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< Curse Play (Part 3) >

The captain ran out of the guard post, and went straight to where Zin and Leona were staying.

—Bang! —"You son of a bitch!" The captain kicked open the wooden door and appeared in front of them. Zin was cleaning his weapons, and Leona was observing Zin. The captain did not pay attention to the parts of the gun.

"You bastard! What have you done to me?"

"I told you, it's a curse. And you told me that you don't believe in such things." Zin stared back at the captain as he answered calmly. Zin was able to figure out what had happened to the captain by looking at the wound on his cheek.

"Shouldn't you be thinking that what you experienced is just a coincidence? If you are getting mad at me, I assume that you do actually believe in sorcery?"

"That…" By agreeing to Zin, it would mean that the captain would be admitting his loss.

"It's one way or the other. You could brush it off as a coincidence, or admit that the curse is in effect. If you are admitting that the sorcery is for real, pay me the chips, and get lost."

"You… you think I'm going to fall for your hoax?!"

—Bang! —

"Ouch!" As the captain kicked the door and walked out, he seemed to have stepped on a nail and yelled out.

Leona started giggling, "Shouldn't he know that something weird is happening to him? Why is he refusing to admit it?"

"There are different types of belief." Zin was cleaning his weapons with a cloth, and smiled as he oiled the parts. He had not slowed down with the job while he was talking. In a leisurely manner, he had decided to repair and check all his weapons. He had to efficiently use his down time.

"He strongly believes that sorcery is fake." Having blind faith meant that someone either believed in something or did not believe in something, without any question. In a sense, the captain was extreme. As Zin finished checking on his automatic shotgun, he reassembled it and put it back into the void storage. Leona was always fascinated with the weapons that Zin had.

"You are not going to show me anymore?"

"We will get busy soon."

"Hmm? We're going to get busy? What do you mean? Aren't we done with our job?"

Zin slowly stood up as he watched the residents passed by the inn.

"I am going to start a small gig."

"A gig?"

"What are we going to do during downtime anyways? We should earn some chips."

They were not going to be able to leave the castle for the next four days, and Zin was not planning to waste the time doing nothing.

Zin grabbed a spot, laid a mat, and sat down on it. Leona did not know what Zin was planning to do, but she was able to figure it out when a local woman appeared in front of them, looking scared.

"Excuse me… Mr. Sorcerer? Can I talk with you for a brief moment?"

Leona was able to see what was going on, and Zin answered with a nod. "Come on in."

"Thank you, sir!"

Sorcerers were feared by people. But at times, there were desperate people who needed to visit a sorcerer for help.

The woman brought a young kid with her. With a desperate look, she sat in front of Zin, and started talking about her situation.

"My kid kept on saying that his tummy's been hurting…"

"It looks like he's been hurting for a while."

"Right! How did you know?" The woman was surprised at Zin's words.

Zin thought to himself, Well, if it's a minor pain, you would not have come to me in the first place… you must be visiting me because the pain was persistent.

Zin kept on staring at the terrified young kid. It seemed like the kid was going to pee at any given moment. Leona was watching Zin and wondering what he was going to do.

"For the next four days, do not talk to the kid. Only feed him food and let him sleep. Treat him as if he didn't exist. I will notify the lord, so please don't bring him to daily gatherings such as the dining hall or the night time roll call. Then the spirit will lose interest in the kid and leave him alone."

"Will that be sufficient?"

"That will be enough. This spirit is a weak one. And, I need to perform a simple ceremony over the kid, so please stay outside. Stay away from the building and cover your eyes and ears. If you don't follow my directions, the spirit may get into your body."

"Yes, yes sir!" The woman rushed out of the inn, and the kid was left alone. The kid didn't know what to do, and was edging away from Zin.

"Kid. Come closer."

"Yes? Okay…"

The kid was about to cry as he slowly walked up to Zin. Zin whispered into the ears of the kid.

"I told a lie to your mom."

"What?"

"Don't act like you are sick."

"!" As Zin spoke, the kid became frightened.

"If you keep on acting as if you are sick, a spirit will indeed get into your body, and you will get very sick. And remember this. A spirit can easily kill a kid like you."

"I'm so sorry!"

"You will be able to play freely for the next four days. So go and play as much as you would like. But don't act like you are sick. If you pretend to be sick, you will actually get sick, and the spirit will put you in pain. And I'm not lying about this. Do you understand?"

"Yes, yes! I will never do it again!"

"Okay. Now go out and bring your mom back."

The kid rushed outside and brought his mom back.

"The ceremony has finished."

"What much do I need to pay…"

"Eh, hmmm. Just pay however much you feel like paying."

It was widely known that one should not talk with a sorcerer without paying the sorcerer their consultation fee. The woman was in a dilemma as she was not sure how much she had to pay a real sorcerer.

She didn't have much to pay, but at the same time, she was worried that the sorcerer would get mad at the small pay.

However, she wanted to be freed from the terror. The woman left five chips, and after saying thank you several times, she left the inn. It was not possible for individuals to save up a lot of chips in the castle, and five chips was not a small amount.

As the woman walked out with the kid, Leona looked at Zin in disbelief. "Was this a hoax?"

"Yes, everything about it."

"… Shouldn't you stop lying? How are you going to deal with the consequences of cheating people?"

"Pretending to be sick is a very bad habit a kid can have. Didn't I just solve a problem for the family?"

"Well, you are really sneaky… But how did you know that he was acting sick?"

"In Jule, kids also take part in labor." Zin noticed that while observing the castle. Zin was always aware of small details.

"It's natural that kids to not want to work. And the only way to be excused from work is being sick."

"Wow…"

"And it was somewhat obvious that he was acting sick based on his behavior in front of me."

Psychic reading depended heavily on intuition. A psychic would be able to infer the facts based on the past habits and present actions. A psychic would gain the trust of the client, and the client would trust in the fortune telling of the psychic.

Psychic reading seemed to be a hoax, but it was pretty effective in the post-apocalyptic era.

Leona looked at Zin with disgust initially, but then opened her eyes wide and nodded.

"Now that I listen to you… mister, you are so cool."

"Well, it's too bad that you are finally admitting that fact."

"… but you are still act like a punk."

Leona thought that Zin was amazing to figure out what the situation was about based on different observations.

Zin was not the worst con artist, in the sense that he actually solved problems for the people. Leona was wondering whether she should be calling Zin a real hunter or not.

In the past couple of days, he had cast sorcery which would cause horrific epidemics, and now he was acting as a psychic reader.

There was a reason why Zin was able to still survive even though he had lived for so long!

"It is always hard to get the first customer. Now people will start flooding in."

At this moment, the guard captain was having trouble with misfortune, and Zin's credibility had been proven to many people.

After the first resident stopped by Zin for help, people learned that Zin was not a sorcerer that ate humans alive. It was only a matter of time before more people were going to visit Zin for help.

Many residents had to work on a schedule, but they also had free time available. Many of them were too afraid of Zin to come visit the inn. Many were frightened by the eerie ceremony that Zin performed the last night. But after the woman, his first client, came back with a bright smile, they started to ask her about Zin.

After that, many people started to line up in front of the inn during the free time between dinner and bedtime.

"My ankle is sore these days…"

"Grind this black herb and mix it up with water and a chip. Make a paste out of it, and apply on your ankle for a week. Make sure you use that specific black herb."

"I have been suffering nightmares these past few days…"

"Every night, infuse the water with a chestnut and a jujube, and drink the water before going to sleep. You should eat the chestnut and the jujube right before going to bed. But there should be no light coming into the room. Remember this. No light in the room whatsoever."

The psychic reading that Zin performed was unique. He talked about folk remedies with sorcery terms. Words such as 'always' and 'never' represented forbidden acts. Many people believed that such psychic readings were sorcery.

'It will never work without it.'

'It should never be done.'

Zin was familiar with how the sorcerers added meaning to their words, and he was able to utilize it to his benefit.

For the person complained about the soreness in his ankle, Zin was simply suggesting that the person should apply a patch that contained pain relieving ingredients. As for the person who complained about nightmares, Zin was suggesting the person drink warm water to calm down, and close the windows before going to bed.

Zin knew that the guards turned on the lights during the night to help patrol, and assumed that the man's sleep was interrupted by the light.

Zin knew many folk remedies that utilized different types of herbs, and the knowledge came in very handy for Zin.

People paid Zin in many different ways. People who did not have any chips paid with grains and cotton fabric. Zin started storing all the payments in the inn. As more people started showing up, Leona started to direct traffic for Zin. As the sky was getting darker, Leona went outside the inn and shouted at the people in line. "We're done for today! Please go back home!"

As the people started to complain, Leona shouted at them, "Don't make mister sorcerer angry. Go home when I tell you!"

"Can't you just take me as the last client?"

"I've been waiting for so long!"

Leona was starting to get upset at the people's complaints.

"Crap! Go away when I tell you now! You people! Come back tomorrow!"

As Leona yelled out angrily, the people were surprised and ran away. Some of the residents were whispering and thinking that Leona was not a normal kid.

"You know what? I think the little girl is possessed."

"I see. That's why she was so rude… It must be a nasty spirit living in her."

"Let's go."

"Wow. They are no ordinary sorcerers."

Watching the residents of Jule walk away, Leona was speechless about their reactions. The people were interpreting her rude behavior in an interesting way…!

"Damn. Psychic reading is not a bad gig at all." Leona wondered if she was better off becoming a psychic reader instead of a hunter as she walked into the inn. "What is all this…"

Zin had started organizing all the payments on the floor. "I think we are benefitting from the guard captain's actions today."

"I think so, too! We will probably need a wagon to carry all this!" Leona saw that Zin had collected grain, and a good amount of chips as well!

"I don't think all this will fit into a junk wagon, either." Zin sighed, "We need to stay here for four more days."

Zin was able to collect so many things in one day, he couldn't imagine how much more he would collect in the next few days.

Ironically, as the guard captain got into more accidents, more people came to visit Zin. In fact, the captain was notorious among the residents.

"He only speaks lies, and it's killing me. I have no other option but to obey his words because he's the guard captain… Man, curse him."

"I understand that he's a talented guard, but I wish he would stop talking about his past glorious days in the wilderness… It's annoying."

"Well, he hasn't been living at Jule for very long. The lord appointed him as the captain because of his fighting talent. But lately, the lord seems to be regretting her decision."

The residents were speaking ill of the guard captain as soon as someone brought up the topic.

"I don't know if I should be talking about this. But he asked the lord if he could have one more wife, and he was scolded by the lord. Ever since then, I think he's had a grudge with the lord. Oh well, I think only some people know about this…"

Zin learned of all the misdeeds that the captain was getting away with. The lord was preventing the captain from doing anything else, but it seemed that the captain had no respect for the residents.

"Thinking about it, he deserves to be cursed."

The residents were happy that the captain was going through accidents and pains. Many residents seemed to be thanking Zin for his acts, and they were probably visiting Zin to thank him.

By paying a visit to the sorcerer who had placed a curse on the captain, the people were displaying hostility towards the captain. Similar to how the captain was putting political pressure on the lord, the residents were expressing their dislike towards the captain. It was a passive, yet clear expression of will.

Zin felt strange whenever he was in the middle of a power struggle.

"So, last time, it was really dangerous. He was picking a fight with a soldier… If the lord had not intervened in time, it would have been disastrous…"

The speaker was the last person to visit. He was initially talking trash about the guard captain, and then he talked about the soldier. When Zin heard the word 'soldier', he became abruptly serious.

"A soldier? Can you explain in more detail?"

"Oh, a Wargrave soldier passed by our castle… let's see… it was about two weeks ago, I think?"

Zin immediately thought of Charlotte.

< Curse Play (Part 4) >

She is safe, then… That's good news.

The SMCP fortress was unable to pursue Charlotte because of the surprise attack, and Charlotte seemed to have escaped from the Korean Peninsula safely.

"The captain was looking down at the soldier and started to arm wrestle with him. The captain gave so many stupid excuses after he lost the arm wrestling. Phew, we were lucky that the soldier was a gentle person. We were all so anxious…"

It seemed like the captain tried to pick a fight with Charlotte. Zin didn't know Charlotte too well, but she didn't seem to be someone who would get into trouble. It appeared that she had left the castle quietly. And obviously, she had no time to waste getting caught in a fight.

"But anyways, he was looking for someone."

As the resident talked, Zin was surprised. "He was looking for someone?"

Charlotte had to hurry back to headquarters, and was not in a situation to search for somebody.

"Yeah, so he didn't stay too long and left soon after replenishing food. Hmm… what did he say then…"

The resident was thinking hard for a while, and then he snapped his fingers as he remembered. "He said that he was looking for a 'hunter who uses a dark sword'."

The hunter who wielded a dark sword was Zin. Leona was also surprised.

"I don't who know who he was, but that's a pity. If the Wargrave is looking for him, that can't be good…"

Is Charlotte looking for me?

It was possible that she needed Zin's help for an urgent matter.

Zin asked the resident, "Was the soldier's hair blonde?"

The resident shook his head and replied, "Blonde? No, he had dark hair. I remember him being a sharp-looking man with a tidy uniform. He looked like a cold-hearted man, though."

The resident looked at Zin and said, "Is that soldier looking for you, o sorcerer?"

"Hmm… I'm not sure about that."

Zin knew Charlotte, but he didn't know who the dark-haired soldier was. The dark sword that the resident talked about was Zin's Phantomvein.

In the vicinity of the Korean Peninsula, the only people who had seen Zin use Phantomvein were Charlotte, Leona, and the White Witch.

No… actually there's one more.

That was not all. Zin thought about the fight with the White Witch, and remembered that there was one person at the battle scene. There was a soldier who was overpowering the witch. During the last moment when Zin shot the witch, the arms and the legs of the soldier had been crushed. Zin thought that the soldier was killed when the witch's power exploded.

But the soldier had received a megaframe procedure, and it was very possible that he had survived… and the soldier whom Zin saw through the rifle scope had dark hair. He had engaged in the battle with the witch in a very calm and cool manner.

Is he looking for me?

Zin didn't know his name, but the only person who would possibly be looking for him was that soldier.

As Zin was thinking with a serious look in his face, the resident grew frightened. Leona tapped his shoulder and pointed towards the door.

The resident left, and only Zin and Leona were left in the inn.

Zin left earlier than Ramphil, but since he was travelling with Leona, his pace was slower. They had rested at different places for a couple of days. It seemed like the dark-haired Wargrave soldier was pursuing Zin.

"Oh man…" Leona muttered.

"That's troublesome."

"… that's right."

As Zin and Leona made some stops to take a rest, Ramphil had passed Zin.

It was a situation that was hard to explain. Zin thought about the reasons why Ramphil might be looking for him, and determined that it was not going to be dangerous to meet with him.

"Hmm… we may come across him."

It didn't matter much for Zin whether he met Ramphil or not. He was getting tired after a long day working as a psychic reader. Leona was organizing all the things that people brought in to pay him. She placed the fabrics in the pile of fabric, and grains in the pile of grains. She also took the items that had no monetary value aside.

Although the residents were living in a castle, they possessed quite a fortune. Zin earned quite a bit of money, and he was wondering if he should change his job to a psychic reader.

Leona sighed and said, "They say people in the castle share all their wealth, but it looks like they get to keep their own wealth."

"Let's rest up. We will have more visitors coming tomorrow."

Until the guard captain gave up, Zin was going to work as a psychic reader in the meantime.

The next day, an accident happened at the morning roll call time. The guard captain who should be gathering all the residents and starting the roll call didn't show up at all.

The lord asked, "Where's the captain?"

One of the guards answered with a trembling voice, "Well… he is not coming out from his room."

"He is not coming out of the room?"

"I don't think anything is wrong with him, but…"

Everybody knew that the captain was acting weird because he was terrified of the curse. The lord was speechless and shook her head. That morning, she went ahead and performed the roll call herself.

Zin said, "He should be coming soon." Leona smiled with her mouth covered. Today was the third day…!

As Zin expected, after finish eating the breakfast, the captain came running to Zin. He was extremely terrified, and he looked like he was about to pass out at any moment. His eyes were red, and Zin figured that he did not get any sleep last night.

Most likely, he was in panic while imagining how he would get killed. And in fact, he had gone through many horrifying and inexplicable accidents.

He was certain that he could die at any given moment!

"Remove this curse from me!"

"You said that you didn't believe in the curse. If you die tomorrow, I will win the bet, and if you don't die, you'll win the bet. Are you going to give up with only one more day left? That's a shame."

"Remove it right now!"

"Are you admitting defeat?"

Zin taunted and mocked the captain, and the captain trembled with anger. Zin was not going to remove the curse until the captain gave up, and the captain strongly believed that he was going to die at midnight tomorrow.

Blind faith was easily disproved, and once the blind faith was disproved, a person would start to believe in another thing.

"I lost. Sorcery is for real, and you are a real sorcerer. So remove the curse!"

"Removing the curse is pretty simple. You need to hold this anti-curse item with you." Zin took out a wooden doll made out of the wooden block.

"This will take away the curse from you-"

"Give that to me!" the captain yelled desperately, and was ready to take the doll away from Zin. But as the captain stretched out his hand, Zin grabbed and twisted his arm.

"Arg! Aaaaaaaarrgh!"

"Watch your hands, fella. I have something to say to you too, you know?"

—Bam!—

Zin pushed the captain back, and he was thrown down on the ground. Zin stared and looked down at the captain.

"I am a sorcerer, and a hunter as well. And you tried to cheat me of a hunter's reward." Zin smiled and waved the anti-curse item in front of him. "In such situations, hunters usually negotiate for 'extra fees'."

It meant that there was going to be an extra charge. The lord was not able to pay Zin the rest of the reward, as the captain was against it.

"This item will cost you 100 chips," Zin said as he waved the doll. It was an outrageous price for a chiseled wooden block.

"What! How could you…"

"Don't like it? Then get lost and die."

The captain was astonished at the expensive cost for the anti-curse item. "I don't even have that many chips!"

"That is not my problem."

The captain had two options. He could wait and die, or pay 100 chips for the anti-curse item. Zin had no intention of letting the captain get off the hook so easily. Leona looked at Zin and smiled bitterly.

He is one nasty hunter...

And Leona liked that specific trait of Zin. Leona and Zin were not the type of people who would allow others to take advantage of them.

But the guard captain only stared at Zin. "I see. If that's the case…" The captain might have become a person who was now afraid of the sorcery, but he was still the same bully.

"Guards!" he yelled. He was in charge of overseeing the area, and he did not have to pay the 100 chips. He was probably planning to steal the item by force.

"What a moron," Zin sighed, and stood up slowly.

—Thump! —

"Get him! And take that item away from h-"

"Stop it! Right now!"

"… my lord…"

The lord came in with the guards. She was extremely angry, and stopped the guards from doing anything.

"I heard that you have a slush fund from embezzling chips from storage. Why don't you pay him right now?"

"Lord! What nonsense are you talking about? Do you have any proof of that…?"

The lord frowned at the captain's excuses.

—Flap! —

She took off her apron, and slowly walked up to the captain while rolling up her sleeves. She looked like a beast slowly approaching its prey.

—Slap! —

"Ack!"

She slapped him in the face. The lord's arms were bulging, and she was staring at the captain, ready to kick his butt.

"I have been too lenient on you."

"W, What…"

"I am this castle's lord. And you are a guard captain who is neglecting his duties."

Everybody knew about it, but it was problem that people didn't talk about.

"Keep this in mind." The lord talked to the captain as she looked down on him. "Everything in Jule is mine. Nobody will eat a single potato without my permission."

The lord let the people have their own way until now. She allowed the people to keep some wealth to themselves. But a lord was still a lord. She made sure that the captain knew that only she was the owner of the castle.

"Take him out and tie him up."

"Yes, my lord!"

At the words of the lord, the guards moved in quickly and apprehended the captain. Because the captain was putting pressure on the lord, the lord came to the inn as soon as she heard that the captain conceded to Zin.

The lord was also looking for the right time to fire the captain.

She started talking to Zin.

"I will prepare your reward right away. How much is that anti-curse item?"

"It's 100 chips."

"Okay, I will pay you 500 chips in total. Please give that to me."

Zin passed her the item, and the lord put it in her pocket."Thank you, hunter."

"It looks like you don't plan to use it?"

"That's right."

It was an extra payment from the lord. She was not planning to give the item to the captain. She was going to take out her political enemy with the help of Zin. The extra 100 chips was a reward for that help.

As gentle as she was, she was still a lord. She was the owner of the castle, and she was not going to allow anyone challenging her power to live.

Later that day, the lord stopped all scheduled tasks, and made an announcement to the residents of the castle.

"The guard captain has been disobeying to my orders continuously, and he has been misusing the chips of Jule. This time around, he did not trust my decisions. The hunter that I hired turned out to be a real sorcerer, and the captain has admitted this fact as well."

The lord held a leather whip that was made of a monster's leather. The captain was tied to a execution platform, and he was gagged and unable to speak.

The curse play became a method to prove who was right between the lord and the captain, and the captain lost.

The loser paid the cost of the loss. The lord stood on top of the execution platform and talked to the residents.

"My decision is absolute."

The residents were terrified when they saw the seemingly gentle lord shouted out with anger.

"And even when my decision is incorrect, you will need to follow my direction!"

The most important thing that a lord had to do was establish their authority. A castle would be unstable if the lord did not have the authority to rule the castle. And the best method to establish authority in a small group of people was the display of force.

The lord proclaimed with a serious expression, "The captain challenged my authority, embezzled the property of Jule, and neglected his duties. For his crime, I sentence one hundred lashes as punishment."

—Crack! —

"Mmmffffph!!!"

As soon as the whip cracked, the captain moaned in great pain, and the residents were all astonished at what they were seeing.

—Crack! —

"Arrrrgh!!"

The lord executed the punishment herself. Without anyone else's help, she whipped the captain. All the residents watched him get lashed mercilessly.

The captain displayed his ambition to become a lord, and the lord sensed his ambition. She was not planning to let the captain live after the start of the curse play.

The lord was punishing the captain, and warning everyone at the same time.

Do not challenge me or disobey my orders. You will end up like him. I will punish you and kill you publicly.

A hundred lashes meant sure death. It wasn't easy for the one executing the punishment, either. The lord was soaked with sweat, but she did not slow down the whipping.

After the first seven lashes, the captain lost consciousness. His back was ripped apart, with blood all over the place, but the lord did not stop whipping.

After the next twenty or so lashes, nobody thought that the captain would still be alive at that point. However, the residents had to remain and watch the scene. The residents were terrified to see the lord lash the dead body another seventy times.

The children were so scared that they did not dared not cry out loud. The residents felt terror, and a tangible and visual dread.

After the hundredth whip, the lord was soaked with sweat, and her white clothes were stained with blood.

The residents did not think that the woman who had lashed the dead body over and over again was a human at all. Leona was watching the unusual scene with her eyes open wide.

This was the reality of the environment of a castle. A lord cannot be too nice, and had to appear as an untouchable being.

The lord threw away the whip, and bluntly ordered, "Dismissed!"

At the lord's command, all the residents ran away from the execution platform. The captain's body was motionless, and to Zin's eyes, none of his bones seemed to be sound. The guards took down the body of the captain, and dragged it off somewhere.

The lord came down from the platform, and walked over to Zin.

"I will bring the rewards to your room. Please take them."

"That was quite brutal."

The execution was brutal to the captain, residents, and to the lord herself. The lord smiled at Zin's comment.

"Don't you think that was necessary?" She had to brutally carry out the execution. Zin understood why it had to be done without saying anything, and Leona figured it out as well.

Zin nudged Leona who seemed to be out of it. "Let's get ready to leave."

"… Okay."

There was nothing left to do in the castle of Jule.

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