Chapter 217
Chapter 217
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 217
Chapter Title: Part 2 Chapter 7: The Cursed Village (1)
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“Can’t you take me too?!”
“Master, me too!”
Jamie pushed away the foreheads of his clingy disciples with the back of his hand.
“I said no.”
“Take us with you!”
“You don’t have to take Lennon, but please take me!”
“What? You done talking?!”
“Maaaster~”
“Hey, Anne!”
Jamie sighed as he looked at Anne clinging to the hem of his robe and Lennon yelling at her.
Then, with a snap of his fingers, his body vanished in an instant.
“Wh-what?!”
“Ah, Master!”
Anne and Lennon panicked at the sight of Jamie far in the distance, then ran toward him again.
But seeing his disciples running hard, Jamie snapped his fingers once more.
“Whoa!”
“That’s so unfair!”
As if an invisible wall had appeared in midair, the two could no longer approach Jamie.
Jamie turned to Hera, who stood neatly with her hands clasped at her side.
“Take good care of the kids.”
“How long will it take?”
“Who knows.”
He hadn’t set a specific schedule, so it was hard to answer.
“At least a month at minimum. Could be over a year if it drags on. Though I’ll have to go if His Majesty summons me in the meantime.”
“You’ll be away for quite a while, then.”
“Seems like it.”
Hera glanced at the children pounding on the invisible wall and screaming to be taken along.
“Will you be all right?”
“Of course.”
“I think the absence of a master can be quite significant for disciples in their growth phase.”
“Speaking from experience?”
“Yes. My own experience. I learned magic from the family head, but he was always so busy that I couldn’t learn much.”
“You’ve reached a pretty high level for that.”
Hera was twenty-two this year.
Being on the cusp of 5th class at twenty-two was proof of her considerable talent.
But Hera shot back with her usual icy expression, glaring as if to say he had no right to comment.
“I don’t think that’s something an elder should say.”
Jamie shut his mouth, having nothing to say to that.
In any case, she wasn’t wrong.
Disciples need their masters. That was why Jamie had agonized over it for a full week.
And his conclusion was ‘it’ll be fine.’
“They know what they need to do. I could help if I were around, but fundamentally, nothing would change.”
“So, the children need to realize things for themselves.”
“Exactly. Well, I can’t be gone forever, but a year should be okay. And I doubt it’ll actually take that long.”
“I see.”
“Plus, you’re here, Hera.”
“...Me?”
Hera frowned as if he’d said something out of left field.
“Anne and Lennon are following in your footsteps right now, so I’d appreciate any advice you can give them as needed.”
“I’m not skilled enough for that yet...”
“Come on. I know better than anyone that you’re at a level where you could take on a disciple yourself.”
Hera fell silent, looking embarrassed.
Jamie glanced at her and shrugged.
“With the 7th Elder and Count Simon around too, you don’t need to shoulder any extra burden.”
“Understood.”
Hera replied, but her eyes were on Anne and Lennon.
The corner of Jamie’s mouth twitched up as he approached his disciples, still blocked by the invisible wall.
“Take us too!”
“Yeah! Take us with you!”
“Quiet down, you brats.”
As Jamie dismantled the invisible wall, Anne and Lennon—who had been leaning against it—lurched forward with screams.
“Wh-what if you just remove it like that?!”
“My knees huuurt...”
“Both of you, get up.”
Jamie pulled his disciples to their feet and spoke.
“This journey is pretty important to me. That’s why I can’t take you.”
“Eeeek.”
“We have the right to broaden our horizons too—gack!”
“I said quiet. And no whining.”
As he spoke, Jamie lightly smacked Lennon on the back of the head.
It wasn’t even that hard, but Lennon clutched his head and toppled over dramatically.
Five years, and all he’s gained is more dramatics.
Anne muttered softly while watching Lennon.
“Doesn’t look like whining, though...”
“Anyway.”
Jamie continued, ignoring the half-fainting Lennon.
“Don’t slack off while I’m gone. If you have questions, ask Hera or the other elders.”
“But... only you know our curriculum, Master.”
“Even if others don’t know the details, they know what you’re studying, so don’t worry.”
“Still...”
“Anne, just give up.”
Lennon, who had gotten back up at some point, brushed the dirt off his butt and looked at Jamie.
“I knew you wouldn’t take us anyway. I just tried on the off chance... and got smacked for nothing.”
Lennon spoke with the cool demeanor of someone who hadn’t just thrown a tantrum.
“Be careful out there. We’ll master everything you assigned by then.”
“...Why are you acting so cool all of a sudden? It doesn’t suit you.”
Jamie eyed Lennon with a slightly creeped-out look, causing Lennon to yell in embarrassment.
“What’s with that reaction when I’m being serious?!”
“Lennon, I told you not to change personalities suddenly.”
“Not you too, Anne!”
“You don’t suit seriousness at all~”
As Anne joined in with a look like she was staring at something bizarre, Lennon shouted with the most wronged expression imaginable.
Jamie chuckled and placed his hands on his disciples’ heads.
The tantrum-throwing Lennon and the teasing Anne both fell silent.
“I believe in you.”
“...Be careful out there, Master.”
“Don’t forget souvenirs when you come back.”
“Got it.”
And with that, Jamie bid farewell to his disciples.
“All done with goodbyes?”
“Yeah, with the kids and Hera.”
Jamie leaned against the wall and gave a vague answer to Jin’s question.
Jin muttered a curt “I see” and slung his bag over his shoulder. He looked utterly detached, like he had no lingering attachment to the place.
“What about you? Not saying goodbye to anyone?”
“Goodbyes? If fate brings us together, we’ll meet again someday.”
“They’ll be sad.”
“Would they not be sad if I said goodbye? Sadness is sadness either way.”
“Fair point.”
“Let’s get going.”
Jin finished his final check of the lodging and stepped outside.
Jamie watched him with the gaze one might give a monk in training, then shrugged and fell into step beside him.
“So. Where’s the Frontier headquarters?”
“In one of the Six Forbidden zones.”
“Which one?”
“Abraxas.”
The Six Forbidden zone, Abraxas.
It was a colossal temple located far north, even beyond the Ariazad Great Forest—another forbidden zone.
Untouched by humans for ages, it had taken on the form of a forest, rife with deadly traps and monsters.
Being at the northernmost point, snow constantly swirled around it, making even approaching a challenge.
Curiously, though, Abraxas itself maintained balmy weather year-round, without a speck of snow.
“Is Isis there?”
“Nah, not right now. She was here until recently, actually.”
“...?”
As Jamie gave him a dumbfounded look, Jin admitted he’d forgotten to mention it earlier.
“Two weeks ago, Isis and Beryl—who serves her—stayed here briefly. We talked about you then too.”
“What about?”
“Worries about what if you turned against us.”
“I see... So they’re gone now?”
“They had their own business to attend to.”
“What kind of business requires the Frontier’s leader to step in personally?”
“Classified.”
Jamie hadn’t expected to hear it anyway, so no disappointment.
More shocking was that Isis and Beryl had been here so recently.
How detached from the world do you have to be to only mention something this important now?
“Anyway, does that mean we won’t meet them even if we go to Frontier HQ?”
“Not necessarily. They’ll probably arrive before us.”
“Which sounds like getting there early won’t matter.”
“Exactly. Might as well wander the world in the meantime.”
At a loss for words, Jamie decided to shut up.
Any more talk, and he’d lose his temper.
Thus began their journey to Abraxas.
“You possessed monsters!”
“Who do you think you’re messing with?!”
“Scram! Get out of here right now!”
“Look at those bastards running! Hahahahaha!”
A group of kids in their early teens were throwing stones at someone.
They were ragged boys and girls in shabby clothes, dirty enough to remind one of beggars.
The boy gripped his little sister’s hand tightly in one hand while clutching a bundle wrapped in cloth—containing food that looked a few days old—in the other.
“Brother...”
The girl looked up at her brother with a sad face.
The emotionless boy gave his sister a faint smile.
“It’ll be okay.”
“Yeah.”
Pivion gripped his sister Fiona’s hand even tighter.
Fortunately, the stones flying from behind missed the children. But the insults that followed were plenty to torment the siblings.
“Fatherless brats.”
“Cursed spawn!”
“Just get out of the village, you devil’s children!”
For ten- and seven-year-old kids, it was unbearable humiliation, but the siblings had no choice but to endure.
Causing a fuss might get them chased out of the village.
It was bitter.
Having to suffer such horrific bullying and insults just to avoid being driven from their hometown.
Then, one kid sneered at the siblings.
“They still wait for their dad every day, clueless that he abandoned them? What losers. Don’t even know their place. Right?”
“Rumor has it their dad was some famous con artist. Got caught scamming in the village and booted out.”
“I heard he ran off in the dead of night with some other woman, abandoning his family.”
“For real? Pfhehehe!”
“Makes sense. Just looking at them tells you what their dad was like. Hehehe!”
The other kids laughed along excitedly.
Pivion’s steps halted.
Fiona looked at her brother worriedly.
“Brother... just ignore them and go.”
Pivion didn’t respond to his sister.
Rage boiled inside him.
He was angry at those kids, but even more at their father.
A father he’d never even seen.
Their mother always called him a brave man. Surely something had happened preventing his return—she believed that firmly.
But ten years without a single sign or word.
Just like those kids said.
“...Let’s go.”
He pulled his sister along.
“Ow, it hurts.”
He’d yanked too hard, making Fiona wince, but Pivion didn’t hear.
He wanted to leave this disgusting place immediately.
Damn it all.
Being a kid was the real curse.
He’d grow up fast, take his mother and sister, and escape this rotten village.
Until then, he had to endure.
He wasn’t sure he could, but the boy suppressed his surging anger once more today.
They had nowhere else to go yet.
Ignoring the insults from behind, the siblings headed to their home far from the village center.