There wasn't much that really happened in the days following the assassination attempt. Lissana spent time trying to train me to use magic, which we discovered that my ability to charge Mana was enough to power a healing spell that penetrated resistances, whether or not it would actually work was another matter. The microscope was created, which Beatrice was ecstatic over, and she went right to work on examining things under it. I had her examine my blood under it, which she was fascinated with.
When I wasn't training magic, I was training my strength or my skill with the sword. I'd gotten relatively good with drawing my short sword and was practicing my drawing and attacking in the same swing. Even Nash had to admit that it was at least good for that.
"Wouldn't it get uncomfortable while sitting in a chair?" He asked.
"If a lot of people on my world can sit with their wallets in their back pockets, then I can get used to sitting in a chair with a sword on my back." I said.
As it turned out- of course, I knew this because I had already been introduced to it on Earth- wearing a sword on my back had other advantages over wearing it on the hip. I could crouch low without having a scabbard scraping against the ground, I could run without it flapping about and slapping my leg, I could move around waist-deep water without submerging the sword, and because I knew of the potential drawbacks and solutions to some of the drawbacks, I was able to be moderately acrobatic without the sword falling out.
"Why has nobody thought of this before?" Nash asked.
"I don't know why nobody thought of it on this world." I said. "On my world, swords were relatively expensive and most nobility used them to display their wealth and status." I tossed a fruit that was similar to an apple, yet tasted like a sweet lemon, and drew my sword and sliced it in half. "I guess everyone copied the nobility?"
"That sounds reasonable." He said. "I will have to commission one for my longsword."
"Funnily enough, the shabbard was designed initially for a longsword." I said.
"Is that so?" I nodded. "Huh."
Of course, training wasn't the only thing I did, Cier and I worked on cursed items. The items that I'd checked out before had been brought over from a brothel, which explained the source. We worked through the tamer stuff before we got to the more explicit stuff.
"A jock ring." Cier stated.
"And a dildo knife." I said. The ring I'd already read about, the knife, however, was meant both for her pleasure and defense, but the knife didn't like to come out of its sheathe, and the sheathe didn't like to come out of any hole it was put into, didn't matter if it was a biological one or one in the wall or floor.
"To understand the curse, we have to test the item." He said. "In order to test the item..."
"Speaking frankly, I don't want to put it on." I said.
It was an impasse that we didn't really want, so Cier set it aside and said, "Then we'll find a more willing subject."
"Lastly, a ring that is meant to allow men to better understand the opposite sex, instead turns them into the opposite sex."
"I'm not even touching that." I said. "First law of genderbending, it's easier to turn into a girl than it is to turn into a guy, and I'm not risking that."
"Where is this coming from?" Cier asked, bemused.
"Let's just say there's a lot of literature on my world that features guys being turned into girls and having a hell of a time turning back. I have nightmares of some of the ones I'd been sent. Besides, that ring would better be served used on a transgendered person."
"A what?" He asked.
"Basically, a person who has the physical appearance of the gender they weren't born as." I replied. "Such as a man trapped in a woman's body and vice versa. In their case, this ring would be a blessing instead of a curse."
He nodded. "There have been instances of those whose souls have been born into ill-fitting bodies, but they usually just live with it while dressing appropriately." He set the ring aside. "I believe I can find someone who would be willing to test it."
"What's next on the agenda?" I asked.
"This is only a curse insofar as it's difficult to remove, the item functions exactly as it was meant to. A ring that turns the wearer's tongue into a long, prehensile one."
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I sighed and put it on, my tongue then slowly grew longer and longer. It was weird being able to move it around like some sort of weird snake. After Cier figured the curse out, I took it off, and my tongue returned to its normal state in a manner similar to a mechanical measuring tape sliding back into its receptacle.
"Last for today, a silver box that likes to bite whomever opens it." He said.
"A mimic?" I asked. "Great."
Cier raised his eyebrow. "A what?" He asked.
"It's a kind of monster that takes the form of an object." I explained. "Sometimes a chest, sometimes a mask. Watch."
We watched the chest for a long while, then the sides expanded briefly. "See? It's alive."
"That's disturbing." Cier said.
"Which is why we should probably kill it." I said. "Cecil, come over here."
"Cecil?" Cier asked shortly before the armor walked over to us. "You named the suit of armor?" He asked.
"Yeah." I said. "It's actually sentient, designed to protect, it locking as it does is just the logical extension of that. Since I'm resistant to its attraction curse, I was able to wear it without, you know, putting the helmet on."
This was the closest I'd ever seen Cier to having a stroke or aneurysm. "What do you need?" Cecil asked.
"Protection, primarily. We've got a dangerous monster here and the last thing any of us wants is to have our arms bitten off. Just the upper parts should do."
Cecil obliged, and the top part of my body was covered while the bottom part waited over by the mirror.
"This is stupid." Cier said as I handed him my sword.
The plan was simple, open the Mimic, stab its insides, and be done with it. As it turned out, that was as easy as said. I pried it open, managed to hold it, and Cier stabbed its innards until it died of exsanguination.
Cecil reconstituted itself by the mirror while Cier and I took notes of the mimic's innards.
"I see, so this used to be a chest, but it was transformed into a monster through Fel magic." He said. "And there are items inside."
I reached in and felt the very familiar presence of Avarice, among some less familiar ones.
"Fiend crystals." I said, pulling them out and laying them on the table. One glowed brightly in my hand and I kept that one away from Cier.
"I'm surprised you didn't try to run off with the Avarice Fiend crystal." Cier said.
"The other Fiend crystals created this weird cacophony in my head, so I couldn't really focus." I said. "Weirdly enough, this one makes my mind feel completely clear."
Cier nodded. "A Conceit Fiend's crystal cannot affect those of noble blood." He said. "But to those like me, we would experience delusions of grandeur, believing ourselves to be more powerful than the Gods." He brought over a cursed chest that didn't like to open and, with a little magic, opened it. I put the crystal inside it and closed it so that Cier wouldn't be anywhere near it.
'I shall let you be me...' My heart seemed to skip a beat at the sight of the Avarice Fiend crystal.
"A Fire Fiend, a Water Fiend, a Stone Fiend, a Wind Fiend, a Dark Fiend, a Light Fiend, a Holy Fiend-"
"A what?" I asked.
He nodded. "A Holy Fiend. Fiends that are born from powerful divine will. Though Fiends are not always evil or destructive, they are often more trouble than they are worth. In the case of a Holy Fiend, they are a being that is unaligned to a deity, only aligning to one based on their Host's faith. They are often given to Fiendbreakers who use it to hunt Fiends, however, they are extreme adherents of the tenets of faith, and will carry them out to the extreme. They feed on their aspect, at the same time they also create it. For a Holy Fiend, if you were to bond with it, your faith to your deity would be expanded, to the point where you would never dream of disobeying them. In your case, Bahamut, whose tenets would make you a great healer, though you would have a hard time killing anything, you would be sequestered so that you would only ever heal those who come to you."
"Sounds scary." I said.
"It would be best to send this to Basha." He said. "There's a Voracious Fiend, best not to let anyone get their hands on it, and a Covetous Fiend, those grant their Host the power to shapeshift, but the Host also loses their identity over time. Excellent for spies, terrible for sanity."
"And that's all of them." I said. My chest ached.
"A Fiend is always dangerous." Cier said. "Oftentimes, the benefit they give is outweighed by the detriments they create." He put the crystals into a bag, except the Avarice one, it was as if he didn't see it.
'Am I glamouring it?' I wondered absently.
Cier walked over to a table and set the bag down, but I didn't take the crystal. When he returned, he picked it up and smiled. "Even seeing the want in your eyes, you are capable of resisting." He said. "That inner strength is what you will need as you grow stronger." He set it down, it took him effort to let it go. "Come, let us discuss our findings to my Lady."
I nodded.
We left the room, and we reported to Lissana, and I noted that Cier didn't mention the Avarice crystal. It wasn't a matter of him concealing it, it was more like he forgot it existed.
"The Avarice Fiend crystal." I said. "Cier, you forgot to mention it."
"I did?" He asked. "I did."
It was strange, though I mentioned it, and discussion regarding it had started, both Cier and Lissana remained fixated on other things. When we finished, we left the room. I wandered back to the cursed items room and, after a few moments of silent consideration, I picked up the crystal.
'I am back.' Avarice's voice spoke in my mind, and I returned to my room. I rested on my bed and I placed the crystal against my chest. Avarice took me, the Contract still remained, since I hadn't technically removed it before.
I took it off briefly and put it on again.
I daydreamed of what I'd dreamed before, but it felt hollow, forced. I wondered what it was I was doing, what I really wanted. "What... do I want..?" I wondered. I looked at my hands, and I didn't know anymore. A gentle hand touched my face, and the Fiend crystal fell from my chest.
"A gentle obsession, with the purest intentions, is still an obsession nonetheless." Lady Wyrashe stated. I was in her room again, and it was nighttime. "I pity them, for so few truly know life." She handed it back to me, but Avarice was gone.
"What... happened?" I asked.
"It is exactly as I allowed." She said. "For you, Avarice was never truly gone, and it would consume you. To cloud the minds of others, to allow you your vice, and to show you what you truly lost was not the comfort of a hollow Fiend, but the comfort of those who, in their own ways, truly love you."
She touched my face again, and this time it was my real face. She slowly traced her fingers down until she touched my chest, which no longer had a scar. "Left to yourself, you would have become a Fiend of Avarice, and those who knew you would grieve, for you would have died."
There was a pounding at the door, frantic, desperate.
"Go to them, you are healed." She kissed my forehead in the same way Mom used to. I stood up and went to the door. I opened it and saw a terrified Cier. He looked at me, then the crystal, and he asked, "Did you overcome it?"
"With Lady Wyrashe's help, yes." I said as I left the room. "It was her doing, but she did it to help." I handed him the crystal, which he initially tried to get away from.
"Wait, it's inert." He said. "No, it's been processed."
I showed him my chest, and he nodded. "I see, so that is what she did."
"Let's go to bed." I said. "Tomorrow's Artandur, and I have a few things to say to Bahamut..."