190 THE CURSE OF TARANTELLA
THE CURSE OF TARANTELLA
Melroy and his wives were busy having a vacation after we returned to Tarah city. There was much they could experience in this city, in the most advanced kingdom on the continent.
"Something is not right in the city", Melroy told us worriedly.
"What is the problem?" I asked him when Yasha, his wife, told us on his behalf.
"I've discovered cursed marks among people in the city", Yasha told us.
Yasha was no ordinary woman. She was one of the Dark Bishops of the Dark Church in the past. These women were experts in curse magic, and they could even cast a few curses themselves.
"Cursed mark? What are they?" I asked her.
"A powerful curse is placed on these people which slowly germinates and grows inside their body. Eventually, the proprietor of the curse would recall the curse and these people will die", Yasha told us.
"What kind of curse are circulating in the city?" Rinna asked Yasha.
"The Tarantella Curse", she replied to us.
"What is the Tarantella Curse?" I asked.
"It is the same curse that afflicted your friend Roman in your previous life", Rinna told me.
In my previous life, many of my friends were stricken with a curse that fulfilled their wishes but eventually turned them into vessels and weird creatures that would seed a curse in their body which eventually bred cursed spiders.
These spiders once birthed would become the nourishment for the Spider Queen, the perpetrator of the curse.
"Do you mean there is another Anansi in this world?" I asked.
Anansi was the name of the Spider Queen that I encountered in my previous life. She was one of my greatest adversaries and the lieutenant of the Blood Queen.
"It is reasonable. If the Blood Queen is reborn into this world, she would attempt to recreate another Anansi to aid her", Rinna told me.
"Where did the curse mark appear?" I asked Yasha.
"We found them near the Church of All-seeing", she replied to me.
"Is the Blood Queen planning something again", Melroy asked us.
"It could have something to do with the wine that you ingested, the one that contains Blood magic", Rinna said to me.
"What, you drank Blood magic?" Melroy asked in surprise.
"You were too busy with your shopping to know about what is happening here", Cassandra said to him.
"Red Witch couldn't remove the Blood magic from Master's body unfortunately. But if he doesn't use its magic, it won't harm him", Meera told us.
"What would you do now? Having the Blood magic in your body is evidence of deviancy. You might be implicated because of it," Rinna asked me.
"First I need to do something about the dark magic in my body", I told them.
"What can you do? The Blood magic couldn't be removed", Meera asked me.
"I need to make a trip to the Church", I said to them.
"What for?" Cassandra asked me.
"A confession", I replied to her.
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"Duke Oriese, why do you want to see me? We don't have official business with you", a holy man asked me.
"Apostle Greer, a certain vile being is making appearance in the city and he is poisoning the people", I said to the Apostle.
"Who is the vile being?" the Apostle asked me uninterestedly.
"I don't know who he is, but I know what poison they are spreading", I told the apostle before I gave him a bottle that was half full.
"What is inside the bottle?" the apostle asked me curiously.
"It is the best wine laced with dark magic", I replied to him.
"How did you come across this wine?" he asked me.
"Someone tried to feed me the wine. I found it suspicious and got the wine checked. There is dark magic in the wine. Powerful dark magic", I replied to him.
The Apostle took the bottle of wine and asked his men to check its contents. After some time, they determined what was in the wine.
"What is in the wine?" I asked.
"The wine contains the blood of a Dark Being, one who can command the magic of the Blood realm", the Apostle told me with interest now.
"The Bloodfiend?" I asked him.
"Yes, you also know about the Bloodfiend who has been fighting with our heavenly army?" the apostle asked me.
"Yes, we find out about this kind of information in our line of business. I run a newspaper", I replied to the apostle.
"Who gave the wine to you?" Apostle Greer asked me.
"Emily, the daughter of the deviant, Prince Heller. She gave the wine to me during the introduction party of Princess Ennea of the Diabolese family", I replied to him.
"Emily? Isn't she the bitch who escaped from our dungeon?" Apostle Greer asked angrily as his staff nodded fearfully.
"Emily managed to escape from the Church. How can that be possible?" I asked.
"That is something I want to know too", the Apostle replied to me.
"You said you drank the wine?" Apostle Greer asked me probingly.
"Yes, a little but it is not enough to cause me trouble", I replied to him, looking a little nervous at the line of questioning.
The Apostle looked to his experts for a comment.
"The blood is diluted. Drinking a little will not be a problem but taking more of it will", the expert replied to the apostle.
"Thank goodness I only had a little before I became suspicious about it. But I can't say for everyone in the party. Almost everyone of import in the city was at the party and many of them could have drunk the wine", I said to them.
"Should we bring everyone in the party for inspection?" the expert asked the apostle.
"Are you serious, do you know what kind of people were at that party. They are the lifeblood and pillars of the city, its rulers", I asked the expert.
"But I smell a Demon conspiracy in this", Apostle Greer told me, asking for my opinion.