Chapter 10 - Scene of a Miracle (Not Really)
Chapter 10
Scene of a Miracle (Not Really)
『 Translator – Divinity 』
{Lift your eyes and behold the Saint, bleeding and weeping.
He shall love and pity even the most hideous and filthy of beings, willingly rolling in filth and grime, shedding tears.
He shall call the hideous beautiful, for truly, there has been nothing beautiful since the beginning of time.
Through this, you shall see that the Goddess of Grace lives.}
– Scripture of Grace, Chapter 51, Verse 12 –
***
About three minutes had passed since I embraced the witch and patted her back.
I felt a dampness on my shoulder.
The witch in my arms was crying.
Was she crying because her emotions were finally overflowing, or because she was touched, or was she, for fuck’s sake, venting her feelings before burning the world down? I couldn’t tell.
I hugged her even tighter.
“It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
It’s not okay, dammit.
Can you please stop crying and calm down?
Because you’re crying, I can’t tell if this is a prelude to an explosion or if you’re actually calming down.
As I patted her, half out of my mind…
“Even for a Saint, this is unacceptable!”
“That’s a Harbinger of Disaster! A Harbinger of Disaster!! She will bring ruin upon the world!”
“We must dispose of her quickly! Saint! Step back! We cannot leave her be!!”
I heard the priests of the White Church shouting sharp words at me.
A Harbinger of Disaster who brings ruin upon the world.
Yeah, that’s right.
She is a Harbinger of Disaster.
Can’t you see I’m busting my ass to save you right now?
You idiots!
If I don’t comfort her now, she’s going to explode!!
Perhaps because I had just experienced a near-death experience, my nerves were on edge.
I glared at the priests and raised my voice.
To survive, I had to take the witch’s side no matter what.
“Why is she a Harbinger of Disaster?”
At my question, the priests shouted, exasperated, pointing at the witch.
“She’s an Abomination!! Saint!! An Abomination!”
“Look at those spider-like four arms, that twisted left face, and those disgusting eyeballs!”
“This isn’t some rare disease! She’s been cursed and made hideous!”
“She will bring ruin upon the world!”
These crazy bastards!
The witch can hear everything!!
What if she explodes?!
I roared.
“Are you saying she’s a Harbinger of Disaster because she’s ugly? Are you trying to destroy a person’s soul and life for such a trivial reason?”
I stood up, still holding the witch.
Perhaps because my life was on the line…
A voice, so loud it scared even me, erupted from my mouth.
It was a volume born of desperation to survive.
“What is truly ugly!! Is it ugly because one’s appearance is deformed and twisted? No!! You’re wrong! That’s not ugly!! What’s truly ugly is your hearts!”
I looked at the citizens who had been throwing filth and mocking her just moments ago.
“You, who throw filth and destroy a person’s life and soul based on their appearance, are far uglier!!”
I shouted at the mages and witches who had been snickering and laughing.
“You, who chatter and laugh, treating the destruction of a person as a joke, are far uglier!! And!!”
Finally, I shouted at the priests of the White Church.
“You, who scream about hunting evil with your mouths but have the blood of innocent people on your hands, are even more hideous.”
At my words, the priests of the White Church flinched and stepped back.
It was understandable, considering how loud my voice had been.
Honestly, I didn’t even know what I had just said.
It was closer to just blurting things out because I didn’t want to die.
“…Ugly appearances don’t just happen. They are caused by the curse of God, Saint.”
“That’s right. If you let her live, someday, surely, surely she will become a threat. Saint.”
“If you let the Abomination live, the Empire will be in danger. We are doing this to save everyone.”
The priests of the White Church stammered their replies.
Well.
There was some truth to their words.
Actually, what those priests were saying was all correct.
As expected of a church famous for demon hunting, they were accurate.
How did they even find this dark magician witch and escort her like this?
But I had to prevent this witch from going berserk.
If they took her away like this, everyone would die!!
“Some gods may indeed cast curses. Not all gods are good.”
So I needed to dissuade these priests.
How should I do that?
Although things had gotten a bit complicated, just as I had initially planned…
All I needed to do was fix her face!
“And if there is a god who casts curses, there is also a god who lifts those curses.”
I carefully placed my hand on the witch’s head.
And activated the skill.
[Skill Body Modification activated!]
The familiar customization window appeared.
The witch’s physical condition was displayed as a 3D model.
It was a window I had become accustomed to after modifying countless poor people.
Slowly.
I began to modify the witch’s body.
I removed the extra pair of arms that had sprouted below her own.
I removed the hideous burn scars on the left side of her face.
And I got rid of the multiple eyeballs clustered together.
Once I had cleaned everything up, there was nothing more to touch.
Since the original foundation was already that of a stunning beauty, just that alone made the witch breathtakingly beautiful.
“Ah!! Uh! …Ugh!”
The witch made strange noises while undergoing body modification.
This in itself was familiar.
It was common for people to make such sounds as their muscles and bones moved involuntarily during the modification process.
But what was with the light that started to burst from her body?
What was this?
Why was light erupting from her body?
The moment the modification was complete…
A blinding flash of light, so bright it could be called an eye-searing explosion, erupted from her body. Then, the light disappeared.
And in its place, a breathtakingly beautiful woman sat in the mud.
“G-Good heavens!…”
“Oh my god, Dulaneir!…”
The priests of the White Church were so shocked that they collapsed.
“Saint!! Saint!!”
“A miracle! He has performed another miracle!!”
The poor people knelt and began to bow towards me.
“By Lopers.”
“I swear to the sun, I have never seen a truer saint.”
“The Goddess of Grace lives.”
The paladins of the Sun Church also made the sign of the cross and bowed respectfully towards me.
It seemed like they were reacting this way because of the light at the end.
To be honest, even in my eyes, it was the very scene of a miracle.
I slowly looked over the witch’s appearance.
Hmm!
She was truly beautiful!
Good!
With this level of beauty, she could debut as a top-tier idol in Korea right now!
Could I consider this sufficiently healed?
I believed there wouldn’t be any more outbursts or anything.
Please.
“Whether it was a curse, a disease, or the countless wounds inflicted upon you by people, they are all gone now. Woman, do not sin again and live righteously.”
The witch fumbled at her left cheek, then looked up at me and silently shed tears.
Alright.
Now that I see it, these are tears of gratitude!
Yes!
It would be troublesome if she exploded after I went through all this trouble to heal her!
“You are beautiful. Truly.”
I said to the witch with a smile.
With this level of lip service, there shouldn’t be any more explosions.
Now that I had healed her…
All that was left was to disappear without a trace before the people from the Lilia Church arrived in the capital.
***
Erpa touched her left cheek.
The bumpy, hideous, and disgusting texture of the eyeballs was completely gone, replaced by smooth skin.
Everything was exactly as she had dreamed.
A human form.
She no longer had four arms, and the repulsive eyeballs were gone.
Tears flowed unconsciously.
To be honest, until just a moment ago, she had been distrustful of the man in front of her.
This was an appearance that hadn’t changed despite her years of effort, even with her being called a genius among geniuses.
There was no way the man in front of her could fix it in an instant.
That’s what she had thought.
But she was wrong.
A phenomenon she couldn’t comprehend magically occurred within her body.
The extra arms disappeared, and her distorted face returned to normal.
At the moment of that transformation…
She was so surprised and delighted that she unknowingly lost control of the mana in her body due to excitement and let it overflow.
That’s why she momentarily emitted a blinding flash of light.
Even as she touched her face, she couldn’t believe it.
Erpa slowly rose from her spot.
She looked at the man in front of her.
The man, with a gentle smile, was bleeding from a head wound.
But even that bleeding sight was so holy.
Even though he was just standing there, he was so holy that it was difficult to meet his eyes.
She understood why the poor people called him a saint.
He had performed a miracle.
It wasn’t just that he had changed her appearance, which was difficult to alter magically.
If she had used the Three Primary Colors Theorem to wield higher-level magic, she might have been able to change her appearance with her own power.
But even if she had…
She wouldn’t have been able to erase the twisted hatred and resentment deep within her heart.
And she wouldn’t have been able to make those who had seen her hideous face look at her with surprise and respect.
The man in front of her had overcome all those impossibilities and, in a single moment…
So easily solved those problems.
Problems that she had thought were impossible to overcome with human effort.
Her heart started to race uncontrollably.
Erpa had never been in love before in her life.
Because she was hideous.
Because she was grotesque and disgusting.
There had been a few men who approached her, attracted by her right side, but she knew they would leave the moment they saw her left side.
So, thinking that she wasn’t suited for love, she had been forcibly suppressing her emotions.
She had been a recluse, devoting herself only to research.
But not anymore.
“Name. I want to know your name.”
Erpa said, grasping the saint’s sleeve with a trembling voice.
Her face was flushed and excited.
“I am merely one who cares for the lowly, Lady Witch.”
The saint smiled and tried to pull his hand away.
But she couldn’t let go.
“Please… please tell me your name.”
She stepped closer and firmly grasped the saint’s hand.
At her action, the saint’s body trembled.
The saint’s hands, trembling like aspen leaves, were covered in a thick, cold sweat.
Erpa knew what this meant.
She knew that priests who used powerful miracles sometimes exhibited such physical symptoms.
After all, she had researched miracles in her quest to heal her own body.
Considering the miracle he performed, resolving a problem that even she, a magical genius, couldn’t solve, how much strain must it have put on his body?
Furthermore, seeing the blood flowing from his forehead, there was a possibility of infection.
“The Saint is trembling!! It’s the aftereffects of using a miracle!”
At Erpa’s cry, the paladins of the Sun Church and the priests of the White Church moved simultaneously.
“Is he experiencing a divine trance?”
“Yes! It’s a divine trance! He’s sweating and trembling! He needs to rest!”
“By Lopers!! He has cared for so many of the poor!!…”
“Hurry! Prepare a place for him to rest! If we neglect the divine trance, it could lead to irreversible consequences!!”
At those words, the White Church and the Sun Church moved as one.
“The Sun Church is closest here! I’ll lead the way!”
“Saint! Please, get on my back!!”
A paladin lifted him onto his back, and Erpa and the priests of the White Church followed behind.
“The Saint is unwell! Make way! Clear the path!!”
The poor people cleared a path, and the paladins quickly ran through it.
Erpa followed behind.
Things like faces and appearances no longer mattered.
The man being carried on the paladin’s back was now her life.
He was the man who kissed the left side of her face, the side she herself found repulsive to look at.
—Live. You are beautiful.
The words the saint had spoken to her were vividly imprinted in her mind.
As she ran frantically, Erpa’s face was flushed.
One thing was certain: it wasn’t a flush caused by strenuous exercise.