The Curse of Youth

The first sensation I felt was dampness. For a moment I wondered if I'd collapsed in a puddle of blood, but the faint smell of povidone-iodine—that unmistakable hospital scent—told me otherwise. Forcing my eyes open, I realized I was simply lying on a bed soaked through with my own sweat. If anything felt off, it was that the bed seemed strangely large and my body felt lighter than usual. I'd clearly lost weight from sweating buckets while unconscious.

"You've finally woken up, youngest."

"How are you feeling?"

The voices that greeted me belonged to Melchior and Melissa. They'd pulled chairs up beside my bed and must have been sitting there the entire time, waiting for me to open my eyes. As always, their devotion to their youngest sibling was absolute.

I pressed my left hand to my forehead as I answered. For some reason my hand felt unusually soft today.

"A little dizzy, but otherwise I'm fine."

Had my ears gone wrong too? Why did my voice sound like that? When I looked at the hand on my forehead, it clearly wasn't an adult's. It was the small hand of a child who might spend his days playing in the dirt... Fuck. Did they cut my arm off and graft on a kid's?

I slowly examined the rest of my body. No matter how I looked at it, this was...

"Brother, Sister, I have one question."

Melissa was deliberately avoiding my eyes. The hand covering her mouth made it obvious she was fighting back laughter. Melchior wore the expression of someone who'd been expecting this.

"Why the hell am I a kid again?"

I wasn't some grim reaper that brought murder cases wherever I went, so why was I de-aged? Was the North not a communist state but the headquarters of some shady organization? Why the fuck were they regressing other people's bodies?

"Well... you have that friend who understands your condition better than anyone. We sent her a letter."

This was about Lorsch? I wondered why her name had come up so suddenly, like a bolt from the blue.

"We asked her to treat you. She knows your body's quirks better than any healer or physician. In return, she sent a bottle of medicine."

"I get that it healed me, but what does that have to do with why I'm suddenly a damn kid?"

"She said making the body younger would accelerate the healing process, but... that wasn't her only intention. Sigh..."

Melchior looked genuinely troubled. But Lorsch had sent me medicine? Weren't our relations at rock bottom? From what I remembered of Werner's memories, after that huge fight they only met for official ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠business, and even then they were ice-cold to each other. That connection had been completely severed twelve years ago when Werner ran away in the dead of night.

Melchior scratched his head, then pulled a sheet of paper from the nearby drawer. The pattern engraved at the top looked strangely familiar.

"It was enclosed with the medicine."

"A Geas...?"

"This fucking bitch..."

The curse slipped out before I could stop it. She was still holding onto that old grudge and taking it out on me. "Your body will explode and die"? What kind of lunatic considered that artistic?

I had to break this curse. I quietly weighed each condition.

Number one was an immediate rejection. What self-respecting man would choose to live as a woman? Number two was obviously rejected without a second thought. Number three was slightly tempting, but it wasn't all that different from the first, so ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rejected. Number four... that was literally telling me to become a eunuch. I wasn't Sima Qian; there was no reason to accept that. Which left only number five...

Honestly, that one didn't appeal to me either. Even in the game I never looked kindly on deserters. After abandoning the position of Royal Court Mage for twelve years, would they really welcome me back with open arms? I wasn't some legendary artist who could just waltz back in after running away. Still, the choices were clear: live the rest of my life like this, return to the Royal Court, or become a eunuch.

It was a three-way standoff between shit, absolute shit, and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠nuclear shit. Swearing wouldn't change anything. There was no option to simply refuse to choose. I had to pick one.

I wouldn't hesitate any longer. I didn't have time to waste in this tiny body.

I would save myself with my own choice.

I underlined number five and wrote the name Werner Alton. The paper immediately emitted a bright light and flew out the open window.

The curse was supposed to lift tomorrow, right? That meant I had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to stay in this child's body at least until then.

Melchior stared at the spot where the contract had flown for a moment, then spoke.

"I'll speak with the Imperial family. Don't worry too much. They want you back as well."

"Thanks, Brother."

Honestly, if not for the whole "body exploding" clause, I would've run away immediately. This damned Geas was no different from a slave contract. Making a slave contract without permission? Lorsch was clearly an imperialist. Turning me into Kunta Kinte? I'd get my revenge someday.

"Ugh, fuck. If you're going to release it, just release it, you awful woman."

She could have lifted it right away but deliberately did this. She had aged that old resentment like kimchi and was serving it back to me as perfectly fermented mugeunji.

Melissa chuckled and stroked my hair.

"Seeing you like this reminds me of when we first met our youngest."

Melchior chimed in as well.

"You too? Same here."

"He begged for a piece of bread, saying he'd show us a magic trick. I figured he'd ask for a coin and bolt..."

"But the Heavenly Demon himself volunteered as the test subject and got struck by lightning on the spot."

Come to think of it, that was probably why the old Heavenly Demon had given Werner a chestnut flick hard enough to make his mom cry.

"The leader recognized his talent and took him in, right?"

"That's right. That thief Scua even gave the kid her last name and chose his name for him. To think that little brat has grown this much... time really has passed."

"Melissa, Melchior... but..."

"Now that I think about it, when Werner was little he didn't call us Brother and Sister. He called us 'Hyung-a' and 'Noon-a,' right?"

"No, his pronunciation was so bad back then that it came out as 'Hyung-a' and 'Noon-a.' For a ten-year-old to speak like that... he really was just a baby."

That was already more than nineteen years ago. Yet here they were, stroking my hair while reminiscing about those days. On the outside I looked like a child, but inside I was a twenty-nine-year-old mage.

The youngest position loved by every party member. It was cute when I was actually a kid, but once you got older it became incredibly burdensome. Imagine an adult man wearing the suspender pants of a kindergartener. Unless you were doing a cosplay of a red-hatted plumber, it just looked wrong. Positions were like clothes—they were supposed to change as you aged. Yet this youngest position had never changed. In military terms, it was like being a private who never got any juniors.

"By the way, what about Glacia...?"

"The moment she saw you collapse she went wild, so this big sister had to subdue her and lock her in her room."

Glacia was strong, but she was still no match for Melissa. That was only natural, I suppose.

"Then what about my disciple and Camellia?"

"I had both of them confined to separate guest rooms. We have our dignity too. We couldn't just let the people who ruined the engagement ceremony we prepared go free. Of course, they only listened to us after you were somewhat stabilized..."

In a dark room, a woman with light blue hair was logged into the mages' community, the Akashic Magician Record, typing a post.

"Heh. These old farts who don't know anything."

Lorsch McKellin—the number one hater mage on the Akashic Magician Record, Master of the Water Magic Tower, and the genius said to be second only to Werner in history—disconnected from the community. She looked at the Geas contract that had flown to her with an unreadable expression.

"Let's meet face to face properly soon, you bad guy..."