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Chapter 222 : Curse
Chapter 222: Curse
Soren, Nancy, and Elton each had different expressions.
But without exception, all were rather surprised at the strength Gauss had displayed.
Nancy’s lips moved slightly. She looked at Gauss, her mind seemingly lost in thought.
「Well done! Gauss, lad！」 Although Soren was a little disappointed at first that he had not personally finished off the Demon’s Kin, he quickly tossed aside that sentiment.
W̊е̇ b̌ nǒ v̇éĺ Е́ nům̌ ä
He strode forward and gave Gauss’s waist a firm pat.
「Truly, the younger generation surpassed the older.」
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Although he had already witnessed Gauss’s strength briefly at Outpost Eleven, knowing that he was not merely an empty showpiece, the urgency of that night had not allowed him to observe closely.
Now upon seeing him, Gauss’s strength turned out to be far more outstanding than he had expected.
「Thank you. But it was thanks to you, Soren, for seriously wounding it first, that I could finish it so easily.」 Gauss smiled as he withdrew the power of the Hardened Scales Bloodline, the sharp aura from battle also dissipating along with it.
He subtly flexed his right hand.
Ė n̈u ḿа̌.
「Haha, teamwork！」 Soren laughed heartily, then turned his gaze to the rapidly dissolving filth on the ground,
his brows furrowing again.
「As expected, it was the Demon’s Kin. Seems this village’s strange condition is inseparable from it.」 Priest Elton stepped forward.
As the holy symbol in his hand released a pure white radiance, the liquid on the ground was at last burned away, erased from this world.
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「Let’s return to the village and gather some information.」 Elton spoke initiative.
They were not far from the village, and the commotion here surely had already reached the villagers.
Ĕṅ uṁа̂
The group tidied up briefly before heading back toward the village.
Soren and Gauss walked at the front, the others following behind.
The village was pitch black, but fortunately Gauss cast a Light Spell to illuminate several staves. The bright, pure-white light dispelled the darkness, shining upon the area around them.
After nightfall, the village of Rolling Stone grew even more deathly silent.
The low adobe houses cast enormous shadows under the illumination of the Light Spell. The night air of Rolling Stone Village carried a strange stench.
All the houses were tightly sealed, even the windows were shut fast.
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「Let’s go take a look at that old man’s house.」 Gauss suggested. He still remembered where the old man who had spoken with them lived.
Although the man’s attitude had not been friendly, compared to the others he had at least been willing to talk.
Moreover, Gauss felt that the old man was not as opposed to them as he appeared—more like he carried some unspoken secret.
「Knock, knock！」
They arrived at the old man’s door.
Gauss stepped forward and knocked.
Ẃ ẽ b n о̄ v.е l̊ Ë ǹuṁ a
No response.
But Gauss could hear faint rustling inside. Clearly, the man knew someone was outside but was deliberately keeping quiet, pretending to be asleep.
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「Knock, knock！」
Soren also stepped forward and pounded on the door. Compared to Gauss, his knock was much rougher. When there was still no answer, he shouted into the house.
「Old man, if you don’t open up, we’ll break the door down.」
After Soren’s threat, the door was quickly opened.
Еn̆ũ m̂ а . i d
The same old man who had driven them away earlier now stood in the doorway. Seeing the group safe and sound, he revealed an expression of shock as if he had seen a ghost.
「You… you’re still alive？」
「Were we supposed to be dead？」 Gauss smiled.
「Old man, that rat-like monster—it has already been slain by us.」
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Upon hearing this, the old man’s clouded eyes swept across everyone before finally settling on Gauss. His throat moved, and in a dry, raspy voice he asked, 「You… really killed it…？」
His already hunched body trembled, making him appear even thinner.
Ẽ n̆ ūm a . і_d.
「Absolutely.」 Soren patted his chest armor. 「Its corpse has already been purified by our priest—there’s not even ashes left.」
The old man trembled as he stepped back, opening the door.
「Come… come in, don’t wake the others.」
Watching him shut the door tightly, Gauss could not help but feel suspicious. Even after hearing that the Demon’s Kin was dead, the man’s grave expression had not eased in the slightest.
Such good news—if not joyful, then at least some relief should have shown.
Inside, there was little furniture. A musty odor mixed with the bitterness of herbs filled the air. The only oil lamp flickered on the table, casting unsteady shadows.
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Perhaps because he knew they had killed the monster outside the village, the old man’s attitude was now somewhat friendlier. 「Please, sit down, adventurers. As you can see, I have little here to offer.」 He pointed to a few rough wooden stools, while he himself sat by the bed, wringing his clothes uneasily.
Gauss noticed the old man’s frightened glances toward the window. With a smile, he asked,
「Old man, do you know the origin of that monster we encountered earlier？」
Gauss’s charisma was not for nothing. Once he smiled, the old man’s anxiety visibly eased.
The man’s lips moved. At first, he seemed unwilling to speak. But facing Gauss’s gentle, sun-like smile, he hesitated for a while before finally letting out a long sigh.
「That monster… it is a curse. The curse the demon left upon Rolling Stone Village.」
W e b̊ no v̊е l̇ Ĕ n̆ û m̄ ä
The old man lifted his clothes, revealing a layer of faint gray fur on his bent body.
「The demon cursed you？」 Nancy exclaimed in shock.
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Demons—beings born from the Bottomless Abyss, embodiments of chaos and evil. They knew no mercy, no compassion, no kindness toward the living, existing only to destroy.
Most of the time, they were confined to the Abyss. Even if they broke free and descended to the Material Plane, they would be weakened. And the stronger the demon, the greater the restrictions upon them.
Demons capable of leaving curses were often of the higher forms.
That a high-ranking demon would break through layers of restrictions just to leave a curse upon an ordinary village—it sounded strange indeed. Curses and diseases were not of the same level. On the way here, they had thought it was merely some sickness spreading in the village.
W̄е́b̌ n о_v̄e l Ё ňũ m á
Beside Nancy, Serandur and Elton stepped forward.
They each tried using divine magic to cleanse the abnormalities from the old man’s body. But unfortunately, they failed.
「Don’t waste your efforts. This curse appeared a year ago. At first, we sought help from the church. But the priest who came here could not heal us and soon left. Since it wasn’t contagious, they abandoned us to our fate.」 The old man spoke calmly, as if he had already accepted his destiny.
「Conventional divine spells can only deal with most ordinary curses, but a demon’s curse…」 Serandur spoke.
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He finally realized what that familiar sensation he had felt upon arriving in the village was.
In his past travels, he had once come across an abandoned village. The people there had all become withered corpses, and the aura of that place had been eerily similar to here:
Е num̂а̀. і̃ d
It had to be said that a demon’s curse was not without a solution. High-level divine spells and rituals, powerful divine relics, or destroying the curse’s source could all break it.
But no matter the method, for an ordinary village, such a solution was an unattainable luxury.
Serandur’s words brought a momentary silence to the room.
「This old man is already near death, so it doesn’t matter for me. But the children in this village are too pitiful, looking like monsters. That’s why after you arrived, no one came outside. We can’t take that gamble…」 The old man’s gaze swept across them as he leaned against the bedframe.
After speaking several sentences, he began panting heavily, his body frail.
But everyone understood his meaning: the villagers feared encountering some “zealous” adventurers who might mistake them all for monsters and slaughter the entire village.
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「As for that big monster you killed—it only came out at night. Most of the time, as long as we hid inside our homes, it wouldn’t harm us. But it cannot be killed.」 The old man sighed before continuing.
「Cannot be killed？」 Gauss raised his brows. His Monster Encyclopedia had confirmed the kill. Thinking the old man did not understand the situation, he explained further.
「Old man, I’ve already checked. It’s truly dead. You can rest assured.」
Although they could not remove the villagers’ curse, at the very least, with that monster gone, the common villagers would be much safer.
「No, no, what I mean is—even if you killed it, after some time, a new one will appear.」 The old man shook his head. 「Once, a kind adventurer came. He killed the monster for us. But after he left,
a month later, another monster appeared.」
Ĕ n̊u̇ mа̊ . і d̄
「The village’s condition not only failed to improve, it became worse.」
Gauss fell silent upon hearing this.
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He truly had not expected that good intentions would instead bring harm.
His eyes fell upon the man’s frail body. The birth of the Demon’s Kin was likely the result of draining their very life force.
This meant that every time the Demon’s Kin was slain, although it brought temporary safety, it also accelerated the village’s demise.
The curse was not contagious, but to eradicate it required a price too great. Thus, the church ignored them.
Ẅе̄ b̀ ñ òṽ еľ_ Еnu m̃ ã
This forced the villagers to live every day in fear, worried that any adventurer might go on a killing spree, so much so that even during the day they cowered in their homes.
It was despair.
After gathering a little more information from the old man, Gauss shook his head.
Other than what they had just discussed, there were no further important clues.
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As to how the curse had first appeared, the old man had no idea. He only knew it had begun roughly a year ago.
In fact, the only reason they knew it was related to demons was because a priest had told them. Otherwise, they would still be in the dark, believing themselves afflicted with some strange disease.
W̌ ēb̀ n̊ òv ê l̇ Ĕ_n̈ûm а
一 night passed without incident. Gauss and the others returned to their temporary camp to rest.
The next morning.
After the Demon’s Kin had been slain, the suffocating atmosphere in the village seemed to lift somewhat.
Perhaps the old man had told the other villagers about Gauss and the others.
Early in the morning, they could already see some “children” playing in the village.
Gauss boiled some water and sat quietly at a distance, watching.
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The deformities on the children were even more severe. Yet perhaps due to their youthful vitality, they did not appear too weak.
Gauss could not sense any monster-like aura from them. They were human—just unfortunate humans cursed.
A little girl timidly approached the camp. Her upper arms were grotesquely swollen, covered in rough scales, and beneath her skin something like worms seemed to crawl. A foul stench hung about her.
But her eyes were bright and clear. From a distance, she curiously studied the handsome stranger Gauss,
and the steaming pot before him.
Gauss gave his gentlest smile, then pulled a few clean honey candies from his storage pouch. He placed them on a clean stone and nudged them toward the girl, signaling she could take them.
Е̃ǹ üḿ а
The little girl hesitated, but in the end could not resist the candy’s temptation. She darted forward, snatched the sweets, and quickly retreated to a safe distance.
At least she had some sense of safety—but not much.
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She unwrapped a candy, carefully popped it into her mouth. The sweet flavor made her eyes squint with delight. Her face shone with the pure, simple joy of a child—like a little mouse nibbling cheese.
「What’s your name？」 Gauss asked softly as he stirred breakfast in the pot.
「Lucy...」 The little girl mumbled, her mouth stuffed with sweetness.
「Lucy, a lovely name.」 Gauss smiled. 「Why not play with the others？」
Е́nu mä.i d̀
「They don’t play with me. They say I stink.」 She took two steps back as she spoke, stopping only when she thought Gauss could no longer smell her.
But she did not know that those two steps made no difference to him.
And Gauss did not mind her odor at all.
After chatting for a short while, their brief interaction ended.
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Once she finished the candy, she left on her own.
At his side, Serandur, who had remained silent, shook his head at the sight.
Ě ňu m̀a
「Perhaps in a few years, this village will vanish without a trace.」
「A few years…」 Gauss mused inwardly.
Normally, it did seem likely.
This was but a remote village, so obscure that even if it disappeared, no one would care.
As long as it was not contagious, and confirmed to be an extremely rare occurrence, it would never attract much attention.
「Let’s go.」
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After breakfast, Soren gathered everyone to set out again.
He mounted his horse, continued drinking heavily, and hummed a song, as if Rolling Stone Village was already forgotten.
This was an adventurer’s true nature. They were not saviors. They too encountered many things beyond their ability, and most of the time could only leave them behind and keep moving forward.
Gauss cast one last glance at that gray, withered village. Then he tightened his grip on his chocobo’s flanks, urging his mount to catch up with the team.
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