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When I arrived, I could hear the bustle of people’s voices from within. Or, well, that wasn’t quite accurate—rather than “bustling,” it was simply noisy. It was the groans of the sick that created the cacophony.
“Claus mentioned there were a lot of people falling ill lately...but I never would have guessed there were so many,” I said to myself grimly. Upon opening the doors, I saw people lying on the floor everywhere. Healers were attending to them, rushing frantically about the hall. In the midst of the hubbub, one of the healers noticed me standing in the doorway and hurriedly rushed over to me.
“And this man is...?”
“I found him collapsed in the eastern quarter. He appears to be cursed.”
“Another curse! Why are there so many?!” The healer clicked his tongue in frustration, extended his arms to take the cursed man from me, and hurried away.
“There are a lot of cursed people?” I wondered aloud. “I guess that means all the patients here must be suffering with the same curse, then...”
“That’s right; there’s no doubt about it. The curse is faint on all of them, but noticeable,” Cult remarked.
I nodded in understanding. “It was so faint that I didn’t immediately notice.”
“That’s not a surprise. Curses are rarely transmitted this way.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Ordinarily, curses simply kill their target, so they’re designed to affect a single specific person,” Cult explained. That was my impression of curses as well—I always imagined an elderly woman shoving needles or iron nails into a straw doll.
She continued. “The curse we’re dealing with seems to be quite weak; its potency seems to have been diluted as it has the ability to affect multiple people instead of just one. It won’t be able to kill anyone. I imagine the healers will be able to cure those afflicted on their own, given enough time.”
“Looks like it. There are people who’ve already been healed, though it looks like the healers are super busy...” I trailed off, my attention caught by figures in black. As I conversed with Cult, I looked around the church and happened to notice a group of people who were clearly disciples of Erebos. Since the other healers wore blindingly white clothing, the difference was starkly noticeable.
“I knew it. Those weird acolytes are here,” said Aruna. She noticed their presence immediately as I did. Like the healers, the Erebos practitioners were running about in an effort to help the afflicted—and unsurprisingly, there were a lot of people expressing their thanks.
Honestly, the scene practically stank of foul play.
Aruna glanced at me. “You think they’re suspicious as well, Hisui?”
“Maybe. From what we’ve seen, I think it’s likely,” I replied. The timing of their arrival and the curse was oddly perfect. I couldn’t help but suspect they’d intentionally spread the curse—deliberately made weaker so it wouldn’t kill anyone outright—in order to help them spread the word of Erebos.
“I suppose it’s entirely possible that one of their people cast a curse, or they have a cursed item. But...” I trailed off.
“We don’t have proof yet,” Aruna finished. Even if I told everyone that the Erebos acolytes were behind the curse, they’d dismiss my words as a child’s imagination running wild. If I made an especially bad misstep, I’d end up being run out of town instead. As long as I was Claus’s guest, I couldn’t afford to take a risk like that; it’d be a smear on his good name. I didn’t want to cause any trouble for my sisters either.
“Supposing they’re the ones behind the curse,” Cult said thoughtfully, “if you try to interfere with their plans, you might be able to catch them red-handed.”
“How would I go about doing that?” I asked, interest piqued.
“If we assume they’re the ones behind this, then we can guess that their goal is to improve the standing of their god’s name among the people,” Cult explained. “In other words, they want to save as many people as they can, and in turn drive feelings of gratitude into the people they save. If that’s the case, then all you have to do is become their savior instead—you have to cure the cursed.”
The genius of her plan stunned me to silence for a moment. “That’s a great idea! It’ll only help the people here, and if it does actually interrupt their plans, then they’ll definitely try to stop me. That’s when we’ll see their true colors.”
“Exactly,” she nodded.
“Isn’t this a bit dangerous? Must you really go that far?” Aruna cut into our conversation to disagree with Cult’s proposal. But while I saw where she was coming from, I had to disagree with her in turn.
“I do. This is the town where Claus and Rose live, and now my sisters live there as well. I’ve finally gotten permission to stay here for as long as I like, and I’d hate to see people do terrible things to my new home.”
“I see. Then all that’s left is the willpower to see it through,” she acquiesced.
“You can do it, Huey!” Fouré cheered. “There are lots of sick people here, so it’s going to be hard work breaking the curse on all of them!”
“That’s fine by me. This’ll be like doing volunteer work to help my future plans along.”
Putting on my best cheerful front, I rolled up my sleeves and called to one of the healers. “Um, excuse me!”
“Yes? What is it?”
“I can actually use godcraft. I’m pretty sure I can break these curses too. May I help?” I asked, trying my best to sound the part of a helpful child.
The healer gave me a withering look. “What? No, no... Don’t be silly. You’d only get in the way, so please leave.”
Well, I’d be more surprised if they actually believed a random eight-year-old child who said they could break curses. Seeing that I had no choice, I channeled godcraft energies into my right hand to release a blinding flash of light. The church was flooded with a golden glow.
“I-I can’t see! Was that godcraft just now? You were telling the truth?!”
“Yes, as you can see. Are you still going to refuse my help? Should I leave after all?”
“Oh, please help! We’re so strapped for hands that we could really use another pair!” Yep, they sure did—nearly every single healer was running to and fro about the church, fully absorbed in their work. I got the sense they didn’t even have the time to take any breaks.
Besides, Fouré had said that breaking curses was difficult and required a vast amount of energy—meaning, they needed as many people as they could get. They didn’t have the wherewithal to refuse help.
The healer grasped my hand in joy and bowed, begging me to help once more. I immediately began healing the people in the church.