Chapter 8
The priests of the White Order strode onto the stage.
Their hands were already fitted with the Demon-Slaying Gauntlets, symbolizing the demon hunters of the White Order.
Emanating holy power, the priests surrounded Erpha.
"Please remove your left mask."
It was a polite voice, but also an incredibly fierce one.
"I, I... I'm not."
Erpha spoke, tears flowing, "I'm not an abomination."
"We'll decide that after seeing your left face. Please don't resist. The moment you resist, the entire White Order will consider you an enemy."
"Please! Don't do this! Tower Master!"
Erpha screamed desperately, but Tower Master Yorgen's expression showed he couldn't do anything.
"Everyone! Please...!"
Erpha cried out desperately once more, looking at everyone, but very few among the gathered mages and witches looked at her with sympathy.
Most of them had faces that seemed to mock her.
Only then could Erpha realize.
That Tudel wasn't the only one in the Magic Tower who was jealous and envious of her.
"Don't resist."
The priests of the order approached her.
Slowly, a hand reached out towards her face.
The moment the priests' hands touched her mask.
"No!!"
She writhed and pushed the priests away with telekinesis.
The priests staggered back from the intense magic.
"I'm not an abomination! I won't take off this mask! I won't give in to this unjust accusation!" Erpha shouted.
But that didn't change her predetermined fate.
"Subdue her!"
Holy power infused the Demon-Slaying Gauntlets.
In an instant, Erpha's body was bound by rings of holy power.
Erpha tried to break free.
She tried to take out her wand to resist the miracle trying to constrain her.
But her wand escaped her hand and fell far behind her.
It was because Tower Master Yorgen himself had waved his wand to disarm her.
"T-Tower Master."
"Once it came to this, I had no choice. Erpha. If you're really not an abomination, there's no need to resist. Just let them remove the mask quietly."
"N-no! No! Don't take it off!" Erpha screamed desperately.
"I'm not an abomination! Y-you might misunderstand!"
"We'll judge that after removing it."
The priests of the White Order approached.
The one who seemed to be their leader placed his hand on her silver mask.
As white light frosted on the Demon-Slaying Gauntlet, the adhesion magic that had been cast on her mask was forcibly dispelled.
"No! No!" Erpha screamed desperately.
But nothing changed.
Her mask was removed.
And.
In front of everyone.
The hidden left face was revealed to all who had come to attend the academic conference.
"Oh, my!"
"Ugh!!"
"Good heavens!"
Screams.
The sound of people holding their breath.
Eerie silence.
And then...
Laughter, mockery, and gasps all burst out at once.
"Look! Look, everyone! Didn't I tell you? I said this bitch was hiding an ugly secret!"
Tudel kindly cast an illusion magic to show Erpha's left face enlarged so that even the people at the very back could see.
The sight of more than 10 eyes, like a spider's, packed tightly on the left side of her face, blinking irregularly, was enough to strongly evoke physiological disgust.
Some people couldn't hold back and started vomiting, while others began to run away.
Tudel burst into laughter at the sight.
It was a laugh that looked incredibly happy.
Of course, it had to be.
It was the moment her gamble hit the jackpot.
"How do the priests of the White Order judge this? Do you think this is just a rare disease? Or do you think it's truly an abomination that brings calamity?"
In response to Tudel's question, instead of answering, the priests of the White Order focused on strengthening the restraining magic surrounding Erpha's body in unison.
"It's definitely an abomination. This isn't just a rare disease. It's completely identical to what's recorded in the records. A walking massacre with dozens of eyes. It's clearly the appearance of a harbinger of calamity."
At the priest's words, Tower Master Yorgen tightly closed his eyes.
"What will... happen to Erpha?"
"She will be escorted to the order's headquarters for disposal. We must hurry to eliminate her before she brings about the predicted calamity."
"I see," Yorgen said only that much before turning his back.
"This matter has already been decided by vote. The Magic Tower will support the White Order's judgment."
Yorgen walked away.
Erpha collapsed at the sight.
"Please! Tower Master! I'm not! I'm not a harbinger of calamity or anything like that! T-this appearance, I can fix it! It's just still under research!! If I research more, I'm sure I can fix this appearance!" Erpha wailed.
"Please! Everyone! Give me one more chance! I can fix it! I'm not a being that brings calamity! You know me well! I'm just an ordinary person! I, I'm just! Just...!"
"Well. Are you really sure you're an ordinary person?"
Tudel sneered as she stepped onto the stage.
"Should we even call something with such an ugly appearance a person? Plus, you have four arms. I teased you by calling you a spider, but... I didn't know you'd resemble one this much."
The many eyes on the left and the single eye on the right filled with despair.
Tudel looked down at Erpha with an unbearably happy face.
"You're terribly ugly, Erpha. Disgustingly ugly. Who would think of you as a person?"
"That's enough. There's nothing good in provoking the harbinger of calamity."
At the words of the White Order priests, Tudel shrugged and stepped back.
Erpha slumped, seeming to have lost all hope.
The priests began to lift and move her with a miracle.
Some snickered, some felt sorry, and some were happy.
Erpha was dragged away by the priests with a face like her soul had been shattered.
Confusion descended upon the conference hall.
And it was Tower Master Yorgen who quelled that confusion.
"Due to circumstances at the Mars branch Magic Tower... the regular academic conference will be held again tomorrow. I apologize for the delay due to this sudden incident."
With a complicated voice, Yorgen announced that the 213th academic conference had been postponed.
***
Numerous mages and witches walked out of the chaotic, postponed academic conference hall.
"That bitch always gave me bad vibes."
"To think she was hiding such a hideous appearance."
"Isn't she really a spider?"
The murmuring voices were mostly snickering.
Overwhelming talent always invited envy and jealousy, and when buried in a crowd, people tended to forget what they had done, and their sense of guilt became diluted.
And among mages and witches, there were many eccentrics and oddballs.
Also, among such eccentrics and oddballs, there were beings overflowing with youthful vigor who didn't properly think about the distant future.
The priests of the White Order had clearly said not to provoke the harbinger of calamity.
"Shall we spread rumors?"
"Aren't you curious about what people will shout at that spider bitch?"
Some witches and mages planned to do something they shouldn't, simply because they thought it would be fun.
The reason for planning such a thing?
There was jealousy towards Erpha, but more than that, they didn't know how strong Erpha was.
Erpha never showed herself outside unless it was a big event like presenting a paper.
Erpha was a terrible recluse.
So they didn't know how much enormous mana resided in her body. Even Tower Master Yorgen, who had brought her, didn't properly know.
That was why the witches and mages didn't know.
The consequences their actions would bring about.
They were just fools who wanted to see the bitch they usually disliked being cursed at.
"Don't you think people will all come to see if we shoot off firework magic while she's being escorted?"
"Let's do it. Let's do it!"
So a few young mages and witches secretly began to follow the priests escorting Erpha.
"Focus. We must not allow the harbinger of calamity to break the miracle and escape."
The four priests were pouring all their mental energy into maintaining the miracle subduing Erpha, so they didn't notice the young witches and mages casting perception interference magic and following them.
Just as the White Order priests, who had covered Erpha from head to toe with cloth to prevent exposure and started escorting her secretly through the back door of the Magic Tower, entered the main street without knowing anything.
"Now!"
Fireworks were shot into the sky.
"Remove the cloth too!"
Even the cloth covering the ugly left side of Erpha's face was removed.
People's attention instantly turned to Erpha due to the fireworks, and at the perfect timing, her left face was revealed to the world.
"Oh my!!"
"W-what is that!!"
"Uuugh!"
Seeing people's reactions burst out, the priests frantically started looking for the cloth to cover Erpha, but the cloth had already flown far away due to the mages' magic.
"Damn it all!!"
The harbinger of calamity must not be provoked.
"Step back!! Step back!! Don't watch and disperse! This is no joke! Everyone, step back!!" the priests started shouting, but there was no way people who had witnessed this rare spectacle would just leave.
"How can such an ugly face exist?"
"It's a spider!! A spider!!"
"It's nauseating. I'm about to throw up last night's dinner!"
"Disgusting!!"
Someone threw filth.
With a splat, filth stuck to Erpha's face.
The priests started shouting even louder, "It's dangerous!! Step back!! Step back!"
It would be good to use miracles to drive them away, but they were in a situation where they were barely maintaining the restraining miracle binding the harbinger of calamity.
The priests couldn't hold back the swarming people.
"Support!! Tell the nearby White Order to send holy knights and other priests for support!! Hurry!!"
And while they couldn't do anything.
"I'm really going to vomit!"
While being hit with filth and mud soaked in sewage strewn on the street.
Erpha's mind and soul were shattering.
***
"Saint!"
While I was in the middle of healing the poor, I saw the holy knight who had gone to look for the witch I mentioned among dark magicians running towards me, out of breath.
Oh! From the looks of it, he must have found her!! So she was a dark magician after all?
"Did you find..."
"The witch you mentioned is now being pelted with filth and cursed at in the street!"
"...What?"
I must have heard wrong?
Tell me I heard wrong.
A witch who's like a time bomb that could go off at any moment is now in the street doing what?
"Four arms! A terrifying witch with multiple eyes on half her face is now being escorted by priests of the White Order! I just witnessed citizens throwing filth and mocking her!"
"Where? Where did you see this?"
"There! It's happening in the alley of 3rd Street…! Saint! It's dangerous to move alone!"
Before he could finish speaking, I was already running.
Damn it.
Damn it!
We're screwed!! We're screwed!!
She was in the capital? That witch?
She must have been caught because she's a dark magician!!
Please! I'm coming now! I'm coming right now!
I'll heal you, so please!!
Please don't go berserk before then!