episode_0001

A peaceful day.

A woman was sitting on a chair in the front yard of the bakery.

Her name is Hilda. No, she is now called ‘Hilia’.

One of Hilda’s routines is to sit here every morning and watch Arthur.

As I waited, the door to the house in front opened as usual, and a man came out with Arthur.

“Good morning, Hilia~”

The name of the man greeting Hilda is ‘Jade’.

He is a wonderful person who accepted Arthur as a family member without prejudice.

“Hello, Jade.”

“Arthur, you should say hello too!”

Hearing Jade’s words, Arthur, who had been hiding behind her, spoke.

“Ah..hello…”

“Okay, Arthur. Did you sleep well last night?”

“…yes.”

Arthur, who was still afraid of strangers, was awkward around people who weren’t his family.

Hilda looked at Arthur’s face.

He had the appearance of a young boy who, if seen by someone who didn’t know him, would mistake him for a girl. His hair was black and long, like a bob, as if he didn’t want to bother cutting it.

Even though he is only 7 years old this year, his small stature stands out compared to his peers.

‘It seems like the strength is weaker than average..’

I could only guess that perhaps the growth was slow due to the effects of the curse.

* * *

While Hilda was chatting with Jade, someone’s voice was heard behind Jade.

“Dad! Mom, you’re coming to eat!!”

The owner of the voice was ‘Iris’. She was the child of Jade and his wife ‘Milia’.

Although he was born later than Arthur, he was taller.

Her appearance resembled that of Milia, with an innocent face and white hair, and she inherited Jade’s blue eyes.

When she grows up, she will definitely have the looks to make many men cry.

‘But still, our Arthur is much cuter.’

If Alice had heard that, she would have been upset all day, saying, ‘I hate Hilda!’, but there was no way she could know Hilda’s thoughts.

Hilda’s idle imagination was fleeting, and when it was time to go home, Jade held Arthur’s hand and said.

“Ms. Hilia, we’ll go in now.”

“Yes, see you next time.”

After saying hello, Hilda went straight into the bakery.

A house built of oak and with an interior that looks ordinary to match. However, this house has a secret space that only Hilda knows about.

Hilda went into her room and pushed the wardrobe next to the bed.

All you see is an ordinary looking wall.

It was a location that no one would have guessed would have a secret space, but Hilda took out a black key from the subspace pouch she was holding and tried to insert it into the wall. Surprisingly, the key went through the wall.

Clank-

When Hilda turned the key she had inserted, the wall that had been ordinary until just a moment ago became a ‘door’ that people could enter.

Why was this possible? It was simple. The black key that Hilia had was not an ordinary object.

And there was only one thing in the world that could make these things possible.

These are the treasures called ‘artifacts’.

An item that contains a ‘mystery’ that cannot be discovered even with modern magic. The empire also has a history of 1000 years, but it is known that it does not possess many artifacts.

Hilda also obtained the item from the Demon King’s treasure vault after killing him.

The effect is that it is an artifact that completely blocks the outside world in one place for ‘one time’ only. In other words, it allows connection to a room that exists in another dimension, and can only be accessed with a key.

There was no room for doubt, as the warrior said that this information was found out by checking it with his emotional ability called the ‘Status Window’.

Hilda opened the door and went in. The interior was large enough for a single person to live in.

In the field of vision there was a large desk and bookshelves filled with various unidentifiable objects.

Hilda sat down at the desk chair in front of her, picked up the paper spread out on it, and began to read.

Her hands became increasingly anxious, and her reading speed also became faster. And after about half a day, her complexion gradually darkened.

The artifact ‘Tears of the Goddess’ that has been tracked for several years.

According to the information gathered, it is known to store powerful divinity, capable of removing all types of curses, and has a total of 3 uses.

The most recent record of its use was 15 years ago, when it was used on a princess in a remote kingdom. However, it is said that it has since been in the hands of individuals who traveled around the continent and crossed the Red Sea.

They were not even funny. At the time, they hired many skilled workers, saying they were looking for a ‘new continent’, and started collecting all the artifacts they could find around them.

The empire’s nobles also invested a lot of money for political purposes, which led to the construction of three of the largest ships in history.

The ship set sail carrying hundreds of people, food, and precious treasures, and the scene of tens of thousands of people gathering at the port to watch the departure was recorded on a magic sphere and can be viewed at the Imperial History Museum.

So did it work?

Unfortunately, less than a month later, all magical communications from the ship that entered enemy waters were cut off, and it is said that contact has not been made to this day.

It’s been 10 years since the ship set sail, so I think they’re all dead since there’s still no contact. Or maybe they were lucky and really passed by.

The answer would only be known to those on board the ship.

Then, you might ask, isn’t there not a single person who has crossed the Red Sea?

My answer to this is: There is only one.

Because among all the people I know, there was only one guy who came from the Red Sea.

That guy, who was a member of the warrior party, crossed the enemy sea and came to the continent where we live.

Of course, even if there were cases, it would never be possible to cross the Red Sea using normal methods. If it were that easy, it would probably be common to travel between continents by ship by now.

The records of the Red Sea state that when you are on a ship, there is a sea area where the mana that has been altered by the influence of ‘something unknown’ begins to turn the sea red. That is the Red Sea. Also, there is a high chance that your ship will be wrecked due to attacks by ferocious sea monsters.

If this were the only problem, we would have succeeded in getting over it, even if it was difficult.

If we put the Royal Knights on the ship right now, the ship won’t sink because of sea monsters or something.

The biggest problem is the mana storms that occur periodically. All magic becomes useless due to their effects, and the ship’s protective magic also breaks down, making it vulnerable to shocks. If you encounter a tornado in such a state, all you can do is pray to the goddess.

Of course, that still doesn’t change the fact that it will be thrown into the sea.

The imperial people were so curious about the unknown beyond the enemy sea that they once asked the guy how he got across during his travels.

Then he told me about the way he came over.

-That sea? Its color is so unique that I still remember it. I remember going across by myself on a boat, and a strange storm suddenly wrecked my boat. So I had no choice but to ‘walk’ across. Sometimes I met big octopuses and talking fish, but I ‘cut’ them all down because they were annoying. I guess that’s how I ended up here. What do you think? It’s not as bad as I thought, is it?

At that time, I was so angry that I thought he was making fun of me again with that ridiculous talk.

Even I, who had never touched a man before in my life, couldn’t control my anger and tried to hit him on the head with a hammer, but I remember letting it slide because his expression was so serious.

Well, he was a strange guy from the first time we met. The warrior brought him as a new comrade, so he checked his mana to see how skilled he was, but he didn’t feel any mana, so he thought he was a normal person.

He said something strange, like he had reached the state of ‘Banbak Gwijin’ and couldn’t feel it.

So I said sarcastically.

-Warrior, I still can’t believe you, but shouldn’t we at least verify your abilities? There’s no way I can trust my back to a guy who looks so weak.

-What the hell is that pig-like bitch? Tsk.

Ah! I remembered. So I..

-Wh, what did you say? A pig..! Can’t you see these solid abs?

-Ahem… Hilda..? Well… I can see your abs, but you’ve been binge eating a lot lately. You definitely don’t look like you used to-

-Hey!!! Rookie! You have to come to work and organize the ranks right away today. I’ll personally conduct the entrance test for you, so consider it an honor.

After hearing what I said, the guy looked at me with a look of contempt.

-Hey, what’s with that expression on your face? You can’t do it. It’s too late to apologize now. I’ll show you what hell is today. Be prepared. I won’t let you off because I’m a man.

-..Warrior? Isn’t the entrance test too easy?

The moment I heard those words, my hand was already swinging my sword at the guy.

-visor!

-You’re right, you cheeky brat!!!

How much did we fight back then? We couldn’t do anything and were defeated… no, I think we lost by a narrow margin.

I haven’t won since then, but I remember losing them all by close standards.

Actually, if you think about it again, you could say it was a draw all along. Because I didn’t put in any effort to look after that guy.

Yeah, I’m a woman, so I saw it. If I had tried my best, I would have won easily. Probably..

Anyway! After becoming his colleague, I got to see a lot of his antics.

There was a time when he sat in one spot and meditated for 15 days without eating, saying it was training. He said that he was eating breakfast and that it was like eating breakfast.

At that time, I was so shocked that I stole all of that guy’s rice balls, right?

‘Come to think of it, where is that guy and what is he doing now?’

The last time I saw him was right after he defeated the Demon King. He suddenly said he had attained enlightenment.

He said that if he could get his teeth into shape, he would reach the realm of ‘attachment’ and that he was going on a trip. Then he said to the warrior, ‘It’s been fun, my friend’ and disappeared without even looking at the rest of his companions.

If I had known this was going to happen, I would have grabbed him by the collar and told him how to cross the enemy line.

No, in fact, it would already be too late. The artifact would be buried under the sea and unfindable.

I don’t think the ship would have made it across safely. He’s the only one who knows how to cross the enemy sea.

“Haa… I just need to lift Arthur’s curse…”

It’s not like Hilda didn’t try other methods.

But I couldn’t solve it by any means.

High priest’s sea magic? 7th class sea magic? All of it was meaningless.

Because it wasn’t an ordinary curse, but the Demon King’s curse. How can you be sure?

When she was cursed, Hilia felt the aura of the Demon King.

It was probably a curse that used the ‘Demon King’s Essence’ that was brought as evidence during the expedition as a medium.

‘It must have been the Emperor who ordered it. His own position was greatly shaken by the warrior who ended the 1000-year war.’

Hilda closed her eyes and recalled the memory of that day. Although it had been several years, it still felt as vivid as if it had happened yesterday.

Hundreds of curses were spread, and it was obvious that the warrior’s skills would have allowed him to avoid most of them. However, because of Elin and the child behind him, he ‘deliberately’ took on most of the curses on his body.

Of the dozen or so curses that were not passed on, the one that affected vitality was successfully passed on to Elin and herself instead of the child, but in the end, several curses were seen entering the child’s body.

“I miss you. Elin…”

My close friend, the ‘saint’ Elin, was the one who most likely could lift the curse, but right now I don’t even know if she’s alive or dead, so I’m just frustrated.

Hilda spent the day feeling guilty and in pain, just like yesterday.