Wasn’t This a Night Game

I Pity You (Revised)

“Tydell. Still you doubt? We sifted through memory, soul itself. The Silent Order found nary a trace of malice, not a stain within the Saint’s spirit.”

Gershon, High Priest of the Silent Order, spoke to Tydell.

“You, who doubted most, saw the memories yourself. Had there been the slightest hint, you would have been shown. Was there such a sight? Even a single moment within his recall that could be used as proof of Saint Amael being a worshiper of dark gods, a servant of demons, tell me, was there?”

The witch Tydell faltered.

She sweated cold, her eyes darting this way and that.

This wasn’t it.

It couldn’t be.

Their faces were all set, determined to paint *me* the villain.

“Speak!! Tydell!! As you claimed, did Saint Amael’s memories hold a glimpse of worship to evil gods or demons!! Yes or no!!”

Gershon’s booming voice brought a shriek from Tydell, who jabbed a finger accusingly at me.

“Does this make sense??? Tell me, does it! A Saint without divine power?! It’s impossible! This is a fraud!! A fraud, I say!! A fraud!!”

Such childish obstinance detonated the collective patience of every Lilia Order acolyte.

“The woman has finally crossed the line!!”

“The contempt for the Grace Order has reached its peak!!”

Especially the bald old geezer, Yodel, who had become pure Mozgus.

Eyes completely rolled back, face crimson with rage, he looked as though he’d been plucked straight from some berserker comic, good as is.

But Tydell still stubbornly clung.

“No!! I’m not wrong! He *is* a worshiper of dark gods! Can’t you all see? How cleverly he deceives? No divine power!! *No divine power*! Has there ever been such a Saint before? No!! He’s a fraud!! A fraud!”

Gershon, face hardened at the words, approached her and began to explain.

“The Saint of Healing exists only within the Grace Scriptures. Never once has such a Saint physically appeared. Witch Tydel. Therefore, it is only natural that this Saint differs from those known before.”

“But the Holy Power!…”

“Saints, be they male or female, are not entities bound to take the form that humans desire. They assume the appearance desired by the God who sends them. If the Goddess of Grace desired a Saint without Holy Power, then we must call him Saint, even without Holy Power, wouldn’t you agree?”

At that, Tydel, seemingly rendered speechless, trembled and stared at the floor.

Gershon glared at her for a moment, then continued his tale.

“How can flawed humans comprehend the will of the divine?! How can chosen Saints appear only in forms that meet human standards?! Obsessing over proof of divinity is the act of charlatans! A true Saint is accepted instinctively, the moment you lay eyes on them!! Was not Saint Amael precisely that?!”

Lilia’s followers raised their arms and shouted.

“True!! Those are truly words of truth!!”

“Though he bore no stigmata! No Holy Power! He healed the poor and raised the sick with more humility than anyone! As written in the Grace Order’s scripture! ‘When the Saint arrives, you shall know him’ – has not that very word come to pass?!”

“Indeed!!”

Once more.

All within the trial hall began to applaud.

Gershon looked at Tydel.

“You alone reject the Saint’s divinity. Insulting Saint Amael further is your prerogative, but…”

Gershon gazed steadily at an old man who seemed to be the Master of the Magic Tower.

“The Pantheon will not sit idly by. I trust you understand the implications of insulting a Saint recognized by the Pantheon.”

“You will regret not listening to me later!! Everyone will pay the price for accepting this fraud!!”

Tydel struggled to the very end.

But there wasn’t a soul to be found who sympathized with her rant.

Even as everyone else stared at me, cold, Tyudel kept glaring.

By this point, I was getting curious myself.

Carefully, I stepped down from the defendant’s stand and walked towards Tyudel.

People naturally made way.

Tyudel glared at me, her expression filled with nothing but venom.

I calmly met her gaze before asking,

“Why do you condemn me so fiercely? Why do you try so hard to tear me down?”

No matter what shit I do, people still call me a saint.

There’s no way to escape the wrath of the Goddess Lilia now.

The world’s just out to screw me over.

I’m already on edge, and this witch in front of me, barking at me so openly, ain’t exactly looking pretty.

I was grateful when she filed those lawsuits, but it all went to hell in the end!!

I’m still a saint though!!

Fucking hell, my mood’s already fucked, what’s with that venomous look?

Makes me feel like shit!!

“I know your true nature. You’re just a lucky con artist.”

That’s right.

But you haven’t answered my question, have you?

[Skill: Absolute Hypnosis, is being cast!!]

“Answer my question. Why do you try to tear me down so much? Speak only the truth!”

Tydel, at my words, opened her mouth, a sneer twisting her face, ready to unleash a torrent of venom.

“Only if you’re a fake Saint can that Erpa, that fucking b*tch, be ruined… Hup!”

Tydel, startled, clamped her hand over her mouth.

But did she really think I’d just stand by?

You’re already under hypnosis.

Two months of good rest, your mental fortitude’s all beefed up, so the aiming’s been real precise.

“Don’t move. Don’t even think about running. Look straight at me and keep talking. Only the truth! That talk about Erpa’s downfall. What does it mean?”

Tydel’s mouth opened on its own.

Horrified, astonished, she started spewing the truth, non-stop.

“Exactly what it sounds like. You healed Erpa. So, if you get branded a fake Saint, or some kind of Evil God worshiper, condemned as a heretic, then Erpa can become an Abomination again.”

Everyone’s got their conspiracies and plans.

But the moment those conspiracies and plans are blurted out, honestly, from the mouth…

Sometimes, humans become just too grotesque.

The unobstructed flow of truth contorted the faces of the magic tower’s mages and witches, and High Priest Gerson of the Silent Order too.

The Lilia Order’s faithful.

The Supreme Court. The Senate. And everyone else.

Wrinkled their brows.

Tydel looked like she wanted to flee.

But under my hypnosis, she couldn’t run, frozen in place, spilling every single little detail churning inside her.

“Why go so far to ruin Erpa?”

“I can’t stand looking at you!! Because you’re better than me! It hurts my pride!! So, I even resorted to human experimentation, desperately trying to become a witch better than *that one*, but it turns out everything would be exposed! If things hadn’t gone so wrong, I would still have the position of the next Master of the Tower!! I’m not someone who’s supposed to fall like this!”

This, this.

She’s more pathetic than I thought?

Having spoken, Tydell frantically shakes her head, her face now pale.

“N-no!! Th-this… the, the Saint used some kind of wicked trick… I, I!!…”

No one utters a single word to her.

“It’s deeply embarrassing that such a being was once affiliated with the Tower. She has already been expelled from the Tower for attempted murder and plagiarism of theses. She is no longer associated with us.”

Archmage Jurgen cuts ties faster than the speed of light, and the other witches and wizards of the Tower are nodding in agreement.

Suddenly, the atmosphere shifts from accusations of heresy against *me* to an interrogation of the witch Tydell, but no one seems to find the situation strange.

No.

Rather, they are watching the situation with expressions of morbid fascination.

Why?

Because High Priest Yodel of the Lily Order, now a fearsome figure more terrifying than Mozgus himself, is approaching Tydell.

Just as I subtly release the hypnosis on Tydell, High Priest Yodel reaches her.

“W-wait… I, I… I…”

“Saint of Healing. You dared to exploit and slander the Saint who was bestowed upon us by the Goddess, the first since the founding of the Grace Order, for your own disgusting selfishness?? Could there be a greater blasphemy than this!! High Priest Gerson!!”

Gerson approaches Yodel, accompanied by priests of the Silent Order, cloaked in masks and dark robes.

“Speak, High Priest of the Grace Order.”

“The witch before us is the true heretic!! The Lily Order formally requests the Inquisition of the Pantheon against the witch Tydell!!”

“Since everyone is conveniently present, and you have all directly witnessed the events, we can skip all those tedious and time-consuming procedures. Therefore, we will proceed directly to a vote. Those who believe that the witch Tydell’s actions constitute blasphemy against the Grace Order, please raise your hand.”

The Supreme Court.

The Senate.

The Mage Tower.

And all those belonging to the Pantheon.

They all raise their hands in unison.

Tüdel’s face begins to rot.

“aaah!! Wai-wait a moment. It’s not! I, I’m not like that!! I, I just wanted to be sure!! Please don’t do this!!”

While she’s babbling incoherently.

Erpa cautiously approaches her.

And utters a single, biting phrase.

“I pity you, Tüdel.”

Tüdel’s face contorts at those words.

Bearing a devilish fury on her face, she shrieks.

“Get out of here, you fucking b*tch!! You goddamn whore! Die! Die! You should have never been born into this world!! I curse you!! I curse you!! Die!! Just die!!”

“Take her away! Sever the entirety of her mana circuit and lock her away in the most vile and filthy dungeon to live out the rest of her days! She stands accused of defiling a Saint of the hallowed Pantheon!”

At Gerson’s words, the Theocrats of the Silent Order weave miracles upon Tüdel’s body.

Subdued in an instant, she is consumed by shadows and vanishes from the courtroom.

And that was the end.

The long, long inquisition had finally come to a close.