Chương 61: The Butler

He was watching himself. Well, watching was the wrong word. Experiencing was probably a better word. He was experiencing the vision his spells had captured three seconds before he collapsed. The experience was... unpleasant, and that was downplaying it. He was feeling the same pain again and the same sensations he had felt at the time. He saw the grey dot. The curse. Then he watched himself cast Body Diagnosis on it, but the spell didn't recognize anything.

Then came the same thoughts he had during the final moment. If... If the spell didn't work... Then the... He opened his eyes. His whole body was covered in sweat, and a chill ran through him. He took a few quick breaths, trying to steady himself. It took some time, but he eventually recovered. He was experiencing pain again because of his own actions. There had to be something wrong with him. No one else would willingly put themselves through a terrifying amount of pain on a regular basis.

Yet he had done exactly that for the past few days. Since the spell hadn't worked on the curse inside the core, that could only mean one thing. The curse wasn't actually inside the core. It was outside the body, but close enough to affect it. It was feeding on the Count's core while hiding its presence in a way that made it difficult to detect. The simplest solution would be to move the Count away from it, but Adolin was fairly certain that wouldn't work. The curse had already left an imprint on the Count's core.

The only way to heal him was to destroy the curse. And to destroy the curse, he first needed to find the object that housed it.

"Ugh," he exhaled. At least the pain hadn't been for nothing. He had found a way to heal the Count. And it wouldn't require any more pain, hopefully. Now he needed to find the object, but that would be problematic as well. If it were easy to find, the Count's mages would have already discovered it. So he needed to go through the list of people who had been close to the Count. Either he would find the culprit, or he would uncover enough of their movements to track down the object.

He had a spell capable of locating it, but there was one problem. He needed to hold the object in his hands, or at least be in very close proximity to it. And the object could be anything, a piece of wood, a ring, or even a bathtub.

"That was a weird comparison," he muttered. At least he suspected it would be a fun little side quest. For that plan to work, he needed to question everyone on the list about the cursed object. He already knew the people behind it had been thorough and that it would be a difficult affair. He would need to use a spell capable of discerning truth from lies. It was time for Adolin to put on his witch hunter hat and get to work. There was one small problem with the whole side quest. He was running out of time.

Revel had given him four or five days of leave, but he was already on the fourth day and had done nothing except lay in bed for two days and then spend two more days doing the same. It wasn't his fault. Well, the second time wasn't. But it was all good. Revel could probably wait an extra day since he was here doing a job for her. So, he needed to hurry up and finish everything within the next two days.

The Count would probably need some time to recover after the curse was broken, which meant he had even less time to find the cursed object. The more he thought about it, the more stressful the whole situation felt. He spent a few more minutes in the garden before standing and heading toward the main building. The butler was supposed to deliver the list, and then he could get to work. Adolin spotted the butler leaving the building and waved him over.

The man approached and extended a hand, a folded list resting in his palm.

"The list, my lord," the butler said. Adolin took it and nodded.

"Lord Eduard assigned me to assist you. Please let me know if there is anything I can help you with." If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. That gave him the perfect opportunity to scam... secure some potions crucial to the task at hand.

"I would need a couple of mana potions," Adolin said, holding his head high. The butler simply nodded.

"How many?" His hands were clasped behind his back, his posture straighter than Adolin thought possible. He even wore a monocle. What a professional.

"Fi— six or seven."

"It will be done," the butler replied with a nod. He really needed to learn the prices of the world so he could extract more when working for others. If he had known, he might have tried getting even more potions. It felt awful not getting the full benefits, and he was rather fond of benefits. Adolin unfolded the list and felt a headache coming. There were hundreds of names on it, along with their professions, how long they had worked for the Count, and what they had done before entering his service.

The list was... perfect, aside from the number of people on it. Everything he would need was already listed. He couldn't help but admire it for a few moments. Could he ask for the butler as well? Life would be much easier with such a capable man working for him. And he had the coins to hire him. Did he? If he had a butler, he would know the answer to that question. Life was difficult for an otherworlder. Really difficult. He stared at the list for a few moments.

There were too many names to investigate one by one, so he needed to narrow it down. The first people he could eliminate were the recent hires. The curse had been placed by a professional; of that, he was certain. They wouldn't try to infiltrate the Count's staff by hiring someone new. If they had planned this far ahead, they would have already had someone working for him. The next group he could remove were those who had served the Count the longest. That alone cut the list by more than a third.

There was little chance that the people behind the curse had someone embedded in the Count's household for decades. Unfortunately, that still left a lot of names to go through. Now, he needed to start the investigation... but how? It had sounded much easier when he was planning the side quest and waiting for the list. Now that he was actually looking at it, he had no idea what he was supposed to do first. There were still over fifty people on it.

He would have to talk to them one by one until he found even the smallest clue, and only then could he start investigating them properly. That would take far too long. He needed to narrow the list further, but how was he supposed to do that when he knew nothing about the people on it? Adolin looked at the butler again and smiled.

"Umm... can you narrow the list down to the most likely suspects?" he asked, scratching the back of his head. The butler extended his hand, and Adolin returned the list to him. The man adjusted his monocle and scanned the page.

"Hervy, Balian, Clif..." he read aloud.

"They are guards without access to the main building. Their duties are limited to the gate and the barracks." He took out a pen and crossed out several names. Adolin remained silent and waited. The butler continued down the list. After each group of names, he briefly explained his reasoning before crossing them out. Most of the guards were eliminated first, followed by a large number of maids and servants. A few minutes later, he handed the list back.

"There," the butler said. More than half the names had been crossed off the list. A few of the names Adolin had marked earlier now had marks beside them, and there were a dozen or so other marks scattered across the page. He pointed at them and showed the list to the butler.

"Why?" The butler adjusted his monocle once more.

"Lady Luna took a one-year leave three years ago before returning to service. Guardsman Coal served under a minor baron before entering the Count's service." He continued down the list, explaining each mark in turn. By the time he finished, Adolin desperately wanted to hire the man. He seemed to know everything there was to know about the estate and the people working in it. There were fewer than twenty marked names in total. The first marked name on the list was Lady Luna, the head maid.

She oversaw most of the maids on the estate, worked in the buildings surrounding the main manor, and had access to the main building as well. If anyone had enough access to curse the Count, she was near the top of the list.

"Let's start with Lady Luna," Adolin said. The butler nodded before giving instructions to a nearby servant regarding the mana potions. He then led the way toward their first suspect. Adolin followed behind him, already plotting how to steal the Count's butler.