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A spark of light glimmered to life in front of me. I released godcraft energy, careful to maintain absolute control as I manipulated it, and used it to banish the darkness consuming the man lying before me. Once the darkness fled, the man’s expression eased from one of pain to peace. The curse was broken.
“Oooh, you’re amazing, Huey! You really did figure out how to reverse it, huh?” Fouré dramatically clapped her hands behind me, shouting her support as she gazed at the prone form of the man I just cured.
I really hadn’t managed anything impressive. All I’d done was spend a reckless amount of godcraft energy to more or less force the curse out of my target’s body. Ordinarily, more precise control of godcraft would’ve been required, but my methodology of simply throwing energy at it couldn’t accommodate such fine-tuning. I felt like I’d be doing the stricken people a bad turn if I used them as an excuse to practice, so I took a simpler and faster method of curing them, which required amplifying the amount of energy I was burning.
I was essentially relying on the sheer volume of energy to break the curses. The advantage of this method was obvious—even an inexperienced person like myself could heal those afflicted.
The only issue was exactly how crazy an amount of energy was needed to break the curse even once. Even though I’d started building my reserves little by little as I began training my godcraft powers a solid two years ago, within dozens of minutes I was about to run my energy dry.
At least I managed to grasp the tactile sensations of breaking a curse after a couple tries. Knowing I was able to lift curses at my current ability level brought me no small amount of relief—if it really came down to it, I could protect my family.
But now I had a new problem.
“Oh... It’s as if the Light Goddess walks among us once more...”
“Thank you, boy, thank you...”
Because I used my powers of godcraft, all the healers in the church, as well as the cured townspeople, came to offer me their prayers. Did they think I was Fouré’s apostle—or maybe even Fouré herself, reborn? The situation was incredibly awkward.
“Um... I’ve run out of godcraft energy, so I’m going to go home now. Everyone, please take care.”
“W-Wait, please! There’s something we must ask you!”
“Sorry, but I don’t want to entertain any questions right now. I prefer my privacy!”
Then, I cut down the swarming masses of people—in my head, anyway. Actually, I just made use of the natural strength in my legs, honed from all the training I’d done with Aruna, and deftly wove through the throng until I finally escaped the church. Several of the faithful came chasing after me, but I didn’t stop running for a single second. When I was far enough away, I imbued my legs with a trace amount of magecraft and I finally lost them.
Slipping through the Lycoris estate’s main gates, I entered the manor grounds. “I-I made it!” I said triumphantly. Looking over my shoulder just in case, I didn’t see a single silhouette. Sighing with relief, I reached up to where Dandelion was perched on his throne, and I pulled him down from atop my head.
“Hm? Dandelion? You seem kind of stressed—is something the matter?”
“Chirp, chirp...chirp!”
“It’s nothing,” he seemed to be saying, then turned to look straight ahead. Something felt off; he’d been looking back down the way I came the entire time. I was confused, but decided not to press the issue any further, and we entered the manor proper. As soon as I did, I ran into Armeria.
“Oh,” she mumbled, seemingly distracted. “Welcome back, Hisui. You’re back earlier than usual today. Did something happen?”
“Thanks, Armeria. And I guess I got caught up in a little mess. I have to talk to Claus.”
“The marquis? May I hear what you have to say too?”
“I don’t mind, but are you sure you really want to? It won’t be a particularly happy topic.” I’d have to tell Armeria and Cosmos later anyway, so it didn’t matter if they heard it now. In fact, it’d be more efficient to tell everyone all together.
Having been granted my permission, Armeria smiled. “I can tell by the look on your face that it’s really quite serious. I’ll go get Cosmos. Will you be in Claus’s study?”
“Yeah. Oh, and if you see Rose, it’d be great if you could bring her along too.”
“Okay, got it.” We waved to each other and split up. She was going to go get Cosmos, while I headed directly to Claus’s study, where I expected him to be.
Arriving in front of the door to his study, I knocked twice.
“Who is it?” I heard Claus’s voice from within the room.
Dropping my voice low, I responded. “It’s me. I have something I need to discuss.”
“Hisui? Do come in.”
“Excuse me.” Feeling like I’d been bothering Claus a lot lately, I entered the room. No one was present there but him.
“Sorry for the sudden visit,” I apologized.
Claus smiled warmly at me in return. “Not at all. Didn’t I tell you? You’re always welcome.”
“Thank you.”
“So, what did you need to talk about?” He placed his pen on the table, signaling I had his full attention. He must’ve realized I’d come to discuss something grave.
“You’re aware that the church has taken in many people who’ve fallen ill, right?” I asked.
“Of course. I believe I also mentioned it to you.”
“I coincidentally had the opportunity to visit the church a little earlier. When I went, I noticed the vestiges of spellcraft on the bodies of the ill. To be more precise, I found traces of a curse on them,” I explained.
Despite the gravity of my comment, Claus’s demeanor was as calm and placid as ever. Maybe he’d suspected this was the case from the beginning—I wouldn’t put it past him, considering he was the governor.
“I see... So you ended up witnessing something terrible in that church.”
“Why would there be a curse spreading through the town?”
“I don’t know. I’ve had people look into it, but it seems the curse thankfully hasn’t spread very far yet—if you can be thankful for anything about this situation, that is.”
“But wouldn’t the curse spread further if it’s left unchecked?”
“I wouldn’t worry about that. Reports of the curse have been slowly dwindling—thanks to the Erebos acolytes, whom you’ve already heard about.”
I took a moment to consider Claus’s assessment of the situation. “So you’re sure the curse will eventually end?”
He nodded. “That’s what I believe. Of course, if there’s someone deliberately spreading the curse throughout town, then I acknowledge that it’s possible there could be a resurgence.”
“That possibility is exactly what I suspect,” I said firmly. Claus’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
“And your proof?”
“The curse’s effect,” I replied.
“What do you mean?”
“Ordinarily, curses are meant to kill their targets, so it only makes sense that the caster would want to hit someone with the most potent spellcraft they can muster.”
“That was also my understanding of curses, yes.”
“With that in mind, it’s awfully strange that the effect of the curse spreading through town is relatively mild—and instead of targeting only one person, it’s contagious. I haven’t looked into the exact method it’s using to spread, but its presence here is clearly the result of malice. Instead of being engineered to kill a particular person, it’s been deliberately created to cause widespread suffering.”
“Malice, you say,” Claus murmured. “I see.”