Something Other Than Illness

Thanks to Finn, I felt a little better.

Breathing came easier.

But that was the extent of the effect.

"If it were just a minor illness, that would have settled things. This definitely isn't ordinary."

"I'm sensing a somewhat unpleasant aura from sir. That's probably the cause."

"An unpleasant aura, huh. I can't sense anything like that myself… Also, keep what just happened between us."

"Finn-sama, what was that just now?"

Orleans asked, looking puzzled, and Finn turned away, realizing she was the only one who'd been self-conscious about it.

After that, the others returned too.

They'd gone out to gather food and medicinal herbs.

"Thank goodness. You're awake."

"Yeah, barely. Finn prepared some herbs that made me more comfortable, but I can't even sit up. Pathetic, really."

"Finn-san was in such a rush to gather them, too… And don't say that! You were so kind to me even when I was in terrible shape, Master. Now it's our turn."

"Can you eat anything for now? You need to keep your strength up."

Azu offered me some fruit, but I had zero appetite.

When I said I could at least manage water, Elza squeezed some fruit over a cup to make juice.

I managed to get two sips down.

"So this human survived. Lucky."

"Don't talk about it like it's someone else's problem. We failed to finish it off, after all."

"I thought fire magic would work well since it was originally a forest spirit, but its nature had changed too. What a shame."

Evalin spoke matter-of-factly.

Her magic had certainly been tremendous.

If even that couldn't finish it off, defeating it might be difficult.

"The sweating is abnormal… The fever-reducing herbs aren't working either."

"Can't you do something to cure him? There's no way we can fight that thing while carrying a sick person."

"Oh, wait. Isn't this the perfect time for this?"

What Azu pulled out was the World Tree Fruit.

We'd been lucky to obtain it, and it had been sitting unused in the supply bag ever since.

If it could cure me, it might be worth using.

"It's precious, but nothing is more valuable than Master's life."

"A World Tree Fruit. How rare. But that won't cure him."

"Why not!?"

"Eating it would restore him to full health immediately. But since it doesn't remove the toxin, he'd just deteriorate again right away. It only has restorative properties. On the other hand, as long as you're alive, it can fix just about anything."

"No way…"

Azu slumped and put the fruit away.

"What's the status of the barrier? Actually, what happened after I passed out?"

Alexia answered my question.

"After you collapsed, the black liquid slammed into the barrier. The ground shook like an earthquake, but the barrier didn't budge. As expected of something made by an elf."

"Naturally."

"But I can't imagine it'll stay docile. I felt intense hostility and hatred coming from it, so it'll probably try something."

"Spirits are supposed to be gentle by nature. What could have happened to cause this deep in the forest…?"

Spirits possessed immense power but bore no ill will.

That had been my impression up to now.

If humans had done something, that would be a different story, but I couldn't imagine anyone would be doing anything this deep in the forest.

I'd suspected the Church of the Sun God might be involved, but so far we hadn't found any trace of them.

"Um, sir's symptoms might not be an illness."

"What makes you think that?"

Elza responded to Orleans's words.

When it came to treatment, Elza the priestess should have had more knowledge and experience.

But it seemed Orleans had a different perspective.

"Elza-sama is an extremely skilled priestess. The fact that someone of your caliber can't cure poison or illness with miracles is not normal. Even against an unknown toxin, there should be some effect."

"Well, that's true. I've heard that's how miracles work."

"Finn-sama's herbs didn't have much effect either. In that case, it might be something else that resembles illness symptoms. For example… a curse."

A curse.

It wasn't common, but I'd heard such powers existed.

Undead and dark sorcerers dealt in them, and the reputation was decidedly bad.

"You're saying getting stung by a mosquito gives you a curse instead of a disease?"

"It's possible. Those are Mosquito Monsters, after all, and they were created by a forest spirit, so they're far from normal. In fact, it makes perfect sense if you think of them as conduits for delivering curses."

"Um, if it is a curse, what do we do?"

I didn't know much about how to treat curses.

I'd heard that bathing in holy water could help.

"I do have holy water, of course. Shall we try it?"

Elza pulled back the blanket and began removing my clothes.

There was some embarrassment, but this was for treatment.

I let her do as she pleased.

Still, being stared at so intently by everyone was unsettling.

Once my upper body was bare, the area around the bite had turned a sickly blue.

It looked almost like some kind of pattern.

Even though the wound had been cut away…

I thought I heard someone scream.

"Hold still, please."

Elza straddled me, bit the cap off the holy water, and carefully drizzled its contents over the bite.

The instant it touched, it felt scalding hot, and my body nearly bucked, but Elza held me down completely.

"Incredible, the blue marks receded a little!"

"Hmm. It does work, but plain holy water is too weak. At this rate, it'll be too much for Master to endure."

The skin where the holy water had touched was bright red.