Secrets of the Silent Witch - Volume 5 - Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

Cursed

Despite the Duchy of Rehnberg’s eastern location, it wasn’t a particularly frequent target for dragonraids. There was one forest with a high concentration of mana in which a few dragons and spirits lived, but for the most part, they’d only see an herbivorous dragon stray from its pack and wander into a human settlement a few times a year, and that was it. Since Eliane’s birth, there had only been a handful of incidents involving larger dragons.

So from Eliane’s point of view, bears and boars were a much more present threat than dragons. And the woods in which the hunt was taking place were home to few such beasts, making it perfect for strolls.

Oh, if only I happened to run into Prince Felix out here. How wonderful that would be! He would look a little surprised at first, but then he would smile. “Come here, Eliane,” he’d say, extending a hand to me. I would hesitate, but then I’d reach out… And he’d take me in his arms, a little forcefully, but not too much. Then I’d be embarrassed, but he’d tell me to hang on tight, so I’d nervously reach for his chest, and…

As she was busy having a wonderful daydream, her horse suddenly stopped.

“Oh? What’s the matter?” she said.

“Not sure, ma’am. The horse got frightened all of a sudden…”

Peter gave the horse a once-over but didn’t see any injuries. And yet the creature was clearly excited—afraid of something. Peter readied his hunting gun, in case there was some large animal nearby. But the forest was very quiet. Eliane couldn’t hear the sound of any beasts parting the foliage.

The wind picked up, causing her skirt’s hem to flutter. The air chilled her skin; had the sun gone behind the clouds? She looked up to check…and her mind blanked.

“…Huh?”

There was something blotting out the sun—but it wasn’t a cloud. It was some large creature, circling over the treetops. The sight of its huge silhouette made Eliane’s blood run cold.

“…A dragon?”

The first flying dragon that came to mind was a pterodragon. They were usually as big as a bull, if not a little bigger. But the dragon overhead was twice that size, at least. It had tough, thick scales and a vivid green coloration.

“Green… It’s a greater dragon…,” she murmured.

Peter looked up as well, and his face went white. He pulled at the horse’s reins, meaning to fulfill his duty as a servant. But the frightened horse wouldn’t take a single step. In fact, it seemed ready to start thrashing about if he kept prodding it.

“My lady, please get down from there!”

“B-but wouldn’t it be faster to escape on horseba—?”

“Horses always go crazy when a dragon’s around! You’ll be tossed off your saddle!”

Frantically, Eliane released the reins, held down her skirt, and tried to get off the horse. But just then, the dragon let out a shrill cry overhead. The horse neighed in fright, lifting its front legs high into the air. As Eliane lost her balance and tumbled from the saddle, Peter took her hand and pulled her far enough from the horse that she wouldn’t be kicked.

Then an even stronger gust of wind blew through. The green dragon was rapidly descending toward them. Panicked, Peter and Eliane fled through the trees.

Once it was down on the ground, the green dragon dug into the horse’s body with its thick, sharp claws, crushing it along with the sturdy saddle.

As the horse cried out its last whinny, Eliane quickly covered her ears and looked away. Peter was pulling on her arm.

“We need to get away from here, ma’am! Immediately!”

“W-wait a minute! Wouldn’t it be safer to hide…?”

The dragon didn’t pause to eat the horse’s remains. It just kept carving into it with its claws, crushing it even further. It’s behavior was clearly abnormal. Greater dragons were supposed to be intelligent, unlike lesser dragons. They weren’t supposed to attack people from out of nowhere like this.

So then why…?!

As she watched the green dragon, Eliane felt something was amiss. Running over the surface of its vivid green scales, she thought she could see a black, belt-shaped shadow. It was like a snake, coiling around the dragon’s body.

Could that…be…?

She’d never seen a dragon like that. But she’d read about them in stories.

When mana merged with negative emotions, it caused a locus of stagnation in the world. People called this stagnation a “curse.” And when one of these curses, which spread through creatures like a disease and ruined their bodies, affected a dragon, it became a “cursed dragon.”

An attack by a cursed dragon was the worst disaster imaginable. They spread their curse just by existing and were every bit as dangerous as black dragons, if just as rare.

“Ooorrr…ooorrrggghhh…”

The cursed green dragon let out a hoarse cry. It sounded like the sides of its throat were scraping against each other. Then part of the shadow around its body lifted up and coiled around the horse’s remains.

The flesh of the once-living creature rapidly turned black as it melted into the snakelike shadow.

Eliane sensed what had happened intuitively. The curse had eaten the horse.

“Peter. Oh no, Peter…”

“No, no. Oh no… I’ll be next… I’ll… I’ll… Nooo…!”

Peter bit the thumbnail of his left hand and scratched madly at his head with his right. He was delusional. The adult escorting Eliane was in a complete panic, and his terror and confusion infected her, too.

“No!” she screamed. “I don’t want this! No! Not here! Not now! …I don’t want to die…!”

After absorbing the horse, the shadow slithered back to the green dragon’s body. The beast slowly turned its thick neck, then focused its eyes on Eliane and Peter’s hiding place. It had found its next prey.

It’s okay. We’re okay, thought Eliane. The trees are too dense here. A big dragon like that won’t be able to pass through…

But her tiny ray of hope was destroyed by a single flap of the green dragon’s wings.

As they rose and fell, their thick membranes created a gust of wind like an invisible blade that chopped through all the trees nearby.

Just as red dragons used fire and blue dragons water, green dragons could control the wind. And it was this ability that made them the greater counterpart of pterodragons.

“Nooo… No, no. Oh no…!”

The dark shadow coiled around the dragon lifted up again, this time crawling toward them. That shadow was the curse itself. If it touched them…well, Eliane had just seen what would happen.

“Nooooooooooooo!”

Just as Eliane forced her trembling legs to move, the green dragon flapped its wings again. A powerful gust threw her to the ground. She was trapped.

The dragon’s shadow slowly rose higher, aiming to consume them.

“Elly! …And your, uh, servant!” Suddenly, someone scooped her up in his strong arms and held her against the side of his body. “You’re not hurt, are you?!”

It was Glenn. Glenn had rescued her. He’d gotten Peter, too. He was flying low through the air, Peter under his right arm, Eliane under his left. But no matter how young and strong Glenn was, their combined weight had to be stretching him to his limit. His face was bright red.

But he kept hold of them, not letting them fall, as he flew through the dense trees, weaving between them. Flying any higher would make him an easy target for the green dragon.

The dragon flapped its wings again, this time with broader strokes, and lifted itself off the ground to pursue them. The black shadow reached out from its body like a tentacle.

It was said that one could outrun horses using flight magecraft, but Glenn was only moving a little faster than a human could run. The two people in his arms were weighing him down. Compared to when he’d picked her up during the festival play, Eliane could tell that he was less stable and more wobbly.

Keeping up the flight spell, he tried to quickly chant something else. But nothing happened. He probably wasn’t used to maintaining two spells at once.

With the shadow almost upon them, Peter shrieked. “Ah! Nooo! It’s going to reach us!”

But moments before it touched their feet, Glenn jerked in another direction, fleeing around a large tree. Keeping them airborne, he hid behind the tree, then finished his chant.

“How do you like…this?!”

A ball of fire appeared out of thin air, then soared straight toward the green dragon’s eyes. Glenn couldn’t move around with flight magecraft and use attack spells at the same time. So he’d stopped in place first, then cast his second spell. And since he’d kept them floating, he could immediately resume his low-altitude flight.

“Now’s our chance…!” Glenn groaned under the strain but managed to carry them away.

Eliane bent her neck as far as it would go to look behind them as Glenn carried her through the air.

There was a burst of flame. Beyond it, the shadow writhed, almost like a snake being burned alive.

But Eliane knew something of magecraft, and she could tell that the flame spell wasn’t very powerful. It was probably lacking in firepower because Glenn wasn’t accustomed to simultaneous casting.

But it was loud, and fire’s easy to see. Someone will realize something’s wrong…!

Then, as if her fleeting hope had cursed them, the fire dissipated. Glenn’s flame had lost to the green dragon’s wind.

Because they’d fled into a very dense part of the woods, the green dragon didn’t come after them—but the shadow did, slithering along like a cobra. And it was fast.

Glenn let out a piercing roar.

“Raaaaaaaaggghhhhh!”

Then he threw Eliane and Peter into the nearby brush. They tumbled across the mossy ground.

“Eek!”

“Ahhh!”

The branches and hard leaves cut Eliane’s soft skin and got tangled in her fluffy hair. What a way to treat a lady! I must complain to him this instant! she thought, getting up. That was when she saw it.

The black shadow had wrapped around Glenn’s leg just after he’d thrown them to the side. It slithered up from his ankle to his torso, then to his neck, then to his face. He was still in the air at that point—but then he dropped like a bird shot out of the sky.

“Aghaaaaaaahhggrrahhhhhhahahhhhhhh, gwahhhhhh!”

He let out a bloodcurdling scream. Eliane was terrified. She wanted to shut her ears against his pitiful cry.

Black shadows mottled his body. Just like with the horse’s corpse, the curse was trying to absorb Glenn.

His face, always so cheerful and lively, was now warped in agony. Eliane could only watch, trembling.

No… No, I don’t want this… No…

Half of his body had already been engulfed by the shadow. His eyes lost focus, and his mouth opened and closed as soft whimpers escaped. They weren’t cries of anguish, though—it was a last, desperate chant.

“…Guh… Burn… Burn, damn it!”

A fireball appeared in his palm and flew out of his shaking hand. With a sharp, painful noise, it struck the green dragon in the face. Unlike before, this one was very powerful.

The shadow engulfing Glenn’s body slithered back to the dragon, leaving a part of itself behind.

The dragon, however, was fine, despite taking the fireball to the face. A dragon’s scales were heat-resistant, and attacks had little effect unless directed at the spot right between their eyes.

Nevertheless, it seemed to have sensed a threat from the high-powered flame, and the green dragon—still enveloped in the snakelike curse—turned around and left.

“Are…? Are we saved…?” asked Peter as he gasped for breath.

Eliane didn’t even notice him. Legs trembling, she made her way to Glenn.

“L-Lord Glenn…?”

No response. He lay on the ground, face down, not moving. Only the remnants of the curse writhed and slithered along his body.

“No… No… You’re gonna be okay, right? Get up… Please, I’m begging you, get up…”

“Don’t touch him!”

She heard a sharp shout from behind as someone grabbed her by the scruff of her neck, like a mother cat grabbing a kitten. It was the tall young man with black hair—the Silent Witch’s attendant, Bartholomew Alexander.

“L-let go of me. Lord Glenn… Lord Glenn saved us, and then…”

“He’s cursed right now. If you touch him, it’ll spread to you, too.”

“But… But I… If I don’t do something… Lord Glenn… He’ll die…”

When she began to hiccup and whimper, Bartholomew frowned in distaste and released her. He then squatted in front of Glenn and observed the shadow engulfing his body.

“This thing works a lot faster on creatures with less mana…,” he muttered. “Yeah, I knew it. This guy’s got a lot for a human… He might have even more than my master.” He poked the shadow with a finger.

It began to crawl up his hand, then suddenly reeled away.

“Hmm. Yep, looks like I can touch it just fine.”

Bartholomew threw Glenn over his shoulder, then looked at Eliane and Peter in turn. “Anyway, let’s get back to safety. Once we’re at the mansion, call a curse expert. This is no job for an amateur.”

The hunting party had no shortage of people. In addition to Felix and Duke Rehnberg, there were eight more nobles from Ridill, plus the eight Farfolian envoys, and then everyone’s servants and escorts. Monica was pretty sure the hunt would be more efficient if they split up. But instead, everyone kept trotting around on their horses exchanging casual conversation. Rather than a real hunt, this was more of a social activity meant to deepen ties with the foreign delegation.

I suppose if we all stay together, it will make it easier for me to protect the prince…

Monica, who was accompanying them as an escort, rode sidesaddle, since her robe made it difficult to straddle the animal normally. Her staff had proved a hindrance, so she’d given it to Nero.

While she’d learned the basics of horseback riding at Serendia Academy, this was her first time riding sidesaddle. It made it difficult to trot or gallop and afforded her less stability than mounting normally. Still, she managed not to look too embarrassing—maybe the classes were coming in handy after all. If she hadn’t taken them, she’d have fallen off the horse within minutes.

It’s really cold…

Monica gripped and regripped the reins a few times, trying to get her blood flowing. It was warm in the sunlight that day, but all the shade in the forest made it uncomfortably cool. She regretted not wearing gloves.

Felix’s horse came up next to hers. His handling of the reins was as steady as ever.

He looked concerned. “Are you cold in that outfit, my lady?” he asked. “Please, use my gloves.”

Monica didn’t dare accept such an offer. She shook her head.

Just then, she heard the yelp of a hunting dog behind her, followed by a gunshot. Someone had shot a pheasant cornered by the dog.

The rifle was in the hands of Count Malé, the one who had been aggressive toward Felix during the talks. The dog returned to him, carrying the pheasant in its mouth.

Felix turned his horse to the count and smiled. “Your skill is impressive, Count Malé.”

“I’ve had a lot of years to improve… I’ve been doing this a long time, after all.”

His words were polite but somehow patronizing. In fact, there was something triumphant about his gaze as he looked back at the prince.

Felix didn’t take the bait, though. He smiled gently and looked over at the hunting dog waiting by the count’s feet. “Animals are particularly perceptive. I see the hunting dogs have recognized you as a man worthy of trust.”

The implication that the prince also trusted him made the count a bit embarrassed.

“I’d like to be a man others can respect, just as you are,” Felix continued. Monica saw the count’s nostrils twitch.

It had been some time since they’d started hunting, but Felix had barely used his rifle. He was obviously trying to let the Farfolians reap the bounty of the hunt to put them in a good mood.

Diplomacy seems really hard… Even just watching the covert maneuvering was wearing down Monica’s nerves. Privately, she sighed.

Then she heard a loud noise in the distance. It was a booming sound, like an explosion—lower and heavier than a gunshot.

“Hey! What is that?!”

The first one to raise his voice was Count Malé.

Up in the sky, in the direction of the sound, Monica saw a large dragon, its wings unfurled. Its silhouette resembled a pterodragon, but it was far bigger.

Is that…a greater dragon? A green one?! What’s it doing here?!

As the guests began to panic, Felix soothed his horse and called out to those around him. “Please, remain calm. It doesn’t seem like the dragon is coming this way. We should stay quiet and head back to the rest area. The women may be worried.”

Felix’s composed words served to calm down the party, if only a little. Meanwhile, Monica clutched the front of her robe near the chest. She had a bad feeling about this. That loud noise she’d just heard was probably an attack of Glenn’s—Nero couldn’t use magecraft, after all.

Quickly, she calculated the distance and direction of the rest area from their current position. The sound didn’t come from there… Is Glenn acting on his own? What’s Nero doing?

As if to answer her questions, someone riding a horse approached them from the direction of the rest area. Atop the saddle was a man with deep, pronounced features and combed-back black hair—Bartholomeus.

“Apologies for not dismounting,” he said quickly, his voice strained. “I have a message from the boss—er, the Silent Witch’s attendant, Lord Alexander! He says… Something bad is coming. Something real, real bad!”

The message was careless but very like Nero. He was leaving it up to Monica to figure out what to do about the approaching danger.

Duke Rehnberg, a man who easily faded into the background, patted the sweat on his face with a handkerchief. “Did Lord Alexander say exactly what was approaching?” he asked. “Though I suppose he probably means the dragon.”

“Uhhh…” Bartholomeus hesitated for a moment. “According to him, it’s something…extremely close to a dragon.”

This uncharacteristically vague expression from Nero only made Monica’s heart beat faster.

When the hunting party returned to the rest area, they found it in chaos. The servants were all petrified, and Eliane was sobbing. And there on the ground lay Glenn, his entire body engulfed in a black haze, his face pale, his body limp.

Amid the confusion, the Duchess of Rehnberg—normally so unassuming—was quickly and clearly handing out instructions to the servants.

“Send an urgent post to the capital. You may use my husband’s name. If anything happens, I will take responsibility. You, there—go back to the estate and get the doctor.”

The duchess glanced at Eliane, still crying next to her, and gave her a sharp scolding. “How long are you going to keep that up, Eliane? Tears won’t help anything. If you’ve nothing else to do, at least get into a carriage so you’re not in the way.”

Finally, Eliane broke down into full-blown sobs.

The normally timid duke ran up to his wife. “…Wh-what is this? What happened?”

“A cursed dragon, dear. Lord Dudley was cursed protecting Eliane.”

A cursed dragon. Those words seemed to freeze the air around them.

Cursed dragons were semi-mythical creatures. Nobody here had ever seen one before. But people still spoke of the towns they’d destroyed in the past.

The term referred to any dragon under the effect of a curse, but the nature of these curses was not fully understood, even in modern times. This was because while curses were natural phenomena, they were extremely rare.

Shamanic techniques used magecraft to create curses and control them—a field known as cursecraft. Shamans specialized in this area, though there were very few of them. Ray Albright, the Abyss Shaman of the Seven Sages, was one such practitioner.

House Albright kept tight control over all knowledge of curses and cursecraft. In other words, even Monica—another Sage—knew almost nothing about the topic.

“Hey. You’re back.”

As Monica got off her horse, Nero walked over to her; he’d been watching Glenn.

Before she could open her mouth, Felix dismounted and said, “Thanks for notifying us of the danger. How is Dudley doing?”

“Real bad,” said Nero. “A normal guy would’ve been toast by now. But he’s got a high mana capacity, so he’s just barely holding out against the curse… Don’t touch him, no matter what. You’ll catch the curse.”

“Then how are we to carry him?”

“I can touch him. ’Cause I’m great and all that.”

As she listened to their exchange, Monica cast a detection spell without chanting and observed Glenn. A black, ribbonlike shadow was wrapped around his body—this was the curse. It changed in shape from moment to moment, like a serpent crawling across his skin.

The curse is trying to absorb him, but his mana is just barely managing to stop it… That must mean mana is resistant to it, to some extent. But I don’t think a regular defensive barrier will block it out completely. If I were to compose a formula specifically to counteract it…and since cursecraft has similar properties to dark-aspected magecraft…

But then someone shrieked, interrupting her train of thought. It was Peter, the gray-haired servant.

“Dra… Drag… Dragon!” he yelled, pointing. Then he screamed. “Aaahhhhhhhhhh!”

The green dragon, its body mottled with black, was soaring toward them through the sky. As it spread its wings, Monica realized it was as big as her mountain cabin. And as it flew, it carried with it a gust of wind laced with mana and that black, ribbonlike shadow. If its attack hit her dead-on, she wouldn’t stand a chance.

Immediately, she used unchanted magecraft to create a defensive barrier. But while it could block the dragon’s physical momentum and the wind, it couldn’t block the curse.

Her concerns had proved justified; the shadow slithering over the green dragon lifted up and off its body and attacked them from overhead. It easily made it through Monica’s barrier.

While those around her cried out in hopelessness, Monica picked up her staff from where it lay on the ground and activated a magecraft formula she’d just come up with. The decorations on the staff jingled.

Please work…!

The hastily devised formula was meant to create a defensive barrier that would block curses. Her theory was full of holes, and normally Monica would never use an unverified spell in live combat. But there was no time now to worry about appearances.

Her desperate attempt at an anti-curse barrier successfully activated and repelled the black shadow. It had worked. Her improvised barrier was effective.

Nearby, she heard people sighing in relief, but Monica paled. The situation was hopeless.

This won’t work. I can’t attack like this!

Monica could only maintain two spells at once. And right now, she was already using two: the regular barrier to block the dragon’s physical assault, and the second to stave off the curse. That meant she couldn’t launch any attacks of her own.

Some people in the group were carrying hunting rifles, but her regular barrier would block the bullets. Unless there was a mage who could use attack magic from outside the barriers, they would have no way to mount an offensive. And the only person here who could feasibly use attack magecraft strong enough to deal a fatal blow to the dragon was Glenn, who was currently unconscious.

I need more attack options…!

Meanwhile, the black shadow never waned in strength—far from it. It was now eating through her barrier. The spell was untested; of course it had holes to exploit. It was only a matter of time before the curse broke through and they lost. What’s more, Monica couldn’t maintain a barrier spell for that long to begin with.

Mister Louis could have combined the two barriers into one and made them stronger and sturdier, but I can’t!

The Barrier Mage was a genius who could imbue a barrier with multiple effects. If he’d been here, he could have combined Monica’s barriers into a single one of his own, then used his free hand to cast offensive magecraft.

Monica’s ability to cast spells without chanting was so powerful because it took so little time. As long as she could seize the initiative, she was practically invincible. But when she was on the back foot, locked in a defensive battle, she lost her advantage. And that was just what was happening now.

I have to do something. Anything… I’m one of the Seven Sages. I’m the Silent Witch…!

She wanted to get everyone away from here, at least. However, the barriers she had up were hemispheres. While they protected everyone inside them, they also locked them in, preventing escape.

Could I expand the barrier to the rear, then get everyone as far away as possible? No, if I expand them any more than this, they’ll lose strength… Should I momentarily disengage the normal barrier and use an attack spell? But if I don’t block the green dragon’s wind blades, people could be killed…!

It was hopeless. She felt like she’d been deadlocked in a game of chess. She considered option after option, but none of them would be enough to put her enemy in check.

Something… Anything…

Then, as Monica racked her brain in desperation, someone began to move.

It was Felix. He walked up to Monica where she stood, staff aloft, maintaining her barriers.

No, Prince! It’s not safe! Stay back…! she cried out in her mind.

Next to her, Felix readied his hunting rifle. “Can you partially disengage your regular defensive barrier, my lady? A hole the size of a fist would do.”

Monica realized what Felix was up to, and his recklessness left her shocked. Still, she nodded. As he faced down the cursed dragon, he wore the same calm smile as he did in the student council room. With practiced motions, he took aim with his rifle.

“I’ll shoot it between the eyes.”

Monica instantly used the angle of the rifle to measure the bullet’s trajectory, then opened a fist-sized hole in the barrier to let it through.

Felix squeezed the trigger.

Bang! The gunshot came from right next to her, causing Monica to cringe away for a moment. A sulfuric odor attacked her nose.

“…Ooooaaanhhhhhh-ahhhhhh, ahhhhhhhh!”

The green dragon, shot right between the eyes, let out one last roar and fell to the ground. When she heard it, Monica froze.

Was that just—?

She looked at the fallen green dragon, but it was already an unspeaking corpse. The black shadow clinging to the creature, too, immediately stopped moving.

“Thank you for believing in me, Lady Everett,” said Felix with a smile as he lowered the muzzle of his rifle.

People around them cheered. “Prince Felix and the Silent Witch have slain a legendary cursed dragon!”

But Monica wasn’t listening to their cries of adulation, nor to Felix’s honeyed voice.

All she could think of were the dragon’s dying words.