Agra is an evil spirit in the world of Soul Academy.

 

The reason there is a dungeon in Soul Academy is because of him, and the reason monsters appear is because of him, and in any case, whenever there is something bad, it is usually his fault, like the British Empire. (This was so random but so funny to me)

 

What is the curse of Agra that this guy spreads?

 

In a word, it is jealousy.

 

Jealousy toward someone who is loved by Armadi, whom he hates and detests.

 

Agra’s curse is given to someone who is favoured by Armadi.

 

And little by little, it eats away at the favour given by the master, and when that favour completely disappears, it takes away that person’s life.

 

If this child is really cursed by Agra, it cannot be cured by ordinary means.

 

How can an evil spirit’s curse be easily cured?

 

If you raise Armadi’s mercy proficiency to the max, you can lift the curse of the evil spirit, but that will be in the very distant future.

 

This child will never last until then.

 

Right now, I have a way to cure this child.

 

Because I have a potion in my arms that contains the miracle of healing.

 

The potion that the grandfather gave me as a favour after he crushed me with a minotaur last time was still in my arms when I got out of the ordeal.

 

The effects of this potion are to remove all status abnormalities and instantly restore 50% of health.

 

All status abnormalities include Agra’s Curse.

 

It was actually used as one of the ways to remove Agra’s Curse in the game, so it must be able to heal this child.

 

The reason I hesitated despite knowing that was not because I was worried about wasting the potion.

 

Of course, this potion has many uses.

 

However, if you ask me what is more valuable between a consumable item like this and a human life, I would naturally think that a human life is more important.

 

So why am I hesitating?

 

It was because of the hidden quest that occurs when you cure Agra’s Curse.

 

The hidden quest ‘Agra’s Curse’ is a quest that is automatically obtained when the user removes Agra’s Curse for the first time.

 

The content itself is not that great.

 

It simply asks you to heal those suffering from Agra’s Curse in various regions.

 

The problem lies elsewhere.

 

The moment you receive this hidden quest, Agra will keep an eye on you.

 

As befitting a god, the petty Agra does not look down on humans who have removed his curse.

 

Whenever you enter a dungeon under his influence, he adds various risk factors to harass you.

 

It’s not for nothing that the Soul Academy strategy says not to apply Agra’s curse in the early stages.

 

You can only clear the dungeon with or without risk in the mid-to-late stages when you are fully prepared, but it’s different in the early stages.

 

If you receive Agra’s curse in the early stages when you are relatively unprepared, the game’s difficulty will increase drastically.

 

When I was playing the game, I didn’t care whether I received Agra’s curse or not.

 

I was confident that I could clear the game no matter what the threat was.

 

But not now.

 

This is reality, and if you die, you can’t come back to life.

 

Is it okay for me to receive Agra’s curse in this situation?

 

Me, who is trembling because I couldn’t catch a single minotaur?

 

I sighed as I looked at the child’s face, who was breathing comfortably thanks to the mercy.

 

Are you going to let him die?

 

Of course not.

 

Let’s think positively.

 

Anyway, gaining reputation is a big gain.

 

Removing the Curse of Agra means reducing the influence of evil spirits in the world.

 

This is something that the Jushin Church is currently doing its best to implement.

 

If you report to the Church that you have removed the Curse of Agra, your relationship with the Church will improve dramatically.

 

What is the Jushin Church?

 

It is the most influential religion on the continent!

 

If your relationship with this place improves, your reputation will naturally increase throughout the continent!

 

By the time you remove four Curses of Agra, you will be treated as a hero wherever you go on the continent!

 

Since Lucy ‘s notoriety is already infamous, removing one Curse of Agra won’t be enough to overturn all of that.

 

Still, you can at least blend in to some extent.

 

At the very least, it will definitely reduce the possibility of her entering the Academy and becoming a public enemy.

 

Yes.

 

Even if the dungeon is difficult, it is still a dungeon.

 

It is nothing in front of a veteran who has played for 13,000 hours.

 

If I could raise my reputation in exchange for the difficulty of the dungeon, it would be a gain.

 

With that determination, I took out a vial of potion from my bosom and handed it to the woman.

 

“Young Lady, what is it?”

 

“Sloppy commoner, feed this to that rascal.”

 

“This precious-looking potion?”

 

“Yes, it’s a waste to use it on the likes of you, but I’ll use it specially. You should know how grateful to be.”

 

“… I really appreciate it, Young Lady!”

 

The woman who took the potion from me carefully fed the boy the potion.

 

Perhaps it was because his condition had improved after receiving Armadi’s Mercy from before.

 

The boy drank the potion as soon as the woman gave him.

 

The moment the boy drank all the potion, “…Mom?”

 

The boy opened his eyes.

 

The curse of Agra had been lifted.

 

“My boy!”

 

The boy looked at us behind him, embarrassed at the sight of the woman hugging him and crying.

 

However, neither I, nor Karl, nor the maid bothered to explain anything to the boy.

 

They just smiled.

 

While the child was asking the woman why, I checked the message window that appeared in front of me.

 

[You have cured Agra’s curse for the first time.]

 

[Quest unlocked]

 

[‘Agra’s curse’]

 

[The evil god Agra is harming those who are favoured by Armadi…]

 

[Heal those who are under Agra’s curse in various places.]

 

[Reward: ???]

 

So, Agra’s curse was what was tormenting the child.

 

Then there will be a few more messages.

 

[Agra recognizes your presence.]

 

Oh.

 

Damn it.

 

[Agra will keep an eye on you, who gave him the cure to his curse.]

 

I knew this would happen, but seeing the message directly made me feel suffocated.

 

Haa.

 

I ended up entering hard mode like this.

 

Is this the fate of a veteran?

 

If only I had been a more ruthless and mentally strong person.

 

Tiring!

 

While I was blaming myself for looking at the message window, another message window appeared.

 

This time, it wasn’t about Agra.

 

[Armadi is interested in your deeds.]

 

…

 

Huh?

 

Who are you?

 

The only Armadi I know is that Lord.

 

Are you the same person?

 

[Armadi praises your deeds of not fearing Agra.]

 

[You will receive a reward.]

 

[The proficiency of Armadi’s Mercy increases.]

 

[Some of the dormant functions of Ruel’s Mace are unlocked.]

 

The dormant functions of the Mace?

 

This message has never appeared in the game?!

 

No, Armadi has never appeared in the game in the first place!

 

The Soul Academy community’s repertoire is to swear at the Lord for doing nothing while the evil spirits are desperately active!

 

Are you saying that there were elements I didn’t know about in a game that hasn’t had any updates in years?!

 

No way!

 

That can’t be true!

 

There can’t be elements that a Soul Academy veteran like me doesn’t know about!

 

This must be an element that arose when the game became reality!

 

It has to be that way!

 

<Hmm?>

 

As my pride as a gamer was wounded and I was denying reality, I heard a serious old man’s voice.

 

It was not a voice that was transmitted through my ears.

 

It was a voice that seemed to pierce my head and be directly transmitted to my brain.

 

<You’re waking me up already. What happened?>

 

That voice was definitely the old man’s voice that I had heard during the ordeal a while ago.

 

Why?

 

Again.

 

An element I don’t know has shown itself?!

 

Who are you?!

 

Was this what they meant when they said we would meet again?

 

Was the old man in the mace?!

 

There was a sentence in Ruel’s description of the mace that said, ‘It seems that Ruel’s soul is in it,’ but that wasn’t just a setting?!

 

My head was spinning.

 

I couldn’t keep my cool because things I didn’t know about kept coming to me.

 

Damn it.

 

If there was a setting like this, you could’ve released it as DLC!

 

You fucking production company bastards!

 

“So you’re saying that grandpa’s soul was sleeping in this mace?”

 

I left the house where the child was and went to the inn and spoke to Ruel’s mace.

 

If the maid of the mansion had seen this, she would’ve shouted, “The young lady is crazy!”

 

But this time, it wasn’t like that.

 

The mace answered.

 

<That’s right, I was supposed to wake up when the owner’s power became strong enough.>

 

I had completed 100% of the Soul Academy achievements, found countless Easter eggs, and even bought a setting book to look through, but this was the first time I’d heard of it.

 

There was a phrase saying that there was a soul, but there was no mention of a personality!

 

But if what the grandpa said was true, then it makes sense why I didn’t feel the additional functions like increased proficiency in blunt weapons skills.

 

The reason Ruel’s mace had such an additional function was probably because this old man was giving him advice.

 

He was a perverted old man with a dirty, petty, and old-fashioned personality, but he was still a knight who was called a hero.

 

If this person was giving him advice, it was only natural that he would be able to handle blunt weapons better.

 

The reason I couldn’t feel that ability until now was probably because this old man wasn’t there.

 

<It seems a little early to be up, but this too must be God’s guidance.>

 

As I listened to the old man’s voice speaking shamelessly, I felt a burning sensation.

 

‘Grandpa, do you have anything to say to me?’

 

“Old man, do you have anything to say to me?”

 

<I don’t know what kind of answer you want me to give you.>

 

“When you summoned the Minotaur in the Ordeal of the Guardian. You’re not saying that you forgot because you’re senile, are you?”

 

<Are you talking about that? He was trying to test you.>

 

Grandpa said that I didn’t seem to have much of a hard time fighting the goblins in the Guardian Trial.

 

He judged that the goblins couldn’t test my guardian spirit, so he summoned the Minotaur.

 

He wanted to test me by giving me an insurmountable adversity.

 

<He saw that he was suitable and opened the door to the next trial for you.>

 

“Wasn’t the time limit the reason the minotaur disappeared?”

 

<Time limit? What are you talking about?>

 

Oh.

 

Hmm.

 

So, you’re saying that there was no time limit in the Guardian Trial?

 

Was it some kind of game-like configuration?

 

But that means that if I wasn’t liked by Grandpa, I would have been killed by the Minotaur.

 

Ah.

 

How should I get revenge on this damned grandpa?

 

Did he notice something when he looked into my eyes?

 

Grandpa continued speaking urgently.

 

<I had no intention of killing you! I’m serious!>

 

Oh really?

 

<A knight standing under God wouldn’t kill someone who was innocent! I was just trying to corner you!>

 

Okay, Grandpa.

 

I’ll listen to your excuse.

 

But doesn’t Lucy, the Mesugaki, think differently?

 

Haha!

 

There’s no way I’d forgive that perverted grandpa, right?

 

I really want to see that grandpa cry and say I’m sorry.

 

How can I punish this damn grandpa?

 

As I hummed while holding the mace that had Grandpa imbued, Grandpa raised his voice in an urgent manner.

 

<More than that! Girl! Why is it that what you say inside is one thing and what you say outside is another!>

 

…

 

Huh?

 

“… Grandpa… Say it again.”

 

Seeing me stop, Grandpa seemed to feel hopeful and continued speaking urgently.

 

<So, what I’m asking is why you say politely inside, but act like a brat on the outside!>

 

Wait a minute.

 

Grandpa.

 

Can you hear what I’m thinking?