The Alchemist of Rust and Mercy

In the smog-choked city of Brehn, where industrial alchemy pollutes the very air, Inquisitor Alaric Voss is a man of singular purpose. His younger brother is dying from the Rust-Lung, a horrifying affliction sweeping through the city's poorest districts. Alaric's investigation into the plague's origin points to one culprit: Liesel Vande, the cold-hearted and calculating matriarch of the Iron Guild, infamous for her brutal consolidation of the city's alchemical trade. Known as the 'Iron Hag', she is whispered to have engineered the plague to eliminate her rivals. Alaric vows to bring her to justice, even if it means dismantling her empire piece by piece. But as he closes his net, unsettling truths emerge. Liesel's ruthless actions seem to inadvertently shield the weak, and her movements align suspiciously with anonymous donations funding the very plague clinics Alaric relies on. The closer he gets to the truth, the more he realizes the monster he's hunting and the savior he's searching for might be the same person. Can Alaric unravel the conspiracy connecting them before his crusade destroys the only person capable of saving the city and his brother?