The girl glanced at the eye growing on that specific part of her chest and said calmly, "If only one remains, I just need to purify the new eyes that sprout periodically. It won't affect my daily life anymore."
"No! Like this, it makes it hard for me to... enjoy the view," Eros rejected her flatly.
"Let me think, is there any other way to drive out the contamination?" Eros rubbed his chin, falling into thought.
The girl looked up at him, her voice chillingly calm. "You want to maintain that kind of relationship with me?"
"Is that a problem?" Eros countered.
"It is acceptable," she replied succinctly.
"Exactly! So, if only for my own sake, I have to get rid of that eye for you." Eros gave a wry smile.
The girl fell silent for a moment before speaking again. "I believe I only had a slight favorable impression of you before, and I attended that gathering on an impulse. Even though I gave myself to you then, I didn't actually have much feeling for you afterward."
"But today, at my most desperate, my most terrified, when I was on the brink of death... you suddenly appeared and saved me. Do you know? In that moment, I saw the light."
Eros gave a dry cough, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Hearing you say these things in such a calm tone feels really strange!"
The girl continued in her flat voice, "Should I drop the Mad Doctor’s Scalpel to say it? If I did, I suspect I wouldn't be able to get the words out."
"No, no! I get what you mean," Eros waved his hand.
After saying this, Eros reached out and poked the eyeball to change the subject. "Can you feel it?"
The girl shook her head. "No."
"Alright then!" Eros used his power to grow a vine with a sharp thorn. He snapped the thorn off and drove it directly into his own wrist. Then, he took the thorn, now soaked in his own blood, and plunged it forcefully into the eye.
The eye let out a shrill, agonizing shriek. Seeing it work, Eros sliced open his healing wound, letting his blood flow down the thorn and into the eye. The screams grew even more piercing, but Eros ignored them.
Under the nourishment of his blood, the eye grew smaller and smaller until it finally vanished. In its place, a tattoo of a massive tree appeared on her skin.
Eros let out a sigh of relief. He had wanted to see if he could use his own blood to "counter-contaminate" the eye. He hadn't been certain it would work, as he'd never tried it before, but fortunately, he succeeded. The tree pattern was the result of the eye being corrupted by his blood.
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The contamination within the girl's body was still there, but it had shifted from uncontrollable to controllable—specifically, controlled by him.
"It’s settled. Now, let me heal you."
The girl glanced at the tree tattoo on her chest and gave a soft affirmative. With the most troublesome contamination resolved, healing her physical wounds was child's play for a "healer" like him.
Soon, her injuries were completely restored. Thanks to the purification light of The Brilliant Sun, she was no longer the dirty, disheveled mess she had been. Her exquisite features and fair skin were fully revealed to Eros.
The girl looked at her tattered, hole-ridden clothes on the ground. "Can you give me something to wear?"
Eros unzipped his outer coat and handed it over. She took it and put it on. She was slightly taller than Marie; the same coat that reached Marie’s shins only came down to her knees.
Once she was fully covered, the girl let go of the scalpel.
In an instant, her face turned a fiery red. She didn't dare look at Eros, her hands twisting the hem of the coat as she stammered, unable to form a sentence. If there were a crack in the ground, she would have dived into it within a ten-thousandth of a second.
God! What did I just say? How did I let all that out? Help me!!!
Fortunately, Eros didn't bring it up, which allowed her to breathe a secret sigh of relief. However, the thought that he had seen her completely naked again still filled her with overwhelming shyness.
"Alright, we should head out. You can tell us what exactly you've been through these past few days."
Hearing this, the girl’s eyes dimmed slightly, and she nodded. After gathering her belongings from her old clothes, she gripped the hem of Eros’s shirt tightly and followed him out of the hut.
Outside, the girls had been waiting for quite some time. Hearing movement at the door, they immediately turned their attention toward it.
They saw a petite girl with golden twin-tails, looking timid and shy as she emerged behind Eros. Seeing their gazes, Eros pointed to her and introduced, "Doreen Illya Milan."
Doreen stepped out from behind Eros, gave a slight curtsy as if holding an invisible skirt, and introduced herself in a soft, fearful voice: "Hello... I am Doreen Illya Milan."
After speaking, she immediately hid behind Eros again, peeking out with only the top of her head.
The name "Milan" was one everyone present had heard of, and "Illya" was even more famous. They hadn't expected this girl to be the daughter of the Imperial Marshal. Though that was a military rank in the civilized world and unrelated to the mystical world, they still lived in civilization, after all.
Only Undine spoke up with a suspicious expression. "How do you know her name?"
Eros glanced at Undine huffily. "We were in there for so long; is it strange to exchange names?"
Undine paused. Oh, right.
Ignoring Undine, Eros coughed and quickly shifted the topic. "Let's hear what Doreen has been through. It might help us with the rest of our assessment."
Undine bit her lip. She had actually wanted to ask why Doreen had hugged Eros and cried the moment she saw him. But since Eros was talking about serious business, she couldn't well interrupt with something others would deem trivial.
The group formed a circle, ready to listen to Doreen’s account. When Doreen had said everyone was dead and she was the only one left in her class, they had been shocked. Though they knew the Sin Realm was dangerous, the fact that they hadn't encountered many spirits over the past few days had misled them.
They had assumed this assessment was easier than the previous one at Mount Martigordon. But after hearing Doreen’s words, they were suddenly jolted awake.
It wasn't that this assessment was easier; it was that their "luck" had been exceptionally good, and they hadn't encountered any real danger—until now.