Chereads / Curse devourer / Chapter 9 - The market

Chapter 9 - The market

"Give me a fucking break," I grumbled in frustration.

Two days have passed since the Star hunt and ever since then, people from the magic tower have been after me. As the curse on Raveil Gray was a well-known story, the news of my survival was a very hard topic.

For now, people think I have only delayed my death and the curse was still going to kill me. That meant that none of them bothered to question Aila whom I had told that the curse was gone.

"Is there anything you recommend me on doing?" I asked the system.

[Decide on a goal]

"Is surviving not a good enough goal?" I asked sarcastically.

[Chance of survival: 10%]

"Better than zero," I shrugged, then I had a realization. "Why am I so calm?"

That was something I failed to realize sooner. Normally, anyone would panic when they woke up in another person's body. Then again after they found out they were going to die two days later. After all that, it didn't bother me at all.

[Vessel synchronization: 85%]

"You're saying Raveil is the cause?"

[Yes]

"Talk about plot convenience," I commented. "Is living quietly and finding a decent wife a good enough goal?"

[Impossible]

I gasped. "How dare you imply I can't find a decent wife!"

[Living quietly is impossible]

"Man... was this world really that bad?" In the novel, the protagonist managed to deal with every problem that came her way relatively easy, so it never gave off the vibe that the world was ever in any real danger.

The good guys were powerful, and the bad guys were weaker, that was it.

"I guess the only choice I have is to get stronger," I grumbled. That was either my choice, Raveil's, or both of us.

I already had decent combat abilities thanks to my skills, an appraisal skill, and Revenant for support. The only thing I could think of that I needed was a healing ability.

[Healing skills require mana or divine energy]

"Damn... shut me down immediately," I scratched my head at that. "What about an Ego?" I asked since the system seemed to favor Egos.

[A proper base is required]

That seemed like a positive answer, so I began to try and recall anything from the novel that could help me. A curse related to healing was out of the question since something like that would not exist anyway, so I leaned more on anything related to divine energy.

"Was there a character related to divine energy?" I rubbed my chin in thought.

As I was brainstorming, someone knocked on my door. A letter slid under the frame, then the sound of footsteps was heard.

"Announcement of the engagement being broken?"

I honestly didn't care about this. I even forgot that Raveil was engaged.

"So much for true love," I chuckled as I threw the letter in the trash.

------

I burst out laughing as I read the news. I was currently in the dorm's dining hall to eat breakfast and decided to read the newspaper since television wasn't a thing here. There was an article published by the magic tower that said that I managed to delay the Clockwork of death by two months after awakening aura early.

"Even here, the media just decides to put whatever they want," I placed down the newspaper so I can drink my coffee.

Looking around me, a bunch of the students seemed to be glancing at me. It didn't bother me though. They were just extras after all.

After I was done with breakfast, I began thinking of a way to obtain a heling based Ego. Going through all my memories of the novel, I figured that the best option I had was to either obtain a cursed divine artifact or someone inflicted with a divine punishment.

"Well, I have a lot of time before classes start anyways."

The first place I went to look was the market. I had zero expectations on the regular market, but I knew a good place to look for what I needed.

I was currently dressed in Raveil's normal clothing which was a black shirt and pants. I was trying my best to not stand out, for that, I added a hat to hide my silver hair. I looked stupid, but nobody gave me a second glance.

"Looking for something?" The moment I opened the door to a pub that was currently closed, the bartender behind the counter spoke up.

"Black tulips," I replied.

The bartender raised an eyebrow before shrugging and waving his hand. A door opened at the corner of the counter then he waved me away.

The door led to an underground market where the shadier dealings were happening. None of them were illegal, but a lot of people questioned its morality. Of course, some actual illegal stuff managed to get in, but it is severely punished upon discovery.

"Slaves! Fresh slaves!"

"Recreational drugs!"

The vendors announced their products like common street goods.

I can't deny that I wasn't curious at all though. "Need a slave dear customer?" A tall lanky man asked me. "We got a new supply of dept slaves recently," he gestured to the people sitting on the corner.

Dept slaves were self-explanatory. They will remain a slave until they manage to pay off their dept, though that hardly ever happened. Most of them had a dept so large that they die before they even make a dent on it at all.

"No thank you," I waved the man off as I continued searching for what I needed.

I passed several shops without even finding anything relatively close to what I wanted. Apparently divine relics were monopolized by the churches, even the cursed ones, so getting them without being related to the church or the holy kingdom was nearly impossible.

"Can I get any help here?" I grumbled.

[Left]

I wasn't expecting a reply, but I won't complain. On my left was a ragged cart that had a robed man acting as the vendor.

"Oooohhh a customer," the man's scratchy voice made my eyes twitch.

Talk about a red flag. "What are you selling?"

"Why don't you take a look for yourself?" The man partially opened the cover of the cart.

The moment I laid my eyes on what was inside, I felt my blood boil. This time I was certain it was both me and Raveil. My hand lashed out and grabbed the man by the neck.

"Gah!" the man screamed in pain as I raised him up by the neck.

"Tell me," My grip tightened. "Why is a demon here?"

Inside the cart was a woman with tan skin and ash-blonde hair. Black horns adorned her head, and a black tail with a spade tip coiled around her legs. I didn't know what kind of demon she was, but I didn't really care either.

"A straggler from a demon settlement subjugation," the man managed to cough out.

I activated Eye of analysis.

******

Velris – Demon

Duelist Rank 2 level 3

Status: Cursed

Divine grip

Religious curse

Constantly inflicts divine flames on the victim

******

"This is illegal," I stated.

"I assu-" *Snap* the man didn't get to finish as his neck was snapped like a twig.

"Velris," I said the name of the demon.

Her naked body began to shake as I fully opened the cover. "P-please, I did nothing," her shaky voice pleaded.

"You're safe now."