After the attack, the healer who came to treat her would tell the player that the Mark of the Curse was simply a precursor of what was to come. The Mark of the Curse was simply a symbol that let the caster target the victim with the true curse from wherever they were. Furthermore, that curse would trigger every night at midnight without fail. The true curse was harmless to regular humans, but it was poison to people who possessed a certain bloodline—a vampire’s bloodline.
Every midnight when the curse hit Rose, her physical and mental energy would be drained—aka her HP and MP. If either of them reached zero, she would be unable to resist the curse any longer, and would be transformed into a vampire. And after that, she’d be unable to defy the orders of higher-ranking vampires, turning her effectively into a slave.
According to what the healer would tell you then, the only way to remove the curse would be to kill the caster. In the game, that was when the player embarked on a journey to find Rose’s uncle and search for a way to alleviate the effects of the curse, which was the start of the Vampire of Freelea quest chain.
Still, regardless of how the quest turned out, Rose would be forever bedridden in the manor after that. The damage inflicted by the curse couldn’t be restored with potions or healing magic, and even before she ended up being turned into a vampire, Rose had been forced to go about her life while trapped in an ever-weakening body.
However, I’d come to the conclusion that I might be able to lessen the overall effects of the curse by increasing Rose’s level and therefore her max HP and MP. As a result of my training, she might even be able to become strong enough to move around normally despite the curse. There was also the possibility that I might be able to find a proper substitute to bear Rose’s curse for her ahead of time as well.
You see, the damage from the curse couldn’t be avoided, but there was a way to redirect it. There was an item known as a Ritual Doll that you could make, though it took a lot of time and effort. You needed rare ingredients from all over the world, and you could also only make one at a time. Furthermore, Ritual Dolls burned up after a few uses, so you had to keep making new ones pretty frequently. It was a pain, but it’d be a bigger pain if Rose turned into a vampire and triggered a chain of events that ended with Freelea’s destruction. If I could get the ingredients to craft a few Ritual Dolls in advance, that would help a ton.
However, all of these plans were just stopgap measures that didn’t address the root of the problem.
If I truly want to help Rose, I need to find some way to make sure she never gets cursed in the first place...
“I can walk the rest of the way myself,” Erina said suddenly. “I still have some work to finish up at the Guild.”
“Huh? Oh, yeah.”
I’d been so lost in my thoughts I hadn’t even noticed we’d reached the intersection close to the Guild building. It was a busy intersection, with adventurers heading out to drink and laborers heading home. The Hohoho Hag was scurrying about sweeping up the area in front of her shop too.
“Rex?” I’d been standing stock-still for a while, and Erina gave me an odd look.
“Hey, Erina... About Rose.”
Before I could say anything else, a loud voice interrupted me.
“Ahhh! What are you doing, old man?!”
I choked, then turned and saw Radd and the others just returning from today’s adventuring. Their equipment was in tatters, but they looked unhurt. Recilia was with them as well, and she looked quite displeased.
Crap, this is terrible timing. They must have just finished turning their quests in to the Guild.
Since we’d put exploring the rest of the Rose Manor dungeon on hold, there was little reason for me to join Radd and the others on their dungeon runs. I’d asked Recilia to back them up instead and tasked them with doing a bunch of grindy quests to give the four of them more combat experience.
“I-I can’t believe you were out on a date while we were busting our asses running from dungeon to dungeon!” Radd shouted, loud enough for everyone on the street to hear.
I realized the quest load I’d given him was probably why he was so mad right now. In the game, you could just barely clear that many quests in a day’s worth of adventuring, but in real life that meant you’d likely be dead tired by the end of it.
“C-Calm down, Radd. I wasn’t going on a...d-date with Rex. There was some work he needed my help with and...”
Erina was normally cool and composed, but she couldn’t handle the unexpected. And with how flustered she looked her protests fell on deaf ears.
“If you were working, then why aren’t you wearing your Guild uniform?” Recilia asked coldly as she walked up behind Erina.
“Huh? Oh, umm...”
Erina started panicking.
Of course, the reason I’d had Erina change out of her uniform was because it would be easier to level up with stronger equipment, and when we’d finished she’d changed back to whatever clothes she’d had on hand. Seeing that Erina herself was in no state to explain, I decided to lend her a hand.
“Calm down, you two. You’re causing a scene in the middle of the street.”
“H-He’s right, Radd. I’m sure Rex has his reasons...” Nyuuk said in a placating tone.
“B-But!” Radd appeared unconvinced.
“I-I’d like to hear a proper explanation!” Mana exclaimed.
“Likewise,” Prana added.
“It must be nice to be young. Ho ho ho ho.”
For some reason the Hohoho Hag also decided to butt in on our conversation. Things were getting far too chaotic.
“L-Let’s head back to the inn first, okay?”
“You aren’t saying that simply to weasel out of explaining yourself, are you?” Recilia asked.
For some reason her trust in me had been waning in recent days. To my surprise, it was the Hohoho Hag who came to my aid.
“Ho ho ho. I’m sure there’s much you wish to discuss, but the streets are dangerous at night. You should do as that youngster says.”
Thank you, Hohoho Hag!
“E-Exactly. I promise I’ll explain everything, so let’s first...”
I trailed off as I realized what had just happened. She’d said it so naturally that it hadn’t registered at first, but the Hohoho Hag had finally changed her dialogue. Cold sweat beaded on my forehead, and my throat became dry.
“Old man?”
“Brother?”
Radd and Recilia both gave me concerned looks, but I didn’t even hear them. My heart started to pound and I slowly turned to the Hohoho Hag, who was always standing here at this intersection, a permanent fixture of this street.
“Do you have a minute?” I said, trying to keep my voice even. I needed to make sure the words were the exact same as the dialogue option you had in the game. “Can you tell me if anything’s changed?”
The Hohoho Hag didn’t seem surprised or offended by my question, but her expression turned mechanical, as if somebody had suddenly flipped a switch inside her. She replied, “Well, if isn’t you again. The city’s been quite dangerous recently. I hear there’s monsters who suck people’s blood roaming the streets. They’re just rumors though. Hohoho.”
Right as she finished talking, the evening bells sounded. By the time the first peal faded away, I was sprinting at full speed toward the Rose Manor.