NOVEL WEB Chapter 168
<168 - Curse Resistance>
As life at the Academy drags on, it’s not uncommon to fall under a strong curse.
Whether it’s a laboratory mixing low-level curses to create a mutated curse, or a cursed creature appearing from an unauthorized experiment lacking Student Council approval, or opening a treasure chest only to find yourself cursed by a senior.
“I was going to raise my curse resistance in Second Year, but it’s great I get to study ahead!”
Of course, I’m not going to live a week as a blind person just to overcome a curse that starts from there.
A curse that makes the soles of your feet itch.
A curse that makes you blink consciously.
A curse that has you debating whether your tongue is on the roof of your mouth or against your bottom teeth.
The start of building curse resistance usually involves such trivial low-level curses being tackled one by one.
“First, you’ll know by checking the bulletin board. It said there will be notices, right?”
“…If it’s a scary curse, I won’t train my resistance.”
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s check it out quickly.”
Bringing along a nervous Titosso to the bulletin board, I spotted female students gathered there.
It’s fine to discuss seriously around the bulletin board, but I wish all of them would step aside so I could see the contents.
I can’t see a thing because I’m too short!
“Ugh.”
Even on tiptoes, trying to lift my heels high, Titosso’s shoulder was being clutched as they whimpered in pain, and all I could see were various hairstyles.
Like a pile of candy.
I even wanted to take a bite.
As these impure thoughts swirled in my head, I felt suddenly buoyant as if my body was being lifted into the air.
Startled, I flailed about when a calm voice from behind soothed me.
“It’s me. Hestia.”
“Hestia! You scared me.”
“Does this help?”
Well, it does help.
Except the burning gazes of the students gathered in front of the bulletin board.
“Oh, I shouldn’t laugh.”
“I think I heard that.”
Unlike the students putting effort into holding back their laughter, one kid outright burst into giggles.
“Pfft. It’s just too funny that you need someone to lift you up to see the bulletin board~!”
“Uh… Princess Masugaki.”
“Short legs♡ Academy’s shortest♡ You should carry around your personal ladder♡”
“Hey, but you’re the second shortest in the Academy!”
“I don’t hear comments from someone shorter than me♡”
Getting hit by a barrage of short jokes from Princess Masugaki right from the morning is infuriating.
“Shut up, Princess. What do you know about Oknodie?”
“Huh? Are you talking to me~?”
“Oknodie has enough struggles without you. This child has a reason for not being able to grow tall. Got it?”
Suddenly, Hestia fired up.
I appreciate the help, but I’m confused.
Why can’t Oknodie grow tall, and how does Hestia know that?
Thinking of the hard work Oknodie puts into their night shifts for the sake of friends, it becomes clear.
A growing child can’t grow properly without enough sleep, so it’s understandable Oknodie struggles with their height.
“Why can’t you grow tall~?”
Princess Masugaki pondered.
A warning like this in such a serious tone at this timing is unusual.
Is that so?
That’s what it is.
Oknodie is cursed so they can’t grow tall!
“…I didn’t mean it. I wasn’t trying to mock anyone’s misfortune. Trust me.”
Having been Princess Masugaki herself, she felt what she said was indeed harsh.
“Apologize directly to Oknodie.”
“Sorry, Oknodie.”
I wondered if she was making things awkward, but Oknodie responded with a clueless look.
“If you’re sorry, give me points!”
“…How much?”
“Hmm, as much as the apology?”
Princess Masugaki looked at her with disdain, tapping her Magic Watch on her wrist.
Hearing it’s better to apologize with money makes you want to fight back even as you’re trying to apologize.
But the rich princess just decided to resolve it with cash, coolly handing over some points on the spot.
“Sent it♡”
“Wow, you sent 100 points? Thanks!”
“Thanks for talking to me, I lost out♡ I’m going back♡”
As Princess Masugaki turned towards the Group B Lounge, the upper-class female students trailed after her.
Even the third princess, Yayoi, who doesn’t belong to Masugaki’s faction, shyly bowed her head in greeting before trailing behind the crowd.
“Good thing. Now I can check the bulletin board comfortably.”
“I’m embarrassed, can you put me down now?”
Oknodie is shy.
That’s a rare sight.
If I want to see that face of Oknodie, maybe I should lift them up again by putting my hands under their armpits.
It’d be more effective if there are more onlookers.
I should experiment again later.
While Hestia was having these shady thoughts, Oknodie finished reading the entire bulletin board.
Then, she sighed because she felt something was off.
“What? It’s just the usual random weekly event happening a bit early.”
“Random weekly event? You think this is one of the events prepared by the Academy every week?”
“Of course. If it was a seriously dangerous curse, they wouldn’t just hand out protective charms and call it a day, they would have issued a travel ban.”
Can we really expect such measures from this ridiculous Academy?
Recalling the time I could see fish swimming in the dormitory from my room due to flooding on the first floor at the start of the semester, it’s hard to empathize.
“Why, Hestia, do you want to go out together?”
“Go out? Where to?”
“To where the curses are!”
“Eh~? Am I going too?”
Titosso made a gloomy face.
Artificially spreading curses at the Academy comes with blatantly suspicious effect visuals.
“Look over there, Titosso. There’s shimmering light in the bushes for no reason. Let’s stick our hands in it!”
“No way! If I get sap on my hands that’ll sting, and I’m scared of curses too.”
“Aw.”
“Waaah! I said I don’t want to!”
Itch itch.
My palm felt like it really wanted to scratch as I dipped my hand into the bushes, and the curse’s identity became clear.
“Bingo! It’s the lowest-level itch curse!”
“It’s not bingo; it’s a bust! It’s too itchy. Ugh! It’s uncomfortable like I got bitten by a mosquito.”
“But the itch curse clears up if you scratch the itchy spots for the designated number of times! But if you hold back, your resistance level will go up. What’re you going to do, Titosso?”
“Can’t I just scratch it?”
“Sure, it’s fine. But your resistance won’t increase, so if you get hit by a similar curse next time, it’ll itch again.”
It’s either holding my eyes tightly shut and enduring it for resistance points versus scratching it comfortably and losing that resistance.
While Titosso was deeply in thought, Hestia suddenly shoved her hand into the bush.
“Whoa! Why did you stick your hand in there!…!”
“You can talk informally to me now.”
“I’ll just speak politely. It’s scary…”
Feeling intimidated by Hestia, who loomed large, Titosso became cautious.
“Mercenaries encounter rough situations often in the battlefield, you know. They sometimes fight against Dark Sorcerers who command wicked groups, and occasionally they get cursed too.”
“Wow… being a mercenary sounds tough.”
“An itch curse might seem trivial, but it was quite a troublesome one. It breaks your concentration.”
If you get hit by an itch curse when it’s tense and you can’t resist scratching, you might even lose your head if you take your eyes off the situation for a second.
After hearing Hestia’s words, Titosso seemed resolute and clenched their fist hard.
“Oknodie. I’ll hold on.”
“Good choice!”
[You endured the itch curse for 1 minute and gained curse resistance.]
[Cursed resistance experience points +1]
[Endurance experience points +1]
In an instant, the curse vanished like a lie.
A strange sense of achievement made it feel like we had become comrades.
“I can now proudly return. When I get back to the Dormitory, I’ll be like, ‘Who am I? The one who endured the itch curse, Titosso!’ and brag about it.”
“How cute.”
“Aren’t you happy, Hestia?”
“I’m pleased, sure.”
“Good for both of you! Let’s find the next curse quickly.”
Titosso turned away as if they had heard something they shouldn’t.
“Next curse?”
“It’s a mediocre, safe curse since we get free points out of it. With curses that seem dangerous, the protective charm from the Dormitory will block it, so we can’t just do this once!”
“…I want to go back.”
“Hey, look! The water in the fountain is sparkling purple!”
“I really want to go back!”
“Aw!”
“Waaah!”
You really looked too fragile, so I often worried about you.
To keep attending the Academy for a long time, we should work on improving our resistance when we can.
You can do this, Titosso!
“Hmm. This curse makes your airways swell up. What do you think the immediate solution is?”
“Snorting and blowing your nose will fix this curse! But if you don’t, you’ll gain resistance, right?”
Princess Masugaki wouldn’t last long under that curse.
Imagining her snorting, we wandered around the Campus for quite a while, stacking up various curse resistances.
During this time, we unexpectedly met someone I thought we’d encounter eventually.
“Did you finish the ritual?”
Even Hestia flinched at the dangerous aura emanating from the man who stood blocking our path.
The solitary Eastern swordsman.
…And Sing, who was cursed and now had a notably swollen face.