This Wasn’t an Erotic Game?

Chapter 9
I’ll Plagiarize a Bit!
『 Translator – Divinity 』

It probably started when another pair of arms began to grow beneath her own.

That’s when her mother and father decided to abandon her.

Upon discovering the lower arms that had sprouted seemingly overnight in less than three months, her father and mother tried to cut them off.

They tied her up and tried to forcibly sever them.

When her father’s saw dug into her lower arm, she was so scared and in pain that she unconsciously used magic.

Her father and mother were thrown back, crashing against the wall.

Her father was injured, and her mother screamed at her.

—We shouldn’t have given birth to you.

She clearly remembered those words.

She remembered her mother and father brandishing kitchen knives and sickles at her, screaming that she was a demon and telling her to leave.

She cried and said she didn’t want to go, but they swung the sickle, leaving a deep cut on half of her face, and only then did Erpa leave the house.

If her own family reacted like that, there was no way others would be any different.

After countless times being pelted with stones and driven away, Erpa chose to live in the forest, afraid of how people would react to her lower arms.

Fortunately, her genius-level magical talent allowed even a child to survive in the forest.

With four arms, she could do work twice as fast as others.

And when she turned twelve, one by one, eyeballs began to sprout on the left side of her face.

Even she found her appearance horrifying.

So she covered half of her face with leaves.

In the forest, she freely wielded all kinds of magic, even though no one had taught her.

With a single word, fire ignited, ferocious wild beasts met their deaths, and meat was prepared and grilled to perfection before her.

But even though she could do all that, she couldn’t fix her grotesque arms and face.

One day, after having a dream about the moment her parents abandoned her, Erpa made a momentous decision to get rid of her lower arms and the left side of her face.

She fainted and woke up, fainted and woke up, repeatedly, as the fifteen-year-old girl cut off her two arms and scraped away the left side of her face.

Cauterizing her left face with fire and stopping the bleeding from her severed lower arms, she was drenched in cold sweat, hoping that when she woke up the next morning, she would have a normal appearance.

But her body betrayed her hopes.

The next day…

When she woke up again…

She realized that her arms and face had returned to their original form.

Her arms had regrown, and the eyeballs she had painstakingly plucked out had reappeared, mockingly sprouting on the discolored, hideously distorted skin that had been burned and twisted.

Those grotesque things…

No matter what she did.

No matter what magic she used.

They never disappeared.

For the first time, she felt a desire to learn proper magic.

She wanted to be able to wield more powerful magic.

So she hoped to get rid of these arms and eyeballs and become human.

To be able to live among people.

When Tower Master Oergen, who happened to be passing by, discovered her living in the forest and, coveting her talent, suggested she come to the Magic Tower, Erpa didn’t refuse.

And she researched like mad.

She researched and researched and researched.

On ways to wield stronger magic.

And she figured it out.

The Three Primary Colors Research was the result of her obsession.

Optimization of magic.

It could be seen as research on maximizing efficiency, but in other words, it was also research that helped control magical phenomena on a scale that humans couldn’t handle with the mana contained within their bodies.

She wanted to use this research to wield even greater magic and restore her body to normal.

To restore…

But…

“Ugly witch!”

“That’s truly disgusting!!”

“Ugh!”

Even if she returned to normal…

Would those people accept her?

Even if she appeared with the form of an ordinary human, would those people, who had already seen her hideous left side…

Treat her normally?

Mud, mixed with filth, flew through the air and struck her head.

Her head snapped to the other side, and she saw young mages and witches hiding among the crowd, snickering.

Was even this moment just a game to them?

Even in this devastating moment of destruction, where someone’s soul, life, and spirit were being shattered, was all of this merely amusing to them?

Why?

Because she was ugly?

Simply because she didn’t look like them, was she being treated like this, even though she hadn’t done anything, hadn’t committed any wrong?

Rage consumed her.

Slowly.

The immense mana within her body and the genius of her overwhelming talent began to choose their targets for her fiery wrath.

If she combined the results of the Three Primary Colors Research with the mana within her body, she could probably wipe out the entire capital.

No, the entire Empire.

She was tired of it all.

All those years she had spent struggling to be accepted by them felt foolish, and she no longer wanted to live.

Not in this Empire that had given her nothing but pain.

She was going to burn it all down.

Mana began to surge within her.

Powerful magic, strong enough to instantly shatter the miracle that was suppressing her, started to form within her body.

All she had to do was unleash it.

Unleash this magic, burn with everyone, and it would all be over.

Just as she thought this and raised her head…

“Stop!! Stop it!!”

“It’s the Saint! It’s the Saint!”

“Don’t throw things at the Saint, you crazy people!!”

A strange sight caught Erpa’s eye.

A man…

Was walking towards her, looking directly at her.

***

You fucking idiots!

Why don’t you just tap dance on a nuclear bomb while you’re at it?!

Do all of you here, including me, have a death wish today??

You’ll all be winning the Darwin Award as a group.

I was horrified to see the priests of the White Church struggling to cope with the mud and objects flying from all directions, and the four-armed witch being dragged along, suppressed in the middle of it all. I jumped into the road.

The roads of this era were filled with mud.

Cars and trains were running, but it was still a time before radios were widespread, a violent era where, from a modern perspective, romance and barbarity coexisted.

I entered the roadside, pushing through the people who were throwing mud mixed with filth, stones, and bottles, seemingly without a shred of guilt or conscience, and started to approach the witch. Naturally, stray projectiles began to fly towards me as well.

Mud mixed with excrement, urine, and vomit splattered onto my clothes.

A piece of stone or glass, thrown by some idiot, struck my head and bounced off.

Blood, soaking my hair, flowed down my cheek and dripped onto the road.

Seeing this, the paladins and police officers of the Sun Church, and the poor people who were receiving treatment from me, finally rushed out and started to restrain the crowd.

“It’s the Saint! The Saint!”

“What are you doing! Stop it right now!!”

“Don’t harm the Saint!!”

A huge number of poor people instantly took control of the street, and the filth and stones that had been flying towards me and the witch stopped.

I was tense, not knowing when the witch might explode, and I didn’t even have the time to wipe the blood flowing down my cheek as I slowly, mechanically, moved towards her.

“Stop!! This person is an Abomination!”

“She’s a Harbinger of Disaster who brings calamity!! Stop! Don’t come any closer!”

“If you come any closer, we will attack…! ”

The priests of the White Church raised their hands towards me, but their words were cut short by the paladins of the Sun Church who surrounded me.

“How dare you speak such nonsense to the Saint, sent directly by the Goddess of Grace!!”

“Show some respect!! He is the chosen one of the Goddess!”

But I’m not!!

I have nothing to do with the Goddess Lilia!!

I’ve never even mentioned the word Lilia!!

Why are you spreading such rumors!!

I wanted to scream, but I couldn’t because I was afraid of provoking the witch and causing her to explode.

I slowly approached the witch.

“D-Don’t come any closer…”

Seeing my frozen, stiff expression as I faced the ticking time bomb of a witch, the priests of the White Church seemed to misinterpret it again and retreated in fear and terror.

As they retreated, naturally…

The miracle that was binding the witch was released.

As the miracle dissipated, I carefully supported the witch, who was about to collapse onto the filthy mud.

Wow.

I’m freaking terrified.

I’m absolutely shitting myself.

I wasn’t even this scared the first time I threw a grenade in boot camp in my previous life. Seriously.

This is too cruel of an ordeal for a coward like me.

But what choice do I have?

If I don’t do this, everyone here will die.

Including me.

I slowly embraced the witch and began to wipe away the filthy mud that covered her face and body.

This was, how should I put it…

Similar to comforting a cat before it’s neutered.

There, there.

Good girl?

Please don’t explode, okay?

Please don’t explode.

Fuck…

Please don’t explode.

“Are you okay?”

My voice came out with a tremor I couldn’t control.

Because I was so terrified.

Because I was so scared.

I was barely holding back the urge to piss and shit myself and collapse, and I managed to channel that into just tears.

I don’t know what came over me, but I managed to wipe away all the mud and filth from her face.

And the face that was revealed…

Oh boy.

NSFW.

But I didn’t care.

I have a very high tolerance for disturbing images.

My hobby in my past life was watching Japanese anime and gore movies.

This kind of thing might be scary and shocking to the uncivilized people of this era, but to me, it’s nothing.

It wasn’t much different from the monster girl Arachne NSFW images you could find with a simple internet search.

“…Do I look ugly to you too?”

The witch in my arms mumbled, looking up at me with vacant, unfocused eyes.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

This isn’t good.

Is she going to explode?

No!! I don’t want to burn to death!

What should I do?!

Come on, brain!

Think of something!

In my previous life, I was a solitary loser who had never even held a woman’s hand, so I had absolutely zero knowledge about what to say to make a woman feel better in this situation.

In this urgent situation where I had to do something…

My instinctive choice was this.

Slowly.

I lowered my face and kissed her on her incredibly hideous left cheek.

With a desperate plea for her not to explode.

My kiss made the witch flinch.

Her body started trembling uncontrollably.

I’m so fucking screwed!!

Did I make a mistake?!

Is she about to explode?!

Right!

Of course, she’d hate it if a random guy suddenly kissed her!!

A line!!

I need to deliver a line!!

A super touching line!!

A super cool line!!

Isn’t there anything?!

I’ve only ever watched Japanese anime and gore movies, so nothing’s coming to mind, fuck!

They say your mind works faster when you’re in extreme situations.

Finally.

A line came to mind.

I’m sorry, Grandpa Miyazaki!

I’ll plagiarize a bit!

“You’re not ugly.”

I hugged her tightly.

“Live.”

I couldn’t bring myself to look at her face.

The moment her expression turned even slightly grim, I felt like I would abandon all pretense, piss and shit myself, and faint.

Is this what it feels like to dance on a blade’s edge?

Fear and terror filled my voice with a tremor I couldn’t hide.

“You are beautiful.”

Please.

Please.

Don’t explode!!

Don’t explode!!