Gavi Merchant Guild (3): Childhood and the Same Curse
Gavi Merchant Guild (3) 'Childhood', and 'the same curse'. Kriel was once again convinced that a hero had intervened in the Gavi family's tragedy.
The members of the three heroes who felled Balor were a mage, a warrior, and an archer.
Mazar Gavi had survived this long despite being afflicted by the curse. That meant the hero from back then must have somehow lifted the curse laid upon Mazar.
Which led to this.
"Was the hero you met a mage?"
"Indeed."
"Couldn't you try the method the hero used to lift the curse on your father?"
"Strictly speaking, I am already attempting that method."
Doubt flooded Kriel's mind. He was trying the curse-lifting method the hero had discovered, yet Tushkin Gavi's curse showed no improvement? That would mean there was effectively no way to lift Tushkin Gavi's curse.
The only remaining option was the slim hope that killing the one who cast the curse might break it—and tracking down and executing the culprit.
"If things have reached that point, even mobilizing the Abyss Prevention Society seems pointless."
"...Strictly speaking, the aid the hero gave me was symptomatic treatment at best. Even he couldn't find the precise way to lift the curse."
Mazar Gavi recounted his own experience with the curse. On the day the hero cast healing magic, his condition improved, only for boils to erupt again the next day, fever raging as he wandered on the brink of death.
"The hero treated me with steadfast patience. After a month or so like that, I awoke from sleep to realize I could breathe without pain."
Kriel's eyes narrowed. If an abyss seed was truly involved in the Gavi family's downfall, then the hero had crushed it in a battle of endurance.
Refusing to stop using healing magic until the curser gave up—clinging to life with grim tenacity. And now Mazar Gavi was doing the same for Tushkin, sustaining him with summoned mages' healing spells and every elixir available.
"Then how long has your father been bedridden?"
"...Over a year, easily. We've exhausted every means to bolster his vitality, but he can't even rise from his bed. My siblings care only for seizing the Gavi Merchant Guild in his absence."
Kriel nodded. He could smell the abyss.
"Have you ever told your family this is a curse?"
"How could I lack hope in my own kin? I pleaded with them time and again that this was the abyss's trap, that we must unite to overcome it—but they dismissed me utterly. 'The Demon King fell years ago, and now you prattle of the abyss?' They just mocked me."
From the tale, it was clear: the abyss seed that failed to topple House Gavi through the hero years ago had returned.
The problem was.
Why return now?
Kriel thought of the sword at his right hip. The Seven Great Demonic Weapons, missing for so long, were stirring again, and the downfall of House Gavi—meant for the Demon King War era—was being attempted anew.
Kriel scratched his head. These headache-inducing plots weren't his specialty.
Fortunately, he had good friends.
"Mazar Gavi. As a knight, I intend to aid you."
"Hm?"
"You know Morgina, who fought you in the duel trial, is the saintess of Eve Kaha, and that I am her champion. The pantheon gathered under the glory of the six precepts all take the abyss as their lifelong foe. Once she hears your story, Morgina will join the fight."
Kriel wasn't great with complicated tales, but he was confident he could sniff out and smash anything abyss-tainted up close.
And Morgina was a saintess, after all. Eve Kaha favored destruction over healing, but a saintess could get close to Tushkin Gavi under the pretext of examination.
Getting near the curse's source should turn up something.
He might fall short alone, but with Morgina, confirming abyss involvement would be simple.
"I'll discuss it with my companions and return. There are other Gavi Merchant Guild staff in the cathedral wards—talk to them if you can move."
Rising, Kriel moved to leave without hesitation. As Morgina had spilled in the duel trial, he owed her a debt equal to his armor.
Asking favors bare-handed pricked his conscience—not against knightly honor, just awkward for a friend to sponge off her endlessly. He was about to head out for pastries from a ducal pastry shop that Morgina would love.
"Wait."
"Hm?"
"...So, you're saying you'll help me now? For free?"
"Ah. Forgot to mention that."
Kriel nodded.
"One coin is pay enough for me, but negotiate Morgina's directly. She's not one to haggle over pay, but who knows."
With that, he turned and strode away.
"You bastard, Kriel—!!"
Morgina burst through the locked door. Not destroyed—she was a 'saintess,' after all, obligated to uphold Eve Kaha's dignity unless absolutely necessary.
She'd adapted Eve Kaha's signature divine art, blood flow manipulation, sliding liquid blood into the lock to pick it instead of hardening it into a weapon.
The door flew open violently, but the lock remained intact—that was the trick.
Scanning the room, Morgina found no Kriel.
"Huh?"
"Damn it, who—"
From the next room crawled a mage with flowing pink hair—Armed Ket, currently Kriel's fiancée.
"...The saintess of Eve Kaha, I presume. What brings you here?"
"I should be asking you that. I'm here tracking the energy of the sword I gifted Sir Kriel. Where is he?"
Oh, shit.
Orishin, under scrutiny from Armed's blade inspection, stuck out his tongue. No popcorn for this entertaining show. Even if there was, manifesting it would be a hassle—but still, a shame.
The best spectacle was always a fight, especially a lovers' quarrel. Both women eyeing Kriel had tempers, unlikely to spell out their feelings plainly, but Orishin could roughly sense the shapes leaking from their hearts.
If Kriel doesn't show, they'll bicker lightly and go their ways. But if he does—
The fight might fizzle or explode spectacularly. Purely for fun, he'd prefer the latter, but Orishin had tasted both their tempers equally.
Uh. Could get dangerous?
Orishin felt sudden unease.
"Morgina?"
The familiar voice calling the thug saintess. Orishin sighed inwardly.
Oh, damn.
"What the hell, Kriel? Where've you been?"
"Kriel went to meet Mazar Gavi," Armed cut in before he could answer, a peculiar smile on her face.
"Hmph... Why? Find some abyss stink at his place?"
"Spot on."
"What?"
Both women's shock was palpable. Kriel shrugged.
"Guess you haven't heard yet. Mazar Gavi nearly got assassinated moments ago. The Gavi Merchant Guild building almost burned to the ground. I rushed over and kept him breathing."
"The people? Anyone needing healing miracles?"
"Left them at the nearby cathedral. Excluding fatalities, all stable."
Morgina clutched her head—rage at the abyss, disappointment in herself. If she'd been there, she might've saved one more.
Kriel naturally patted her shoulder.
"Your absence didn't change the outcome. Everyone but the initial explosion victims was saved."
A priests' chronic affliction: blaming themselves for every abyss-linked death. Common to all, but Morgina's guilt ran especially deep.
Kriel withdrew his hand and continued.
"Seems Tushkin Gavi is under an abyss curse. Can you help?"
"My grandma sent me here to hunt abyss in the first place. Of course we're going."
The decision wrapped up in seconds, before Armed could process the assault news.
"Armed, sorry, but—"
"I'm coming too."
"Huh?"
"Gavi's a client of mine. Can't sit idle if their boss is down."
Kriel nodded after a moment's thought. A mage's and priestess's perspectives overlapped yet differed—complementary.
"Important talk for both of you."
Morgina crossed her arms; Armed paused packing her staff and turned.
"Payment goes through Mazar Gavi."
[You son of a bitch!]
The flat of the horn dagger suddenly struck Kriel's occiput.