Nellis was flustered.
But Ruperi did not wait for an answer before asking again.
"Then why were you shrouded in light?"
[Light?]
"You were shrouded in light. To leave the manor. Paul had always wanted to leave the manor………."
Ruperi trailed off.
Seeing his shoulders drooping listlessly, Nellis had no idea how to respond.
'It's true that I wanted to leave, but should I say I wasn't trying to leave now? No, that would only make him more wary, wouldn't it?'
Nellis quickly snapped back to her senses and humored Ruperi.
[N-no! I was shrouded in light to save you!]
"Shrouded in light to save me?"
[Yeah! You've been cursed!]
At the unexpected words, Ruperi's blue eyes rounded.
Nellis made words appear again.
[As you know, I'm a spirit with lost memories.]
"Was that really true?"
You didn't believe me?
[It's true. When I came to my senses, I found myself possessing a teddy bear.]
"Then being shrouded in light was………."
[I was gathering power to save you. You kept having nightmares, so I decided it was a curse. Then you woke up.]
Nellis spoke as smoothly as a flowing stream.
As the words flowed from her without a hitch, light slowly returned to Ruperi's previously dim eyes.
There were still dark shadows beneath them, but unlike before, they were no longer unfocused.
"……….Then you won't leave me?"
[I won't!]
"You'll stay by my side forever?"
[Y-yeah!]
"Really? You'll stay by my side forever and won't leave me, right? You promised, Paul?"
After asking that, Ruperi did not even wait for an answer before hugging his precious friend tightly.
Nellis thought she might have made a bad excuse, but she did not ruin the mood.
'What on earth did he dream about to be shaking like this?'
As expected, Dikidia's curse was insidious.
Once Ruperi had finally calmed down, Nellis continued.
[That's why I'm gathering power like this. I'll lift the curse little by little.]
***
Right, I said I'd lift the curse little by little.
'I didn't say I'd lift it now?!'
At my words, Ruperi's crystal-clear blue eyes sparkled.
-You're going to lift the curse now?
[Not now……….]
-Yeah! You've regained your power, so let's go break the curse right now!
Excuse me, when did I say I'd regained my power? Could you read the words first?
Apparently desperate to shake off the nightmares at once, Ruperi got out of bed despite his lack of energy.
I tried to stop him as he staggered toward the dressing room, but he stubbornly held his ground.
-If not now, I'll just have those nightmares again.
Because of that, I had no choice but to leave the bedroom with Ruperi.
At the moment, I was crossing the corridor in Ruperi's arms.
He held me tightly, as though he did not want to let me go.
'No matter if I'm a doll, could you at least hold me loose enough to let me breathe?'
Unlike before, the manor's corridors were filled with a sinister energy.
Seeing pitch-black energy fluttering up from the corners, I reflected on myself once again.
'It's that obvious. Get a grip, Nellis.'
At the same time, I was careful not to let my thoughts appear as words.
I had failed to make a mana core.
Instead, something resembling a mana core had formed. Judging by its structure, the flow of mana had become thoroughly tangled, leaving the core only half-formed.
'When am I going to untangle this flow? It looks like I'll have to unravel it before I can make a mana core again.'
Why did he have to wake up then and hug me?
Even so, a makeshift mana core was still a mana core.
It seemed to be why I could make my thoughts appear as words.
'But that's all.'
Since it was not a proper mana core, I could not cast anything beyond simple magic.
My dream of escaping this teddy bear body was gradually slipping farther away, and I shed a few tears.
That was when it happened.
"Paul, should I go this way?"
My mount—no, Ruperi—asked me a question.
[No, we need to go left.]
It would be a slight detour, but we could not risk encountering a servant.
At least, since I had formed a mana core, my mana sense had improved enough for me to feel nearby presences.
Following my direction, Ruperi headed left and muttered,
"It seems true that the manor has been cursed. I've never felt anything like this before."
[Anything like what?]
"The energy. I can feel a creepy energy coming from the corners. Should I go that way, Paul?"
At the next fork, Ruperi pointed in a direction.
I was startled.
He was right.
At each fork that followed, Ruperi kept picking the correct direction.
'What? Why is he so good at sensing energy?'
But I had no time to think deeply about it.
The moment we rounded a corner, I felt someone approaching from beyond the wide gallery.
[Ruperi.]
When I called to him, Ruperi must have sensed the energy as well, because he hid in the shadows at my urging.
I cautiously peeked out to look at the people approaching.
"They must be the ones who cast the curse. Their energy is strong."
The familiar energy belonged to those Dikidia bastards.
They were dressed shabbily. Judging by their clothes, they seemed to have infiltrated the manor disguised as stable hands or garden assistants.
'No wonder they were able to cast the curse.'
The Dikidia bastards suppressed their presence and entered the gallery.
However, they did not cross over to where Ruperi and I were. Instead, they turned and headed for the garden.
The moon was hidden behind clouds.
Seeing the dark garden, Ruperi tilted his head.
"Why are they going there?"
[How should I know?]
When we watched them, they headed to a secluded spot and began moving suspiciously.
They seemed to be crouching and doing something, but a large garden stone blocked our view.
"Should we go closer?"
[Wait.]
Then it happened.
A chilling energy struck my whole body.
Ruperi must have felt it too, because he froze just as he was about to step back.
It was a familiar energy.
The same curse energy that had covered the manor—no, even denser than that.
It was the curse medium.
'We got lucky. I was on my way to look for the medium.'
There were broadly two ways to cast a curse.
One was to cast it directly on another person, while the other used a curse medium.
'The former can only be cast if you have enough ability, but the latter is different.'
Moreover, curse media were sometimes used to cast wide-ranging curses.
It seemed my guess that I needed to find the medium had been correct.
I laughed inwardly with delight and made words appear before Ruperi.
[It's the curse medium. We need to destroy it to break the curse.]
"But they're there."
[It's okay. They'll disappear soon.]
As expected, the Dikidia bastards soon stood up, apparently having been in the middle of casting the curse.
They exchanged a few grinning words, then left. The curse energy had grown denser than before.
"……….It's gotten creepier. The energy wasn't like this earlier."
[It's okay. Let's go.]
When we headed toward the place they had been, we saw signs of disturbed soil beneath the garden stone that had blocked our view.
"They must've buried the curse medium. Shall we dig it back up?"
[I'll do that, so go wait over there.]
"Over there?"
Ruperi looked in the direction I indicated, then answered in a sullen voice.
"I don't want to."
[Why?]
"Paul is here. Why would I go over there? I'd rather dig it up myself."
What?
Having said that, Ruperi reached out.
Startled, I hurriedly stopped him.
[No! Ruperi!]
"Why?"
[Do you want to have nightmares again? If you do, go ahead and touch it!]
The person cursed was trying to touch the curse medium, the root of the curse!
Ruperi flinched, his shoulders trembling, then asked in a small voice,
"Th-then what do we do? You said we had to break the curse."
[Another way. Let's find another way. Don't touch it. Ever!]
I warned him again and again.
Thankfully, after I shook my head to make my point, Ruperi did not insist.
'Phew, that's a relief.'
I looked around.
Even if I said I would dig, Ruperi did not look as though he would set me down, so I searched for a suitable object instead.
Just as I was considering whether I should use magic as a last resort, Ruperi came up with a good idea.
"How about using a garden trowel?"
[A garden trowel?]
"Then neither I nor Paul would have to touch it with our hands. There's a storage room nearby where they keep gardening supplies."
My eyes widened at those words.
It was a good idea.
***
To cast a wide-ranging curse, one had to proceed gradually, step by step.
It required immense power, and unless the curse was bound together tightly, an error could occur and the chance of failure would be high.
That was why the curse on the Kreuz manor was progressing slowly, and why the curse energy did not grow any denser after the Dikidia bastards appeared.
"Paul, look at this! This makes five. They really buried a lot of them."
No, rather, the curse energy was weakening.