Chapter 10
{When I lifted my eyes to see the Saint, he was bleeding and crying.
He would love and pity even the most ugly and dirty beings, willingly rolling in filth and dregs and shedding tears.
He would call the ugly beings beautiful, for truly beautiful ones have not existed since the beginning of time.
Through this, you will see that the Goddess of Grace is alive.}
– Book of Grace, Chapter 51, Verse 12-
***
About 3 minutes had passed since I hugged the witch tightly and patted her back.
I felt my shoulder getting wet.
The witch in my arms was crying.
I couldn't tell if she was crying because she had calmed down, because she was moved, or if she was venting her emotions before burning the world because it was fucking awful.
I hugged her even tighter.
"It's okay. It's going to be okay."
It's not okay. Damn it.
Can't you please stop crying and calm down?
I can't tell if this is a precursor to you exploding or if you're calming down because you're crying.
While I was patting her, almost half out of my mind.
"Even if he's a Saint, this is too much!"
"That's a harbinger of calamity! A harbinger of calamity!! She'll bring destruction to the world!"
"We must deal with her quickly! Saint! Step back! We can't leave her like this!!"
I heard the priests of the White Order spitting out sharp words towards me.
A harbinger of calamity that brings destruction to the world.
Yeah. That's right.
This is indeed a harbinger of calamity.
That's why I'm putting on this shit show to save you guys, can't you see?
You idiots!
If I don't comfort her now, she'll explode!!
Maybe it's because I just had a life-or-death experience, but my nerves are on edge.
I glared at the priests and raised my voice.
I had to take the witch's side to survive.
"Why is she a harbinger of calamity?"
At my question, the priests shouted, pointing at the witch as if frustrated, "She's an abomination!! Saint!! An abomination!"
"Look at those spider-like four arms and the twisted left face and those creepy eyeballs!"
"This isn't just some rare disease! She's become ugly because she's cursed!"
"She'll bring destruction to the world!"
These crazy bastards!
The witch can hear everything!!
What are you going to do if she explodes!!
I shouted angrily, "Is she a harbinger of calamity because she's ugly? Are you trying to destroy a person's soul and life for such a reason?"
I stood up while holding the witch.
Maybe it was because my life was hanging by a thread.
A voice so enormous that even I found it scary burst from my mouth.
It was a volume close to a desperate struggle for survival.
"What's truly ugly!! Is it ugly if one's appearance is ugly and twisted? No!! That's wrong! That's not ugly!! What's truly ugly is your hearts!"
I looked at the citizens who had been throwing filth and mocking just moments ago.
"You who throw filth and destroy a person's life and soul just by looking at their appearance are much uglier!!"
I shouted at the mages and witches who had been giggling and laughing, "You who laugh and chatter as if it's a joke while a person is being destroyed are much uglier!! And!!"
Finally, I shouted at the priests of the White Order, "You who shout with your mouths that you'll hunt evil, but have the blood of innocent people on your hands, are even more ugly."
At my words, the priests of the White Order staggered back.
It was understandable since even I thought it was an incredible voice.
Honestly, I didn't know what I just said.
It was close to just spewing out words because I didn't want to die.
"...Ugly appearances don't just happen. It's because they've received God's curse. Saint."
"That's right. If you let her live, someday she will surely, surely become a problem. Saint."
"If we leave an abomination alive, the empire will be in danger. We're doing this to save everyone too."
The priests of the White Order stammered their replies.
Well.
There's some truth to that.
Actually, everything those priests said is correct.
They're really accurate for an order famous for being demon hunters.
How did they find and escort this dark magician witch?
But I need to prevent this witch from going berserk.
If they take her away like this, everyone will die!!
"Some gods might curse. Not all gods are good."
So I needed to dissuade these priests.
To do that, what should I do?
It's a bit twisted, but as I had originally planned.
I just need to fix her face!
"And if there are gods who curse, there must be gods who lift those curses."
I carefully placed my hand on the witch's head.
And I activated the skill.
[Skill Body Modification is activated!]
The familiar customization window appeared.
The witch's body condition appears in 3D model form.
It was a window I had become familiar with after modifying countless poor people.
Slowly.
I started to modify the witch's body.
I removed the pair of arms that had grown on the lower part.
I also removed the hideously ugly burn marks on the left face.
And I removed the multiple eyeballs packed tightly together.
After making everything clean like that, there was nothing left to touch.
The original was already an extremely beautiful woman, so just with that, the witch had become stunningly beautiful.
"Ah!! Uugh...! Ungh!"
The witch made strange noises while the body modification was happening.
This itself was familiar.
Many people made such noises as their muscles and bones moved around during modification.
But why was light starting to burst from her body?
What is this?
Why is light bursting from her body?
The moment the modification was finished.
After emitting an enormous light from her body for an instant, enough to be called eye-blinding, the light disappeared.
And in its place, an incredibly beautiful woman was sitting in the mud.
"G-good heavens...!"
"My goodness, Dullaneer...!"
The priests of the White Order sat down, more than surprised.
"Saint!! Saint!!"
"It's a miracle! You've performed another miracle!!"
The poor people began to kneel and bow towards me.
"Rophus."
"I swear by the sun, I've never seen a truer Saint than this."
"The Goddess of Grace is truly alive."
The holy knights of the Sun Order also made the sign of the cross and bowed politely towards me.
It seemed they were acting like this because of that final light.
Honestly, even to me, it looked like the scene of a miracle itself.
I slowly looked over the witch's appearance.
Hmm!
She's really pretty!
Good!
Her appearance was good enough to debut as a top-tier idol in Korea without any problem!
This should be enough to consider her healed, right?
I believe there wouldn't be any more incidents of her going berserk.
Please.
"Whether it was a curse, a disease, or the numerous scars people inflicted on you. They're gone now. Woman. Live righteously from now on and don't commit any more sins."
The witch touched her left face, then looked up at me and silently shed tears.
Good.
Looking at it now, these are tears of emotion!
That's right!
It would be troublesome if you tried to explode after I even healed you!
"You are beautiful. Truly," I smiled and said that to the witch.
After giving this much lip service, there shouldn't be any more risk of her exploding.
Now that I had healed her too.
All that was left was to disappear without a trace before the Lilia Order people arrived in the capital.
***
Erpha touched her left face.
The feeling of the hideous and terrible eyeballs that used to feel bumpy was gone, replaced by smooth skin.
Everything was exactly as she had dreamed.
A human-like form.
Now, she no longer had four arms, nor the ugly eyeballs.
Tears flowed without her realizing.
Honestly, until just moments ago, she had been distrusting the man in front of her.
It was an appearance that hadn't changed despite years of effort by her, who was called a genius among geniuses.
She thought there was no way the man in front of her could achieve that in an instant.
But she was mistaken.
A phenomenon that was magically incomprehensible occurred in her body.
The grown arms disappeared, and the twisted face changed to normal.
At the moment of that change.
She was so surprised and happy that she unknowingly got excited and couldn't control the mana in her body, letting it flow out.
Because of that, she emitted a flash of light so bright it was blinding for a moment.
Even as she touched her face, she couldn't believe it.
Erpha slowly stood up.
She looked at the man in front of her.
The man with a faint smile had his head burst open and was bleeding.
But even that bleeding scene looked so holy.
Even though he was just standing still, it was so holy that it was hard to meet his eyes.
She could understand why the poor people called him a Saint.
He had achieved a miracle.
It wasn’t simply because he changed her appearance that was difficult to change magically.
If she had used the Three Primary Colors Theory to perform a more advanced 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 in her heart.
And she wouldn't have been able to make people who had seen her hideous face once look at her with surprise and respect.
The man in front of her had broken through all those impossibilities at once.
He had solved those problems so simply.
Problems that she thought could never be overcome by human effort.
Her heart began to beat uncontrollably.
Erpha had never been in love in her entire life.
Because she was hideous.
Because she was creepy and dirty.
There were a few men who approached her seeing only her right face, but she knew they would leave the moment she showed her left side.
So she had forcibly killed her emotions, thinking that she didn't suit love.
She had been a recluse, only doing research.
But not anymore.
"Your name. I want to know your name," Erpha grabbed the Saint's sleeve with a trembling voice.
Her face was very red and flushed.
"I'm just someone who takes care of the lowly. Witch."
The Saint smiled and tried to shake off her hand.
But she couldn't let go.
"Please... please tell me your name."
She approached him actively and held his hand tightly.
At that action, the Saint's body trembled.
His hand, trembling like an aspen leaf, was also full of cold sweat.
Erpha knew what this was.
She knew that priests who used powerful miracles sometimes showed these physical symptoms.
She was someone who had researched miracles to try to heal her own body.
How much strain must it have put on his body to perform a miracle that solved at once a problem that even she, called a magic genius, couldn't solve?
Moreover, 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 Erpha's cry, the holy knights of the Sun Order and the priests of the White Order moved simultaneously.
"Is it divine possession?"
"Yes! It's divine possession! He's sweating and trembling! He needs to rest!"
"Oh, Rophus!! He has cared for so many of the poor…!!"
"Hurry! Prepare a place for him to rest! If we neglect the divine possession, an irreversible situation could occur!!"
At those words, the White Order and the Sun Order moved as one.
"The Sun Order is closest from here! I'll guide you!"
"Saint! Please get on my back!!"
A holy knight carried him on his back, and Erpha and the priests of the White Order followed.
"The Saint is ill! Move aside! Make way!!"
The poor people made a path, and the holy knights ran swiftly along it.
Erpha followed behind them.
Now, things like face or appearance no longer mattered at all.
Now that man being carried was her life.
He was the man who had kissed her left face, which even she found disgusting to look at.
— Live. You are beautiful.
The words the Saint had said to her were clearly etched in her mind.
Erpha's face was flushed as if about to burst as she ran frantically.
One thing was certain: it wasn't a flush caused by intense exercise.