READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 10
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When I lifted my eyes to the Saint, I saw him bleeding and crying.
He would love and have compassion even for the most vile and filthy beings, willingly rolling in filth and waste, shedding tears.
He would say to the ugly being, “You are beautiful,” for there has not been a single truly beautiful being since the very beginning.
Through this, you will see that the Goddess of Grace is alive.
-Scripture of Grace, Chapter 51, Verse 12.-
***
Has it been about three minutes since I tightly hugged the Witch and patted her back?
I feel something damp on my shoulder.
The Witch in my arms was crying.
I couldn’t tell if she was sobbing in relief, moved deeply, or if she was just so damn fed up that she was venting her feelings before burning the world down.
I held her even tighter.
“It’s okay. You’ll be okay.”
No, it’s not okay. Damn it.
Couldn’t you stop crying and calm down?
Because you’re crying, I can’t tell if this is a sign of an impending explosion or if you’re just starting to calm down.
While I was nearly losing my mind and patting her back,
“No matter how saintly you are, this isn’t acceptable!”
“That’s a disaster! A disaster!! It will bring destruction to the world!”
“We need to handle this quickly! Saint! Please step aside! We can’t just leave things as they are!!”
I heard the priests of the White Church spitting sharp words at me.
A disaster that brings destruction to the world, huh.
Yeah, that’s right.
This is definitely a disaster.
Can’t you see I’m trying to save you idiots?
You bunch of morons!
If I don’t comfort her now, she’s gonna blow!
Having just come off a life-or-death experience, my nerves were frayed.
I glared at the priests and raised my voice.
If I wanted to survive, I had to side with the Witch.
“Why is she a disaster?”
In response to my question, the priests pointed at the Witch and shouted.
“An abomination!! Saint!! An abomination!”
“Look at those spider-like four arms, the twisted left side of her face, and those hideous eyes!”
“It’s not a rare disease! She has been cursed and made ugly!”
“She will bring destruction to the world!”
These crazy bastards!
The Witch can hear you, you know!!
What are you gonna do if she blows?!
I yelled back.
“You’re calling her a disaster because she’s ugly? Are you really about to destroy a person’s soul and life for such a reason?”
I stood up while still holding the Witch.
Maybe it was because I was on the brink of death, but a voice that could scare even myself burst out.
It was like a desperate roar to survive.
“What is truly ugly?! Just because someone has a twisted face doesn’t mean they are ugly! No!! You’re wrong! That’s not ugly!! What is truly ugly is your hearts!”
I looked at the citizens who had just mocked and thrown filth.
You are the ones who are far uglier for throwing filth based on appearances and destroying a person’s life and soul!!
I shouted at the sorcerers and witches who had been snickering.
“While one person is on the verge of being destroyed, you laugh and chatter as if it’s a joke! You are the ones who are far uglier!! And!!”
Finally, I turned to the priests of the White Church and yelled.
“You shout about hunting evil while your hands are stained with the blood of the innocent! You are even uglier!”
The priests of the White Church hesitated and stepped back.
Even I thought it was a tremendous voice, so I can understand their reaction.
To be honest, I have no idea what I just said.
It was a close call, and I just spewed things out to stay alive.
“…Ugly appearances don’t simply happen. They are a result of divine curses, Saint.”
“That’s right. If you let her live, one day, it will surely bring trouble, Saint.”
“If we let the abomination live, the Empire will be in danger. We are doing this to save everyone.”
The priests of the White Church stammered back like this.
Well.
They do have a point.
Honestly, everything those priests said was true.
They’re known for being demon hunters, and they really are precise.
How did they even find this dark magician Witch and escort her like this?
But I had to make sure this Witch didn’t go on a rampage.
If we keep dragging her along, everyone is gonna die!!
“Some gods might cast curses. Not all gods are benevolent.”
So I needed to dissuade these priests.
How should I go about that?
It was a bit twisted, but I needed to stick to my original plan.
I just have to fix her face!
“And if there are gods who cast curses, there are also gods who can lift those curses.”
I carefully placed my hand on the Witch’s head.
And activated the skill.
[Body Modification skill activated!]
A familiar customization window appeared.
The body condition of the Witch was displayed in a 3D modeling format.
This was a window I had grown accustomed to after modifying countless impoverished people.
I slowly began to modify the Witch’s body.
I removed the pair of arms that had grown out from her lower half.
I got rid of the horrendous burn scars on the left side of her face.
And I removed the multiple eyeballs that were clustered together.
After cleaning up everything, there was no more to fix.
The original form was already an extreme beauty, so just that alone made the Witch stunning.
“Ah!! Ugh!… Ugh!”
During the body modification, the Witch made strange sounds.
This was familiar.
Many people made such sounds during their modifications because their muscles and bones moved uncontrollably.
But why is her body starting to emit light?
What’s going on?
Why is her body bursting with light?
At the moment the modifications finished, a blinding, almost dazzling light erupted from her body for a moment. Then, it faded.
And in the place that remained, a stunningly beautiful woman was sitting in the mud.
“Oh my god!….”
“Goodness, Dulanear!…”
The priests of the White Church fell to their knees in shock.
“Saint! Saint!”
“It’s a miracle! You’ve performed another miracle!!”
The impoverished began kneeling and prostrating before me.
“Rophus.”
“I swear by the Sun, I have never seen a more sincere Saint than this.”
“The Goddess of Grace is indeed alive.”
The knights of the Sun Church were also bowing respectfully towards me while making the holy sign.
That final burst of light must be the reason for this.
To be honest, it really did feel like a miracle scene.
I slowly gazed at the Witch’s figure.
Wow!
She’s really pretty!
I like it!
With looks like this, she could debut as a top-tier idol right away in Korea!
By this point, I could consider her fully healed, right?
I believe she won’t go berserk again.
Please.
“Whether it’s a curse, an illness, or the countless wounds that people have inflicted upon you, they are all gone now. Woman, live righteously and don’t sin again.”
Touching her left cheek, the Witch looked up at me, shedding silent tears.
Done.
Looking at it now, those are tears of emotion!
Exactly!
I’ve healed her, so it wouldn’t be good if she exploded!
“You are beautiful. Truly.”
I said to the Witch with a smile.
If I give her this much lip service, I think she won’t blow now.
Now that I’ve treated her, all that’s left is to disappear without a trace before the members of the Lilia Church come to the capital.
***
Erpa touched her left cheek.
The touch of the horrid, jagged eyeballs was gone and smooth skin was felt instead.
Everything was just as she had always dreamed of.
A human shape.
No more four arms, no more ugly eyeballs.
Tears flowed without her even realizing it.
To be honest, until just now, she had distrusted the man before her.
She, who was called a genius among geniuses, had an appearance that had never changed despite her years of effort.
But she thought there was no way the man before her could achieve that in an instant.
But that was a miscalculation.
A magically incomprehensible phenomenon appeared within her body.
The arms that had grown disappeared, and her twisted face returned to normal.
In that moment of transformation, she was so astonished and overjoyed that she spilled her magical energy uncontrollably.
She emitted a flash of light so bright it was almost blinding.
Even while touching her face, she couldn’t believe it.
Slowly, Erpa stood up from her place.
She looked at the man before her.
The man, smiling gently, was bleeding from his head.
Yet that spectacle of his bleeding was so sacred.
Even just standing there, it felt too holy to meet his gaze.
She began to understand why the impoverished referred to him as their Saint.
He had achieved a miracle.
It wasn’t merely that he had changed her appearance, which was believed to be impossible through magic.
If he had used more advanced high-dimensional magic with the tricolor theorem, she too could have possibly changed her appearance.
But even if that were the case,
the twisted resentment and hatred buried deep within her heart would not have been erased.
And she wouldn’t have been able to make those who had once seen her hideous face look upon her with astonishment and reverence.
The man before her had, in one fell swoop, solved all those impossible problems.
Problems she thought could never be overcome by a human effort.
Her heart began to race uncontrollably.
Erpa had never experienced love even once in her life.
Because she was ugly.
Because she was grotesque and filthy.
A few men had approached her, seeing only her right side, but she knew they would leave the moment they looked at her left.
So she had thought she was not meant for love and had suppressed her emotions all this time.
She had cruelly isolated herself, only conducting research.
But not anymore.
“I want to know your name.”
Erpa grasped the Saint’s sleeve with a trembling voice.
Her face was flushed and full of excitement.
“I’m just a humble caretaker of the lowly.”
The Saint tried to gently pull away, smiling.
But she couldn’t let go.
She eagerly approached and gripped the Saint’s hand tightly.
His body trembled at her action.
The Saint’s shaking hands were slick with cold sweat.
Erpa understood what this was.
She knew that when the priests who used powerful miracles showed such physical symptoms, it was normal.
She had researched miracles to heal her own body.
Considering the miracle that had effortlessly solved problems even she, dubbed a magical genius, could not tackle, how burdened must his body be?
Seeing the blood trickling down from his forehead, there was also the possibility of infection.
“The Saint is trembling! It’s a side effect of the miracle!”
At Erpa’s shout, the knights of the Sun Church and the priests of the White Church moved at once.
“Has divine grace visited us?”
“Yes! It’s divine grace! He’s sweating and trembling! He needs to rest!”
“Rophus! You’ve cared for so many impoverished people!!”
“Quickly! We need to set up a resting place! If we leave the divine grace unattended, it could lead to an irreversible situation!!”
At those words, the members of the White Church and the Sun Church worked together.
“The Sun Church is closest! I will lead the way!”
“Saint! Allow me to carry you!!”
The knight scooped him up and Erpa, along with the priests of the White Church, followed behind.
“The Saint is in pain! Make way! Clear a path!!”
The impoverished made way, and the knights quickly rushed through.
Erpa followed right behind.
Now, she was no longer concerned about her face or appearance.
The man being carried away was her life.
He had kissed the left side of her face she had found disgusting.
-Live. You are beautiful.
The words the Saint had once whispered to her echoed clearly in her mind.
As she ran frantically, her face was burning with emotion.
One thing was for sure: this flush was definitely not due to vigorous exercise.
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