Trash of the Count's Family - TCF Part 2 - Chapter 62

The pope looked very happy as she talked about the statue and the plan to erect more statues in all the areas the Purifier had purified. She joyfully laughed, and Cale was silent before changing the topic, asking about the state of the capital. But the pope received a call, and Cale said that they should take a break. The pope praised the Purifier for prioritizing the safety of the capital over his statues.
She laughed out loud again, and Cale was puzzled with her actions and also felt uneasy. The pope excused herself to answer the call, and after she left, Cale covered his face with both hands. He heard Sui laughing, and asked them with a chilly voice on what happened. Only CH flinched at his question as Eruhaben said that he had something to ask Cale first.
They were currently in the secret hideout of the church. Eruhaben asked why it took Cale an entire day. The monsters Cale had taken care of were in the forms of a crocodile, a bird, and a lion. CH also had the same question as Eruhaben. Cale scratched his head, feeling confused on how to explain it. The three kids proudly exclaimed that they did not let Cale overdo it. In fact, Cale even rested in between.
Eruhaben was in disbelief that Cale really took a break. Cale frowned and nodded that he did, saying that he had other reasons too. As he was about to explain the reason, the pope came back and said that Olivia wanted to meet the Purifier and his group.
***
At a secret meeting room in the palace, Olivia declared to everyone that she would take over the throne. Cale congratulated her, and she had a bitter smile. The thought of ruling the empire seemed to choke her, but someone had to fix this mess. Cale said that this was the place she wanted, and Olivia said yes.
She then looked around the room. Present were Sanders, Noi, her aides, Zero, the pope and several bishops from the church, and the Purifier’s group. Olivia said that she heard from the margraves in the border areas that the Purifier had killed all the monsters. She met eyes with Zero before asking the Purifier if he could purify other places.
Olivia offered rewards and promised to take care of the lodgings and needs of the Purifier’s group. She bowed her head and pleaded to him to purify the land a little more. They all knew that he was originally not from this world, so he could leave at any time. She earnestly begged for him to stay for one more year, though she clarified that she was not asking him to purify the entire continent.
But Cale calmly replied that he had lost his power, causing everyone to be surprised. Cale clarified that he was gradually losing his strength. It was taking him longer and longer to deal with the monsters a day ago. It was not because the three monsters were strong. Rather, they were weak, but the efficiency of Cale’s Fire AP was decreasing.
If 1% of his power could produce a result of 50%, the result had now dropped to 10%. So unlike when he quickly purified the Black Tree and the Black Hill, it took him a full day to take care of the three monsters. He even had to take some rests in between to recover. The other margraves had held back the monsters while he rested at that time.
With a trembling voice, the pope asked for the reason. Cale recalled Super Rock’s words. About how the stronger the light, the darker the shadow. In this case, the world polluted by the dead mana was the light, and Cale’s Fire of Destruction AP was the shadow. But since the Huayans family had collapsed and some of the land had been purified, the efficiency of his Fire AP was decreasing.
However, Cale thought that he did not need to explain all that to the people present here. So he just replied that it went back to the way it should have been. He kindly expounded that the more the world was purified, the lesser his power became. Eruhaben telepathically asked if it was going back to normal, and Cale nodded in response.
Eruhaben asked if he regretted it, and Cale shook his head. What he had done was enough for him. But he stopped when he met eyes with Zero who was not acting like usual. Zero asked if he had used a lot of strength. Cale avoided answering properly and said that he did not know. Zero muttered that he did not deny it.
Cale knew that Zero was partially correct since he used a lot of strength to eliminate the three monsters. Zero then let out a low laugh that was devoid of madness or joy. Cale was confused as Zero looked up the ceiling with a frown, muttering, “Damn it. In the end…” But Zero continued his words in his thoughts, thinking ‘In the end, he was sacrificing himself.’
He had clearly seen the Purifier staggering, and remembered the words of Mary about the sacrifices of the Purifier. The pope deeply sighed and asked if the Purifier was all right since they still had many monsters to deal with. The air in the room dipped heavily, as they were worried about the Purifier gradually losing his power.
Cale indifferently replied that of course, he was fine. He asked everyone on what was wrong. He did not see any problem since his power was just going back to normal anyway.