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“Y-You… the pink-haired girl from before!!”
“Guh, g-ghaa…! Y-You b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲!!”
“I’m really sorry if I made a mistake!! But weren’t you trying to hurt these kids?!”

I was so scared for Plerion and Konis that I ended up punching a stranger with everything I had.

If this was a misunderstanding, no amount of apologizing would fix it. Even I was shocked at how recklessly thoughtless I’d been.

“Y-You… that pink hair, and that presence! It’s you— you’re the heretic!!”
“S-So this isn’t a misunderstanding after all!!”

If Master were here, she’d probably scold me until my ears fell off. But even so, there was something about this man in the cloak— a horrible, gut-wrenching feeling that told me I had to hit him.

“Plerion, please step back! I’ll handle this!”
“D-Don’t be ridiculous! A noble can’t run and hide behind a woman— I’ll fight too!”
“As expected of you, Plerion! I’m rooting for you!!”
“Don’t you run away, Konis!!!”

Konis was already a good distance away, putting as much space between himself and us as possible. Meanwhile, Plerion was brimming with determination to fight alongside me.

What should I do? This alley is way too narrow— if I go all out, I might drag him into it…

“Y-You dare wound me…! I won’t forgive you, heretic!!”
“I’m sorry, but who even are you?! Have we met somewhere?!”
“Silence! I’ll kill you, you damned invaders from another world!!”
“…!”

It finally clicked. The man, furious and bleeding from the nose, wasn’t just mad at me personally— his rage was directed at Outlanders as a whole. I didn’t know why, but just the fact that I was an Outlander was enough to make him this angry.

“Y-You! Do you know who I am?! I’m Plerion Guster! I won’t allow you to harm her any further!”
“Plerion, no! You need to get back!”
“Shut up, brat! I have no use for you anymore!!”

The enraged man pointed a staff at Plerion— one he’d kept hidden beneath his robe. The staff’s tip was adorned with a human skull, clearly not something you’d find in any ordinary shop.

And the moment I saw the eerie glow emanating from it, the shiver I’d been feeling along my neck turned ice-cold.

“No, get back!!”

But before I could yank Plerion away, the light from the staff shot out— piercing through both of us.

――――――――…………
――――……
――…

“Guh… aaagh…! I… I can’t……”
“Mo… Mommy…”
“I see. I understand the situation now. From what I gather, only you two were hit by the spell, but what happened to Konis?”
“Um, I think he went into shock after seeing Plerion get attacked… he started foaming at the mouth and collapsed.”
“Ugh… ugh… Mo… Mommy…”
“Hahaha, I see, I see. Maybe a splash of water will snap him out of it.”
“Momm—BUBBLBLBLBLBLBLBOGOGOGOBAAAA?!”

Compared to Plerion, who lay on a hemp cloth spread over the workshop floor, Konis was just writhing in distress with no actual signs of injury. A quick face wash, and he’d probably wake up on his own, so we left him be. The real issue was Plerion.

“Master, since it’s a curse, what’s going to happen to Plerion?!”
“Curses like the kind you find on ghost ships don’t just pop up every day. What he’s got is a simple ‘weakening’ curse. Unless it’s dispelled, it’ll slowly drain his life force until he dies.”
“So… his life is still in danger, then. How do we cure him…?”
“The fastest way would be to make the caster lift the curse, but they’ve likely fled by now.”

If killing the caster would break the curse, the flip side was that as long as they remained hidden, they could almost certainly murder their victim.

Considering the curse had been cast at such close range, the attacker wouldn’t be easy to track down. It was the most straightforward solution— but far from an easy one to pull off.

“More importantly… are you okay? You got caught up in the curse meant for Plerion, right? It seemed like the caster was targeting you in the first place.”
“…Huh? Now that you mention it, I feel fine. My body feels just a little sluggish, though.”
“Ah, so it’s like how idiots never catch colds…”
“That’s so mean!”

Half-joking as I was, the curse Plerion had been hit with was undeniably powerful. Judging by its potency, the caster had likely used a cursed artifact refined through years of meticulous ritual work— the sheer intensity of their malice was clear.

But the truly terrifying thing was Momo’s immunity. Despite being directly exposed to a high-concentration curse distilled from overwhelming negative emotions, she was standing there, completely unfazed.

It seemed that swallowing Claxton’s dragon gem had indirectly granted her resistance to ghost-ship curses.

“More importantly! If we leave him like this, he’s going to die, right? Isn’t there anything we can do?!”
“Calm down. If we can’t find the caster, we’ll just have to break the curse bit by bit. But for a curse this severe… we’d need to call the Saint or someone of that caliber…”
“Did someone call for me?”
“WAAAH! Miss Roche?! When did you get here?!”

Speak of the devil. Peeking out from behind Momo was none other than the Saint of Aldebaran herself, Roche Hill.

And beside her stood her usual golem— and another figure, a young man with black hair, dressed in a black coat, standing quietly at her side.

“Miss Roche, are these the children you mentioned?”
“Yes, this is Laika and Momo. They’re my very dependable friends.”
“Who said we were friends? And who’s the young man over there?”
“Ah, right. I should introduce you—”
“No, I’ll do it myself. Sorry for barging in like this. I’ve been tracking the heretic who cursed you.”

As he spoke, he pushed up the sleeve of his coat, revealing his right arm. Etched into his skin was a Stigmata— the highest honor for a sorcerer.

“I’m Kagase Mikaboshi. Hero of the Outlander God—Amatsugami——never mind, I’m just a saint now. As you can probably tell, I’m an Outlander like your pink-haired friend over there.”

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