Ch.168168 – Curse Resistance

# 168 – Curse Resistance

Life at the Academy often involves getting hit by powerful curses.

Whether it’s mutant curses created when low-level curses mix in laboratories, curse creatures born from unauthorized experiments without student council approval, or falling victim to curses left by seniors in treasure chests.

‘I was planning to raise my curse resistance in sophomore year, but it’s great that I can get a head start!’

Of course, I’m not about to spend a week living as a blind person to overcome a curse that makes me blind from the start.

A curse that makes your feet itchy.

A curse that makes you conscious of blinking.

A curse that makes you wonder whether to keep your tongue on the roof of your mouth or against your lower teeth.

Building curse resistance typically starts with such trivial low-level curses and progresses step by step.

“Let’s check the bulletin board first. It said there would be instructions posted there.”

“…If it’s a scary curse, I’m not doing any resistance training.”

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s check it out first.”

When I brought the terrified Titosoga to where the bulletin board was, I saw female students already gathered there.

It’s fine that they’re surrounding the board with serious faces discussing things, but I wish they’d move away from the board after reading it.

I can’t see anything because of my height!

“Ngh.”

Even standing on my tiptoes with all my might, or jumping up and down while holding onto Titosoga’s shoulder as he whines in pain, all I can see are various colored heads.

Just like candy.

Makes me want to bite them.

While I was having these impure thoughts, I suddenly felt weightless as my body was lifted into the air.

As I flailed in surprise, a calm, soothing voice came from behind me.

“It’s me. Hestia.”

“Hestia! You scared me!”

“Can you see better now?”

I can see well.

Not just the bulletin board, but also the piercing gazes of the students gathered in front of it.

“Ah, I shouldn’t laugh.”

“She looks like she’s being carried by her mom.”

Unlike the students trying hard not to laugh, there was one who burst into laughter openly.

“Pfft! Isn’t it hilarious that you’re so short someone has to lift you up to see the bulletin board~?”

“Grrrr… Massgakki Princess.”

“Shorty♡ Academy’s shortest student♡ You should carry your own personal ladder♡”

“You’re the second shortest in the Academy yourself!”

“I can’t hear words from someone shorter than me♡”

Being subjected to Massgakki’s defense-piercing verbal attacks first thing in the morning makes my blood boil.

“Be quiet, Princess. What do you know about Oknodie?”

“Huh? Are you talking to me~?”

“Oknodie has enough hardships without you. This child has reasons why she can’t grow taller. Got it?”

Hestia suddenly became aggressive.

I appreciate the help, but I don’t understand what’s going on.

What reason would I have for not growing taller, and how would Hestia know about it?

* *

If one considers Oknodie’s hard work, staying up late to help her friend, it makes sense.

A child in her growth phase who doesn’t get adequate sleep naturally can’t grow properly.

“Reasons why she can’t grow taller~?”

The Massgakki Princess thought about it.

A warning delivered with such a serious expression at such timing.

I see.

So that’s what it was.

Oknodie must be under a curse that prevents her from growing taller!

“…I didn’t mean to. I wasn’t trying to mock someone else’s misfortune. Believe me.”

Being short herself, the Massgakki Princess felt that what she had said was truly harsh.

“Apologize to Oknodie directly.”

“I’m sorry, Oknodie.”

I was worried she might become intimidated, but Oknodie responded with a face that pretended not to understand what was going on.

“If you’re sorry, give me points!”

“…How much?”

“Hmm. As much as you’re sorry?”

The Princess looked at her with distaste before tapping on her magic watch.

When someone tells you to apologize with money when you’re already apologizing, it makes you want to fight instead.

However, the wealthy Princess coolly decided to just send money and be done with it.

“Sent it♡”

“Wow. 100 points? Thank you!”

“I lost out by talking to you♡ I’m going back♡”

As the Massgakki Princess turned to head toward the Group B lounge, the upper-class female students followed her in a line.

Even Yayoi, the Third Princess who wasn’t part of the Massgakki faction, glanced around nervously before giving a slight bow and following the crowd.

“That’s good. Now we can read the bulletin board comfortably.”

“This is embarrassing, so could you put me down now?”

An Oknodie who feels shy?

That’s rare.

If I want to see Oknodie make that face again, should I lift her up from behind by putting my hands in her armpits?

The effect would probably be better with more people watching.

I should experiment with that again later.

While Hestia was having these sinister thoughts, Oknodie finished reading the bulletin board.

Then she sighed, saying it was disappointing.

“What? It’s just the usual random weekly event happening a bit earlier.”

“Random weekly event? You think this is just one of the events the Academy prepares every week?”

“Of course. If there were really serious curses going around, they wouldn’t just hand out protective charms and call it a day—they’d issue a lockdown order.”

Can we really expect such measures from this chaotic Academy?

At the beginning of the semester, water rose so high that we could see fish swimming outside from our first-floor dormitory rooms, yet we still had to attend classes. It’s hard to agree with her optimism.

“Why don’t you come with us, Hestia? The three of us together?”

“Come where?”

“To where the curses are!”

“Ehhh~? I have to go too?”

Titosoga’s face fell.

* *

Artificially spread curses at the Academy are accompanied by blatantly suspicious visual effects.

“Look over there, Titosoga. There’s light randomly sparkling in the bushes. Let’s stick our hands in!”

“No way. The plant sap might sting my hand, and the curse is scary.”

“Come on!”

“Waaah! I said no!”

Itchy itchy.

The feeling of wanting to scratch my palm after putting it in the bushes revealed the nature of the curse.

“We got a winner. It’s the lowest-level Itching Curse!”

“That’s not a win, it’s a loss! It’s so itchy. Hiiing. It’s uncomfortable like a mosquito bite.”

“But the Itching Curse is lifted once you scratch the itchy area a certain number of times! Or if you endure it, your curse resistance increases. What do you want to do, Titosoga?”

“Can’t I just scratch it?”

“That’s fine. But you won’t gain resistance, so the next time you get hit with a similar curse, you’ll be itchy again.”

Endure once with eyes tightly shut to gain curse resistance vs. Scratch satisfyingly and lose the chance for resistance.

While Titosoga was caught in fierce deliberation, Hestia suddenly stuck her hand into the bushes.

“Gasp! Why did you do that…!”

“You can speak informally to me.”

“I-I’ll stick with formal speech. It’s scary…”

Titosoga, feeling intimidated by the large Hestia, became noticeably more cautious in his attitude.

“War mercenaries often experience harsh conditions on battlefields. We sometimes fight dark mages who command evil forces, and occasionally get cursed.”

“Wow… Being a mercenary must be really tough.”

“The Itching Curse might seem trivial, but it was quite difficult. It breaks your concentration.”

In a tense situation, if you’re hit with an Itching Curse that’s impossible to bear without scratching, you might lose your head in the moment you’re distracted.

After hearing Hestia’s words, Titosoga seemed to make up his mind and clenched his fists tightly.

“Oknodie. I’ll endure it too.”

“Good decision!”

[You’ve gained Curse Resistance by enduring the Itching Curse for 1 minute.]

[Curse Resistance experience +1]

[Endurance experience +1]

The curse disappeared like a lie in just a moment.

We felt a strange sense of accomplishment, like we had become comrades.

“Now I can go back proudly. When I return to the dorm, I’ll be like, ‘Who am I? I am Titosoga, the one who endured the Itching Curse!’ I’ll brag about it.”

“That’s cute.”

“Aren’t you happy too, Hestia?”

“I feel good.”

“I’m glad you both feel good! Then let’s quickly find the next curse.”

Titosoga turned his head stiffly as if he’d heard something he shouldn’t have.

“Next curse?”

“It’s a rare chance to easily deal with harmless, safe curses. The protective charms they gave us at the dorm will block any dangerous curses, so we can’t stop after just one!”

“…I want to go back.”

“Oh, look over there. The fountain water is sparkling purple!”

“I really want to go back!”

“Come on!”

“Waaah!”

I’ve been a bit worried about you because you seem too weak.

If we’re going to attend the Academy together for a long time, you need to build up resistance at times like this.

Hang in there, Titosoga!

“Hmm. A curse that causes respiratory swelling? What do you think is the on-the-spot solution for this one?”

“It’s a curse that gets better if you blow your nose with a ‘hmph’! But if you don’t blow your nose, you’ll develop resistance, right?”

“This is a curse the Massgakki Princess could never endure.”

Imagining the Massgakki Princess going “hmph hmph,” we spent quite some time walking around the campus building up various curse resistances.

During that time, we finally encountered someone I’d been expecting to meet.

“Is the ritual resolved?”

A man with such a dangerous aura that even Hestia flinched and moved to block him protectively.

The lonely Eastern swordsman.

…And it was Sing, whose face had swollen terribly from a face-swelling curse.