One-way traffic

"Huh? What is this thing?"

He couldn't help but squint at the contents before him.

It was a series of runes, all in black and red font.

Although he couldn't understand the actual effects of these magic circles at first glance, understanding the language and writing of this world was already a piece of cake for him, and he read the contents aloud in one breath.

"Spells? Curses?"

Beatrice, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but turn her head away.

"Are you interested in these things? But Betty advises you to stay away from them; they're just troublesome tactics used by petty people."

"How do you say this?"

The first monster couldn't help but turn its head.

Seeing that Accelerator seemed somewhat interested, Beatrice closed the book in front of her and stood up.

"So-called sorcery is actually something that is inseparable from curses."

She walked over, raising her hand as she did so.

A faint black and red light rose up—but that was just something she created using fire magic, or as commonly known, for example.

"Similar to ordinary magicians and elven sorcerers, there are also sorcerers here, but their methods of casting spells are much more complicated."

"If a sorcerer wants to cast a spell on a specific person, he must make contact with that person through a medium, and it must be physical contact in order to successfully cast the spell."

"Then, if the spell is successful, something like a curse will begin to erode the body of the person being targeted at a certain time, little by little... the final result will be physical and mental exhaustion."

"This is the most effective way for a sorcerer to carry out their attack."

"Isn't that just a petty theft tactic? It's really something only a despicable person would do."

"That's why Betty said that sorcery is just something only petty people use."

Accelerator sat in the chair, carefully considering what Beatrice had said.

Once activated, the curse will continuously erode the human body, eventually causing it to weaken.

This was almost impossible for him. With the existence of reflection, even meteorites could not get close to him. And for a sorcerer to cast a curse, he had to make contact with the target to succeed. Therefore, the success rate of this kind of thing was less than one percent.

"If someone has really cast a spell on you, is there any way to stop it from happening?"

"Of course there is. Betty has been in this library for who knows how long, how could she not be able to break a mere curse?"

Beatrice paused, then said dismissively.

"Spells are not some profound or mysterious thing. Even if they are cast, you can break them before they are activated."

"What if it happens after the spell has been cast? Is there any way to undo it then?"

Accelerator asked instinctively.

however.

Beatrice, however, fell silent for a moment.

"There is no way."

"…What?"

"Once a spell is successfully activated, it cannot be dispelled."

Accelerator frowned.

Right now.

A loud thud came directly from outside the library.

"Huh? What are those guys outside up to?"

Beatrice and Accelerator both stood up and looked towards the door.

The blonde girl opened the door, but immediately saw what had happened.

A plate full of food fell to the ground.

The food spilled in the hallway, and then the person who was supposed to be holding the plate of food collapsed to the ground.

That was the blue-haired maid.

That is, a girl named Rem.

"This is…"

Accelerator stared in astonishment.

Beatrice frowned and ran to Rem's side without hesitation.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?"

"Ha... Beatrice, my lady... Rem..."

Although Rem wanted to say a complete sentence, it seemed that she couldn't do it no matter how hard she tried.

Then they saw it.

A wisp of dark red mist instantly rose from the back of Rem's hand.

"This, this is—?"

Beatrice's eyes widened immediately, and she grabbed Rem's wrist to look at her.

Accelerator had actually already seen that dark red mist earlier.

—It was the blackish-red mist that Beatrice had just shown him.

In other words.

"This maid is under a curse, and a very powerful one at that!"

The two of them were speechless.

The Level 5 Level 5 Esper of Academy City turned his gaze to Rem and immediately frowned.

He gradually began to recall.

During the day, that brat named Ryder said that Rem did indeed appear to have her hand bitten by a small dog.

—The puppy owned by the girl with the blue braids.

"It really was that bastard."

Chapter 51 The Cursed Demon Girl

Everyone was surrounding one person.

In a typical scenario, most people would assume it would be in a courtroom, or a group of a dozen people surrounding someone who is trying to kill them—that would probably be the scenario they'd expect.

Actually, there are other situations as well.

That is when someone everyone cares about is in pain.

"Guh—Ughhhhh!!!"

Screams.

The maid lying on the bed was undergoing unimaginable physical and mental torment, and it was a torment without end.

Black and red mist continued to rise from her body. The blue-haired girl had her eyes tightly closed and had been shouting like this for an unknown amount of time.

It's Rem, Ram's biological younger sister. This oni girl is currently trapped in unimaginable suffering.

"how come…"

Everyone inside the house gathered around.

Emilia and Hatsune Miku stood together, utterly astonished. Natsuki Subaru wore an expression of disbelief, completely unable to comprehend why Rem, who had walked out of the village with him that morning in perfect health, would be in this state.

Beatrice, whose magical abilities within the mansion were far superior to those of a court mage, sat down beside Rem, raising her arm and gently enveloping her in a pure white glow.

But the situation has not improved at all.

Despite Beatrice's magical healing efforts, Rem in front of her remained in constant pain.

"Rem... Rem!!"

The demon maid Ram kept calling out her sister's name.

Hearing her sister's call, Rem wanted to respond, but when she opened her mouth, all she could utter was a pure wail.

The wailing that comes from pain.

"What's going on? Lady Beatrice! Is there still no way to heal Rem?!"

"…No."

After a while, Beatrice finally put her hands down.

But her face only showed pure heaviness.

"It's very likely that it's completely incurable."

"What…?"

"It's a curse, isn't it?"

It wasn't Beatrice who responded to Ram, but a clown-like man who walked over from the side.

It's Roswaal.

"Rem's current symptoms don't seem to be caused by normal magic at all. So it really must be a curse cast by a sorcerer?"

Sorcerer.

Beatrice had just discussed this topic with Accelerator. Unlike elven sorcerers and ordinary magicians, sorcerers in this world mostly use shady and clandestine spells.

It requires physical contact to activate, but once activated, the powerful curse will penetrate the entire body of the victim, completely devouring her mind and body.

Ram, as if he hadn't seen Roswaal at all, showed no concern for his master whom he was supposed to serve, and took a few steps back.

"Impossible...impossible, Lady Beatrice! Aren't you the Archetype of the Library? Why can't you heal Rem?!"

"Even I have no way to remove a spell that has already been successfully cast."

Despite Ram's last shred of persistence, Beatrice ruthlessly crushed that idea.

She said indifferently.

“If it were a spell that hadn’t been activated yet, no matter how many there were, it wouldn’t be a problem. But this maid already has spells that have been successfully activated, and there’s far more than one…”

"The curse itself cannot be removed after activation, and there are still so many of them. If nothing unexpected happens, this maid will soon suffer from physical and mental exhaustion."

"She can only hold on for one more night at most."

That was like the death knell, definitively announcing the end of it all.

Ram's expression was one of utter astonishment.

There was no joy, no sorrow, no anger; it was a lifeless gaze, like that of a puppet.

She sat astride the ground like that.

"Rem...will die?"

"Damn it... Are you kidding me?!"

Natsuki Subaru slammed his fist on the table.

"Hey, you're Beatrice, right? Is there really absolutely no way to help?!"

“Betty is the high fairy of the library, and she mainly controls yin-attribute magic. Spells themselves also tend to lean towards yin-attribute power. If even Betty, who is most skilled in yin-attribute magic, can't undo these spells…”

There's no need to say anything more.

It's like a safe that can't be pried open no matter what you do, neither brute force nor skill will work. Beatrice is the person who specializes in opening safes, and she has the most advanced lock-picking tools in the world.

Even Beatrice, who possesses this power, still couldn't open the safe. So, one can only imagine, is there anyone in this world who can open this safe?

Even the most professional lock-picking experts are helpless, so how could anyone possibly unlock it?

In other words, Rem has absolutely no chance of survival tonight.

Even Subaru Natsuki had to force himself to understand this.

"asshole……"