NOVEL WEB Chapter 4
“Wait, isn’t this time stop? Shouldn’t time freeze for everyone else while I’m the only one who can move?”
This ain’t the time stop I knew!
I tried to wiggle around, but my body felt frozen, like I was stuck in ice, with no chance of moving.
Maybe I spent about 30 minutes trying to move in this frozen time.
Eventually, I managed to take a single step.
How did I do it, you ask?
I had to designate a tiny area for myself and release the time stop, move forward, and then slap the time stop back on the area I just moved from. It was a tedious, annoying, and mentally draining task.
What kind of skill is this so complicated?!
And the control is infuriatingly tough!
Ugh, to master time stop at a level of crying memes, I’d need a ton of practice.
Just wanting to step outside for a breather, and even that’s a struggle.
Life, huh?
What a mess.
I sighed and released the time stop.
“Saint! Saint!”
“My son is sick! Saint, please!”
The chorus of the sick and the poor echoed around me.
If this keeps up, the saint’s gonna die, I swear!
Can’t I catch a break!
Just then, while I was contemplating whether to shout to disperse them,
“Get out of the way!! Get out of the way! You filthy rats!”
A group of people pushed through the throngs surrounding me, making their way towards me.
Emblazoned on their chests was the clear image of a blazing flame.
These were the clerics of the Sun Church, serving the God Rophus.
I had heard of the Sun Church before.
They believed that their status and wealth were gifts from the deity.
It was clear they thought the poor and lowly were cursed by the gods, hence their state.
They also made money performing healing acts, but they existed strictly for the wealthy elite.
Imagine doctors running a private hospital just for VVIPs!
As the Sun Church clerics entered, flanked by armored knights and police armed with guns and clubs, the poor shrank back, parting like the Red Sea.
The leader, a muscle-bound guy who looked equally bear-like and cleric-like, stomped over to me.
“You’re the Saint of Healing, sent by the goddess Lilia?”
Oh boy, I’m scared!
I’m totally freaking out!
I never even uttered the name Lilia! So why the sudden plot twist, claiming I’m a saint of a specific church?
What a mess!
Well, I have no choice but to roll with the character I created.
I straightened my back, fixed my gaze as confidently as I could, and stared down the muscle guy.
“I’m not affiliated with any church.”
Being an unregistered illegal mage means you get the death penalty, but pretending to be a saint from a specific church? That’s instant burning at the stake! So I had to answer like that.
But maybe that was a mistake.
“Oh, so you don’t serve the gods? Then where does your power come from? A mage?”
At the mention of “mage,” I noticed the knights and police subtly reach for their weapons.
Using unregistered illegal magic could get you hanged.
With the terrifying thought that even a hint of relaxation could have me pissing my pants, I pretended to stay calm.
Time to spout some vague priestly nonsense and gloss over this.
Gotta avoid any suspicious comments.
Vague comments…
“I’m just someone who serves the lowly.”
Yes! Nailed it! Vague enough to slip by!
At my words, the poor around me began to murmur and then raised their voices.
“That person healed us!!”
“You filthy businessmen, always chasing the rich! What are you doing here if you’re not gonna heal us!”
“Don’t interfere! Get lost!! My son is sick! He needs treatment!!”
The Sun Church cleric shouted back with a booming voice.
“Shut up! You filthy wretches!”
His voice was filled with divine power.
He must’ve cast some magic or miracle. No way a human could project that sound without it.
Hearing that voice at point-blank range froze me completely, and the cleric seemed to misinterpret my freeze.
“Quite the gutsy one. Either you’re a great con artist or truly a saint. Judging by how you’re not moving, it seems to be the latter?”
Still frozen, I couldn’t muster a single response.
Taking in my stillness, the cleric burst into laughter.
He looked at the crowd of poor people.
“You lot are no better! Look at you swarming like locusts and cockroaches, trying to beg for handouts without offering a single penny! What makes you any different from beasts? The Sun Church has always been open to you! But we require a modest fee!”
“That fee is ridiculous!”
“If you want to live, shouldn’t you bring in at least that much? Is your will to live that cheap?! You’re shadows, deprived of the sun’s grace! Rophus has abandoned you for a reason!”
Though they looked beaten down, the poor were too scared of the knights’ swords and the police’s guns to retaliate.
Though he preached grandly, if we assessed that statement’s true intention, it’s clear he was here because I was robbing potential customers from his turf!
That muscle guy would do whatever it took to stomp me out for the Sun Church’s prosperity.
It’s customary to stomp down potential competition while they’re still green!
What should I do?
Should I just slam my head down and confess I was lying all along to prevent the apocalypse?
Nope. That would land me right in the gallows too.
So what can I do? If laying low doesn’t work, I need to get more brazen.
So I found it necessary to be a bit forceful here.
“You’re telling those crippled since birth, crushed by life and this world, to go make money? It’s like telling someone who can’t walk to run!”
As I yelled out, the cleric from the Sun Church showed a hint of surprise.
Good. I’m getting through!
Keep the pressure on!
Gotta avoid the gallows at all costs!
“Who do you think you are, ridiculing their will to live as cheap! They are not cheap! I merely brought back those who were denied the chance to start again! You are the one who insults life and the will to survive! You’re the real scam artist!”
Honestly, I didn’t even know what I was saying at this point.
I was just spouting random words.
I was about to release whatever whimsy floated out of my mouth.
I was scared that if the noose loomed closer, I might just pee my pants.
Terrified he’d land a hit on me, I felt tears threatening to spill.
“No matter what you say! Whatever the police and knights do to me! I won’t stop bringing the weak and wounded back to their starting point! That is the mission bestowed upon me!!”
I finished my random rant, not knowing what I was saying, and at that moment, I felt a huge pressure from behind me.
The poor looked at the Sun Church cleric with savage expressions.
“Don’t harm the saint!!”
“That person performs miracles!!”
“He’s not a con artist!!”
The first person I treated in the crowd jumped out, fueling the mob mentality.
“Look! Look! That person healed me! I was caressed by divine grace! The boils covering my body are gone, and the twisted leg I was born with is now just fine! You really think that person isn’t a saint?!”
“That’s right!!”
The sheer roar made even the police and knights hesitate.
The Sun Church’s buff cleric looked flustered.
“Shut up! I said shut up!”
His voice boomed again, but the poor shrank back, though their eyes still flickered with indignant energy.
Realizing his shouting wasn’t working anymore, it looked like the cleric thought it was time to change tactics.
“Alright. If you all revere this person as a saint so much, let’s test him.”
The cleric chuckled, spreading his arms wide and patting his chest.
“You know how to distinguish between a scam artist and a true saint? A saint can perform multiple miracles. A con artist just knows a few simple spells and can’t do much else.”
The cleric looked at me with a mocking smile.
“If you’re truly a saint, then perform a miracle for me! Show me and everyone else a miracle we can believe in!”
His eyes were cold, like a snake watching its prey.
I could instinctively tell it was a trap.
Damn it.
Body modification was suddenly blocked off.
If I showcase body modification again, it’d be like, “Look! A scam artist can only perform one miracle!” and I’d end up swinging on the gallows.
Then… what about sensitivity? 3000 times?
If that muscle cleric goes, “I’m a pig with flame nipples!! Woooooohhhh♥♥” and reaches climax, those knights would drag me off screaming “Evil heretic’s magic!”
That idea too is a no-go.
What about absolute hypnosis?
Hypnosis is… well…
Also a horrible idea.
If suddenly, he changes his mind and says, “Ah, this man is definitely a true saint. He’s been manipulating my thoughts,” I’d look like a heretic being possessed.
That leaves… only time stop.
Guess I have no choice.
Bluff! Bluff it is!
“You don’t believe that I came for the lowly, do you?”
“Oh, I know how many scam artists there are out there!”
“You’re not actually worried I’m a scam artist. You’re just worried about the potential customers of the Sun Church disappearing!”
“Are you insulting the Sun Church right now?”
The knights exploded with rage, drawing their swords.
Turning the entire Sun Church against me? Talk about suicide.
I quickly added, “I’m not insulting the Sun Church or Lord Rophus. Just calling out that dirty guy in front of me.”
The muscle cleric roared with laughter.
“Oh, your words are just becoming longer. Nothing is emptier than mere words. If you’re truly a saint, prove it with a miracle!”
At those words, I raised my hand.
Here’s my plan.
When I first tried using time stop, I realized I could target only specific areas to activate the time freeze.
So I aimed to freeze just around the cleric’s legs.
That way, I could keep him from moving, “Look! You didn’t believe, so now you can’t move! Punishment from above!”
I thought I’d throw out a line like that.
Of course, considering my total one-time experience using time stop, my control was a complete wreck, so I was worried.
But I have to give it a shot!
After bluffing this far, if I do nothing, I’m surely facing the gallows.
“For the disbelievers, divine punishment.”
After delivering a line that sounded impressive, I targeted the cleric’s legs with time stop….
Wait a moment.
Don’t freeze his legs!?
I can’t control this thing! Arghh!
“Gahhhh! Oooooooh! Uggghhh!”
The cleric suddenly clutched his heart, trembling violently.
“Gulp… Guhhh… Guhhh……”
As he trembled, he slumped down from a heart attack.
I hurriedly tried to cancel the time stop but panicked even more, making it harder to control.
“Priest Barduk! Priest Barduk!”
“Help him up!”
Knights rushed toward the fallen cleric.
I was still frozen with my hand raised.
Come on, let it unfreeze!!! Please!
After a tense 30 seconds, I finally managed to release the local time stop around his heart.
“Grrrhhhhh!”
Seeing Priest Barduk gasp for breath again, the knights unsheathed their swords with a grim look.
A white aura flared around their blades.
“This evil heretic dares claim to be a saint and tried to kill a priest of the Sun Church?”
“You’ll be burned at the stake!”
This is bad.
Once again, I felt frozen.
If those knights took another step, I’d be rolling on the ground, begging for my life whilst peeing my pants.
Fortunately, they didn’t take another step.
“Priest Barduk! You’re alright!……”
One of the knights who was supposed to arrest me suddenly halted as he helped up the fallen Barduk.
Not just him.
The attention of all the poor people, and even the police, turned completely toward Barduk.
Why?
Because Barduk’s face had changed.
The muscle-bound guy was gone, and instead, the now miniature Barduk had transformed into a slender, snake-like man.
And on that man’s forehead, there was a distinct symbol of a warped star.
The man touched his forehead in panic and his face turned pale.
“A demon worshiper!”
A poor person yelled.
The police shouted next.
The knights, too, chimed in.
“The warped star on his forehead!”
“A symbol of the demon!!”
“Arrest him!”
Thud, bang, crash.
The demon worshiper disguised as Priest Barduk was apprehended.
I stood there with wide eyes, blinking in profound disbelief.
Well, that worked out alright!