But even if I escaped the curse, my husband…!” Lauretta’s quivering voice caught in her throat.
Her gaze went to her werewolf husband being held to the ground by two other werewolves.
Placido also seemed to be in the middle of waking up from a nightmare. He slowly raised his head, his golden eyes shimmering when he returned his wife’s gaze.
He said he’d willingly offered himself up to the curse for his wife. And he’d used and abused that power in whatever way necessary to satisfy his desire to ease his wife’s broken heart.
So how did they both feel now that they had regained their sanity?
“Lauretta…”
The werewolf’s big mouth moved to quietly utter that name.
Ebel and Guido slowly let go and backed away. Placido rose to his feet and plodded toward his wife.
Borrowing Rock’s hand, Lauretta barely managed to stand and hobble toward her husband.
Husband and wife embraced in the middle of the devastated sanctuary hall, as if magnetically drawn to each other. Lauretta instantly broke down and began quietly crying into her husband’s furry chest.
“I’m so sorry, darling…! There was no need for you to get cursed, but you ended up with this body because of me…!”
Placido supported his wife in his arms and answered her feebly. “It’s not your fault. Please don’t let it hurt you so deeply.”
“But—”
“Besides, there’s someone else we have to apologize to first. Don’t you think so, too?” After saying that in a persuasive voice, Placido turned toward Rock. His triangular ears fell flat against his head as he addressed her. “We’ve done something we can never apologize enough to you for, Roxy. I’m truly sorry to have frightened you.”
Rock naturally struggled with how to word her response.
She was undeniably angered by his actions. But she didn’t have it in her to denounce the couple when she witnessed firsthand how they weren’t entirely in control of themselves when it happened.
“…I’m glad you’re back to yourselves,” she finally managed to squeeze out.
Placido deeply bowed his head to her. “We will do anything to atone for our actions.”
“You don’t have to do that…”
Rock honestly didn’t know how to respond. She had mixed emotions because she had lost a target to direct her anger toward.
Well, there was still someone who fit the bill—the person who manipulated the Alexises and led the Brotherhood sect located in these ruins. He was the main culprit behind it all.
But the boy bishop had yet to regain consciousness.
Ebel and Guido approached him in turns, bending their enormous werewolf bodies to get a good look at his adolescent face. Neither of them seemed convinced he could be the ringleader.
“What’s with the boy? Why’s he here?” Ebel asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Guido responded. “But it’s a fact he came into the room wielding a werewolf statue.”
“Then he’s a member of the Brotherhood? This small child?”
“Don’t ask me, Ebel. I want to know as badly as you do.”
“Everyone here called that child the bishop,” Rock interjected into their conversation.
“This little punk is?!” Guido was so shocked, his tail shot up in alarm. “You must be kidding, tailor! How could a prepubescent child lead a cult?”
“I have a hard time believing it too. But he seemed to be respected by everyone here, and he spoke with confidence.”
While he sounded confident, his tone was still childish, as if he was reciting a script he was made to memorize by some adult.
Rock was suddenly worried that he might not remember a thing after he woke up, now that his mask was broken.
“If you don’t believe it, let’s just ask the boy himself.” Ebel quickly accepted reality and told Guido what to do next. “Let’s take him back alive as discussed. Guido, carry him.”
“Fine. I’ll make him cough up every last detail when he wakes up.”
Guido accepted the situation and gently scooped up the boy clad in a blue robe.
The boy still didn’t wake up. His expression was peaceful, as if he was just in a deep slumber.
“The kid doesn’t even know how easy he has it…”
Ebel offered Rock his hand as she muttered to herself.
“We should get moving too, Roxy. Your father should be back soon.”
“I’m sure he will be. I hope he found Krister.”
Rock nodded and took hold of his big, furry hand. As soon as she did, Ebel pulled her to him and easily lifted her into his arms.
“I-I can walk on my own, thank you!”
Ebel’s tail swished in response to her panic.
“We’ve finally reunited. I don’t want to be apart from you for even a second.”
“W-Well…when you put it like that…”