Do You Hurt? Are You Hungry?

Iver retraced his route.

He crossed the barren mountains and the Filth River.

After reaching the abandoned warehouse where the stone materials had been stored, Iver waited another full half hour... before the Curse finally arrived.

A powerful discomfort suddenly rose from deep within his body.

It was like having a cold and fever. His body began to feel chilled, and he started trembling uncontrollably. Then his limbs grew weak and powerless, his breath turned scorching hot, and his skin began to hurt—the nerves beneath his skin had started suffering the Curse's damage.

What a familiar feeling.

"...That took long enough. You're only here now."

Iver muttered under his breath as his steps gradually slowed and grew heavier.

He felt his eyes becoming bloodshot and swollen with pain, while a hazy, dull ache gradually spread through his head.

He mocked himself softly. "It's almost like returning to my childhood."

This was the "Fever Curse," the same Curse he had previously dispelled from Little Iver.

It was also the Curse Iver had suffered as a child.

It was on the same level as the "Poison Food Curse" that had caused Lu Lu to cough up blood, though slightly weaker than the "Filthy Blood Curse."

"...A Demon Scholar skilled in the Curse faction."

Iver identified his opponent's identity with certainty. "This doesn't look like a Stibnite Person."

Among Demon Scholars from Stibium, Ritual Studies was actually their greatest specialty, followed by demonology.

Curse Studies was not included in the official curriculum.

Because even the Stibium Kingdom, which permitted Demon Scholars to exist, did not want anyone to be able to easily curse their nobles and officials to death.

Nor was the Iron Hook Demon a particularly useful demon.

Its intelligence was low and its attacks were monotonous, meaning many complicated tasks could not be entrusted to the lesser demon. And because its level was low, the Demon Scholar could not strengthen himself the way Iver had, by gaining attribute affinity through a contract with a Shadow Demon.

Generally speaking, the demon a Demon Scholar contracted with was stronger than himself. Otherwise, there would be no point in selling one's soul.

Sell your soul to contract with a weakling with a terrible temper? Why wouldn't I just take on a hardworking disciple instead?

The fact that this Demon Scholar could skillfully use multiple Curses meant that his level was certainly not low. He was at least an upper Second Level, and might even be at the Third Level. But the demon he had contracted with was clearly weak. The fact that he had always hidden in the shadows instead of coming out to attack personally suggested that, unlike Big Purple, he probably was not skilled in ritual spells.

A Demon Scholar particularly skilled in Curses was a characteristic of the Desert People in the east. During the desert wars, where holy water sources and oasis regions were fiercely contested, Curse Masters capable of attacking important enemy figures through vicious means were extremely valuable resources. And in the resource-poor desert, it was difficult to gather materials for complicated rituals, so Ritual Studies had never developed among the Desert People.

This also fit with the situation of him working as a behind-the-scenes mastermind. It matched even better with what Jack the Ripper had said about his master eventually leaving Avalon and heading east of the desert.

So, a Curse Master from the desert made his way to the Avalon Kingdom. He pledged himself to some important figure and took money to "curse people to death on their behalf," earning wealth and benefits by cursing designated targets for payment. Once he had earned enough, he fled back home. That was probably the whole truth.

...This meant that That Lord was rather merciful. He knew so many of the man's secrets, yet did not silence him and even let him leave.

Of course, it was also possible that he had already been silenced. Jack simply did not know.

This Iron Hook Demon was merely one part of the mastermind's mature Curse-based ability system.

He weakened his target with Curses, then teleported the Iron Hook Demon over to deliver the finishing blow. The Iron Hook Demon was merely his means of ending an enemy, not the core of his abilities.

No wonder he never went out of his way to develop the Iron Hook Demon.

He possessed the knowledge to do so, but had not acted on it himself.

There was no need.

The demon was nothing more than a tool. That was clear from how casually he had abandoned it to a student he had only recently met.

If he had treasured the demon as much as Jack the Ripper did and strengthened the Iron Hook Demon through rituals, he might have become too conspicuous.

After the Iron Hook Demon was strengthened, Jack could temporarily transfer his consciousness into it, using his own mind to control this lesser demon. It was stupid, but incredibly tough, and its attacks were powerful.

But the strengthening ritual itself carried risks.

For a Curse Master, becoming famous was not a good thing. It was like Sherlock dispelling his own Curse... Once a person knew they were going to be cursed, the Curse would no longer be very frightening. Every Curse had a corresponding solution.

A Curse Master's existence remaining unknown was what constituted success and victory.

"Your target died in an accident" was the highest praise.

"So... this is how my biological parents died."

Iver muttered.

His increasingly severe fever made his thoughts float, but his memories were gradually being put in order.

Judging from the Jack the Ripper incident, this combination of a Curse Master and an Iron Hook Demon should also have existed in actual history.

When Iver was a child, the Curse Master had cast the "Fever Curse" on him, causing him to faint and lose consciousness. That was why he could not remember what happened afterward.

Yet as a fragile child, Iver had suddenly developed a high fever and lost consciousness, but ultimately had not died from it. There could only be one answer: someone had dispelled his Curse.

The difference was that the person who dispelled the Curse should not have been Julio, but Bishop Mathers.

In actual history, he would not have been banned for being too far above this instance in level, so Julio could come into contact with Mathers.

This also explained why Mathers had been so concerned about Iver and so warm the first time they met... He had even been willing to lend Iver the chapel key. He claimed it was repayment for Professor Moriarty's assistance, but the true reason was probably Julio.

When they first met, he had recognized that Iver was the child of his student, Julio Alexander. Iver bore obvious traces of both "Julio" and "Annie."

He regretted and grieved that he had failed to save his student back then. To avoid repeating that mistake, he had resolved to protect Iver at all costs.

Judging from his attitude, Iver could infer the reverse—that Bishop Mathers believed he had been capable of solving the incident, but had ultimately failed. That was why he was so remorseful.

Then there were the requirements of this mission.

They needed to leave the cathedral and head to Legal Square.

This place name couldn't have appeared out of nowhere. And it couldn't possibly be where the Curse Master was located, because there was no room here for a complicated ritual platform. That meant it could only be a place connected to the deaths of Iver's biological parents.

In other words, after the Curse on Iver was dispelled, Julio had chosen to go to Legal Square for some reason.

By then, Iver had already fallen asleep, so he did not know what happened afterward.

The story that followed should have been the same as what was happening now.

The difference was probably that the other ritual participants unrelated to Iver's family had not been cursed by that Curse Master. Just as Annie could not have been a transcendent of the Path of Beauty in the correct history, there would naturally not have been a paperboy who was a mage. Nor could there have been so many transcendents of different Paths on Glass Island.

Only Iver's family should have been cursed.

Perhaps one of them was cursed and attacked first, or perhaps all of them were cursed at the same time. In the end, Little Iver, sound asleep, had been placed to one side while the other two lured the enemy away.

This revealed one thing. The killer's target had never been Iver or his cousin. His target had been Julio or Annie. That was why Iver had survived and been safely sent to an orphanage.

There was only one question left.

Why had he wanted to kill his own parents? "Looks like I'll have to ask him in person..."

Iver muttered softly, his lowered gaze turning dark. "I wasn't planning to do this at first.

"But you're too incompetent.

"You've caused me quite a bit of trouble. I gave you this much time, yet you only started cursing me when the ritual was almost over..."

Could he still be trying to kill the Bone Carver? He stared intently at the corner of the abandoned stone warehouse. Crimson traces were gathering there.

The Iron Hook Demon's terrifying crimson outline had already partially appeared. Iver saw it reveal a savage, murderous grin at him, with a long iron hook clutched in each of its four arms—enough to tear a body apart with ease.

Its body bore obvious frostbite and a layer of frost, traces of damage inflicted by an ability from the Path of Twilight.

"Ah, hello, child..."

Iver greeted it politely, without the slightest fear or disgust.

He slowly asked, "Does it hurt?

"Are you... hungry?"

Before the Iron Hook Demon could fully materialize or make any response, Iver swiftly drew the paper knife.

He moved first, driving it backward into his own neck!

—Blood gushed everywhere!