The Forgotten Curse Knight - Chapter 59

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: nemui

◈ The Forgotten Curse Knight ◈

Vol. 3 Ch. 17: The Person I Want to Turn Around

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Meals at Cinder House, the headquarters of the Gray Knights, were prepared by the two junior staff members, Mrs. Moran and thirteen-year-old Noah.

Neither was a Mad Walker. They were both ordinary people, each with their own reasons for seeking refuge at Cinder House.

Noah, one of the junior staff, tasted the meatball stew for dinner and took the pot off the heat.

Mrs. Moran usually did most of the seasoning, but today, she had unusually left it to him.

"Well, you know that boy... Theo apparently likes meatball stew. He might enjoy it more if it suits a younger person's tastes."

When Mrs. Moran mentioned Theo, Noah hesitated for a moment, then remembered.

Right. He was the one with the 〈Oblivion〉 Curse.

The newcomer Theo supposedly constantly gave off a curse that made people around him less likely to recognize him. However, it did not affect Mad Walkers or the Blessed.

So at Cinder House, it affected the junior staff, Noah and Mrs. Moran, as well as Archibald, an outsider.

Still, it was not as though they forgot Theo entirely. A sheet bearing Theo's name was posted on the wall, and since they saw him every day, their memories had settled in somewhat.

To Noah now, Theo was "the least noticeable person in the group he belonged to."

Noah had never attended school, but perhaps it was like the least noticeable person in a class.

（...It's strange. He isn't unnoticeable at all.）

Anyone who lived under the same roof as Theo would know it. He greeted people loudly and actively interacted with everyone at Cinder House. Sometimes, he even helped in the dining room.

With his blond hair and emerald-green eyes, he should have been someone people remembered.

Yet the curse made them forget his existence.

That was why Mrs. Moran had asked about Theo's favorite food and made meatball stew. So that making this dish would remind them of Theo.

She had likely entrusted the seasoning to Noah so Noah would remember Theo more easily as well.

（...Oblivion, huh.）

It was a frightening power.

With a little malicious cleverness, it could be abused in countless ways. One could break inconvenient verbal promises or erase evidence of crimes.

It was fortunate that the one chosen for this ability was Theo, a kindhearted softie.

（...This should be about right.）

Noah adjusted the flavor with salt and took the pot from the heat when he noticed a sound coming from the back door.

Mrs. Moran was delivering coffee to the captain, so it was not her.

（Which means...)

When he opened the back door, a pinkish-haired woman was sitting against the wall right beside it. It was Rosé, one of the Gray Knights.

She had probably tried to sneak in through the back door to take some alcohol, but Noah had been there, so she could not. Then she had wandered around here until she ran out of strength.

"Rosé, again?"

Noah spoke harshly, and Rosé slowly raised her face.

"...Ah... Ugh... Booze..."

Her alcohol-clouded eyes did not reflect Noah. Ever since that day, always, always.

Noah did not hide his irritation as he looked at Rosé with contempt.

"Aren't you ashamed to be in such a state?"

Rosé's face immediately crumpled, like a scolded child's.

Hugging her knees, Rosé lowered her head and let out a sob.

"Ugh, uuugh... Ugh... Charles... Uuugh..."

What a pitiful person. What a pathetic person. What a miserable person.

（I am the most miserable one, wanting someone like her to look my way.）

Holding open the back door, Noah spoke with some of the barbs removed from his voice.

"...Why don't you come in? There isn't any alcohol."

"Uugh..."

Rosé came inside, sniffling, and plopped down on a work chair.

Noah silently made tea. Suddenly, he had felt like serving tea to the Gray Knights who were staying behind. Rosé was merely incidental.

"Here."

Noah dissolved a teaspoonful of sugar into the black tea and set it beside Rosé.

Rosé carefully lifted the cup in both hands and sipped the sweet tea. She never gulped down sweet drinks. She drank them carefully, cherishing every sip.

Rosé looked at Noah with swollen eyes.

"Noah really is kind..."

"...Not really. I'm taking some to everyone else, and this is just along the way."

Noah placed a teapot and cups on a tray, then briskly left the kitchen.

Theo, Hugo, and Archibald were away in the Reyel Holy District. Mrs. Moran was bringing coffee to JJ, so he did not need any tea.

That left Carla, Beryl, Gertrude, and Hulk.

Thinking at least one of them would be in the recreation room, Noah went there. All four people staying behind were gathered around the table in the recreation room.

A white fluffball was rolling about on the floor as well.

"I made tea... Are you in the middle of a briefing?"

When Noah spoke, Gertrude, a dark-brown-haired woman with an imposing monocle over her left eye, turned only her head to look at him.

"Well, well, Noah. Is there no coffee for me?"

"Dr. Gertrude, you drink far too much coffee."

"Tch."

Still wearing a faint smile, she said something childish. She was probably past thirty, yet Noah could not quite understand her.

Holding a cup of tea in one hand, Gertrude called to the fluffball rolling on the floor. "Would Lenny like some too?"

The white fluffball, Lenny, cried, "Meuu," and fled toward Beryl as if it disliked Gertrude.

Careful not to step on the fluffball, Noah set cups beside Beryl and Hulk as well.

"Oh, thanks."

"Thanks, Noah."

Beryl, with her dark skin, and Hulk were probably from the south. Hulk in particular did not drink cow's milk, so Noah figured that was what it was, but he deliberately said nothing.

In any case, the two of them were comparatively easy to deal with among the people at Cinder House.

Finally, Noah set a cup of tea beside Carla, the girl with white hair tied into two tails.

Carla, who bore the Curse of Immortality, was the longest-serving member of Cinder House.

As far as Noah knew, Carla was always absentminded, and it was normal for her to barely respond when spoken to.

Yet Carla stared intently at Noah's face and thanked him in a small voice.

"...Thank you."

She had thanked him before, but it felt as though she was looking properly at the other person's face now. Probably ever since Theo had arrived.

"What is everyone reading?"

At Noah's question, Carla held up the book so he could see its cover and read the title aloud.

"Termea Ecology: Ask Dr. Termea!"

The author was, unbelievably, Gertrude.

As Noah fell silent, Beryl crossed her legs beneath her wrap skirt and spoke.

"It is packed full of Dr. Gertrude's love for Termea. But it also has useful information in it, so you can't really dismiss it."

"Hehehe. Love tends to be something disgusting. Sticky and gooey. That disgustingness, and the weight of the book, are the weight of my love for Termea."

"Yeah, yeah. Dr. Gertrude is one heavy woman."

Noah had only half been listening to Gertrude and Beryl's exchange when he noticed that Hulk, the large bald man, was looking at a stack of papers rather than the book.

When Noah stared at the papers, Hulk held them out to him.

"You should look through this too, Noah. It's a summary of our investigation into Theo's 〈Oblivion〉 Curse."

Noah set the tray on the table and accepted the stack of papers.

Apparently, Gertrude had investigated Theo's 〈Oblivion〉 Curse with herself as a test subject.

According to it, three forms of Theo's 〈Oblivion〉 Curse had been confirmed: 〈Constant Oblivion〉, which was weak but always active; 〈Self-Forgetfulness〉, which temporarily made someone lose themselves; and 〈Designated Oblivion〉, which made someone forget a chosen memory.

And its targets were...

（〈Designated Oblivion〉 works on Mad Walkers too...）

Noah swallowed.

This was important. He had to remember it. Absolutely.

As Noah desperately committed the words written on the papers to memory, a head covered in a paper bag appeared in the doorway. It was JJ, the captain of the Gray Knights.

"Ah, is everyone here? Good. Well, not good, actually..."

The paper-bag-wearing captain spoke in an unreliable tone.

"Adcock Research Institute contacted us... It seems something really troublesome has happened."

Adcock Research Institute was ostensibly treated as a military research facility, but in truth, it studied Termea.

Gertrude had been staying there until very recently.

Trouble brought by a Termea research institute. Everyone present understood that it meant nothing good.

Then footsteps sounded behind JJ. Steady footsteps, unlike when someone was drunk. Pinkish hair swayed.

"...Is there work? Give me work, Captain."

Rosé appeared from behind JJ.

She was usually limp and loose with drink, but standing straight made her painfully thin body and height stand out.

Rosé smiled. It was a ruinous smile that sent a chill down Noah's spine.

"...Let me run wild. Let me dance with Charles. For that, I'll kill anything, Termea or whatever else."