Chapter Content
Chapter 3
“I will come in, Priest.”
The door opened, and someone entered.
It was the very same young man who had been clutching Claude and wailing earlier.
His eyes were still red, but it seemed he had regained some composure, as he looked better than he had before Claude lost consciousness.
“Is the young master all right?”
As soon as he entered, the youth circled around the bed with a worried expression and poured tea into the cup he had brought.
Between the form of address and how natural his behavior seemed, he appeared to be a servant attending this body.
Yujelia, who had been offering a prayer amid the fragrant aroma, raised her head.
“Um….”
“Please feel free to call me Shen.”
“Ah. I am Yujelia, a priest who serves the Sun God Raspalara.”
After exchanging introductions, hesitation briefly crossed Yujelia’s face.
She was likely pondering how to explain the Curse of Deadly Poison.
She hesitated and looked toward the bed.
“The young master is stable for now. He will not vomit blood again immediately.”
If the curse was not resolved, he would not be fine later, but for now, her words were correct.
Shen, who had been staring at Yujelia with an anxious expression, finally released the breath he had been holding.
It seemed that hearing the priest say he was all right was enough to reassure him.
‘It seems his relationship with the young master is not bad.’
Claude briefly recalled the moment just before he lost consciousness.
Shen’s tearful face then and his current appearance did not feel false or affected.
“Bishop Martio is…?”
“The head of the house is currently absent, so after briefly reporting Lord Aquila’s condition, he returned to the Grand Temple. He said that Priest Yujelia would be better suited to handle the young master’s treatment.”
At those words, Yujelia’s face darkened instantly.
It seemed that the potbellied man from earlier had dumped everything onto Yujelia and left.
‘Bishop Martio….’
Before the method for lifting the curse had been made public, there were rumors within the Church of the Sun God that some members secretly raked in money under the pretense of treating the Curse of Deadly Poison.
The Curse of Deadly Poison was not something commonly seen among commoners.
That was because commissioning it required an enormous sum of money.
Naturally, the targets of the curse were also nobles, which made it even easier for the church to squeeze money out of the situation.
If it was the Grand Temple near Reschenhardt territory, it would likely belong to Portplum, the city known for transport and trade.
Claude was briefly overtaken by nostalgia.
In one of his past runs, when he had lived as a priest, he had been affiliated with the Portplum Grand Temple.
Of course, that had been after the lifting method was already announced, and those who had tried to profit from the Curse of Deadly Poison had all been purged.
If so, that potbellied bishop would likely meet the same fate.
“Damn bastard….”
While Claude was lost in thought, Yujelia suddenly muttered a curse.
Her voice was so quiet that Shen likely did not hear it, but Claude, being close by, heard it clearly.
This priest seemed to have a more fiery temper than expected.
“When you used your divine power earlier, the young master stopped vomiting blood. Thank you very much for that.”
What she had done was not removing the curse itself, but forcibly patching together the mana fissures. However, Shen’s face was far too bright to correct him bluntly.
“And it must have taken quite some time to travel here by carriage…. Thank you so much for coming all this way.”
Shen bowed deeply with sincere gratitude.
“It is nothing. I will also do my utmost to treat a child of the Reschenhardt house, however….”
Her voice trembled slightly when she spoke the name Reschenhardt.
She seemed to feel the weight that name carried.
And for good reason. What was Reschenhardt, after all?
One of the Four Great Houses that had helped Delvion unify the continent and found the kingdom.
A symbol of unbreakable solidity.
The pinnacle of martial might.
Above all, Reschenhardt’s most dazzling achievement was receiving the blessing of a dragon.
As proof of being chosen by the Red Dragon, only they among humans were born with red hair.
‘So even with considerable backing, no one would dare disregard Reschenhardt.’
To begin with, why had someone of Reschenhardt blood been cursed?
The Curse of Deadly Poison was the highest-tier curse a human could inflict, which meant that someone harbored unmistakable malice toward Reschenhardt.
“Um, Lord Aquila will… recover, right?”
Shen asked cautiously.
As though the thought of a curse had never crossed his mind, the servant seemed to believe that his young master had vomited blood due to an illness.
Yujelia could not answer immediately.
It would be difficult to tell someone who was genuinely worried that his young master would die within a few days.
‘Who is Aquila Reschenhardt?’
Claude recalled the doubt he had felt before losing consciousness.
He remembered all the major characters tied to the main story.
They were largely fixed, so there was no way he would forget them.
The only things he did not clearly remember were those unrelated to the story, so it was certain that this was a character who had never appeared in the main plot.
Even when he tried to retrace his memories, perhaps due to his habit of discarding unimportant details over repeated runs, only a vague, indistinct mass surfaced.
Now that he had possessed a new body, he knew that gathering information about his surroundings and moving toward the main story was the only answer.
Still, this early-stage frustration never became familiar.
As Claude sat up in irritation, Yujelia, having made up her mind, spoke as well.
“Phew. There is something I must tell you. The young master is not ill, but cursed—”
“Young master!”
The timing was uncanny.
Startled, Shen shouted, and Yujelia turned to him with a surprised expression.
“Hey….”
He was about to ask something, but his throat hurt badly.
If his vocal cords had not melted, it was probably the aftereffect of vomiting blood.
When Claude frowned and placed a hand on his throat, Shen hurried back with a cup of tea.
He moistened his throat and cleared it a few times.
“Young master, are you all right? Is anything else hurting? Please drink slowly—”
“…Is my hair red?”
“Yes?”
“I am asking whether my hair is red.”
Shen’s eyes widened.
“Why would you ask that…? Ah, yes. Of course. You, too, possess the proud red hair of the Reschenhardt house.”
“I see.”
Claude swept his hair back.
‘So he is not a bastard, but a legitimate bloodline.’
Of course, that only made the situation more serious.
“Is there some problem with your hair…?”
He shook his head at Shen’s question.
There were countless problems, but none that he could explain to this servant.
Whatever Shen took from that response, he hesitated awkwardly before adding cautiously.
“There is no need to worry so much. The Red Dragon will surely protect you. Among the Reschenhardts, you were born with the greatest number of blessings, Lord Aquila.”
The greatest number of blessings!
At those words, Claude jerked his head up.
The Curse of Deadly Poison had originally been a secret curse that circulated quietly among nobles, but it spread widely among commoners due to one incident.
A tragic death within the Reschenhardt house.
In every single run, the Reschenhardt who died from the Curse of Deadly Poison was named Aquila.
Ding!
[Information on the keyword ‘Aquila Reschenhardt’ has been unlocked!]
[Aquila Reschenhardt — Third son of the Reschenhardt house.
Actions prior to the 29th run: Died in all previous runs due to the Curse of Deadly Poison. No data available.]
“Young master? What is wrong?”
Claude stared intently at the system window that had appeared.
The reason Reschenhardt, despite its overwhelming power, had shut itself off from the world and turned its back on humanity.
That was because of Aquila Reschenhardt’s death.
And the genius alchemist who later discovered the method to lift the curse.
He, too, had been of Reschenhardt blood.
‘So there was a reason the lifting method had not been announced at this point.’
Because Aquila Reschenhardt had not died, there had been no need to research the Curse of Deadly Poison.
Claude threw off the blanket and stepped down from the bed.
A flustered Shen tried to support him, but Aquila stopped him.
Thanks to Yujelia having patched the fissures well, and perhaps due to the blessing, he only felt slightly fatigued and had no trouble walking.
He approached the mirror hanging on the wall and looked at his reflection.
Flame-like red hair.
Black eyes.
‘…That is incredibly red. Even more intense than the head of the house’s.’
He stared fixedly at the black eyes reflected in the mirror.
In previous runs, when he had gone to seek their aid, he was often turned away, but there were runs in which he received help.
And in those runs, the story unlocked, allowing him to reach the Demon Dragon.
But what if Aquila Reschenhardt did not die, and the Reschenhardt house did not close its doors?
He called up the status window once more.
[30th run possession target: Aquila Reschenhardt]
[Status abnormality: Curse of Deadly Poison (Restricted)]
[Time remaining until next death: 6 days]
His condition had not seemed too bad, but it appeared he had been unconscious all day, as the remaining time had decreased.
As his gaze shifted, he met the eyes of Shen, fidgeting nervously, and Yujelia, watching him cautiously, reflected in the mirror.
‘Aquila Reschenhardt…. So this is the name this time.’
It was time to abandon the name Claude.
Aquila took a deep breath and swept his hair back.
The lush red strands tangled between his fingers and fell at an angle.
Turning around, Aquila looked at Yujelia.
“Priest. You will need to help me.”
This run, he would clear it no matter what.
***
“Are you certain this is really the correct method to lift the curse?”
Yujelia muttered doubtfully.
“That makes the seventh time you have said that, Priest.”
Aquila replied without lifting his gaze from the book he was reading.
Though dark circles lay beneath his eyes, his cool, finely sculpted features stood in stark contrast to his vivid red hair, making even that look like an intentional shadow.
He was slightly pale after the ordeal of vomiting blood, yet his face showed not the slightest sense of crisis as he turned the page.
Even his movements overflowed with ease.
“I do not think the young master fully understands, but this curse—”
“And that explanation would make the tenth time I have heard the rest of that sentence.”
Despite Aquila’s response, Yujelia could not hide her unease and kept darting glances at him.
Shen, standing beside her, fidgeted anxiously and asked as well.
“I never imagined such a terrible curse would be upon you, young master…. Are you truly feeling all right anywhere?”
“Yes. There is still time before the next critical phase.”
Upon hearing the explanation of the Curse of Deadly Poison, the servant had nearly fainted and only barely regained his senses.
Even after Aquila assured him he was fine, Shen had run outside, crying and shouting that he would contact the head of the house, who was away suppressing monsters, no matter what, only to be stopped by Aquila and reduced to a dejected state.
So that was why the head of the house was absent. It seemed he had gone to subjugate the monsters that had been increasing during this period.
‘They must have deliberately chosen this timing.’
Aquila thought flatly.
“Are you truly sure this is the method the Red Dragon told you?”
Yujelia voiced the same doubt yet again.
Receiving both her anxious gaze and Shen’s at once, Aquila finally closed the book.
“It is something I heard when I was young, but it is certain.”
“…When you were nine years old, correct?”
“At first, I did not understand what was being said, but how could I ever forget the words of a dragon?”
Aquila accepted their gazes without the slightest movement.
His black eyes were more serious than ever.
Anyone who met those eyes would find it difficult to think he was lying.
Moreover, everyone knew that the blood of Reschenhardt went to the Red Dragon’s lair before turning ten.
There, they received the blessing of a great being.
Of course, since he had not originally been Aquila Reschenhardt, he did not know what the dragon had said, but those unaware of that fact simply nodded.
“Or are you perhaps doubting the dragon?”
At the implication of doubting a dragon, Yujelia flinched and hurriedly shook her head.
“That is not it…!”
She thrust forward the item in her hands, the one most essential to the lifting method.
“Anyone would think this looks strange!”
In Yujelia’s hands were a small shovel and a watering can.