September 1, 2022 | 15 minutes after Heidelberge left the premises
The atmosphere inside the recently purified house was still saturated with an almost unnaturally pristine sense of cleanliness.
Suddenly, the sharp sound of high heels striking marble echoed confidently from the front of the house.
A woman stepped through the gate. She wore a spotless white coat, sharply contrasted by a classic brown leather bag.
What stood out most, however, was the golden caduceus serpent insignia meticulously engraved on her lapel, an unmistakable symbol of high-ranking authority in sanitation and public health.
The homeowner walked out to greet her, visibly puzzled.
"Uh… may I ask who you are?"
"My name is Violet Austine," the woman replied calmly. "I'm a field inspector from the Ministry of Public Health."
She presented a high-level identification badge.
"Our purification radar detected an abnormally high spike in contamination levels at this address a few minutes ago. For safety reasons, I need to conduct an inspection."
The homeowner raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, that's nothing to worry about. I just hired a Purificator to take care of it. Everything's spotless now."
Violet frowned slightly. She pulled out a holographic display device and accessed the database.
"Which Purificator was it? Normally, jobs of this scale must be registered with the Ministry in advance."
"Ah, Heidelberge Doroholf,"
the homeowner replied enthusiastically.
"He's incredible. He finished everything in just five minutes!"
Violet froze for a moment.
"Heidelberge… is that so?"
She paused, then continued evenly,
"May I see the proof of employment or the payment transfer slip?"
The homeowner handed her his phone. Violet examined the transaction carefully, her slender fingers scrolling through a classified Ministry database.
A long silence followed. Her expression grew noticeably tense, though she said nothing.
"Thank you,"
she finally said.
"If you'll allow me, I'd like to inspect the site of the incident."
She followed the radar signal upstairs toward the second-floor bathroom, with the homeowner trailing close behind. When they reached the door, Violet stopped dead in her tracks. She could sense a faint, lingering energy residue.
"Zyl, Gate open."
she murmured.
At once, a tiny, fluffy hamster with burnt-brown fur poked its head out of her coat pocket. It yawned loudly, then glared at its master.
"Again? I was sleeping just fine! Can't you let me rest for once? Damn, you're such a pain, woman!"
Violet frowned slightly, irritated by her familiar's crude language.
"Shut up and do your job, Zyl."
A dimensional gate opened. Violet stepped inside without hesitation, but what she saw made her nearly stop breathing.
The bathroom within the domain, which should have been left in ruins after a battle of this scale, was instead immaculately polished, to a degree she had never witnessed before.
Even the Ministry's highest-ranking operatives couldn't achieve cleanliness like this.
"Replay."
At her command, soft blue light spread across the room.
Shadowy images of the recent battle manifested, flickering like an old film reel. Violet's eyes widened as she saw the silhouette of a skeletal knight riding a steed, wielding twin scythes.
"That's… Staphylococcus aureus…"
"Impossible. How could something like that appear in a civilian residence? And more importantly—"
Her gaze locked onto the shadow of a man in a black coat, single-handedly subduing the general.
"He defeated it… in just a few minutes?"
Zyl, now expanded back to its normal size, floated beside her. It sniffed the lingering traces in the air.
"That guy's no joke… Pure purification energy through and through. Are you sure he's just some local Purificator?"
Violet pulled out a pH analyzer and pressed it against the gleaming floor.
[ pH 7.0 / Neutral ]
"Perfect neutral cleanliness…"
she murmured in disbelief.
"A local Purificator shouldn't be capable of this…"
She quickly opened the Ministry's Global-level digital registry and typed the name carefully.
Heidelberge…
The screen processed for a moment before flashing a bold red message:
[ ERROR: DATA NOT FOUND ]
(No record in the civilian or anomalous ability databases.)
Violet lowered her hand, her thoughts racing.
"No name in the system… no training history…"
"…just who the hell is he?"