Volume 4, Chapter 10 – The Cursed Suicide Rock

“Jinta-san. Did a person named Otae also throw herself from this Suicide Rock?”

“Yeah, that’s… right.”

“I see…”

Hmm, this Mana feels less like a Dark Attribute and more like a curse.

“Do you mind if I step up onto Suicide Rock for a moment?”

“Ah, yes. Please pray for her… there.”

Having received permission, I try climbing up.

Immediately, black tentacles—the same color as the rock—rose up from the stone and coiled around me, attempting to restrain me.

It’s as if the rock itself was trying to place a curse on me.

Since my Curse Resistance is MAX, I wasn’t worried at all, but even before that, the robe the King gave me repelled the black tentacles.

I thought this robe was just a cosplay set, but it turns out to be surprisingly excellent in terms of defense.

“Chris-san, can you see it?”

“No. Fiene-sama, what happened?”

I shake my head slightly and turn back to Jinta-san.

“Jinta-san, what happens if you get cursed here?”

“Eh? Ah, no, I don’t know. I mean, you just… don’t come back alive…”

“I see. Is that so.”

Geez, he let it slip that easily. ¹ She means, how could he know if “don’t come back alive”?

Ah, Lu-chan is glaring at Jinta-san with quite the look in her eyes.

It seems Lu-chan noticed too.

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I lock eyes with Lu-chan and give a slight shake of my head, then descend from Suicide Rock to observe it from the side.

The black tentacles were still clinging to me, doing their best to drag me in.

“Hmm, so it’s like it curses whoever stands on the rock and forces them to throw themselves off, is that it?”

That said, I’m not an expert on curses, and I can’t tell everything just by looking.

Yeah, I don’t really get it, so let’s just purify it and be done with it. I don’t have time to waste on this.

I concentrate my consciousness on the Suicide Rock before me.

——Dispel Curse on the corruption soaked into the rock! And then, purify the resentment, Dark Mana, and everything else, clean and clear!

A dazzling light envelops Suicide Rock.

“Ugh, it’s tougher than I thought.”

The resistance against the Dispel Curse is tremendous.

Because of that, the Purification Magic doesn’t seem to be getting through.

I pour more mana into the Dispel Curse Magic and attempt to break through.

For a while, my Dispel Curse Magic and Suicide Rock’s resistance remained locked in a stalemate, but gradually, my magic began to push through.

Finally, I shatter the curse. The light of purification, which had been held back by the curse, began to seep into Suicide Rock.

After a while, my Purification Magic cleanses the entire rock. The purified Suicide Rock changes from black to the same grey as the surrounding stones.

“Phew, that’s it.”

In the next instant, the spirits of six young women appear from Suicide Rock and ascend to the heavens.

They were all dressed identically in Miko attire with triangular hoods, and their expressions were uniformly peaceful.

“Fiene-sama, w-what was that…?”

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“I believe the souls of the women who were cursed and imprisoned by this rock have ascended.”

Just in case, I cast Funeral Magic on Suicide Rock, but since the imprisoned women had already ascended, it had no particular effect.

“I-I see. Then this solves everything, right?”

“No, that’s not the case. Let’s head back.”

“??? Fiene-sama, what do you mean?”

“I’ll tell you when we arrive.”

◇ ◇ ◇

Upon returning to the inn, we took Jinta-san with us to Minaguchi-ya.

“Landlady-san, we’re back.”

The moment I spoke, the landlady looked stunned for a moment, then quickly composed herself and smiled at me.

“Ah, welcome back. How did it go?”

“There’s no ‘how did it go’ about it. Landlady-san, you knew, didn’t you?”

The landlady’s expression froze.

Then, as if trying to cover it up, she plastered a smile on her face and began to speak.

“W-what are you talking about? More importantly, I trust you offered the proper memorials?”

“Memorials, perhaps, but everyone who was offered as a sacrifice has safely ascended.”

“””Eh?”””

The landlady, Jinta-san, and Chris-san all spoke in unison.

Lu-chan, who had probably noticed back at Suicide Rock, had been expressionless this whole time.

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“Now, Landlady-san, Jinta-san. This village offers a woman as a sacrifice every five years, doesn’t it?”

The landlady and Jinta-san looked down, keeping their mouths shut.

“I see. Won’t you answer me? Then whose substitute was I supposed to be as a sacrifice? “

“…”

“The fact that you went through the trouble of dressing the sacrificed women in Miko attire… does that mean you’re sacrificing someone who serves the gods? Did you think a foreign cleric would make a good substitute?”

The two remained silent.

“If I were an ordinary apprentice cleric, it might have worked, but you picked the wrong target. A curse of that level doesn’t affect me. I’ll ask one more time: whose substitute am I? And why did you do this?”

The two of them stared at the ground, their shoulders trembling.

“…Ah, damn it! My sister! That’s right! Once every five years, we offer a young woman of the village to Otae Fuchi. They say if we do, the Dragon Guardian God will protect us from landslides! And that the women who go to the Dragon Guardian God live happily… but!”

Jinta-san spat the words out.

In other words, the reason Jinta-san was so surprised before we left was that he was shocked Hinatsuru-san—who was supposed to be living happily—was wandering around lost.

Still, what kind of thought process leads someone to believe a sacrificed woman “lives happily”?

Ah, but Jinta-san didn’t want to sacrifice his own sister and tried to use me as a substitute, so I guess that’s normal in a way. No, trying to kill some random traveler isn’t normal at all.

I stop my train of thought and ask again.

“I see. So Hinatsuru-san was chosen last time. Understood. Also, this isn’t a very old custom, is it?”

“That’s right. This was the eighth time,” the landlady answered, seemingly resigned.

I see. The six who just ascended plus Hinatsuru-san makes seven victims. The numbers match.

Yeah, that’s enough answer-checking for me.

“I don’t know if offering sacrifices to that cursed rock actually protected this village from landslides and floods. However, I have already purified that rock. So, I can’t say if offering sacrifices will have the effect you expect anymore. Well, not that I know if it ever actually worked…”

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“…”

“So if you ask me, you should stop this foolish human sacrifice nonsense and move somewhere with less risk of natural disasters.”

“How could we… possibly…”

The landlady managed to squeeze out a faint voice, but she couldn’t form any further words.

“Alright, Chris-san, Lu-chan, let’s go.”

“Fiene-sama, is this alright? These people deceived you and tried to make you a sacrifice!”

“I’m fine, and retaliating against these people achieves nothing. From here on, it’s a problem for the people of this village; it’s not something we need to stick our noses into. Besides, finding Shizuku-san is far more important to me than some insignificant village.”

“…Yes.”

Chris-san seems angry upon learning that I was almost sacrificed. The word “dissatisfied” is written all over her face. Lu-chan remains expressionless.

We leave Minaguchi-ya and Matsuhata Juku behind.

“Human sacrifice… Humans really are foolish, aren’t they?”

Lu-chan murmured softly.

Hearing that murmur made my heart skip a beat.

It was the same thing Sigrisia-sama, the Queen of Shiltsa Village, had said, and there are many parts of it I agree with.

Besides, although I am a Vampire, I believe my heart is human.

But can I really keep saying that forever?

With a vague, nameless anxiety in my chest, I followed after Chris-san along the snowy road.