WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: nemui
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Forgotten Curse Knight ◈
Vol. 3 Ch. 4: The Reason for Oblivion
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“Oh, who might you be?”
To put it simply, Gertrude had forgotten Theo, and it did not hurt him as much as he had expected.
That was because Gertrude’s sheer, overwhelming oddness outweighed the shock of being forgotten.
Beryl handed the papers entrusted to her to Gertrude, who had forgotten Theo. “Here.”
Gertrude skimmed the writing on them, then looked up from the papers at Theo.
“Hello, Theo. It is not our first meeting, but nice to meet you. Let us promptly compile the results of testing your abilities.”
“Um, Miss Gertrude... you forgot me, right?”
Gertrude was proceeding so smoothly that Theo was confused.
At a time like this, should she not be asking for an explanation of what was going on?
Yet Gertrude still wore the same faint smile she had when they first met. If anything, she even seemed to be enjoying herself.
“Ah, I cannot remember a single thing about you, but these papers record my interactions with you. Since they are in my handwriting, there is no reason to doubt them.”
With that, Gertrude fluttered the stack of papers in her hand. Apparently, she had read them in a short time and immediately grasped the situation. Honestly, her mind worked so quickly that it was frightening.
Then Beryl asked, as if she had just remembered something.
“Hey, Miss Gertrude. Before you lost your memories, you said you had heard about Theo from Administrator Archibald. Do you remember that?”
“...I do not. No, I remember meeting Administrator Archibald and speaking with him, but only our conversations concerning Theo are vague. I see. Even memories of learning about him indirectly are properly lost.”
Gertrude closed her eyes and placed a finger against her head.
Her slender white fingers kneaded at her head.
“I can feel both areas where my memories are hazy and areas that have been clearly erased... Perhaps Theo’s very existence is distinctly removed from my memories, while conversations in which I learned of him indirectly are blurred. This hazy part will likely fade away with time as well.”
Theo was a little impressed.
He had not expected anyone to describe oblivion so specifically.
Testing his abilities meant being forgotten by the other person. The more trust he had built with someone, the harder that would become.
It was incredibly helpful that Gertrude would conduct practical testing before they built that kind of trust.
Yes, it was very helpful, but...
“Memories are easier to retain when tied to something. For example, ‘Theo always eats bread,’ then, ‘When I see bread, I remember Theo.’ It seems there is still much to test regarding whether your oblivion ability severs such connections as well. Fufufufufu... Having someone tamper with your mind is not an experience one often gets to have. How troubling. I may become a little addicted to it.”
With an utterly miserable expression, Theo whispered to Beryl.
“Miss Beryl, I... really do want to thank Miss Gertrude... I want to thank her, but...”
“Yeah, that would put you off before you could thank her... Don't worry about it, kid. Most people react that way.”
“Ugh, Miss Gertrude, I’m sorry... I really am grateful.”
As Theo apologized while Beryl patted his shoulder, Gertrude’s grin deepened.
“Ufufu, it is fine. I was never doing this to be thanked, so I do not mind. Now then, let us summarize what we currently know. We should share it within the Gray Knights as well.”
Gertrude compiled the results of using Theo’s three types of oblivion abilities on ordinary people, Mad Walkers, and Termea, then wrote them down.
* * *
【Target: Ordinary Person】
〈Constant Oblivion〉 → Effective. They have difficulty recognizing Theo or forget him quickly.
（However, if they meet him every day, they can recognize him to some extent.）
〈Self-Forgetfulness〉 → Effective （for around ten seconds）. Highly likely to forget Theo as well.
〈Designated Oblivion〉 “This morning’s breakfast” → Effective. They forget “this morning’s breakfast.” They forget Theo as well.
【Target: Mad Walker （Gertrude）】
〈Constant Oblivion〉 → Ineffective.
〈Self-Forgetfulness〉 → Effective （for around ten seconds）. Does not forget Theo.
〈Designated Oblivion〉 ① “This morning’s breakfast” → Effective. Forgets “this morning’s breakfast.” Does not forget Theo.
〈Designated Oblivion〉 ② “Theo” → Effective. Forgets Theo.
【Target: Termea】
〈Constant Oblivion〉 → Unknown. However, they attack Theo, so they seem able to recognize him.
〈Self-Forgetfulness〉 → Effective （for around ten seconds）.
〈Designated Oblivion〉 → Unknown.
* * *
“Hey, Miss Gertrude. Can we assume Mad Walkers and Blessed will have the same results?”
Gertrude did not immediately nod at Beryl’s question. Her answer was cautious.
“We should mark that as （tentative） for now. The amount of memory lost may also vary depending on how close someone is to Theo and how much they know about him, would it not? Theo’s abilities are still largely unknown. Consider what is written here to be no more than a rough guideline.”
According to Gertrude, this kind of testing should normally use a large number of samples.
However, gathering many Mad Walkers or Blessed was difficult, and above all, those who participated in the testing would forget Theo.
Gertrude stressed again that this was merely a guideline based on a single example.
“The important thing is that 〈Self-Forgetfulness〉 and 〈Designated Oblivion〉 work even on us Mad Walkers. Their aftereffects do not make us forget Theo... but if Theo himself is designated as the object of oblivion from the start, the oblivion takes effect.”
When Theo took only the memories of terror from the ordinary girl who had encountered a Termea, she forgot not only those memories of terror, but Theo as well.
In Gertrude’s case, though she was a Mad Walker, erasing a specific memory did not make her forget Theo. However, when Designated Oblivion ordered her to forget Theo, she did forget him.
That difference was important.
“Theo, I hear that when you first performed Curse Armament Manifestation, the residents of the town where you lived forgot you?”
“...Yes.”
His mother Olivia, the boys and girls he had thought were his friends, and the miners who had worked in the same coal mine all forgot Theo. Allen was the only one who remembered him.
“The first successful Curse Armament Manifestation usually leaves one in a half-rampaging state. Your 〈Constant Oblivion〉 likely went temporarily out of control, strengthening the degree of oblivion and expanding its range to encompass an entire town.”
Theo could think of something that matched that explanation. During his first Curse Armament Manifestation, it had felt as though all the power he had kept inside himself burst forth at once.
Since the second time, he had been able to control the output to some extent, keeping the range of oblivion to a minimum.
...Put another way, by letting his power run wild, Theo could expand the range of his oblivion.
Just imagining it made his legs tremble.
Being forgotten by the entire world and left all alone was what Theo feared more than anything.
“Your ability is exceedingly powerful. Use it carefully.”
“...Yes. I will keep that in mind.”
No matter how powerful it was, this was a power that would make Theo lonely.
As Theo vowed never to use it carelessly, Gertrude smiled with a hand against her cheek.
“But it is fine to use it on Termea. Next time, let me watch you use oblivion on one very, very, very closely. Ufufufufu... Fufu, I will watch very closely...”
Behind the black lens of her monocle, her eye seemed to gleam brightly. Scary.
Beryl gave the bewildered Theo a pat on the shoulder.
“Stay strong, kid.”
Apparently, being a Gray Knight required strength of heart as well as strength of body.
More specifically, enough strength not to have his spirit crushed by an unnerving older woman.
“Now then, with the discussion of your abilities finished, shall we perform a little physical examination? Would you show me your Curse Sigil?”
“Y-Yes...”
As Theo opened the front of his shirt, Gertrude touched a part of the monocle over her left eye. Click. The lens switched to a transparent one.
Through it, her left eye was visible. Its sclera had turned completely black due to her Curse Sigil.
Come to think of it, JJ, the leader of the Gray Knights who always wore a paper bag, also had Curse Sigils around his eyes.
“I heard the captain has an ability that lets him see curses. Is your ability something similar, Miss Gertrude?”
“Yes... It is similar, but a little different. The captain is the type who can sense things over a wide area. In contrast, I cannot sense a wide area, but I excel at looking very, very, very closely at the curses right in front of me.”
JJ could invest part of his own power in a special choker and constantly sense where it was. Gertrude’s eye ability seemed quite limited in comparison.
Behind the lens, her left eye glowed dark red.
When Mad Walkers wielded the power of their curses, their eyes glowed red from within. In Gertrude’s case, both her eyeball and sclera were pitch black, making that red glow stand out all the more.
“A Curse Sigil on the heart. That must have hurt terribly... It looks as though something went straight in... Stab, stab...”
Remembering when a Termea’s Blood Tail had pierced his chest, Theo clutched it and groaned.
Unable to watch any longer, Beryl cut in.
“When I first met Theo, he did not have a Curse Sigil. But it seems his 〈Constant Oblivion〉 was already active then. What sort of case could explain that?”
“Oh? Then when did this Curse Sigil appear?”
Gertrude looked at the Curse Sigil on Theo’s chest with interest.
Theo lowered his gaze slightly before answering.
“Last month, when a Termea appeared in Worg and pierced my chest with its Blood Tail. Miss Beryl says there may originally have been a Curse Sigil on my heart, and that it surfaced then.”
Gertrude furrowed her brow and hummed.
Apparently, there was something she could not accept.
“Since when have people been forgetting you?”
“Since five years ago, around the time my current family took me in. I do not have any memories from before then...”
Tap. Gertrude’s finger poked Theo’s forehead.
Behind her monocle, her left eye glowed red.
“Could it be that you used oblivion on yourself?”
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