The Curse That Kept Me Silent Was Lifted
I was abandoned.
I was a porter.
The kind of porter players saw all the time—a stand-in for the inventory that let you carry whatever you needed.
But this game was different from any other.
Every time the story progressed, the number of inventory slots shrank.
They kept shrinking and shrinking until the final stage.
Then I saw the inventory limit halved again.
Every single player gathered and spoke in one voice.
The developers had deliberately limited inventory space to make the game harder.
I had thought exactly the same thing.
Until I reincarnated as a porter and experienced the hidden settings with my own body.
The Curse of Avalon: A special, undetectable curse placed on the most dangerous enemy of Avalon.
Whenever an enemy defeats a summoned beast, the curse accumulates.
The accumulated curse causes various status effects such as weakness and reduced strength.
The enemy of Avalon.
In other words, the player character who would normally receive a penalty from the curse.
But in practice, during the game, I had no idea whether the curse had actually taken hold.
We simply leveled up at our leisure and equipped better gear.
Yet that was possible only because someone else was carrying the curse for me.
“Cough…!”
Edgar Frost, the porter, coughed violently in the dark, withered forest.
A few steps away, four women panted heavily.
On the ground beneath their feet lay a single withered, twisted corpse.
The King of the Dark Withered Tree, Avalon—the one who had crowned the story.
The source of the withering across the continent and the plague that spread it was gone.
The fear that I would catch the plague or be consumed by a monster that devoured people no longer plagued me.
The Precept of Silence imposed by the King of the Dark Withered Tree has been lifted.
From now on, I am permitted to speak of the curse.
The curse itself can also be removed.
Normally the curse could be weakened by holy power.
But the rule that speaking of the curse meant instant death had kept even the fact of being cursed a secret.
The Precept of Silence had been exactly that rule.
Now the message that the precept had been lifted reached me.
Relief washed over Edgar’s lowered face.
From now on he no longer had to keep his lips sealed in constant tension.
“You have suffered greatly.”
Finally it was over.
Edgar straightened and lowered his head toward the approaching party.
Four women glared at the back of his head with contempt.
The longer time passed, the more they had schemed against him.
Because he had been unable to reveal the curse, the entire party had come to see him as a cunning little scoundrel.
At first they had worried about his pain and even treated him with holy power.
But after a few treatments they could not uproot the curse at its root.
The party had killed more than a hundred corpses in a single day…
And the massive curse accumulated inside Edgar’s body.
His habit of faking illness grew deeper every day because of it.
The suspicion eventually turned to hatred and contempt.
Knowing this, Edgar simply followed them silently, wordlessly.
“Since the King of the Dark Withered Tree has fallen, we should hurry back to the capital.
At night we will camp. You can find us.
How long it took us to match your stride… You know it better than anyone, don’t you?”
They no longer even considered matching his pace.
All they wanted was to report the happy news and be rid of the tiresome porter at once.
The words spilled from the player character, the Seeker Megus.
“…Yes. I understand perfectly.”
Edgar’s heart ached with bitterness, but there was nothing he could do.
The hatred ran so deep that no words could be believed.
So he could only answer weakly, “Understood.”
Edgar followed the four women’s backs out of the forest at a slow pace.
The Precept of Silence was lifted, but the curse itself remained.
Even a short run left his lungs on the verge of collapse.
Each step widened the gap between them until he could no longer see them.
Still he forced his legs forward.
When he reached the campsite it was already midnight.
The others had set up tents, lit a campfire, and finished eating.
“You can handle your own food.”
“Y-yes… I understand.”
After delivering the message in one breath, Megus left the seat.
Edgar silently took dried meat from his chest and ate.
His eyes were gloomy and empty.
Only the crackling fire kept him company.
The next day and the day after that were the same.
The party took no special care whether he arrived late or early; they simply followed the plan.
Edgar’s weakened body could not keep up with the forced march.
The curse was not accumulating further, but the fatigue piled on top of the existing curse.
“Thud!”
Finally Edgar collapsed in front of a city gate he could not endure.
One of the cities that still stood in the midst of the devastated continent.
After Edgar lost consciousness.
Megus, having heard the news, personally carried him to an inn.
She told the guard on duty that there was a special reason she had brought him.
She wanted to protect her reputation.
Thanks to the news that the King of the Withered Tree had been defeated, the guard showed no trace of suspicion.
He simply looked happy.
“Tsk. Now you’re pretending to faint, too?
What do we do about this?”
A blonde woman looked at Edgar sleeping on the bed and complained.
She was Olivia, the mage who had been in the same party as Megus.
“What if we just leave him here and go?”
Riel, the magic swordsman who had supported the party, crossed her arms and sighed.
She looked at Edgar feigning unconsciousness with contempt.
“That would be too cruel, wouldn’t it?
Even though we followed him all the way to the end…”
Lora, the saintess in pure white holy robes, spoke hesitantly.
She did not like Edgar either, but she felt a sense of unease at the idea of abandoning him.
“I understand your thoughts.
So let’s conclude here.
We should leave this one behind.
There’s no need to take him anymore, right?
If we just give him a little money, he’ll be happy.
Once he’s recovered, that’s fine.
But if he spreads any nonsense about us, we won’t stand for it.”
The party nodded without a word after hearing Megus’s conclusion.
They thought it was the right way.
Edgar, who later woke up and heard the story, had the same thought.
All because of the curse.
He could not even deny it.
“…I understand your intentions.
Thank you for your consideration.”
“I’m glad you understand.”
Megus tossed a heavy money pouch at him like she was doing him a favor.
The pouch pressed against Edgar’s thigh.
His gaze naturally turned toward it.
Even a quick glance showed it contained quite a lot of money.
“This amount is enough to stop you from playing weak, right?
So keep your mouth shut.
If you spread any nonsense, I won’t be able to stay silent.”
A lazy, weak man spreading malicious rumors?
It was something Megus, who valued the honor of herself and her companions, could not ignore.
Edgar’s head drooped limply after she emphasized it.
But he lifted it one last time.
To test their belief.
“I understand.
But I…”
“Yes.
I’m glad you understand.
We are leaving this place right now.
You… do as you please.
Stay here and die, or go to another city.
But Megus turned her back coldly after speaking only her part.
She did not say “stay and die or not.”
No matter how you looked at it, she had been with him until the end.
She knew the hatred had piled up.
She knew, but she would not listen to a single excuse.
Edgar laughed bitterly alone in the empty inn room.
A bitter sense of relief tugged at his heart.
He had not even been given the chance to speak.
Nor did he have the strength to curse them.
If he raised his voice now, he would really die.
“Anyway… it’s over…!”
Suddenly Edgar frowned and began coughing violently.
The Curse of Avalon was still devouring him.
A few small jewels of blood occasionally mixed into the coughs.
“Haa, haa…”
When the fit finally passed, he picked up the money pouch on his thigh.
Inside, there were plenty of gold coins.
Enough to open a decent shop immediately.
“But… how am I supposed to deal with this curse?”
Suppressing the curse came first.
Edgar placed the pouch inside his robe and left the inn.
For now he planned to visit a herbal shop somewhere in the city and buy herbs.
Herbs could restore stamina and also ease the curse.
With every step he felt his lungs burning.
It felt as though his ribs were cracking and his fingertips were pricking.
The pain he had been ignoring with tension suddenly struck all at once.
“Will I make it like this?”
Would he die before reaching the herbal shop?
At least he would die with his money pouch intact.
Every dark thought raced through Edgar’s mind, and his steps grew heavier than the fantasies themselves.
“It’s over… we made it…”
His vision gradually blurred.
His head became dizzy.
His eyelids grew heavier and heavier, his legs stopped moving.
It was as if he were rooted deep in the earth.
Soon Edgar’s back stuck to the alley wall and he collapsed.