"Are you okay? You look pale."
"Ah."
Geoffrey wiped his sweat, calming himself by sighing briefly. He then glanced at Nevier beside him.
"…I'm fine."
"If you're not feeling well, just say so, we can return for now."
Although Nevier's intention seemed good, Geoffrey shook his head, refusing to return, "It's fine." he said.
'Since I'm already involved, then I must do my best.'
Geoffrey didn't know when everything became this dangerous, or maybe it had been like this all along. He just didn't realize it.
Even so, he didn't have the slightest desire to back down now. Because this problem was related to his freedom as well as his life, he couldn't take it lightly.
While staring toward Virelle who seemed not to care about anyone watching her, Geoffrey immediately heard Nevier's voice beside him.
"What do you think?" Nevier said with a pale and cold smile on his face. "We who don't have resistance to curses won't be able to endure if we go too far forward."
The essence of his sentence was, Geoffrey who had strong resistance to curses, something he inherited from his Bloodline, how far could he step?
That was something Geoffrey himself doubted he could step far. Maybe he could, but it would definitely have to be done while paying a certain price.
There was no free power in this world.
"...Do you think a sample would be very useful for researching this curse?" Geoffrey asked with a calm and almost flat expression.
He had just asked a ridiculous question that made Geoffrey himself want to slap himself.
A curse that would kill anyone who approached. A sample of this curse definitely couldn't be obtained just like that, almost impossible even.
"...That would be very useful, but you yourself know it's impossible to get it."
Seeing Nevier shake his head at that possibility, Geoffrey could only sigh.
It seemed he indeed had to take a risk. He wouldn't be able to cure Virelle without paying an expensive price.
'My future looks grim.' thinking that, Geoffrey cried in his mind.
"Nevier, I'll try how far I can step. Do you have something to say?"
Something that might help, some kind of warning or several signs that should be a dangerous alarm for Geoffrey.
Nevier's gaze became serious and sharp. Clearly the man didn't expect Geoffrey would be so brave to directly step in.
"Are you sure? I know you have resistance, but I also know you've never trained it at all. It's very clear your resistance definitely isn't that strong, you could die you know."
What Nevier said made sense.
Geoffrey could choose to take his time, train his Bloodline patiently and then try to step in when his resistance to curses became stronger.
But...
"Don't you know it yourself?" If only they had such luxury, Geoffrey would definitely have chosen it from the start.
"We don't have time." Geoffrey asserted.
Nevier immediately wanted to argue, but he stopped and froze in place. As a man who had researched Cascading Decay for years, he clearly knew well that Virelle didn't have that much time to endure.
"...You can know that?" Nevier asked somewhat surprised. Then, Nevier rubbed his face roughly and laughed amusedly. "Your Bloodline is truly amazing. As you said, we're really running out of time right now."
In the end Nevier acknowledged it and had no choice but to entrust this to Geoffrey. He could only hope that Geoffrey would truly be able to return safely.
Of course, Geoffrey was forbidden to step in without clear preparation.
Nevier didn't hide anything from the emperor. As a result, the emperor himself came as emergency assistance when Geoffrey really needed help.
Well, in fact, the emperor himself was a man capable of stepping closer to Virelle farther and more durable than anyone who had ever tried. He was also the one who had provided everything Virelle needed.
Seeing all these preparations, Geoffrey's lips twitched amusedly because he felt like laughing.
'Damn it.' he thought.
Geoffrey was still wondering about why he was still here after completing his role.
Ah, he was actually just refusing to accept this progress.
Besides some help from expensive potions that allowed Geoffrey to receive resistance to poison, Geoffrey wasn't given anything valuable again.
Because any type of magic item brought close would definitely be destroyed and become useless in the face of that curse.
"Are you finished preparing?"
Geoffrey stepped as calmly as possible. He had just returned from Nevier's lab work, and currently in that cursed garden, Geoffrey saw and heard the emperor's voice.
"I'm ready, Your Majesty."
The emperor nodded, then stared toward Virelle contemplatively. His facial expression looked flat, but anyone who paid attention would realize that the emperor's pupils seemed to crack like glass.
No one knew what the emperor was thinking.
While Geoffrey himself seemed not to care about anything except what he would face. He sighed softly, feeling the effect of the curse resistance potion made by Nevier.
'This rotten potion does seem effective.'
In the end, regardless of how rotten the taste and appearance of the potion Nevier gave him, Geoffrey had to admit that Nevier truly deserved to be called a genius in the healing profession.
"Remember," Geoffrey heard Nevier's voice beside him. "Any kind of abnormality, if you feel the slightest bit unwell, make sure to return immediately. Your safety is far more important for now."
Geoffrey nodded.
'Actually, I just want to go home if I may.' he could feel his stomach churning because he wanted to vomit.
But once again, Geoffrey had no desire to back down. So he stepped forward.
Geoffrey kept stepping, under the gaze of the emperor and Nevier who seemed to observe him sharply and hold their breath.
From Geoffrey's point of view, he could feel the world changing so quickly. Starting from everything he saw turning into something rotten, air that seemed so heavy and gloomy, until finally a strange feeling that kept making his heart pound.
Geoffrey could also smell something, something very bad.
'Like the smell of a burned corpse? Or maybe a rotting corpse... No no... This is far worse.'
So bad that Geoffrey couldn't define it with anything. Although he stopped briefly because of that, Geoffrey stepped again.
Now, he had stepped to a position where almost all humans who didn't have resistance to curses would rot.
Seriously, Geoffrey could feel his back wet with sweat, followed by a feeling toward something writhing in his body.
As if something was trying to destroy him.
That made Geoffrey pant.
'.....A little more.'
Geoffrey looked at Virelle far ahead. If he kept stepping like this, he would reach Virelle in about thirty steps.
Geoffrey convinced himself that all this was done for his own sake, because of that he didn't hesitate when lifting his foot to step.
But Geoffrey stopped.
"..... You'd better not step any further." Geoffrey flinched, so shocked because the garden that was too silent was suddenly filled with a girl's voice.
That was the voice of the Empire's first princess, Virelle De Valmont.
With a voice that seemed so weak, helpless and strangely also very monotone, Geoffrey heard it again:
"You will die if you step further."
Was that some kind of reminder?
Geoffrey began to feel doubtful.
But a certain memory appeared in his mind.
So many healers were sent to try to cure Virelle. But they all ended at the same point, that was where Geoffrey stood now.
Because of that, Virelle's words were that he might be lucky to endure until his current position, but for the future?
That might mean death for Geoffrey.
'.... I haven't experienced something truly excessive, right now everything is still under my control.'
Even when the situation became dangerous, the emperor would step in to save him.
Geoffrey smiled amusedly.
He really knew how to dig his own grave.
"... As the princess who must be saved, You should just be quiet." Geoffrey muttered in the lowest voice possible.
It would be dangerous if the emperor heard him, he also didn't intend for Virelle to hear his voice.
With that, Geoffrey stepped again. As expected, he was still holding up well. Right, everything was going too smoothly.
Each of his steady steps seemed unaffected by anything.
However, something odd began to gnaw at Geoffrey's mind. He flinched in shock and stopped stepping.
'... Huh...? Haven't I already stepped more than hundreds of steps?'
Geoffrey realized he had never really succeeded in stepping closer toward Virelle. Even closing the distance a little seemed impossible.
Besides that, Geoffrey felt as if his back was pierced by thousands of cold holes. But in the end that was just his feeling because it didn't cause any physical reaction or pain whatsoever.
Out of curiosity, Geoffrey turned around and tried to see the condition of the Emperor and Nevier. However....
".... What the...?!"
Geoffrey froze.
The distance between him and the Emperor as well as Nevier was really so far. More than hundreds of steps, and strangely both seemed frozen in place, not moving.
Geoffrey turned around trembling, he stared at Virelle. The girl touched the wilted flower, but after that there was no more movement.
Time had stopped.
"This...?"
Geoffrey almost believed he was dreaming. After all, seen from anywhere, it was very clear that what was happening now didn't make sense.
Even for this world, humans or demons absolutely didn't have something like time stopping right now.
Geoffrey was suddenly shocked when he felt something fall and hit his body. It fell right on his right hand finger.
It was a black liquid that seemed to writhe with thousands of struggling worms. Geoffrey's face became dark, he swung his hand strongly, dropping that suspicious black liquid.
With so much sweat on his face, Geoffrey bit his lip and then looked up to stare at the sky.
His heart then became weak at that moment.