Chapter 96 - Disenchantment & Misunderstanding

“Merdie, I’m going to ask you once again. Will you do whatever it takes?”

I checked Merdie’s determination once again.

In order to save the king of the beastkin, I will be doing something that goes against my policy.

That’s why I thought I could ask for a bit of reward.

“Y, yeah… If it’s what Halt says, then I would listen to anything, meow.”

Alright, I got Merdie’s commitment.

Fufufu, it’s gonna be a bit exciting from now on.

Alright, first, I had to convince the king of the beastkin.

“Your Majesty, I can break that curse.”

“W, what?”

“Nonsense! It’s the Black Death Curse cast by the warlock, you know!?”

“What is that human greenhorn spouting!”

“Do you have a way to break the curse other than defeating the warlock?”

The physicians' and ministers’ tone became rough.

“It is possible. It’s because I am a sage.”

With that, I showed only the occupation statement on my status board to them.

“S, sage, you say!?”

“So young… Are you sure you’re a human?”

“Can you save the king?”

They softened their attitude towards me just by knowing I was a sage.

“...What do you want?”

The king of the beastkin stared at my eyes as he asked that.

“I will be receiving Merdie, so please do not worry.”

“...Huh?”

“Eh, w, what are you saying, meow!?”

Hm?

The king’s fury was now unconcealed, and Merdie’s face became beet red.

I was just saying that I will be receiving the reward from Merdie, so there was no need for this country to prepare anything, though…

Why was it like this?

I got the feeling I messed up big time.

Ah, no matter.

We don’t have much time, so we have to proceed with the conversation.

“The curse will likely spread throughout the entire body after two more times, and the king will lose his life. How about this? Would you listen to my proposal, at the very least?”

“...Granting that you are a sage strong enough to be able to cure me, then I will leave my beloved daughter to you.”

“F, Father, what are you saying meow!?”

Really, what was he saying? It would seem as if I’m breaking the curse just so I can ask for Merdie’s hand.

I was okay with just touching Merdie’s paw pads as my reward for breaking the curse.

“So, how do you plan to break the curse?”

“I will be using holy magic to extinguish the curse’s factor within Your Majesty’s body.”

“...Huh?”

The king was dumbfounded.

Merdie, the physicians, and the ministers did not understand what I said, and they stood rooted to the spot.

“I will cut a portion of the finger which did not have the curse yet, and from there, I will regenerate His Majesty’s body. Holy Magic cannot hurt a person’s soul, so as long as the body is regenerated, then the curse will be cleared completely.”

Indeed, if this was cast on the body, it was a method that could forcefully break almost all curses.

However, it would not work if the curse was cast on the entire body or if the curse was cast on the soul.

“N, nonsense! Are you telling His Majesty to die once!?”

“No, he won’t die. It’s because his soul is safe.”

In this world, as long as the soul is safe, it could be revived using restoration magic such as [Resurrection].

The body was not limited to being the soul’s vessel.

In that vein, if the soul was annihilated, it would be a genuine death.

Regardless, I don’t like destroying somebody’s body.

Holy magic won’t hurt a person's soul, so it would not be killing, but in the perspective of my previous world, the body’s annihilation was equivalent to death.

That’s why, if possible, I don’t wanna do this method.

“...You said you would regenerate my body from a finger. Isn’t that impossible?”

“I, indeed. There are no healers in our beloved country who could regenerate an entire body from a finger using healing magic, and we do not possess any elixirs.”

One of the physicians bitterly said.

“Can you do resurrection magic?”

“No, I cannot.”

Being a sage did not mean one could use any kind of magic. Healing and regenerating body flesh could be done, but no matter what, establishing the soul inside the body needed [Resurrection].

‘Well, your proposal will be a failure right from the get-go, then.”

But–

“I cannot use resurrection magic, but I have an elixir made from the Leaves of Yggdrasil.”

So saying, I took a small bottle containing the elixir out of my bag.

I made it from the Leaves of Yggdrasil that I got from Sylph for emergency purposes, and I always brought it with me.

“What? What did you say just now?”

“E, elixir, he said!?”

“Furthermore, it was made from the Leaves of Yggdrasil!?”

The physicians and the ministers stared at the small bottle I held.

In fact, elixirs had several manufacturing methods.

According to the manufacturing process, its efficacy will vary from best to worst. In other words, poor quality elixirs could only heal partially broken flesh.

Of course, even if that was so, it was still considered a rare item.

On the other hand, mine was an elixir made using the most difficult recipe, so it has the best quality.

‘Y, you are willing to use such a precious thing for me?”

“Yes, it is Merdie’s request, after all.”

“Halt!”

Merdie hugged me.

“Halt… Thank you, meow.”

“It’s okay to say your thanks after His Majesty’s curse is broken. Alright, sorry, but there’s no more time.”

I pulled Merdie off me while saying that.

“Your Majesty, I would like to get one of your fingers that is unaffected by the curse but… Would that be alright?”

It was my first time making this request.

I also thought it’s weird.

“It’s fine. The warlock cut off my right hand, so it’s the left hand.”

So saying, the king of the beastkin offered his left hand to me.

“Ah, before that, shall we prove the authenticity of this elixir?”

I don’t think anybody would believe if they were suddenly told, ‘Lemme cut your finger, it’ll be alright, it’ll be good as new with an elixir.’

I didn’t want to do this, but I planned to cut my own finger, and right before the king and the ministers, I would regenerate it.

“No need. You have already shown us your status board. That cannot be faked. It is also difficult to think that a sage as you are would tell a lie like that.”

“Is that so. Thank you very much.”

I was relieved I didn’t have to cut my finger.

Now that I think about it, since being reincarnated, I haven’t got wounds except for small cuts; can I cut my own finger?

While thinking of senseless things, I wrapped my right hand with [Heal] and the left hand with wind magic.

I would use a karate chop strengthened with wind magic to sever the king’s finger, and then I would use my right hand’s [Heal] to stop the bleeding immediately.

If I do it ultra fast, then maybe it would be less painful.

I also donned my magic suit to strengthen my physical ability.

“You can begin anytime. Do it for me.”

Even though his finger was about to be cut off, the king did not falter in the slightest.

As expected of the beastkin’s king.

Just as I was about to sever the finger—a piece of certain information came flowing inside me.

The magic I had activated since we left the checkpoint till we reached the royal palace brought information to me.

“Your Majesty, I have one question.”

“What is it?”

“What was the appearance of the warlock Your Majesty fought with?”

“Why are you concerned about that now?...No matter, I’ll tell you. He was –”

The warlock who attacked this country was a male warlock who had two large horns protruding from both sides of his head, and he had a tanned skin color.