“You’re married?!” Metts hollered in astonishment.
“Quiet please.” Thio responded with a hint of crossness.
“Sorry Master.” Apologized Metts before continuing more calmly. “So you’re married?”
“Yes.”
“Since when?”
“Four years ago.”
Metts looked at his Master stupidly. In two weeks since meeting him there’d been absolutely no indication that Thio was interested in sex, much less the opposite sex. Considering his Master’s age and wealth, Metts had wondered about Thio’s (supposed) singleness. Being the unrefined and rude person he was, Metts had concluded that his Master was either a Monk or not actually human.
Struggling to digest this astonishing development of humanity in his Master, Metts finally managed to ask something sensible.
“What happened to her?”
“She’s cursed.”
Metts unconsciously took several steps away from her, and by proxy Thio.
“She’s not contagious.” He thought for a moment. “Probably.”
“What do you mean probably?” Metts giving up on being professional.
“Well, there’s at least three curses I’ve never heard of before, so I’m not sure what they do.”
“She’s under three curses?!”
“Hm? No, she’s currently under 12 curses.”
“T—twelve curses?” Metts sputtered out. “How’s she even alive!”
“Even an uneducated kid knows that many curses is dangerous, huh?”
“You starting a fight with me, mister? Of course I know curses are bad. Just ‘cause I’m not schooled doesn’t make me stupid.” Metts responded testily, slipping back into his “street” accent.
Not the slightest bit upset by Metts outburst, Thio simply looked down at the woman in his arms and shook his head.
“Metts the fact that you’re aware of it makes you heaps smarter than my wife at this point.”
——
Thio carefully put Caroline on his bed. She groaned a little from having her limbed stretched out, but quieted down almost immediately. The bed was big and significantly more comfortable than her own. Even in her hazy tiredness, she noticed the difference.
Eyes still blurry from one of her curses, she couldn’t see where she was, other than knowing it wasn’t her house. She’d been sleeping heavily the last few hours and having some strange dreams about flying on a big silver bird.
Someone, Thio she assumed, was stroking her hair. Fortunately it was more pleasant than painful.
“Caroline? Caroline can you hear me?”
“Hm?” The person in question wasn’t sure she wanted wake up just yet.
“I’ve brought you to the Capital, to my house. I’ve got a connection in the Divison who’s good with curses. I’ll bring them over tomorrow. I’m sorry, I’d bring them now but it’s too late so just hold on until the morning…”
Slowly, stiffly and with aches running up every muscle, she reached out and patted him in a haphazard fashion. He sounded sad, and that made her feel bad.
“It’s ok. I’m feeling better. Just…” She yawned. “…tired.”
“Of course, of course. Sleep as much as you need. I just didn’t want you to wake up confused later. There’s a bell next to the bed. Ring it if you need anything.” When she didn’t respond, he repeated: “Caroline, did you hear me?”
“Mm? Bell, ring, gotcha.” And then she was out to the world once again.
——
“Master? Aren’t you sleeping with your wife?” Metts had offered to stay downstairs in case Thio needed any help dealing with the woman that night.
He was very surprised to see Thio in his night gown, shuffling to a guest bedroom.
“Er… Uh…” Master Thio had a curiously conflicted look on his face.
“Oh. Is it the curses? I wouldn’t want to sleep next to someone with 12 curses all night either! Sorry for asking a stupid question.” He gave a stretch. “Anyway, good night Master!”
This was, of course, not the reason at all. But since the real reason would sound ridiculous, Thio couldn’t argue.
He had thought of sleeping next to Caroline. It would make it easier to tell if something went wrong with her curses. But he couldn’t quite shake the feeling it would be highly improper. They weren’t really married and even if it was for a good cause, she might get angry later.
He’d compromised by setting a few motion and monitoring spells around the bed. If she so much as sneezed, he would know about it.
——
Waking up early the next morning, he changed into his Archmage uniform. Since he was on his vacation, it wasn’t required, even if he stopped by the Headquarters (which he planned to do). But people tended to obey without question when he wore the uniform. And since he wanted to be in and out, the uniform would work to his advantage.
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Cooking himself and Metts breakfast, he tried to take things slow. Sentra was not going to be at work yet. In fact, other than LDF members on standby, the place would be empty.
When the sun started peaking through the buildings about half way, Thio knew he could leave. Standing up and brushing himself off, he cast Transportation. He had no intention of walking today.
He reappeared in front of the Medical Section’s front office. The secretary, who’d just sat down with her tea, screamed in fright at his sudden appearance.
“Sir, please refrain from using Transportation in the building!” The frazzled secretary scolded.
“Is Holy Mage Sentra in?”
“May I ask the reason for your visit?” She was feeling testy at him for causing her to spill her tea over the morning paperwork.
“You may not.” He said with firm authority.
Her eyes narrowed slightly, but she nodded. “My apologies sir. I believe she arrived a short time ago.”
“My thanks.”
He only received a dark look in return.
——
Sentra was the same Holy Mage who’d been involved in the fire dragon killing. Even though she’d done a great job, she hadn’t been promoted. The Medical Section of the Air Defense was far more strict about rank increases. One of the Archmages in that Section was considered a Healing Genius and it still took her fifteen years to get the Archmage Rank. It seemed that when lives were on the line, even mages got serious.
Unlike LDF and the Research Institute, the Medical Section had a lot of hallways and small offices. People often got lost the first, second, and third time they tried to find anyone. Thio had come here frequently over the last four years so knew his way around.
He knocked on the door and got a “Come in”.
Sentra was sitting at her desk, a huge book open in front of her. She smiled when she saw Thio enter.
“Archmage Thio, I see you’re eager this morning.”
He waved his hand. “No reason to be formal.”
“Hm… then don’t come in your uniform.” She chuckled.
“Are you ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.” She closed the book and picked it up. “I’m bringing this as a precaution. If there are curses even you can’t recognize I figured I’d better be prepared.”
He nodded and then immediately cast Transportation (x2). The next moment they were in the living room.
“Metts, I’m home.” Thio announced, remembering how he angered the Secretary earlier.
There was a tap-tap of feet coming to the living room.
“Master, welcome home!” Metts greeted and then informed him, “Your wife hasn’t moved since you left.”
“Wife?” Sentra’s eyebrow rose and she glanced at Thio.
“If you would follow me.” Thio attempted to ignore the question.
“I thought you said this was a friend I was helping.”
“She’s that too.”
“Hm…” Sentra eyeballed him, suspicious and confused. Since when did he get married? And why was he being so skittish about it?
Sentra walked over to the woman, wrapped in layers of bandages like a mummy, and immediately cast Information - Medic 5. Unlike the regular spell, the Medic versions (1 - 10) focused on specific details of the human body. Medic 5 dealt with curses.
She gave a long whistle when she saw the list.
No wonder he’d called her. Twelve curses and one she’d never seen before.
An anxious voice asked, “Well?” behind her.
“I recognize most of them, except for one.” She opened up her book and started searching. “Of the ones I recognize, three I’ve never personally dealt with before. This will be a first for me.”
She read the lines carefully in the book, nodding occasionally. She dispelled the curses she was familiar with first and then, more slowly, worked on the ones she knew in theory. Soon she was left with only the last curse.
Pinching her chin, she frowned, concentrating. The Medic 5 spell let her look at curses individually, at their base components. Armed with that information, a clever healer could sometimes decipher an unknown curse.
Periodically, she’d flip to a page of her book, comparing. She’d rather not have to backward engineer an ancient curse if she could help. It would be far safer if she could find the curse in her book instead.
A half an hour later, she straightened her back.
“Ah ha! Found it!”
Thio had been patiently sitting on his bed, waiting. He leaned forward eagerly. “What kind of curse is it?”
“Timed Death.” Sentra’s forehead wrinkled.
Thio blinked. “Repeat that?”
“Timed Death.” She grimaced. “It’s as bad as it sounds. It’s a curse that has a timer that counts down until,” She snapped her fingers. “Instant death.”
“T-there’s a cure right?”
She patted her book. “Of course. I wouldn’t be so cavalier if I didn’t have one.”
Thio nodded, face awash with relief.
“Alright, I’m going to learn it now. It’s longish so be patient with me.”
It took Sentra another fifteen minutes before she was satisfied that she’d learned the spell correctly. Unlike the other cures, this one was a five step process. Apparently the curse was layered and if you didn’t strip each layer in the right order at the right time… instant death.
Sentra fervently hoped who ever thought this curse up died in the nastiest way possible. Well, he was likely dead, even if just by old age. Instant Death was an ancient curse, hundreds of years old. No one used it anymore, partly because it was complex to cast, but also because a delayed instant death had only very very specific uses. And most people didn’t need it, so eventually it’d fallen out of favor.
Hands shaking from concentrating so long, Sentra finished the fifth layer. She sat down on the floor and leaned back, catching her breath. She’d expended a lot of energy on that cure. Double curse to the creator!
“Phew, I hope I never have to cure someone of a Timed Death curse in the middle of a fight. That takes a heckuva lot of concentration.”
“Thank you Sentra.” Thio said, his face filled with sincerity. “I don’t think I can ever repay you.”
She waved her hand and chuckled. “You and everyone else in the LDF at this point.”
Sentra stood up, dusting herself off. “I have to tell you though. Your wife here is amazing. Do you know what the count down is for a Timed Death curse?”
He shook his head.
“Five minutes.”
He looked dumbfounded.
“Yep. It’s five minutes. I double checked. Her timer was at 2:34. It’s clearly been counting down, but at an abnormally slow speed. Quite a few of those curses had abnormalities. There was one that’s suppose to blind you by melting your eyeballs.” She pointed at Caroline’s perfectly normal closed eyes. “Clearly that wasn’t working correctly. Though I imagine it still hurt like hell.”
Sentra leaned forward, looking at the sleeping girl curiously.
“I saw her Information. Parts of it were sealed. Is that why the curses weren’t working correctly?”
Thio got out of the bed, careful not to disturb Caroline.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I’ve been looking into Sealed statuses for the past four years and haven’t come up with anything.”
“Hm… ‘What Alchemy can’t explain, the Divine may lay plain’.”
“What?”
“It’s a saying we have in the Medical Section. We’re walking that line between life and death all the time. We see all kinds of crazy things. Maybe the reason you can’t find anything is because you’re looking in the wrong place.”
Thio raised his eyebrows. “Wrong place?”
“Yep. Rather than looking to alchemy for a solution, maybe you should be looking to God.” At his skeptical expression, she added. “Just talk to a Priest. I’ve done it loads of times. I’ll even give you the address to the one I go to. Real smart guy, very well read.”
“I think I’ll do that. Thank you for the suggestion.”
“No problem!” Sentra winked and then turned back to Caroline. “Without the curses, your wife’s wounds should be completely healed by the end of the next day or so. She’s got an amazing recovery rate.” She raised a finger of warning. “The wounds healing doesn’t mean she’ll be back to normal. Even a high recovery rate can’t compete for the brutal beating her body took under that many curses. She’s going to be incredibly weak, and I don’t know for how long. I’ll come back in a week to check. Until then don’t let this woman to anything strenuous.”
“I’ll… uh… try.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask, how DID she get so many curses?”
“Ah… that. She got tricked into going into a cursed ruin, fought a whole bunch of high level monsters, and at the end had to kill a giant ancient snake.”
“…right.” The Healer nodded slowly, patting Thio on the shoulder. “Let me just emphasis, once again, that you absolutely don’t let her run around.”
Thio shoulders slumped. Even without talking to her, Sentra had Caroline pegged.