40 – Family Curse (2)

When I was almost at the dormitory, I met someone.

“Elaine?”

“Ah, Count! Are you on your way now?”

Everywhere I stopped by, Elaine was walking from the other side.

Her bangs are wet, probably from exercising.

“Where do you go to exercise?”

“Yes?”

“Your hair is very wet.”

“ah… Yeah! lol. It’s a way to go out for a while.”

Elaine smiled and answered while tidying up her bangs.

By the way, I thought Elaine didn’t have the stamina to exercise, but she seems to be working hard in her own way.

I seem to see a lot of things I haven’t seen in the game while going to the academy.

“Where is the Count going? It’s so amazing to meet you like this!”

“Oh, I went to the library because I had a book to look for. Do you exercise like this every day?”

“ah… Go, sometimes! Only when I can’t sleep.”

“Right. I just wanted to ask you something, but do you have a minute?”

“Yes? Uh, sleep, if only for a moment… .”

Originally, I was going to ask tomorrow, but it would be better to ask while we met.

I took Elaine with an expectant look on to a nearby bench.

Looking around the extension, I don’t think it should be dragged too long.

I asked Elaine, who was sitting on the bench and putting her hands together.

“Elain. That, the magic I showed you last time.”

“Magic… You mean?”

“yes. Your own golden magic.”

One of the conditions for a saintess is that divine power is mixed with mana and turned into golden mana.

This is thicker than normal mana and consumes fewer resources to manifest magic, so you can draw maximum magic with less mana.

“When did that mana start coming out?”

If it was an acquired manifestation, she would have had contact with the church at least once in her life.

Otherwise, there would be no way those guys would come to the entrance ceremony.

There must have been a point of contact on the side of the church, so they must have continued to pursue the saintess.

Elaine, who looked worried for a while, sat down next to me and said.

“Count. Hey, maybe that question… .”

“Well?”

“Is that question important to the Count… ?”

Elaine’s expression changed.

Unlike usual, when she looked fierce, I could feel determination in Elaine’s eyes as she looked at me with a rather serious expression.

‘Was this character originally?’

I was quite taken aback by seeing her not like Elaine.

Does that mean that this question is sensitive to her?

After clearing my throat once, I answered.

“Yes. It might be important to you, but there’s something I need to know too.”

“… Is that enough that I need to hear it right now?”

“It’s not like that, but the sooner the better. It’s because we met like this.”

“… .”

Her bright eyes seemed to have lost their light for a moment.

As if recalling that time, Elaine gazed up at the sky and was silent for a while.

Looking at this reaction, I wonder if it has anything to do with the church.

Elaine’s mouth, which had been silently looking at the night sky, opened slowly.

“… If it’s the Count.”

*

Elaine’s parents, who suffered from long-term illnesses, passed away suddenly when she was 12 years old.

A 12-year-old child left alone.

Before her self-identity was firmly established, it was close to impossible for a young girl to survive alone.

They picked up the remaining food and ate it, and they guarded the corpses of their parents every day.

The warm rice that my birth mother always cooked for me was no longer there.

Mom and Dad are lying in the cold in a dark room where there is no light.

The figure of Elaine, who was standing alone beside him, was haggard and dangerous.

In the room where the dust was piled up, I watched the window with dead eyes every day, just repeating the passing of the day.

Fortunately, Elaine was quickly taken away by the orphanage director, who had a relationship with her parents, but that did not fill the gap in her heart.

Sleeping in a warm room, eating warm food, and hanging out with kids my age was fun, but not as much as before when my parents were still alive.

It must have been around then that Elaine, who never lost her smile, forgot how to smile.

A change came to Elaine, who lived like that day by day.

“golden yellow… ?”

The adventurer who came every year to check the health of the orphanage children said while watching Elaine’s mana.

As usual, when Elaine, who had a knack for handling mana, tried to draw out mana and show it off to her friends, golden mana began to gather around her.

Behind the children who say they are pretty and like them, the adventurer and the orphanage director watch over her with serious expressions.

Seeing this, Elaine could feel it instinctively.

that something is wrong with your body.

“Elain. say hello These are the people who will adopt you as of today.”

A few days after that incident, there were people in monastic uniforms in the reception room where the orphanage director took them.

They said they were none other than those who wanted to adopt Elaine, who had become an orphan.

Elaine hoped to remain in the orphanage, but the director of the orphanage refused to allow her to stay, saying that it was an unavoidable choice due to the reality of the orphanage suffering from financial difficulties due to increasing food expenses and reduced subsidies.

It would have been the first time I had ever seen the head of an orphanage kneeling in an orphanage.

“Don’t worry. Elaine. If you do as we are told here, we will take responsibility for your friends and support them.”

A handsome old man with a thick beard made a promise to Elaine.

If she just listened to her words, her friends in the orphanage would not starve and be kicked out.

Elaine at a young age quietly nodded her head because she couldn’t lose them, who became another family.

*

“wait for a sec. A habit?”

I urgently blocked Elaine’s words.

It’s because there is only one group in my memory of people wearing monastic clothes.

“platform… This is the place called.”

I knew it.

As I thought, the contact between Elaine and the Church existed since she was a child.

Read at noblemtl.com

Judging from Elaine’s words, the orphanage director and adventurers who saw her golden mana must have handed her over to the church.

If you were an adventurer, you would have been able to find out about golden mana right away.

I should have expected that there would be a connection from the entrance ceremony in the first place. this is my negligence

“Are you okay?”

I asked Elaine, whose face suddenly darkened.

Perhaps because of the darkened surroundings, her complexion looked worse than usual.

To my question, Elaine shook her head and answered.

“Gwa, it’s okay! I must have been exercising a lot… lol.”

“Excessive exercise is actually not good. Do everything in moderation.”

“… Yes.”

As soon as the church was mentioned, they reacted like this.

It must have reminded me of bad memories.

The girl Elaine, both in the game and what I’ve seen so far, is a very bright character.

A person who never loses her smile and is positive in everything, truly worthy of a saint.

That kind of Elaine reacted to this extent.

‘At least it’s clear that it’s not a normal denomination.’

Letting go of Elaine, who was greatly discouraged, I brought up the main topic.

“Anyway, about that golden mana of yours, have you ever cured a disease with it?”

“party… You mean?”

“yes. In general, I am not a wound, but a disease that I have inside the body. For example, the curse… Is it the same thing?”

At the word curse, Elaine’s eyes widened.

“If it’s a curse… .”

“Do you know the curse?”

“In the past, people who came to the church from time to time were like that. Please fix the curse. But why… ?”

“There is something urgent to find out.”

“Oh no!”

“Well?”

“Count… You can’t die. I-I somehow… ”

Suddenly, Elaine grabbed my sleeve. I thought it was natural, but it seems it wasn’t.

Elaine’s hand holding me began to glow golden.

This… Is it Hill?

The way he looked up with his mouth shut was pretty cute.

I’m sorry to her, but Hilo couldn’t end the contract between Ishtar and the Altean family.

If that was the case, I would have been cut off from the squadron immediately.

To that extent, the contract of blood was like a solid chain.

I didn’t really deny what Elaine said, sincerely trying to heal me.

“It cannot be cured with simple treatment. And it’s nothing serious right now.”

“Yeah, but!”

“… Well, there are many places to find out even if it’s not you. If you don’t feel like it, I’ll just go back.”

“No!”

As I was about to get up, Elaine pulled me toward her. As a result, his posture became unsteady.

He looked down, then looked at me again, then went back to Elaine. I looked down at her and shrugged.

“I will tell you. Please answer me one thing.”

“what?”

“… Bae, what does the Count think of me?”

It’s a random word.

What do you think?

What kind of question does the existence of Elaine pose to me? When you ask yourself the question, the answer is simple.

“What do you mean… .”

An important force that will be indispensable in the upcoming confrontation with the demons?

Or a friend? a saint?

“That… .”

No words came out.

“Count… ?”

It was because their eyes met Elaine’s uneasy eyes.

The moment I saw this, I felt as if something had jammed in my throat saying I shouldn’t have said that.

Elaine, sometimes ignorant, sometimes fierce and naive, and even kind-hearted like a saint.

what do i think of her?

The words that came out after that came out without me knowing.

“… Brother.”

“Yes?”

“A child like a younger brother… I think.”

I said and turned my head away in embarrassment.

Being like a little brother to a 17-year-old kid. There’s something else I can’t say.

Although the age itself is close to that of the younger brother, the tone was somewhat like that.

“… Brother.”

“Don’t think too deeply. I just said it because you were short and childish.”

I belatedly tried to make an excuse, but Elaine didn’t seem to hear it.

A small smile was drawn on Elaine’s lips as she repeatedly muttered the word younger brother.

“Th-then am I the count’s family?”

“I said he was like a younger brother. never said it was family. In the first place, he’s not even his real brother-“

“But the Count doesn’t have a younger brother, right? Then my family is right!”

“What… .”

Where did the melancholy look from earlier go? Elaine’s face turned bright.

There is really no such thing as an optimistic personality.

Anyway, Elaine is my younger sister… .

I think it has more of a teasing taste than Risha.

Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I haven’t contacted Risha. I can’t help it because I always get letters from Nadia.

‘This isn’t it.’

I shook my head to blow away my thoughts, and I grabbed Elaine, who was bouncing around, and sat me down.

“Now go ahead and speak. I told you too.”

“ah. uh, it was… .”

Elaine took a deep breath and continued.

“But not today, no. I want to tell you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? Although it is a holiday.”

“Do you have any appointments… ?”

“No way.”

“Then where are you going with me?”

“Where?”

Elaine took my hand and said.

“platform… If you are a church, you will know about the curse.”

“Are you okay? You just seemed to hate it.”

“It’s okay now.”

“… ?”

Unlike usual, Elaine, who had a beautiful smile instead of a fierce look, was the same as the saintess seen in the game.

yes. It was a scene that could have appeared in CG.

“The Count will protect you anyway, right?”