Chapter 275

Returning home earlier than usual, Leah Schleiermacher and Nana arrived at the inn before Tatsuro and the others.

Leah, eager to organize the information swirling in her mind, immediately secluded herself in her room.

Now, with papers scattered across the room, she was muttering to herself, wrestling with her thoughts as she worked.

—And so, Nana was currently explaining this situation in Tatsuro’s room.

“Wow. So, the completion of the Magic Brain is finally in sight?”

“It seems so. She said that with the current level of technology and Smithing Skills, plus specialized enhancements, it’s probably possible to create it,” Nana replied.

“So we’ll finally get to see the completed version of Tatsuro’s staff!”

“And it can be incorporated into other weapons too, right? I’m excited to see how it turns out!”

To be honest, the group couldn’t help but wonder what they’d do with even more enhanced combat power, but they were all eager to perfect the ultimate equipment.

Tatsuro had grown accustomed to his current staff, but the slight discomfort during the handover between sub-cores still bothered him, so he was looking forward to seeing how this would improve.

“We’ll just have to wait and see what comes of it. Nana, let Leah know that if there’s anything we can do to help, she shouldn’t hesitate to ask.”

“Got it!” Nana replied enthusiastically.

And so, their focus shifted to awaiting the culmination of Leah’s research.

Three days later, the blueprints were complete, and Leah had reached a milestone. Tatsuro and the others, finding her holed up in a room at the inn, invited her to join them for some shopping in town.

Leah, thrilled to finally visualize the completed design, was in high spirits and joined the girls in a lively shopping spree, chattering excitedly.

Tatsuro, keeping a slight distance, offered opinions when asked and passed the time leisurely.

“Well then, shall we head back for today?” Ai said as the sky turned completely red with the sunset and darkness began to fall, signaling the end of their day of relaxation.

The group, chatting about trivial matters, climbed the familiar stairs leading to the inn. They stopped short just before the final staircase, the one that would take them straight to their destination.

There stood an eccentric—no, a familiar figure to Leah.

“Long time no see, former pitiful dwarf girl.”

“A-Aarenfrit!?”

““““—Huh?””””

“—Peewee?”

“—Neigh?”

Aarenfrit.

A blond, blue-eyed elf man wearing a flamboyant robe of yellow with bold red embroidery.

The self-proclaimed greatest Curse Magic user in the world, who had once placed a curse of repeated death on Leah.

This man was seated boldly on a luxurious single chair at the foot of the stairs—right in the middle of the street—sipping tea from a cup placed on a small round table, enjoying an elegant tea time.

Naturally, passersby gave him odd looks from a distance, but he seemed utterly unperturbed, completely at ease.

“What’s this guy doing, having tea in a place like that…?”

“Is that the Arren-whatever guy Leah was talking about?”

“Y-Yes. Not just his appearance, but his outfit is exactly the same as when we met.”

“As expected from the stories, he seems like a shady character.”

“I hadn’t heard about him before, but yeah, that’s spot on.”

Despite their voices likely being audible to him, Aarenfrit didn’t so much as twitch an eyebrow. He took a sip from his teacup before turning to face them.

“Well, well. I thought no one but me could break that curse, so I’ve been wandering the towns around here for nearly thirty years. But it seems that wasn’t necessary after all.”

“Ah—I’m sorry. I made you waste thirty years for my sake…”

“No, no, don’t worry about it. I was bored anyway, so having a purpose was more interesting. In fact, I’m almost disappointed I found you.”

“What? You searched for thirty years!?”

Ai, shocked, let out a cry, stunned by Aarenfrit’s seemingly genuine statement.

What a strange guy, she thought.

“Why the surprise? I still have nearly six thousand years of life left, and thirty years was barely a diversion. It’s only natural to feel disappointed.”

“S-Six thousand years!? Hey, Leah, do elves really live that long?”

“Ordinary pureblood elves, like pureblood dwarves such as myself, typically live for about three hundred years.”

“—Wow, so you’re already from a pretty long-lived race, Leah.”

“Yes. But unlike dwarves, elves have many divergent branches. Starting with the Clear Elves, the original elves said to be the first humans and immortal, the closer an elf’s bloodline is to them, the longer their lifespan. And Aarenfrit is likely a Nia Elf, said to live for ten thousand years.”

“Exactly right, dwarf girl. Indeed, I am a Nia Elf, the closest—in my personal opinion—to the Clear Elves!”

“In your personal opinion!? Well, I guess if you’ve lived that long, it’s not surprising you could create such powerful Curse Magic.”

It was impossible to imagine how much time it took, but steadily raising levels or exploring dungeons worldwide would likely yield a tremendous amount of SP.

As a result, he must have crafted that abnormally intricate magic.

“—Boy. From the way you speak, it sounds like you were the one who broke my magic, weren’t you?”

“Yeah, that’s right—”

Tatsuro was startled at himself for letting it slip so carelessly.

Why had he revealed it so easily?

And then he immediately realized why.

“—Curse Magic.”

“Oh, impressive. You’ve already figured it out.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, Tatsuro?”

Ai, confused, questioned the wide-eyed Tatsuro.

But before he could respond, Aarenfrit revealed the trick.

“It’s no big deal. I’ve simply cast a Curse Magic on myself that makes anyone looking at me slightly more talkative. It’s subtle, so it often goes unnoticed.”

“…And that’s the gist of it.”

“I see.”

“You should try it if you can. It’s very useful for gathering information.”

“…”

Without saying a word, Tatsuro used Spirit Eye and Dispel Magic to analyze the opponent’s Curse Magic.

He then created a counter-phase barrier to ensure its effects wouldn’t reach anyone present.

“By the way, I have one more question. That dwarf girl there had a frail constitution, didn’t she? Did you, boy, do something about that too?”

“Who knows? Maybe it just got better with time.”

“—Hoh. You’ve already countered it, haven’t you? Fascinating, fascinating.”

It seemed he had tried to make Tatsuro slip again with his loosened tongue, but this time, unaffected by the Curse Magic, Tatsuro avoided careless remarks.

Yet Aarenfrit clapped his hands gleefully, clearly delighted.

(I knew that deceiving someone’s vision with Curse Magic was possible, and guiding their thoughts was too… but to bypass even my magic resistance level? Just how high is his level…?)

From what he saw with Spirit Eye, this man possessed an extraordinary amount of magical power, among the highest Tatsuro had ever encountered, revealing his abnormal strength.

Initially, Tatsuro had been less wary, considering him Leah’s benefactor, but now he raised his alertness to the maximum.

“For now, Aarenfrit, thanks to you, we were able to meet Leah. Thank you for helping her. But Leah no longer needs your help to break the curse, so what now? If you want some kind of reward, we can pay you something, within our means.”

“Oh, how cold. It seems my use of Curse Magic has made you wary.”

“Well, naturally. And how did you even find this place?”

“Hmm. Don’t you know that you’re quite the talk of the town right now? If you listen to the rumors, your names come up almost immediately.”

“Huh?”

“It seems you hadn’t noticed. Apparently, some adventurers you helped are the source of the rumors. And I heard something about unusual equipment too. If I’m looking for that dwarf girl, wouldn’t it make sense to investigate anything related to unusual items?”

“Ah, I see.”

It was a peculiarity of this town—or rather, compared to other towns, the adventurers who came here were far more likely to challenge monsters beyond their capabilities.

The reason seemed to be their eagerness to test out remarkable equipment they’d acquired.

The Adventurer’s Guild had warned them to be cautious, but young adventurers, brimming with baseless confidence, often acted recklessly anyway.

While Tatsuro and his group were handling requests in the area, they had encountered and helped several such groups, just like the adventurers they’d previously rescued.

As a result, they earned significant gratitude and trust from the town’s Adventurer’s Guild, which they thought was a great outcome… but they hadn’t considered the rumors that would spread from this.

Consequently, surface-level information about Tatsuro’s group had spread through the mouths of the adventurers they saved, falling right into Aarenfrit’s information network.

“Thanks to that, I figured out your location immediately. Searching for someone was a decent way to pass the time, and I was thinking I’d break the curse and move on to the next amusement, but what do you know? That dwarf girl is already completely free, isn’t she?”

“Yes. It was inconvenient as it was, so we took care of it.”

“That spell, boy, wasn’t something that could be undone with such a casual attitude. To have it broken—”

Aarenfrit’s intense gaze fixed on Tatsuro, prompting Ai and the others to tense up in caution.

This man clearly had immense confidence in his Curse Magic, and having it undone might have sparked some strange resentment.

But—

“—It’s wonderful!! Truly, boy. No, calling you ‘boy’ might be disrespectful. —That’s it! I’ll call you sensei!” (T/N: Sensei in Japanese = Teacher everywhere else in the world. I will use sensei here)

“No, don’t—”

Tatsuro, not wanting to be called sensei, tried to refuse, but Aarenfrit steamrolled ahead.

“So, sensei, feel free to call me Arl! And no need for formalities! We’re pals, aren’t we?”

“There’s no ‘pals’ between people who just met minutes ago! And stop with the sensei thing—”

“Oh, you’ve already dropped the formalities! I’m thrilled, sensei!”

“I’m done with this guy…”

Ai hugged the dejected Tatsuro’s head, patting it gently to comfort him.

“You poor thing, Tatsuro. You got tangled up with a troublesome guy.”

Soothed by her gentle touch, Tatsuro quickly recovered.

“Anyway! This might sound harsh, but Leah doesn’t need Aarenfrit’s help anymore. We’re grateful, and if there’s something you want, we’re willing to give what we can. So, could you please leave us alone and do whatever you like?”

Tatsuro made it clear he didn’t want to deal with this incomprehensible man who wielded magic even he found hard to resist.

“Hmm, something I want? Despite appearances, I’m quite wealthy and don’t need money.”

“Well, with that much skill, you could probably earn as much as you want.”

“Exactly, beast girl. And all my possessions are already the finest, so more would just be baggage. So, I have a proposal instead.”

“A proposal? What’s that?”

“Just until you leave this town. I want to stay with you, sensei. And every night, let’s talk about Curse Magic until dawn!”

“Huh?”

Once again, Aarenfrit said something incomprehensible, leaving Tatsuro and the others gaping, staring at him like he was some kind of eccentric.