Chapter 26: Curse

A curse was something that Lucius had definitely not expected.

'How did he even come to this conclusion?' Lucius wondered.

"But how? I didn't see any traces of curse on him, high priest Rooks," Josef asked.

"It is not your fault, Josef. Even I would have been unable to recognize it had it not been for the fact that I have seen something like this once before." Rooks replied.

Lita and the rest were now curious too about it. They were happy that Asher had been cured, but they still wanted to know who would curse the young lord and what kind of curse could cause something like this.

"Where did you see it before high priest Rooks?" Josef questioned.

"It was about ten years ago, during my time as a junior priest. I along with a few others had the chance to accompany bishop Hawke on missionary work. We went to the border of the kingdom of Curia.

There we visited the villages that were suffering from famine and plague." Rooks answered.

"Wait, border of the kingdom of Curia? The Farlands?" Josef asked with apprehension.

"Indeed. That was the first time the church had launched a missionary visit there. We had expected the opposition, but surprisingly there was none from the villagers. We discovered that the plague had in fact been caused by the tribals of the Farlands. Because the border of the Curia Kingdom is shared by both parties, conflicts are not uncommon.

The villagers had been confused about why they had no conflict or even a small fight since a year before that, and the reason for that was this very plague. The tribals of the Farlands were behind it.

But that was not all. We also found that one of the strongest gifted warrior that had been defending the villages had fallen sick as well. His condition was different from the others in that, he had lost control over his senses.

Sometimes he would be able to hear, sometimes not, sometimes see, and then not. It was the same with the other three senses of his, and this had made him crippled for a few months. Upon conducting a bit of research, Bishop Hawke recognized that this was the work of a curse.

He used the divine gift of Alana to purge it out of the warrior's body and saw the traces of a tribal god in it. That confirmed it for us that it was caused by the tribal of the Farlands." Rooks explained.

The people were shocked by this information and couldn't help but think more about it. It was not every day that they would get to learn things like these, as most information was restricted by the church and the kingdom.

"But that still doesn't explain one thing; how did young lord Asher get afflicted by the curse of the tribals here, more than three thousand kilometers away from the Farlands." Josef questioned.

"That is what's bugging me too, priest Josef." Rook said, shaking his head.

Lita looked at her son with tears in her eyes and could no longer hold back. She ran towards him and hugged him. She was waiting as it could have been considered rude to do this in front of the priests, but she did it, anyway.

Thankfully, the two priests were more engrossed in their own conversation while the others listened on.

"Thank the goddess! You are fine now, my son." Lita said as she held the face of Asher in her hands.

Kiana kneeled beside Asher and looked him in the eyes.

"Can you try to speak for us now?" She asked.

Lucius closed his eyes for a moment to compose himself before opening his lips.

"Yes, I can." He spoke for the very first time.

His voice was a bit hoarse, having not spoken for a long time, but it was still understandable. Lucius heard his new voice and found it to be alright, not having many thoughts about it as all he needed was the ability to communicate more efficiently.

He hummed to himself to clear his throat a bit and flexed his neck.

"I'd like some water," he asked.

"YES, YES!" Lita said before rushing to get the water herself.

There was a jug kept on the table, and thus she didn't have to go far. The servants felt a bit nervous as they saw the lady of the mansion pour water herself. She carried the glass of water to Lucius and was about to feed it to him when Lucius held her hand.

"I'd like to do things on my own from now, can't keep on being cared for," Lucius said in a calm voice.

It was now that Lita realized there was no need for the previous things that they needed to do. Although Asher was now fully healed, he would still need a couple of days to fully adjust to his body.

"Ahh… this feels so much better…" Asher muttered to himself.

He raised his eyes from the glass and saw the two priests staring at him.

"Is there a problem, high priest Rooks?" he asked with a raised brow.

Kiana saw this expression of Asher and found it to be strange.

'He never really did something like this before…' She thought.

"Young lord Asher, what do you remember before you were injured?" Josef questioned.

"Nothing. I remember nothing, my memory is gone." Asher said in a straightforward manner.

~Sigh~

"Just as I expected…" Rooks said in a disappointed voice.

"Wh-what do you mean, son?" Lita asked, as a bad feeling balled in her stomach.

"I don't remember anything before I was injured. I barely even remember you all." Asher spoke.

Lucius knew that faking the memories would only cause trouble in the future, and it was only so long that he would be able to keep the pretenses. Thus, when the opportunity presented to him, he took it and dropped the bomb.

Lita's and Kiana's hearts fell as they heard that he had lost his memories.

"High priest Rooks, surely there must be some way to get his memories back?" Kiana asked, her voice bordering on sobbing.