Chapter 9

Chapter 9

How to Break a Curse

When I opened my eyes again, I was sprawled somewhere completely different from the underground bathhouse.

The sticky sensation of the silver holy water was gone, and what my fingertips touched was smooth, pure-white marble.

The humid warmth created by the incense smoke mixing with the bath's steam was nowhere to be found. Instead, the space was filled with cool, refreshing air.

Yeah, this place was definitely...

“What the fuck, where am I?”

I had no idea.

After blinking for a moment while trying to understand the situation, I sprang upright as though launched by a spring and looked around.

An endless white marble floor, massive pillars rising vertically as if supporting the heavens, an arched ceiling so high I couldn't even begin to guess where it ended, and golden sunlight pouring through the spaces between them.

The place carried such overwhelming grandeur that even the Order's great cathedral would look shabby by comparison.

And outside, all I could see was a clear blue sky and clouds spread beneath the floor.

Clouds beneath the floor? That confirmed it. This wasn't the human world.

“Welcome to my temple, Trixie.”

Trixie. That familiar nickname used only by people close to me came with a familiar voice.

I turned my head and saw the Goddess walking toward me with a welcoming wave, wearing a dress made of pure-white fabric that looked woven from particles of light and decorated with intricate golden embroidery.

“Your temple? The Goddess's temple?”

“That's right.”

“...Isn't that in the divine realm?”

“Correct.”

“Oh, shit. Did I drown while taking a bath or something?”

I vaguely remembered seeing news stories about people who fell asleep in the bath and never woke up. Surely I hadn't suffered the same unfortunate fate?

“Hehe, of course not. I merely summoned your consciousness to the divine realm for a while.”

“You can do that? I didn't know living humans could come to the divine realm.”

“Normally, they cannot. But our Trixie is very special, isn't she? Visiting the divine realm is a privilege granted only to those with souls strong and pure enough to withstand its energy. In other words, to the Pope and Saintess.”

“Oh?”

I looked down at my body with a small sound of admiration. Since she'd said only my consciousness had been summoned, I expected to look like some translucent ghost, but it felt no different from being on the surface. My appearance and physical sensations were all the same.

...Though I had no idea why I was wearing the Sacred Vestments.

“Of course, even that would be impossible without the thorough preparation of applying scented oil, burning incense, and immersing yourself in holy water.”

“What happens if I come to the divine realm without doing all that?”

“Your brain would overload and leave you an idiot. And if your physical body came with you, the radiance would burn you into ash without even leaving your soul behind. Hehe, rather terrifying, isn't it?”

“...Could you not smile while saying something that horrifying?”

That bath was insanely dangerous, wasn't it? If you're going to make me do something that dangerous, couldn't you at least warn me? Grandpa Pope? Old man? Goddess?

But complaining about something that had already happened wouldn't help, so I could only let out a faint sigh.

“So, how does it feel to visit the divine realm for the first time?”

“Bright. Isn't it inconvenient living here? I feel like it'd still be bright at night.”

Honestly, the scenery was majestic and mysterious, but everything was overwhelmingly white and bright enough to drive me insane.

If you lived in the divine realm, blackout curtains and sunglasses had to be essential household goods, right?

“You are probably the first child ever to ascend to the divine realm and say something like that.”

“The scenery is pretty, but the lighting's too strong. Four stars.”

“...Out of how many?”

“Five.”

The Goddess looked dumbfounded. Well, I suppose a mortal giving the divine realm a star rating was enough to leave even a god speechless.

A blasphemous man who rates the divine realm. That's me.

Anyway, I wanted to escape this insane light pollution as quickly as possible, so enough pointless joking. Time to ask why she'd called me here.

“Why did you bring me here? I doubt it was to give me a tour of the divine realm.”

At my question, the Goddess's expression grew somewhat serious.

“Because your body had been contaminated. I wasn't completely certain before, but seeing you this close makes it obvious.”

“Contaminated? My body?”

Contaminated? Could a Saintess's body even become contaminated?

Well, sure, maybe if someone did all sorts of horrible things to me while I was defenseless, but I had no memory of anything like that.

“Haven't you fought an unusually large number of demonic beasts under Lust recently?”

“Yeah. Lately, those bastards in particular keep throwing themselves at us.”

“Didn't you notice anything strange about that?”

“Our Order and Lust are mortal enemies anyway, right? I figured that's why they attacked us so often. And hey, I got to reduce their numbers, so I didn't exactly mind.”

I answered casually.

“Hehe, how admirable.”

“So what's the problem?”

“The power demons use is called sorcery. And every form of sorcery is complicated and difficult.”

“Hmm... That's true.”

I'd encountered sorcery a few times. Upper-class demonic beasts and demons used that peculiar form of power.

Having fought them before, I knew very well just how troublesome and fucking obnoxious it could be.

So I nodded in agreement with the Goddess.

“And the sorcery used by that fucking bitch Lilith is the most troublesome of all demons.”

“...?”

I stared blankly at the Goddess after the vulgar insult suddenly came out of her mouth.

Fucking bitch? Did that really just come from the always-gentle Goddess?

“Ahem. Surprised? I am the Goddess of Battle too, you know. And surely you don't expect me to speak politely about our Order's greatest enemy.”

“I still didn't expect a Goddess to use words that rough.”

The Goddess looked slightly embarrassed.

And seeing her like that made a certain theory pop into my head.

“Oh? Could it be that my personality and way of speaking are like this because I take after you, Goddess?”

“...”

For some reason, ever since becoming the Saintess, I'd found it especially difficult to control my temper and my mouth had gotten rougher. If that was because I'd inherited it from the Goddess, everything made sense.

See? I wasn't the problem. The Goddess was the probl—

BAM―!

“Gah!”

While I was happily convincing myself of my theory, my vision suddenly flashed and stars exploded before my eyes.

I crouched down and rubbed the top of my head.

Now I finally understood why Leonid reacted the way he did every time I gave him a knuckle bomb.

It wasn't exaggeration.

It was pure human instinct.

“Owwww... Why did you suddenly hit me?!”

“It seemed like you were having some blasphemous thoughts, so my hand moved on its own.”

“No! That's ridiculous... Hehe, I guess these things happen.”

Seeing the Goddess's fist clench beautifully again, I immediately laughed awkwardly and changed my tune.

...So unfair.

Violence is wrong. Boo. Delinquent Goddess, reflect on your actions.

As I grumbled internally, someone suddenly came to mind.

...Leonid, so this is how you felt?

I'll try to treat you a little more warmly from now on.

“Anyway, what did Lilith do to me?”

Still rubbing the swelling on my head, I asked in a sulky voice.

“Lilith used the blood of the lust-type demonic beasts that splashed onto you as a medium for her sorcery. More precisely, she used sorcery to inscribe some kind of curse onto your body.”

“...Holy shit, that's possible?”

My eyes widened in shock. Getting covered in demonic beast blood during an expedition was about as common as eating breakfast.

And she used that blood to curse me?

...How the hell was that possible?

“That woman is more than capable of it. Rather than confronting someone directly, she prefers underhanded tricks from behind the scenes, troublesome sorcery, curses, and other cowardly methods.”

“...What kind of curse did she put on me?”

“That, I do not know. Lilith's sorcery is difficult even for gods to decipher.”

“Then doesn't that mean there's no way to deal with it?”

If even a god couldn't understand it, didn't that mean there was no way to break the curse on me? I didn't know what kind of curse had been carved into my body, but the thought was incredibly unsettling.

“Don't worry too much. The bath removed every trace of Lilith's curse.”

“Oh? That's possible?”

“It is. Let me briefly explain the principle behind dispelling a curse.”

“...I feel like I won't understand even if you explain it.”

“Well, that's probably true. Our Trixie isn't exactly the brightest child.”

“Could you not agree that easily? I'm smart, you know?”

...For some reason, that actually hurt. I don't study. It's not that I'm bad at studying.

“A curse can be thought of as mathematics.”

“Ah, my head already hurts.”

But I hate math. I deliberately avoided the Goddess's incredulous stare.

“I'll give you only the conclusion. Dispelling a curse is reverse calculation.”

“Reverse calculation?”

“Yes. Suppose the number 8 is the result produced by a curse. Can you tell what calculation process produced that 8?”

“I don't know. How could anyone know just from the result?”

I tilted my head as I answered. If you simply handed someone the number 8 and asked what calculation produced it, who could answer that?

Eight could be 2×4, 1×8, or if you twisted things around enough, maybe 2+2×2. (That's 6.)

“That is why dispelling curses is so troublesome. If you do not undo it in precisely the correct order, the cursed body will suffer severe backlash.”

“What kind of backlash?”

“That cannot be known. Anything could happen.”

“Oh, God.”

Listening to the Goddess, dispelling a curse really did sound absurdly troublesome. And if it was a curse cast by a Great Demon like Lilith, even more so.

“However, if life itself is brought to the threshold of death, the curse's backlash will not activate. Curses are designed to harm living bodies, after all. That is why your body was held at the edge of death.”

“...Ah.”

That was an incredibly brute-force method.

She was basically saying they'd put my body into suspended animation just to break the curse.

“That is why you must always wear the Sacred Vestments in the Demon Realm. A Saintess's body possesses strong resistance to demonic energy, but you never know what a being on the level of a Great Demon might attempt.”

“Ugh...”

I made a disgusted face at her words. I almost never wore the Sacred Vestments outside of combat, and even then, only for dangerous battles.

After all, my pride as a man wouldn't allow me to walk around wearing something that embarrassing.

No, even if I were mentally a woman, wouldn't wearing something that shameful still be difficult?

“Don't look so disgusted. Your body nearly fell victim to Lilith's tricks, didn't it? The Sacred Vestments will perfectly protect you from things like that.”

“Haaa... If that's the case, I guess there's no choice.”

I answered with a faint sigh.

...Goddammit, I really hate wearing that thing. Guess I have no choice now.

“Judging from the shape of the curse, it appeared to be the type that only activates upon coming into contact with another sinister energy. If you'd simply stayed inside the temple, there would've been no chance of it activating.”

Sinister energy couldn't enter the heart of the Order. If the curse only activated upon touching some other energy, like the Goddess said, then staying shut inside the temple would prevent it from ever triggering.

Which raised one question.

“Then didn't that mean there was no need to rush and make me take that bath?”

“Trixie, are you the kind of child who stays put when someone tells you to stay put?”

“...”

Fair enough. My question was immediately answered, and I silently nodded.

“The important thing is that they managed to inscribe a curse onto the body of a Saintess. You must never let your guard down, understood?”

“Yes. I'll be careful.”

I accepted her warning with a faint sigh.

“Now that the urgent matter has been handled, I feel relieved. We still have some time before you must leave the divine realm. Would you like to look around the temple with me?”

“Sure.”

Apparently all the important business was over.

My eyes were still being assaulted by the brightness, but an opportunity to look around the divine realm was far too rare to waste, so I agreed to the tour.

As I followed the Goddess, I decided to bring up something that had been bothering me no matter how much I thought about it.

“Goddess, couldn't you change the design of the Sacred Vestments a little?”

“No.”

Wow. Look at how decisive she is.

“Why not? Are you fine with your Saintess dying of embarrassment?”

“Haven't I told you? Covering that body is a sin, and as the highest-ranking woman in the Order, Trixie should...”

And once again began the long speech about the ‘aesthetics of exposure’ that I'd already heard before.

I let it go in one ear and out the other while following behind her, when her own clothing caught my attention.

And there, I found one very sharp contradiction.

“Goddess.”

“Yes?”

“You said I'm the highest-ranking woman in the Order, but aren't you actually the highest-ranking woman in our Order?”

“That is true.”

The dress the Goddess wore covered her completely up to the neck, the sleeves reached over the backs of her hands, and the hem was so long it brushed the floor.

Her face and fingertips were practically the only skin visible.

“Then why are you completely covered up? Didn't you say a high-ranking woman should proudly display her beauty?”

“...”

The Goddess flinched and stopped walking. After hesitating for a moment, the answer she gave was...

“Because exposing that much skin would be embarrassing.”

...Excuse me, Goddess?

My jaw dropped, and I stared at her in disbelief.

“Then what about me?”

“Yes?”

“Am I not embarrassed?”

“Uh...”

I'd suspected something was off ever since receiving Sacred Vestments packed with someone's niche tastes, but seriously, this Goddess!

“Ahem. It seems it is time for you to return. Even the soul of a Saintess should not remain too long in the divine realm...”

“Goddess?”

“There are children waiting eagerly for you to awaken...”

“Goddess? Would you mind listening to me? Why don't we have a serious discussion about me and the design of my Sacred Vestments? I distinctly remember you saying we still had some time left.”

“It seems it is time for you to return.”

“You're not listening to me.”

Keep this up and I'm going to turn evil like some middle-aged man in clown makeup from a certain movie, you know?

“Ah, right. There will be considerable aftereffects from visiting the divine realm. Brace yourself.”

With the Goddess's final words came the snap of her fingers.

And at that exact moment, I woke up back in the underground bathhouse of the Order.

“...What the hell.”

I could only stare at the bathhouse ceiling in stunned disbelief for a long while.