Who Are You?
Iris had been remarkably bright and cheerful ever since that day. It might have been the afterglow of a fun outing, or perhaps the joy of seeing the sunflower seed finally sprout, but one thing was certain: she was in an exceptionally good mood.
She no longer resisted blood draws with outright disgust, accepting them with nothing more than a slight frown. Whenever asked, she handed over the Holy Spear without complaint. Thanks to her cooperation, the research was progressing without a hitch, and they had finally identified the curses afflicting Iris.
“Oblivion, Regression, Alteration… Nothing but garbage curses, every last one.”
Evan muttered the words like a sigh. Kaede, setting down a cup of tea beside him, interjected politely.
“Didn’t you say there were four curses on Lady Iris’s body?”
“I still can’t figure out the last one. The timing is completely different—it was cast first, on its own.”
The soul-bound curse had been applied before the others, with the remaining three tangled chaotically on top of it like a messy knot.
“I can’t reach the innermost curse. It appears dormant, so it isn’t constantly active. All I can determine is that it likely triggers under specific conditions.”
“In other words, you won’t know if the chestnut inside the burr has rotted until you crack it open?”
“…Close enough.”
Evan gave Kaede a slightly sour look. Her analogies have taken a strangely food-heavy turn lately. She might still be nursing a rivalry with Locke.
I should have the hero write down some recipes for her later.
“In most cases like this, the condition would involve the act of undoing the curse itself, but…”
“You don’t believe that’s the case?”
“No. If one person orchestrated all of these, it won’t be that simple. Whoever they are… they’re a genius.”
“More so than you, Master?”
“When it comes to curses, yes.”
Evan admitted it without hesitation. Kaede blinked, visibly incredulous.
“Aren’t sorcery and curses the same field of study? You mean there exists a monster more proficient in curses than you, Master—the one who raised the Black Sun?”
“If that were true, I wouldn’t have dared touch it in the first place.”
“Then…?”
“Sorcery and curses share the same roots and operate on identical principles. But if they were truly identical, they wouldn’t bear different names.”
Both involved offering a price to manifest a phenomenon equal to that value. Yet one fundamental difference existed.
“Kaede, what’s the difference between using a fire sorcery to burn an opponent and using a fire curse to burn that same opponent?”
“The latter is more reliable, is it not? The former can be dodged, but…”
“Once a curse takes hold, it cannot be avoided until it is dispelled. Why do you think that is, when the underlying principles are exactly the same?”
“…Because curses demand a greater price?”
Evan shook his head.
“Sorcery offers a price to demand ‘the phenomenon of burning the enemy.’ A curse offers a price to demand ‘burn me.’ You cannot dodge flames that erupt from your own body.”
That was the essential difference between sorcery and curses.
“‘Burn me’? If you wish for such a thing, wouldn’t the caster burn to death the moment they cast it?”
“That is the rebound that occurs when a curse fails.”
When sorcery failed, the offered price simply evaporated. Curses were not so merciful.
“Think of it as forging a viciously fraudulent contract and stamping it as though you were the other party.”
In sorcery, innate intuition was paramount. In curses, the critical elements were deep understanding of the target, pure malice, and deception.
I am 00. If that lie could not be sold, every ounce of malice written into the contract would pour back onto the caster.
“That’s why curses primarily use the target’s hair, blood, or well-worn personal belongings. The caster must trick the curse into mistaking its victim for someone else.”
This was why sorcery spoke of ‘destruction’ while curses spoke of ‘dispelling.’ Sorcery could be shattered and torn down. A curse, however, left only two options: prove ‘this is not me’ or beg ‘please cancel the contract.’
“Then the fact that the one who cast these curses surpasses you in skill means their talent for deception is equally superior?”
“Exactly.”
Evan felt genuinely uncertain. How did I not fall for it?
Three curses, each potent enough to kill instantly. A simple curse like a voodoo doll for remote harm could be bypassed with hair or blood. But the stronger the malice inscribed in the contract, the harder it became to avoid the rebound.
A fraudulent contract that read ‘Please slap my cheek after receiving money’ might elicit a ‘What a lunatic’ and be fulfilled. But one that read ‘Please kill me’ would immediately raise suspicions of a trap.
“At first I thought she’d been careless and simply collected curses in bulk… but this was clearly the work of a single individual.”
The curses were not merely jumbled together. The three worked in tandem, interfering with and amplifying one another to form a single, greater curse.
It erased memories and stole duty. It regressed her personality and stole responsibility. And fearing she might still crawl onto the battlefield, it altered her very abilities.
Evan would sooner believe a monkey had accidentally painted a masterpiece than accept that such a precise configuration had occurred by chance.
“Whoever they are, I’d love to see the face of the bastard who cast these curses.”
“Do you plan to threaten them into revealing the dispelling method?”
“No. I was thinking we could sit down and debate sorcery and curses for days on end.”
“…Master?”
“I’m joking.”
He acknowledged the skill. It simply wasn’t to his taste. Should they ever meet, he would indeed grab them and force them into a chair—just not a sofa. It would be a torture chair. He would extract every last piece of useful information before deciding whether death was necessary.
“Then is dispelling impossible?”
“No.”
What impressed Evan was the deception, not the curse’s craftsmanship. The workmanship itself was flawless, without gaps, yet Evan could force one open if he chose.
“I’ll do it today.”
. . .
“Evan-Evan, what are you doing? Drawing a picture?”
Instead of extracting blood in the laboratory as usual, Evan had come to the garden. He had drawn two large circles resembling figure-eights, connected by a single straight line, using a special liquid. Iris watched with open fascination.
“Iris, step inside the larger circle. Don’t step on the lines.”
“Huh? Is this a new game?”
“Something like that.”
Once Iris stood inside the circle, Evan planted the Holy Spear in the opposite circle and propped up a doll stuffed with cotton soaked in her blood.
“Is that me?”
“No. That’s the Saintess.”
“Huh? Then it is me.”
“You’re Iris.”
Iris tilted her head, clearly confused.
“Think of it as role-playing. We’re separating the Saintess from Iris.”
“Then what’s my role?”
“Secret friend.”
“I don’t really get it, but okay!”
Iris nodded with a sunny smile. Evan snapped his fingers. Black flames roared to life along the circles enclosing both Iris and the doll.
“Whoa.”
As the liquid burned, a dreamy fragrance filled the air.
“『Iris.』”
“Yes?”
“『Don’t look at me. Look straight ahead. At the Saintess before you.』”
Iris’s gaze grew hazy. She stared at the doll leaning against the Holy Spear.
“I see it……”
“『It looks just like you, doesn’t it?』”
“Does it…?”
“『It has to. Pink hair, sky-blue eyes, an aura steeped in divinity. The Saintess of the Holy Kingdom. The daughter most beloved by the Mother Goddess.』”
“…….”
Iris’s eyes lost focus. The color of the ground beneath her shifted. A sinister energy began to seep from her spine.
As expected, the alteration curse reacts first.
Since the curse had been aimed at the Saintess’s power rather than Iris herself, it was the most easily shaken.
“『They’re identical, aren’t they?』”
“…Yes.”
“『Then who are you, and who is the person in front of you?』”
“I’m… Evan-Evan’s secret friend… and that is… the Saintess…?”
“『Correct.』”
A low hum resonated. The curse’s power began draining from Iris, yet it lingered, circling her like it couldn’t quite let go.
Still unable to find its footing.
Evan recited what Locke had told him.
“『When the Saintess first met Locke, she felt both cynicism and a sense of kinship.』”
“Huh…? Did she…?”
“『What do you feel?』”
“Ugly old man…”
The curse trembled violently. It slid along the straight line toward the doll and began inspecting it.
Evan offered his entire right hand as sacrifice. Even as he did so, he felt absurd. To confuse the curse for even a single moment required his whole right hand.
“『That is the Saintess.』”
In that instant, the alteration curse completely abandoned Iris and embedded itself in the doll. It realized its mistake immediately and tried to flee, but it was already too late.
Crack!
The straight line connecting the two circles had already been erased by Evan’s foot.
“Hah…”
“Uhh…?”
Iris blinked, emerging from the hypnosis.
“…What did you do?”
“Nothing important. The game’s over.”
“I feel sleepy all of a sudden……”
Rubbing her eyes, Iris stood. She reached out to Evan.
“Evan-Evan… undo this now and help me up.”
Evan nodded and examined her. The curses bound to her head, heart, and soul remained, but the alteration curse that had clung to her spine was gone.
“No problems.”
“Evan-Evan? My hand…”
“But who are you?”