It was late evening. The golden shine of dusk seeped through the semi-opened windows. Cain walked through the empty seats to the nearest reception desk with the girls in tow. “Have you seen Dragon’s fang?”
Slowly lifting her head. That white hair was too distinct to be missed “Didn’t you have an escort quest, did you finish it, or did it fail?”
Cain rolled his eyes, what he heard wasn’t the answer he wanted. Gently putting his hand on the desk “It’s finished, Dolrig will submit the report tomorrow. Answer my question now!” His voice slowly got louder with each word.
Tilting her head back slightly, a drop of sweat ran down her spine. “They finished a quest this noon, they should be resting back home now.” Gently putting her hands together with a faked smile, “Please check on them there.”
Cain finally cracked a smile at her, “Thanks.” His palm had left a slight burn mark on the wooden desk. The receptionist silently watched him leave.
“HA!” She breathed in relief that he left, dropping her sweaty head on the desk with a loud bang. “What happened to him?” She stared at the burn mark with quivering eyes.
…
As soon as they approached the Dragon’s fang house they were called out, “Can you stop that oozing? It’s uncomfortable to be near you.” The mage looking from the window smiled at them.
“Sorry about it,” Cain quickly suppressed his Mana, “How about this?” He spread his arms looking back at her.
“I’m more interested in how come you have all that Mana in the first place, come right in.” The door magically opened. Cain and the girls walked in without saying another word.
As soon as they were in, Cain lay on the first couch he could find. His body almost gave up beforehand.
“What happened to you, have some courage will you?” Takeshi was the first to come to greet them, he was still wet from a bath as his hair glittered in the firelight.
“Can you call Miko? I seem to have taken a bad hit.” Cain spoke out of breath, his Mana pulsing out of his body like a ticking bomb.
“He has been cursed by a succubus, as his body weakened he started to find it hard to contain his Mana!” Sofia explained, sitting by Cain’s side and lifting his head to her lap.
Alice took off his shoes and rested his legs a bit high. Cain seemed to calm a bit as his Mana subdued.
“Just a minute, she should be already on her way,” Takeshi said as he felt Cain’s head, It was burning hot. “I will bring some cold water.” Takeshi hurried to the cellar.
…
The door suddenly opened and Miko rushed in in her casual clothes, her hair was wet just like Takeshi’s so Cain assumed they were taking a bath.
“Please take his shirt off,” Miko said as she reached to grab one of her talismans.
Selena and Sofia worked to gather to pull Cain’s shirt up, Miko reached to his chest with her cold hands. She felt as if she had put her hands on a boiling pot, quickly pulling them out.
“Such a pressure!” She looked blankly at her hands. “Are you girls alright?”
“I’m his summoned devil and she just doesn’t seem to get burned,” Alice said as she looked at Sofia, “I can’t touch him or I will get slight burns-nya!” Selena who standing silently frowned.
“Let me have a look first, this seems to be my field.” Yamauba just rushed in with her long staff and some papers in hand.
“Be careful, his Mana is going out of control!” Miko warned her.
Yamauba just smiled as she put her hand on Cain’s chest, “Oh my…” She smiled, “It’s really that big!” Her eye widened as she put her second hand on his forehead.
~Say the curse user is the succubus~ Cain silently used [Message] to speak as he noticed her expression turning cold.
Yamauba stared at him with one eyebrow lifted, gently pinching his chest. “The succubus’s curse seems to have weakened his body to a point where he can’t contain his Mana, the burning feeling Miko got wasn’t from heat but his Mana going wild!”
“What…Tier are you?” Cain asked about something he already knew.
“Sixth-tier, I doubt I will be able to lift the curse with just that!” Miko replied as she approached Cain, “Let me try anyway.”
Miko put both her hands a few inches about Cain’s chest, “Don’t move.” She warned him as her eyes emitted a bright golden light. A large multi-colored magic circle appeared on top of her head with a ringing noise [Higher Restoration]
The golden light gathered under her hands and then seemed down into his chest, her expression changed quickly to a frown as she started sweating.
Bam! She was pushed backward by the spell failing, Takeshi who had just come back caught her before she could smack into the wall.
~Don’t you dare speak~ Cain warned her as well when she glared at Alice.
“H-how did that curse even get in there? Taking it off felt like trying to light a torch underwater.” Miko slowly stood up with Takeshi’s help, holding her head in pain.
“That’s what I like to know!” Cain giggled. He already knew why. Since Alice is technically his summon she was able to get past his Mana and cast the curse. But now that she did it she didn’t have the skill to take it off. Like a kid spraying a wall with pain just to find later that they can’t clean it.
Alice would mostly need a fifth-tier spell to clear while other healers would at least need seventh-tier magic to lift the curse.
“I will teach you the seventh-tier spell [Greater Cleansing] so you can lift the curse,” Cain stated as if it was normal.
Miko sat back on the ground holding her head while Yamauba lay on one of the couches, both were deep in thought.
“How, aren’t seventh-tier books expensive?” Takeshi broke the silence with a quiet question, “And how could you get that?”
“Seventh-tier books go for at least 10000 gold pieces, it’s one of our long-term goals to get one for both Yamauba and Miko.” Daraku entered through the window as if it was a door. “Are you saying that, you will give us that much?” He quickly brought a chair and sat down in front of Cain.
Looking at him in the eyes, Cain slightly lifted his hand and mumbled some incomprehensible words. Miko’s eyes widened as she heard him, jolting back up.
“Those…” She looked at him with her eyes almost popping out, “Divine words?” She couldn’t stop her hands from shaking.
“Follow us back home, I will teach it to you there!” Cain hardly managed to stand up by leaning on Sofia’s shoulder. Alice silently helped him put his clothes on.
Yamauba looked at him with her lips quivering, words unable to escape her throat. Daraku noticed her and decided to be the one to say it.
“And how do you know such a high-tier spell?” Daraku cut his way with a smug smile.
“I’m unchained…”
“That won’t do as an explanation, be it a prophecy or not, it doesn’t explain the existence of a knowledge where it shouldn’t be!” Daraku interrupted him.
Cain didn’t have enough strength to deal with him, he wanted to lay down as his body is hurting like a thousand needles are piercing his organs.
“T-then… you have to pay the 10000 gold…cough… pieces for the spell,” Cain replied in a dead, shaking voice.
“Now that I thought about it, we can talk later after we heal you up!” Daraku quickly backed up, whether Cain learned the spell from god or the devil lord himself didn’t matter. As long as they are getting a free spell he was happy to ignore reason, it’s Cain’s problem after all.
…
They quickly rushed back home. Sebas opened the door for them with a happy face before spotting Cain’s sweaty yellow face.
“What happened?” He asked as he took quick steps to approach Cain, his graceful walk where nowhere to be seen as he just stumbled forward like a scared duck.
“Long story short, He got cursed and is very sick,” Alice spoke as she was supporting Cain’s shoulder alongside Sofia.
Sebas’s face stiffened like a warrior on a battlefield, the veins on his neck popped out as he screamed like an angry dad calling his children.
“Everyone to the Main Gate!” His voice even surprised Alice who had heard her father’s booming voice as he was screaming at the guards.
Every single maid in the house stopped what they were doing and rushed to the call, one of them even was missing her maid uniform and only wearing what looked like tight pants and a shirt.
“The master is sick, start the emergency protocol immediately!” Sebas shouted again and the maids rushed into action without delay.
One of the maids (Diana Booth, the maid who fell on her face and showed them her underwear before) Tried to grab Cain from Alice just to scream in pain, “It’s hot!” Yet she didn’t let go and instead tightened her grip.
Another maid helped her (Elsie Kinger, the angry maid who shouted at the on the first day) “For f…” She quickly closed her mouth before she get herself into trouble and focused on what she needed to do. The girls also helped them carry Cain up to his room.
The other maids quickly spread out to prepare water and clothes, some went to brew herbs while others rushed to prepare Cain’s bed before they could get there.
Sebas was left alone with the Dragon’s fang members at the door, “Care for a drink?” He said in his usual calm voice.
“No, just let’s take care of Cain’s first!” Takeshi waved his hand refusing the drink and the other members nodded as they started at the battalion of maids in action.