Chapter 38
{The doubters asked the prophet again, saying, “Prophet, should we bestow grace even on the wicked? If so, for how long should we bestow it? They asked this to test him.”
The prophet answered and said, “As the Goddess of Grace has given humans the ability to distinguish between good and evil. You should care for and be patient with those who strive towards goodness.
“But for those whom the Goddess has left to their lost hearts, do not spare the rod.
“These are slanderers, those who cause greed, malice, envy, murder, and strife.
“Those who do not pity widows and orphans.
“Those who fill only their own bellies with the grace bestowed for the hungry.
“Those who swallow tears and have no shame.
“The Goddess despises and curses such people. Not only their bodies but also their souls shall come to death”.}
– Book of Grace, Chapter 13, Verse 11-
***
The collapsed factory manager looked at me with a shocked face.
"T-this is viol-!!"
He seemed to be trying to say, "This is violence!!"
Yeah.
That's right.
That's exactly right.
"There are things you can say and things you can't!!"
I flew at the factory manager.
My belt mercilessly cut through the air, making a sound of tearing air.
The factory manager's well-dressed, smooth suit burst open.
And the fat naked body underneath was exposed.
The collapsed pose would be perfect for the cover of a DVD case titled <Naked Exposure Under Torn Clothes in Front of Everyone AVI>
Now, try screaming while looking at people?
"Aaaack!! H-help! Help me!! Help!"
The factory manager pleaded to the police and guards, waving his hands with slurred pronunciation due to his swollen mouth from being beaten, but no one dared to rush in.
"C-can we shoot this, brother?"
"He's a saint. A saint recognized by the Pantheon after 300 years. If even one bullet hits him wrong, we're done for."
The police didn't even dare to think about rushing in, and the factory manager's guards were just watching the situation, unable to approach.
Meanwhile.
I was happily beating the factory manager.
"Aaaack!! F-Father!! Ahhh!!"
"Does it hurt? Does it hurt? Does it hurt? How much more did the people who burned to death in the factory hurt!"
I beat and beat until the factory manager foamed at the mouth and fainted.
Only then did I stop the assault, and the police finally approached me cautiously.
Of course, their faces had expressions that seemed secretly satisfied.
"Saint. That's enough now. This much..."
No.
It's not enough yet, you bastards.
I placed my hand on the factory manager's body.
I'm the Saint of Healing, right?
I should live up to my name?
The factory manager's swollen cheeks and the corn that had been gloriously scattered in the air grew back.
His bruised body and swollen face were neatly restored.
I have no intention of killing you at all.
I'm going to make sure you absolutely don't die.
So you can be beaten for a long, long time.
"W-wait a moment. Wait a moment. Saint. Please calm down for a moment…! Aaaack!"
Calm down my ass?!
I healed you to gain to beat your ass more!!
Once again, the sound of leather tearing was heard as a brutal beating show was performed.
At the factory manager's scream and the crisp sound of skin tearing, people who were watching the scene started to get up one by one.
"Well done! Beat him more!"
"Well done! Well done!"
"That son of a bitch! He worked people for over 20 hours while paying just 1 leon (about 1000 won) a day!! Even a dog they raise would have been treated better!"
Everyone started cheering for me.
I healed him when he fainted from being beaten.
I healed him again when he fainted from being beaten.
An endless cycle of beatings was repeated.
"Save me! What are the police doing!? Save me, I said! Are you just going to watch this assault?!"
After receiving treatment for the third time, the factory manager clung to the police officers' pant legs.
But the police officers casually pulled their legs away while drawling.
The subtle sneers as if they found it delicious were a bonus.
"Sorry, Factory Manager. If we go by the law, we should arrest the Saint for assaulting a civilian, but… what if we get divine punishment for touching him? We don't want to receive divine punishment either."
"What nonsense is that…! Aaaack!!"
By about the fifth treatment, he clung to the thuggish bodyguards guarding him.
"Money! I pay you, you fucking bastards! Protect me! Try to stop him!"
"What would happen if the Saint gets even a scratch? How would the Lilia believers and the Grace Order react? We don't want to be subjected to a heresy inquisition for insulting a saint, Factory Manager. Unless you pay us more than 10 times the current amount."
"I'll pay! I can pay 20 times more, so please…! Aaaack!"
With the sound of skin tearing, I felt like all my stress was disappearing.
It feels good.
It feels like all the time I spent trembling in fear of going to hell is being resolved.
You fucking bastard.
You son of a bitch.
I went through hell walking on air to save one person, and you make people into charcoal lumps because you didn't even install proper fire prevention facilities, and you spout such nonsense?
You fucking bastard.
You're going to die by my hand today.
7 times.
8 times.
After the 10th treatment.
Finally, the factory manager grabbed my pant leg.
"Please spare me! Please! I'll do anything you say! Please! Please stop beating me!!"
I stopped swinging my belt that had turned bright red from blood and flesh.
"This factory. You said Leota Company operates it, right?"
"Y-yes! It's operated by Leota Company."
"Tell your boss to come out."
"...What?"
"Boss!! Guide me to where your boss is!! Do you want to get beaten again?"
"I'll guide you! Get in the car! Right now! I'll deliver you like a bullet!!"
"Hurry up!!"
I got in the car with the factory manager.
"He's going to punish the boss of Leota Company!"
"Let's follow! We can see him if we go to Baron Hanson's mansion!!"
All the people who had been watching the Saint's beating show started following behind my car, shouting like that.
I glanced at those people and then ordered the driver sitting in front.
"Step on it, you bastard. What are you doing?"
Perhaps thanks to witnessing the scene of a brutal beating for over 30 minutes.
The driver stepped on the accelerator like a bullet without saying a single word.
In less than 3 minutes.
I was able to arrive in front of a mansion in the 10th district where the wealthy live.
"H-here it is. Baron Hanson is inside here... Ugh!"
After kicking the factory manager out of the way, I got out of the car.
The iron gate of the mansion was firmly blocking my way.
"Open it."
When I ordered the factory manager, he whimpered.
"They won't open for unauthorized people... Huh? Huh????"
"Then we'll open it with you."
Strength x20.
Fat pig throw!
The fat factory manager flew through the air.
His body collided with the iron gate.
It was a solid iron gate, but it couldn't withstand the kinetic energy created by the incredible speed, and the factory manager's weight multiplied together.
With a loud noise, the iron gate opened wide.
"Urgh!"
After rolling on the ground in a way that might appear in some children's animation, the factory manager groaned. As I approached him, he laid flat on the ground, shedding tears.
"P-please!! Please stop beating me!"
"Don't move an inch and stay still here."
I didn't intend to kill these guys.
If I killed them, it was just my personal, private murder.
I want the people who were hurt and injured at the factory just now to be comforted.
I want to show those people the sight of these guys being punished by law and the system.
That way, I can tell them that it's still a world worth living in. That even though it's hard and shitty, let's try living for tomorrow, right?
"Yes! Yes! I won't move an inch...! Aaaack!!"
The factory manager sprayed corn once again at my belt and crashed to the ground.
Seeing him lying limp with his eyes rolled back, foam at his mouth, and even wetting himself, it seems he was properly fainted.
I'll make sure you get punished somehow, whether through the Lilia Order, the Pantheon, or His Majesty the Emperor.
I'll definitely make sure you're punished, even if I have to frame you for heresy or something!
But before that.
I have to beat up the bastard called Baron Hanson or whatever.
I walked into the mansion with long strides, holding my belt enchanted with blood and flesh.
As I entered, the maids and butlers were startled at my appearance.
It wasn’t surprising.
My white priest's robes had long been soiled.
My hair was disheveled, and my belt was soaked in blood and flesh.
"Where is Baron Hanson?"
When I uttered those words quietly in that state, an answer immediately sprang out.
"I-In the study, doing work..."
"Guide me."
A maid gestured to show me the location of the study.
I started walking towards it with long strides.
The guards with guns discovered me, but seeing my appearance, most of them wisely stepped aside.
The ones who didn't?
"Even if you're a saint, this is private property...! Aaaack!!"
They were lying on the ground after leaving a death cry that sounded like a pig being slaughtered.
As a price for spewing red corn and having their cheeks swollen like steamed buns.
No one could stop me, and eventually, in no time, I was able to stand in front of the study of the guy called Baron Hanson or whatever.
The door was firmly locked, but it was no problem at all.
I kicked the door open in one go and went inside.
A skinny man in his 50s who was working at a desk jumped up with an expression like he might wet himself.
"W-who are you?? Who are you, bastard? How did you get in here... Saint?"
"Are you the president of Leota Company?"
"Y-yes, but?"
"Did you know about the fire at your factory?"
Baron Hanson's eyeballs rolled around.
He got up from his seat with a servile smile.
"Haha! I sent one of my employees. He probably handled it appropriately, was there any complaint?"
"Let me ask you one thing."
I smiled sweetly and cast Absolute Hypnosis on Baron Hanson.
"How did you usually handle it when people got hurt or died at the factory? Tell me the truth without lying."
"I paid compensation of about 1 saled. But that was only nominally. There are ways to get it all back through the back door. Sending thugs to threaten and take it back, or telling them to work without pay for 4 months since they received 4 months' salary in a lump sum. Since they're beggar bastards who fear losing their jobs more than anything, they would spit the money back out with just simple threats," Baron Hanson answered with a chuckle.
One more shocking thing was that normally, after spilling out unfavorable truths, people would cover their mouths or tremble in shock, but the bastard in front of me showed no such signs at all.
It meant he had no sense of guilt or regret, not even the slightest recognition that what he was doing was shameful.
"Still, I'm quite decent. There are many other factories that don't even pay compensation and just kick people out. Why are you asking, by any chance? If those beggar bastards who burned to death are causing any inconvenience... Aaaack!!"
"You fucking son of a dead bitch's whore bastard!! Can you even call yourself human!!"
The belt made a crisp whack sound.
Baron Hanson flew through the air like a graceful swan.
I also flew through the air like a graceful swan.
I flew and started beating the shit out of him.
"Aaaack!! Ack!! N-no!! Why are you doing this!! T-this is clearly illegal...!! Aaaack!!"
Whack whack.
I answered with my hands instead of my mouth.
Baron Hanson kept running his mouth endlessly even while being beaten.
"This is illegal!! Y-you! Just because you're a saint, do you think you can do anything? Even if you're a saint, you can be arrested by the Supreme Court for assaulting a civilian!! D-do you want to go to jail!! You bastard!!"
At those words, I laughed.
Jail?
That's funny.
I'm the one who even thought about going to jail to quit being a saint.
Do you think I'd be scared by such threats?
Rather, it's hilarious!!
If I serve a life sentence in prison, I don't have to pretend to be a saint anymore, so that's good.
Very good!!
"Send me! To jail!! I'm asking you to send me!! Damn it!!"
"Y-you madman...!! Aaaack!!"
"That's right! I'm mad! I'm mad, you fucking bastard!!"
When a person got too angry, tears could come out too.
I kept beating the shit out of the bastard while crying profusely.
People turned into charcoal lumps and died.
But this fucking bastard and the factory manager I beat to a pulp outside.
How can these fucking bastards have no sense of regret?
"The madman of this temple is me!! You son of a bitch!!"
I'.. definitely make sure you get punished even if I have to go to jail.
Whether it's heresy charges or whatever, I'll definitely send you and the factory manager to hell.
As I was thinking that and beating the baron even harder.
"Y-you fuck!! Ahhhhh!!"
Perhaps the pain was so severe he felt like he was going to die, Baron Hanson generated black energy in his hand as if making a last struggle and threw it at me.
...Huh?
Wait a minute.
He generated black energy in his hand and threw it at me…?
Isn't that a curse?
"...Huh? Why isn't the curse working?"
I was surprised because Baron Hanson shot a curse from his hand, and Baron Hanson was surprised because I was fine even though I was hit by the curse.
"Why? Why isn't the c-curse…?"
We both stared at each other blankly for a moment.
"Were you an evil god worshipper?"
When I asked that while bursting into laughter out of bewilderment, Baron Hanson answered truthfully, "Yes."
Let me say it again.
"I am an evil god worshipper. I was helping the Collector gather resentment."
The power of Absolute Hypnosis was—as the name implied—absolute.