“Oh dear, Laila!”

Eustar quickly moved to support Laila, but she pushed him away. She felt like she might vomit everything in her stomach onto his clothes if she wasn’t careful. She only realized later that she hadn’t eaten much, so there wasn’t much to throw up anyway.

“Here, Laila.”

Laila frowned and shook her head at the orange cube resting on Eustar’s palm. Though her vision was blurry and her insides felt twisted, she didn’t want to eat that.

“I’m fine, I think I’ll be okay in a moment…”

Laila muttered, nearly prostrate on the floor. Eustar crouched beside her with a perplexed and worried expression.

“Your motion sickness is lasting unusually long, Laila. It seems you’re quite sensitive to magical energy.”

Laila turned only her eyes, keeping her cheek pressed to the cold floor. She thought her current state must be quite a sight, but staying like this made her dizziness and nausea slowly fade.

“How funny. A witch sensitive to magic.”

“The magical energy used to power Tentinella is refined. The magic used by mages is in its natural state. Perhaps Laila has only been exposed to natural magic for so long that it takes time to adjust to refined magic.”

Laila blinked and let out a long sigh.

“I don’t understand a word you’re saying.”

Eustar laughed briefly. Just then, they heard hurried footsteps approaching with large strides. Laila slowly raised herself upon hearing a man’s voice exclaim “Oh!”

Laila’s expression became strangely rigid as she lifted her gaze to see the surprised face of the man looking at her.

The man was tall. Almost as tall as Eustar. The black, angular priestly garments suited his broad shoulders perfectly. His dark, curly blonde hair and drooping eyes reminded one of a gentle, large dog.

“Can you stand?”

The man extended his hand, but Laila stared at it as if it were covered in blood and stood up on her own. Then, pressing her still-queasy stomach with her fingertips, she stepped back a couple paces.

“You must be a priest.”

Laila said. Eustar had expected her to react this way, but he watched their first meeting with interest without adding any explanation.

The man smiled. Surprisingly, his smile made him look even gentler. He seemed like someone who would believe everything in the world was beautiful and all humans were born with good natures… In other words, not the type likely to get along well with Laila.

He said:

“I am Marnak Deyamer. I serve as the head of the Adiak branch.”

After saying this, Marnak briefly assumed a posture of prayer, fingers interlaced. No, it wasn’t just a posture. He actually prayed for a moment.

Eustar whispered:

“You can call him Marnak. ‘Deyamer’ is a surname given commonly to priests.”

Laila glanced at him.

“A commonly given surname?”

Then Marnak, having finished his prayer, said in a gentle voice:

“That’s right. When Sierow’s priests undergo the ordination ceremony, they swear to abandon all their worldly lives. Only by giving up the surname received from one’s birth parents, as well as all rights held in the secular world, can one finally gain the qualification to stand before the main god Sercita and the other gods of Sierow.”

Laila listened to his words with a sour expression. Though her motion sickness had now subsided and she felt comfortable, she wasn’t comfortable with facing a priest who looked at her as if she were a lost lamb.

Marnak said:

“May I ask your name, sister?”

Laila looked at him with somewhat gloomy eyes.

“I’m not your sister. I can’t even be such a thing. As you can see.”

At this, Marnak gazed steadily at Laila with a gentle smile. Though Eustar smiled often too, Marnak’s smile was… how to put it, different from Eustar’s.

No, Laila thought, no one else could smile like that.

It was a smile that gave a sense of relief, like a lamp suddenly lighting up when you’re crying and wandering in a pitch-black place. Although for Laila, a witch, it brought discomfort along with that relief…

“All people are my brothers and sisters. They are my parents and teachers, and also disciples I must guide. So you too are my sister. What you are doesn’t matter at all. Sercita and the five gods who assist him don’t care for or abandon humans based on their type.”

Laila flinched at Marnak’s accepting words as if stung by nettles, but after taking a deep breath, she soon extended her right hand. After all, she couldn’t dawdle here just because the branch head was a priest.

“I’m Laila Kristrad.”

“Miss Kristrad.”

Marnak’s hand was large and warm, and though he gripped firmly, it didn’t feel threatening.

Eustar and Laila followed Marnak into the Adiak branch. Like other places Laila had seen, there were machines of unclear purpose and low noises here too.

However, the spotless white walls, soft feather-shaped wainscoting, and light filtering through the arched roof and column decorations gave an atmosphere reminiscent of a temple.

“Are you uncomfortable, Laila?”

Eustar whispered in a playful voice. Laila glanced at him with a slightly sulky expression.

“Fortunately not, Eustar. Just because I’m a witch doesn’t mean I vomit as soon as I enter a temple. This isn’t the Dark Ages, after all.”

Eustar burst out laughing.

“Witches in the Dark Ages wouldn’t have done that either.”

“That’s just a manner of speaking. Anyway… I’m fine. Thanks for your concern.”

Marnak led them down the branch’s corridor for quite a while. He exchanged a few words with Eustar and also spoke to Laila, but as they went deeper into the corridor, his face grew increasingly shadowed.

Eustar said:

“It seems about time you told us what the problem is, Marnak.”

Marnak glanced back briefly and let out a short sigh.

“Yes, Eustar. As I mentioned… a small-scale sync was detected, and we dispatched a team. But…”

Marnak’s pace slowed slightly. An indescribable anguish could be felt from his broad back.

“The sync disappeared when the team approached.”

Eustar furrowed his brow.

“The sync disappeared?”

“To be precise, it didn’t disappear, but briefly concealed itself. It repeats appearing when the team approaches within a certain range, and disappearing when they go beyond that range.”

“Sounds like hide-and-seek.”

Laila blurted out.

Marnak nodded.

“Similar. We can’t directly approach the sync no matter what method we use.”

“Has anything come out of the sync?”

“We haven’t found out yet. Unlike magical beasts or ghosts that usually emerge from syncs and linger around them, this… has never shown itself even once.”

“Tracking?”

“It’s in progress, but there’s no progress.”

Marnak only stopped walking when he reached the end of the corridor. There was a room there, and unlike other places, its walls were transparent so the inside could be seen.

“That person…”

Laila’s hand touched the transparent wall. There was a man inside the room. His emaciated body was clothed in garments covered in traces of tearing, and he was endlessly scratching his exposed knee with his nails through his tattered trousers.

Marnak said:

“He’s a villager. He used to run a small shop, but yesterday he came to the headquarters in a state of panic.”

According to him, the man was already covered in wounds all over his body and completely out of his mind. And he kept repeating only one phrase over and over. Even now.

“He said the seeker is coming after him.”

Eustar gave a hollow laugh. Blood could be seen flowing from the man’s knee.

“Did he really play hide-and-seek or something?”

Marnak sighed.

“We don’t know. But even now, he’s still repeating the same words. And he’s extremely afraid. So we’re temporarily protecting him.”

Laila asked:

“Isn’t it rather dangerous to keep him in such a visible place?”

Marnak shook his head with a faint smile.

“Not at all. Magical beasts and other evil things can’t enter this place. We just needed to keep watch over him. In case…”

“It would be troublesome if he died.”

Eustar’s voice was colder than Laila had ever heard before. Moreover, the way he looked at the man was different from his usual self.

Something’s off. Laila stared blankly at the man scratching his knee, lost in thought. His skin was almost completely gone, looking like the bones would be exposed soon.

Something…

“That man is under some kind of curse.”

Eustar and Marnak both looked at Laila at the same time.

“A curse, Laila?”

Instead of answering, Laila leaned her head closer to the wall. Something seemed visible, yet not quite… It wasn’t clear, but…

“Miss Kristrad, how did you know?”

Marnak asked. Laila stepped back a couple paces, then stared intently at the man who flinched as if from something invisible.

“I heard about it from my mother. When she was alive… But I don’t know how to see curses accurately. I never learned.”

“If you could see the curse, would you be able to break it?”

Laila nodded ambiguously.

“As far as I know, yes, Eustar.”

She turned to face the two men.

“A curse is like a tangled thread, or scattered puzzle pieces. At least… that’s what I’ve heard. So if you can see it, you can break it. But I can only sense that this man is cursed, I can’t see it. If I could see it clearly, I might be able to find a way somehow, but it’s difficult as things stand.”

Could I force it? For a moment, Laila wondered if she could use her ability on a living person. To open up his core. Then maybe she could find a clue somewhere…

—No, Laila. That’s not a good idea. Absolutely not.

Laila whirled around to face Eustar.

“What did you just say, Eustar?”

Eustar looked down at Laila with a puzzled expression and asked back:

“Laila?”

“You just spoke to me. You said it’s not a good idea.”