The Forgotten Curse Knight - Chapter 25

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: nemui

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ The Forgotten Curse Knight ◈

Vol. 2 Ch. 6: Treat Books with Care

──────

“This person barged into the kitchen, asking what Brown Tail was and how to make it.”

“...And you helped him?”

Honestly, Hugo had not expected Noah to respond that way.

As anyone could see, Noah was a mature boy. He was curt even with older people, and when something bothered him, he said so plainly. How had Theo managed to get someone like Noah to help him?

Noah answered Hugo’s question with a frown.

“He bowed his head and said, ‘My senior seems terribly hungry. He’s in such dire straits that he can’t go get it himself. Please, I’m begging you.’”

“...”

“It seems poor Hugo was starving to death.”

Noah looked at Hugo like he was a pitiful adult. The kid really had no charm at all.

Meanwhile, Theo stood smiling as he waited for Hugo to take the plate.

“Here you go, Hugo! I hear they taste good fresh from the fryer!”

“O-oh...”

This was not the result Hugo had imagined, but Theo was behaving exactly like the kind of underling Hugo wanted. This was not bad either.

Hugo kept his open book spread across his crossed legs as he reached for the plate.

Then Theo swiftly pulled it back. The smile vanished from his face.

“Please wait. You’ll get the book dirty like that.”

“Huh? Who cares? I’m going to read while I eat.”

“Brown Tail contains a lot of oil, and the cinnamon sugar coating will spill. What will you do if the book gets dirty?”

Theo gave off a strange pressure, and Hugo fell silent.

Even if he wanted to act tough around an underling, he was timid by nature. Whenever someone came on strong, he instinctively shrank back.

“Ah, shut up.”

Hugo looked away as though fleeing and placed his half-read book facedown at the edge of the bed.

Theo immediately raised his voice.

“Leaving it like that damages the book!”

“I always leave it like this.”

At that moment, Hugo felt a chill run down his spine.

Theo’s slightly upturned eyes shifted toward him. He looked at Hugo as though he were prey in his sights.

Theo set the plate on the table and slowly approached Hugo’s bed.

“Hugo, do you intend to change how you treat books?”

“H-huhhh? What are you even talking about? Huh? Hm?”

Hugo put every ounce of strength into bluffing. He could not show weakness before a newcomer. If Theo looked down on him, he would lose.

That was the final blow.

Theo narrowed his eyes and climbed onto the bed.

“So you have no intention of changing. I understand.”

* * *

Three adults were in the Gray Knights’ command room.

JJ, the middle-aged commander with a paper bag over his head.

Archibald, the bespectacled administrator with a saber at his waist.

And Beryl, a member with sand-colored hair, dark skin, and a wrap skirt.

JJ sat at his desk, while Archibald stood beside him as though on guard.

Archibald’s presence alone was intimidating, but Beryl stood before the desk in a relaxed posture.

Beryl did not dislike stiff men like Archibald. If anything, she liked them enough to want to flirt with them. Though he probably would not let her.

Archibald glared at Beryl and questioned her.

“Why did you not report that creature?”

That creature meant Lenny, the white fluffball Theo had brought with him.

In her prior report, Beryl had mentioned Theo’s ability, but not Lenny. That was what Archibald was criticizing.

“Well, honestly, I wasn’t sure whether I should report it. I was only half convinced that it was Theo’s Familiar. I’d never seen a Familiar that looked so much like a living creature before. And it’s white, too.”

Archibald seemed to have thoughts on the matter as well. His usual stern expression grew even harsher.

“Certainly, even those skilled at manifestation have never produced something so lifelike...”

“At first, I thought Theo’s pet had just tumbled out from inside his clothes.”

The Familiars Beryl knew were made by shaping lumps of red-black curse energy like clay into birds, fish, animals, fairies, and the like.

A fluffy white fluffball was unheard of.

JJ spoke lazily as he looked through documents.

“There’s no doubt that the enchanting fluffy fluffball is part of his curse power, though. I saw it with my own eyes, so I know.”

Apparently, JJ could see curses with his eyes, which had turned entirely black, including the whites and irises.

For example, even if a Mad Walker wore layers of clothing to hide their Curse Sigil, he could somehow tell where the sigil was.

Still, he claimed it was not very precise. He could only get a vague, hazy sense of it.

JJ crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.

“I’m curious about Fluffy-chan, but I’m also curious about where Theo’s Curse Sigil is. It was originally on his heart, then it moved to his upper chest. That’s a pretty rare case.”

In a conversational tone, JJ turned to Beryl.

“So, what do you think of Theo, our new recruit? He seems like such a good kid that it kind of scares me.”

“Yeah, that’s about right. He’s earnest, hardworking, and a good kid.”

Since Theo bore the Oblivion Curse and was easily forgotten by others, he was likely even more desperate for people to remember him.

Beryl had noticed that just calling Theo by name made his green eyes sparkle and the corners of his lips lift slightly. Even being called by name was something especially happy for Theo.

What an earnest, endearing boy.

“Actually, I’m more curious about Carla.”

Carla was the quiet white-haired girl who always hid her face behind a mask.

Outside of battles against Termea, she was always absentminded and did not try to interact with others. Even when Beryl, who liked fussing over people, tried speaking to her about this and that, Carla usually gave little response.

Yet ever since meeting Theo, something about her had been strange.

“Administrator Archibald, you saw it too, right? In the carriage, Carla joined the conversation for once. She was like that on the train, too.”

Carla had not actually spoken very often. Still, Beryl had noticed her watching for chances to join in while others talked.

More than that, Beryl had never seen Carla tug on someone’s hem before.

Archibald furrowed his brow and muttered.

“...Perhaps she was excited because there was someone close to her age?”

“Oh? Did the administrator forget about Carla’s curse?”

“That’s right. She...”

Then a scream like a dying cry rang out.

“Gyaaaaaah!!”

It was Hugo’s voice.

The three looked at one another and left the room. Hugo’s cries continued intermittently.

When they came down to the second floor, they spotted Noah, an associate staff member, outside the large bedroom used by the male knights.

Noticing the adults rushing over, the unsociable Noah spoke in a low voice with an expression that said he had absolutely nothing to do with this commotion.

“Hugo treated a book carelessly, and the new recruit snapped.”

Beryl leaned in to peek inside.

On a bed at the back of the room, Hugo was bent in half.

He lay facedown with his back arched, in the position known as a shrimp bend, but the angle was brutal.

And the one sitting astride Hugo, restraining his arms and forcing him into that harsh position, was none other than Theo.

Theo looked down at Hugo with his green eyes gleaming dangerously.

“The human body cannot bend any farther than this, can it? What you did to that book was exactly the same.”

“Gyaaaah! Stop, stop, idiot! It can’t bend any farther...!”

“Promise that you will never do it again, and that you will treat books with care.”

“I will! I will, so get off me, idiot! Ah, agh...”

Hugo rolled his eyes back and foamed at the mouth.

JJ muttered, “Ooh.”