Wasn’t This a Night Game

No Longer Useful (Revised)

Abandoned even by her parents, unable to fit in with anyone because of her looks, living alone with magic deep in the mountains.

It was when Erpa came up the mountain to gather magical ingredients that she first encountered Tüdel by chance.

“Who are you? Why is a girl like you living alone in a place like this?”

When her hideout was discovered, Erfa hesitated to show herself to Tudel.

Because she was ugly, after all.

She was sure that Tüdel would run away as soon as she saw her.

“These enchantments layered in these caves… primitive, but powerful. It doesn’t look like you were taught magic by anyone. If you can control magic this strong without ever having learned, then you’re a genius among geniuses?”

But Tüdel was different.

She was the first woman to ever praise Erpa.

She said that the magic Erpa had been using without even knowing what it was, was amazing. Exceptional.

Loneliness, it was.

No good could come from living alone in the mountains.

At the first compliment she’d ever heard, Erpa opened her heart, just a crack, towards Tyudel.

“You’re an interesting one, aren’t you? I’ll come find you again.”

Tyudel said it just so, and vanished.

And she kept her promise, that one.

She came to see Erpa often, after that.

A month.

A month of Tyudel coming to see her, and Erpa finally opened her heart back.

Carefully, she showed Tyudel how she truly looked, and Tyudel, seeing it, didn’t even flinch, was just so calm.

“You look quite different from ordinary folk. Curious, aren’t you? How’d you get to be like that?”

Tyudel treated Erpa with such calm, such steadiness.

Didn’t gasp, didn’t shriek or shun her like the others.

First friend, she was.

First someone who understood, it felt like.

After that, Erpa met with Tyudel often.

Tyudel taught her letters, taught her the basics of magic, taught her tales of the world out there.

A master, a friend, all in one.

A year, maybe, had passed.

“I figured out why your arm and eyeballs are like that.”

Tüdel, abrupt, tossed out a word.

“Locked inside you sleeps a monstrous magical talent. A talent that feels…excessive. You could say it’s beyond what should be allowed to a human. Your body, in exchange for that overwhelming talent, has overgrown. Too many eyes. Too many arms. A price for a blessed gift, that.”

Tüdel stroked Erpa’s hair.

“Even rifling through the entire history of the Magic Tower, there’s nothing like you. But one thing is clear: you’re not a monster. Just an unfortunate witch whose talent was too great to control. But that’s not how people will see you.”

Tüdel handed Erpa a book.

Erpa, educated by Tüdel and now able to read, understood the contents of the book without much trouble.

It told of evil god worshippers and demon cults. And of wicked sorcerers and witches who, having made pacts with demons, wielded the black magic of hell.

Tüdel opened the book to a certain page, showing it to Erpa.

“The Chosen of Evil Gods. The One with a Thousand Faces. Or those high priests of evil god cults under their sway. The Accursed Ones, or what they call Abominations. And their defining trait is the many eyes on their body.”

Tüdel tapped Erpa’s left cheek.

“When people see your left face, they’ll see an Abomination, never someone whose body has overgrown due to excessive magical talent. It’s such a rare condition, unheard of even at the Magic Tower, that they’ll have no choice but to misunderstand.”

Fear gripped Erpa at those words.

She didn’t want to live like that.

She wanted to live freely, among the people.

So Erpa asked Tüdel.

How she could make that happen.

If her body could be healed with magic.

Two arms instead of four.

One pair of eyes instead of dozens.

Hearing this, Tüdel made Erpa an offer she couldn’t refuse.

“Wanna make a contract with me? Erpa? Your magical talent… it surpasses even humans. It’s something beyond genius. I need your talent. To succeed in the Magic Tower, I have to publish a number of outstanding research papers, and in that respect, your talent could be a great help to me. And you want to fix your body, don’t you?”

Tuidel cautiously extends a hand toward Erpa.

“If you just help me a little, I’ll secure a space for you right in the middle of the capital as compensation. A place no one will notice. I’ll hand over proper equipment and magical texts to you there. You can do your research there. With your magical talent, you might even find a way to heal yourself.”

Erpa felt her heart thrumming at those words.

She could be healed.

Escaping this form of hers, and becoming proper.

Returning to a form like an ordinary person.

It was what she yearned for, even in her dreams.

Her hesitation didn’t last long in the first place.

There wasn’t a single reason to refuse Tuidel’s words.

“Alright. Then, a deal’s a deal?”

She remembered Tuidel smiling brightly.

Erpa smiled back at her, watching her.

Tuidel was a good woman.

Always taking care of her, helping her to fix her own appearance.

Such a thankful, grateful teacher and friend.

Erpa had lived thinking like that.

And she thought that this belief would never change in the future either.

But today.

Erpa felt that belief shattering.

“…….Tüdel.”

One evening.

Erpa broke her promise to Tüdel.

She walked out from one side of Tüdel’s room, a secret laboratory she had sworn never to emerge from, and stared at Tüdel with a terrible look on her face.

“I succeeded in maintaining it. The magic circuit you talked about, it will now operate stably.”

“What are you doing? I told you not to come out! What if someone sees you!”

Tüdel raised his voice, but Erpa paid him no mind.

“This magic circuit. What circuit is it for, anyway? Why does it resemble the circuit inside my body? This amplification circuit… what is it for?”

At Erpa’s questioning, Tüdel’s expression hardened, cold for the first time.

“You don’t need to know. Erpa. You just need to perform the tasks I order you to, as usual.”

Even at Tüdel’s cold voice, Erpa didn’t stop.

“A formula that forcefully amplifies the mana circuits within the body. A formula that forcefully increases magical talent, right? This?”

Tüdel sighed at her words.

“Why is that even important? Erpa?”

“If you forcefully increase the mana circuits with this formula, the subject whose mana circuits are increased will experience the exact same symptoms as me. Multiple limbs will sprout, eyes will pop out… They will live miserably, misunderstood as abominations, just like me.”

At those words, Tüdel approached Erpa with a smiling face.

“I’ll take care of it. Erpa. You don’t have to worry. You just need to diligently perform the research I order you to do. Don’t think about anything more than that. Got it?”

“Who are you planning to use this formula on? It wouldn’t be on you, belonging to the Magic Tower with your face already known. Surely you’re going to use it on someone else?”

“Erpa.”

“Tell me! Tüdel! You’re not trying to mass-produce people like me, are you?!”

Tüdel, with a flounce, went to the sofa and sat.

She lit a cigarette, exhaling a long plume of smoke.

“That’s right. That was the idea.”

Erpa stared at Tüdel, shock etched on her face.

“Just… just why? You know how I’ve lived, don’t you? Knowing full well, you’d breed *more* of those people?”

“I was thinking of bringing in some utterly worthless trash, grant them a technique, and observe the reaction. Try to research a way to stably amplify mana circuits without causing bodily transformations in the process.”

Tüdel shrugged.

“I was going to become a more exceptional witch than I am now through it.”

“Tüdel… Tüdel, how *could* you! How could you even *think* that!”

Tüdel cautiously approached Erpa, who was shouting.

She stroked Erpa’s hair.

“Let’s just do what we were doing. Erpa. It’s nothing so grand, is it? Just keep doing it like always. You quietly research inside there, researching ways to fix your body.”

Tüdel gave a bright smile.

It was the pretty smile she always wore, but to Erpa, her smile no longer looked beautiful.

“How much have I done for you all this time? Risking being mistaken for an Abomination just to get you magic grimoires. Getting you all sorts of magical equipment. Keeping secrets and helping you? We’re friends, aren’t we? Is there a need to overreact this much just because your friend wants to grow a little?”

“Get away!!”

Erpa roughly smacked Tüdel’s hand away.

Her eyes were filled with despair and rage.

“You’re talking about human experimentation!! You’re saying you’ll create more beings to share the same suffering as me!! Do you think I’ll allow that? My research and efforts used for such!… such horrible deeds is absolutely out of the question! I can’t allow it!”

Irritation flared in Tüdel’s eyes.

“I’ll handle it, alright? Erpa. Get back to the lab.”

“No. I won’t. This amplification formula research you’re doing. Swear to throw it all away and never use it again! Or I absolutely won’t go!”

“Erpa!!”

Tydeol’s voice rose.

She glared at Erpa, but soon sighed and turned away.

“Fine. We’ll talk later.”

“I’ll report you. Human experimentation is illegal. Even I know that now. I can report anonymously, too.”

Tydeol’s body froze.

“Creating more people with the same pain as me. I absolutely can’t accept it. Absolutely. I’ll stop you, whatever it takes. So Tydeol… please don’t do it.”

“If you report me, what about you? You won’t get away clean either, you know?”

Erpa faltered at those words.

“That’s why I don’t want to report you if I can help it. So Tydeol. I wish you wouldn’t push me so hard.”

Tydeol and Erpa stared at each other in silence.

Tydeol was the first to silently leave her home.

The sound of the door closing echoed, and Tydeol lit a new cigarette, then began to pace restlessly.

Human experimentation.

A formula to forcibly pump mana circuits.

If this gets discovered, she doesn’t know what sanctions the Magic Tower might impose for violating research ethics.

Maybe she could even be imprisoned and spend the rest of her life there.

That, she absolutely couldn’t let happen.

“Fucking b*tch, outta nowhere!…”

Tuidel, pacing with anxiety, suddenly halts dead.

Erpa had just finished the mana circuit amplification formula.

Erpa was an unprecedented genius, yes, but her personality was just too dull and soft – a real disadvantage.

On top of that, from Tuidel’s perspective, she’d just declared she wouldn’t proceed with a certain crucial magical experiment, even going so far as to sabotage it.

Someone smarter, more obedient.

Someone who wouldn’t hesitate to do unethical things, if necessary.

Wouldn’t it work to implant the formula into such a being, transforming them into someone with Erpa-level magical talent, and then have them replace Erpa?

In a brief moment, Tuidel finished the calculation.

The result led her easily to the conclusion that *that* would be more advantageous.

Erpa was now useless.