Lord Summoner's Freedom Philosophy: Grimoire of Love

"That's rare words coming from you, gramps. You made me more interested with that guy," A face similar to a lioness getting interested in her prey appeared on Madam's face.

"Please don't, madam. I'm surprisingly quite fond of that young man. It will break my heart if you crushed him because of your interest," Gramps let out another sigh in response to madam's peculiar expression.

"Heh! You're protecting him too much. Anyway Alina, remember that you-" (Madam)

*Thud!*

Another unexpected thing happened.

!?!?!?!?!?

"""Belle!!!"""

Belle suddenly collapsed to the floor and fainted. Her whole body is hot as if it's burning, and her breath fastens, but more than that, Belle emits a black aura that covers her body like a cloud.

"Belle?" (Xena)

"W-What is that?"

"This mana... Gramps!" (Madam)

"Yes," Gramps unhesitatingly grabbed Belle's body and opens her shirt.

"W-Wait, gramps- What... Is that...?" Xena widens her eyes as she gasped in horror because of the sight.

A huge sinister red tattoo is imprinted on Belle's back. But unlike a normal tattoo, it looks like it's burning Belle's body and giving her pain.

It seems that the sinister black aura is emitted by that tattoo on her back. But where did she get that tattoo from?

"This aura is dark attributed mana. It's a mana that originates from a ritual made for an evil god. While this tattoo, it's very likely that this tattoo is a dark curse. Lady Alina, you said that there is a goblin shaman on their ranks, am I right?" (Abraham)

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"Yes, there is certainly one..."

"Then that answers. It's very likely that this curse is something that she got from the goblin shaman. Unlike normal curses that dissipated once the caster died, a curse that used the mana received from an evil god wouldn't disappear that easily," (Abraham)

"Is there a way to cure her, gramps?" (Madam)

"Luckily, it seems that the caster died before the mana got even half-fully channeled to her curse. She could be healed as long as we have a holy-attributed healer, a dark-attribute magic core, and a Flaahgra seed," (Abraham)

"That's quite difficult to search for, gramps. Even if we give a request to the guild now, we'll have to wait several days or even more to get hold of the magic core and the Flaahgra's seed," (Madam)

"When the three of you went to take the quest earlier, didn't you hunt down a Flaahgra as well? Did you harvest its seed?" (Abraham)

"No. We didn't have the chance since we suddenly got surrounded by the goblins. So we ran before Belle has the chance to harvest the seed. And since the seed isn't a part of the ingredients for her potion, we didn't hastily harvest it either," (Xena)

"I see..." (Abraham)

We didn't harvest it, but we just killed the Flaahgra yesterday, right?

"I see... But since it was just hours ago, right? Then the Flaahgra's corpse must still remain there, right?" Everyone's attention turns to me as I said that.

"Well, that's true. Most residents of the forest didn't approach a Flaahgra's corpse since it emits poison, after all," (Abraham)

My gaze meets Xena's. With a single glance, she immediately notice what I meant, and nods her head.

"Madam. If Xena and I went to the forest early tomorrow to harvest the Flaahgra's seed and search for the dark-attributed magic core, will you allow us?"

"....." Madam's expression turns complicated for a while. She seems that she's pondering something for a while before letting out a sigh.

"Fine. Today there are several nobles and big merchants coming from the Astellia kingdom that I need to meet personally as well. But you're only allowed to depart once the third bell rang, and your deadline is on the tenth and you must already get back here, you hear me? It's fine even if you didn't find it. If you didn't find it, I'll close the place for a day tomorrow and search for it with gramps personally so you must not go overboard and get into danger, you hear me?" Madam warns us with a terrifying face.

The third bell, it means it's at six, and the deadline is at eight in the evening. We have fourteen hours for our search for the ingredients, huh...

"Yes! We'll follow your words, madam!"

"Good," (Madam)

"We've called the priestess from the church!" One of the girls called.

The priestess we called is a friend of madam. She once said that she got saved by madam once when the madam was still a mercenary while she is an adventurer back then.

After retiring as an adventurer, she decided to live in the city where the madam lives and even get married to one of the mercenaries here.

"Please look at her, Orlana" (Madam)

"I see... What a horrible curse this poor girl got..." Lady Orlana muttered as she strokes Belle's hair.

"Can you heal her, Orlana?" (Madam)

"I'm afraid I can't. As long as the dark mana resided on her body, all I could do at most is to stop her fever and the pain temporarily. We need something that could absorb the dark mana inside her and inside this sinister curse tattoo," (Lady Orlana)

"I see... So that's why gramps said we need the dark attributed magic core and the Flaahgra's seed, huh..." (Madam)

"Yes. The magic core will absorb the dark mana from her, while the Flaahgra's seed will absorb her mana and the dark mana that had entered her mana flow channel," (Abraham)

"As expected of sir Abraham. You're full wisdom as always," (Orlana)

"It's one of the benefits of an old age, Lady Orlana," (Abraham)

"It's okay, Orlana. Even if it's just for a while, please heal her," (Madam)

"Okay then," (Orlana)

Lady Orlana starts her chantations and beautiful light appeared from her hands, before enveloping Belle's body.

The room suddenly gets warm, but unlike the uncomfortable warmth, it's a warmth that warms not just your body, but your heart as well.

After a while, Belle finally stopped sweating, and the dark aura enveloping her disappeared as well. I touched her forehead and notice that the fever had gone. Her breathing became normal and her face loosens.

"*Phew!* I guess that's it, I'll be monitoring her for a while, please continue your work," (Orlana)

"Ah. Yes. All of you! Don't neglect our customers! Alina is fine, and Belle is fine as well! Now get back and return to your jobs!" Madam instructed the others to return to their posts.

"""Roger, madam!"""

Without giving any questions or complaints, everyone immediately follows Madam's instructions. Everyone in this place loves madam, since madam didn't just act as an employer, but she also acts as our big sister and our mother as well.

"Alina, Xena. Since both of you are departing tomorrow, get to rest quickly. Leave Belle to Orlina, Gramps, and me," (Madam)

""Okay..."" (Xena and I)

"You can return to whatever you're doing before, madam. Lady Orlina, Raine, and I will take care of Belle. I'll have Ravia take care of the bar and serve the drinks for the guests in my stead," (Abraham)

"Thanks, gramps. Alina, Xena, remember to rest immediately, you hear me?" (Madam)

""Yes madam!""

Finally, everyone left the room, leaving only Xena and me. Belle got brought to Gramps grandchildren's room, which is Ravia's and Raine's room so that we could have rest.

The scene where Belle got captured by the goblins keeps on replaying inside my head. I could still remember the powerlessness and restlessness I felt at that moment. And even though our plan to make free herself from the hold of the hobgoblin succeeded, we still couldn't get ourselves to run away since we got too exhausted from the plan.

At that moment, the goblin shaman went to the back of the hobgoblin when Belle was still taken prisoner by the hobgoblin. It must have put the curse at that short moment.

That cursed goblin...

"Alina," Xena's voice pulled me back to reality.

"It's fine. We'll save Belle together. The three of us will always be together, right?" Xena gives a brave smile as usual. Her demeanor that makes me feel like she's my big sister and encourages my heart.

"Yeah!"

"Good. Now it's time to rest. There should be no goblins like yesterday since it seems that the man killed all of those goblins, right?" (Xena)

"Yeah. He must be so strong. When he caught me, there is no single wound on his face, and judging from his speed in catching me, his feet that the short goblins usually aims because of their height must be not injured as well. It's very likely that he killed all of the goblins,"

"That's great. Then let's sleep! We have a long day tomorrow. Good night, Alina," (Xena)

"Good night, Xena,"

Tomorrow... I hope nothing bad will happen again tomorrow...