Leon was still standing in his place when Ethan went to one of the equipment shops in the village to buy a UV Scanner.

The price was quite high, but to prove that Leon was innocent, that cost was more than worth it.

Meanwhile, one of the men from their party went to call the woman over, clearly to conduct the verification.

At first, the woman refused, but the man insisted, explaining the consequences of not showing up.

If she refused to come, Ethan might attack the three men who had ganged up on Leon earlier —which could easily end with their deaths.

Ethan bought the UV Scanner, which looked similar to a thermometer. It cost about 30 gold —or 30,000 gold in actual value.

Once the transaction was complete, Ethan left the equipment shop and made his way back to the area where Leon had fought. But when he arrived, something unexpected happened.

When Ethan got there, he saw only two men and Leon. One man had gone to fetch the woman, but he hadn't returned yet —even though Ethan had already gone to a faraway store and come back.

"What happened?" Ethan asked.

"I'm not sure. Something might've happened to our friend. Please be patient," one of the men replied.

Ethan turned to Leon, who nodded, showing he didn't mind waiting. He could wait a bit longer for the woman, though deep down, he doubted she would actually come to clear things up.

Half an hour passed before Ethan and Leon saw three figures approaching from the village —two women and one man.

One of the women was crying, being comforted by her companion. From her demeanor, Ethan immediately assumed that she was the supposed "victim" of Leon's harassment.

When she saw Leon, the woman cried even harder, as if reliving the trauma of being violated.

"I didn't touch her. Not at all," Leon said firmly.

"Liar! I could feel it! You filthy pervert!" the woman screamed.

The argument was about to explode again, but Ethan quickly stepped in, pulling out the item he'd just bought —the UV Scanner.

"You can continue your argument after we use this," Ethan said coldly.

"It's simple. Scan the part of her body she claimed was touched. If no fingerprints show up, Leon's innocent."

"And if there are?" asked the party's leader.

"Then you save the scan data and compare it with Leon's fingerprints. This scanner can match prints too," Ethan explained.

The revelation clearly shocked the woman. Her fake tears stopped instantly. The party leader nodded and took the UV Scanner, which emitted a faint blue ultraviolet glow.

"W-Wait! I don't want to!" the woman said, panicking.

"You don't want to? Why?" Ethan's voice was sharp and cold.

"It's… my private area. I can't—"

"It only scans the outer clothing. Refusing will make everyone suspicious," Ethan interrupted.

The party leader agreed. He wasn't taking sides —neither with his teammate nor with Leon. He stood for fairness and truth.

If this was the best way to determine who was guilty, then he had no choice but to go through with it.

"I said I don't want to!" the woman shouted again.

Ethan sighed, gripping the hilt of his Bloodblade Ashura. His aura flared, raw power bursting from his body.

[Mode Ashura Activated]

"If you refuse, I'll kill you and your entire party," Ethan threatened.

"Y-You're… Ethan, the one who killed all those people yesterday?" the woman gasped.

"If you know who I am and what I can do, then you should know not to play games with me, woman," Ethan said with a glare.

The party leader swallowed hard but stood firm, "We'll proceed with the scan."

The woman froze, her face pale and hands trembling.

The UV Scanner began scanning the woman's chest area. A faint blue image of a hand appeared on her clothes. Leon immediately objected.

"That's not me! I swear, I didn't touch her!"

"Time for verification," Ethan said calmly.

The party leader nodded and approached Leon. "Please, raise your hands."

He scanned both of Leon's palms, saving the data before starting the match.

[Fingerprint Match in Progress]

[1%... 50%... 100%]

[Result: No Match]

"No match?" the leader said in disbelief.

Leon grinned and laughed in relief, jumping with joy at being proven innocent. The woman, however, refused to accept it.

"This device must be fake! It's a trick!" she shouted.

"If that's not Leon's fingerprint, then whose is it?" Ethan asked coldly.

"Maybe you should scan the hands of the man and woman who came with her," Ethan added.

"WHAT?!" the woman screamed.

But the leader wanted to see the truth for himself. He scanned the man's hand, then the female priest's.

The result shocked everyone —the fingerprints on the woman's clothes belonged to the man who had gone to fetch her.

The situation turned chaotic. Everyone started yelling, and the party leader's face twisted in anger.

"What were you thinking?! You accused someone with false evidence! Did you hate him that much?" he shouted.

"I-I just got mad because he bumped into me. That's all," the woman stammered.

"Unbelievable… you dragged our whole party into this mess," the leader said, furious.

He then turned to Leon and bowed deeply. "We're truly sorry for this misunderstanding."

The rest of the party followed, bowing as well.

"It's fine. I forgive you. It was just a misunderstanding," Leon said calmly.

"Thank you so much, Sir Leon. We'll be more careful from now on," the leader replied.

Ethan, however, wasn't done. He turned his gaze toward them.

"Don't thank me yet," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"The test is done. Leon's innocent. He doesn't owe you a thing," Ethan said, patting Leon's shoulder.

"That's true," the leader agreed.

"But that doesn't cover the physical injuries he suffered," Ethan continued coldly.

"A-About that…"

"We'll heal him and pay for the damages," the leader said quickly.

Ethan smirked. Healing Leon's wounds was easy —a single HP Potion could fix that. But his pride was a different matter.

"I think Leon deserves to get some payback on her, just to restore his pride," Ethan said flatly.

"Are you crazy?! I'm a woman, and a mage! I can't—"

"You're rejecting my idea?" Ethan interrupted again.

He drove his sword into the ground, releasing a terrifying aura that made everyone's knees tremble.

The woman panicked, too scared to move, but unwilling to take a beating like Leon had.

Just as Ethan was about to go further, Leon gently placed a hand on his shoulder, silently asking him to stop.

Ethan looked back —Leon met his eyes and nodded. It was a signal that he had his own way of handling this.

Sigh.

Ethan sheathed his Bloodblade Ashura, deactivating the Ashura Mode. His appearance returned to normal, his hair turning black once again.

Leon stepped forward, approaching the woman. No one dared to interfere — they were still terrified of Ethan's presence.

"You," Leon called out.

"What?" the woman snapped weakly.

"Next time, don't do something that stupid again," Leon said quietly.

The woman froze, her eyes wide as she looked at Leon's bruised, battered face.

"I know you were just trying to protect your pride. I get it. But making false accusations only leads to worse mistakes."

"I won't hit you —I won't even touch you. Hurting you won't make me feel any better, even though you caused this mess."

"Everyone here has gone through hell in this place. I don't want you to feel the same pain I did."

"I forgive you."

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