“Here we meet again, child.”
It was Minerva.
The first thing that caught my eye was her snow-white hair, reminiscent of the snowy mountains on a sunny day. Thanks to the surrounding light, it seemed to glimmer slightly like silver.
Her silvery, straight hair flowed down to her ankles, with bangs parted to the sides, framing her face. Her eyes were a matching pale hue, complementing her hair.
She wore something akin to a bathrobe. It felt like luxurious fur, and it was black.
To be honest, I wasn’t quite sure what to call her outfit. It just reminded me most of a bathrobe.
The collar of her garment was dangerously undone, revealing most of her chest, which was slightly smaller than her head and was so loose that it looked like it might expose her nipples at any moment.
Beneath the robe was a pair of tempting thighs, contrasted by the black fabric stretching plumply. They seemed so soft that my fingers would sink right into them.
A glimpse of black lingerie peeked out from between her legs. It was evident that she wore no undergarments on her upper half.
As if adjusting her attire, her right hand smoothly moved across to her opposite thigh, lifting the edge of her bathrobe. In the process, a black string wrapped around her waist was revealed.
Imagining what that string could be wasn’t particularly difficult.
Only after taking in her entire appearance and outfit did I finally realize that the strange magic, which had kept me from perceiving her form, had been dispelled.
“…Minerva, ma’am?”
As I muttered this unexpected remark, I heard whispers among the mages standing behind Minerva.
—Did you just hear? She’s called Minerva.
—Oh my gosh, she’s already calling Skeantia by name?
—Since Skeantia didn’t say anything, I guess she allowed it?
—But honestly, if it’s like that, wouldn’t it be advantageous for us to call her by her name as soon as we see her? I’d want to do that too.
—Seeing her for the first time today? I mean, if it’s a guy like that…
They seemed to be trying to lower their voices, but it was loud enough for me to hear clearly. It was as if they weren’t even trying to keep it a secret, completely unaware that I could hear them.
But there was something valuable to grasp: Minerva’s surname was Skeantia. In the game, she was only referred to as the Eternal Magician Arcana, so I thought she didn’t have a family name.
“Be quiet.”
Thud, Minerva lightly tapped her staff on the floor. Immediately, the mages stopped chattering and stood at attention.
With the room now quiet, Minerva smiled gently.
“Have you been well?”
“Yes, I’ve been well. Thank you for your concern, Minerva.”
“You came because Kaiquilia summoned you, right?”
“That’s right. What brings you here?”
Upon hearing my question, Minerva subtly turned to the side. The remaining hidden group of people came into view. There were exactly ten of them.
“I’ve come to help, my children?”
“Yes, Lady Skeantia!”
The mages who had been standing behind Minerva rushed into the room. The expressions of Aurora and the Knight Commanders watching this spectacle turned perplexed.
There were two mages for each Knight Commander. A total of eight mages were bustling around the Commanders, while the remaining two stuck closely to Aurora.
Aurora pushed away a hand that was fidgeting with her uniform, her expression one of discontent.
“What’s going on suddenly, Minerva? They’re mages from the Mage Tower, right?”
“Don’t tell me you intend to meet Kaiquilia in that state, Aurora? More preparation is needed. These kids will assist you.”
While Aurora seemed to have more to say, she held her tongue, perhaps thinking it unnecessary to pry into the Eternal Magician helping with her makeup.
“It won’t take long. You can rest assured it’ll be finished in a few minutes. They’ve already prepared sufficiently, so no denying the struggle they went through.”
“Don’t worry! We’ve got this!”
“Did you know that Lady Skeantia personally picked the ten best out of all of us? We fought tooth and nail to earn our spots, and we’re truly confident!”
The mages chattered non-stop as they drew magic circles with their staffs. It seemed that anyone involved with clothing or decoration had that kind of overly chatty personality as a passive trait.
Fortunately, I seemed to have slipped a step away from that hell, quietly keeping my mouth shut when Minerva tapped my shoulder.
“Child, may I have a word with you?”
Without a word, I followed Minerva out of the reception room. Click, the door closed behind us, and I took a seat in a secluded part of the imperial palace corridor behind her.
The silver staff, infused with mana, glimmered faintly. A translucent barrier enveloped us. At the sight of this familiar setup, I instinctively flinched.
It was a pattern I had seen overly often during the Arcana boss battle.
“I’ve temporarily isolated this space. No one will see us, nor will they hear us.”
“Why such magic now…?”
“Just know that what I’m about to say is that important.”
If she went this far, something must indeed be up. I tensed up.
“I analyzed the data you provided last time. It yielded some fascinating results. There are two spells cast upon your body. One is at the level of mere traces left behind, but the other is still operational.”
I already knew that magic had been cast on my body. The class of ‘Forsaken’ had the setting that all stats were reduced to 1 due to a witch’s curse.
That curse was essentially another term for dark magic, so anyway, magic was still magic. The term witch also referred to dark mages.
But all that was already—
“Wait a moment.”
What did Minerva just say? It felt like she’d said something that absolutely shouldn’t be overlooked.
“Excuse me, Minerva, did you say there are two spells on my body?”
“Yes, indeed. One is merely a trace now, and the other still exerts its influence. Why do you ask?”
“…Could you tell me why there are two?”
Minerva’s expression shifted slightly.
“You’ve only known there was one spell on your body all this time. Which one was it?”
“The one affecting my physical abilities.”
I answered with a slightly shocked tone. I had never even imagined there could be two spells on my body.
“I could determine three major things. First, that you have two spells on your body. Second, the high probability that both spells were cast by the same individual. And the third is…”
Pausing briefly, Minerva followed up with a light smile.
“I can assure you, if it has been beneficial for you, it’s magic that wouldn’t bring any harm.”
“…No harm?”
“More precisely, I suspect it wouldn’t harm you, but I cannot speak for others.”
That was becoming more convoluted by the moment. It might harm others, but it would be okay for me? What kind of magic could elicit such a remark? I had no idea.
Moreover, the fact that it was a hypothesis made the truth all the more ambiguous. To my knowledge, there were no such magical types among the active skills in Brightest Darkness 4.
“……”
I blankly racked my brains.
The idea that the curse from the witch lowered all my stats to 1 was undoubtedly a bad influence, yet the spell that the same person supposedly cast was rather helpful to me. Did that even make sense?
Even if that were right, I first needed to ask why.
When pursuing sub-quests, it is indeed possible to meet the witch who cast a curse on the player, but she never had a reason to be fond of the protagonist right from the start.
Was it like that? I tilted my head in confusion. But once the player mentioned a couple of choices, it struck me that I remembered it as an insignificant detail!
They just randomly picked someone off the street and used them as a dark magic experiment, and that someone happened to be the protagonist. It was only natural that I wouldn’t remember.
You could form a friendly relationship depending on the choices, but doing so would require the player to humble themselves, which was annoying enough for most people that they just opted for the boss battle instead.
So the core of the matter was this: at least at this timing, the witch had absolutely no reason to offer me anything positive.
“…Could I get more detailed information?”
In the end, my chosen method was to ask questions. My current mind couldn’t arrive at any answers.
“I can tell you what I know, but what is on your body is dark magic. Keep in mind that not even I can fully analyze it.”
“Any magic you can explain will suffice.”
Right. I didn’t necessarily have to hear the answer only from Minerva.
“The rest I can simply ask in person.”
“Delta!”
The sudden call snapped me back to reality. Lize, with a much more radiant expression than before, gazed at me with concern.
“Why have you been staring blankly? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Just had some things to think about.”
“You look anything but okay!”
“That’s because you’re just too pretty, Lize.”
“…Cheeky.”
Lize shot me a sideways glance, then turned her head back to face forward. Even while saying that, the corners of her mouth lifted into a smile.
Before us stood the enormous door leading to the Central Hall of the palace. It looked at least four or five times my height, and according to the Knight Commanders, it was made entirely of gold.
Not only that, but it was also reinforced with powerful protective magic, allowing it to withstand a direct hit from Minerva’s top-tier destruction magic at least once without issue.
‘……’
However, I didn’t have the mental capacity to care about that at all. The words Minerva had previously shared with me were deeply ingrained in my mind.
‘So, I……’
The reason I could fight fearlessly against the hideous monsters from the moment I was reincarnated here.
It all centered on the dark magic cast upon me. Even now, Minerva’s remark that it would be beneficial for me and not harmful finally made sense.
Had that dark magic not been present, I would have been paralyzed with fear upon first encountering the Human Butcher, probably trembling helplessly and then captured to be killed.
‘Time to change priorities.’
What weapon to use after the Blood-Stained Sword? Runes that help ignore Combat Fatigue debuffs? Progressing the main story? All of that was irrelevant. Finding the witch who cursed me was my top priority.
By now, Minerva also seemed personally intrigued and willing to help me. I already knew the location. If I could teleport, it wouldn’t take long to arrive.
There were so many things I needed to ask her.
Grrruum…
“Alright. Prepare everything. You know the drill—no mistakes if you don’t want to lose your heads.”
As the golden door began to slowly open, Aurora spoke in a voice heavily laced with tension, entirely different from her usual carefree tone.
The Knight Commanders also tensed up, checking their attire one last time and standing straight to face ahead. I, too, momentarily set my thoughts aside to focus on this moment.
First, I needed to get through the discussion with Kaiquilia safely to pave the way for what was next. If I let my mind wander in front of the Empress, I wouldn’t be able to guarantee what would come after.
It took a while for the massive door to open, at least a minute. Finally, we could see Kaiquilia’s figure.
The grand Central Hall was lined with enormous marble pillars, illuminated by chandeliers, and there was a red carpet running across the middle.
And at the far end, there were stairs with a throne looming majestically above us.
Kaiquilia sat upon that throne.
Leaning her Holy Sword against the left side of her chair, she crossed one leg over the other.
Given the layout, it naturally placed us in a position where we were forced to look up at her. No, this whole setup was designed with such a perspective in mind from the start.
To venerate the Empress.
Come in.
When Kaiquilia’s permission was given, Aurora was the first to walk slowly into the room. Not too fast, yet not too slow.
In this enormous hall, which could easily hold thousands, we were the only individuals present. As I entered last, the door began to close behind me.
Aurora approached the right distance from the stairs, knelt on her left knee and bent her right knee at a right angle, placing each palm flat against the floor.
The Knight Commanders adopted similar stances, but with the difference of placing their right arms horizontally at the level of their hearts. I hurriedly followed their lead.
After a moment’s pause, Aurora lowered her head deeply.
“I greet the sun of the Empire.”
“I greet the sun of the Empire!”
As Aurora’s quiet voice blended with the booming voices of the Knight Commanders, we awaited the command of Kaiquilia with our heads bowed.
“Finally, raise your heads.”
“……”
Thinking, this isn’t how it’s supposed to be, I lifted my head. Aurora and the other Knight Commanders remained bowed as they hadn’t yet received permission to look up.
Kaiquilia’s boot heel tapped the red carpet in front of the throne. She beckoned us closer. Rising from my position, I stepped forward toward Kaiquilia.
I climbed the stairs one step at a time until I reached her and knelt, bowing my head as I had before.
“I specifically instructed you to raise your head.”
Startled, I looked up again. Kaiquilia was scanning me slowly from head to toe. I tried to conceal my anxiousness as I awaited her next words.
Kaiquilia, whose golden pupils glimmered with an unsettling light, tossed a casual remark.
“Did you have a pleasant time with the Pope?”
My heart dropped to the floor at her words.
