Chapter 378 - A Severe Curse
Leaving Badu Lot's hideout behind, I headed for the nearby church.
I was already an acquaintance of the sister there, having purchased a large number of talismans from her before. Given my rather flamboyant appearance, I doubted she had forgotten me. It was far easier to seek advice from someone I knew than to barge into a random church. It was convenient timing.
"Gradena, come with me. The rest of you, head back."
There was no point in everyone crowding the place, so I kept Gradena as my guard and dismissed the others.
"Shall we bring the car around to the church?"
"Yeah, good idea. I'll want a ride home."
We had walked to the park, so our vehicles were still parked near the first enemy hideout. Watching the helpful girl run off, we began our own trek.
One might expect a sense of relief after taking down a major foe, but the curse gave me no such quarter. To be perfectly honest, simply walking was becoming a chore.
My left eye throbbed with a stabbing pain, and my body felt like I was suffering from a debilitating flu—a physical misery accompanied by a mounting, helpless rage. My condition was at an all-time low. It was only thanks to the talismans that I was even able to stay upright. Without those holy relics, I would have collapsed long ago. This was no longer a simple matter of endurance.
With the adrenaline of battle fading, the pain and malaise became even sharper. The headache and nausea were relentless, now joined by palpitations and shortness of breath.
And then there was the disturbance in my mana. This was the most troublesome part, likely the root of all my other symptoms.
Normally, mana circulated through my body like a clear, flowing stream. Now, even with my utmost concentration, it was a chaotic mess of constant ripples. If I stopped resisting the curse for even a moment, my mana would surge violently, raging without rhyme or reason. Unless I focused every nerve on keeping it down to a gentle ripple, I couldn't use magic at all—and my physical condition would deteriorate even further.
I was painfully reminded once again: curses were an absolute nightmare.
"There's no one around right now. Want a piggyback ride?"
"Do I look that bad?"
"You're trying to play it cool, but you're sweating buckets. You usually look so composed, so it makes you look even more out of sorts."
I suppose there was no hiding the sweat. I hadn't even noticed, I was so preoccupied with everything else.
"I'm fine. If I actually pass out, I'll count on you then."
I wiped the sweat from my brow with my sleeve—hardly a ladylike gesture—and made a conscious effort to straighten my back. No matter how much I suffered, I wouldn't walk with a slouch. I was the chairwoman of Kikyou-kai. I couldn't afford to look pathetic or weak, whether in front of total strangers or the subordinates who relied on me.
It wasn't just me; Gradena and all the others were in a trade where appearances were everything. It didn't matter if it hurt or if things were tough—you put on a brave face and acted like it was nothing. Anyone without the grit to stop whining and keep moving didn't belong in the underworld.
The harder things got, the more you had to look unfazed. If you were on the verge of death, you bared your teeth and laughed. That was our way of life.
My spirit would not break. That was why I kept my head up and walked on my own two feet.
Matching my pace, as I lacked the breath for idle chatter, Gradena walked beside me in silence. The park was deserted in the dead of night, which felt strange in its own way.
Berleeza was a metropolis. Normally, you'd expect to see some night owls or the homeless in a park like this, yet there wasn't a soul in sight. Was the management just that thorough, or was there something else keeping people away?
I recalled that churches often served as sanctuaries where anyone could seek refuge. That meant having suspicious individuals loitering nearby would be inconvenient. Perhaps some kind of magical effect was at work around the church—a power subtle enough that an ordinary person wouldn't even notice it.
Fatigue of body and mind kept making these trivial thoughts drift through my head. Haa... I'm exhausted.
"There it is. I can see it. By the way, is a church even open at this hour? The lights are on, though."
We finally arrived. I needed to pull myself together.
"A church doesn't have closing hours. For lost and weak humans, day and night make no difference. They never turn anyone away; they're always welcoming."
"Hah, quite the bunch."
Truly good people without hidden agendas were few and far between, but they did exist. Most of the time it was just a facade, but you could find rare exceptions anywhere.
Villains like us made our living by exploiting weaknesses, and even legitimate businesses often thrived on stimulating human greed. Yet even we, as jaded as we were, felt no desire to prey on someone who lived so honestly and virtuously.
And the people who belonged to churches were often a collection of weirdos who prioritized others over themselves to a suspicious degree, constantly striving for self-restraint. Receiving help from people like that was guaranteed to make anyone look at themselves and feel incredibly uncomfortable. Just paying the fee wouldn't be enough to shake the feeling of being deeply in their debt.
They probably wouldn't see it as a debt, but I certainly would. In the underworld, neglecting a debt of gratitude was as good as picking a fight. If you received a favor, the stakes were even higher. It wasn't about the other person's feelings; it was about your own integrity.
That was why I'd wanted to avoid getting involved with the church, but this time, I had no choice.
Just like before, the church doors were cracked slightly open, creating a welcoming atmosphere. Gradena pulled the door open without hesitation and stomped inside. Following behind her, I couldn't help but think how ill-suited this woman was for a sanctuary. From her gear, including that ink-black cloak, to the rugged aura she unconsciously emitted, she felt wildly out of place.
"Sorry to barge in so late."
"There is no need for apologies. The Goddess welcomes everyone at all times."
It was the sister from before. Being able to skip the introductions was a huge help.
"Spoken like a true Goddess—she's got spirit. I've got a favor to ask of the Goddess's apostle. Hey, Yukari. Get yourself checked out."
The exhaustion from the constant pain and malaise was overwhelming. I could still endure it, but I felt like I was truly on the verge of collapsing. I stepped forward, using sheer willpower to keep from staggering.
"You are the one from the other day... Is it your left eye?"
"You're quick on the uptake. It's the effect of a curse. Can you do anything about it?"
The moment I approached and removed my eyepatch and talisman, a massive wave of pain and sickness washed over me. I instinctively sank into a nearby chair.
It really was only the talisman that had allowed me to stand and walk. Even to me, this looked seriously bad.
"I feel a strange mana... so this is a curse. Please, lie down right there."
I lay down on the pew as instructed. The woman immediately knelt beside me and placed her hand over my closed left eye.
[The Goddess spoke: Purify and cast out the evil.]
Magic. It was similar to when I'd pressed the talisman against my eye... no, it was far more effective. Was this a different school of healing magic than what I or Rosabelle-san used? The influence of the curse receded, and the coolness of her hand felt heavenly. I felt a desperate urge to just fall asleep right then and there.
"...This will be difficult."
"Difficult? Hey, what do you mean by that?"
The woman peering down at me looked troubled. Just when I thought I was being cured, it seemed it wouldn't be that simple.
"I can only provide temporary relief. For a complete cure, I believe you will have to rely on an Exorcist Priest in the Holy City."
"The Holy City's what? Exorcist Priest?"
The headquarters of the church was a city-state called the Holy City, located in the northeast of the continent. It was a remote place deep in the mountains where many pilgrims traveled on foot, as the path was supposedly impassable for vehicles. I didn't know much about the rank of Exorcist Priest, but from the name, I assumed they were the type who handled demonic expulsions. Likely experts in foul magic like curses.
While the idea of exorcism sounded incredibly shady, the woman's magic had definitely eased the symptoms. I had to believe her.
"I don't have time to go all the way there. This magic you're using right now is quite effective—can't we make do with this?"
"Regrettably, my power can only soothe it. Furthermore, my mana is already..."
Her magic ceased; she was nearly out of mana. Immediately, the pain and sickness rushed back. If the relief only lasted as long as she was actively casting, it wasn't much of a solution.
Even so... perhaps because I had been briefly liberated from the agony by her healing, the return of the curse sparked a fresh, violent rage within me. I had to grit my teeth and endure a moment of silence to stop myself from clicking my tongue or lashing out at her.
"Are you alright?"
"...Would it matter if I just crushed the eyeball?"
I didn't think the curse was specifically tied to the physical eye. But if the center of the pain vanished, maybe it would provide some relief.
"I do not think you could escape it. Probably."
Hmph. 'Probably,' she says.
I couldn't live with this pain. If there was even the slightest chance, it was worth a try. I'd heard of people with severe allergies saying they wanted to take their eyes out and wash them to stop the itching. My situation was so dire that I sincerely wanted to gouge mine out just to escape.
Fine. I'll do it. Let's see how it goes.
I was used to doing it to others, but doing it to myself required a bit more resolve. But right now, my irritation at the curse outweighed everything else.
"Gradena, you still have some health potions, right?"
"I do, but... Hey, you're not actually going to try that, are you?"
Driven by a surge of violent impulse, I didn't care about the details. I didn't care about anything. I just let the impulse take me.
I put my left hand to my eye, shoved my fingers in, and gouged out the eyeball in one single motion.
Blood sprayed, followed by an even more intense flash of pain. As my mind went white for a split second, the only thing that remained was rage. I crushed the eyeball in my hand, fueled by that same impulse, and then burned the remains to ash within my palm.
Objectively, it was completely insane behavior, but the curse was painful enough to make me do it without a second thought.
"...Haa, haa."
Oh right, I'd thought the church's security made violence impossible. But apparently, violence directed at oneself wasn't restricted. I suppose I could count that realization as a gain.
"Wh-What are you doing?!"
"It's... nothing..."
An injury of this level wouldn't even make me groan, let alone scream. The original pain was so severe that the act of gouging it out didn't feel like much. But really, what the hell was I doing?
And as I had half-expected, the presence of the curse remained right there in my left eye socket, unchanged. Yeah, I knew it. The enemy's trap was just that well-made.
Badu Lot had sacrificed many lives to set a meticulous trap to bring me down. They were a special organization that had even outmaneuvered the Berleeza Intelligence Department, keeping their existence a secret. I could imagine they didn't have any 'extra' personnel they could just throw away. Whatever the reason for their obsession, they had chosen to engage us even if it meant their own destruction.
Their only miscalculation was that even with all that, they hadn't managed to kill me.
With the activation of my Combat-Form Metamorphosis which released a massive amount of mana, they must have been forced to play their trump card. That was undoubtedly the large-scale magic that became the source of this curse. Even magic on this scale wasn't something they could just use whenever they wanted. The two corpses in their hideout were likely the price paid for it.
They had sacrificed a lot to set up the magical machinery for tonight's battle. That two-step operation, executed at the cost of their lives, had truly cornered me. You could say that only by going that far did they have any hope of winning against me.
Even if they failed to finish me, I was certainly suffering, so I had to give credit where it was due.
It stood to reason that magic like that wouldn't be easily dispelled.
"Hey now, you've gone and terrified the Goddess's apostle. Don't pull that reckless crap in front of a civilian."
Thanks to the potion Gradena used, I could feel my eyeball regenerating even with my eye closed. But because the pain and malaise were almost unchanged, the healing felt like a small mercy.
I pressed the previous talisman back against my left eye for now. As expected, it was effective. I truly appreciated the value of holy relics now.
"Tch. If this is going to last forever, I'm going to lose my mind."
"That talisman makes it a bit easier, right? Hey, sister. Do you have anything more potent than that?"
I wondered what the woman thought of us—two people who could gouge out an eye and crush it without a sound, then casually heal it. Since I kept my eye closed, she might not have realized the eyeball had fully returned, but common sense said we were dangerous. The fact that she didn't run away screaming meant she had some backbone.
"...The effect of that Goddess's Guard Stone is mid-tier. Anything beyond that depends on the quality of the gemstone used as the base, so the higher the effect, the higher the price. Furthermore, obtaining such items is quite difficult."
The church woman remained composed despite the freak show I'd just put on. She seemed like someone I could count on.
"If it's high-quality and rare, nobles and the wealthy would be snapping them up. It makes sense that they're hard to find, let alone expensive. But what if we provided the materials? Could you make a talisman then?"
"If you seek quality, it would be ideal to have high-purity mana stones and high-purity magical minerals for the base. Including the gemstones, it would have to undergo special processing and then be tuned as a magic tool. It would cost quite a bit for the processing as well as the materials, but..."
Unsurprisingly, even a virtuous church woman was serious when it came to money. I hadn't intended to take charity anyway. If it would ease this suffering, no price was too high.
"Is that all? We picked up some top-tier gems a while back, and we've got the other materials on hand. I don't mind paying in advance, so could you make it?"
The gems she was talking about... right, when we raided the noble linked to Badu Lot, their hideout happened to be a jewelry store. We had snatched plenty of gems then. But I had something even better.
Lying there, I opened my pouch and grabbed a few items.
"Gradena, these are better. The gems are right here, so have someone bring the other materials."
"Got it. I'll call them right now."
They were gems I had created myself using mineral magic. I always kept some on hand along with gold and silver coins for emergencies. I handed them to the church woman. She could pick whichever ones worked best and keep the rest as payment.
"I shall take these. I will check their quality with a magic tool."
"If those aren't enough, just say so. I'll get you something else."
The value of a gem was decided by rarity, size, cut, and color. For a talisman, it seemed the most important factors were size, hardness, and a lack of inclusions.
The gems I made had zero inclusions. I had given her several of different sizes and hardness, so one of them was bound to work.
Tch. This sickness is going to drive me crazy.
My only hope now lay in that talisman. The curse was getting to me, but I had to believe I could find a way to recover.