By Zephyria “It’s mostly settled, so I’ll be going now. The throbbing will stop within three days. If it doesn’t calm down even after that, use this.”
Leonardo handed over an Amulet made by melting Siculus ore at high temperature and then solidifying it. It was in the shape of a sun with thorns sprouting from a circle, placed on top of a ring.
At first glance, it looked like an ordinary ring, but if you looked closely at the center, a Magic Circle was engraved inside the melted ore. It was blurry, making it difficult to see the contents, but he said to use it if the throbbing didn’t stop, so it must be magic related to sealing.
The owner looked at the Amulet under the store lights as if it were fascinating, turning it this way and that. Siculus was a soft ore with a dull color, so it was an ambiguous mineral that couldn’t be used as imitation jewelry or abrasives. So, when the customer chose Siculus over the flashy weapons, he secretly rejoiced. But who knew it would have such uses?
Since the ore itself was soft, it was easy to reprocess using heat, and the dullness of the light seemed suitable for situations where magic had to be hidden. The owner, who was trying on the ring on his finger, spoke to Leonardo, who was still packing the gold bracelet.
“You have good tricks. But I don’t have any money left to give you now?”
“It’s a service. Ah, and for keeping your mouth shut.”
That rascal, really. The owner let out a hollow laugh. He knew the young ones these days were rude, but he was the worst of all the ones he had seen so far.
Nevertheless, the owner responded cheerfully, as if he found it amusing.
“Come by often. I treat my regulars well. If I get a request for items that people are desperate to find, I sometimes get them. And I sometimes throw in a bonus if you buy something expensive.”
“Do you count me as a regular just for selling to you?”
“That’s a ‘sonnom’ (customer-thief).”
“I’ll drop by as a ‘sonnom’ sometimes.”
His red lips twisted playfully. Just as Leonardo, who had finished packing his things, turned around without any regrets, the owner muttered candidly as he watched his back.
“If what’s around your neck gets too uncomfortable, come find me. I’ll take some of the energy off for you.”
At that moment, Leonardo’s steps came to a halt. He unconsciously stopped breathing and slowly turned his head. His clear Gold Eyes contained both bewilderment and a look of wariness.
“Excuse me?”
The owner stopped talking around that point. It was because he had instinctively sensed a chilling aura that suddenly wafted over.
Leonardo stood there and stared intently at the other person. Just as the silent air became uncomfortable with each other, he shifted his gaze downward and groped around his neck.
It was definitely covered with a handkerchief, so it was amazing how he had noticed it.
“I told you, I’m incredibly good at handling cursed items. I can’t not know if I’m in the same space.”
The owner said that as he picked up the utensils and scattered newspapers and turned his eyes away. Even while tidying up the messy surroundings, his consciousness was directed towards the customer who had stopped walking.
Only the sound of pulling an old cart carrying a chest echoed inside the supply store. In that instant, Leonardo, who had been looking down, slowly gazed at the owner again. Then, he hurriedly ran to the front of the counter with thumping footsteps.
Tearing off the handkerchief as if ripping it apart, he leaned his head towards the other person and asked with an excited expression.
“Can you undo this?”
“Ouch!”
The owner, who had been moving the chest, was dragged towards the customer along with his snatched collar. The first thing he felt from the customer’s flushed face and trembling breath was an indescribable chill.
It was as if something terrible would happen if he misspoke, so the owner couldn’t groan any longer. Instead, he stared at the earnest Gold Eyes waiting for the answer that would come from his mouth.
Unfortunately, the words he could say to him would not be welcome news. The owner, who had stroked his chest, added in a tone that he regretted bringing it up.
“What can I do about something that even a Mage couldn’t undo? That’s a curse with deep thoughts. I don’t know how you got something like that… but it’s not the kind that can be easily undone.”
The momentum that had been sparking quickly subsided. The eyes that had been chasing hope sighed silently. The twitching lips, as if he had expected it, betrayed a great disappointment.
“Besides, it’s not just one person involved.”
The Gold Eyes, which had been about to turn to the floor, quickly shot up again.
“How do you know that?”
“I can feel it. Curses always have thoughts attached to them, and it’s not just from one person.”
“You don’t know what kind of curse it is?”
“Wouldn’t it be terrible if I knew? Isn’t that why you can’t say it either?”
His eyelids, filled with surprise, widened slightly. He didn’t nod, but it was a sign of affirmation.
Leonardo didn’t say anything more and closed his mouth. The black line that crossed his neck rippled along with his Adam’s apple. He released the owner’s collar, which he had been clutching tightly, and instead covered the symbol of bondage again with the handkerchief he had taken off.
The owner, who had barely escaped from his grasp, sighed and clicked his tongue, dusting off his collar. He picked up the ash tree staff next to him and patted Leonardo’s shoulder as well.
“It’s pitiful, so pitiful. You already have many lives attached to you, but your own life is in someone else’s hands.”
“…How do you take away the energy?”
“I’m doing it now. You have to periodically remove the thoughts. Otherwise, you’ll be affected even when the owner of the thoughts isn’t around.”
“……”
“If you get the chance, come by sometime. I’ll introduce you to someone who’s as knowledgeable about curses as I am. Ah, of course, you have to go directly to the mountains to find him. He’s been cut off from the secular world for a long time.”
Leonardo didn’t say anything until the staff brushed past his arms and head and was taken away. His heart raced rapidly and then subsided, making him feel even more dejected. But he hadn’t said anything, and yet there were few who recognized that this was a curse. He was disappointed for now, but he was curious about who the person that such a person would introduce him to was.
“Tell me now. Where is he?”
“I don’t know where he is right now either, he’s so elusive. I have to find out now.”
His golden eyebrows furrowed as if he was dumbfounded. Soon, he rolled his eyes upward and sighed, taking out a black piece of paper from his inner pocket. He engraved a spell on it with Magic Power and handed it to the owner.
“If you find out, burn this. I’ll get a signal.”
“Oh, a Renuntio card. I’ll keep it safe.”
“…Don’t you have anything else to say? I’m really leaving now.”
“Ahem, just listen to one piece of advice before you go.”
“Advice?”
“A thought-form feeds on other thoughts. It’s not something I should say to a customer who came to sell me something, but don’t kill too much. There’s already a lot of resentment attached to you.”
“……”
“Dragons are okay sometimes, but if possible, avoid those who have lived for a long time and have come to realize reason and are close to being spiritual beings. The resentment of beings who have transcended time is not something that a mere human can handle. Those things slowly erode the body and eventually gnaw at the mind. The resentment of wraiths is the same.”
In the owner’s view, Leonardo’s figure was in a state where dark shadows were clinging to the brilliant gold and screaming. To himself, who had not opened his third eye, it was only a faint form that could be seen with concentration, but to the priests of this land who had been oppressed and disappeared, he was an object of purification that had to be captured and doused with holy water immediately.
Usually, to drag around that much thought and resentment, he would have had to kill as many lives as some soldier he knew. However, judging by the fact that he was looking for illegal transactions, he seemed far from being a soldier who followed strict discipline.
“I’m saying this because you’re like a son to me. If you soak in clear water with the energy of purification, some of the thoughts will fall off. Stop getting blood on yourself.”
The owner added in a troubled tone. Leonardo, who had been staring at him expressionlessly, smiled with a somewhat bitter look.
“It doesn’t work out well as I live. I have a lot to do.”
“…Ahem, where are you going now? Are you going to catch another dragon?”
“How can I go catch one right after hearing something like that? Not a dragon, I’m going to find someone. I’ve been looking for him for months.”
“For months?”
Leonardo rummaged through his inner pocket once more. This time, he took out a white piece of paper. The paper was held out in front of the store owner.
“Westforce… what is this?”
“Do you know where this is?”
Leonardo’s fingertip pointed to ‘Westforce Roman 41’. Westforce was the name of a large area encompassing this Riverside Town. This memo was a partial transcription of a note left by Alec Siles, a crazy scholar from the peninsula who was in charge of baggage 2, along with an Amplifier.
Find the turtle riding a train at 41 Roman Westforce
The original note contained a strange address, as well as a promise to talk in detail when he got there. It had been almost three months since he had been chasing that promise.
The problem was that there was no place called Roman 41 in this area. When he first found out about that fact, his head was spinning as if he had been hit in the back of the head. He wondered if this crazy scholar had just said anything to abandon his contract with him and disappear.
Even if that were the case, he couldn’t stop looking for the scholar. If that was a real address, he had to go and beat him with his fists for making him do dog training, and if it was a trick to shake him off, he had to cut off his tongue and fingers so that he wouldn’t pull any more tricks. Even if that wasn’t the case, he had to firmly silence him, and there were many things he wanted to ask.
As he went around and around, scouring all the 41s in Westforce, he ended up reaching 41 Aldenon Street here, while also selling items.
This was the last 41 that Leonardo hadn’t visited so far. However, Alec Siles’ whereabouts were still unknown, and there was nowhere else to retreat. The turtle riding a train seemed like some kind of metaphor, but as of now, he had no idea whether it was a person or a thing. So, he was sharing his destination, risking danger, in the hope that a local would know something.
His golden eyes looked into the owner’s face with a subtly expectant look.
The owner narrowed his dim eyes and muttered to himself. Then, he glanced at Leonardo and answered plainly.
“I don’t know?”
“……”
‘Not helpful.’
Leonardo frowned but didn’t add anything. He was about to put the paper back in his inner pocket as if he hadn’t expected anything in the first place.
“Wait, wait. I said I don’t know. I didn’t say I don’t have any guesses.”
“…? You should have said that first.”
The owner, who had grabbed his wrist urgently, looked at the contents of the memo again.
“It’s hard to recognize because the handwriting is terrible.”
“…What does the handwriting have to do with it? More than that, where do you have a guess about?”
“Ahem, a turtle riding a train…”
Just as the two men were putting their heads together across the counter, Leonardo’s senses picked up the sound of someone loitering outside the store.
There had been many people passing by the street, so he didn’t pay much attention to it at first. But this time, the presence didn’t pass through the street as usual and stopped abruptly in front of the store.
Leonardo, instinctively raising his head, turned towards the door.
“If you walk about 15 minutes from here, you’ll find a train station…”
He had been about to press down on his hat and pull his mask up to below his eyes because he sensed something was wrong.
Someone threw the store door open with enough force to break it.
Bang!
The bell on the door shook violently, and the items hanging on the wall rattled for a moment. Then, the sound of heavy shoe soles stepping on the wooden floor was heard.
The owner, equally startled, raised his head and looked in the same direction.
The natural light that came in from outside pierced the dark interior even though the lights were on. A pair of military boots that had revealed themselves in the midst of it strode inside.
“Is this a black market?”
The collar of the jet-black uniform formed an incredibly sharp angle. A voice lowered to the fullest extent drove away the quiet atmosphere.
Leonardo flinched and lowered the brim of his hat.
A badge in the shape of an eagle with its wings spread. He was affiliated with the Imperial Army.