The Distinguished Mr. Rose Chapter 46: Chapter 46: The First of the Great Evils: Eyes of Prejudice

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Chapter 46: The First of the Great Evils: Eyes of Prejudice Marco’s feet came to a sudden halt. His skin paled; his body shook; and his eyes grew wide as this thing , a demon whose kind had never once shown a hint of consciousness, now confronted him with a voice eerily clear. “Am I a dirty Saracen? Am I a savage from the Moors?” An unsettling feeling washed over Lucius’s party. It seized them all without relent, wormed its way into their heads and plagued them with a slow, building, creeping sensation that something was off . “Mister Bernardi…” Lucius said very carefully. “I recommend that you move away . Now.” They didn’t try to attack it. They didn’t wish to even provoke it. The countless beady eyes on its body covered in photographs stared down at them as if transfixed, waiting for a reaction, a response. Lucius tried to pull Marco away; but he wouldn’t budge. The old mobster was unresponsive, standing still as if rooted firmly to the earth. “Mister Bernardi?” Marco opened his mouth. “I… I see a…” Something was wrong with the man. He convulsed and trembled, head thrashing this way and that way in unnatural swings as if attempting to fight off a force invading his mind. Lucius had to back away lest he be smacked; Marco dug his fingernails into his own skin until it drew blood. “I see how you look at me. Eyes, eyes? So filled with hate. Is it the color of my skin? Is it the shape of my head? You think I am inferior. Oh, why can’t we just be equals?” Marco clenched his throat and gurgled, veins bulging in panic, in strain, in a final desperate attempt to escape whatever was infecting him. But for all his strength and grit, he failed. Marco’s arms fell limp; and he froze in place, silent. When he spoke again, his voice had changed. It was angrier—delirious. His voice was one of unconstrained prejudice. “You babbling cafones !” He turned around, frothing at the mouth, and pointed at Lucius’s party with a crooked finger. There was not a single trace of the Mister Bernardi they knew before. Now, there was only a reckless man, a frenzied mess of rage and hysteria. “How many times do I have to say it? I don’t give a rat’s ass about becoming a Jehovah's Witness. Stop botherin’ my boys and girls. Lupara bianco , ya hear me? If I ever see one of youse at my door again, I’ll rip yer heads off with my own two hands!” Nonsense: complete and utter nonsense. It was as if Marco was speaking to someone else entirely, his eyes covered in a filter that made him see only that which he despised most. And it wasn’t only him. Soon, Mili began to change as well. She shuddered and clenched her guitar tight until the strings cut into her fingers. Lucius had not the chance to check on her before she started lashing out at everyone nearby, wailing and screeching whilst overcome with madness. “Oh, I see how it is. You jerks think I’m an easy target, huh!?” she spat at Lucius. “You think it’s fun picking on a little Asian girl, you white sons of bitches? So what if I wanna become a musician—Rock and Roll ain’t limited to your scrawny, pale ass redneck trailer trash lookin’ losers. You think you can dictate my life? Then eat shit, assholes!” “Language, Miss Mili.” “Oops, sorry.” Static coursed through the air; lightning sparked from her fingertips. Lucius had barely a second to leap out of the way before a bolt nearly fried him into a crispy char. “Oh dear,” Lucius said, readjusting his suit. “I believe I have an idea as to what is going on here.” Racism. It was racism. >[EMERGENCY QUEST!]< One of the Four Great Evils, the Eyes of Prejudice, has entered the battlefield. Take part in its subjugation, rid this land of its vile influence, or else Roncevaux Fortress will be destroyed - along with the lives of everyone spellbound by its control. Reward: 500 Cosmic Coins, a random C-rank skill book, and increased reputation with the Holy Empire Failure: Death The Demon of Eyes stoked the innate racism, and perhaps a bit of xenophobia and religious discriminatio