The Cursed One (2)
Instantaneous gravity imposition. Suddenly multiplying the body's weight by about fifty times would shatter the limbs as a matter of course. Even with an undying life, you couldn't do a damn thing in that immobilized state.
I sat down on the back of the man sprawled on the floor like a frog crushed under a wheel and said,
"If you really wanted to break that curse, wouldn't it have been faster to use the method I told you about from the start?"
"Urgh... Method...? What method are you talking about...!"
Look at this guy. Had he seriously forgotten? Sure, his life had been nothing but suffering from all sorts of divine screwjobs by the gods, but he'd completely blanked on the one and only way to solve it? For real? I'd taught him everything from square one, and he'd forgotten it all? Actually? For real though?? No seriously?!?!
Ugh. Makes you pity the people of Akad who lost their country because of a loser like this. Well, I was the one who cursed him, but still. From now on, no more curses like that. If I do curse someone, it'll be just them—no collateral on innocents. A whole nation crumbled and countless people suffered just for me to learn that lesson... What a steep price.
But I'm not some perfectly omniscient, omnipotent god. Can't be helped.
I let out a small sigh and pressed down harder on the guy faceplanted into the dirt.
"Sis put the curse on you...? No way...?"
The Hero finally pieced it together, his face dawning with realization.
"That bastard?! The one who tried to make a move on Sis the day I pulled the sword?!"
Make a move. Yeah, you could call it that.
"You recognized him too, huh."
"Of course. Memories from that day are crystal clear even after decades."
From the Hero's perspective, it was the day his whole life flipped upside down. Natural he'd remember.
"That insolent prick was still alive back then?"
"The curse I slapped on him from the get-go was immortality, so of course he didn't die."
Nothing else to it, so he'd probably suffered every hardship imaginable.
"Immortality... that's the curse?"
"I laid a curse on Akad's land too, though."
"Akad? The kingdom that existed before Arcadia was founded?"
"Yeah. As a prince of Akad, this fool abused his power and insulted the Life Goddess and her temple, so as punishment, I cursed the land so no life could be born there."
The Hero thought for a moment, then shook his head slowly.
"I get why a mighty nation boasting such size and strength fell so fast. But cursing the whole country itself feels a bit much, doesn't it?"
"But you can't just let slide some punk from the Life Temple blaspheming the Life Goddess and his nation ignoring it, right? Yeah, I think it was overkill now too."
"Arcadia's previous king would've been shaking with rage hearing that."
Ah, right—Arcadia's king handed the throne to his eldest son and retired quietly to Arcadia's lands. Word is he's tending to Killer Queen, who's gone through a few generations of replacements while worshiping the Beast God. Honestly, he's at that age where dropping dead any second wouldn't surprise anyone. The queen's still spry thanks to the Beast God's favor, though... Hmm. Guess divine blessings really do make a difference. The Hero's kinda got that too, in a way.
"I was pretty pissed back then, but I'm reflecting now. From here on, if I curse anyone, it'll be just the culprit—no more."
As I reflected on my past screw-up like that, listening to the crushed guy's groans under my butt, the Hero's daughter and her family came through the door. Along with a middle-aged woman I'd never seen before.
"Hm? Daughter. Who's that?"
"Oh, a guest. Said she had business with Dad and Aunt."
A guest? For me and the Hero? I turned to look at the middle-aged woman.
"Ah, Uncle!"
The woman spotted the man squashed under me and freaked out, yelling.
"You're with this moron?"
The middle-aged woman glanced back and forth between me and the guy pinned beneath, at a total loss. She must know I'm the Dragon Priestess since she came to see me, so she couldn't act rashly either way.
And visually, she looked older than the guy under me... Well, with the immortality curse, that's par for the course.
"Take this moron and get lost. I don't know what business you two have with us, but it's obviously a waste of time."
I released the crushing gravity, then flung the limp-limbed man at the woman. His mangled limbs were already starting to regenerate, rewinding time itself as they rapidly mended. A curse that wouldn't let him die no matter what. The accursed one, bearing that eternal burden.
The fool who'd totally forgotten the solution I'd given him and stubbornly begged for death instead.
As the middle-aged woman examined the pathetic wretch, she dropped to her knees before me and the Hero.
"Please! Lift the curse on Uncle!! I'll do anything!"
She bowed so low her forehead hit the ground.
What was her deal with this moron that she'd call him "Uncle" and beg like that?
"Who are you? What's your connection to this moron that you're kowtowing like that?"
Still forehead to the floor, the woman answered,
"Uncle's my benefactor. If he hadn't helped me, I'd be dead by now."
"Hmm...? This moron helped someone?"
Hard to buy. I'd sooner believe the sun rises in the west than this moron helping anyone.
"That's tough to swallow."
He had the spare time to help others but forgot to repent his own sins...? Ah, right—he forgot. Whatever.
"But it's true. Even while he was being hunted by others, Uncle helped me."
Hunted by others? Huh... Ah, got it. Marked by the other gods too, he'd be treated like a walking disaster god. Typhoons, downpours, wildfires, earthquakes wherever he went... Humans would've chased him out with pitchforks. He could've fought back with immortality as his weapon, but that would've only made things worse, never better.
So.
"It happened decades ago. One winter day, amid a brutal blizzard."
Farmers had failed crops, hunters and fishermen came home empty-handed—it was a bleak winter all around. I was terribly ill back then. My father, the village head of a fairly large settlement, fretted over me. I'd always been frail, but that year the ailments hit harder than ever—
"Hold up. Stop."
"Pardon?"
"Flashback ends there. Don't feel like hearing the whole saga."
Eh, it'd just be the usual: how tough it was, moron saves her, she survives thanks to him, then endless hardships after... Blah blah. Drawing it all out would drag forever. Keep it short and sweet. No need to stretch what I don't care about.
"B-but... There's our fateful meeting and parting, and this reunion..."
"Not interested in every little detail. Summarize, hit the key points only."
The woman pondered my words for a long while, hemming and hawing before finally speaking.
"Uncle saved me after my family abandoned me. With food scarce, they couldn't afford to feed a sickly kid who couldn't work."
Hm. Culling the "useless" one when resources ran tight. Harsh, but happens. No such thing in bountiful lands, so she must've been born somewhere brutal.
"Uncle took me in then. Nursed me as I lay dying in the freezing forest."
Nursed? This moron? Sure I'm seeing the right guy?
"When Uncle placed his hand on my head, my health started recovering bit by bit. Didn't know how back then, but now I do. He shared his life force with me."
Life force... from a guy cursed for blaspheming the Life Goddess. Ironic twist.
"Once I recovered, Uncle tried sending me home. But I didn't want to go back. I begged him to let me travel with him."
The woman paused to catch her breath, then continued.
"Uncle refused. Said he was under a divine curse, that heaven's wrath followed him and it'd endanger me too."
Affection for the moron shone in her eyes as she spoke.