The witch’s face took a fist to the chin.
BAM!
Ah, this is what you call a non-negotiable punch.
POW!
I said it’s non-negotiable, witch!
“Alright, I’m giving you two choices.”
I said while straddling the witch who was bleeding from her nose. The witch’s magic was already neutralized the moment she was within my attack range. Though I could still hear Andrea and Uncle Paul throwing punches, and Aurora swinging her staff, so the magic itself wasn’t completely cut off yet.
“First. You lose all your powers as a witch and go back to being a regular human to be handed over to the church. No need to worry. The Central Church may seem that way, but they’re actually quite a rational organization. They’ll probably assign you a lawyer for a fair trial. Of course, avoiding the gallows might be a bit difficult.”
“I benefit…?”
The witch swung a fist at me, but I caught her hand and slammed it to the ground. Huh, her strength seems way weaker than those high-ranking demons or beasts. I guess that’s only natural.
With both of her hands firmly held down, my position felt quite awkward, but hey, there wasn’t anyone around to watch.
“Second. Go quietly to the goddess and face judgment. Oh, I only learned recently that Baal, the demon god who created your kind, seems to be cooperating with Ariel. Of course, it won’t be a pleasant experience there either, but at least you won’t suffer as much as being handed over to the church.”
“What…?”
At my words, the witch’s eyes went wide.
“Demon god? Goddess…? No, more importantly…”
The witch muttered in a daze, as if she couldn’t comprehend what she just heard.
“Weren’t you a creation of the goddess…? How can you refer to the gods like that…?”
“Huh? What do you mean…? Oh no.”
It seems my casual way of talking to gods backfired on me. I never called the goddess just ‘goddess’ in front of others. I can’t remember if it’s ever happened… but at least nobody openly questioned it before, so I thought I hadn’t been caught.
“How do you know the name of the demon god…?”
As I watched the dazed witch mumble away, I pondered.
Come to think of it, I hardly knew anything about demons or witches. I remembered some of the settings I’d made, but I hadn’t crafted the detailed backgrounds for each witch or the history of demons.
More importantly, I didn’t even know exactly what demons were, or how they looked. I hadn’t even set the appearance for Baal, one of the two gods. I mean, I didn’t really write this for publication, so I just tossed it out there and got bored continuing my story.
…Or maybe I should have created a more detailed setting for the final boss?
Thinking back, this witch was the first one I had captured. Sure, the Witch of Jealousy could have been captured too, but at that time, I was too busy retching. I didn’t really grasp the importance of capturing then.
Even if I mistakenly referred to Ariel, it wouldn’t cause any significant repercussions if the witch testified in front of the church. They’d believe me over her since I’m a saint.
Anyway, I knew it’d lead to execution, but since that’s the case, I’d try to keep her alive as long as possible to extract information—
SO STRAIGHTFORWARD!
As I was lost in thought, a voice suddenly rang in my head.
“Huh? Ah, wait, wait, WAIT!”
Suddenly, black light gathered in my right hand. Against my will, my hand slowly lifted, fingers spread wide, and I clutched the witch’s face—
STOP!
And time stopped.
…Ah, wait. It seems time didn’t actually stop.
A gentle breeze continued to blow, and judging by the sounds of people breathing around me, especially the warm breath of the witch whose face I was holding, it would be more accurate to say that the movements of the people making various noises around me had ceased.
The beastmen pushing towards me like a horde of zombies, Andrea and Uncle Paul who had already taken down several of them barehanded, Aurora swinging her staff, and the civil servant blocking the beastmen with her body—all of them stood still.
…Uh, I didn’t mean for you all to stop.
A fortunate point was that the witch was still alive.
The unfortunate part was that all the people who had stopped were staring directly at me. I could understand why Andrea, Uncle Paul, and Aurora were looking, but why were the beastmen looking at me too? Was the witch’s intentions visible in their actions?
Well, moments ago, they had been charging at me trying to pull me away from the witch.
“I just need a moment to think—”
In this situation where everyone was focused on me, I couldn’t afford to be rude with the gods, so I barely managed to speak politely.
[If what you want is ‘information,’ it would be foolish to expect anything meaningful from this witch.]
“…Why?”
[She is likely to be thoroughly uncooperative. Why do you think a deeply religious human becomes a witch?]
“…”
Perhaps it’s precisely because she hated humanity that much.
Considering that witches constantly kill humans, one can see how deeply they despise them.
The reason behind that would be unknown unless you ask them… but that doesn’t justify their actions afterward.
[More than that, yes, send this witch to me. I’ll ask her a few things.]
I wondered if it would really just end with questions.
No way, I don’t think a witch who made her way to the side of a god would simply get interrogated and released.
…Or rather, she’s the one who created demons and witches, so she probably already knows everything without needing to ask.
Even if she did ask, I’d feel uncomfortable rejecting it.
“…”
I didn’t know what was so urgent to make her talk so much.
Oh well, if the god is in a hurry, so be it.
Then again, I actually needed the Witch of Resentment rather than the Witch of Hate. If I could manage to keep that witch alive, the others would quickly make their way to the divine as long as they were taken there, be it fast or slow. Ideally, the faster they leave, the fewer victims there would be, so it’d be great if they could scram quickly.
“Sorry, let’s forget about the choices. It seems the god wants to see you sooner.”
Deciding to accept Baal’s words, I told the witch that.
“Ah— no! Wait, wait! I was wrong—!”
She shouted ‘hate’, but—
Before there was time for a response, a black light surged from my hand enveloping her face, and the hand that had aimed at me weakly fell to the ground.
At the same time, there came the sound of something crashing down.
Looking up, I realized it was the noise of all the beastmen who had been rushing toward me collapsing to the ground.
“…”
The street was silent for a reason unlike before.
I slowly rose, brushed my hands off, and said,
“Alright then, let’s heal all of the fallen. There might be some who got injured out of sight, so I’ll treat everyone regardless of visible injuries. You all make sure to lay the injured down properly. It’d create confusion if we go in a random order.”
Finally, the stunned expressions on my comrades, who had been frozen in combat, shifted as they started moving.
*
As one might expect, it took nearly half a day to resolve the situation.
During that process, I was able to hear stories from other volunteers and public servants, soldiers, and knights who had gathered at my location about what happened while I was absent.
People who’d been patrolling other areas where I wasn’t said that people who had been ready to take their own lives with blades to their throats suddenly turned and started running towards one spot. When they hurriedly followed behind, it naturally led them to where I was.
Of course, all the beastmen who had rushed towards me fell before me like puppets whose strings were cut.
There were some who hadn’t sustained serious injuries, but many got torn or bruised while falling onto the hard stone ground. Luckily, there were no fatalities nor individuals on the brink of death, so nobody fell outside of my holy power’s treatment.
What started as a completely manual operation eventually picked up speed when vehicles from the camp were brought in to transport people. Honestly, if someone hadn’t thought to grab a vehicle, we might have been stuck there for days, if not longer.
Thanks to that, the camp, which had been mostly empty, was bustling with people for once.
In fact, we even had to put up more tents outside because there wasn’t enough room for everyone to lie down.
…Honestly, I was a bit concerned.
These were people who had firmly rejected the church, or rather ‘humanity’s’ help. No matter how badly they had fallen to the ground, they might get angry and stand up after being rescued against their will. It was one thing to beat citizens under the influence of witchcraft, but if they punched a citizen in their right mind, who knows what might happen?
I didn’t care about my image, but being taken in as a criminal would be a problem.
I had no idea about the standards of self-defense in this world; it seemed to fluctuate between something like America or Korea. Self-defense laws are usually at two ends of a spectrum between the two countries.
…
In the end, my conclusion was ‘To hell with it.’
*
That evening, the fallen residents began to awaken one by one.
The officer school cadets had regained consciousness as soon as I treated them, but these residents took longer. I figured it was because the officer cadets had only been aggravated by strong negative emotions, whereas the residents’ minds had been completely controlled. So it seemed to be just a difference in degree.
The existence of magic points was presumably for that purpose, after all.
…By the way, that was some really dangerous magic.
Controlling a person’s mind, especially on a large scale like this, seems much easier to produce than I thought.
I needed to exercise much more caution than before. It would be wise to inform the church and the government. Well, even if I don’t, those who witnessed today’s spectacle from the church and government would take care of it.
“Over here, Saintess?”
As I sat alone, gazing at the night sky, someone came up beside me and called out. When I turned to look, it was a local civil servant whose name I didn’t recognize.
“The residents are starting to awaken.”
Should I be happy about that or not?
To be honest, it was me who had asked to be informed when the residents woke up, so I didn’t have much to say. I’d have to clean up if anything went wrong… Honestly, I was the only one who had the power to bury whatever happened under the authority.
What if a knight or commander tried to clean up and got demoted? How would they handle the aftermath?
Sighing heavily, I followed the civil servant’s lead with reluctance
The guided location was a large tent that had been quickly erected outside of the camp due to lack of space.
I could hear whispers coming from inside the tent. It sounded like not just one person had awakened, but quite a few of them inside.
Alright, let’s strike while the iron’s hot.
Taking a deep breath, I burst through the door of the tent.
“…”
The whispering instantly stopped, and silence flooded the tent.
Dozens of gazes turned toward me.
When I glanced around the tent, the stares that had been glued to me quickly shifted to the floor. In other words, they were turning their eyes away.
…Huh.
Well, they didn’t seem like they were about to cause immediate trouble.
Maybe some among them had directly taken a punch from me? If any memories remained, that could be a possibility.
They weren’t about to sue me or something, right?
“Is anyone here feeling unwell, or is there any lingering pain or injuries? If you let me know, I’ll treat you right away.”
“….”
Silence.
“Uh… well, no response is a good response.”
I had expected a more intense backlash, but their oddly quiet reaction felt a bit awkward instead.
“…I’ll check in again by tomorrow morning. If anyone wants to go home, I can provide an escort.”
“Yes, that would be good.”
At my words, the civil servant nodded.
And to avoid the awkward atmosphere, I quickly turned and stepped outside the tent.
After that, the residents who had lost consciousness gradually regained their senses, and I continued to visit them one after another—
Interestingly, they all exhibited similar reactions.
…Well, as long as it’s not a problem.
*
It was not good at all.
The footage of the merciful saintess beating up residents was broadcast live on the news, contrary to my expectations.
First, it was observed that a whole area had been enveloped in black magic. The beastman city had buildings clustered together, with high rises as you approached the center; logically, the tallest building had a viewing platform. That platform was also a favorite attraction among the few tourists visiting the city.
In any case, the black light observed from the observation deck had been reported to the broadcasting station, and the local station moved quickly into action.
The beastman area was on the outskirts of human society. Naturally, it was a frontline area fighting against the demon race. It made sense to act quickly upon the sight of large-scale magic.
They sent helicopters to air out the area’s situation live, which then showcased me swinging my fists against a horde of incoming beastmen while simultaneously neutralizing the spells the witch hurled at me and confidently advancing toward the witch herself.
By the way, Brassner rushed in to show me footage. I outright refused and rejected it.
In any case, the result—
“Saintess, when I spoke to you last, I mentioned that despite the time that’s passed, we haven’t completely escaped the thought of survival of the fittest, right?”
With a serious expression, Brassner asked me as we sat across from one another.
“Uh… yes…”
“And I told you that mixed martial arts is the most popular sport in the beastman region?”
“Yeeess…”
“And the residents of the slum were the ones deeply embedded in that ideology.”
“Right…”
Brassner sighed lightly. But it wasn’t the heavy sigh that sounded filled with worry or anxiety. Rather, it was more like a sigh of relief.
“So what I’m trying to say is that thanks to the footage of what you did that day going viral, the people in that area now acknowledge you as a ‘strong person’.”
“…!”
I covered my head with both hands.
“To be honest, it is possible that at least in that area, you have become an irreplaceable figure…”
“Ah…”
As I groaned and buried my head in my hands, I suddenly looked up.
“What about the response from the overall beastman area? Surely they’d have a slightly different reaction compared to those extreme individuals?”
That was right. Unlike the individuals whose brains were filled with survival of the fittest ideas, the residents in the urban area were fairly reasonable people. They tried to connect with other areas and had been putting effort into attracting tourists nowadays.
So, they wouldn’t be outraged by the video of me beating up residents, right?
“Yes, of course, they had a different response.”
“Of course! Surely, they wouldn’t get riled up at someone beating up residents—”
“They’re absolutely ecstatic. To be honest, if we don’t give them a recognition plaque soon, we might not be safe ourselves.”
—Oh no, it’s over, isn’t it?
“As the head of health and welfare in the area, I must say this slightly sheepishly, but…”
Brassner, looking a bit awkward, coughed lightly.
“Honestly, your actions may be tolerated as they’ve served as motivation for the extremists to change their views. Besides, it was due to the witch’s magic, so isn’t it self-defense? We know that much.”
“…Wouldn’t that be even more acceptable for self-defense in the beastman region?”
“Oh, my! You’ve only been here for mere days and you already see through us so well! You’re incredible, Saintess. You must have come prepared for the witch’s schemes too, right?”
Oh no, that was just pure coincidence.
“In fact, I’m sure it’s because they fell in love with the way you overwhelmed the witch one-on-one. There’s never been anyone who could defeat that witch before. We were all people who’ve been surrounded by that witch’s military.”
It makes sense for them to feel grateful. So, they hoped I wouldn’t refuse… Saintess?
Brassner noticed me sweating profusely. He paused his words and changed his expression, asking,
“Is there something uncomfortable? Did you sustain any injuries in your battle with the witch…?”
“Ah, no, it’s not that…”
That’s right. I had completely forgotten that I was broadcast live while capturing the witch.
If I hadn’t been there, the witch might have consumed the area. Maybe she would have developed and executed a perfect plan after taking the extra time.
Just now, did he say no one had defeated the witch until now?
…Then that means I am the first one to officially eliminate a witch.
To this point, I had already captured one witch and made a decisive impact on capturing another…
Wouldn’t these two events also eventually come to light? If the government tried to award me a medal, surely the church would jump in first for their own motives.
…The dizziness I was feeling was undoubtedly not just in my head.
You may also like Mesugaki Tank Enters The Academy
