CHAPTER 9: YOU ARE FREE (2)

"I understand, which of you need to have his curse removed then?"

Those words bring joy and happiness to Seraphin's heart. There is a monster in front of her, its eyes are scary enough to make her faint at any moment and yet, just because it said that it could possibly help her, everything else becomes useless.

Only Hithindil is feeling oppressed. He cannot even look at the monsters in front of him, feeling the extreme pressure and strength coming from them.

'How does he do to speak to them?'

How does the stranger manage to even open his mouth? That is something Hithindil couldn't understand at all.

"It is this girl over here. She has received the blessing of a dark god."

The stranger says something strange. He was already strange but what he said just now makes him look even more bizarre. Hithindil's face becomes pale and weird as he hears that. He thought his daughter didn't receive any blessing because she was cursed but to have received a blessing from a dark god is something else entirely.

"…"

The old woman's eyes start shining for a moment while she looks at Seraphin. A moment of silence like a storm would come at any moment. Then she strikes her cane on the ground and the barrier the stranger has made disappeared, like it was never there, to begin with.

"In any case, let's go to the village first."

The old woman turns around and starts walking, the young man looks completely outraged by her decision but doesn't voice any complaints and starts walking behind her.

"Let's go, then?" The stranger extends his hand to Seraphin who is still kneeling on the ground. She hesitates a bit then brushes it off. Still, because she had been kneeling the whole time, her knees turned weak. Standing up a bit too fast and with weak knees, She falls on the stranger's chest. "There are times and places for this, don't you think?"

Seraphin pushes him away. Her red cheeks and ears made her look even cuter.

'Yeah, she is still a little girl.' Hithindil was watching the whole scene, bewildered by the stranger's ability to act like the situation is not serious at all.

***

"Here we are."

After one hour of walking through the ugly and cursed trees, the group reaches the village. Lekas only saw the village once, when the draigs tried to negotiate a peace treaty with him. Though it only resulted in their doom since Cald'h is not one to negotiate.

As they enter the village, people start to come out of small huts all around, and in less than a minute, thousands of ugly and bizarre-looking people are looking at them. Such a scene would scare any normal human, which is why Seraphin and her father cannot help shaking. They even hold each other's hands, making the ugly draigs smile and mock them. Only the stranger is walking like he owns the place.

At the center of the village, a gigantic hut large enough to rival a castle. The old woman enters it first then the guests, followed by the young man who was with her. Inside, there is a big chair at the end of the hut and pillows all around.

'I see, this is their church, sort of.' The stranger sands in the middle of the hut, together with the two others, a dim light passing through a window enlighten them.

"So, you wish to remove the blessing of the dark god. But what about compensation?"

After the young man walks to her, the old woman starts speaking again. But with a serene voice this time.

"I think I have the necessary."

"Meaning?"

The stranger waves his hand in the air and suddenly, a black hole appears from nowhere. Everybody shudders from that sight, even the old draig. She had never seen spatial magic before, after all. Lekas had mastered spatial magic right before his death, about a year before. Even though, Silphanie and Eldor who had created and mastered this magic a long ago spent a long time teaching him, it wasn't easy to understand and enter the realm of geniuses.

From the black hole, a heart comes out. It is a drake's heart. Lekas takes it in his hand and presents it to the draig.

"Drakes' hearts. They are powerful mediums in order to transfer curses. But you guys haven't been able to obtain them for a long time because of the insane dragon Culxis, right?"

At his words, the old draig stands up from her chair, her eyes shining purple, like jewels. Everything the stranger said just now is true, for more than a hundred years now, the draigs weren't able to hunt drakes, even though their bodies require drake's blood and flesh to be maintained. Not only that, their bones and hearts are the most compatible mediums.

They can be used to transfer curses and make sure that the new generation could inherit the old one's powers. Their situation now is so dire that they are on the verge of extinction. Not only that but thousands of potent curses have been lost already, among which even the curse of sloth that they had removed a long time ago, due to one of their ancestors dying. But how does the stranger know so much about them? Did the high vampire from that day really teach him?

'No, even if it is not the case, this is too good of an opportunity to let it pass.'

"Stranger, we will accept your offer. I will personally conduct the ritual right now if you wish."

"Yes, that would be good."

"But, just one heart won't be enough to remove a blessing so powerful. I will need at least twenty or so. As well as-"

"I told you I have everything. You don't have to worry."

Saying so, Lekas opens the black hole again and this time, hearts, skulls, bones start to pour out of it, falling to the ground.

"Stupid, don't drop them like that or you will damage them!"

The old draig runs to the hearts without care about her status. Yes, that is how desperate she is to obtain them. Lekas starts to pick them up as well and then looks at the old draig. Her sweating face and a large smile. He is trying to analyze if it is safe to deal with her or not.

'Well, worst case, I can just use Judgment and flee with them.'