This Isn't an E*otic Game?

Chapter 8

The priests of the White Order strode purposefully onto the stage.@@@@

On their hands were the Gloves of Damnation, symbolizing their role as demon hunters of the White Order.

As they surrounded Erfa, their divine power flared, creating an oppressive aura.

“Please remove the mask on your left side,” one of the priests requested. Though polite, his voice carried a chilling finality.

“I... I... I’m not...” Erfa stammered through her tears.

“I’m not an abomination.”

“That is for us to determine after seeing your left side. Please do not resist. Any resistance will result in the entire White Order deeming you an enemy.”

“Please! Don’t do this! Tower Master!” Erfa screamed in desperation, but Yorgren’s expression showed his helplessness.

“Everyone! Please...!”

Her cries grew more pitiful as she looked around, pleading with the mages and witches gathered. But among them, only a handful showed any sign of pity.

Most wore expressions of mockery.

It was then that Erfa realized the bitter truth: Tudel was not the only one in the Magic Tower who envied and resented her.

“Do not resist,” the priests warned again, stepping closer.

Their hands reached toward her face.

As the priest’s hand touched her mask—

“No!!”

Erfa screamed, unleashing telekinetic force that pushed the priests back.

The intense magic caused them to stagger and retreat momentarily.

“I am not an abomination! I will not remove my mask! I will not yield to this unjust accusation!” she shouted defiantly.

But her defiance did not change the course of her fate.

“Restrain her!”

The Gloves of Damnation glowed with divine power, and a binding spell coiled around Erfa’s body.

She struggled against it, drawing her wand to resist the miracle that sought to ensnare her.

But her wand was wrenched from her grasp and flung aside.

It was Yorgren who disarmed her, his wand still raised from the spell.

“Tower Master...” Erfa’s voice trembled with disbelief.

“With the situation as it is, I have no other choice,” Yorgren replied, his tone heavy with regret.

“If you truly aren’t an abomination, there is no reason to resist. Just let them remove the mask.”

“No! No! Don’t take it off!” Erfa screamed in despair.

“I’m not an abomination! You’re misunderstanding me!”

“We’ll decide that once the mask is removed,” the priest declared.

The leader of the priests approached, placing his hand on the silver mask.

As white light emanated from the Gloves of Damnation, the adhesion spell she had meticulously crafted was forcibly dispelled.

“No! No!” Erfa’s screams grew more frantic, but it changed nothing.

The mask was removed.

And there, for all to see—

The face she had hidden for so long was revealed before everyone gathered at the academic conference.

“W-what is that?!”

“Ugh!!”

“My God!”

Cries of shock and disgust filled the hall.

The air grew heavy with horrified silence.

And then—

Laughter erupted, mixed with sneers and mocking comments.

“Look at her! Everyone, look! I told you she was hiding a grotesque secret!” Tudel cried triumphantly, casting an illusion spell to magnify the view of Erfa’s exposed face for even those in the farthest rows.

The left side of her face was covered in eyes—more than ten, pulsating and blinking irregularly, resembling a spider’s. The sight evoked visceral disgust.

The priests had completely wrapped Erfa in cloth to prevent her grotesque appearance from being seen. As they discreetly exited through the back door of the Magic Tower and stepped into a side street—

"Now!"

Fireworks shot up into the sky with a deafening crack.

“Remove the cloth!”

The cloth concealing Erfa’s hideous left face was torn away by magic.

All eyes, drawn by the fireworks, turned to Erfa just as her left side was exposed to the world.

“Oh my god!”

“What the fuck is that?!”

“Ugh!”

The crowd erupted with screams of horror and disgust. The priests scrambled to cover her again, but the cloth had already been blown far out of reach by a spell.

“Goddammit!”

They had warned not to provoke the bringer of calamity.

“Step back! Step back, I said! Disperse! This is no joke! Move away!” the priests shouted, but the crowd, fascinated by the grotesque spectacle, refused to leave.

“What kind of freak has a face like that?”

“It’s a spider! A fucking spider!”

“I’m gonna puke! Last night’s dinner is coming up!”

“Disgusting!”

Someone threw a clump of filth.

Splatter!

It struck Erfa square in the face, smearing her grotesque features.

The priests shouted even louder, desperately trying to control the situation.

“It’s dangerous! Step back! Step back!”

Using a miracle to drive away the crowd would have been ideal, but the priests were too preoccupied maintaining the suppression miracle binding Erfa.

“Request reinforcements! Call for paladins and additional priests from the nearest White Order branch! Hurry!”

Meanwhile, Erfa stood there, motionless, as she was pelted with mud, filth, and waste. Her spirit and soul shattered completely.

***

“Saint!”

While I was healing the poor, I saw a paladin running toward me, panting heavily. He was one of the ones I’d sent to search for the witch I mentioned.

Oh, judging by his urgency, they found her! Was she a black magic user?

“Did you—”

“The witch you described is being pelted with filth and cursed at in the streets!” he interrupted.

“...What?”

I must’ve misheard him.

Please, tell me I misheard.

The witch, practically a ticking time bomb, is where?

“She has four arms and a grotesque face with multiple eyes on one side. She’s currently being escorted by the White Order priests. I just saw citizens throwing filth at her while mocking her!”

“Where? Where did you see her?”

“Over there! By the alley on Third Street—Saint! It’s dangerous to go alone!”

Before he could finish speaking, I was already running.

Fuck.

Fuck!

This is a disaster!

The witch was in the capital? She got caught because she’s a black magic user?

Please hold on! I’m coming! I’ll heal you! Just don’t go berserk before I get there!