Volume 16 - CH 15

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After school, me, Serina, and Kaede went to see Erwin's mentor, the Magician.

It was no use having so many people there, so we let Nene and the others go home.

「This is Professor Slayley's workshop.」

There was a house near the forest, a bit far from the school building. Looking around to my left and right, I could see a few houses, so it seemed that the other professors' research facilities were also located around here.

「Hmm, it looks like a nice and quiet place to take a nap, but it's a bit far to go to the school building for class.」

Kaede said, looking towards the school building.

「What? It's just around the corner.」

「Just come on. We're going in.」

I'm about to open the door before we start arguing in vain.

「Wait! Alec!」

Serina stopped me with a sharp voice.

「What is it?」

「I heard that Professor Slayley is a very dour and polite man. I'll go knock.」

「I see. Then I think I'll leave it to you and go home.」

I don't have the skills to be liked by a bigoted old man.

「Ehh? We've come this far. Just let's go in. Excuse me, my name is Serina, I'm a student. Is Professor Slayley here?」

「Yes, I'm here. Come on in.」

I heard a voice from inside, but it was a younger man's voice than I expected.

「Excuse me, sir. Ahh, it leads to the basement. ......」

Inside the house, there was only a simple kitchen and a parlor, but the stairs leading to the basement were in the middle of the room, like a dungeon layout.

「I'm here. Come on down.」

I hear a voice from the bottom of the stairs.

I did as I was told and went down the stairs to find myself in a basement space that was much larger than the room above.

Shelves were neatly lined up along the walls, filled with bundles of parchment and potions.

Just in front of me was a pedestal on which a beautiful obsidian stone the size of my fist was carefully placed.

I was strangely curious about the stone, and Serina and I reached for it, but .......

「!!!!」

「Ah!」

We both withdrew our hands and looked at the blood flowing from our fingers.

「Are you guys nuts? Look, you're dripping blood. Hurry up and stop the bleeding!」

Kaede said, but it didn't look that dangerous. ...... This stone seems to be very sharp.

「Alec.」

「No, I'm good. I've already recovered.」

Serina pulled out a bandage and tried to wrap it around my thumb, but with my full range of natural healing skills, the bleeding had already stopped and the wound was thinning.

「How convenient!」

「Oops, you must have touched that stone. I'm sorry about that.」

A Magician in his thirties wearing a gray robe emerged from the back.

「What is this?」

「It's called a killing stone. It was dug up from a certain dungeon, but as you can see, if you touch it, you will get hurt.」

「Oh, this is for research too?」

「Of course it is. I'm interested in boosting and enchanting magic. I'm collecting all kinds of magic tools, including cursed items.」

Professor Slayley smiled and said that, These collectors really do collect everything, don't they?

If I make a mistake, I'll be in big trouble.

「Curse items ...... Hey, Alec.」

「Yeah, well, that can wait.」

I think I can get a clue about the curse of the Mad King, but Erwin come first.

「So what do you want from me? I'm sorry. I can't give you credits that easily.」

「No, I just have a question, and I didn't come here to complain about my grade.」

Serina smiled amiably.

「I see. So, what do you want to ask me?」

「Right, I wanted to ask you about Erwin, who graduated from here last month.」

「Oh, him. He was really brilliant. He read books at an astonishing speed and possessed the skill of [Speed Reading].」

Professor Slayley nodded and answered.

「I see... that's why he graduated in less than half a year.」

「Of course, he also had an unparalleled talent for magic. I heard he was an otherworldly hero, but sometimes you get great ones like that.」

「I see. What kind of research did he do here?」

「Various things. He's been interested in all kinds of magic, you know. But he was particularly keen on lightning magic and summoning magic. I was amazed when he recreated the legendary spell Terra Thunderstorm. The lightning swirled and it was a veritable thunderstorm!」

「Summoning Magic: ...... By the way, what color are Erwin's robes?」

I ask.

「He preferred white, didn't he?」

「Didn't he wear black?」

Serina confirms.

「No, he never wore black.」

「I see. ......」

Well, it was a female Magician who called that big bird. It's a different person, after all.

We still need to find out if she called out the black sea anemone, but with something as dangerous as that, it would have caused a huge commotion, so maybe she didn't call it out in a public place.

「Speed-reading, huh? Damn, there are not that skill on my candidate skills......what's going on.......Oh, well. As long as I graduate.」

Kaede was frustrated, but she seemed to have quickly lowered her target.

She's pretty shrewd when it comes to not trying.

「Is there anything else you want to ask?」

「Yes, there is one. There are a strong curse that even the temple can't lift, and I'd like to know how to lift it.」

I'm on to another subject. The curse of the Mad King.

「Houe, if the temple can't lift the curse, that's quite something. Can you show me?」

「No, I don't have it on me right now. There's a guy in armor who's wearing it. I'll bring him to you now.」

「Right, well, I'll go get the Mad King.」

Serina went to call him.

「What exactly is the nature of the curse?」

「First, you can't take it off.」

「That's the basics.」

「Then, It make you can't speak. It also makes you violent.」

「Isn't that the worst armor to wear?」

Kaede frowned, but I'm sure the person wearing it would agree.

「Ah, I'm sure there's a similar one in the back ......ouch!」

The professor scratched at the box in the back, but it looks like something bit him on the hand.

「Are you okay?」

「Yeah, I'm used to it. I'll just have to drink a high potion and I'll be fine. Oops, my fingers got stuck in a weird way. ...... Oh well, that's fine.」

Are you sure?

「There it is! This is it, this is it. The Gauntlet of the Curse.」

The professor took out a brown, rusty gauntlet and brought it to me.

「You, uh, what's your name?」

「Alec.」

「Well, Alec, why don't you give it a try?」

「Hmm.」

I have a bad feeling about this, but he's a professor, you know. I'm sure there's some sort of safety measure or a way to remove it.

「Let's see.」

It was for left hand use, so I put it on my left hand.

「Uwahh, you got it on! How can you do that? I would never do that if I were you...」

Kaede is afraid of that little hand, though, with the way she looks at anything foul.

「Nothing in particular is going to happen, right?」

「It's the kind of hand that loses a little HP every time you walk around. So you'll have to walk around a bit to notice it.」

The professor explained the effects.

「I see.」

I walked around the area to try it out, but nothing special happened.

「I can't feel it, and I'm not losing any HP.」

「It can't be. Give me that.」

The professor told me to take it off, but I couldn't.

「Mumurhh?」

「Oh, I knew the curse itself was there.」

「Then, that's enough, just take it off.」

「Oh, go to the temple. I can't break the curse, you know.」

「Huh? Oi, oi...」

「But I'm looking forward to the rampant granting effect.」

This professor who blows off my irritation is also very Letty-like.

「Hmph!」

I put my hand on the small hand and pull with all my might.

It's not going to come off.

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「Damn, that's a pain in the ass.」

I'm going to have to go to the temple from here and pay for it.

For something like this ......

「Jajaja jajaja!」

First, hit my left arm with ice javelin and freeze it.

「Oh, what a fast chant!」

「But it's not enough to just freeze it.」

Kaede says, and she's right. From here――

「Yootto!」

I slash my left arm with my sword as hard as I can.

*Crack, drip fall, roll roll*.

「Uuwaaah. ......」

「Hou~」

After that, I'll wait for it to regenerate using [Regrowth].

I'm not going to watch it while it's regrown, so I'm going to hide it with the robe I'm wearing.

「O-Oy, are you okay?」

Kaede is worried about me, but I can afford this level. It's frozen, so there's no bleeding and not much pain. No, the pain is probably due to [Pain Blocking Lv5].

◇　◆　◇　◆　◇

「Alec, do you need a high potion?」

「Well, I'll take it.」

It's your fault.

I gulped down the blue herb-smelling potion.

I checked my HP and it's already recovered. It's full.

「That's good.」

I pulled my left arm out of my robe. My new left arm is a bit pale and slippery, but I can still move my fingers. There is no hindrance.

「OOHH, that's an interesting trick. What the hell, you scared me.」

Kaede grinned as she picked up a small hand that had fallen to the floor and tried to peek inside, so I silently held her hand. It was kindness. Consideration.

「Why are you interrupting me?」

「No, it's better not to peek. If you have a tolerance for guro, you can do whatever you want.」

「Oh, I'm fine if it's a little bit of........Uwoohhh!?」

Kaede, who was deflected, seemed to be tolerant, but she was quite surprised.

「That's why I told you.」

「You ...... should go to the temple instead of doing that! That's disgusting.」

Kaede threw small hand and successfully struck it into the box. Well, you won't have to give me that little hand again.

「Alec-kun, you can try this next.」

I don't know where the professor got it from, but this time he's holding a armor.

And with a joyful smile.

「No, I refuese! Tea, bring out the tea.」

「Yeah, that's a good idea.」

The professor seemed to be ready to serve the tea and retreated to the back.

「You're awesome. You're the one who's supposed to serve tea to the professor.」

「I've been used as a guinea pig. I have a right to be angry about that.」

「Well, I'm sorry. I thought it would be okay to take it off once you got to the temple, but it still hurt, didn't it?」

The professor asks from the back.

It's not so bad because of the [Pain Blocking], but if I say that, he'll make me do something even worse, so I'll just nod my head in affirmation.

「That's right. That was a hell of a lot of pain.」

「My goodness」

「You looked cool for that.」

「Shut up.」

「Well, have a cup of tea――Damn it, be quiet!」

「Gyaaa! Stooop it!」

On the other side of the basement, there was some other voice and the professor was struggling with something. From here, you can't see the back because of the shelves. ......