"If such a powerful curse has been dispelled, the caster would suffer a curse backlash. Nine times out of ten, they'd already be dead. If you look into it on your end, you should be able to confirm that easily enough."
"I see. But for someone who came saying, 'I'm a day-to-day adventurer, so I want a guarantee you'll honor your promise,' you certainly don't ask for much."
"I simply don't want to do work that doesn't match the pay. If you'd refused back then, I was planning to run. I already received 100 million gold coins, so consider this one on the house."
There was also the small satisfaction of having accomplished what the Church couldn't — though I'd never admit that out loud.
"One of my subordinates told me, 'A scene where someone activates multiple high-ranking magics simultaneously isn't something you'd see no matter how much money you threw at it.'"
"In that case, it couldn't be helped. If it were just about breaking the curse, a single [Anti-Curse] would have sufficed. But when you dispel a curse, the target inevitably suffers some backlash."
"Oh? Go on."
"Had I done nothing, the backlash alone would have certainly killed your grandson. That's why I had to simultaneously activate restorative magic to prevent that from happening."
I mean, even if he died, I could just cast resurrection magic — but surely they wouldn't want to see their grandson die, even for a moment.
"I see. For that alone, we were most
fortunate.
The rest is our problem."
◇◇◇
"My curse, as one of the Curse-Killing Four Heavenly Kings, will surely corrode the target until death. The screams of a child must be exquisite!"
The Holy Cruel Church.
With the Pope serving simultaneously as the head of the Church and as an Elector, it was essentially a nation unto itself.
It possessed military power on par with a nation, and among its ranks there naturally existed elite units that never saw the light of day, composed of the most capable individuals.
While the public Holy Knights protected the faithful, among the forces that handled the dirty work existed the Curse Assassination Squad — and its pinnacle of strength was known as the Curse-Killing Four Heavenly Kings (though, of course, this was only known internally).
"The Arden Marquisate, former Elector. Their bloodline will soon be extinguished. We assassinated the previous head and seized their position as Elector. The last remaining seedling will soon die as well."
One of the Curse-Killing Four Heavenly Kings, Banaji smirked to himself in his private quarters.
"All that remains is that old fossil who's become head of the house again. Not even worth cursing. This is what happens when you oppose us."
Last time, he had single-handedly assassinated via curse the previous head of the marquisate, who had always been critical of the Church.
The death throes he had felt through the curse were truly magnificent.
That harmony of injustice and despair — no matter how many times he experienced it, he never grew tired of it.
However, two of the other Four Heavenly Kings lodged complaints.
Don't you dare hog all the credit.
And so, for the next job — assassinating the future heir of the marquisate via curse — three of the Four Heavenly Kings would each cast a curse of their own.
The order was to make an example of those who defied the Church by cursing to death a child not yet ten years old as cruelly as possible, and the triple-layered curse served that purpose perfectly.
Still, it would be no fun if the target died quickly like the previous head.
This time, he had adjusted the curses to ensure a slow, drawn-out death over a long period of time.
A Curse of Soul Erosion, to gradually drag the victim toward death.
A Curse of Stagnant Growth, to prevent the body from developing any resistance to the curses.
A Curse of Skill Denial, to ensure the victim could never obtain even a single skill that might grant tolerance against the curses.
Once entangled together, those layered curses were something that neither he nor the other two could ever hope to dispel.
Even if every saint and holy woman in the world ganged up together, it probably wouldn't work.
Worse still, anyone who attempted to break the curse might end up contaminated by it themselves.
And on top of all that, the pitiful old marquis had come groveling before them, begging for the curse to be lifted — all for the sake of his grandchild.
As if anyone could possibly lift it!
Truly, absolutely a comedy. Someone ought to praise us for managing to hold back our laughter on the spot when we laid eyes on that wretched old marquis.
Even after that, the old marquis stubbornly submitted yet another request to the Adventurer's Guild — the very height of absurdity.
But that the misfortune of the marquis's household—
—would be met with mockery—
—the Banajis ended up suffering a curse backlash because Alan had lifted the curse.
A curse backlash far more powerful than usual.
◇◇◇◇◇◇
Skills: [Reverse] [Divine Eye] [Sword God] [Fist God] [Spear God] [Scorching Magic] [Freezing Ice Magic] [Clear Storm Magic] [Rock Iron Magic] [Holy Magic] [Dark Magic] [Spacetime Magic] [Thunder God Sword] [Phantom Thief Gentleman] [Ninja Master] [Seeker of Truth] [Monstrous Strength] [Pain Relief] [Complete Status Ailment Resistance] [Dark Spirit's Protection] [Super Intuition] [Heaven's Gate] [Contractor of the Abyss] [Magic Hand] [Treasure Search] [Seduction] [Eloquence] [Strong Luck] [Growth Speed ×10]
Rank: Orichalcum
Thank you for reading!