As she wasn’t the real Saintess, she didn’t know the right way to absorb their mana. In the dozens of illustrations, she had only seen Evanessa placing her hand on the forehead of the patients who had mana overdose.
The man, who had lost all rationality, was gnashing his teeth as he growled up at her. Those who had lost their reason and been driven to madness by the excess mana were left with only the desire to kill. At this point, it felt like she had been transmigrated into a zombie movie rather than a dating sim.
‘If I’m going to do this, I should just get it over with.’
Evanessa avoided the gnashing teeth and rattling chains and quickly grabbed the hair on the back of the man’s head.
“I’m sorry. I just think it would be for the best if you couldn’t move.”
“Aaaargh!”
With one fist holding onto the back of the man’s head, whose body was still overflowing with light, she placed her free hand on his forehead.
‘Saintess, did you really do this…?’
If it was always like this, this would classify as an extreme job.
Although her fingers were shaking, she followed the example of the illustration and pressed firmly down on his forehead.
At that moment, on Evanessa’s own unmarked forehead, the shape of a black crescent moon appeared. Then, the glowing man’s movements instantly stopped, as if his previous thrashing had all been an act. At the same time, a strange sensation started to flow up from the depths of the man’s chest like water from a fountain. It was a very unpleasant sensation.
When she felt like she had reached a good stopping point, she took her hand off. The man’s appearance, which had looked like a monster or a devil rather than a human, gradually started to return to normal. The man, who had just been trying to tear out Evanessa’s throat with his teeth, was now sleeping and snoring gently.
In the beginning it was difficult, but by the second time around she was able to get the hang of it.
“I’m sorry. I just need to treat all of you.”
Evanessa would avoid their lunging and halt their movements with a firm grasp of their hair. Then, she would administer the treatment. With this method, she finally treated her last patient and safely finished her job.
“Hah, I’m so exhausted.”
With a weary expression, Evanessa took a deep breath and turned around to look at all the sleeping people. Their demon-like appearances had completely disappeared and they had all returned to their original form.
Along with a dawning sense of relief, her legs suddenly lost all of their strength.
‘However, how am I supposed to get rid of all this?’
She felt like she had been turned into a human water bottle. Inside her body, she could sense that something like a heavy liquid was filling her to the brim.
While sitting on the floor, Evanessa slowly breathed in and out.
‘Shouldn’t the mana have evaporated back into the environment once I reached my limit?’
She had been mindlessly absorbing mana while placing her trust in this idea. However, instead of the mana evaporating, her body was beginning to feel heavier and heavier.
Still mentally complaining, Evanessa lowered her head and rested it on the cold, stone floor. Her forehead was so hot, it felt like it was on fire.
‘This couldn’t possibly be an ending where I just die here, could it?’
Only
Her vision had started to blur. The black, stone floor was fading in and out.
“Damn it.”
The last thing that the cursing Evanessa saw was the hem of an immaculate robe drifting closer to her like a ghost.
***
The man silently stared down at Evanessa, who had collapsed weakly onto the stone floor.
Even though he had taken the time to come here because he was curious about how she was handling this situation.
Clicking his tongue, the man crouched down in front of Evanessa. Brushing aside the hair covering her forehead, he saw the emblem of Lunium on clear display.
As the man’s delicate finger came to rest on the emblem, the mana that was burdening Evanessa started to slowly dissipate into the air. This was only possible for a saintess marked by Lunium. For those without a particular marking, no matter how closely their magic resembled ‘that’, this was something that they couldn’t ever hope to lay their hands on.