In order to ensure everyone was safe, Rosalia and I ended up sleeping near the children. The reverend father went to report what happened to the other churches, and Astesia…stayed away and slept in her room because everyone hated her.
Her rejection was deeply frustrating to witness, but it just spoke to how strong the curse was. There was nothing I could do about it.
Keith wouldn’t let me go at first, but after making sure he was fast asleep, I quietly called out to Rosalia. She looked at the children, gently caressing the hand Catalina was using to hold on to her clothes.
“I wish I could offer you my help,” Rosalia murmured, “but I get the feeling I’ll say something rude to Astesia if I join you.”
“I know. Don’t worry about it. We’ve both got things we’re suited for right now. All I’m going to do is tell Astesia that Angela asked us to save her.”
“Please do. However, the curse seems stronger than we imagined. Will you really be able to dispel it?”
“Yeah, I think so. I’ve got multiple ideas that should work. For now, we need to get her to our territory and try them all out.”
“You are every bit as knowledgeable as I thought, Lord Weiss.”
Rosalia shot me a bright, trusting smile, and all I could do was smile back weakly in return. It was wild that she didn’t find me suspicious. She must have been curious about how I knew all of this, yet she never dug deeper. Our relationship was so strong that we trusted one another without having to talk about it.
In that case, I couldn’t afford to betray her trust. I’d just have to live up to her expectations and save Astesia.
At present, I had two ideas for how to lift the curse on her. The first was through the blessing of a Divine Beast. I would have her forge a pact with a powerful Divine Beast and use its power to purge the curse. The success rate on this particular plan struck me as being pretty high, since something similar came up in the game. At one point, one of the main party members was almost taken over by a member of the Twelve Apostles of Hades who was capable of taking control of the person who killed them. Thanks to having a pact with a Divine Beast, they were able to resist. It seemed like the curse didn’t affect me due to my pact with White, so I had some evidence.
“But White already has a pact with me, and forging one isn’t exactly easy. In the game, it only works out because of a series of stacking coincidences,” I said to myself. “I guess that’s what happens when you’ve got plot armor…”
Unfortunately, I was an evil nobleman who’d died in the opening act. I couldn’t count on tropes like that to save us.
My other idea was using the water from the Divine Spring.
“This isn’t really related to any in-game events. It’s just a normal recovery item.”
There was an in-game item you could only ever have one of at any time: Divine Spring Water. If you used it, you could go back to the Divine Spring to get another one, but every time you did, you’d get text on the screen that said, Divine Spring Water is a precious resource. You shouldn’t hog it all to yourself.
I knew for a fact that I wasn’t the only one who thought, Shut the hell up. Let me have more than one!
This item was capable of healing any status ailment in the game, and that included poison, paralysis, and other curses. Theoretically, it should work on Astesia’s curse. That said, instead of having her drink it like in the game, maybe it’d be better to have her bathe in it.
I arrived at Astesia’s room. It looked like it used to be a storage space of some sort; it was kind of damp and pretty old compared to all the other rooms. This certainly answered the question of how she was being treated here.
“Sorry,” I asked from the door as I knocked, “but there’s something I’d like to talk to you about. Do you have a moment?”
“I don’t mind,” Astesia replied after a moment of silence. “What is it?”
I could tell she was wary of me, which made sense after how much suffering she’d experienced.
I’m going to save you no matter what, Astesia!
When I opened the door and stepped into the room, I was met with a very plain, minimal interior with a bed, a table, and a bookshelf. The building itself was old, but the room was clearly cared for. The bookshelf was packed with texts related to the church, displaying her serious personality. However, I also noticed a book titled Illustrated Guide to Fluffiness between the others. Maybe she was secretly into cute things?
Quite frankly, I wanted to roll around on the floor and smell everything while screaming to the heavens about how I was in my fave’s room, but now wasn’t the time for that, dammit. Truly unfortunate.
“I would appreciate it if you didn’t stare so hard at my private space,” Astesia said. “How about sitting down instead of standing there? Are the children sleeping soundly?”
“Yeah. They’re with Rosalia. Don’t worry.”
“Thank goodness…” She sighed with relief.
In the game, she fell to the darkness after being betrayed by the people she’d desperately tried to save. And then, after becoming a member of the Hades Church, she was merciless to all outside of her new family. She still felt affection for the children here, which meant I could still save her.
“Let me cut to the chase,” I started. “You know Angela, right?”
“Yes, I do. That name brings me back. Here,” she said, face blank as she handed me a cup of fruit water.