“Your sister is not sick but rather she was cursed.”

Gaius's eyes widened and his body stiffened, and he averted his eyes, Wilhelm could see him clenching his fist but that was it. Soon, he regained his calm.

It was suspicious.

‘...Why is he so calm? He felt anger, but he didn’t seem all too surprised by my words.’

Wilhelm frowned.

“You are taking this a lot better than I expected.”

“Huh? Uh, well.”

“Did you know about it already?”

Gaius scratched his head. Wilhelm thought that he was not that good at lying.

“It’s quite important so would you mind explaining?”

“Uh, well, okay. But I have to explain my past and it's not quite a pleasant story…Is that fine?”

“That is fine.”

Gaius nodded, took a deep breath to calm his rising anger, and breathed out.

“As you might already know, I am a part of the Wolf Beastman Tribe. We lived in a certain forest, using hunting as our main source of food.”

Wilhelm nodded, generally, that was how beastmans lived outside of the Eastern Alliance.

“We were quite a happy tribe. Although we had our own share of troubles, they were things that we could overcome as long as we worked together. Thinking back, I was quite happy back then.” Gaius said with a smile on his face, reminiscing happy memories, however, his face soon crumpled into a frown with anger burning in his eyes.

“However, one day…Inexplicable things started happening, hunters that went out would start dying for all kinds of reasons. Honestly, thinking back it was quite ridiculous. It felt like some kind of group was hunting us.”

Gaius’s hands started trembling, “That was the start of our misfortune.”

***

Gaius could still remember it clearly, due to the frequent deaths of the hunters, and ever-increasing anxiety and tension.

His father had worked hard trying to hunt and provide for his tribe with only his body but it was useless. One man couldn’t change anything and instead, his father only got more and more injured the more he went out.

Then one day, the Shaman stepped forward. Like a savior who appeared out of nowhere, she led the tribe out of the dark times, her every prophecy became true leading to stacks of food, and each time she spoke it always led to benefits, like the luck of their tribe suddenly flipped around after the Shaman stepped forward.

It was suspicious, very suspicious. But the Tribe having lost most of their hunters, and fighting force could only follow and revere the shaman like a sheep following the shepherd. Gaius too followed her and thought that the tribe’s luck would change from here on, however, he was wrong.

He remembered the Shaman’s wrinkly face, pointing her staff at both Gaius and Claire, as she dropped a sentence onto them.

“These children, are cursed.” The shaman spoke,” They are the reason for our misfortunes until now, and the ones that brought death’s door upon our tribe!”

Her shrill cry is met with the anger of the other tribe members toward Gaius and Claire. They even went as far as to throw stones at them and spat out countless curses at them.

If one were to think of it even a bit, they would find various inconsistenscies with that the shaman said. If they were truly cursed children then why did the curse strike them now and not before they were born? How the hell can the shaman even know that he and Claire are cursed children in the first place?

But currently, The Shaman’s authority has far surpassed the Tribe Leader’s, every word she spoke led to abundance and therefore she could not be wrong. That was how the rest of the tribe members viewed the Shaman.

“What madness! How could you prove that they are cursed children!? Nothing happened until now, and when misfortune comes you are just going to blame them upon my children!” Gaius’s father, the only one to defend them, said with anger. His body was already ruined due to sacrificing himself for the tribe, and with his diminishing authority, no one would listen.

“Kill them, only then shall fortune come our way!” The Shaman ordered and the crowd of members ran forward, madness and delight filled their eyes, like cultists receiving an order from their god. It was then, that his father made a decision.

“Run Gaius, take Claire and run away from here!”

“F-father, no!” Claire shouted however Gaius took her and ran, he was twelve years old at this time, and therefore already developed some intelligence.

He ran, ran, and ran. He could hear the sounds of fighting from behind, the screams and cries of Claire as she tries to get out of Gaius’s grasp. Anger churned at his stomach like hellfire threatening to burn everything, he absorbed all the pain to further refine his anger. His lips dropped blood due to him biting it too hard as he vowed.

‘I swear to the gods above, I will kill you without fail, damned Shaman!’

***

Gaius fist clenched tight, blood vessels popped out from his temples, as he continued to breathe deeply to calm his rising anger.

“Shortly after that, Claire fell sick. We traveled through many villages before we settled onto the current one with the priest that adopted us.” Gaius said.

“I guess you suspected it was not a sickness but the curse of the Shaman?”

“Yes, I thought that the timing was too coincidental. Though I suspected her, I didn't know what she was planning, so I just fled far away. It was all thanks to the priest that we are currently alive.”

Gaius's face turned radiant when talking about the priest. It seemed the priest had a significant influence on him.

‘I should move the priest and orphanage to the capital. Those cultists are a lot more dangerous than I thought.’

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Wilhelm massaged his glabella with his thumb.

‘I guess the Shaman is the Thalion Cultist that cursed Claire, but if he knew the Shaman cursed his sister then why would he join Thalion? Shouldn't they be a target of revenge as well? Oh, wait…’

“Did you know the Shaman is a Thalion Cultist?”

“Huh!?”

Gaius's eyes widened, his mouth gaped, and he even stood up in shock as the chair fell because of the recoil. This was the reaction Wilhelm expected when he first told him Claire was cursed.

“Wait, is the Shaman…Really?”

“Yes, those ‘coincidental’ happenings are probably the work of Thalion Cultists aiming at increasing the Shaman’s authority.”

“I-I thought it was because of her powers of predicting the future or something like that.”

“Except for the Prophecies of the Saint, there are no powers that can predict the future and even the Saint’s Prophecies are quite vague most of the time. It is more probable that a big group is helping her.”

‘He is a bit slow-witted at times.’

When Gaius was still in shock Wilhelm thought for a moment.

‘Did they do all of that just for Gaius? Granted, if it meant getting an Apostle, it might be worth it but would they know about it instantly when they looked at Gaius? That he would become an Apostle.’

It might be possible if they had the same future knowledge as Wilhelm, but that was unlikely.

‘...It’s suspicious.’

It felt like Wilhelm was missing something fatal. The problem is that he didn't have any information about it.

‘I hope it’s just a bad feeling and nothing else.’

Wilhelm talked again for a bit with Gaius before leaving. It was decided that Gaius would become Abraham's squire and Abraham would personally train him. He would stay at the dormitory where Squires resided while they would provide Claire with another nearby accommodation.

After a few days, Gaius had adapted to the environment he was in, while Wilhelm had finished all the work he needed. He had already fixed the inefficient system of work and now that he had free time, there was another thing he needed to do.

‘I need to go dungeon diving.’

In the dungeon he will dive in, he will gain [Spirit Sight] which comes in the form of contact lenses that enable one to see spirits and contract with them. Though it is not that powerful in the beginning, it will allow Wilhelm to beat his long-range vulnerabilities as a swordsman while not dedicating time to magic.

Since the destination is set, Wilhelm made the decision to travel there in an unassuming carriage with Abraham as the horseman/guard. The reason he did so is because he didn't want to attract attention therefore he moved wearing the same disguise as before.

The place where he was going is called Vyne City. It is a city known for its beautiful nature and great food. It was a city primarily for tourists. The most booming businesses here are Inns, restaurants, and, of course, the tourist places.

After going inside, Wilhelm looked at the city from inside his carriage. There were tons of stands of food as he had expected, and it was quite crowded as well. The city looked like the perfect combination of medieval buildings and nature, neither overpowering one another and it created harmony between the two.

‘I can see why it's a popular tourist site.’

“Your Highness, I am going to drop off the carriage and horse into the stable and coach house.”

“Alright, I will go out then.”

Wilhelm got out of the carriage and waited until Abraham finished his business. After he saw Abraham back, Wilhelm moved.

His business here is not to eat and enjoy nature, though he would love to do so after it. Wilhelm tried to remember the route from the game. His memory is quite blurry but after walking towards a familiar place, his body automatically moved.

‘Left from here, right, and go to the restaurant, then move left again and go outside to the forest.’

The directions are quite simple. All he needs to do is to go out to the forest on the West side. However, after walking in front of the restaurant, Wilhelm suddenly felt a jolt, and it felt as if his spirit started floating. It was similar to the dream he had when he first arrived in the world. He was in a foggy landscape and through the fog it felt like he could feel ‘someone’ with him in that area though he could not see even a silhouette.

That all happened in just a moment and he went back to reality.

‘What the hell happened?’

“Your Highness, is something wrong?”

“...No, let's move on.”

Wilhelm decided to just leave it be for now.

***

‘...’

***

Wilhelm went outside the city and moved into the lush forest. The forest was beautiful and there was quite a lack of monsters here, which is to be expected since it's not that big of a forest and the knights of the city regularly clean up the place. There were some bears and some other animals here, but Wilhelm paid them no heed.

What worried Wilhelm’s mind was not the insignificant bears but this feeling he had for a while. A feeling of connection with ‘someone’ and he felt as if this ‘someone’ was following him. He had been feeling weird ever since the restaurant incident.

‘Am I going crazy?’

Wilhelm looked back. He could see the beautiful trees, and healthy leaves, and the sunlight permeating through it was refreshing. There were no signs of a person at all.

“Abraham.”

“Yes, Your Highness?”

“Can you feel someone following us?”

“Huh?”

Abraham's eyes widened as he immediately closed his eyes and spread his senses. He then shook his head.

“No, I did not feel anything, Your Highness.”

“...Is that so.”

“Did you feel someone, Your Highness?”

“Yes, well. But I don't know maybe it's just a false alarm.”

Abraham shook his head.

“In my experience, it's better to trust your instincts and bad feelings rather than ignore them. I shall act on guard as if someone is following us.”

Abraham put his hand on the hilt of his sword and though he was only walking normally, he was on guard so that any enemies would be cut down if they were going to attack.

Throughout the journey, Wilhelm constantly felt like eyes scanning him, and the unmistakable feeling that someone is following him.

After a while, Wilhelm was able to see the ruins he had been here for but instead of going there he turned around and pointed his sword at ‘someone’. He couldn’t see nor hear, but he could sense it.

“Hey, it's about time you reveal yourself don't you think? It’s rude following someone without permission!”

There was only silence around but Wilhelm kept talking.

“You might think you are great at hiding but I could sense you, you know? I know you’re there.”

‘It’s a bluff though, but how would they know?’

Silence overcame the surroundings and after a few minutes passed by and Wilhelm began to doubt himself he could hear the rustling of leaves, and a person suddenly appeared standing on one of the tree branches. Wilhelm could see the figure of a woman even if a robe covered her. Somehow, the black robe seemed familiar.

‘If I remember correctly, the one that has that robe is-’

As Wilhelm was thinking, Abraham moved in front of Wilhelm and unsheathed his sword to protect him. Wilhelm looked at the robe and then below the robe he could see her purple-colored eyes and bits of starlight covering her.

“Stars?”

Wilhelm mumbled and then it clicked, Wilhelm’s eyes widened and his mouth gaped open.

‘No way, why is she here!?’

If the players have to choose as to who is the strongest playable and recruitable character all of them would undoubtedly point towards the woman in front.

Because she is the Chosen Hero of the world of [A Hero’s Tribulations] which is not a title that even the Main Character has.

The Prophesized Hero.

Iris De Felles.

Such a woman is in front of him.