Is This A Curse or An Epidemic?

…

Nina's eyes of Mana Perception allow her to see courses of mana energy and emission within an object and living beings. Because the curse is a magical effect, thus she can see the writhing mana energy in the region getting sucked up by the curse magic. But there's something bugging her about the curse.

"There's a massive amount of mana energy to the north, blazing like fire, but colored in black. It's unseen by naked eyes, but with my Mana Perception, I see it draws nearer and nearer like a wildfire. I've never seen any mana energy emanating that color… c-could it be, though… the element of darkness?"

Seeing it makes her feel scared. She never encountered this situation before.

"I can't…" she said quaveringly. "It's too much…" she added while grasping her head tightly. Her legs could not prop her body as she grows scared. Her eyes shudder rapidly. Her shoulders are trembling. An enormous fear is striking her psyche.

"Nina!" Shocked, Scias called in a panic while rushing close to her. "What's wrong? Hey!" he asked quickly while holding onto her shoulders.

Nina turns her attention to her friend. She glares at his eyes, reflecting an enormous qualm for her.

"Get ahold of yourself, h-hey!" said Scias trying to snap her out of her fear. He saw her eyes still glowing up, signifying that her Mana Perception is still active. He grits his teeth and silently laments, "…I should've… not let you do it. Dammit…"

"I'm really… really… a miserable man."

Unknown to Scias, Nina actually hears it, but her fear still gets ahold of her.

Suddenly, Scias grabs something beneath his waistcloth. A talisman, runes of some sort written on it. He grabs the talisman between his index and middle fingers.

"I… I must force stop your Mana Perception…" said Scias stutteringly as he sounded like he didn't know what to do anymore. He closes his eyes tightly, and hopes that he will make it.

Suddenly a woman's voice startles him, "S-Stop!"

Scias reflectively opens his eyes and sees her hands grasping upon his arm. Nina halted him just in time. "I'm… I'm okay, Scias… I'm stopping my skill now…"

The glow within her eyes slowly fades away. She tries to calm herself down by breathing in and out over and over slowly. Scias gets his hands off her and apologizes to her shortly.

"I'm… I'm sorry." He said in a heavy tone.

Nina blows away the last ounce of fear that strangled her down successfully. Her heart is thumping in a quite normal rate. "…Phew…"

She then gazes upon him. The man seems to be very disappointed, to his self, that is. He turns away and is seen a bit trembling.

"Scias…" Nina called out softly. The mercenary knows better that she will be and undoubtedly disappointed by his careless and miserable attitude. He is far prepared than anyone in the world should he gets mad at. Besides, he didn't do anything to prevent her from being disturbed psychologically. He is disappointed by himself, and so does Nina, that's what Scias thought.

But the voices coming from her mouth strikes unexpectedly, warmly, and kindly, she says, "Thank you."

Surprised, Scias looked quickly towards her. "W-What do you mean?" he asked stutteringly.

"For concerning over me," said Nina. In the end of her words, her lips expand and shine her sincere smile to the mercenary. "I am fine, now."

"…" Scias is speechless. Hearing her response makes him feel thrilled. Within seconds, Scias' stiffening grip on himself loosens and he calms down as well.

"I… I see."

…

Her fear still resides within her, but she manages to contain it. Her attempt to calm herself down made her gain a passive ability named Fear Resistance. Meanwhile, her mana circuits which circulate like the nerve system on her body reform without her realizing, making her psyche stronger.

"Now, then…" said Nina. "I must tell you something, Scias. Will you hear me out?" she asked.

With a recovered self, he stands back up and states out, "…Yes. Spill it." Scias stated boldly. Nina smiles again upon hearing his response.

"Tee-hee," Nina chuckles a bit. "You're always being a serious face, Scias. But I don't dislike it."

Nina then discloses the information to Scias, saying that the curse is far terrifying than anyone could've expected, knowing that every last villager also got cursed. The magical effect of the curse itself is rising gradually and it is growing faster than ever.

"So… these spikey t-things… are t-the curse? Moreover… even everyone's in the village is cursed, too?" asked Scias.

"Yes. That's why I guess I must work very hard to recover them from the curse."

Scias thinks that it's rather inefficient to cure one by one, judging from his perspective as an ex-soldier that had been in similar situations. The curse acts like an epidemic, spreading like virus widely, endlessly, and unstoppable. To remove the curse… he thinks that there is another way to dismantle the curse.

"I… I guess… n-no, nevermind." Scias cancelled his thought processing.

"Eh? Say it, Scias, I want to hear." Nina asked him to convey his opinion.

"W-Well… I g-guess that if you have a recovery magic that great… I d-don't think lifting the curse from one individual to another would be a good choice. B-Based on your explanations, the curse is spreading rapidly, killing the grounds, and might have been sucking the life essence of the people in the village. If that's the case… then we must… find the core of the curse and destroy it."

"But, Scias, the source of the curse is from a demon, right? I don't know whether we can defeat the demon or not…"

"Well, N-Nina… I had a hunch that… the source of the curse is somewhere very close to the village. Based on what I know… m-magic don't spread out remotely and insanely like this unless the source is very close."

"…Oh, gosh, you might be right, Scias. How did you end up thinking that way?"

"W-Well… the knowledge of magic in the world of Gaia might be a 'bit' different to you. But as far as we've gone through t-this calamity… both worlds do have the same p-principle in terms of magic. That's why…"

Nina applauds him for having a dense amount of knowledge in magic. She agrees to his thought of trying to discover the source that may be hidden somewhere in the village. After that, the two returns back to the village. They are welcomed by Marco and the rest.

"Gee, took you two sometime out there, eh?" said Marco jokingly.

"Yeah, what are you doing, sis?" Aily asked curiously. "Hm, hm, what Miss Nina do?" Pio asked as well. Aily's face frowns as her guessing emerges within her mind. "Wait, don't say you two…"

"Ahahahaha, don't be silly, Aily. We were investigating something. And that's what I'm going to tell to you guys."

Nina explains about the result of her vision with the Mana Perception. Everyone is surprised and hurriedly asks for her well-being because mana detection is rather impossible to do.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, you guys…" said Nina calming everyone down. She then explains about the curse and also the incoming wave of dark mana energy.

Shortly, an old man's voice reaches them from a distance, "Is that so?"

T'was the village chief who comes to them, "Then anyone who came here might've been infected with the curse, too…"

"No, sir, the curse only affects you people under unknown circumstances. No, wait…" she holds her voice in a jiffy. She thinks that there has to be a prerequisite for someone to be cursed. She makes a short guess and stares at Marco.

"Marco, have you used mana sensing again?" she asked seriously.

"As if I would want to screech painfully, heh!" Marco implied that he hasn't used it again. Hearing him, she makes another guess, but this time, she deliberately activates her Mana Perception shortly as she simply blinks.

"Just as I suspected," she stated as her Mana Perception shuts down.

"Eh? What is?" Marco said while tilting his head not understanding.

"Marco… you've been cursed, too!" Nina declared loudly.

…Instantly, everyone turned silent briefly.

Marco blasts away with his flurry of words, disbelieving that he has been cursed.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH?! You must be joking! Tell me if it was a joke, Nina! That's just odd! I never felt any sign of oddity that strangles me down, that's for sure! I mean, look at me, I don't feel anything at all! Seriously, one-million percent of seriousness I say!"

The villager chief comes near and discloses that, "We were cursed, too, sir. But we don't show any sign of being accursed or anything aside from our crops getting rotten…"

"R-Really?" Marco asked for a reassuring answer. "Y-Yeah… as far as we live through it, we were fine."

"Oh… ohohohoh… that's a relief. Phew… eh—NO! I can't go outside this village, then! If I did, then more people will be cursed because of me! Even right now, Aily and Pio might have been cursed, too!"

"Ahhh, so noisy of you, hold your horses, will ya?" Nina squawked. "You're the only one that got cursed in our party, Marco. Aily, Pio, and Scias didn't share the same fate as you."

"O-Oh… is-is that so? Phew… then? Is there a cause why did I end up like this?" Marco stated. His face is still all grumpy for being the only one that got cursed in the party.

"It's just my guess but… you were infected the moment you used mana sensing ability." Nina conveyed.

"Well, that's unfair, then. Scias shouldave been infected, too. He's using mana sensing too together with me, j'know?"

"Oh, yeah… I forgot that. But strangely, he wasn't infected…" Nina dives into her thoughts. "Then… there is another requirement for someone to be cursed… but what is it…?"

She then stares to everyone in front of her. Looking at them, seeing the villagers reactions of being so calm and collected even after disclosing her discovery that supposedly be scary to anyone.

In her mind, she says, "It appears that… there's little to no point in finding the requirement, huh…? It's rather convenient we know the symptoms of the curse and try to go around it. Meanwhile… I must not neglect the incoming wave of dark mana energy."

Knowing so, she switches her attention to what's right in front of her. And that is to remove the curse right away.

"Everyone, we will do what we can to lift the curse from this village and the environs around it." Nina stated bravely.

"To be honest, I am more worried for the incoming dark energy that shifts closer and closer than ever. We might need to set up barriers to prevent the dark energy from barraging this village… well, if there's a magical barrier, it'll be better. I will do what I can to remove the curse while you people build the barrier I've spoken of."

The atmosphere goes silent all of sudden. In reticence, everyone stares at the girl in front of them. Nina realizes that the people might've been burdened too much already with the curse on their shoulders. But… everyone needs to know that their life is at stake. Nina wants to save them all.

"I know. I know I'm asking too much, but in order to protect everyone… I… need your help! Please, lend me your strengths!"

The villagers that had gathered earlier smile when hearing her statements, "Miss, we can't ask for more than this. We are forever relieved for you and your friends' arrival on our small community."

"Yeah, lady, we'll help you as best as we can! All of us here are capable of magic, after all."

"Uh-huh, if there's a chance of being freed of this shitty curse, then we'll grasp highly to reach that chance!"

"Don't you worry, missy. We are all magicians in this village. Creating magical barriers is nothin' like a big of a deal."

"It sounded impossible, but… it's worth a try!"

"We will not let this village be consumed neither by the curse nor the darkness that comes near."

Everyone in the village soared out that they are more than just willingly to help. It's been a month since the curse inflicted upon them, yet they discovered it that the living beings aside the vegetation were also cursed. Knowing so, they share the same cooperative minds, and wanted to lift the curse from their body, their homes, and their land.

Moreover, who would neglect an obvious threat of an elemental energy representing the evilness and hatred itself to strike at their homes? They all want to defend their precious village.

They were so trustful towards Marco, Nina, and the others because they have a belief that anyone that comes to their village through teleportation is undoubtedly an important person, thus a savior. It is a double-edged sword belief, but being actually cut off from the outer world makes them think that way. They are no longer cut off with them inside the merged world, though. Marco, Nina, and Scias think that it was odd and reckless for them to easily believe him and his party member. But now, Nina wanted to prove that they were not wrong in trusting them deeply.

…

The curse is spreading rapidly, wiping out the life essence of the nature. Nonetheless, sooner or later, the wave of dark energy may soon threaten their lives, for there's no telling who or what caused them to appear.

They must hurry, before they engulf them, for it is a fight against the curse and a defense against the rampaging dark energy.

Time… is of the essence.