The news about the curse's origins dampened the atmosphere for a while, but it didn't completely break the mood. There were still so many stories to tell and so much news to share, even though we'd only been apart for ten days!
We moved to the living room and took our places around a huge table that could accommodate about twenty people. I was surprised by the extravagant, almost luxurious apartment Alice had rented. It occupied the entire ground floor of a villa. The living room had two broad doors that could open onto a terrace overlooking the garden. On either side of the door, there were huge windows filling the entire wall, offering a view of the garden.
At the far end of the garden was the barn where our mounts were supposed to stay.
The living room itself was enormous, with a fireplace on the opposite side of the garden doors and a cozy corner with a couple of armchairs and a couch. In the center of the room was the long, elongated table oriented parallel to the garden view.
As we sat around the table, Tina, with Michael's help, started pulling out evening meals for everyone from Spartaciu's food bag while we continued talking.
“So, Mike only talked with his sister about your magic skills and that activated the curse? Does talking about your skills here endanger anybody?” Alice asked.
I shook my head. “No, it shouldn't be a problem. I don't remember exactly what we said at the time, but I think this should be fine!”
“You think?” Lynx said, shaking his head. “You need to be sure. The boys risk their lives if you're wrong!”
I sighed, feeling conflicted. I couldn’t recall the exact wording of what we had said. Thankfully, Hew stepped in to save me:
“She only begged us not to blurt anything about her magic abilities,” he said. “Then Tom came up with the idea to swear a pact. How was it? Something like, 'I swear not to betray her'?”
“No, no,” Tom countered, “it was Mike who did the final wording, wasn’t it?”
Mike shrugged. “I’m not sure. I don’t remember the exact wording,” he said with a sigh.
“Oh, but yes, Tom is right!” Hew said, recalling. “It was: ‘I swear to not reveal anything about her magical abilities to anyone else unless she approves it.’”
“Oh, yeah!” Mike nodded in approval.
A moment of silence followed.
“If you did it, can’t you remove it?” Tina wondered.
I shook my head with a sigh. “The spell is too strong for my current power. I cannot undo it. For me now, it’s like a giant dead weight that I’m too weak to even rattle. All I can do is adjust it a little, like pulling energy from it and thus delaying it.”
“Well, this means they shouldn’t talk about your magical abilities with anyone else until you can solve it. That’s what it is,” Michael said with a shrug.
“Besides that, you should inspect them daily,” Alice added. “Just to make sure nothing happened…”
I nodded. I was already inspecting everyone for parasites, so adding a curse check wouldn’t be much of a problem.
“So how did you manage to gain some levels?” Mike turned to Tom.
I was grateful for the change in conversation. There wasn’t much more to say about the painful subject of the curse.
I was surprised to hear Tom’s answer. Encouraged by Alice, they had enrolled as student candidates. This allowed them not only to follow courses, which were mostly free, but also to participate as observers in many seminars and use some facilities. That’s how Tom had access to a sports training room, where he practiced his karate katas. Michael had been enrolled in a mage apprentice class, where he was trying to find his affinities, while Tina was following a fire mage course. Hew was studying mathematics and philosophy.
“How did you finance all this?” I wondered, looking at Alice. I knew she had changed the initial apartment for a bigger one besides taking on these additional costs. I didn’t know Alice to be the type to spend all her money fast.
Alice shrugged modestly. “Well, I did have some savings, but…”
Tina didn’t let her finish and spilled the beans with a broad grin on her face. “She’s working as an archery trainer! And guess who’s one of her pupils!”
Alice, working as a trainer? She had the levels to teach archery, but I never saw her giving lessons.
"I always did teach the orphans when I was in Lilytown..." Alice explained.
“The little princess!” Tina continued, not giving me time to guess.
“What? Who?” I wondered. At first, I thought it was some kind of nickname, but then I learned it was really a princess.
Alice then filled us in on the whole story: The king had four sons with his first wife, who were now great dukes, each with their own family. After his first wife died, he married a Vinayan noble and had three children with her—a boy, now sixteen, and two girls, fourteen and twelve.
The boy was suffering from an illness that stunted his magical development, causing significant concern among the royals about the girls potentially facing the same issue. The royal doctors had diagnosed it as severe anemia but were unsure of the exact cause. Rumors suggested it was due to bad blood, implying bad genes, which of course, couldn't be attributed to the king.
The boy hadn't progressed past level six. The girls were now at the same level and were being closely monitored. As I pondered these low levels, Alice further explained that children gaining too many levels too quickly could result in serious growth problems, potentially causing magic-induced dwarfism. This is because the body and mind might stabilize too early, capping their growth and magical potential at a very young age.
Accumulating some magic was beneficial, but pushing too much too early could be disastrous. Consequently, as a rule, any magic training only started after children reached puberty. The most dangerous period was before the age of ten. Generally, twelve years old was the age to begin magical studies. By sixteen, a noble was expected to reach levels between eight and sixteen.
When I heard that, my heart skipped a beat, and my mind raced to thoughts of Michael and Tina. Were they progressing too fast? Tina was already level nine! I glanced at her, worry etched on my face.
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Tina chuckled, seeing my expression. "Hold your horses, Lores. We're doing fine," she said with a smile.
"But, but, Michael has suddenly gained three levels! Isn't that dangerous?" I asked, still concerned.
She shook her head dismissively, but Alice stepped in to reassure me. "He's already fourteen. Tina will soon celebrate her fourteenth birthday, so don't worry, they are doing great."
I sighed in relief. I hadn't known that this could be a problem. In my mind, it was always about levels, levels, levels—the more, the better. Suddenly, there were so many more problems when you had children in your herd!
"So," Tom continued the story, "there had been an altercation between the princess and her new trainer. Alice, unaware of who she was talking to, had intervened. The princess was very dissatisfied with the replacement because her trusted trainer was sick."
"And rightly so!" Alice added. "He was exaggerating the mystical aspect. In a real fight, if you stop to ask Aldea for permission before using any magic, you're dead before you even shoot an arrow."
"Another Twin Gods religion nut?" Lynx asked.
"No," Alice shook her head. "This is a different one. It's a version of that religion plaguing the Denka countries. They're called Genna's Witnesses."
"Oh, a different kind of nut!" Lynx exclaimed with a sigh, while Tom continued.
"I was there when the altercation happened and it was really funny to see. The trainer had furiously demanded that Alice either shut up or show what she could do and teach the girl that one technique. She was expecting her to fail as you cannot teach a technique so easily, in one go. However, Alice's straightforward and efficient approach was such a novelty for the princess that she insisted on training only with Alice until her original trainer returned. That's how she became the backup royal trainer."
“And they listen to what the princess wants?” I wondered.
“Oh, there’s a lot of noise behind the scenes, but in the end, yes, they do not dare to contradict her directly,” Hew acknowledged. “Besides, the princess has the queen’s ear.”
“So that’s how you can finance everything?” I asked, looking surprised at Alice. “You’re doing really well!”
She shrugged modestly.
“You know,” Tom suddenly said, “if we’re going to stay in this world longer, this is a good place to be! A lot of young people, scientific research, but there are also parties and fun!”
“Yeah,” Hew agreed. “I like this place. It's nice and clean, the place is secure, and people are polite. It’s like a retro movie where you can’t quite tell if it’s the fifties or the nineteenth century.”
“I like it too,” Michael added, while Tina nodded.
“We can’t all stay here and live off Alice’s salary!” Ju said, shaking her head. “But if the domain brings in the expected income, we could come back and stay here for some time. It’s how many noble families manage.”
“This place is too clean! Where are the beggars? Not everyone seems well off, but I've never seen anyone begging for food like in the villages outside. You'd expect a big town like this to have some struggling people,” Mike wondered aloud.
“The guards throw beggars out of town,” Alice explained. “If they’re caught begging repeatedly, they’re branded with iron like burglars and thieves and aren’t allowed back into any town or village. They become outcasts. That’s why you don’t see burglars or thieves here.”
“I’ve seen some people with iron rings around their necks. Are they slaves? Are there still slaves here?” Tina asked.
Ju nodded. “While slave markets are forbidden, owning slaves isn’t. Some people are debt slaves, working off their debts, while others are bought in other countries and brought here as slaves. It’s a legal gray area. If a slave runs away, the guards won’t capture and return them, but there are others who will do it for money. If they try to capture an escaped slave in the market and the slave fights back, the guards might arrest the captors for creating disorder. But most slaves are controlled so thoroughly that they don’t even think of escaping, even after unimaginable abuse.”
“So, not everything is as nice and beautiful as it appears at first sight,” Michael observed.
We continued talking late into the night, eating, drinking, and sharing our impressions of this world while learning more from Ju, Tina, and Alice.
*
After everyone went to sleep, my mind was still too active to let me rest. I found an armchair in a corner of the dining room and settled in it with a half-empty glass of wine in my hand. I wanted to sit for a moment and try to make some order in my stressed mind.
Mike saw me and approached with a bottle in his hand to fill my glass. I chuckled at his butler act. He'd been subtly playing this role most of the evening.
"It's all right, Mike. I don't want to get drunk; I just need to sort out my thoughts," I said.
"What troubles your ladyship?" he inquired with a stern face.
I raised a brow at him insisting on playing the game, then sighed. "Why do you do this to me, Mike?"
"You're going to the palace tomorrow to place your bid for a barony. How you present yourself can affect how seriously they take your request. So, a bit of practice can't hurt," he shrugged. "And it's good for me too, for my skills. So, those are my reasons. May I take a seat?"
"OK, if you want to. It's fine, you may sit. So, you think I need practice?"
He did not sit on the other armchair but pulled a chair and sat down.
"Yes. You don’t take yourself seriously enough, you’re not used to people showing you respect, and you’re not used to demanding it."
He sighed, and as I stayed silent for a couple of moments, he asked, "So, what ails you, my lady?"
I chuckled and sipped my wine.
"Mike, I'm not worthy of respect. I'm just a fucking coward. I could bring us all back to our world in a couple of days if I did it right. It's only my ineptitude and fear that keep us here. Do you understand?" I raised my brows and looked at him. "We could end this fast. I could remove the curse from you. All I need is some courage, but I don't have it. You see why I'm not worth your respect? So, stop the nonsense. There's no reason to call me 'lady.'"
"How would you do those wonders?" he asked, filling my glass again.
"In vino veritas, eh? I'll tell you anyhow what I need to do. I lost part of my power because I refused to get summoned. Now, I hope that maybe with time I'll get my powers back, but in reality, I regained some of my power when I accepted some summons. Then and only then. All I need to do is accept some summons. I don't know, maybe one would be enough, or maybe ten, but it can be done. Once I do the needed summons, I'll have my power back and can solve all our problems. See? It's only my cowardice that forces us to stay here, that keeps you with that damn curse hanging like a Damocles sword over your head."
"But you risk being killed when summoned, don't you?" he asked.
I sighed.
"Possibly. Or maybe I'd just have to clean a cottage. It's true, sometimes it can be really bad. Like when I was used as a tank to fight mobs in a dungeon, or... Just think, what would people need a demoness for? I've learned that there are ways to trap a demon and milk its mana. In that case, I wouldn't die fast but be unable to return for some time until I could escape. A lot of shit could happen, and yes, I might die, but here's the rub: I should respawn. If I'm truly a demon, I should respawn."
I sipped some more from the glass but didn't let him refill it.
"That's a hard test. Is there any other way you can find out if you'd respawn? And, more importantly, do you lose something if you die?"
I scratched my forehead near one horn. There's a particularly itchy spot there.
"What other way? Killing me halfway? No, there's no other way. And yes, I may lose something. If I correctly understood what the other demon told me, I'd lose the memories of my lightfire spells. That means I wouldn't be able to move from Hades on my own anymore."
"So, you'd not only risk your life but also risk losing the ability to ever take us out of here? You risk not even being able to come back? Then I'd say it's not worth the risk."
“What about your curse?” I asked.
“What if you die and can't come back? What would I do then?” he shook his head. “No, lady, it's not just fear keeping you from accepting summons. It's probably best not to take them.”