I couldn’t deny that I’d seemed suspect given the situation, especially if she was aware of the curse and its effects.
“But wait. If you know about the curse, why did you choose to live around other people? Isn’t it…hard?”
“Well, you see, I believe this is a trial given to me by Lord Zeus. He is always watching over us, so if I can overcome the curse the heretics put on me, then I will acquire the blessing of God in the truest sense. Or at least, that’s what I think. At the moment, the children still hate me, but the father has become slightly kinder toward me,” she said proudly.
How could she write this off as a trial from God after all of the suffering she’d gone through?
In my previous life, I was just a Japanese guy with no religious beliefs, so our thoughts on the concept of God were completely at odds. Blessings here let you use magic, so to her and the other people in this world, the gods felt not just real but close by. Enough so that they were worth believing in through the suffering. But God still wasn’t going to save her.
Just what kind of trauma could cause someone with faith as strong as hers to switch over to the Hades Church? I felt my drive to save her from that fate grow stronger than before.
First, I needed to lift the curse on her.
“Astesia, I don’t want you to consider this as recompense of some sort for what happened earlier, but would you mind if I held your hand for a moment?”
“No, that would be fine.” I could see the confused look on her face. “Is that really enough?”
I nodded, then took her hand in mine and checked her stats.
Astesia
Occupation: Priestess
Loyalty to God: 98
Strength: 30
Magic Power: 80
Crafts: 80
Skills:
Divine Magic Lv 3
Staff Technique Lv 1
Pharmaceutics Lv 2
Unique Skills:
Blessing of Zeus: A skill bestowed upon one blessed by Lord Zeus. Success rate and effects of divine magic boosted. All stats receive a buff when in combat with a follower of another god.
Blessing of Hades: A blessing forcibly bestowed upon one by Hades. The target is capable of using Hades’s power, but not when desperately fighting against it.
Negative Status Effects:
Curse of Hades: A curse that causes anyone outside of the Hades Church to hate the target. Only one who has received a blessing from God can defeat this curse.
Her excellent looks combined with the effects of the curse make her seem colder than she actually is. In fact, she is just socially awkward, and she’s a bit self-conscious about this.
Now that’s what I’d call a boss character! Her stats were crazy high! The fact that she hadn’t even hit her true potential yet was especially nuts.
As far as the curse went, my theory was right on the mark. Only one who received a blessing from God could be cured. In other words, Zeus had something to do with this. The fact that I’d never felt any disgust toward Astesia because of my pact with White was proof. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little sad that I wasn’t overpowering the curse through my immense love for my fave character, but alas.
Nonetheless, I was ecstatic that I was going to be able to save her.
“Is something the matter?” Her face started to contort as she looked at me in my silence. “You took my hand, then went silent all of a sudden. Please don’t tell me you’re disgusted now too? Did the curse’s power increase through touch?”
“Ah, my bad,” I hurriedly answered to clear up her misunderstanding. I couldn’t even imagine how painful it would be to think someone was on your side, only to have them betray you at this point. “That’s not it. I know how to break the curse.”
Astesia widened her eyes in disbelief before excitedly taking my hands. “A-are you…certain?”
I could see the desperation on her face.
“Yes, I’m certain. I can release you from this,” I replied with a nod.
“Can you really?” Astesia gripped my hands so hard, it started to hurt. “You mean I won’t have to meet someone for the first time and see them look at me like I’m garbage anymore? I won’t have my kindness returned with hatred? The people I was once close to won’t suddenly hate me without warning? Am I finally going to be free?”
She began to sob, the tears in her eyes betraying what was behind the blank look that she’d so fervently worn up until now.
In the brief time we spent together, I hadn’t seen exactly how much she was suffering. No, she made sure we wouldn’t. I couldn’t begin to imagine how painful it must have been to have so many people hate her right away, and to find herself hated by the people she had once been close to.
This whole time, she’d been fighting desperately against this absurd curse, trying her hardest not to let that pain surface on her face.
“You’re going to be okay. I promise to release you from all of this suffering,” I instinctively responded in a gentle voice.
“I-I… Aaaah!” She wept as she fell onto my chest.
“It must have been so hard,” I murmured.
“I was, I was so lonely… It hurt so much. Everyone I knew left me behind. It hurt so, so much!”
As Astesia unleashed all the pain and loneliness that had built up within her over the years, I looked down at her and remembered what I’d seen.
When I met her, she was just like she was in the game: completely stoic. Even when her underlings or the orphans she cared for died, she never reacted.