Waking up in the morning I look under the floorboards to check if my dad stole anything: and to my sheer surprise and delight - no, he hasn't found the money yet. Using this opportunity, I put some of it into my pocket and retrieve Sylvie's diary, asking for her forgiveness beyond the grave.
Skimming through her diary, it truly hit me how almost every day for Sylvie was pure struggle. Almost nothing went well for her. Unlike with me, strangers never gave her even a single ounce of sympathy, and even the person who was sympathetic towards us, Carolyn - hurt her quite deeply, which left her scorned and she referred to her attempts at reaching out to her as "shallow pity" when she naively disregarded her feelings.
Yet... It seems there was another reason why she avoided the hospital like a plague. It's disgusting to even read about, but now I know what this bastard was talking about when he began threatening me about telling anyone about anything. Sylvie felt like Carolyn would pester her with questions if she came back, demanding answers, which would result in Carolyn being targeted as well.
"Even if it would be nice to get rid of that daemon, I don't want anyone else to suffer through that sick bastard. That woman was stupid, that is all."
And reading the last entry, I feel my body break apart
"I can't take it anymore. I'm leaving this village. There's no hope for me anymore.
I'm suggesting Fortune to play hide and seek.
As much as I like to escape with him, I feel like he would only weigh me down. He's such a baby after all.
I saw a contract under our parents' bed that states that this bastard only operates within a certain range.
This is my chance.
This is a goodbye."
To think that this is her last entry... It hurts.
Yet I have to hold back, I can't let him hear my cries.
Putting the diary back where it belongs and begging for forgiveness once again; I leave the room and face the new day.
"Oh! Fortune! Come on in!" Oswald greets me as always, with Sol already sitting down on the carpet "We were waiting for you to join us, Sol was basically beaming with anticipation."
"O-Oh..." I blush and she giggles, beckoning me to join her "Hello Fortune!! Let's study!!" I can't help but smile, she is so beautiful like that...
I sit beside her and Oswald joins in. "Alright, Sol. You know the gist already, so I will let you decide on which topic we're gonna speak about." She ponders for a little and then brightens up
"I wanna talk about curses, they're cool!" She smiles and Oswald nervously laughs.
"Um, Sol, I know this is a topic you particularly like and all, but I think--"
"Curses! Curses! Curses!" She begins to whine and Oswald sighs "Welp... This is what I get for being a curse researcher."
"Curses? They sound scary..." I tremble a bit and Oswald smiles "Well, they ARE, but they're not NEARLY as scary."
And just as Sol tried to speak, she then looked down in shame "... Forgot." and I could see Oswald almost bursting into laughter. Surprisingly he wasn't even slightly annoyed by what she just said.
"Okay-okay; curses are a difficult topic to start with, as there are numerous ways from which you can go from, but let me tell you guys all about them. Sol, you better remember this, alright?"
She nods and Oswald clears his throat.
"Curses are the distortions of the soul. When a Daemon curses a human, their soul becomes distorted and with it their magic.
There are numerous curses, each unique to a daemon; so it's hard to track them all, as each daemon may have different modus operandi - but we do have some rather ubiquitous ones, such as... Being born that way!"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Sometimes, a child just happens to be misfortunate enough to be born with a curse, without any preamble whatsoever - usually this is a result of some kind of disturbances in the Underside - the domain of daemons. Those cases are actually more common than you think and some parents opt to have their children purified. They're either as harmless as giving their child a mild "unique" magic or as harmful as distorting their body as well."
"Ah! It's the "impure magic" or whatever!" I jump in and Oswald smiles once again "Oh! You remember it! Sweet, now let me tell you why you wouldn't want to be born with "unique" magic.
Like Sol said, "Unique" magic - is... unique! It can range from being able to summon colourful butterflies, to being able to control the blood of others, and given that we have an affinity system... You see the problem, right? We have to develop too many programs catering to each and every magician; and no fact that we can fully grasp what their magic is truly capable of without anyone combusting or something. Second of all is because this magic comes from daemons, it's often very harmful to the user, and because it's harmful, the user often might never use their magic to their full potential. And worst of all - you can't just relay your magic into the conductor, because the magic is in your blood and permeates your entire body, with some parts having more condensed quantities over the other, you're just stuck with it. Just in general having unique magic is a MASSIVE inconvenience for everyone involved really, so people opt to get it removed entirely. You can have "unique magic" without cursing yourself, but that's still something that is related to daemons, so..."
"Mmmph..."
"Papa! Papa! Can I chime in, please?"
"Of course, sweetie."
"A--hem! Magical conductors are basically weapons, but better!"
"Horrible opening." Oswald chides playfully, but Sol doesn't even care.
"If you have a strong enough attachment to the object, this might become your conductor! Usually though, budding magicians are given wands that are infused with malleable material - which is basically a shifting and morphing material that absorbs the soul of a person quite well. Through magical conductors, you can cast magic with a much greater range and without harming your body! This is especially useful for Fire affinity magicians, as otherwise their magic will burn their flesh if they cast it without any sort of conductor."
"Basically, magical conductors are an integral part of every magician, as it allows them to have a better control over their magic; think of it as an organ that you can control and which acts outside your body. Affinity is the soul, MEO is your output. Cursed beings however can't relay their magic onto conductors because the soul is way too attached to the body, so they have to use that instead."
Wow... It got complicated very fast...
"Say, you worked in the mines, right Fortune? Have you ever stumbled across a malleable material? It looks like a chalk white metal that is soft to touch like clay?"
"... No, I don't think I did..." I ponder
"Well, it's a shame. This is a truly valuable material, as it shifts and bends to the will of the human. It is for that reason it's also delicate and needs to be taken with care to craft weapons, because it corrodes quite easily as well, even with cursed individuals due to their impurity."
"Curses!" Sol pouts and Oswald then gets back on track.
"Another type of curse is blood transfusion related ones. They're typically used to create beastkin and lie on a more artificial type of curses. Basically the blood of a human is forcefully mixed with the blood of a daemon, creating horrifying and painful distortions not only to their body... But their psyche as well. The bigger the dose, the more distortion is accumulated, before a human stops *being* a human - fatality being the worst case scenario
... A Daemon might want to mix their blood with a human to turn them into their adherent or a servant.
There are also morphing curses that merely distort their body without any transfusion needed - only soul; but those are rare and really depend on a daemon."
"Hurk..."
"And now the last notable one is cambionism. Cambionism is a result of a human and a daemon copulating with each other, creating a distorted being. Cambions typically don't have the best life, given that they're an offspring of a daemon and a human who involved themselves with a Daemon on an intimate level - so they face a lot of persecution for their existence. They have a noticeable low tolerance of sunlight, as it burns their skins. They also have unstable MEO levels which makes it difficult to gauge their power, along with other things like higher vitality and sensitivity, which makes them stick out like a sore thumb. Overall, not the best life. They are however useful as trackers, as they have enhanced feelings of magic surroundings and are generally way more powerful than ordinary magicians. There are even tales of cambionic magicians that specifically track down daemons that way."
"Hrmm... It's all so complicated... And awful..." I mumble and he chuckles, understanding my confusion. "Well, I'm a researcher in that field, so I can understand you. Now, it's time for a lunch break! Let's go to the kitchen."
"Yaaaay!!!" Sol raises her hands in excitement and we stand up. She's quite chipper today...
"Alright, kids, what would you like to eat?" Oswald asks and Sol looks at the apple fritters. To be honest, I don't feel like eating anything salty, so I might as well pick those...
"One salad and two apple fritters... That'll be 435G"
"Here. Thank you for your service. Kids?"
""Thank you!!""
Sitting on the table, Oswald asks me some questions.
"So, how's it going, Fortune? How are you handling your life, hm?"
"Uh... Well... I have a job..."
"A job?!" Oswald chokes as Sol looks at me with awe "A job? Coooooooool~"
"Sol, it's not "cool"! Fortune, I know this is a village and all, but you're 12! Isn't it too early for you to have a job?!"
"Sir, I used to work in the mines, and you know that. Why are you freaking out all of a sudden?"
"Well, you said you were an assistant! Also, huh?? I thought you worked in the mines..."
"I got fired. Now I work at the hospital."
"... At least it's more safe... Still, geez..." Oswald clutches his head, looking down as Sol continues to eat.
"You haven't answered my question, sir. Why the freak out?" I ask and he sighs "Well, at least here in Meredithe; only faces above 15 are allowed to take on jobs, and even then there are strict regulations, especially on non-magician workers AND EVEN THEN it’s only part-time..."
As we eat, I begin to ponder some topics I could bring up and remember that Sol mentioned her family at one point, so might as well learn something more about them
"Um... Sol, remember the dream you told me about?"
"Ah! Right, I have a sister and her name is Veronia. She really loves making stuffed animals and she even taught me how to stitch some myself... Pretty bad at it though."
What's with girls and the stuffed animals...?
"I actually have one of her dolls! It looks just like her and we use our dolls to have tea parties together! We traded dolls together so that we would have a piece of each other that way! With her doll, it sometimes feels like she's with us..."
Huh... As far as I can recall, the doll had brown hair... Oswald then shuffles in his pocket and takes out a photo "Ah, here. This is our family photo! I actually go on a lot of business trips, so it's nice to have a memento to keep me going."
The photo shows a well off family, all dressed in fancy clothes. Next to Sol, there is a girl that looks quite similar to the doll she was gushing about. They all look so happy here...
"We all look cute here, don't you agree?!"
Why... Why do they have to have a better life... It isn't fair...
"Fortune? Are you with us?"
How come WE didn't get a happy ending?... Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why. Why---
"Hey!!"
Ah.
"You dazed out. Are you alright? I was almost afraid you were going to rip the photo - your hands were trembling." Oswald asks, his hand stopped snapping. I blink a few times and come back to my senses. They're rich, that's why; there's nothing to be upset about.
But as I came back to my senses, I noticed an oddity. Sol looks... Way too different from the rest of the family, from hair, to face, to eyes... I accepted her looking nothing like Oswald, but compared to the rest of the family...
"Uh... Why is Sol ginger?"
As Sol began to pout and chide at me for insulting her, Oswald looked... Awfully terrified, as if I asked something that I really shouldn't have.
"... Uh... Um... Well...! It's because red hair is recessive! Yeah! You know, some children look nothing like their parents, you know?"
...
I feel like I REALLY shouldn't dig deeper into this.
"Anyway, apologise!" Sol yaps and I sigh "Fine! Sorry." to which she smiles playfully and shows her tongue; it didn't feel like she was that upset anyway, I think.
We then finish eating and return back to our quarters.
"Alright, the last theme for today is daemonic contracts and pacts. While magic is something that a person is born with and is something that is generally unique to them, if the magician seeks more knowledge and power: they might as well employ daemons to help them.
Daemons are rather cruel creatures, so they always demand the price for their "services"
For magicians, it's typically their vitality. Their souls are especially tasty to daemons; as they exude magical energy. They have a certain limit to HOW much they can take, up to half as I can recall, so they shouldn't be leaving you crippled.
For non-magicians... They require your body parts for the mere suggestion of being capable of using magic. To daemons, the flesh of non-magicians is much more tender than one of the magicians, as it's not overrun with magic just yet. It's something akin to fruit and bread.
As we are researchers, we summon demons to study their physiology, traits, etc... It is a long story... I've personally had contracts with three daemons for research purposes, not that I plan to use their services."
"What can they do?" I ask and Oswald sighs
"Well, two of them are responsible for energy magic, and the third one... Nevermind. Anyway, I mentioned that you can have unique magic without cursing yourself? Yeah, that's something that contracts can grant. By having a contract with daemon, you can wield its power easily, or in some fringe cases - make it your familiar, however with some peculiar daemons, you have to trick the daemon so it would grant power to the conductor, as they might curse you otherwise, abusing your trust."
That talk was getting kind of stale, until he reached something that is all too familiar to me.
"Now we come to the demonic pacts. If the contract allows you to wield the daemonic power: pacts allow you to HAVE daemonic power. Let me put it that way. If you make a pact with a daemon: you and your bloodline will be able to use the daemon's power. Instead of the Daemon becoming a familiar only to you and even then you don't get to use it completely - that Daemon becomes a familiar to your entire bloodline, and such Daemon becomes subservient to you. Obviously each daemon has their own wants and needs, and your ENTIRE bloodline has to serve it; but pacts are overall pretty potent... At the cost of cursing your entire bloodline, by having the brand of daemon-worshippers.
The highest-ranking living family member is the master of the pact and they can choose to either employ, abandon or revoke the pact; and it is to the master of the pact Daemon is the most loyal towards. This title as you can guess is hereditary"
...!
"Um... Oswald?... I think I'm tired..."
"Oh! Right. Actually, I think Sol should also take a break from studying, so could you keep her company? It is a vacation after all."
"Of course, sir... I just need some time to breathe, that is all."
Instead of a usual cheery hurrah, Sol just looks at me with a slightly worried and anxious expression. She looks back at Oswald, to which he nods and gets up, swiping the dust from her dress. We both then take our leave as Oswald waves us goodbye.
"... Are you alright, Fortune" Sol asked "I noticed you looked particularly down..."
"N-No it's nothing. My brain just hurts."
"Hm... Could you show me around the village, then? I promise I'll be good if that's what you want."
It's odd seeing her this compassionate and understanding... And mellow. It's as if I'm seeing an entirely different girl.
Yet...
It almost feels like I'm seeing her true self. As a compassionate, anxious and gentle girl. Just like gentle rays of sun coming through overcast skies.
"... Okay. I'll show you around."