Petrification Curse

"By the way, you wouldn't know about the curse placed on the apprentices-in-name, would you?"

"I am afraid I am not acquainted with the current quartermasters of the workhouses, so I only have the most basic idea in regards to the curse."

Having received the note containing the recipes of the Aetherburst Nectar and the Berserk Potion, Theodore moved on to his next subject of interest.

Though he had allied himself with Kalman, he wasn't about to abandon Albatross. As much as Theodore suspected her, he was far more distrusting of Kalman. At the very least, as far as he was aware, he and Albatross shared the same goal while Kalman's goals remained an unknown.

"Even then, I would like to hear about it. Due to her fear of the curse, Albatross was rather sparse in the details so it hasn't been all that helpful."

"Well, simply put, the curse upon the apprentices-in-name prevents them from doing things they were restricted from doing. If they violate said restrictions, the Aether within their bodies would be forced into an inactive state in such a way that it places the bodies of the victims in stasis. I suppose that from the perspective of a regular person, it would be akin to turning to stone. Essentially, the curse could be thought of as a set of rules that enforces themselves."

"And what are the said rules? How specific are they?"

"That, I am not clear on. Only the apprentices-in-name themselves have an idea of the rules placed on them. Not to mention, the rules placed on the apprentices-in-name aren't universal. Rules that apply to one don't necessarily apply to the other, making it harder to ascertain the rules placed upon each individual."

"Why the differences? Are the apprentices-in-name not treated the same?"

"I can't be too sure since I have no details on the matter, but I can only assume that the restrictions placed upon them are dependent on the jobs they were given. For example, it would seem that certain apprentices-in-name are restricted from stealing, the curse petrifying them on the spot if they do. On the other hand, some were able to steal without problems. I would know since I had a courier steal a corpse from the nearby town once, for experiment purposes, of course. Then again, there's also the possibility of the rules stating that they shall not steal from mages but the others are fine."

"I wonder if 'stealing from mages' means the same as 'stealing from the tower'. After all, Albatross was able to pull it off... Or did it not work because she was merely assisting?"

"It appears that we're going around in circles." Kalman let out a sigh. "We simply have too little information to work with to come up with anything conclusive."

"If only there's a way to get more out of Albatross..."

As Theodore's head began to ache from the conundrum he had found himself in, the doorbell from the back entrance began to ring.

"Speaking of the devil," said Kalman as he began to rise from the old couch. "I'll be in my study. Do not speak of our alliance with the courier girl. There's no need for her to know and the fewer in the know of a secret, the longer it can be kept."

"Rest assured, I have no intention of telling her in the first place."

Not while Kalman was listening, that is.

***

"So, about the letters... Any news?"

"I'm afraid that I've got nothing for you."

"I see... I guess that's how it's going to be then."

The Circle must have restricted his letters from being sent out for one reason or another. The most likely reason was that they feared it might contain some coded message and decided that it was safer to prevent it from being sent. Even if it's the post office out of the city, the town by the lagoon ought to be under the influence of the Circle as well, be it officially or otherwise. One cannot expect to live near mages and not bend to their might.

At least, that was what Theodore wanted to think. He did not want to even entertain the notion that something might have happened to the town or the people living there. If he did, Theodore wasn't sure how long he'd last without going utterly insane.

"Well, you can go see your family as much as you want once we're out of here. Speaking of, how goes the tunnel?"

"Yeah, sure... Anyways, I just planted them, but it should go smoothly. The bricks are enchanted, but since the Dandelion Mandragora absorbs Aether to grow, they're the perfect counter to such a structure. They're not called the 'Stonebreaker Mandragora' for nothing."

"Good, but then what? We've gone through a lot of trouble only to take this one step. Don't tell me you really don't have a plan beyond this?"

Theodore thought about it for a moment, placing an elbow atop the desk he sat at as he did so. Meanwhile, Albatross sat across him atop his bed, acting as if she owned the place while waiting patiently for an answer. Peter came by to snuggle up her feet as she stared Theodore down. The hare had taken quite a liking to her, it would seem.

"I have a few thoughts," Theodore gave an uncommitted answer.

Albatross was clearly displeased, but before she got to blow up at him, Theodore spoke again.

"First thing's first. We have to take care of that curse of yours. We're not going to get far with it still intact."

"My curse? Wouldn't increasing my magic resistance get rid of it eventually?"

By mentioning an issue of Albatross's concern, Theodore successfully changed the topic. It was still too early to reveal his plans to her. In fact, Theodore had not revealed everything he knew to Kalman either.

This was because he cannot yet see a way to achieve the goal of awakening the tower. He only made it sound as simple and easy as he did because that was what Kalman needed him for. If Kalman fully realized the horror that existed down there and decided to give up, he would have no use for Theodore any longer. The same applied to Albatross. If she were to despair at this point, Theodore would lose his collaborator and one of his few means of making moves outside of these grounds.

"That's just a speculation. Without knowing how the curse works, there is no way to truly know. Are you sure that you can't reveal more about what you know?"

"Like I said, I don't know much, and even if I did know, I can't tell you about it in detail. I don't know how far I can push before the curse triggers. That being said..."

Theodore raised his brow as Albatross had a look of contemplation on her face.

"I heard something from someone else the other day. Since I don't know if it's true or not, I guess it's just gossip, but he said that the curse does not trigger if us apprentices-in-name do not feel like we've violated the restrictions ourselves."

Albatross had tried to look into that on her own to no avail. In the end, she could only seek out Theodore's expertise as the supposed Demon Lord reincarnate.

"Is that so!?" Theodore opened his eyes wide. He felt like he had just grasped a large piece of the puzzle, assuming that it was true, of course.

"Who knows?" Albatross shrugged. "It's probably a lie. That guy was keen on messing with me after all. It's probably just an excuse he made up."

"I wonder about that... How are the rules implemented on the apprentices-in-name decided in the first place? I heard that they're different depending on the jobs you do."

"Oh, that? It's quite simple." The gist of the procedure wasn't that much of a secret and anyone could easily find out just by looking into it. And so, Albatross easily talked about it. "Someone would come to look at us the moment we enter the workhouse and decide what kind of jobs we'll do. After that, we'll do basic training for three years before we take on the jobs we're assigned to. We learn the rules we need to follow during those three years... I think."

"You think?"

"Well, that's the oddest thing. Maybe it's because it happened so long ago, but I can hardly remember how training went, or even where we conducted it."

"You think someone might have wiped it from your mind?"

"What for? We have the curse. If they wanted to keep it a secret, then it's already done. None of us would be able to speak of what happened during training...... You know, now that I think about it, I can't remember when the curse was placed on me either."

Silence fell upon the bedroom. Albatross felt that something was wrong with her head while Theodore was trying to piece together what he had just heard.

"Let's take a break for now. I'll go make some tea," eventually said Theodore, breaking the silence as he got up and went to the kitchen.

As always, Theodore boiled the water by vibrating the molecules within the pot of water. His skills had gotten to the point in which he hardly paid any attention to it anymore, which led him to have his eye wander about the kitchen. Eventually, his eyes landed on the teapot, reminding him of what had occurred just last night.

In that instant, Theodore arrived at an epiphany.

***

End of Chapter 74

***