Chapter 140: He’s not that crazy

In the silence of the room, the ticking of the clock in the corner could be heard and the girl’s golden eyes glowed brightly in the darkness.

“Family…”

The girl was reflecting on the events of the day.

“You had a family…?”

She had found out the hidden secret of the man she had her heart set on.

A past that everyone wants to hide.

Everyone has secrets, but…

…but to her, it seemed even stranger.

Zetto told her that he had been searching for his sisters, who had been separated.

This hadn’t happened in the last installment.

Why didn’t this happen in the last episode?

The more I thought about it, the tighter the knot got.

More importantly.

“Why do I know this now?”

Something important about Zetto.

That he had a family that mattered to him.

Why did I find out now?

It was pathetic.

The girl, Aizel, closed her eyes.

Immediately, blackness washed over her vision, but she could see it clearly.

The end of Zetto, when he was broken to pieces.

Aizel thought how the Zetto of the last installment had helped her, and now he would never be reunited with his sisters.

Aizel’s face twisted as she closed her eyes.

It was a horrible thing to imagine, but it wasn’t imaginary, it was something that had already happened to her.

Even if they weren’t connected by blood, they were ‘family’ anyway.

Though she didn’t really know them that well, since she didn’t remember them as family… She did know that they were precious to ordinary people, something that some would give up their lives for.

In the last installment, Zetto was not reunited with her sisters.

The last time, Zetto had died trying to save her own life.

This fact tightened her heart until it threatened to burst.

Of course, Aizel had never asked for his help; her only crime was that she had been so close to him.

Aizel leans back and buries her face in the desk that was cold and hard.

So much had already changed.

For some time now, an ominous aura, possibly a curse, has been imprinted on Zetto’s body, and it is on this precarious path that he has succeeded in reuniting with his siblings and bringing them to the Academy.

‘I thought my sisters would be safe here at Innocence Academy.’

Zetto explained as he introduced his sisters.

The academy is safe.

For some reason, that obvious statement bothered me.

I had an ominous feeling.

Aizel cleared her head and pushed herself to her feet.

Delusion is a poison.

Rising from her chair with a flick of her platinum hair, she slowly reviewed what she could do now.

Zetto didn’t deserve to die, not anymore.

He was the last thing Aizel wanted to lose, but the same could be said for his sisters.

There is one thing that Aizel has given up this time, and that is his cute little sister, Rei, being carried on Zetto’s back.

Her insistence that she would be the one to break the curse on Zetto’s heart broke.

She realized that she could no longer allow Zetto’s life to be endangered for her own petty greed.

She could no longer put her own personal greed ahead of his.

This was her penance for failing to protect him.

Grunt.

Just then, a black newcomer stepped through the wide-open window into Aizel’s room without a sound.

“You came quickly.”

Aizel greeted her nonchalantly.

The woman in the black robe slowly approaches Aizel and lowers her robe.

The woman was Blanc, the head of the southern branch of the Black Hand, the continent’s premier intelligence guild.

“You suddenly want to know the location of the saint… Aizel, what the hell are you trying to do?”

Blanc questioned, but Aizel replied nonchalantly.

“So the location.”

“Of course I know where she is, but…If you’re going to cause trouble, why don’t you tell me why you want the information first? You know I wouldn’t give you this information if it wasn’t for you in the first place.”

“I have a personal favor to ask of her.”

“More specifically.”

Blanc interrupts Eisel’s vague answer.

“…I’m going to ask her to do something for me.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Whose curse is it? I know it’s not you.”

“……”

Aizel’s mouth drops open at Blanc’s question.

“No way…”

Blanc’s sharp senses detected something out of the ordinary in Aizel’s serious face.

“…No?”

“…”

Blanc asks, and Aizel averts her gaze.

“No, what happened to him…?”

That’s right. Blanc was referring to Zetto.

He was the only one she cared enough about to entrust the saint with his care.

“I don’t know about that.”

“Are you sure it’s a curse?”

Blanc asked, and Aizel nodded weakly.

“There’s an ominous energy emanating from his heart… I can’t help but think it’s a curse.”

Aizel’s eyes narrow as she continues.

“…Unless he was forced to open his chest and then insert a cursed object. I know Zetto to be a bit eccentric, but… he’s not a madman who would do something so outrageous, and I don’t see any reason why he would have to go through the ‘major surgery’ of opening his chest in the first place, let alone have something with a bad aura stuck in his heart.”

Blanc nodded faintly in agreement since Aizel had a point.

It wasn’t as if Aizel wasn’t skilled enough to detect ominous energy.

“…What is the extent of the curse?”

“According to my research, life…… Life-threatening… It seems to be a demonic curse.”

Aizel replied with difficulty.

“Demons…?”

“I don’t know why or what caused it. But that’s the only curse I’ve ever seen carved into a heart.”

Crossing her arms, Blanc sighs as she tries to organize the situation in her head.

“Hah… Well, I guess we’ll just have to find the saint.”

“So where is the saint?”

“Well, that’s good news. I thought she was in the Holy Land, but she’s surprisingly in a city close to here. She must be working. I’m sure she’ll have time for you. Do you have the money?”

“…I have plenty of money.”

“Well, I don’t know if you’ve ever been short of money…”

For Aizel, money was not an issue. As a regressor, she had an infinite number of ways to make money.

She had even taken down criminal organizations with so-called “black money” because she was determined to do whatever it took this time around.

There was plenty of money.

The only question was how the saint with whom Zetto was already familiar would receive it, and will the saint cure Zetto?

***

True to Hubert’s word, the bureaucratic process was quick.

More beds and furniture were added, and it looked like Rei and Geppeti could now walk in and out of the front door of the dormitory.

Well, the other cadets in the boys’ dormitory gave Rei a few odd glances as she was carried on my back, but they got over it.

With Rei fast asleep in her bunk and Geppeti and I having finished a quick meal she asked if she could check on me for a while, so I sat on the bed and let her scrutinize me.

Apparently, she was worried about the fact that I had bled during the meal, as Sheddie was also ‘eating’.

“…For some reason, I’m detecting an impurity in Lord Zetto’s heart that contains an enormous amount of energy, but what is the purpose of this? If you need it removed, I can perform the surgery myself.”

Geppeti, who had been staring at my chest patch, said, “An impurity.”

I think she means ‘tears of the dead.’

“That’s not necessary. It’s a… It’s a kind of item that allows you to resurrect…”

“…Resurrection? Is that the ‘resurrection’ I know?”

In response to Geppeti’s question, I explained how I had obtained the Tear of the Dead, what it was, and how it had been implanted in my body.

As she listened, Sierra shook her head in disbelief at how crazy it all seemed in retrospect.

“…So that’s what happened. From the sounds of it, it was quite a drastic operation, but it sounds like you were able to pull through without losing your life.”

“Is that so…?”

“I don’t know the extent of the dragon’s medical technology, so I can’t say whether it was safe or not, but a normal human would be reluctant to undergo such an operation.”

“But it’s a resurrection.”

“Yes, the benefits are undeniable, and I think that’s a good thing, since it will allow Lord Zetto to live longer, which means more opportunities for him to sow his seeds.”

A chance to sow seeds.

Geppeti still had a way with words.

But this seemed to be part of her raison d’être, her purpose so I let it go.

She continued to run her hands over my flesh and then spoke.

“It looks like you’re just a little weakened, but nothing else is wrong.”

“The blood is from Sheddie here.”

I pointed to Sheddie above my head.

“You said it was a spirit, but it doesn’t look good gnawing away at Lord Zetto life force…”

“Ke, Ke-ling…”

Sheddie above me felt Geppeti’s cold gaze, and she shrank back from her meal.

“I can’t help it, she’s useful in so many ways.”

“I see.”

While Geppeti and I were having this conversation, Rei, who was sleeping on the other side of the room, grumbled.

“Ugh…”

Rei suddenly sits up.

“Are you awake, hero?”

Geppeti asks Rei, who rubs her eyes in disbelief.

It’s still early, and I wonder if Geppeti and I were talking too loudly.

A pouty-faced Rei opens her mouth.

“…Nothing.”

“What?”

“…”

I tried to question her, but she pouted and didn’t answer.

Rei’s head swivels, scanning the room, and her gaze lands on Sheddie, who has been eating out of my hair.

She hops down from the bed and immediately rushes over to me.

“…”

I stand still, wondering what she’s going to do, but Rei jumps up on the bed I’m sitting on and scoops up Sheddie from my head.

“…I’m going to borrow her for a while.”

I nod, stunned by her behavior.

Rei returns to her own bed and lies down once more. Curled up on the bed, she holds Sheddie tightly.

When Geppeti stares at her wordlessly, a blushing Rei blurts out unnecessarily loud.

“This, this has been going on since I was Les, Leon…!”

…It was an absurdity that no one would believe.

***

With Blanc’s help, I managed to meet St. Bernice in time.

Even though I hadn’t formally requested a meeting, Bernice remembered me from the public classes and graciously agreed to meet with me.

Bernice said she didn’t have much time, she had work to do and could only spare a few minutes so I wasted no time in getting straight to the point.

I asked Bernice to cure Zetto.

I didn’t feel good about it, not knowing what her relationship with Zetto was, but this was no time for jealousy.

As expected, Bernice knew there was a curse on Zetto.

“Cadet Zetto’s curse… I mean…”

Bernice trailed off, her expression darkening.

“I don’t care how much it costs, if you can erase his curse before it’s too late, that’s all I need.”

My plea was desperate but things weren’t looking good.

Bernice’s knowledge of Zetto’s curse and her refusal to remove it meant two things.

The first is that Bernice was not close enough to Zetto to remove the curse for nothing in return, or that she was not a charitable person.

I don’t know Bernice very well, so this was a possibility. In this case, there was nothing that couldn’t be done with enough money.

But the second option was the worst.

“…”

Bernice hesitates to answer.

Her lips refused to open.

“You can’t…?”

“…”

Bernice closes her eyes tightly.

Finally, her mouth opens.

“…I can’t cure Cadet Zetto.”

“…Why?”

The half-word slips out.

I felt a tremor in my eyes and in an instant, my head went white.

Bernice continued, unperturbed by my rudeness.

“I can’t tell you why, except to say that I can’t have anything to do with Cadet Zetto’s curse… If that’s all you have to say, please excuse me, I’m busy with the Knights.”

“…”

I wanted to slam the desk in frustration, but I held it together and managed to leave the room.

It was the second time.

For some reason, St. Bernice could not be involved in the curse.

As far as Bernice is concerned, there is only one being who could have given her such a command.

Lord Henerys, divine intervention.

It’s the same old “fate” after all.

Irritation wells up in me but I take a deep breath as I leave the room, contemplating.

The bastion of ‘saintliness’ has been broken, and I’m back to square one.

At this point…there was only one option left.