The revelation hit everyone like a bull. For a whole year, they blamed the creature in the cave for the abductions. But now, a child said otherwise. But since the one who said it was a God’s Favored. And with the hymns, the halo, the warmth…they couldn’t dare to ignore.

“What?!” Leeland exclaimed in utter disbelief. He was the chief lawman. How could he not notice something like this, he wondered. But the last few words from Sylvester rang some alarms in his head.

“How did you conclude that the culprit has a missing thumb?” He asked.

Sylvester gestured for them to follow. He took them to a marking he made in the mud. “Look here, whoever abducted the girl, fell and helped himself with his hands. It’s raining, so the mud clearly shows us the fingers. Going by the markings of the boots, it’s a male… unless there is a giant woman in the town.”

Leeland believed him and had a name in his head ready. “Thumbless? T-That’s… Ratwood family!”

Chief Marigold was enraged. “I will fucking kill them!”

Sir Dolorem took control of the situation. “Do not! We need to retrieve the child first. Punishing them comes later. Master Maximilian and I shall go to their house in the guise of purifying homes in the entire village. We will apprehend them once we have confirmation of your granddaughter’s whereabouts.”

“P-Please be quick… my little Felicia must be sacred!” Marigold pleaded.

Sylvester quickly cleaned his face with the rainwater to appear decent. Then, he and Sir Dolorem didn’t waste a minute and went to the instructed house. Their destination was on the outskirts of the poorest part of the town. It was a twin-story house made of mud bricks and looked unmaintained.

“Sir Dolorem, you do the talking. Tell them I’m God’s Favored, sent here to purify the town. I will stay silent and use light magic to act like I’m blessing them.” He suggested and started chanting random hymns under his breath to make the halo appear. He also used his right palm to throw some light around.

Knock! Knock!

Sir Dolorem roughly punched the doors twice. “Open the gate and receive the grace of God’s Favored.”

The door was soon opened by an unkempt man, middle-aged at best. He was balding and had a large belly and equally big face. He seemed annoyed, but his eyes widened when Sylvester entered his vision.

Sir Dolorem pushed the man aside. “Move, by the order of the Holy Land. We must purify this town. God’s Favored, please come this way.”

“Stop! I did not allow you!” The man rushed behind them and tried to hold Sylvester’s shoulder.

BAM!—That was a sin in Sir Dolorem’s eyes. He turned around and slapped the man with his gauntlet-clad hand. “How dare you lay your hands on the favored one!”

“I-I apologize… oh holy one…”

Sylvester silently walked around the house and looked at all the details carefully. He wondered what the hell this family was doing with so many kidnappings. ‘There must be a hidden space here.’

He knew a better way to find out where the secret entrance was. “Sir Dolorem, please bring the man in so he may receive my blessing.”

With that, the fat man stood nervously in front of Sylvester, drowning in the warm light magic.

Sylvester kept looking into the man’s eyes while chanting silently. ‘Look, dammit.’

O’ Lord Solis, sinners walk among us.

Hear this prayer amidst the stormy ruckus.

Forgive this man if he sinned,

Let the foul air here wash with wind…?

‘Yes!’ As soon as Sylvester noticed the man looking at the carpet in the next room multiple times, he knew where to go.

Continuing his singing, he walked to the next room and stood on the carpet with closed eyes. “Ah, Solis tells me your cellar needs the warmth of the light.”

“W-What? There is no cellar in this house.”

But Sylvester simply threw away the carpet, revealing a trapdoor on the floor. “Solis does not lie.”

“Sir Dolorem, please open it.”

“Stop!” the man shouted and tried to stop Sir Dolorem.

But a mere commoner was no match for a knight. The laws of the world were written in stones; for those with no wizard or knight talent, there was only frailty.

“Dare not touch me, filth!” Sir Dolorem punched the man in the face and forced the door open.

However, they were not ready for what came next—Woosh!

A gust of strong wind blew out of the cellar. It was nothing but vomit-inducing stench, a stench that both Sylvester and Sir Dolorem were well aware of.

They didn’t even feel like gulping their saliva as the stench wished to pull their guts out.

“Rotten flesh!” Sylvester muttered and walked down the steep stairs into the cellar. There was no light inside, so he helped himself.

“Die! Filthy religious scums!”

From the shadows, a big woman jumped on him with a sickle in hand. But Sylvester reacted in time and sent a ball of fire to her face. The moment the woman cried in pain, he rushed over, kicked her giant belly, and sent her to the floor.

“Sir Dolorem! Apprehend the man and call the others!” He shouted while tying the woman’s arms behind her back.

“Felicia! Where are you?!” He called for the girl next.

Cough!—The cellar appeared larger than the house itself and had many rooms. The stench was unbearable and kept getting worse.

He checked each room with one hand shining in the light and the other ready to send out the fire. The first one he found had bones upon bones, a hill of them. The second room had human limbs and blood all over, from arms and legs to whole intact heads.

‘Cannibals?’ He wondered.

“Mama!”

Sylvester ran towards the voice. But his mind was confused, for the voice resembled a man more than a little girl.

“Felicia!” He shouted.

He ran until the end of the long corridor and reached the last room. This one had the most stench coming. There was blood everywhere on the floor, looking like hell on earth.

At one glance, he noticed a man… a naked man so big that his arms and legs were covered in fat, appearing to be one with the rest of the body except his little hand. He had no neck either, making him look like one big blob.

“What monstrosity is this?”

“Mama, hungry.” the creature spoke while nibbling on what appeared to be someone’s severed thigh. Blood spread around with his bites, leaving Sylvester’s mind numb.

The scene was scalp tingling. He had never seen such a scene in his past life either. “Where is Felicia?”

But the creature kept eating. So Sylvester entered the room despite being on the verge of vomiting. He looked around at the piles of human body parts—flesh intact.

“Agh! This stench… did you find her, Mast—What is this?!” Sir Dolorem arrived.

“We shall talk about it later. I can’t find the girl. Look in other rooms.” Sylvester rushed, fearing for the worse.

But not long after, Sylvester found her in another room. “Sir Dolorem! Here!”

He rushed in and found the ten-year-old girl tired to a table, her legs and arms apart, raimentless. There was a strap on her mouth, and her eyes looked sore from all the tears she must have shed. She wanted to shout and call for help when someone called her name, but she couldn’t.

Sylvester rushed to her and took the strap off her mouth. “It’s okay. We’re here to save you.”

She didn’t speak or shout or even squeak. Instead, she simply started crying uncontrollably as Sylvester untied her body and put his red shoulder cape on her. He noticed the various tools in the room and reckoned. ‘They were about to chop her into pieces.’

“Sir Dolorem, please pick her up. I don’t think anyone would be able to stand on their own after such an experience.”

As they walked out, Sylvester thought about burning the place down. He was more annoyed than angry, but he stopped because the trial was yet to be conducted.

In no time, they got out of the cellar and found the small crowd. None had dared to enter due to the stench, while others stopped Marigold. The man and woman, called Ratwood couples, were hauled and locked in the town’s prison.

Sir Dolorem handed the girl to the man.

“Felicia!” Chief Marigold hugged her in his arms and cried tears of joy. The girl also hugged his neck tight and finally cried with some sound.

For Sylvester, things were still half done. “I need some help down there. But those with faint hearts must not come there.”

So he took the two examiners, Leeland, his team, and a dozen others. Ultimately, they all end up vomiting their guts out at each step. Some had to be carried back outside. It was understandable as not all see such brutality in their lives. For Sir Dolorem, it was not too rare as he was an Inquisitor, and for Sylvester, he had the experience of two lives.

It took them 4 hours to get the fat human out of the cellar. First, they had to destroy the various doors and the cellar entrance to get him out. Not to mention, it wasn’t easy because it kept crying for mama and kicking around with what was left of its arms and legs.

Slowly, the entire town of three thousand had woken up and gathered at the town’s square. The word had gradually spread that the town’s demon turned out to be a mere family. 𝒃𝒆𝒐𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝙘𝙤𝒎

Sylvester waited until Chief Marigold returned after putting his granddaughter to sleep. But he also had serious thoughts about his mission. ‘If this family haunted the town… then what’s in the mine cave? Do I have to go there? Isn’t my mission over with this?’

“I am forever indebted to you, holy son of Solis.” Chief Marigold appeared and knelt before Sylvester.

“Please, you disrespect me by kneeling. I am just a servant of Solis, and I must help those who keep faith in the Lord’s light.”

“Surely, if not you, then who can be so humble.” The man stood up and looked at the Ratwood family. “But what monstrosity is this?”

“Let’s find out.” Sylvester walked up to the man and woman in chains. “Speak, or face the wrath of Solis.”

Being overwhelmed by the crowd, the man named Connor Ratwood spoke in stutters. “W-We are not sinners, my lord. We just… we were helpless. Our son refused to eat after he turned five… he was d-dying. But then he ate my thumb in my sleep.

“M-My son… my sweet little Gibby, he can only eat human flesh. I did no wrong, for I merely wished to feed my child. I fed him my chest, my wife’s breast, my stomach, and even my back. But we were just two providers.”

The woman, Normani Ratwood, cried. “Y-Yes, my lord! We love our son dearly. Even the church tells us to take care of our children.”

Sylvester raised his palm, gesturing for them to shut up. He looked at the so-called ‘little’ Gibby that turned into a four hundred kilo fat monster by eating human flesh for years. The whole family was mentally ill. That was clear.

“You two disgust me… all of us. Your child deserved to be put to death when he thirsted for human flesh. Yet you indulged him by taking away someone’s wife, mother, father, or child.” Sylvester looked at Chief Marigold. “They are yours to punish.”

Chief Marigold shook with his head held in a bow. “My Lord, you are the blessed bard. You are the supreme judge among us. You unearthed the demons, and you should be the one to punish them.”

Sylvester took a glance at Sir Dolorem and got approval with a nod. He didn’t wish to do anything that’d end up hurting his image, so the approval was appreciated.

‘These three killed hundreds of people in fifteen years. There is no forgiveness for such acts, so let’s go by Church laws.’

He looked around and addressed the crowd with no hymns or spectacles. “There is love and warmth in the embrace of Solis. But our world is governed by certain laws that make us civilized. Once you break these laws, you are no longer a believer and become a sinner—heathen!. And for sinners, there is one punishment.”

He glanced at the sky for a few seconds. The rain was coming to a halt, and the clouds thinned out slowly. Then he looked at the three sick creatures, catching the hint of fear in their eyes clear.

“Gather the stakes—Burn them!”

___________________

I EAT STONE! YOU GIVE STONE?

**501 Stones = Bonus Chapter!**

APE TOGETHER STRONG!