“Did the Prince fall over there?”
As Acella looked down the cliff, her face turned pale.
The Central Fortress was deliberately built in the deep ravine for defense.
The pitch-black darkness obscured her view, making it impossible to gauge where the ground was.
The rocks of the mountain seemed to gaping as if they were greedily waiting to swallow anything that fell.
“No!”
Acella covered her mouth.
There was no way a person could survive falling down such a place without any protection.
As the obvious truth sank in, blood rushed to her head, turning her vision crimson.
“Tanya! Why was the Prince fighting the barbarians? He was unarmed!”
Acella stormed toward Tanya, fuming.
“That’s…,”
Tanya passed on the situation to Acella.
She explained how she hadn’t managed to catch Lars, who had thrown himself to save the boy.
“What did you say…!”
Smack!
Unable to contain her anger, Acella slapped Tanya across the face.
Tanya accepted Acella’s hand with the calmness of someone who knew it was expected.
She too had sensed Lars’s impending death. It was a failure to protect her lord; a disgrace to the knights.
If only she had shown more interest in the royal knighthood and had not actively involved herself on the battlefield, this might not have happened.
Lars should not have died in a place like this. A single mistake from a mere knight ruined everything.
Tanya ached inside, but she knew very well that nobody was more in pain than Acella, so she hid her emotions.
“What were you doing not guarding the Prince?”
“I’m sorry.”
“You useless…!”
Acella hurled curses at Tanya.
The golden mana flickering in her furious eyes wasn’t the only thing aglow.
Acella knew that such actions were utterly futile.
Even so, she found herself unable to contain her boiling emotions.
She didn’t even know what this feeling was.
This was a kind of sensation she had never felt before.
Loss.
Lars, who she had thought would always be by her side, was gone.
Something she had never even imagined.
Starting tonight, she wouldn’t be able to sleep beside him, nor wake to his face in the morning.
Moreover, today was the end of the month.
From next year onward, she wouldn’t get to hear his pathetic jokes or frivolous banter anymore.
No matter how much she denied it inside, the truth that she was standing here, awake and breathing, wouldn’t change.
Was this the price of her arrogance in seeing the future with Clairvoyance?
In every future she saw, Lars was alive.
Five years later, six years later, he was living fine.
Was he merely surviving?
She knew the visions did not lead to a future that would continue in reality.
Yet, she had let her guard down.
The battlefield was dangerous, but she half-heartedly disregarded Lars’s advice to protect her body.
Subconsciously, she believed that neither she nor Lars would die before she became the Empress.
So, she had easily granted his request to venture onto the battlefield.
That shouldn’t have happened.
No, at this moment, all such thoughts were useless.
What other action could be as meaningless as regret?
Yet her neurons continued to chase after pointless thoughts and assumptions.
Acella realized that the rising anger was directed at herself.
She understood, but didn’t want to accept it.
So, she had to take it all out on Tanya, who stood before her.
She needed to blame her. If she didn’t, it would feel as though she had killed Lars herself.
…No.
No matter how much she blamed her, there was no chance of Lars returning.
“…Hah.”
Acella withdrew her hand and turned her back on Tanya.
She silently walked away.
The knights held their breath as they gazed at their lord.
In that moment,
“Aaaaah!!”
Acella screamed, clenching her hands tightly.
BOOM!!
The mana instinctively released by her exploded around her, leaving a massive crack in the ground.
*
The corpse of the Chieftain of the Rock Tribe sprawled in the snow was not something one would want to approach.
After all, Tanya had neatly severed his neck just before he fell.
Thanks to that, his artifact in necklace form was lying a few meters away.
Maybe it was good that she didn’t have to touch the corpse?
“It’s a legendary one. Normally, even if you subdue this guy, it would belong to the Empire.”
As I picked up the necklace, information appeared in the Status Window.
―――――――――――
· Amulet of the Dark Avatar
– Legendary Artifact
– Usage Effect: Creates or manipulates curses below advanced level.
– Related Artifact: Eternal Storm Stone
―――――――――――
The Chieftain of the Rock Tribe was only pretending to be a sorcerer; he lacked the ability to create powerful sorcery on his own.
Barbarians are fundamentally like that. Since sorcery falls under the category of curses, it ultimately requires magical power.
The Chieftain was able to use powerful enhancement sorcery thanks to this artifact.
“With the ability to create advanced curses, he probably reinforced himself with sorcery.”
Acella had once used this artifact to create curses to bring about the end of the world.
“Such is life. If it weren’t for falling down here, I wouldn’t be able to pick up something like this.”
Though artifacts themselves are rare, legendary ones are even rarer.
The [Holy Grail of Revelation] that had unlocked my talents was only an epic-level artifact, one rung below legendary.
“I could change my fate just by selling this.”
That said, I couldn’t really sell this necklace.
It’s an artifact capable of generating high-level curses at will; if it fell into the hands of a black magician or the Demon King’s army, it would create more troublesome issues.
The last line of the description caught my attention.
“Related Artifact: Eternal Storm Stone.”
There was a groove in the middle of the necklace.
It seemed to be designed to fit a matching piece perfectly.
“I remember that the Chieftain of the Thunder Tribe had the Storm Stone.”
It looked like these artifacts were somehow divided among the barbarian tribes from some ancient altar.
Maybe it had been passed down through generations to the chieftains.
“What will happen if I combine the two?”
I read the related description in the Status Window.
―――――――――――
· Amulet of the Storming Dark Avatar
– Mythical Artifact
– Usage Effect: Creates or manipulates curses below supreme level.
―――――――――――
“It becomes mythical.”
The effect was straightforward.
The limit that could create advanced curses would rise to supreme level.
It was truly becoming a curse master.
“Black magicians are going to love this.”
Another noticeable effect was the part about ‘manipulating’ curses.
“It likely means I’ll be able to control curses that have already been created and are in operation.”
A specific application came to mind immediately.
It was Acella’s upcoming debuff removal surgery.
According to Hugo, there’s a curse or a soul inducing a curse inside Acella.
Just like that time I helped the chieftain, if she goes berserk during the procedure, things could become difficult.
Good thing Hugo was quick with his hands.
Considering I’d have to help her while performing surgery on her abdomen, it would be even more dangerous.
I could suppress the chaos of the curse rampaging at that moment.
“This is it!”
I’ll be able to put this to good use.
I wiped the necklace to remove the chieftain’s smell and put it around my neck.
“Hm.”
Surprisingly, there wasn’t any significant change.
The only difference was that the sensation in my fingertips became more acute.
Since it’s an important artifact that I can’t afford to lose, I should probably keep it around my neck for a while.
To set a specific surgical plan and establish the order of artifact usage, I need to identify the curse’s grade and type within Acella.
“Skill.”
―――――――――――
· [Emergency Treatment C] has ranked up to [Emergency Treatment B].
· [Prescription C] has ranked up to [Prescription B].
· You can learn a new skill.
―――――――――――
“Great.”
Thanks to volunteering and the experience gained in this battle, my skill rank has increased.
Currently, the options are [CT Scan], [MRI], and [Laparoscopic Surgery].
Which one should I acquire?
“Understanding Acella’s curse is the top priority. Hugo also needs time for research.”
To get a more three-dimensional view of the interior, an MRI using high frequency would be advantageous.
However, Acella’s affected area is in her abdomen, specifically with the organs. Generally, CT is preferable in this case.
“Research shows that the accuracy is similar for most diseases. Though X-rays carry a low chance of side effects.”
Hugo needs various photos of subjects to analyze the curse.
Ideally, he’d want them taken from multiple angles.
“Let’s go with the MRI.”
Having decided, I quickly touched the Status Window to complete the skill acquisition.
“Now, the problem is I need to return to experiment with the skills or artifacts.”
The cliff still towered endlessly above me.
“Hey—!”
I yelled, but the gust of wind blowing through the ravine swallowed my voice.
“I hope they don’t think I’m dead and leave.”
If it were Tanya, she’d surely come down at least once, even if it meant bringing my corpse back.
But I can’t just stand here in this cold snowfield for hours either.
“Here’s what I’ll do.”
The ground was a sea of white snow that I could sink into deeply.
I moved for a while to carve out a large letter that anyone could see saying ‘I’m alive!’
It spanned a radius of about 20 meters; surely, they wouldn’t miss it.
“I need to rest a bit. I’ve used up all my Divine Power.”
I began to search for a gap between the cliffs to move my body.
Fortunately, not long after, I found a cave where I could warm myself inside.
Not knowing when the rescue team would arrive, I decided to wait with my eyes open.
“Phew.”
Alone in the great outdoors, my breath steadied a little.
It wouldn’t be a long rest, so I decided to enjoy it as best as I could.
Tanya would likely come down before long.
“They might think I’m dead.”
Tanya, Chloe, Hugo, my Healers are probably quite worried.
As for Acella, well, I wondered what she was doing.
*
“Rescue team has been assembled.”
“We’re starting the descent.”
Tanya stood before the cliff, tied to thirty knights of the Moonlight Palace with ropes around their waists.
At the Central Fortress, the 1st Regiment had guided the evacuated refugees and count to the Southern Fortress.
Tanya had no intention of joining them; she planned to go down into the ravine.
The hope that Lars was alive was effectively nonexistent.
To her, there was a duty to bring back at least his corpse to the Viscount’s family.
Just as Tanya was about to take a step, someone took a step forward beside her.
“Let’s go.”
Acella, fully armored, tied a rope around her waist and commanded.
Tanya was startled and tried to stop her.
“Princess, Your Highness.”
Acella shot Tanya a piercing glare, sharply repeating,
“Did you not hear me? Let’s go.”
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