Chapter 56

“No. He’s a scarecrow—as his name implies—that moves, thanks to a skill of mine called Living Doll. That said, he’d equally match even the highest-ranked Seekers in this district. I call him Schwarz.” “Schwarz…” It sounded more like a name I would’ve heard back on Earth than here in the Labyrinth Country. As curious as I was to learn where it came from, I thought it impertinent to pry since I barely knew either of them. “The average swordfighter in District Five is about a level eleven, but Schwarz’s skills are more on par with a level thirteen Seeker. You showed some real pluck, standing up to him.” “…We didn’t have any other choice but to fight with all we had. Not that my attacks did any damage at all… He parried every strike with that Wild Sword Dance. Standing up to an enemy doesn’t mean anything if you can’t beat them,” Elitia countered, refusing to accept Lynée’s compliment at face value. Lynée sighed, then shifted her gaze to the sword hanging from Elitia’s hip. “…I think I see now what got into that child’s mind. She’s the type to dote on people she takes a liking to. I did warn her not to get too attached to specific Seekers, but looks like she’s plum forgotten all about it.” “Ceres signed on to work as our party’s designated artisan. That’s part of the reason why she left District Eight to join us here.” “……!” Lynée’s eyes flashed with surprise, though I honestly couldn’t immediately tell what I could’ve said to astonish her. “…I imagine she had her own reasons for moving to District Eight in the first place, but I must say I would not have expected the Guild to allow a professional Rune Maker to dedicate themselves to a single party, given how rare the occupation has become.” “…Can I assume that has something to do with how we hardly ever see jades, even though they’re also theoretically citizens of this country?” “Very intuitive, young Arihito. But if Ceres has not mentioned it herself, I daresay I shouldn’t speak for her. More importantly, let’s get back to why you all came to me. May I take a look at the curse on her?” “…Theresia, do you mind?” “……” Theresia shook her head. Lynée offered her a chair, then walked around behind her and parted the hair that fell over the nape of her neck. A portion of the Slave Seal had begun to change color, its black markings slowly turning bright red—a shining red, like a burning flame. “So the Shining Simian Lord cursed her, did it? That blasted monster lives longer every time it regenerates… This iteration has outlived all the others before it, I imagine.” “In other words…they get stronger every time they reincarnate?” “Named Monsters can at times retain memories from their previous lives. Any Seekers who attempt to defeat them face far more difficult battles than they ever expected as the newest versions know exactly how to make up for their weak spots, sometimes manifesting that knowledge as new skills.” “…When do you think the Simian Lord began using hexes?” “I can’t say. Seekers don’t always provide the Guild all the details of how they defeat a monster…and rightly so. Seekers are in constant competition with each other, after all.” I turned to Seraphina, who nodded as if to confirm what Lynée had said. It was a tricky question; we ourselves kept things close to our chest, especially the Armored Parts who joined us in battle. They were, in effect, a party trade secret. Our licenses did display some of those details, meaning they recorded at least hints of the truth. At the same time, if Murakumo and Alphecca were unique unto themselves, knowledge about them would mean next to nothing to other parties as long as the two stayed with us. Plus, based on my conversations with Louisa and Kozelka, it didn’t seem as if the Guild was privy to our every last movement. “…At this point in the curse’s progression, I’d say she has five or six more days left before it takes over. If that happens, she will be forced into the Simian Lord’s servitude.” “Lynée, our goal is to defeat the Simian Lord, but we understand we have to first lift the hex or it will remain forever…according to what Ceres told us.” “…When did that little one gain all this insight into curses…?” Lynée muttered. Come to think of it, I knew Ceres was a consummate professional, but why did she have such deep knowledge about something that seemed completely unrelated to her occupation? It had never even occurred to me to question it. “…It’s just as you say, except for one small detail: You don’t need to ‘lift the hex’ first… You need to destroy the caster with a Curse Eater. That is the only path I can recommend to you, virtually the only option that exists.” “What do you mean by ‘virtually’…?” “There is one other method, but it would be better if you consider it nonexistent. However, I would be lying if I told you that outright,” she clarified, choosing her words so carefully, I felt certain I could trust her honesty. For all I knew, simply learning about that other method could take a great toll on our spirits. “…Where can we get a Curse Eater?” Elitia asked. Lynée tipped the corner of her tricorn hat down to hide her face. “You have very little hope of coming across one by chance in a labyrinth, much less given the limited time you have to do so.” “It may be hopeless, but we need to get one. We can’t afford to rely on chance,” Elitia insisted. “…Please, tell us. What do we need to do?” “Aside from finding a Curse Eater in one of those treasure chests monsters drop, the only other way to get one is to prepare a weapon that can serve as the basis, one that can be used as a Sorcery Tool. It needs to have the capacity to withstand a curse engraved on it. If you can just get one of those, all that’s left is to find a Holy Stone. I can handle the processing for you.” So first, we need to get our hands on a Sorcery Tool to convert into a Curse Eater. Do shops even sell those? Can we get one in a labyrinth? “…Wait a second…” “Something occur to you, Elitia?” “Shirone changed jobs to be a Charm Master, right? If that shares anything in common with a Witch Doctor’s profession, then maybe—” “…Those two swords we found! Atobe, let’s check and see!” Igarashi cried enthusiastically, pulling the blind aside in her excitement. I averted my gaze so quickly, I’m pretty sure I broke the speed of sound for a second. “K-Kyouka, your clothes…!” Misaki alerted her. “Huh…? Eeeep!” “Ha-ha-ha, you totally popped out like ‘Say what now?!’” “But I believe Ms. Kyouka makes an excellent point. Mr. Arihito, let’s present the weapons to Ms. Lynée so she can determine if they would be satisfactory.” “Ceres and Steiner said they’d remove all the sticky goo for us, so I’ll bet they’d put it in our storage once they finished. Let me use my key and check,” Madoka offered, then pulled out her key. Luckily, we could still access the storage within labyrinths, so we didn’t have to go back to town to check every little thing. “…They’re here! So nice and shiny, too. Ceres and Steiner must have cleaned them already. I’m taking them out.” Bloodsucker and Heaven’s Stiletto—we could only hope one of them was a Black Magic Tool. Fervently praying, we all gathered around Madoka’s license to read what it said. ♦Bloodsucker +3♦ > Recovers vitality every time it comes into contact with enemy blood. > The darker the area, the more it augments attack power. > Continuously activates Night Vision. > Increases endurance. > Increases agility. > Modified with Satisfaction Stone. ♦Heaven’s Stiletto +4♦ > Stabbings carry greater chance of landing a critical hit. > Augments attack power when user equips different weapons in either hand. > Increased attack speed. > Modified with Silent Stone. > Can be engraved with a curse. “…This Heaven’s Stiletto is a Sorcery Tool… We can use it to make the Curse Eater…!” I exclaimed after having instinctively done a double take when I read the very last line. Overjoyed, we all looked at each other with elation, and Igarashi happily took Theresia’s hand in hers—with this, we’d taken a big, undeniable step forward. There was still much left to do, though: We needed to find the other component of this recipe, the Holy Stone. Lynée seemed to have read my mind. “Holy Stones have been unearthed in the Tremulous Foothills labyrinth,” she said. “Though I’ve never spotted any myself, they say you can find them on the first floor. I’d like you to scour every inch of it.” “We will. I can’t thank you enough, Lynée.” We now knew exactly where to go next. But first, we would have to earn a few more contribution points in this labyrinth before we left. If we got lucky, we wouldn’t have to fight any more taxing phantoms, and better yet, rack up at least three thousand contribution points in this one expedition.