“Are you sure you’re still human?”
“Ah-ha-ha, that’s just it. I have, in fact, become a monster of sorts. That’s why I’m never allowed to leave this place without permission. I abandoned my humanity for Galdorssia’s sake, but Galdorssia is strict when it comes to those who are not human. I still look human, though, so I don’t usually get the worst of it.”
Carlila’s tone was still cheerful, but a faint cloud darkened her face. She certainly wasn’t shy about discussing her confinement. According to what she said, she had willingly chosen to part with her humanity for Galdorssia’s sake, and as a consequence could no longer show herself in public unless those in charge requested it.
“Ha, I’m just pulling your leg… I went a little overboard in my efforts to stay young and wound up half monstrous instead. So now the Holy City treats me like a tool. Or maybe their pet hound. Ah-ha-ha!”
A leather choker, almost like a dog collar, was wrapped around Carlila’s neck.
“Homura, are you sure there’s not something wrong with this lady?”
Carlila’s sudden burst of laughter did little to reassure Psycho.
“Of course there’s something wrong with her. We are in the Academy of the Black Arts, after all.”
“Yeah, and you’re one of their members!”
“You’ve got me there! I wouldn’t mind knowing the secret to eternal youth myself!”
“Good point, I wouldn’t mind that, either!”
“For once, we agree on something.”
Homura really, really wanted to know what Carlila’s secret was.
“I, too, would be interested in keeping my body forever young.”
“I don’t think you’re interested for the same reasons we are, Jin.”
Jin was probably more interested in the slicey-slicey choppy-choppy part than she was in looking pretty. That was probably why she wanted to keep her body young and strong.
“Oh…?”
Jin cocked her head, unsure what Homura meant.
“In any case, you girls can relax and have some cookies. My husband baked them.”
Carlila had the three girls take seats and then brought over a cart laden with cookies. She was beaming, just like a kindly old grandma providing treats for her precious granddaughters. The sweet aroma of cookies permeated the dark and gloomy room.
“Husband?” said Psycho. “Is that the vice preceptor you told us about? The one who works at a bakery?”
“Hmph. I wish I could leave the Academy whenever I felt like it.”
Carlila the preceptor seemed jealous of her husband, who was able to come and go whenever he pleased. But she only had herself to blame for being confined inside the Academy like this. Her husband, the vice preceptor, worked at a bakery in his free time, making bread, but lately he had branched out into cookies as well.
As the manager of the bakery, the vice preceptor was very popular. If anything, his gig at the bakery was steadily turning into his main job.
After munching on cookies for a little while, Homura and the others began explaining the whole long, convoluted story to Carlila.
Carlila looked amazed.
“This Curseblood of the Dark Lord. I’ve heard of it before, but…that would mean the current Dark Lord is so steeped in dark magic that his very blood holds a curse powerful enough to alter the soul.”
“According to what the Dark Lord’s follower said, the Dark Lord shouldn’t even be able to live afflicted with a curse that powerful. But it’s not like either of us saw the Dark Lord ourselves, so who knows what’s really true? For all we know, the Dark Lord might not even exist,” Psycho said.
All their information had come courtesy of the young shark demoness that Jin had fought. Homura had been filled in after the fact. According to the demon, the Dark Lord was toiling to save all demonkind despite having what should have been a debilitating curse.
He would have to have tremendous strength of spirit to do something like that; the thought filled Homura with fear and awe. But at the end of the day, the Dark Lord was still trying to massacre humans. And there was no way Homura could forgive such injustice.
“Well, assuming the Dark Lord does exist, there’s a good chance he holds a benediction that gives him a resistance to curse magic. But the curseblood you describe would go far beyond any protection a benediction could provide. It sounds like this new Dark Lord is much more devious than the last one. The last one was just strong. Very strong, yes, but that was all.”
Carlila had seen the last Dark Lord firsthand, but the newly surfaced Dark Lord seemed to make her uneasy.
“Speaking of which…I want to tell you more about the last Dark Lord, too. But right now we’re discussing curses. If you want to know more about curses—”
“Allow me to do the honors.”
A frosty voice crept into the room, interrupting Carlila.
“Melch!”
“Welcome back, Homura.”
A tall, beautiful woman, with bluish-black hair that reached all the way to her waist, appeared silently from the passageway at the end of the room. The woman, apparently named Melch, wore several belts wrapped around her body. Her hands were laden with heavy, gaudy rings. While their effectiveness varied from piece to piece, apparently these accessories were all imbued with black magic.
What kind of weirdo pervert would willingly deck herself out in cursed jewelry…?
“Oh, and Yppa’s here, too!”
“Hiya!”
A small girl with a little whistle hanging from her neck appeared from behind the woman. Yppa’s eyes were covered by a band that had been fashioned by Melch—and one of them was an evil eye. She obviously couldn’t see, so she used a cane to feel her way forward as she walked.
She was used to walking around the Academy, however. Although she used her cane to plot her course, she strolled forward without hesitation. Her short, deep-blond hair swayed back and forth with each step.
She was dressed in an adorable patterned poncho.
“You two were waiting there this whole time, weren’t you?” said Carlila, suspicious of their conveniently timed appearance.
“Well? What of it?”
“Yeah, what of it?”
Melch and Yppa confessed immediately. The members of the Academy loved to make an entrance.
“Melch knows more about curses than anyone else at the Academy.”
Melch and Yppa took seats to either side of Carlila. The chokers the three wore were plainly visible around their necks. Carlila, Melch, and Yppa were known as the “Three Witches of the Abyss” and held a special place not just in the Academy of the Black Arts but throughout all of Galdorssia. Carlila was the most powerful pyromancer in the land. Yppa was the foulest practitioner of the evil eye. And, of course, there was Melch.
Melch had created the cursed instruments that bound all three of them, including herself. That was the true nature of the chokers they wore around their necks.
The reason the women were subjected to such unusual treatment was not only due to their power, knowledge, and abilities. They had mellowed considerably with age, but from what Homura had been told, once upon a time, their ideas and behavior had been extremely radical.
Now they were just a trio of laid-back old grannies with a passion for age-defying beauty tricks. Homura didn’t view them as particularly dangerous and had no reservations about letting herself be pampered by them.
“Before we get to the subject of curses…these two aren’t as young as they look, either, are they?”
Homura had yet to introduce the other two, but despite their youthful appearances, Psycho caught a whiff of cunning old age about them.
“Well? What of it?” and “Yeah, what of it?” they said, as if eternal youth were the most normal thing in the world.
“If you’re gonna be so quick to give up your humanity, at least have a good reason for it…!”
At first Psycho had assumed there was no way these women had themselves to blame for getting locked up in the Academy, but they were proving her wrong!
“Now then, you wished to hear about cursed items, correct? Particularly those involving monstrous transformation?” Melch asked, grasping why the girls had come.
“Yes, please,” said Psycho.
“As you wish… To start with, monstrous transformations arise from a change in the soul. When the soul transmutes, the flesh transmutes. You are already aware of this, I assume?”
“Yeah, Lady Facepack explained that part.”
“Is that what you call Falmeyr? Very amusing.”
Melch chuckled slightly, but her face remained somber.
“There are dark magics that can alter the soul, as well as cursed items that hold such magic. The conditions needed for such curses to take effect can differ from item to item. Some need only to be touched, others must be taken into the body, while others—certain blades, for instance—must be wielded while unsheathed.”
Melch glanced at Jin as she mentioned the last part. Jin’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Impressive. I didn’t expect you to identify my sword on sight.”
“Oh? But that much is obvious. Didn’t you know? Once you come into contact with dark magic, you learn to feel it on your skin. Especially something that did not acquire its curse naturally but was intentionally created for a foul purpose,” Melch explained, her voice quiet yet sounding pleased with herself.
“Something similar happened with the village headman earlier.”
The headman of School Village had also recognized Jin’s katana as a malefic sword on sight. After handling the sword, Jin had been able to immediately perceive the gem that Elyliyah wore as cursed.
“The form a cursed item takes has meaning. That said, the fact that the blood is liquid is not specifically what is important. What is important is that the blood must be taken into the body. Do you see why this would be an advantage?” Melch asked, speaking to the girls like a teacher quizzing her pupils. This was an academy, after all.