A Perfect Woman (5)
I left the cleanup to the police chief.
By the time I was ready to leave, the witch's familiars had already located Grass-Head's position.
There was no need to rush.
My anger had cooled a little, but the fear remained that if I ran too hard I might explode and end up directing it at some innocent bystander.
How long had it been?
At first it had been a day of nothing but rage.
After I awakened my holy power, it had become a nonstop flow of pure disgust.
Everything—the monsters, the demons, their followers—repulsed me to the core, so the feeling of disgust had long since swallowed up my anger.
“First time since the Koala Incident.”
A fake town that followed the devil.
The one normal child inside it.
But she had forced herself into a contract with the devil, and I had backed the town guards to break that contract and summon the devil myself.
On paper I was late, but I had deliberately gone out of my way to summon demons into the world.
“A single mad human who followed the devil is as angry as dozens who did the same….”
Grass-Head had been a little crazy in his own way.
“Who the hell are you?!”
Armed with a massive revolver, I pushed through the academy gate and found the guards already blocking the way.
Unlike the other gatekeepers who had sharpened their instincts for survival, these men moved because they refused to let someone else die.
“Exorcist Priest.”
No need to explain it long-windedly.
These men had no trickery, so they would follow the Exorcist Priest's guidelines.
For me it had always been a problem—mission or no mission, anyone who appeared in front of me died.
“Th-that…”
“Judge for yourselves. What exactly are you trying to protect—the academy or the students?”
The guards couldn't stop me.
They might have heard it as “protect the children,” but that was never the case.
If the academy fell, it could be rebuilt, but noble houses that screamed when their own blood died were the ones whose guards would pay the price.
I walked past the guards without hurry, the path to the professors' quarters now taken as the Exorcist Priest.
It was strangely different.
My disguised identity had always drawn stares, but now everyone avoided my gaze and stepped aside.
Yes, this was the proper welcome for an Exorcist Priest.
“Cheep cheep!”
“Tsk. She's being such a brat.”
The sight of a witch acting more spoiled than me—the actual witch—was hilarious.
All witches had a mix of attachment and obsession toward their own children and the orphans they raised, neutral or not.
It was funny that she was this upset because one of the victims had “ruined” her orphan feelings.
“Let's go. Let's go.”
The longer I dragged it, the more I worried the bird would poop on my head, so I ran.
The bird responded by flapping harder.
I had expected the boys' dormitory, but the actual destination was the one place I had never visited—the professors' quarters.
What exactly had these brats been given by the students?
The Hellsing heiress Bella was wandering around like a stray cat because she couldn't get her personal research lab.
“Why is an Exorcist Priest here?”
“I came to kill the heretic Alestar Drail. Are you a heretic too?”
The professor who had briefly blocked my path quickly stepped aside.
The others who had come out wondering what was happening after seeing me retreated back into their labs.
I could read how professors viewed their students, but I understood.
People who lived in a place where death was always a possibility.
I left the professors behind and chased the bird-guide that had turned into a rat.
Swoosh.
Finally, I slipped into the gap under a research lab door.
The moment I opened it without hesitation, I faced a scene far beyond my imagination.
“This one thing I'll admit.”
Abnormal.
There was no normal woman inside the test chamber.
I had seen all kinds of twisted things done to women as sacrifices, but this was the first time I'd seen a scene of such extreme perversion.
“Why aren't you repenting?!”
“Do you think this is possible? What's the difference between you and someone whose soul is completely consumed by the devil?”
I didn't think a human with this much revulsion could repent.
Even offering the chance to repent was an insult to those truly striving for redemption.
“I see why you joined hands with Lilith's henchman.”
Heretic. Blasphemer.
The mayor had intended to turn this brat into one of Lilith's apostles.
But his ego was too massive, so after he cooperated for a while he ended up like this.
“Before I kill you, tell me why.”
“I'm a Clocktower mage! Even if you're an Exorcist Priest, you can't just kill me like that…!”
Bang!
These men who wanted to talk today clearly had no intention of starting peacefully.
The Horizon blew a hole in his ear, and he finally shut up.
“Tell me the reason.”
“Whoa. For the sake of the perfect woman.”
“Do you really think you're a perfect woman?”
Siren breasts, a body whose insides were unknown, and a woman whose skin looked like it had been stretched from web-moth leather.
“I was trying to fill in the gaps!”
Cold personality, lack of charm, voice, and all those other things.
He had tried to make a perfect woman by filling them through monsters.
“Why didn't you just make a chimera?”
Of course, that was wrong too, but at least there was a chance for repentance.
This wasn't it.
“They're not humans! If you can combine the charm of monsters that no human can have, those would be the real perfect women!”
The idiot had no answer.
The bird itself was normal.
This was a human hater wearing the bird's skin.
“So is that your last will?”
“Last will? No. It's the last thing you'll hear from me before I reach heaven!”
The floor of the research lab trembled, and countless roots wrapped around Grass-Head and dragged him out.
“Everyone, evacuate!”
“Evacuate! Evacuate! Don't get caught!”
Unlike the students, the professors moved quickly to safety.
But that perverted bird chose a woman as his final resort.
“You gave me time on purpose, but all you can do is that?”
“What?”
“Killing a Clocktower mage on a whim is troublesome, but if someone tries to kill you mid-conversation, things are different.”
I wouldn't have cared elsewhere, but the situation was special.
He had fallen into my trap perfectly.
“Hah!”
A plant-type monster with countless women's faces moved at his gesture.
Tentacles shot out, and flames poured from the Horizon's muzzle.
Tatatata-tang!
Clack.
After each burst, I switched magazines and kept firing.
It wasn't a double action, but with so many targets it didn't matter.
The tentacles that pierced my bullet barrier were lightly dodged as I closed in.
“The spear that pierces the heart of what I desire!”
Yes. A mage should chant like this.
Bella had been right.
Several ice spears formed.
If I hadn't needed to chant, I would have been dead long ago.
Of course I was alive thanks to excellent conversation tactics.
The ice spears burst one by one against the incoming bullets.
The regenerating tentacles that followed were burned to ash by my own hand.
“Just die!”
I clicked my tongue at the sight of him screaming while smashing the tentacles before the fire spread.
“Tsk. He saw it coming.”
I had wanted to kill him quickly on purpose, but he was too evil for a simple death.
“You experimented while alive, didn't you? I thought you deserved the same pain….”
“Looks like I was wrong.”
His eyes still screamed “I did nothing wrong!”
That was the twisted mindset of those who believed they were geniuses and always right.
The real geniuses showed results without doing such nonsense—it was ironic.
“Gaaah!”
“Sun God, I'm sending one damned brat.”
Boom!
I kicked off the ground before the tentacles could block me and dove into his embrace.
Holy power infused with my anger surged through the fist.
The flames around the glowing fist burned brighter than ever.
Kwaaaang!
The fist struck his face, and even as fire spread across his body, his face looked like it was smiling.
“Aaaah! Aaaah!”
Unlike the monster that met its end with perfect composure, Grass-Head rolled around on the ground in agony.
He could have at least used his life force to pump up his mana and crush me.
“Oh. You're still alive.”
The whiskey I had brought in a bottle tasted great and remained intact.
I poured it quietly over the burning monster before I drank it again.
It was actually alcohol to be offered to the women who had been eaten by monsters.
“In the next life, don't be born into a dark fantasy like this.”
Even if Earth wasn't heaven, it was still better than this world.
* * *
After a long day, I enjoyed a relaxing teatime.
It was the time Pope Clemens valued most.
“I received a call from the Clocktower Tower Master.”
“Ignore it.”
“Hah. But…”
It was the Tower Master's phone, so the assistant tried again, but the stubborn look on Clemens' face shut him up and he waited quietly.
It took tens of minutes.
Clemens, who had finished his own drink, finally activated the ringing communication device.
“What is it?”
[You dared to kill a Clocktower mage with an Exorcist Priest! What do you plan to do about it!]
“Hmm.”
I only hesitated for a moment.
The result was too easy to determine who had done this nonsense.
'There must be a reason.'
Exorcist Priests were usually ignored by the stubborn and ignorant, but I was actually quite good at conserving my honor.
“What was the reason the Exorcist Priest attacked the mage?”
[That's the problem!]
“That's the problem. An Exorcist Priest who can kill a mage without receiving the proper equipment for the mission is rare.”
Anti-magic and other high-value equipment still had a high failure rate against mages.
“Why they interfere with matters that aren't their business is simpler than you think. They did what an Exorcist Priest was supposed to do.”
[Th-this is a problem for the Tower!]
“Tower Master. From the moment you called me, this became more than just a matter between an Exorcist Priest and a slain mage.”
The Clocktower.
How irritated I was that the so-called masters of magic secretly committed illegal acts.
But they had done many helpful things, and the new magic academy being promoted by the empress was only at the basic stage.
Since I couldn't touch it freely, I had simply been ticking them off, and Clemens had given me a reason to be pleased.
[I am intimidating the Clocktower right now!]
“Yes. If you wish to make it bigger, I won't stop you.”
I would have to divide the pie, but I had no reason to hesitate in dragging the empire in.
[I will advise the Empress!]
“What. I won't stop you.”
I would appear cooperative while receiving their knowledge, but I had a fully loaded intent to cut off that woman's head at any time.
'I should probably contact Albert first.'
I felt a bad premonition that if I didn't inform the Crows' leader first, I wouldn't be able to extract the Clocktower's knowledge from the Tower Master.
* * *
Some people say “work never ends,” so I agree.
Monsters, demons, and endless corpses after death were exactly what it described.
“I will live here.”
But that didn't mean this was the same as that.
The next day after I had shut up the dean who had run here about the incident and returned.
Early morning before mass even began, Bella appeared in front of me with her bags packed.