I Was Cursed with Favorability Reversal
I Was Cursed with Favorability Reversal
The southern end of the Empire, the Antika Ruins, said to be where the breath of a forgotten ancient god lingers.
"Rion! Watch out!"
Along with a sharp shout, a flash of a sword grazed my cheek.
The neck of a gargoyle that had popped out from a crevice was severed in a single stroke.
It was Serin, my childhood friend and a noble Holy Knight of the Empire.
"Honestly, I can't take my eyes off you for even a second. You would've died ten times over by now if it weren't for me."
Serin grumbled, but she still straightened my clothes.
Her brown eyes were filled with worry and affection.
Having stayed by Rion's side since childhood, she never hesitated to throw herself in harm's way whenever I was in danger.
"Thanks, Serin. But I was preparing defensive magic in my own way, you know."
"Forget it. Just stick close behind me. That's your job."
Serin grabbed my hand tightly. That warmth was my only comfort inside the cold ruins.
"Master, I will take the lead. I sense an ominous energy."
The one who appeared from behind my shadow, her silver hair fluttering, was the Dark Elf Elina.
Ever since I saved her from being miserably sold at a slave auction, Elina had made Rion her whole world.
Her gaze always followed my back, and whenever I smiled, a small smile would spread across her indifferent face.
"Rion-oppa, you're not focusing again! You almost got hurt!?"
The party's youngest, the wolf beastkin Miu, poked at my arm and wagged her tail.
I was the only person who treated her like a human when mercenaries treated her like a beast.
To Miu, a wolf beastkin who is said to look at only one person for her entire life, Rion was her partner, her family, and her entire world.
The atmosphere of the party was harmonious.
Even though there was Goro, the porter who was about to be kicked out for getting caught embezzling the party's funds.
There was also the elderly coachman Hoji, a racist who had joined temporarily, and Jack, a back-alley scavenger who was lurking in the back, but it didn't matter.
Because as long as I was with these three women, I could overcome any danger.
We were truly a perfect party, willing to risk our lives for one another.
In the deepest part of the ruins, in the center, sat a bizarrely beautiful mirror, and on the wall behind it, ancient words were written as if in red liquid.
Being well-versed in archaeology, I began to slowly read the inscription.
[O lover, bear that weight.]
[Cause and effect shall be reflected in the mirror and reversed, and affection shall be torn to shreds and become a flame of hatred.]
[You shall come to loathe your most beloved, and blindly crave the one you most despised.]
[Until the moon waxes and wanes and six nights pass, the inverted truth shall gnaw at your soul.]
"Rion? What does it say?"
Serin asked as she approached. I stepped back, struck by an ominous premonition.
"Serin, don't come here! Everyone, back off! This isn't an ordinary relic. It's cursed!"
My shout was a step too late. The mirror emitted a blinding red light, and the entire ruin began to vibrate.
The red mist spewing from the mirror instantly engulfed Serin, Elina, and Miu.
"Aaaargh!"
They screamed, clutching their heads.
"Serin! Elina! Miu!"
When I rushed to them in a panic, the mist had already cleared.
But something was wrong.
Serin's movement, as she was about to reach out to me, stopped.
The warm eyes that had been looking at me trembled as if in a spasm, then instantly turned cold.
"...Ah."
Serin opened her mouth. But the words that came out were not a greeting.
"Don't touch me."
She roughly swatted away the hand I had extended, as if she had seen something disgusting like excrement.
"Serin? What's wrong, are you hurt?"
"Hurt? No, I feel quite refreshed. It feels like the fog that was covering my eyes has finally lifted."
Serin took off her glove and roughly wiped the back of her hand where I had touched her. As if she had caught some poison, until her skin turned red.
The moment I made eye contact with her, I felt the blood in my entire body freeze.
Her eyes, which had always sent me honey-sweet smiles. What was contained within them was intense loathing, the likes of which I had never seen in my life.
"Serin?"
"Don't you dare call my name with that filthy mouth! You disgusting bastard!"
Serin shoved my chest hard. Pushed by the strength of a Holy Knight, I rolled on the floor.
What came before the confusion was an incomprehensible fear.
"Serin, why are you doing this? It's me, Rion!"
"Exactly! Rion, it's because it's you that I'm annoyed! That hypocritical look in your eyes... it makes me want to vomit. The fact that I've spent over ten years with you is the greatest shame of my life."
Her voice was laced with genuine hatred, with no trace of acting.
"What are you talking about, Serin! It's because of the curse, look at what's written on that inscription!"
I pointed to the wall, but Serin didn't even look.
Instead, she turned her gaze to Goro, the porter who was packing up luggage in the back.
She gave a noble knight's smile to the man she wouldn't even glance at usually.
"Goro-ssi."
Serin's voice became unbelievably soft.
"You had a hard time moving the luggage earlier, didn't you? May I take a look at you for a moment?"
"Yes...? Ah, yes... Knight-nim?"
Goro also gave a dumbfounded answer, as if flustered.
But Serin didn't care and grabbed his rough hand, placing it against her cheek.
"Goro-ssi, your hands are so rough. You've had a hard time working under such an incompetent party leader, haven't you?"
Serin was now rubbing Goro's dirty hand against her cheek, wearing an ecstatic smile.
The moment I witnessed that scene, my thought process stopped.
Serin had lived her whole life in holiness and etiquette, known as a noble knight.
She usually wouldn't even let people like Goro come near her, calling them people who smelled of sin.
But now, she was rubbing her face against the grime-stained back of Goro's hand, wearing an ecstatic expression.
"Uh, uh... Knight-nim? Why are you suddenly doing this...?"
Goro tried to pull his hand away in confusion, but Serin instead gripped his wrist tightly.
Goro the porter.
A piece of human trash who had been beaten like a dog by Serin after getting caught trying to secretly embezzle and sell off the party's loot.
He rolled his eyes as if flustered, then, seemingly trying to grasp the situation, he slyly wrapped his arm around Serin's waist.
Far from rejecting him, Serin instead let out a moan as if feeling good, pressing herself against him.
Soon, confirming from Serin's eyes that this wasn't a joke, he wore a vile smile on his lips.
"Ah, yes... Well, it was back-breaking work serving you. I don't know what to do now that you've recognized it."
Goro's dirty fingers stroked Serin's fair cheek.
Normally, Serin's sword would have been at his throat before those fingers even touched her.
But Serin instead narrowed her eyes as if feeling good and burrowed into Goro's embrace.
"Serin! Snap out of it! That's Goro! The one you hated the most...!"
"Shut up, Rion."
Serin turned her head to look at me. Her gaze was so cold it felt like it would freeze over.
"You must have framed someone as strong and humble as Goro-ssi. What would a wizard like you, who's all talk, know about anything?"
Behind my back as I stumbled in shock, another cold voice was heard.
"Master. No, Rion. Do you know that I've wanted to tear apart that face of yours, pretending to be righteous, every time I saw it?"
It was the Dark Elf Elina.
Instead of my shadow, she approached Jack, the back-alley scavenger who was picking his nose in the corner.
Jack was a vile thug who usually drooled while looking at her figure.
"Jack-ssi, you have a rich scent of life. A scent you can't feel from a hothouse flower like Rion... the scent of a real man."
Elina's slender fingers pulled at Jack's dirty collar.
The Dark Elf who had been so devoted to me was now pressing her nose against the neck of a low-class thug, inhaling deeply.
Jack, with a dumbfounded expression, slyly touched Elina's thigh, and when she didn't reject him, he boldly placed his hand on it.
"What the, this stuck-up Dark Elf bitch is into me?"
"Elina, why are you like this too! Snap out of it!"
At my shout, Elina slowly turned her head. Her eyes, which had been like cold ice, twisted with contempt.
"Master? No, Rion. Please shut that mouth. I've been sick of your hypocritical attitude. Did I ask you to save me from the slave market? It was you who oppressed me, drunk on your own pity."
"What...? Oppressed, Elina! You said you were free!"
"Free? Being by your side was the biggest prison. Look at Jack-ssi over there. That look... that primal gaze that sees me only as a woman is much more honest and beautiful."
Elina walked into Jack's arms.
Jack didn't know what was going on, but realizing he'd hit the jackpot, he let out a vile laugh and snatched Elina's thin waist.
"Hehehe, this Dark Elf bitch knows what's up, huh? Yeah, this body of mine is pretty hot."
Even as Jack's dirty hands dug into her clothes, Elina instead wrapped her arms around his neck as if seducing him.
"...Miu, you're not like that, right? Huh?!"
Miu flinched at my voice.
But her tail was standing straight up, and her ears were pricked forward. It was a sign of wariness and disgust.
"Ah, fck... you're so fcking noisy! Hey, Rion. Why do you keep acting like we're close? It's f*cking disgusting."
"Miu...?"
Miu ran to the elderly coachman Hoji and hugged him.
Hoji was an incredibly sinister old man.
He was a man who would click his tongue every time he saw Miu, calling her a beast, but Miu was holding that wrinkled hand of Hoji and wagging her tail.
"Old man, pet Miu. Okay? Don't pay attention to that incompetent Rion bastard, you tame Miu."
Old man Hoji revealed his yellow teeth and cackled.
"Hehehe, this little beast... alright, this old man will pet you all night long."
I approached them, denying reality.
This is a curse.
It's just a temporary magical effect. If I try, if I appeal to them sincerely, I'll be able to turn them back.
I believed that.
"Serin, Elina, Miu! Everyone, stop! Snap out of it!"
It was when I reached out to grab Serin's shoulder.
Thwack-!
The Holy Knight's heavy gauntlet struck my solar plexus. My breath hitched, and I tumbled backward. I tasted the metallic tang of blood in my mouth.
"I told you not to touch me, didn't I?"
Serin was looking down at me.
Her sword, which once didn't back down even in front of demons to protect me, was now pointed at my throat.
"Serin... it's me... your childhood friend... Rion..."
"That fact is the biggest stain on my life. To think I loved a guy like you, I feel like my soul is contaminated. Goro-ssi, let's ignore trash like him and go."
Serin linked arms with Goro and headed out of the ruins.
Following her, Elina leaned on Jack's shoulder and swept a cold glance over me as she passed.
Jack openly stole the emergency money pouch from my waist, yet he was confident.
"Think of this as alimony. To think you had such a beauty and couldn't even handle her properly, you're an idiot."
Miu leaped onto old man Hoji's carriage and raised her middle finger at me.
"Hey! Rion! Don't ever show yourself in front of me again, okay? Next time, I'll really bite you to death! F*ck, you're bad luck!"
The center of the ruins where they had left.
I had to listen to their fading laughter and the vulgar jokes of the men while sprawled on the cold stone floor.
It felt like my heart was being torn apart.
No... I can't give up.
I stood up, staggering. If what was written on the inscription is true, it's only a week.
I just need to endure for a week.
Even if they hate me during that time, if I stay by their side, I'll be able to return to how things were when the curse is lifted.