Chapter 8: The Strongest Onmyoji Takes a Break

“Hmm…”

　Amiyu flinched with a faint groan.

“Oh, you’re up?”

“This is… what happened to me?”

　Amiyu sits up and looks at me sitting next to her with my back against the wall.

“Unfortunately, we’re still in the dungeon. You were knocked unconscious by a hobgoblin.”

“… I just remembered. Why did I go …… for a monster of that level?”

　Amiyu touched her blood soaked hair and frowned.

　Then she touches her head here and there and makes a curious face.

“That, the wound…”

“I fixed it.”

“… you, you can use healing magic too?”

　Amiyu then looked at the goblin corpses scattered at the end of the corridor.

“Did you do that, too, by any chance?”

“Sort of.”

　The giant centipedes are terrible because of the dirty way they eat.

　Well, they ate the monsters in the back, so we should be safe here for a while.

“What are you? I don’t know if it’s for me to say, but you’re a little crazy. …………!”

　Amiyu suddenly pressed her temples and began to suffer pain again.

“Are you okay? Is that a pre-existing condition of yours or something?”

　Amiyu shakes her head with her eyes tightly closed.

“Do you have any idea what the cause is?”

　She shook her head again.

　I take out a hitogata.

　If this is a disease, there’s nothing I can do about it, but I just transferred the injury a few moments ago. It’s strange that these symptoms appear so early.

　Then it might be that.

　I place the hitogata and make a seal.

“……ah”

“How is it? Is it better?”

“Umm, yeah……”

　Amiyu gets up slowly.

“What did you do?”

“I’ve put up a barrier. Curses won’t reach you while you’re inside.”

“curse……?”

“Yeah. When did those symptoms start?”

“Um…just about a month ago. At first I was dizzy, but then my head started to ache…”

　If it was a month ago, that would be after we entered school.

“But I don’t think it’s a …… curse. I once looked for a curse mark to see if it was, but I couldn’t find it anywhere on my body.”

“There are some places you can’t see on your own.”

“…”

“I didn’t ask you to show me anything, okay?”

“…I understand. Can you take a look now? That’ll clear things up.”

“eh”

“Turn around.”

　I did as I was told and turned around, I heared the rustling sound of clothes.

　I wait without words.

“……okay”

　I turned around to see Amiyu’s white naked body with her back to me.

　She turns her face to the side and looks at me with only her eyes and says

“How is it? I’m cold, can you make it quick?”

　As I was told, I looked from the nape of her neck where the hair was parted to her white back, from her small buttocks to her calves, but I couldn’t find anything that looked like a curse mark.

“……nothing”

“Yes. I knew it. Then will you turn your back again?”

　When I turn around again, I hear the rustle of clothes once more.

　I turned around when I felt like sitting down and saw Amiyu sitting next to me against the wall, dressed as she used to be.

　She looks calm… but if I look closely, her face is a little red.

“I told you. I told you there was nothing.”

　Her voice trembled just a little.

　Perhaps Amiyu herself had been anxious for a long time.

　But I had to say something 

“No…that’s not necessarily the case. For example, the lines may be a color close to the skin, or they may be very small to make them difficult to find.”

“No way, are you going to ask me to show you one more time!?”

“No! I’m saying there are countless loopholes! I can think of many other ways to hide a curse mark, such as on the scalp, in the back of the throat, or in various other holes. I can’t deny that.”

“Then why did I show you my naked body earlier?”

“no……”

“I don’t remember being cursed in the first place.　Karen-sensei told us in class that in order to cast a curse, you have to be face-to-face with the object of the curse. Can’t you deny it at that point?”

“… If that’s what you thought, then why did you just take it off?”

“What?! Shut up or I’ll kill you!”

“Im sorry……”

　I don’t want you to take it out on me.

“Anyway, as long as the barrier is actually working, you might as well consider it a curse. Besides, …… you can actually cast a curse from a distance.”

“Is that also knowledge passed down in the Lamprog family?”

“Something like that. “

“Hmm…so what then? Do I have to stay inside your barrier all the time?”

“Not really. Just as there are loopholes for the caster, there are loopholes for those casted on…can I have a hair? I’d rather have blood on it.”

　Amiyu pulled out a strand of her blood-soaked hair and held it out to me.

　I tie it to a hitogata, write letters on the top with magical power, and chant the spell.

　……Alright, this is fine.

“Yes. You can have this spell. It will take your place.”

　Amiyu looks suspiciously at the hitogata she received.

“Will this really work?”

“Yes, it works. But it is consumable. It will wear out after a certain amount of protection against the curse.”

“Then…”

“Then I’ll make another one, but first I’ll do something about it. I will.”

“Y-yeah…”

　After a moment of silence, Amiyu stood up.

“… Let’s move on. If that thing doesn’t happen again, I can fight properly.”

　Amiyu was about to walk away.

　I grabbed her hand.

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