"May I ask what happened here?"
The Thirteenth Ring Sorceress asked in a rather impolite tone. Since she was playing the "bad guy," Shade naturally had to step forward and play the "good guy":
"Good evening. We were just passing through and noticed that something seemed to have happened here."
The two Church members exchanged glances. Perhaps because it was not much of a secret, they did not hide it:
"A few days ago, we captured a Cultist who had wandered into the woods. He worshipped the God of Curse—the Probability Great Demon. During questioning, we learned that he had sold something he had in hand to the daughter of a local wealthy merchant for a high price."
The brown hair Ring Arcanist glanced at the two by the lake:
"The merchant's daughter liked that young knight over there. Out of jealousy, she used the Cultist's cursed item to curse that young lady. By the time we found the merchant's daughter, she had already fallen unconscious from the cursed item's backlash.
"It took us several days to determine who had been cursed. We did not expect that, when we came looking for her today, a new problem would arise."
He sighed and explained the rest:
"That young knight used some diluted Holy Water No. 4 that his father had obtained from Wilundell Cathedral more than thirty years ago, hoping to cure the young lady. But Holy Water No. 4 is useless against a curse of this degree. Now the curse has undergone an unknown change and become this."
He did not hide his words from the crying couple embracing behind him. Thus, the young man Farris pleaded:
"Let me bear Marisa's curse in her place. She is still so young. She should not have to endure such a Destiny."
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