EP8. A new journey (5)
From noble mtl dot com.
After hearing Sepia’s answer, the owner asked with a half-stubborn and half-distrustful look on his face.
“You mean you can heal my son? The senator I called from Eli Orden couldn’t figure out what the disease was, let alone cure it.”
“Of course, I am not a doctor, but a priest, so my medical knowledge is lacking.”
The owner’s expression became even more distorted at the words of Sepia, who meekly acknowledged her limitations. But Sepia didn’t care and continued his words.
“But I don’t think there is any reason not to take it.”
“·······.”
“There are also parts that make sense.”
“····You get a sense? Are you saying that my son knows why!?”
“First of all, I would like to talk while checking the status. What would you like to do?”
The choice the innkeeper would make was, of course, decided. It didn’t matter if I believed the words of the girl I saw for the first time today. It wouldn’t be strange if parents were willing to sell their souls to the devil if there was even a chance to save their children.
“… Follow me.”
***
“…But can we come too?”
“Hmm. Wouldn’t it be okay since we’re in the same group…?”
Shaun whispered softly, and Levy murmured with a lack of confidence. As Sepia, who was sitting in the same seat, chatted with the owner without prior mention, and proceeded with the work, Sean and Levy unwittingly surrendered to the flow and followed the owner and Sepia.
The innkeeper, who was leading the way and leading her to the room where her son was, said, without looking back, as if he had heard the story.
“That doesn’t matter. If only I could really make my son better.”
“·······.”
Sean and Levy kept their mouths shut because they could understand his feelings even in the short term. The place he headed was the room on the first floor where the owner seemed to be staying. When I slowly opened the door that was firmly closed, I saw a small child on a bed in a room that was not very spacious.
As soon as the owner saw his son, he sighed deeply and explained the situation.
“It was about two months ago. I am not even conscious right now.”
As we got closer, the child’s condition became apparent. Perhaps because of the prolonged illness, the child was starving and panting even though he had lost his mind, as if it was difficult to exhale.
“Did you say two months ago?”
“Yes.”
Sepia approached her child and took a closer look at her condition. She put her hand to her forehead to take her fever, and she would roll up her child’s sleeve and check her skin. She even forced her mouth open to briefly observe the inside of her mouth.
“Did you find out something?”
“It seems to be as I feared.”
“That, what does that mean…”
Sepia looked away from her child and then looked at her innkeeper before replying.
“This child is no ordinary disease.”
“…Isn’t it an illness? Then why is my son…”
“In my opinion, this is a curse.”
Curse. At that unexpected word, everyone in the room was shocked. Sean was the first to speak.
“····Curse? Did that really exist?”
“That is a strange question. Why is there no curse in a world where magic exists?”
“But magic is…”
“Shaun. Magic or curses, in the end, the fundamentals are not different. Interference with the world through magic. However, curses mainly have a negative effect on the target.”
“·······.”
Despite Sephia’s answer, Sean had a hard time accepting that fact. That’s why he always asked Levi, whom he trusted the most.
“If magic and curses are similar… Levi. Did you know What is the child’s condition?”
If, as Sepia said, the fundamentals of magic and curses are not different, there is no way that Levi, the genius of magic, will not notice it. When Shawn judged that and asked Levy, the girl barely opened her mouth with a dark expression.
“····Actually, I had a strange feeling from the moment I entered the room. It’s a little bit ominous and dark, I guess…”
“To be aware of the curse simply by being in the same room. That is unbelievable.”
Unlike what Sepia said, her expression remained calm. While talking like that for a while, the owner muttered to himself as if he had finally come to his senses.
“····Curse. What does that mean?”
“That’s literally it. Your son is cursed.”
“Are you telling me to believe that right now!?”
Seeing his howl, Sepia asked back to the owner as if she didn’t understand.
“For some reason, the kingdom is ignorant of curses. It means that the damage caused by the curse is not great, so I don’t know if it’s a good thing.”
“…So, are you saying this is common in other countries?”
“It’s not common, but it’s normal to be afraid of curses. Sometimes that fear actually results in burning an innocent woman with fire.”
Sean didn’t know exactly what her backstory meant, but at least she had to admit that the curse was real. She said that, if you think about it, great adventurers were also cursed by the gods, so didn’t she already know about the curse herself?
“····Then who put the curse? Are you a rookie?”
At Sean’s question, Sepia slightly frowned.
“It is safe to say that there is nothing to be cursed by God. Unless you’ve done something really, really bad.”
“I see.”
Having said that, Sean only grew more and more curious about why the great adventurer was cursed by God. Especially if the great adventurer is indeed Paulo’s son, as Shawn guessed…
“Didn’t something special happen two months ago?”
“····No. There was nothing like that. If I had to ask, I only stopped by Elioden because I had business…”
“Did your son go to Elioden with you at that time?”
“That’s right…”
After hearing her master’s affirmation, Sepia thought for a moment before asking another question.
“Did you stick with Ellioden?”
“····I fell for a while. When I went to the market to buy groceries, I left my son with an acquaintance.”
Listening to her conversation, Levy naturally put a guess in her mouth.
“····Then, by chance, that acquaintance…”
“No. It can’t be. He’s the guy I’ve known since childhood. There’s no way he can use a curse if he trusts and leaves his place.”
Seeing the owner’s resolute denial as if such a thing should never happen, Sepia also nodded her head and sympathized with his words.
“I don’t think so either. Curse is not something that can be easily applied. However, it seems likely that your son was affected by the curse when he went to Elioden.”
The owner bit his lip. Unbeknownst to him, his clenched fists had nails dug into his flesh, and blood leaked out little by little. Of course, he also needs to find out why his son was cursed, but the most important thing right now is aside.
He threw off all his attitude and bowed deeply before asking politely.
“Please. Priest. Please make my son well. ····Please.”
“Keep your head up. Even if you didn’t ask for it, of course the child should be treated.”
When the owner raised his head at the girl’s words, a small smile appeared on his lips. The smile was so slight that it could easily be overlooked. It was like the smile of a goddess who took pity on and saved weak human beings in despair.
“Because that is the will of the god of purification.”
That appearance gave a great shock to Shawn and Levy, who were watching from his side. Because it added nobility to the existence of Sepia, who stayed in the impression of just a peculiar girl. It must have been an opportunity for Sean to feel a human crush on Sepia.
“Fortunately, this child is just caught in a curse.”
“What does that mean?”
“The curse didn’t target this kid, it just happened to him. Thanks to that, purification is not that difficult.”
Sepia held her child’s limp hand, then closed her eyes and stayed there for a moment. Everyone in her room just stared at her, unable to take their eyes off her. In a room where only silence reigned as if the sound had been erased from the world, Sepia finally opened her mouth.
“God of purification. I pray. Please give this child a blessing of purification and wash away the curse.”
As Sepia’s prayer ended, the green light symbolizing her life flowed through the girl’s hand and onto her child. Seeing that, the owner involuntarily shed tears and gazed at her sight endlessly. Suddenly he was on his knees.
“… Oh my God.”
Levy also muttered in admiration. The dark atmosphere that had enveloped her room so far, especially around her child, disappeared in an instant, and only warmth filled the room.
Can she really produce the same result with her own magic? Levy was negative. Because that is fundamentally different from magic.
Yes. In other words, what Sepia just did…
You could call it a miracle.
Isn’t that natural? He was a boy who seemed dead just a moment ago.
“····Dad?”
Because I’m calling him with my eyes open.
The innkeeper ran straight to the bed and hugged the boy deeply.
He didn’t say anything to his son. However, in the deep wrinkles of middle age, only moist water continued to flow out no matter how much I wiped it.
***
The innkeeper repeated what he had already done several times.
“Thank you very much. Priest is my lifelong benefactor. How the hell am I going to pay this back…”
“It’s okay. I just asked the god of purification. It is enough to give thanks to the god of purification.”
To the thank you she had already heard several times, Sepia only gave the same answer. Even so, the owner’s will was not broken.
“Of course, I am very grateful to God. From now on, I’m going to pray every day. ····So I would like to thank the priest as well. Please do not reject my heart like this.”
“I can’t help it. . . . It is enough for me if you treat me to a delicious dinner.”
“But… Are you really going to be okay with that?”
“Of course.”
The innkeeper couldn’t easily take a look at Sepia’s answer. However, Sean, who was listening to the story from the side, could understand why. She said that her request was not a modest refusal, but that she really wanted to have a nice dinner.
That’s because I saw Sepia licking her lips at the scent of food wafting from the kitchen where the owner went to make dinner.
If other guests had seen the owner’s complete change, they would have been interested in it, but time had passed and it was already late at night, so all the current guests had gone up to their rooms to sleep.
On the first floor, there were only three of them, so they talked to their heart’s content without paying attention.
“It was amazing. I didn’t even know Sepia was a priest!”
“It makes sense. I lost all my luggage and my appearance was sloppy.”
“By the way, is that a divine power after all?”
Sean asked, remembering what he had read in her grandmother’s book. Sepia’s answer to that was quite ambiguous.
“It is different from divine power.”
“Oh, is that so?”
“All I did was transmit the power of God to the child through prayer. It is not my strength.”
Sepia’s words to her master, that she only asked God, were not humility, but the truth.
“Shaun said her divine power is different. It means the power you received from God. That’s why divine power is not something anyone can have.”
“The power you receive from God? That is…”
Sean knew a similar concept. As if to support the boy’s idea, Sepia added:
“Usually, a person who receives divine power and possesses divine power is often called a ‘god’s apostle.'”