saint ch37

Curse (3)

Divine Power began to erupt from Ronan’s body with tremendous force as he held Helena’s hand.

The room was not only instantly filled with white light, but the light also spread outside the window.

It was a sight that would make anyone think that something extraordinary was happening just by looking at the light.

What began to happen immediately afterward was indeed extraordinary.

The lights emanating from Ronan’s body began to be sucked into Helena’s body.

However, instead of being healed, Helena’s body, which had accepted the seemingly warm light, began to convulse as if she were about to die at any moment.

Dust-like particles even fell from Helena’s body, which was convulsing as if the meager flesh covering her body was falling off.

Combined with her original emaciated appearance, she looked as if she would turn into a handful of ashes and disappear at any moment.

“Sister…!”

Haren, horrified, reflexively took a step toward them, and Azelia grabbed Haren’s hand.

“Your Highness!”

“I understand your feelings. But please trust him a little more. Saint Ronan is risking his life as well.”

At those words, Haren reflexively looked at Ronan.

Ronan, with his eyes closed and his brow furrowed, was not moving at all.

His face was covered in beads of sweat, and his hands, which were holding Helena’s, were clenched so tightly that the veins were bulging.

It was clear at a glance that he was exerting himself to the utmost.

And as if his efforts were paying off, Helena’s convulsions gradually subsided, and her disintegrating body stopped.

But that was all.

Ronan was still pouring tremendous Divine Power into Helena, and the situation remained in a stalemate without any signs of improvement beyond that.

“Even with this tremendous Divine Power being poured in…”

Azelia unconsciously muttered those words.

The Divine Power emanating from Ronan still filled the room.

Although Divine Power was so unique that even a single handful could manifest holy magic of unexpected power, and a large amount could produce far less effective holy magic than expected, it was still an enormous amount even considering that.

Comparing Divine Power to mana was truly pointless, but if a person possessed this much mana, even someone who didn’t know how to fight at all might be able to engage in a battle equal to a master, or so went the absurd thought.

In fact, Azelia herself had briefly gained abilities comparable to a master through the Saint’s grace, hadn’t she?

Even after the grace disappeared due to the battle that day, her skills were rapidly improving.

It was unbelievable that Ronan, who could use Divine Power and holy magic at a level that defied common sense, allowing a knight to momentarily step into the realm of a master, was struggling this much.

“After this treatment is over, the Imperial Family, including the Duke of Thorf, will be very busy.”

When Azelia said that, Haren, who had been looking at his sister with a pained expression, turned his gaze to Azelia as if puzzled.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Saint Ronan said it wasn’t a disease, didn’t he? That there was a foreign energy inside her body.”

“That’s right.”

“Do you think it makes sense for the Saint to exert himself so much against a harmful energy that has naturally taken root in her body?”

Haren was momentarily at a loss for words.

Not because he was immature and entertained the same impious thoughts, but because he agreed with Azelia’s words.

In fact, looking at the wave of Divine Power unfolding before his eyes, such doubts wouldn’t even arise.

Rather, he even wondered if his sister had truly been cursed by Orion.

That was why the Saint was struggling so much to undo it.

“I don’t think Orion would specifically choose an innocent young lady from the Thorf family to inflict divine punishment.”

As if reading Haren’s thoughts, Azelia added.

“If he were really going to punish someone, he should have punished me instead.”

Only then did Haren grasp the meaning of what Azelia was trying to say.

In this situation that even reminded him of Orion’s curse, if Orion was excluded, what remained was…

A curse.

“If it’s a curse…there’s no way the Order of Orion wouldn’t have noticed…”

Curses were the exclusive domain of demon worshippers.

No matter how much of an Order they were, they would have told him if his sister had been cursed.

As Haren was about to say that, he noticed another possibility.

“The cases where the Order didn’t notice and the case where they noticed but didn’t say anything. I can’t decide which is the worst.”

Azelia continued, as if affirming Haren’s thoughts.

If it was the former, it meant that the abilities of the demon worshippers had developed to the point where they could cast curses that deceived the eyes of the priests, and if it was the latter, it meant that the Order might be related to the demon worshippers.

Either way was the worst.

And if it was a real curse, there would be someone who cast the curse, and if they could extend their evil hand to the precious daughter of an imperial duke…

The power of the demon worshippers might be flourishing more than he thought.

Haren unconsciously gritted his teeth.

How dare those vile demon worshippers curse his sister?

He would tear them to pieces.

He would find them all and slaughter them.

He fully understood what she meant by the princess would be busy in the future.

But right now…

Haren turned his gaze back to Ronan and Helena.

Please, Saint, please save my sister.

It was at the moment Haren was praying that in his heart.

The surrounding Divine Power began to fluctuate wildly, unlike anything before.

Divine Power began to flow into Helena’s body at an even faster rate than before, and then, at some point, Divine Power began to flow out of Helena’s body in reverse.

And as before, the skin covering her body began to fall off, revealing a pure white skin underneath.

“Good heavens…”

Haren couldn’t help but exclaim in astonishment.

Although his sister was still emaciated, it was clear to see that her condition was improving to an extent that could not be compared to just now.

Life was returning to his sister’s body, which had seemed as if she would die any day now.

Finally, all the Divine Power that had been filling the room was sucked into Helena, and before he knew it, Helena was breathing evenly and had fallen asleep.

It was the first time in so long that Haren couldn’t even remember seeing his sister’s peaceful appearance.

In that state, a quiet silence lasted for a few seconds.

“Somehow…”

The one who broke the silence was Ronan, who had just performed an unbelievable miracle.

After slowly opening his eyes and glancing at the sleeping Helena once, Ronan stroked her head once, then slowly stood up and looked at Haren and Azelia.

“It somehow worked out…”

At those words, Haren looked back and forth between Ronan and Helena with an incredulous expression, then lowered his head with a tearful expression.

“Thank you! Thank you so much, Saint Ronan! I will never forget this favor!”

Ronan, who gave a faint smile to Haren, who was giving a polite greeting with the momentum to kneel down at any moment, shook his head.

“It was possible because Helena-nim endured it well. There’s no need to thank me.”

“Thank… sniff… Thank you…”

Haren, unable to hear Ronan’s words, continued to express his gratitude without hiding his tears.

Azelia, who was standing next to him, felt a sense of pride and approached Ronan.

“Saint Ronan. Are you alright?”

“Yes. I’m… fine…”

Azelia, who was approaching Ronan, noticed that something was wrong with Ronan.

“Saint. What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”

Azelia, supporting Ronan as he began to stagger, anxiously asked about Ronan’s well-being.

“That…”

Ronan, holding his head as if he was dizzy and leaning halfway into Azelia’s arms, looked up at Azelia as he was.

It was then.

That blood began to flow from Ronan’s nose.

“Saint Ronan!”

“…Please take care of her.”

Even in the midst of all this, Ronan cast his gaze at Helena and left those words before losing consciousness.

“Saint. Saint Ronan! Get a grip! Priest… Doctor, call a doctor!”

Azelia’s voice, embracing Ronan who had lost consciousness in her arms, echoed in the room, and the royal guards who had been waiting outside began to move busily.

* * *

…Another ceiling I don’t recognize.

There’s no emotion if I use the same line again.

I was half asleep when I had such useless thoughts.

I was experiencing such tremendous fatigue for the first time since being reincarnated that it was too difficult to continue thinking.

Why am I here doing this?

Ah, treating the duke’s daughter.

The situation before I collapsed gradually began to come back to me.

First, I tried pouring in Divine Power, but instead of being treated, the young lady’s body began to deteriorate rapidly.

It was such a strange symptom that I would have suspected she was undead if I didn’t know she was cursed with Divine Inversion.

It seemed that the Order hadn’t mentioned divine punishment for no reason.

So, instead of healing, I used holy magic with the feeling of fixing the young lady’s condition, but it was useless.

Panicked, I tried all sorts of things in my own way.

In the end, I wondered if the opposite effect of the holy magic used was occurring, so I tried to worsen the young lady’s body.

I didn’t have much faith that this would work with Divine Power, so the effect was very weak.

The problem was that it worked.

For the first time, the young lady’s body improved even slightly.

Why?

I didn’t understand that I could inflict a debuff that worsened the opponent with Divine Power, and even that it worked?

In fact, if good was good, I would have just glossed over it if I had finished the treatment with that and worried about it later, but even if I improved my body condition to some extent, it quickly worsened again.

I observed the changes occurring in the young lady’s body while alternately using healing and worsening holy magic, and I got a sense of it to some extent.

There would be a fuss if they knew I used the duke’s daughter as a teaching material.

The curse on the young lady’s body was different from the feeling of something evil and harmful that came to my mind when I thought about it.

Should I call it a Divine Power converter?

If I decided to implement this holy magic with Divine Power and sent it into the young lady’s body, it would be implemented in the body in the exact opposite way of my intention.

My Divine Power was still the same, and I paid attention because holy magic was being woven busily in my body, but it was difficult to even recognize that the effect was appearing in the opposite way.

The biggest problem was that this young lady had Divine Power of her own.

She was a devout young lady, but she was more than that, she was even talented.

The young lady’s own Divine Power was basically working to heal her weakened body.

The body was weakened by the curse of Divine Inversion, and the newly created Divine Power was trying to heal the body again…a vicious cycle.

Even if I temporarily cast the holy magic of worsening to treat it now, it was obvious that it wouldn’t last long.

In the end, the original purpose of shoving Divine Power into the body to overload and destroy the curse or whatever it was did not change.

I also found out that I could maintain the young lady’s condition with the holy magic of worsening, so there was nothing to fear.

When I poured in Divine Power with all my might, I began to feel that the effect of my holy magic was gradually being applied in reverse.

From then on, I adjusted the holy magic and continued to pour in Divine Power in a foolish way, and finally confirmed that the curse in the young lady’s body disappeared.

I won, you nameless lousy curse caster!!

I shouted victory in my heart, and as a finishing touch, I poured a full stack of healing holy magic on the young lady with peace of mind, and I opened my eyes with a relieved feeling.

Before my eyes lay the beautiful, sleeping result of all that ridiculous suffering.

This was a complete transformation.

My proof of victory, my blank check.

Just looking at it filled me with contentment.

I even absentmindedly stroked it once.

The noble was crying and babbling about how he wouldn’t forget my grace, but that was only to be expected.

The princess approached, concerned about my well-being.

Was I alright?

I felt like I’d just finished an Ironman triathlon.

Tired.

…But that was it.

It was definitely exhausting, but somehow lacked impact.

Then, I recalled the unexpected possibilities of Divine Power that I had awakened to save the young lady.

…Could it do this too?

Vomiting blood seemed like it could actually mess something up, and bleeding from the eyes was visually a bit too scary.

So, I subtly weakened the capillaries in my nose…

Blood began to flow from my nose with ridiculous ease.

It actually worked.

I glanced once more at the young lady who had provided such a crucial clue to my use of Divine Power.

In conclusion, the gains were enormous.

Turning my gaze back to the princess, I decided not to resist the encroaching fatigue.

After all, whether it was the Order or the duke’s family, or whoever, they were bound to make a racket if I stayed awake. I’d just take a nap.

Princess, while I’m asleep, please take care of the troublesome Order.

…And then I woke up like this.

More things to worry about, but I was looking forward to the rewards.

I was also curious about the situation.

Having finished assessing the situation, I tried to get up.

?!

At that moment, an immense, sharp pain swept through my entire body.

What, what was that just now?

It was a pain so intense it made my knees buckle.

“Ronan! You’re awake!”

Celia, who I didn’t know had been there, must have noticed me flinch, and said that as she met my eyes.

“I’m so relieved. I’m so, so relieved! Please, never do anything like that again! If Ronan dies, I’ll die too!”

Celia, I didn’t do anything dangerous.

I just bled from my nose once to advertise how hard I worked.

You don’t have to cry so sadly.

“If the priests hadn’t taken turns pouring Divine Power into you, you might really have died! You really can’t do that again! Do you understand?”

…Huh…what?

Celia, who had been crying so sorrowfully, began to say something I couldn’t understand at all.

“I…I’ll go get people!”

No, Celia…what are you saying…?