Chapter 61
"Mom, I'm cold. I don't want to go in!" Jim shouted.
Amy was crying.
But Peter and Anna held their hands tightly and wouldn't let go.
"If you don't go in, you'll just be in pain. You don't want to be in pain anymore, right?"
"Let's go in, Jim. Amy. If we go here, we won't be in pain anymore."
The couple embraced the sobbing siblings.
And patting the siblings' backs, the two slowly started walking into the river.
"It's okay. You won't be in pain anymore. It's okay."
Slowly.
The water began to swallow their bodies.
Seeing that sight, I unconsciously started to run out but stopped in my tracks as if nailed to the spot.
Opening the Demon King's power and turning the earth into hell?
That was the worst.
My beloved women being ruined because of my power?
It was terrible.
But more than anything, the most frightening and terrifying thing was still burning in hell forever.
If I used my power, I'd go to hell.
And I didn't want to go to hell.
I just wanted to quietly find a black mage or demon follower and quietly extinguish my soul and end it.
I wanted to return to Korea.
What is that family to me?
They just gave me a few pieces of black bread.
I'm grateful, but no matter how I think about it, going to hell to save them doesn't add up.
So I should turn back.
I should turn back…
"Mom, I don't want to die!" Jim wailed.
At that desperate cry, the couple finally stopped.
In the water up to their chests, the couple began to let out cries more desperate than I had ever heard before.
Unable to go in.
But unable to come out either.
They were just standing there, crying.
Dawn.
In the cold darkness.
Around the river, homeless people with bodies damaged similarly to Peter and Anna's family were just sprawled out lifelessly, blankly watching the family trying to commit suicide without any hope or salvation.
The only being who could save them was me alone.
Should I suffer in hell forever?
Or should I just leave them, who had little to do with me, and run away to Korea.
It was a simple choice.
A disgustingly simple choice.
"Peter!! Anna!!"
My head was clearly screaming to choose the latter.
But my body was already jumping into the river water.
I'd surely regret this moment later.
It was obvious that I'd regret it, hitting the ground.
But I couldn't stop.
"Don't die!!"
When I came to my senses, I had already pulled the family of four out of the river.
The condition of the four people pulled out of the river was truly miserable.
Their bodies were, of course, as cold as ice, and they were all shaking as if having a seizure.
But what seemed to be damaged much more seriously than their bodies was their minds.
"Why did you save us?" Peter, with one arm gone, asked sobbing.
"Why did you save us when there's no meaning in living? How are we supposed to live with this body..."
It was a broken voice, but the fact that he was shedding tears sounded like he hadn't completely given up hope yet.
Until the very end.
I hesitated.
The moment I used my ability once, rumors would inevitably spread somehow.
A family that had lost an arm and gone blind until yesterday was suddenly fine overnight?
Even if I erased the memory of me treating them with Absolute Hypnosis after treatment, people who felt suspicious and tried to find out would appear, and eventually they'd reach me.
So I shouldn't use it even once.
If I'm going to use it, people will come looking anyway.
I had no choice but to go in the direction of treating as many as possible.
I looked around.
There were many homeless people sprawled out with parts of their bodies injured, similar to Peter's family.
I couldn't treat Peter's family and ignore them.
They too, equally.
No.
Perhaps they were people who suffered and struggled even more than Peter's family.
I could now use Time Stop much more easily.
I could run away anytime.
So please forgive me just this once, Goddess.
I'll take responsibility and martyr myself before my power blooms.
It's too much to just leave these people when I have the ability to heal them.
It's really too much.
"You gave me black bread, didn't you?"
I undid the Body Modification on my face.
Gradually.
My face returned to its original appearance.
"That was hope for me. So I'll give you hope too."
I applied Body Modification to Peter.
I healed his severed arm and his frozen body.
While I was at it, I cleared out all sorts of impurities and waste from his body.
Next was Anna.
Then Jim and Amy.
Blinded eyes regained their function, and severed arms grew back exactly as they were originally.
Lungs that had been ruined by dust from the textile factory stuck in them returned to normal.
In an instant.
They all changed to become healthier than anyone else.
"M-my arm..."
Peter looked at his arm.
"M-Mom!! I can see!! I can see!!" Young Jim shouted in astonishment.
"I can see too, Mom! Dad!! I can see!!" Amy also shouted while touching her eyes.
And finally, Anna was looking at me, unable to breathe properly.
"E-Eleos..."
I patted her head.
"I'm sorry I couldn't help sooner."
I'm sorry I was a coward.
But I was facing hell too.
I needed time to make up my mind.
So please forgive me.
After treating the family, I looked around.
All the homeless people who had been looking at me with dull, hopeless eyes until just now were all standing up.
Let's treat them.
Let's treat them and run away quickly before my power grows too much.
One week.
Let's treat them for just one week and run away.
I just can't ignore them.
"I'll treat you."
At my words, all the homeless people around shouted in unison and stood up.
"Eleos!!"
"T-treat me!! Me!!"
Seeing the people rushing in frantically, I felt completely drained.
I ended up choosing the path to hell.
But strangely, I didn't feel regret.
I started treating the sick people who had rushed in front of me.
I was wrong in my thinking.
Next time, I should go somewhere without any people.
It was a moment when I could clearly learn that one thing.
***
Scrap Yard was a perfect place for Mammon.
Extreme polarization consisting of money-crazed businessmen and suffering poor people.
Human greed rotting endlessly under the name of capitalism.
Moreover, thanks to the culture that rejected all religion, faith, and magic, there wasn't a single temple in the entire city.
It was a delicious prey that was just right to devour, with no influence from the Pantheon's believers or the Evil God.
Mammon made a big plan looking at that city.
To devour all the souls and minds of all humans in this city.
And to turn all of those into his own power.
With such a grand dream, he spent over decades of time and effort continuously leading the city to become more desolate and gloomy.
Now, just a little more and his plan would be complete.
The battle of greed for wealth and power.
And in the midst of that, the great plan to gulp down all the souls and resentments of many humans that would be spilled was about to be completed with just a little more.
But at the last moment.
A guy appeared who was ruining it.
[It's the Saint of Healing? Why is he here?]
A being whose origin was completely unknown, suddenly appearing out of nowhere.
The Saint of Healing.
Clearly known as the chosen one of Lilia, who was uniquely severely injured among the gods of the Pantheon.
And for a chosen one of such a severely injured Lilia, he wielded power beyond imagination that could annihilate the Evil God's fragment.
This being that didn’t make sense in any way suddenly settled in a corner of his city and started treating people?
[I'll have to drive him out. Who are you to come to someone else's territory and try to interfere?]
It was like an uninvited guest suddenly intruding on the elaborate theater stage he had prepared for decades.
Just as Mammon was about to move to quickly get rid of the saint because it would be troublesome if variables appeared.
[Trying to drive him out? You'd better not.]
A familiar stench and disgusting voice rang in Mammon's ear.
Mammon's brow furrowed sharply.
[How did a worm from the abyss crawl up here again?]
Mammon growled and spat out a word at the sight of the Evil God, which was disgusting just to look at.
But the Evil God didn't care.
[I came to give you an interesting piece of information.]
[You've come to tell lies again, I suppose. I should have been fooled by your lies once or twice. Get lost. Don't interfere with me.]
Just as he was about to summon his power to push the Evil God out of his domain.
[The Saint of Healing actually possesses the power of the Demon King Asmodeus.]
At the words that flowed from the Evil God's mouth, Mammon had to stop what he was trying to push away with a start.
[That piques my interest? What kind of fresh nonsense is this?]
[It's literally as I said. Asmodeus is playing the role of a saint. It's a fact I discovered when a part of me entered his body.]
The Evil God smiled slyly.
[Does it make sense that Lilia, who's in such a mess, sent down a chosen one?]
[It doesn't make sense.]
[If he were my chosen one, of course there wouldn't have been any destruction of my fragment. It's not me. It's not the Pantheon. Then what could it be? It's the power of Pandemonium.]
[It could be one of the divine ranks that fell during the celestial war living in human form, couldn't it? Wasn't that Rophus or whatever, the god of justice from the Sun Order, a case of a human whose divine rank was restored and went up to the Pantheon?]
[That's right. The gods of the Pantheon are probably mistaking it that way too. But I'm right. The saint is performing miracles with Asmodeus' power.]
Mammon chuckled.
[Your nonsense is so absurd that I keep listening. So what are you trying to say? You worm from the abyss.]
[The power of Lust. You eat it.]
The Evil God whispered seductively.
[I know about your plan to cause chaos in Scrap Yard and devour souls and resentments. But no matter how frugally you lick that up, wouldn't it be less than devouring another Demon King's power? Where else is there a better opportunity than now?]
[...]
[Lucifer has been gnawing at the connection between the human realm and the celestial realm for 300 years, so except for Dullaneer, Rophus, and Rupiel, the other gods can't even give divine words, let alone chosen ones. Moreover, I've just given you information that other Demon Kings don't know at all. Even if you devour the power of Lust. It means they can't stop you.]
The Evil God grinned.
Mammon was looking at such an Evil God with a blank expression.
[It's the first time you're not making plausible lies but outright absurd nonsense, so I listened, but your intentions are so obvious it's transparent. The conclusion is that you want me to touch the saint, right?]
[That's right.]
[The Pantheon would really hate that. Moreover, if I touch the being considered most important in the human empire, even the imperial family will move. Then the tower I've carefully built in Scrap Yard for decades will crumble. Do you think I don't know your black intentions, you worm?]
The Evil God shrugged his shoulders.
[It's up to you whether to believe it or not. But think carefully. Should you, who calls yourself the Demon King of Greed, miss such a good opportunity?]
[We're not close enough to worry about each other like this, are we? Get lost, you worm.]
As Mammon snapped his fingers, the Evil God's illusion disappeared as if shattering.
Mammon shook his head as if dumbfounded.
If he could only devour the power of Lust, of course it would be the best for Mammon.
But Mammon just couldn't believe the words of that Evil God.
[I’ve been fooled by his lies once or twice.]
Whether it was the Lust guy.
Or a divine rank of the Pantheon left in the human realm.
Anyway, the important thing was that it was a being that was ruining the plan he was carefully preparing for a long time.
An unexpected character shouldn't appear in the play he had prepared.
And for that, he needed a legal excuse to drive him out of the city without provoking the imperial family and the Pantheon.
[It's not legal to expel him for proselytizing, is it?]
There was only a culture that viewed proselytizing unfavorably.
There was no law in the imperial law that prohibited proselytizing itself.
Instead, because the imperial law was written more favorably for businessmen than workers, if they clung to free treatment rather than proselytizing, legal expulsion was possible.
[Because he caused damage to pharmaceutical companies through free treatment... we can expel him by accusing him of being a laborist.]
Even if he was a saint, in the world of cold capitalism, he was just a person causing damage to companies.
This way, it would be legal to expel him, so even after driving him out, the imperial family and the Pantheon would have nothing to say to Scrap Yard.
Satisfied with the solution, Mammon smiled contentedly.