Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Evil Spirit Assault! (2)
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Evil spirits—wicked spirits, shortened to just evil spirits.
Of course, humans set the standard for that wickedness. Much like how they distinguish between decay and fermentation purely based on their own benefit.
But put another way, any creature slapped with the "evil spirit" label were the types who made a habit of harassing and picking fights with humans on the regular.
If a person pokes a deer minding its own business with a stick first and gets charged, that deer's not ferocious. That's normal.
But if it charges at every person it sees? Yeah, that's a ferocious one. Ugh, someone call a hunter!
Evil spirits were exactly that kind.
Delinquent spirits who loved screwing with humans.
However.
Howeverrrrrr.
This time, they had a bit of a legitimate grievance.
What? The goddess has marked a human? And her overflowing talent is crystal clear?
Irresistibly tempting.
The kind any evil spirit would want to poke just once.
Like how a billionaire dressing up as a flying mammal to play vigilante in a city crawling with psychos and villains is just begging to get jumped.
But nooo.
Look at that Heavenly God glaring daggers. Poke her, and she'll go beyond throwing a fit—she'll flip the entire spirit realm upside down.
Hold back. Gotta hold back. We love tormenting humans, but if the spirit realm turns into chaos, we're screwed too.
Any girl the Heavenly God cares that much about will awaken as a saintess soon enough. Just endure. It won't last long.
...But it lasted.
It's still lasting.
Finally, the patience of evil spirits who'd endured for years began to snap.
—Grrrrrr!! Get over here!!
The problem was...
The first one whose patience broke was, well, really dangerous.
A being who once walked the earth as one of the gods, ruling vast domains and territories. Mona of Wrath.
Though fallen far from her prime, making one terrified woman suffer to the point of death was child's play.
Pus, blood, clawing wounds, oozing sores, a child's screams, biting flies buzzing around!
Pain.
Horror.
Despair.
A nightmare from which no amount of begging for mercy could awaken you!!
Mona breathed on Cynthia's nape.
—Hoo!
"Kyaaaaah!?"
Cynthia shrieked in horror as a sudden disgusting chill touched the back of her neck.
"Why are you suddenly like this, Miss?"
"T-T-Tiona, Miss Tiona, there's something weird here right now...!"
Mona tripped the retreating Cynthia. Her balance shattered, and Cynthia staggered.
"Eek!?"
"...Gasp! Cynthia, are you under evil spirit attack!?"
An uncharacteristically spot-on assessment from Tiona. Straight out of a romance novel trope.
"...Evil spirits?"
Wait. Come to think of it, that's exactly why she'd come all the way to the church, right? But the vice priest in charge was so sketchy she still hadn't gotten her divine protection?
...So this is a real evil spirit attack?
"...Hic!?"
Evil spirits?
Spiriiiits!?!?
Horrific visions flooded Cynthia's mind. Torture, nightmares, death!
—Hee hee! Torment her a bit more and she'll cry!
The church had a courtyard, and the grass was full of bugs. Mona grunted as she yanked out an earthworm.
And...
Threw it!
The earthworm landed on Cynthia's shirt!
—Cryyyyy!
"...Huh?"
But Cynthia was unfazed.
To someone raised in the countryside, earthworms were an everyday sight. Ants that might actually bite were way scarier.
"Where'd this bug come from?"
Just like back home, she picked it up barehanded—and a scream rivaling Cynthia's earlier one exploded right beside them.
"Kyaaaaah!?!?"
"...Miss?"
"G-G-Get it off!! Get it off me!!"
"...It's just an earthworm?"
Cynthia held it up like, See? It doesn't bite.
But to Tiona, raised in the cozy comfort of her castle, bugs were all creepy and horrifying without exception.
"Ewww! Scary!! So scaaaary!!!"
She was on the verge of full panic.
—Hmm? What's with this human?
Humans were plentiful, but the biggest reason evil spirits couldn't harass them daily was simple: they couldn't perceive them. The barrier between the spirit realm and the material world.
But thanks to the goddess's attention on Cynthia, they could perceive her—and through her, Tiona drew their gaze too.
—What's this~?
—Wanna make her bawl so bad~!
—Kyap-kyap!? Yap yap!!
The result?
"Kyaaaaah!?!?"
The evil spirits' torment poured onto Tiona.
Her skirt hem yanked up like a spring, dress lifted...
—This worked great earlier!!!
They threw bugs.
An earthworm plopped onto Tiona's forearm. Cold, slimy, wriggling.
"—"
Tiona's face froze unnaturally.
Her throat convulsed, body curled up tight, eyes bulged into full whites. Her face went pale as dough—you could compare its saturation and brightness.
Her whole body stiffened rigid, swaying back and forth like a bobblehead.
Screaming her head off would have been better.
"Miss Tiona!"
Cynthia cried out.
It was terrifying.
The evil spirits. Knowing what monstrous beings they'd been when they once roamed the earth. Pure dread.
But.
A spark ignited in Cynthia's heart.
Like kindling long awaiting the blaze.
Courage.
Not the absence of fear, but the virtue of pressing forward despite it.
Evil spirits were still terrifying.
She didn't think she could do a thing against them.
But.
Even so.
Cynthia, to move forward.
To save the suffering person before her.
To help the girl she considered a friend, excuses or not.
She overcame her fear.
Forward.
Conquered the terror.
Forward.
As she reached out ahead, a ring-shaped cloud formed in the sky as if long awaiting this moment, sunlight spotlighting down through it onto Cynthi—
"Miss Tiona! Miss Cynthia!"
"Ah, Teacher! Help!!"
"Kyaaaaah!!! A-Arthuruuuuu!!!"
"Evil spirits after all... 'Hey, Titania!'"
"Have you called for me, my liege?" "'Get rid of these things!'"
"If it is your request, I shall gladly oblige. Of course—" "'Got it, I'll play with you later!'"
"A contract, is it? A contract it is? Heh heh, heh heh heh..." And then her voice dropped low.
"You wretched pests!! Begone from my lady's presence at once!!" —Wait, why's the fairy queen speaking human—
—Deeeeath!! Run awaaaaay!!
—Teeeeeeng!!
—Those bitches started it!!
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ About 20 seconds later.
Melti Luther arrived a beat late due to physical limitations (her age), and found two women clutching Arthur and bawling their eyes out.
"Uuuu... So scaryyy... Uuuu..."
"Hweee... It was so scaryyy..."
Tiona and Cynthia, in that order.
But.
'Huh...? Imagination?'
Not that it mattered—she'd had her invitation revoked at the last second over a minor slip-up—but Melti was a high priestess who'd received the Heavenly God's recognition and favor, reaching the threshold of ascension.
No sarcasm. For real.
The bishop's robe she wore now wasn't cosplay; it was properly consecrated gear.
And her senses were telling her:
For some reason... the Heavenly God seemed displeased.
If it were just that, it'd be ordinary. God's wrath, God's sorrow. Common phrases, right?
But.
'This is... God getting indigestion?'
A phrase she'd never heard before.
Probably never would again.
She could almost see the goddess clutching her chest in frustration. Though her bust was so huge it looked more like she was slapping her collarbones. Wait, am I visions-divining right now?
"Phew..."
Arthur patted the two girls' backs.
"Anyway, nothing should happen for a while now. Relax—"
"Uuugh... Blergh...!!"
Tiona suddenly doubled over.
"...Urp, hrrk... Bleeech... Sob, haaaa... S-Sudden tension release... Uuugh...! A-Arthuuur... Sob... U-Urp...!! Hic...!"
"..."
"..."
Cynthia and Melti subtly edged away from Arthur.
Of course they'd help. Obviously. But no need to get it on their clothes too, right?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Anyway.
...Way too much crap happened, and skipping over it might make me ragequit.
So, anyway.
"Argh, fuck."
"Arthur, you've been using a lot of desert tongue lately?"
"Just keeping my conversational skills sharp. You should focus on improving your native language first before foreign ones, Miss."
"That feels like a massive insult!"
"Your improving intuition makes me proud as a home tutor."
"Hmph, rejoice all you want!"
Anyway, anyway.
A few days later, Tiona and I were in District B-6 of the capital, Elixir Street, where alchemists' workshops clustered.
The reason? To check on the situation of a certain original protagonist's companion—the one who was supposed to become the White Mage—after hearing the latest from Melti.
Dian Learus.
We had to confirm if the refined pretty boy from a high noble house had turned into a lunatic obsessed with fake boobs.
.
.
.
"...She was a cross-dressing girl?"
"Hand her back now that you've confirmed, you psycho!!!"