Chapter 46 – 16. The Curse (3)
The fucking ‘gay curse’ was implemented around 11km northwest of the commoners’ dormitory. In that direction and street, the central square of the academy and the student hall are located.
In the Student Center, which I visited once during the club introduction period, there are several clubs that are insolvent.
The effect of the curse that just attacked me is “A 20-year-old who likes men falls in love with a [Poison] Man”.
When I visited her and her shaman club to find her wisdom pencil case, I got to know Jamie Curse Real senior, her chief and [Poison] Attribute.
His eyes clearly coveted wisdom.
The Curse, Student Center, Witchcraft Club, Missing Pencil Case, Jamie Cursreal, and Jeon Ji-hye.
‘The anglerfish fits so well…?’
In my head, the outline of the event began to fit.
The time is midnight. We quietly left the room, with only a colorful star cluster and two moons watching over the world.
In order not to be noticed by others, I put on Iris’ invisibility magic and fly out of the window on her back.
Vicious magic that interferes with the human mind casually invaded my room. This is partly because the curse is so strong, but it also proves that the dormitory’s security is not that thorough.
The commoners’ dorms are no longer safe.
I still don’t know the attacker’s intentions. I’m not sure if the curse that didn’t work for me was a mistake on its part or part of an elaborate plan.
So, be prepared for all possibilities.
Fortunately, Iris accepted my request.
While the 4 clones guard the north, south, east and west of the dormitory, one clone resides on each floor where our class lives and patrols. There, two clones were placed in front of Ji-hye and Hye-rin’s door.
Her alter ego skills are very useful. The strength of each person is insignificant compared to the main body, but the ability of dozens of people to act systematically as one body is truly the ultimate division of labor.
I sat on Iris’ back and looked around her. The academy immersed in moonlight is very quiet and peaceful. I can’t imagine it being a place where malicious curses come and go.
From behind, No. 1 carrying Ireina follows us. The attacker might have targeted me, so I was a little uneasy leaving Ireina in the room.
I opened my mouth, facing the chilly night air for spring, probably because it was in the air.
“Iris. Please tell me about the curse.”
“Hmm… Curse is a type of magic that forcibly intervenes in fate. Are you familiar with the difference between magic and normal magic?”
“All I know is that witchcraft usually requires a sacrifice, and even perfect preparation can fail.”
“You know the point.”
She followed her words as she jumped over the roof of a building.
“Sorcery is very ambiguous. It is definitely magic in that it consumes mana and can be expressed as a circuit under certain rules. There is no rule that covers all sorcery. It doesn’t even work.”
My mother, Cheonryong of the previous generation, expressed this as follows.
Witchcraft is called ‘prayer’.
“…Prayer?”
“Yes, just like holding water and holding a sacrifice to the sky. It’s praying for the desired effect to appear in exchange for the sacrifice and mana. The difference is that the form is relatively complicated, and the probability of success is considerably higher than that of ignorant prayer?”
“Is it like probability magic?”
“Yes. A magic that changes the probability of success depending on the level of sacrifice, the state of the shaman, or the wish of the caster.”
Ordinary magic can be implemented simply by using a certain amount of mana as the material and directly expressing the magic circle. However, magic does not guarantee success even if all preparations are completed.
It’s like gambling, and it’s like a lottery game.
“Then, the curse that came to me might be the result of something wrong.”
“Is not it.”
After all, there is nothing we can be sure of right now.
In order to understand the situation properly, we must gather clues.
“Arrived.”
The student hall where the curse is believed to have started. A clock tower placed in the very center of the central plaza, in front of the main gate.
We landed on top of a tower higher than all the buildings around it.
An empty, spooky pitch-black plaza and a building exuding a terrifying atmosphere like a haunted house spread out beneath my feet.
I focused the attribute mana on the eyeball to secure my vision in the dark.
A technique I call Cheonan.
At the same time as my eyes twinkle in sky blue, the surrounding environment gradually begins to be dyed in a specific color.
Purple.
The ground shimmering light purple, and the outer wall of the building boasting a purple light.
And I looked at the black semicircular curves drawn in the air around the building.
“Can you see it?”
“Yes. Are those… Barriers? They make the presence of the place lighten… Are they an effect that makes people withdraw from this place…?”
“Oh, mostly accurate. Very good job!”
I pondered as I felt her hand stroking my hair.
A very strange sight.
It can’t be a normal state with all kinds of circuits attached to it.
It is said that the curse that attacked me has been implemented for quite some time. I flew to this place, the only clue, in order to collect traces that may have already disappeared as quickly as possible. I didn’t know they were advertised this way.
“These are barriers for concealment. If it wasn’t for witchcraft, they would have been exposed to the surveillance magic spread all over the academy. It’s an interesting method using the probability of witchcraft.”
It seems that the fear I felt when I first looked at the building was because of that barrier.
If it wasn’t for the [Sky] Attribute, I wouldn’t have noticed it either.
Perhaps Iris had discovered that a long time ago and led us to the top of the clock tower outside the barrier.
The guess after the stop was not wrong. Soon after leaving the dormitory, she could feel these alien auras.
Also, her eyes look more and more deeply than after the stop.
Iris asked a question while keeping an eye on a man wandering around on the top floor of the building.
“Is there a person who is expected to be the culprit?”
“Yes. Jamie Cursreal—”
I unraveled her scenario, her simple, her obvious. Coveting her omniscience, she hypothesizes that he abused her witchcraft powers to force her to become her own woman.
Even so, I couldn’t erase the doubts that welled up in my heart.
Doing such a terrible thing just because of unrequited love?
Of course, wisdom is a very attractive woman. A cute and kind appearance, a body that has a place to come out and a place to enter, and even an active and dedicated personality.
Jamie-senpai deserves to fall in love with her the moment she first met her.
Can’t fall in love, have I completely gone mad?
Enough to commit such a felony?
He comes from an aristocratic family and is an adult. He must have had enough of an elite education and is old enough to take responsibility for his actions.
Did he risk punishment and dishonor his family just to have a girl with his daughter?
“The Cursreal family… I’ve heard of it.”
Ireina, who had been quietly listening to our conversation, opened her mouth.
“They are counts who manage small estates around the imperial capital. The characteristic is that there are many aristocrats who are good at magic and curses from generation to generation.”
“I see.”
What a count. He’s not a rookie, he’s a high-ranking aristocrat.
Maybe it has a different purpose?
It has not yet been determined that he is the culprit. Senior Jamie is a person with the [Poison] Attribute that I know, and he was only pointed out as a prime suspect because he seemed to be interested in Ji-hye.
The [Poison] Attribute is normal, and the vast majority of Awoken have one of the fourteen normal-level attributes. Therefore, it would not be an exaggeration to say that 1 out of 14 students in the academy have the [Poison] Attribute.
After all, you have to go in there yourself to be sure of everything.
Match.
“I have a good idea.”
Iris clapped once and looked at me.
“Let this be your first test.”
“······Yes?”
A test to verify eligibility to receive the heavenly emperor’s inheritance.
“If you enter the main gate over there and reach the top floor of the building or cut off the culprit’s head, you’ll pass. Then go for it!”
······Excuse me?
You want me to crawl into that gloomy place? I know very little about curses…?
‘Sir, the progress is too fast…’
Wasn’t Irisemon doing everything?
Before I had time to resist, I plummeted slowly toward the plaza as her magic enveloped me.
* * *
Clink!
The moment the previously linked crystal ball shattered, he ran toward the shaman club office located on the top floor of the student hall.
It was midnight, but nobody cared.
This is because the long awaited outcome has finally come to fruition.
Today, it has been 11 days since mana was blown into the shaman.
His curse finally got out of the state of just wandering around in the air, and reached a certain destination. The change in the shape of the crystal ball indicated a change in the state of witchcraft.
Whether it was a success or a failure, I don’t know yet.
Maybe it will be a success, he thought.
The offerings were appropriate. Among the belongings of Jeon Ji-hye, her summoner, is this world’s pencil case, which she spent the longest time with her. Thanks to his fiancee stealing it, he was able to design a more powerful spell.
His sorcery level is sufficient. He is probably the most experienced student in the academy. It was his first time trying this curse, but he believed in his talent.
The desire for success is overflowing. A wish he and his father had been yearning for for years. That realization was imminent.
He didn’t know The Jihoo hair inside it has a higher rank as a sacrifice than Wisdom’s pencil case. As a result, the target of the curse changed from wisdom to wisdom. He couldn’t know
‘It’s not the end just because you’ve acquired wisdom. It’s starting now. As soon as we go, let’s activate the shaman barrier and call Wisdom here.’
Having fallen in love with him, she will not refuse his call.
I plan to make her her sacrifice as soon as possible, and then leave her ecliptic before her day dawns.
By the time the pursuer finds him, everything will be over as he wants.
With full expectations in his heart, he entered the secret room in the club room. He hurried to the table where the abbreviated altar had been placed and hastily checked his incantation.
And despaired.
“Uh, huh?”
A messed-up shaman.
The magic circuit was crushed to such an extent that it was difficult to deduce its original form, and the pencil case was torn to shreds.
This is the feedback due to the failure of the curse.
‘Fuck…’
An all-too-familiar feeling of powerlessness overwhelms him. Over the years of failure, he learned to be frustrated.
Again he failed. Why? After all, can’t you defy the laws of heaven? Are my father and I expecting too much? Are you doomed to fail again and again? Is it set that way?
An out-of-the-box notification sound interrupts the flow of thoughts that try to go beyond depression and into severe self-loathing and grief.
T-T-T-T-T-
Surveillance magic that looks outside the building.
In the center of the light purple plaza, a certain man was standing.
‘How is that guy?!’
After stop.
Jeon Ji-hye’s lover slowly approaches the student hall.
Sigh
His teeth are grinding
“…Is that you?”
You bastard who sabotaged my plans.
He was convinced by the appearance of Jeong Ji-hoo, who came to the source as soon as the curse failed.
Unless he gets rid of him first, his wish will never come true.
“Don’t kill me.”
Now that this has happened, I will have to deal with Jeong Ji-hoo and kidnap Jeon Ji-hye myself in this cursed fortress.
Purple poisonous gas began to secrete from his body.
