Chapter 175: Dark Workshop

Four days have passed since we met that woman in Rodky's cathedral.

I was pretty confident that finding her would be easy, but... that turned out to be too optimistic.

The reality was that by following Isabella's friends and Terith's Prince, we visited a bunch of popular workshops.

Just entering them requires a certain amount of time, and for better or worse, neither the prince nor the Evretis house members have been flaunting their status to get ahead of others.

With everyone so focused on the popular workshops, we couldn't go to the outskirts of the city, where I thought our chances of finding that woman would be higher.

Since any requests to go there probably were going to be rejected immediately, it was also hard for Isabella to propose it.

My girls also made no progress.

If things kept going like this, it could turn into a problem.

Mia: "Why are you interested in finding that woman anyway?"

Miwen: "...Call it a feeling."

While I'm certainly interested in the history of this city, there was definitely much more to that woman.

Many mages in Rodky are powerful.

Even the Grandpa back then who gave those eggs to Lily... From my estimates, he should be strong enough to win against Skuld or any of the other Valkyries.

There's also a mage in this city capable enough to catch Claire's interest, which tells me a lot about how pówerful she might be. As well as her interests.

However... If we're talking about how threatening they are, on a scale from Lily to Elizabeth, most of the mages here end up being close to Lily.

They treat all of the students here like children and the workshops function kind of life stalls in a festival.

While it's obvious they are serious about their research, they often go out of the way to materialize it in a fun way or challenging way to play with the students.

It works to attract them and also to scout those who can see through the trick as potential apprentices.

Overall, it's a nice place, with powerful, but friendly people.

Of course, what this place is like at other times of the year is a mystery, and Grandpa gave me a pretty good hint that they are not all that innocent.

Still, no one seems interested in starting any trouble.

Except for that woman.

She came out of nowhere, and even though both Mia and I were paying attention, we only noticed her when she was already by our side,

While her words weren't particularly threatening, there was something weird about her.

Again, it's just a feeling, but...

If I had to put her on the same scale as the other mages based on this feeling alone, she'd be close to Elizabeth.

She reeks of a problem.

But there's also her actions... Even though Sabrina was here, she didn't pay her any mind, instead, she was much more interested in Isabella and me.

I can think of a few reasons for that, but... most of them would be bad.

And then, the cherry on top to make her even more suspicious...

It's eerie by itself, but... most of the workshop owners of this city can also be found in the game.

The one we cannot find no matter what is this woman.

Mia: "But if you think she's so dangerous, wouldn't it be better to maintain a distance?"

Miwen: "You saw how easily she can reach us, right? I'd rather take her offer to talk... Those who are strong usually have some pride so... Under the premise of us being guests in her workshop, she probably won't attack us unprovoked."

At least I hope that to be the case.

I've seen examples that go both ways.

The Merchant was so far above that fighting wasn't even interesting to him, he only tried to see our true nature when he came to the Kingdom.

Elizabeth was a little similar, except that due to her level being lowered, we could entertain her during our fight, and since she loves a good challenge, she gave us all the opportunities we could ask for to give her our best blows.

On the other hand, we have the complete opposite. Claire.

That girl... She's way more interested in her own abilities than the opponent's. It doesn't matter who she's fighting unless she's told to hold back, she'll give them the same destructive attack on the first opportunity she gets.

Isabella: "Come on. Let's go."

Miwen: "Hm?"

While I was discussing with Mia, Isabella approached her friends and after a little while, came back with Lenard.

Lenard: "...Isabella explained your situation and asked me for help. Don't worry, you can repay me later."

It was unusual to see Lenard in high spirits like that, but even more surprising to me was Isabella's behavior.

She spoke with him in particular beforehand so that she wouldn't be alone when voicing her opinion.

This way, even if the group decided against it, it wouldn't be that weird for her to go her separate way.

She was able to predict what would happen and how it would look like if she became a contrarian to the group, so she took a measure to prevent it.

It's baby steps, but she's improving.

Isabella: "So? Where to?"

She was pretty similar to Agatha.

She seemed to lack sleep, her skin was pale and her hair disheveled.

Her head also wasn't resting correctly on her neck, tilting a little to the side.

Pointing any of that out to the person in question would be rude, so I refrained from it.

But Isabella, who came right behind me, was caught completely off-guard and didn't mince words.

She probably didn't do it on purpose, but she was spot on.

Jackie: "Uh... As you can see... Talismans and wards... Uh... You know?"

Isabella: "...As the owner of this workshop, don't you think she's a little... lifeless about her research?"

Still keen on the undead accusations, Isabella seemed to really have a problem with this girl.

If I had to say, her meek personality probably reminded Isabella of her own.

However, while Isabella tried her entire life to get away from that only to be forced to fall every time, this girl seemed to thrive in it, not minding her manners or anything else.

Miwen: "Well, I get what you're saying, but... Her research is the real deal."

The bigger workshops all have apprentices who help the owners. It seems to be especially useful for manufacturing items.

This place was as filled as those, if not more, but it only had Jackie, its owner, working in it.

It was the work of a lifetime.

All of the talismans here followed a logic that you could trace. And you could also see them getting better and better.

She was clearly very dedicated to them.

Miwen: "A lot of curses..."

Jackie: "Ehe...hehe....This one is... dangerous..."

Miwen: "Yeah... I can tell..."

It was an amulet with a curse that made the victim thirsty.

And yeah, while being thirsty might not look that dangerous at first glance, this thing was quite a problem.

First of all, it's incredibly easy to curse someone with it. A single touch is all that's necessary. As long as the person is not defending themselves with dark or light magic, they'll be instantly afflicted with the curse.

There are only two ways to remove the curse. The first is with superior light or dark magic, but... the amount of power in this talisman is incredible.

Jackie said that she created this while working as an apprentice, and it's based on her master's research, who contributed some of their magic to it.

Meaning... it takes an enormous amount of power to remove the curse.

And so, the best way to deal with the curse would be to break the talisman, but...

Once someone has been afflicted by it, it will probably be too late.

The thirst it causes only strengthens with time. And the worst part is that... it's not real.

No matter how much water one drinks, it will never go away.

The talisman simply causes the feeling... forever.

Jackie said that her test subjects all drowned themselves mere days after being exposed to it.

If I were to give this thing to Lana, it would pretty much make for the perfect crime.

Sadly, it wasn't on sale.

For someone who refused to tell what she tested the curses on, she was surprisingly responsible.

The only items on sale were the ones that offered protection against curses.

The business model of "Look how scary this thing is, don't you want to buy my protection against it?" might not be very attractive, but it was damn effective.

I ended up buying a bunch and storing them all in the Kingdom.

Miwen: "Oh yeah, speaking of which... We've been looking for this woman..."

I started to describe the woman we met in the cathedral to Jackie, and...

Jackie: "...You met Nissa!? No, no, no, no... no... I have nothing to do with her. I..."

...It was obvious that this wasn't the case at all, but...

Miwen: "One of your talismans... It's flashing black and yellow."

Those colors... they were hers.

Jackie: "Nissa... She's calling me... No... Why now?"

She seemed pretty desperate.

Miwen: "It's bad to leave someone hanging, right? Let's visit Nissa together."

And like that, we ended up finding our guide to Nissa, the woman we met at the cathedral.

Of course, the timing was too convenient.

As I expected, she could reach us whenever she wanted to.