The Demon's Curse (3)
Raeli had come back with umbrellas almost immediately, so I'd figured we might as well do what Besia had wanted from the start and grab a meal at a restaurant. She was the one who shut it down.
"I'm not feeling great today. How about we call it here and head back?"
"Yeah?"
"Besides, Argal isn't in any shape for it either."
She wasn't wrong. I'd only been outside a short while, and already my body was starting to complain. Three days of being dead to the world didn't mean I was anywhere near recovered. We cut our brief outing short and headed back.
A thought occurred to me on the way.
"Whose mansion have we even been staying in?"
It was a genuinely lavish estate. I still couldn't figure out why a place like that existed so close to the Academy, or how we'd ended up living in it in the first place.
Fran was the one who filled me in.
"Reinhardt lent it to us."
"...Reinhardt did?"
"We didn't have anywhere to stay, and the Academy's closed so we couldn't use the dorms. We were trying to figure out what to do, and he just... offered."
Ducal houses really did operate on a different level. They apparently kept mansions in every region, and he could just hand one over to other people on a whim.
The Sword Saint had lent us an estate and then vanished. I hadn't seen him once since.
"So where did Reinhardt go?"
"Back to the main house. He said he had something to take care of."
"Busy man, I guess."
The more power you held, the more obligations came with it. That much was obvious.
I won't forget the mansion you left us, Sword Saint...
We went back, ate the meal the mansion's maids had prepared, and I decided to lie down and rest a little longer.
"But you can't just rest in peace like that!"
"...Why not?"
The one who refused to tolerate even a sliver of boredom while I was lying in bed was Fran. She came in with an armful of board games — something we could play lightly, without putting any strain on my body.
We'd talked about reading together, but if our tastes didn't match, even that would be a chore. So Fran had apparently decided that a board game — the kind anyone could get hooked on, given half a chance — was the better call.
"Want to play a round of chess?"
"Anytime."
I wasn't the type to turn down a game if someone wanted to play.
As Fran set up the board, I watched her and let my thoughts wander. The memories of her I'd absorbed during the mind control hadn't faded. I had no intention of bringing any of it up before she chose to say it herself.
As we were about to start, I figured we might as well put something on the line. A game with nothing at stake was no fun at all.
"Every time I lose, I'll teach you another piece of the Ultimate."
"What? Are you serious?"
"At this point, it's about time I showed you the next stage anyway."
Fran lit up with a ferocious burst of motivation. The Ultimate was the goal of every mage alive — dangling it as a prize turned a casual game into a high-stakes tournament overnight.
"Don't come crying to me when I've cleaned you out of every last secret. Heh."
"If you're that confident."
If you really win them all, Fran, I'll tell you everything.
But here's the thing. I don't play games I intend to lose.
The collapse of Fran's smug expression took all of about one move.
Ten games. Ten losses.
We spent hours doing nothing but chess, and Fran got demolished every single time.
"How are you this good at chess..."
"You play enough, you get good."
Back when I had nothing better to do, I'd played a lot of chess with Saryeong-wang. The one notable feature of those matches: his skill was a wall I had never once climbed over. I'd lost every game back then, but that didn't mean I hadn't gotten better.
"Guh! I'm never falling for this again!"
Fran hurled a book across the room like the universe itself had wronged her. I glanced at the discarded volume. The title was painfully on the nose: 500 Chess Masterstrokes.
"...You've been using that the whole time?"
And you still lost?
I gave her a look that was just a little too knowing. Fran couldn't take the humiliation. She hung her head, folded up the board, and fled.
"We're playing again next time!"
"...Sure."
I watched the girl make her escape. It was late anyway, so I figured I'd just go to sleep.
I'd been sleeping remarkably well lately. My body was in such poor shape that the moment I lay down, I passed out whether I wanted to or not. Before I drifted off, I looked out the window.
The rain was still coming down.
When I closed my eyes and opened them again, the rain was still falling in sheets.
An uninvited guest had arrived first thing in the morning. Figures in priest's robes, wearing rain gear, were pounding on the mansion's front door. Priests showing up unannounced was unusual enough that everyone staying in the house came out to meet them.
"Do priests usually just show up like this?"
"I've never seen it happen."
Besia figured it was nothing serious and opened the door. The one who looked like their leader scanned the people inside, then spoke.
"Priestess Besia. Are you here?"
"I'm right here."
"You will need to come with us."
"...Why?"
Besia tilted her head. The priest delivered the bombshell.
"What?"
"You will need to come with us."
The priests behind him began to close in around her. Besia had no reason to go quietly.
"When the hell did I—?! I've been here this whole time, with these people!"
"We have evidence. You will accompany us and give a full accounting of the allegations."
"That's insane! I need to talk to Bishop Revega — just let me send him a letter, at least—"
She stopped. Something in the air had shifted. Their faces had gone even more solemn the moment she mentioned the Bishop.
Besia's hands clenched. She already knew what she was about to hear. And she was right.
"Regrettably, His Grace the Bishop has collapsed."
"...What?"
Besia crumpled to the floor.
It wasn't just shocking. It was horrific. And that made it even harder to comprehend. She and the Bishop were as close as a parent and child. Who would curse whom?
"What kind of bullshit is that?! You're saying I put a Demon's Curse on the Bishop?!"
"As I said, we have both evidence and testimony. We have no choice but to take you in."
"Testimony? From what kind of bastard?!"
Before Besia could fully explode, I put a hand on her shoulder and held her still.
"Besia. Easy. Calm down."
"How the hell am I supposed to calm down?! They're saying the Bishop might die, and they're pinning a Demon's Curse on me!"
"...What if I can save him?"
Her head snapped toward me. Her eyes were already wet. The news had hit her that hard.
"Really?"
Her hands reached for me. I took them — they were trembling so badly it hurt to watch.
Demon contracts were my specialty. Curses were no different. Dozens of orthodox solutions were already lining up in my head. And if none of those worked, I could just transfer the curse onto myself.
Better to spend one of my infinite lives than let the Bishop lose the only one he had.
The dual contract between the demon and the professor still hadn't been executed. I could take the curse at the right moment, fulfill the contract, and die. I'd said I'd look after the Bishop, but I never imagined things would blow up this fast. In terms of the timeline, it had only been a month or two, hadn't it?
The incident had already happened. There was no undoing it. The goal now was to contain the damage as much as possible.
"You can do it?"
"Yeah. I can."
The certainty in my voice finally let her breathe. She dragged in a shaky breath, one ragged inhale at a time.
Grief gave way to rage. Whoever had driven the Bishop to death's door and framed her for it — Besia burned with hatred for them.
Besia ground her teeth and stepped forward to face the priests, her head held high. They were simply carrying out the duty they'd been given.
"Then you will accompany us?"
"Yeah. And—"
Her eyes turned to us.
"I'm counting on you."
"Leave it to me."
We nodded, exchanging a quiet look of trust, and Besia was taken into custody and led away.
There was no helping it. Interfering with a Church proceeding would only pile on a worse charge — even if we saved the Bishop later and cleared Besia's name, it would make everything messier. Better to let them take her now and solve the actual problem.
"What on earth was that?"
Once the storm had passed, Fran asked the question with a face that said she couldn't begin to make sense of any of it.
I was in the same boat. What kind of curse had been used, that Besia could be framed for it and the Bishop left dying? We'd barely clawed our way out of the trap at the entrance exam, and already another one was lying in wait.
On top of that, Fran and Raeli didn't even know who Bishop Revega was, which made the whole thing even harder for them to follow. So I gave them the background, as much as they needed.
Both girls were furious in exactly the same way.
"This is— I mean, just hearing it makes me so angry I could die."
"Wow. Argal, is this for real? I can't just sit here after that."
"Neither can I."
Anyone who heard it would call it a raw deal. Everyone in this house knew Besia was innocent better than anyone else possibly could.
I laid out the plan.
"First, I'm heading to the Capital, where the Bishop is. As for you two..."
"We're coming with you, obviously! The Academy's closed anyway."
"I'm going too! I don't know how much help I'll be, but I'll do whatever I can."
I nodded at their fierce enthusiasm. Several people were better than one. With the Church's corruption already in question, going alone would leave me far too exposed. This whole thing might even be bait, laid out to land a bigger fish.
The decision was made, and everyone started to move — packing, getting ready — when a girl opened a door upstairs and came down.
"...Why is it so loud."
The Spear Saint descended the stairs looking thoroughly miserable. She had a mask over her mouth and a damp towel wrapped around her head in a sloppy coil. I'd never seen her like this, and I asked in genuine confusion.
"...Asel was here?"
"Huh? You didn't know?"
"She's been in her room all day. Easy enough to miss."
...Then someone could have said something.
I'd assumed the Spear Saint had gone off somewhere, same as the Sword Saint.
That aside — why was she laid up like this?
"She used her finishing move twice last time and went rolling across the forest floor. Caught a nasty case of the flu."
"...My head's ringing. Talk quieter..."
"Careful, Argal. You're not well either — you could catch it."
"Ah. Right. I'll just put Asel back in her room, then."
Raeli scooped the Spear Saint up to quarantine her and tossed her back inside. Asel managed a few last-gasp words before she disappeared into the room.
"N-no...! I have something to sa—"
Thud!
Raeli dusted off her hands like she'd just taken out the trash, then turned back to us.
"Alright, Argal. Let's get ready for the Capital."
"If you need anything, just tell the maids here! They'll take care of it!"
"That's convenient. So we just pack our own things?"
...I think this was the first time I'd ever felt sorry for the Spear Saint.
Then again, she'd brought it on herself.
Feeling more satisfied than I probably should have, I went to find Caron and ask her to pack my things.