The Curse of Word Magic
The next day. My second day on the job began without fail. Thanks to my exceptional adaptability, the office already felt comfortable, as if months had passed rather than a single day. The first task upon arrival was writing a report. I drafted an exploration report on yesterday’s incident and submitted it to Gengor. Cynthia, my senior, stood beside me and explained how to write reports, including the proper format and style. Using her insider tips, the document I spent the entire morning on passed in one go without any revisions.
“Look at this kid. Who said he could write such a flawless report? Not a single flaw to pick at!” Gengor’s praise came as an added bonus, delivered with a thoroughly satisfied smile.
In the afternoon, I learned how to organize documents by location and type, then went on patrol with Cynthia to two F-rank managed erosion zones. After returning from the field, I had to write another patrol report. Running the endless cycle of desk work, field work, and desk work straight through, half the day vanished before I knew it.
“See you tomorrow!”
“Good work today.”
“Yeah…… See you tomorrow. I mean, I have to see you tomorrow…… Haah……” Zakan swallowed a sigh while staring at the ceiling. He was the one who had bet that I wouldn’t last even a single day. Now that the new recruit was showing up so diligently and cheerfully, he had lost the bet.
After exchanging goodbyes with the team, I returned to the dormitory.
“Hah.”
The moment I stepped into the room, I couldn’t help but draw in a startled breath. A girl was sprawled across the sofa as if it were her own bed, sound asleep.
“Grrrng. Grrrng. Yumnya……”
I closed my eyes and listened. The sound alone resembled a puppy snoring, but when I opened my eyes again, a person was lying there.
How can a person snore like a dog? On top of that, her sleep-talking was incredibly realistic.
“……Strawberry cake ish sho good…… Gimme more……”
The Tower Master had completely abandoned any sense of dignity. There was only one person in the world who would lounge so comfortably in my room.
She really is a total sleepyhead.
A mischievous impulse struck me. I pulled a single rose from the vase on the table and gently brushed it against Natasha’s lips.
“Tower Master. Your strawberry cake has arrived.”
The rose petal tickled her lower lip. Still half-asleep, her lips twitched, then parted as she began to suck and nibble on the petal, convinced it was actually a strawberry.
“Mmm…… Sho tashty……”
She was deep in a dream. Watching her chew the petal with such genuine delight, I had to cover my mouth to hold back laughter.
She’s enjoying it way too much.
I was about to stop the prank and wake her properly when, unfortunately, one fragile petal broke off and slipped into Natasha’s mouth. She began chewing noisily, like someone gnawing on tough kimchi.
Afraid she might actually swallow the petal, I quickly set the rose down and reached in with my fingers to retrieve it. That was when disaster struck.
Crunch!
Natasha had bitten down on my finger.
“Ow!”
I yanked my hand back. Clear teeth marks stood out on my thumb and index finger. The joints throbbed. Even a zombie bite wouldn’t leave such distinct marks. I had only meant to tease her a little, and this was the result. Surely she hadn’t been awake the whole time and done it on purpose……
“Pfft.”
She had. Natasha, whom I’d thought was asleep, was now clutching her stomach and laughing uproariously. The sight of me clutching my finger and groaning apparently struck her as hilarious.
“Your bite force could put a zombie to shame. You could probably chew through steel.”
Natasha sat up. Folding her arms, she spoke with feigned dignity.
“Hmph. You rascal. Why dost thou tease thy heavenly master?”
She was every bit as much of a prankster as I was. Her voice carried a playful lilt, and a mischievous smile bloomed across her face.
“Wow. For a second there, I thought you were Old Man Altrong.”
“How could someone as radiant and sparkling as I possibly resemble that ugly old raccoon? Watch where you attach your comparisons.”
“Still, how long have you been awake?”
“Since you started holding back your laughter?”
I had even held my breath while covering my mouth. The “don’t laugh” challenge had been a complete failure.
“Actually, I already knew you were half-awake, Master. I was just putting on a little show to entertain you.”
“Is that so?”
Natasha let out a short laugh, then stared at my finger and spoke in a commanding tone.
“「Be healed.」”
A single phrase. Just five syllables, yet they carried immense power. The moment the words left her tongue, a strange force began to settle over the space surrounding my finger. There was no visible effect, but the sensation was vivid—like soft, thin silk wrapping around my finger. The teeth marks vanished, and the lingering ache disappeared completely. All it had taken was one spoken word from her.
“Master, was that Word Magic?”
The healing itself wasn’t particularly surprising. For a Great Mage, it was as simple as wiggling a toe. What shocked me was the Word Magic itself. I had never once seen Natasha use it before, so witnessing it now felt monumental.
Come to think of it, I only knew she was a Great Mage. I never bothered to learn what her actual specialty was.
We had already formed a master-disciple relationship, yet I still didn’t know my master’s primary magic. Looking back, I had been so absorbed in my own magic that I hadn’t had the mental space to consider hers. Natasha had also never demonstrated it……
Even that excuse felt pathetic. If I had truly been interested, I would have asked her directly what her core magic was.
Some disciple I am, knowing nothing.
But she didn’t seem particularly bothered by it. After swallowing the rose petal still in her mouth, she lifted her chin and crossed her legs. Then, with a voice full of pride and arrogance, she declared:
“Indeed. I am the greatest Word Mage alive, a grandmaster who has reached the very pinnacle of Word Magic, the living incarnation of the art itself. That is the ultimate realm attained by none other than the Tower Master of the Heavenly Moon Tower and the Lord of the Heavenly Moon—myself.”
No matter how true it was, wasn’t it embarrassing to heap such extravagant titles upon oneself? She seemed slightly intoxicated by her own greatness……
……Well, whatever.
“It suits my dignified and majestic presence, does it not? Yes, I knew you would think so as well.”
Her face was so full of self-satisfaction that I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud, but honestly, the image of a cute little girl didn’t match the charismatic figure of a Word Mage at all.
“But why haven’t you used Word Magic around me before?”
“Because I didn’t want you to learn it.”
Why? Normally, masters wanted to pass on their techniques and knowledge to their disciples, didn’t they?
“Word Magic has existed since ancient times. In the distant past, it was a forbidden art. Anyone who laid hands upon it would be cursed with a terrible fate.”
“……”
“In the present age, it was removed from the forbidden list by agreement among mages, but that only means it was erased from the documents. The curse upon those who possess Word Magic still exists in reality. Throughout history, every Word Mage has met a miserable end after receiving the curse.”
So Word Magic had once been forbidden. I had never taken an interest in forbidden magic before, so this was new information.
“That is why I kept it hidden. I feared that if you saw my Word Magic, you would want to learn it. I was afraid you might be captivated by its power and choose that path—abandoning the countless other magics you could bloom brilliantly, only to willingly accept the misfortune of a curse.”
“……”
“Especially because your eyes already burn with such madness and obsession toward magic. I thought it would be dangerous to expose you to it.”
I barely registered why she had hidden her core magic. That was secondary. There was a far more serious problem.
Then that means Master, being a Word Mage herself, will eventually receive the curse too.
I stood there, at a loss for words. Curse. Miserable end. Those shocking words pressed down on my chest like a curse of their own. There were thousands upon thousands of curses in the world, but the price for wielding forbidden magic could never be ordinary. If even the greatest Word Mages all died miserably, then the curse must be unimaginably powerful and terrifying.
Master could die at any moment.
And in some horrific, cruel way.
Natasha was practically my savior. She had taught me magic, accepted me as her disciple, and given me both emotional support and material aid without reservation. It was a debt I could never repay in a lifetime. My first master, and my only family.
Everyone dies eventually. But the manner of death is never fair. I didn’t know what form the curse would take when it came for her life, but if she were to meet a gruesome end in the worst possible way at the worst possible moment……
The thought reached that point, and I shook my head violently to dispel the ominous vision. I hated it. Even imagining it as a hypothetical was unbearable.
“……So you’re saying you could end up in danger too, Master.”
Natasha seemed to catch the emotion in my voice. She smiled brightly and replied as if it were nothing.
“Juno. I cannot die.”
“But you said all Word Mages meet terrible ends……”
“The curse is different for me. Immortality. That is the curse fated to be mine.”