This Wasn’t an Erotic Game?

Chapter 3
Time Stop, Even For Me
『 Translator – Divinity 』

There is a name that those who walk the path of magic cannot help but know.

The Sage’s Tower.

More commonly known as the Magic Tower.

Their symbol, an inverted triangle, was said to be almost on par with the imperial family’s crest within the Empire.

A gathering of human weapons capable of single-handedly destroying an entire city, and at the same time, a cradle of knowledge and technology that advanced the Empire’s progress through countless magical engineering feats.

With the annual academic conference approaching, numerous mages and witches were engaged in lively discussions at the top of the Mars Magic Tower.

“As expected, we should submit the Three Primary Colors Theorem as the representative paper of our Mars branch.”

“I believe that shadow magic research is more appropriate. It’s a paper that has achieved groundbreaking advancements in a previously overlooked field of magic research.”

“That’s true, but the Three Primary Colors Theorem is more comprehensive. Considering its impact on the entire field of magic, I believe the paper on the Three Primary Colors Theorem has greater academic value than shadow magic research.”

Gathered around a round table, the mages and witches exchanged opinions with serious expressions, their debate intense.

However, despite their serious faces, the atmosphere was quite pleasant.

This was because the competition between geniuses was something to be encouraged, not discouraged.

The discussion went back and forth, but ultimately, no conclusion was reached.

The mages and witches looked at the Tower Master, who was sitting quietly at one end of the round table.

“Master Oergen. You must decide. We won’t reach a conclusion at this rate.”

At the mage’s words, Tower Master Oergen gently stroked his pearly white, lustrous beard and, with a playful glint in his eyes, looked at the two witches who had remained silent without uttering a single word.

“Thüdel. Erpa. You two are quite the headache.”

“You flatter us, Master Oergen.”

The witch called Thüdel bowed her head as she said so, while Erpa simply smiled.

“Both of your papers were excellent. So, deciding whose paper to submit has been quite a difficult task for me as well.”

Oergen tapped his fingers on the table.

Thüdel repeatedly swallowed, her eyes glued to Oergen’s hand.

After a long while, Oergen finally announced his decision.

“The representative paper of the Mars branch Magic Tower to be submitted to this academic conference will be the Three Primary Colors research.”

Exclamations of joy and disappointment erupted simultaneously.

Thüdel clenched her fists and squeezed her eyes shut, while Erpa simply bowed her head silently.

“Thüdel. Your paper was also excellent. However, this time, Erpa’s paper was slightly superior. With more dedication, you will achieve even better results.”

“Th-Thank you…”

A strained reply came after a long pause.

Oergen smiled and rose from his seat.

“You’ve all worked hard in this long meeting. Let’s go back and rest.”

The mages and witches rose from the round table one by one.

It’s a shame that shadow magic research was rejected.

The Three Primary Colors research is a study that will go down in history.

As all the mages disappeared, chatting amongst themselves, only the two witches remained at the round table.

“Congratulations, Erpa. You’re really on a roll, aren’t you?”

A chillingly cold and sharp voice erupted from her smiling face.

“You’re truly amazing. You’re practically guaranteed to be the next Tower Master. A witch who’s only 25 years old as the next Tower Master. How impressive.”

“Thank you, Thüdel.”

Erpa cautiously rose from her seat.

A silver mask covered the left side of Erpa’s face. Beneath the masked half of her face, her four arms were modestly folded.

“You’ll have better results next time.”

The uncovered right side of her face formed a polite smile.

Thüdel found that smile unbearably repulsive.

Thüdel hated everything about Erpa.

She hated that Erpa was a genius brought in and raised by Tower Master Oergen himself when she was 15, and she hated that the exposed half of Erpa’s face was more beautiful than her own.

She loathed Erpa’s flawless, porcelain doll-like skin, unlike her own freckled face, and she hated Erpa’s larger eyes, her perfect figure.

She hated that because of Erpa’s ample hips and chest, the mage she had a crush on rejected her confession and declared his love for Erpa.

And she hated that Erpa had rejected that mage’s confession.

She hated that her paper was ultimately rejected in this representative paper selection.

She hated the fact that someone far more talented and younger than her existed in the same Magic Tower.

She simply hated everything.

“Do well, spider.”

A single sentence, laced with venomous resentment, was spat out.

Thüdel often called Erpa a spider when they were alone.

It meant that she was disgusting with her four arms.

Erpa didn’t respond to that venomous remark.

She merely looked at Thüdel with a pitiful gaze for a moment, then left without a word.

That single, silent look pierced her heart more cruelly than any insulting curse.
“Aaack!!”

Within the empty round table room, Thüdel let out a demonic scream.

***

Back in her private research room, Erpa carefully took out her wand from her waist and waved it.

The witch’s hat and hood she was wearing flew up as if they were alive and settled on a nearby coat rack.

After waving her wand once more to firmly lock the door, Erpa cautiously approached the mirror.

Her upper left hand, with a trembling motion, slowly removed the silver mask that covered half of her face.

And underneath…

Even Erpa herself found the sight that was revealed to be eerie and grotesque.

Black, distorted skin.

And on top of it, multiple eyes clustered together, enough to trigger trypophobia.

Erpa’s other left hand gently caressed her left face.

“Disgusting.”

She murmured quietly.

“Hideous.”

Monstrosity.

Even in her own eyes, it was the most accurate assessment of her left face.

Despite being a genius witch who had conducted countless magic research, including the Three Primary Colors research, no matter what she tried, she couldn’t fix this horribly distorted half of her face.

She couldn’t tell anyone.

She hadn’t even revealed this fact to Tower Master Oergen, who had initiated her into the path of magic.

Now that she possessed tremendous skill, she could roughly guess the reason.

Erpa was someone with an excessively overflowing magical talent.

From the moment she was born, an immense amount of mana resided within her body. She started speaking at only three months old, and by the age of three, she could already see spirits and all sorts of magical phenomena with her own eyes. She was a prodigy, a monster.

And as a price for possessing such talent, her body experienced excessive overgrowth.

At the age of five, two additional arms began to sprout from her sides, and during puberty, eyeballs started growing on the left side of her face instead of acne.

The parents who gave birth to her abandoned her, seeing her as a monster, and wherever she went, she was often ostracized for being a monster.

That’s why she immersed herself in magic.

Except for the time spent eating and sleeping, she devoted herself solely to magic research.

To restore her abnormal body.

As a result, Erpa became recognized as the world’s leading authority on body transformation magic, but even she failed to fix her own distorted half-face.

Erpa was afraid.

Envy always accompanies outstanding talent.

It wasn’t just Thüdel.

Secretly, many people would be jealous of her and gossip behind her back, whether she knew it or not.

If she was abandoned again.

If she was ostracized by everyone again.

Would she be able to endure it?

How would those who saw her hideous half-face react?

“Please. There must be a way to fix it.”

She murmured in a desperate voice.

She had finally found a place where she could blossom with her talent.

She had finally been recognized.

She didn’t want to be driven out again and wander as a vagrant.

She put the silver mask back on.

Vowing to fix half of her face, she once again sat at her desk and prepared to continue her research.

‘Is it the morning newspaper?’

While skillfully and quickly organizing the scattered research materials and papers with her four arms, she found the newspaper that had been delivered this morning.

Picking up the newspaper without much thought, Erpa paused when she saw the headline splashed across the front page.

[Healing Saint Discovered?]

Healing Saint.

It was a title that piqued her interest.

She stopped tidying up and unfolded the newspaper, slowly beginning to read the contents.

And the more she read, the wider her eyes grew.

“He cured all kinds of rare and even genetic diseases on the spot? Is that even magically possible?”

Miracles bestowed by God and magic created through human effort were distinctly different fields.

But whether it was a miracle or magic, it was performed by humans.

To heal her own face, Erpa had studied countless fields, including miracles.

Even Erpa had never heard of anyone performing such large-scale miracles ceaselessly.

She was tempted, but Erpa shook her head.

The only conclusion she had reached while studying miracles was that humans were wicked.

Those who wielded what they called great miracles were often found to be using simple magic to inflate their image or were outright scammers planning to take the money and run.

A Healing Saint?

Perhaps if he maintained his fame for a year or so, she might consider it.

But as it stood, she didn’t have the time to waste on someone who had only recently appeared.

Besides, anyone who saw her half-face would be repulsed to the point of vomiting.

There was no guarantee that this saint would react positively upon seeing her face.

‘I can’t believe it.’

Erpa put down the morning newspaper.

Rather than relying on an uncertain miracle, it seemed more likely that she could overcome this with magic.

She sat at her desk and once again immersed herself in her research.

***

“Saint!! Please heal my son!”

“Help my daughter! Saint!! Saint!”

The slums were packed with people, with barely any room to stand.

It was to the point where people were getting trampled and further injured while clamoring to be healed first.

The sight of countless children, sick people, and their families screaming and waving their hands at me was now bordering on horrifying.

Jesus.

What am I supposed to do in this situation? Please give me the answer.

Of course, Jesus didn’t answer.

I couldn’t sleep, so my eyes were heavy.

Besides, I couldn’t just do a sloppy job with the character customization, could I?

As I focused on each and every detail, my mental strength was reaching its limit.

It was endless.

It never ended.

Forget the witch, I was going to die first at this rate.

“I need to rest for a while.”

I said so and carefully tried to slip away, but the people had no intention of letting me go.

“Saint! Have mercy on us!! Saint!”

“Saint! Have mercy on us!”

This was driving me crazy.

No matter how I thought about it, this wasn’t right.

I’ll just take a short break and come back. I’ll just go get some food and sleep, and then I’ll come back.

Naturally.

I needed a way to slip away without hurting anyone…

There was one.

“Saint! Please!!”

Leaving behind the screaming people, I activated another erotic game skill.

[Using skill Time Stop!]

With this, I should be able to escape safely.

First, I’ll get out of here, get some sleep, and grab a bite to eat.

……Fuck.

I can’t move either.