༺ Hassan, Iron-Rank Adventurer (5) ༻
The first to discover it was the big-nosed bard.
“I don’t think this was here yesterday. Was it shattered in yesterday’s commotion? What do you think, brother?”
Marco pointed to the broken statue and noticed the strange sculpture inside, then asked for my opinion. Not like there was any way for me to know anything, even if he asks.
I frowned and began carefully examining it.
There was a sculpture inside the statue.
This looked really similar to the Matryoshka dolls back in my world. The shattered statue had quite a large space inside of it and it contained an oddly shaped figure.
Its size was slightly larger than my hand. Maybe it was a little more appropriate to call it a sculpture or a statuette.
What was this statuette made after?
Even though it was hard to see, because it was covered by some broken fragments of the marble sculpture, its glitter couldn’t be hidden. Looks pretty precious to me.
Luna, who was wearing her mask again, poked out her head and sighed.
“Shouldn’t it be very precious since it was hidden? A treasure maybe?”
“That makes sense, sister. Why don’t we try taking it out?”
Just as the big-nosed Marco stretched out his hand to grab the statuette.
“No, you bastard, you mustn’t touch it! You guys are going to bring us trouble!”
The old man, who had just finished pulling weeds out from the other side, suddenly made a commotion. We stopped and turned our heads in his direction.
“Gasp, gasp… You guys shouldn’t recklessly touch that thing or you might face divine retribution.”
I thought he probably would run out of breath before we faced divine retribution, though.
In any case, the old man was acting unusual, and his expression contained something akin to madness. We ended up with no choice but to do as he said.
“This, this is…!”
The old man was shocked at the sight of the statuette inside the marble sculpture. Did he know something? Marco then asked, as if thinking the same.
“What’s wrong with you, old man? Do you know something we don’t?”
“No, I don’t know!”
Damn it, you said you were a scholar, but aren’t you just a quack? I grumbled when the old man snorted.
“I don’t know… That’s why it’s even more dangerous! I took a Ph.D. in theology and philosophy, I’m quite knowledgeable about gods and the religions surrounding them. But this is the first time I’ve seen something like this. How can such a thing happen!?”
The philosopher seemed half-crazy. So, since they couldn’t touch the object recklessly, they had no choice but to gawk at it with their eyes wide open.
I then asked excitedly.
“So, is it something incredible?”
“Amazing! Hopefully, it’s a rare-grade relic, or better yet an epic-grade one! It might even be a legendary-grade one!”
Legendary-grade relic?
I don’t know what they were talking about but since the word “Legendary” was attached to it, and taking into account the old man’s reaction, it must be something amazing. I think I’ll get scolded if I ask what a legendary relic is in this situation so I’ll just keep my mouth shut.
“Old man, what’s a legendary-grade relic?”
The bard who didn’t care about other people’s opinions asked in my stead.
“Stupid bastard, an adventurer who doesn’t even know the rank of relics? How the times have changed… There are five stages for relics. Common relics. It’s just old antiques, the trash that no one wants besides collectors. It’s the kind that street vendors sell.”
The old man’s words reminded me of all the second-hand shops spread throughout the city. Broken jars, worn-out straw shoes, and such items were sold there.
Honestly, I don’t understand who’s selling these and even less who’s buying them. Anyway, these were common relics.
“Above common relics, we have rare relics or luxury relics. They’re like noble decorations. Then we have epic relics. You can get some ridiculous abilities starting from this grade. The price is also great. A relic of this grade is something people like us will never see in our entire life.”
My ears twitched at the mention of epic relics. I once touched the epic relic ‘Asclepius’ Staff’.
It was only after that I received my blessing, and the ability to give a peculiar massage was acquired. Epic-grade relics seem really precious.
Then Luna barely lifted her mask, showing her bare face.
“I know of epic relics. Isn’t the fountain pen used in the guild one? It’s a strange object that reads Karma.”
“Hmm, tsk.”
When Luna inquired as such, the doctor merely clicked his tongue.
“I wouldn’t call it an epic relic but that’s how it is. Epic-grade relics contain divine blessings. Concerning legendary-grade and beyond… I’ve only heard of it and never have seen it in person.
“So, you’re saying this could be a legendary relic, old man?”
As I continued to listen while organizing my thoughts. I finally concluded and then asked.
The old man folded his arms and made a groaning sound.
“I’m not sure.”
“Then, are Legendary relics expensive?”
“Expensive? If the product was deemed real, it would have a really high academic value. Even a few gold pouches wouldn’t be enough!”
A few gold pouches?
Damn, do they really exist? I’ve never even seen gold coins in the first place.
I can’t believe you could even get a pouch of them. My heart soared with so much joy that my shoulders were trembling. Shit, I’m rich! Was my debut as an adventurer also going to be my retirement day?!
“Gold coins!”
“I can buy a new guitar!”
“I want to switch my amulet for a better one too!”
While Luna, Marco, and I were rejoicing, I noticed Plato’s facial expression gradually turning grim.
“Old man, it’s gold coins! Shouldn’t it be something to be happy about? Why are you looking so gloomy?”
“You savage, this is not something to be happy about. It is said that high-grade relics contain huge amounts of magical power. Your life will naturally end in tragedy! You will be cursed if you tamper with something like this!”
Marco, the bard asked the old man, who was starting to spit saliva from his excitement.
“So, as the old man says, we can’t touch this?”
“It’s this black thing inside the statue… It was probably sealed. Sealing something in a temple was a common practice in ancient times…”
Seal? What kind of nonsense is this? My danger sensor, which went through all sorts of hardships, was ringing sirens in my head.
“If it’s a seal, then there should be something sealed inside. Any idea, old man?”
“I don’t know. It could be an evil spirit. It could be a demon. Or something beyond our understanding. Look at its form. I don’t think it’s normal.”
I looked more closely at the statue, exactly where the old man was pointing. There were black tentacle-like protrusions.
It looked like an octopus that had bird-like wings. It was like a mix between an octopus and a bird in a meditating position. Anyway, that’s what it looked like to me.
“Old man, I, Marco don’t believe in curses. A breathing, living person shouldn’t be intimidated by such things.”
Grab—
“Fuck!”
The fearless bard took out the obsidian statuette from the broken statue.
After having my awareness raised to the max after Plato’s explanation, I couldn’t help but tremble and shout at his reckless actions!
“Lunatic! What are you doing? It could be dangerous!”
“Heh, foreign brother, you’re more of a scaredy-cat than you look like. There’s nothing to be afraid of because it’s just an object. It’s just an object. It’s just an object. It’s just an object. It’s just a—”
“Damn it, you punk! You’ve just been cursed!”
Marco lifted the statuette high into the sky and kept repeating the same sentence like a broken record. He was looking like a lunatic, but the statuette looked so bizarre that I trembled at the sight of it and stopped getting agitated.
“Uh, what should we do, old man?”
“I, I don’t know! I think getting rid of that thing would be a good start.”
“Please do something Hassan, I’m scared!”
I could feel everyone looking at me. These bastards talk and act high and mighty all the time, but they never do anything when it actually matters.
Damn it, why did I have to be involved with a cursed object during my first quest as an adventurer? Did my career really have to start with such a shitshow?
As such, I stopped giving a damn and began smacking the big-nosed bard with all my might.
“It’s just an ob— Eugah!”
“Wake up you son of a bitch!”
Puk— Puk— Puk—
I have to save him! I have to save him!
I clenched my fists with all my strength and then started to respectfully pummel his face, all in order to save his life.
“It’s not enough! Let’s all beat him together.”
“All right! T-That’s a good idea!”
“I’ll help too!”
We began trampling on the body of the bard, who was lying on the ground, with our feet. Although it looked like unilateral lynching, we were actually trying to save him… probably…
Diriring—
『Healed: Lesser Mind Corruption』 『Task Points: + 10』
“Ughhh…Arghhh.”
After being fiercely beaten up for a long time, he finally uttered a human-like sound.
“H-Hey stop… are you planning to kill this Marco…”
“Bastard! You’re alive!”
****
“Suddenly, I lost my vision. I felt dizzy and everything seemed to be spinning around me. Even now, I can hear voices in my head… U-Uh, brother, please lower your fist. I might really die if you punch me one more time. I’m sober now!”
Marco shivered as he was recalling what happened when he touched the relic. It’s truly a dreadful relic that resulted in Marco’s face being riddled with bruises and nosebleeds.
“I’m sure it’s a cursed object. It seems a seal that shouldn’t have been messed with has been released…”
Scholar Plato made a disturbing comment. We had long since finished the cleaning of the shrine, but we had been unable to leave the place, even though we were left terrified.
Our eyes were gathered on the strange marble statuette.
A very ominous-looking obsidian figure. So ominous it felt like the surrounding air was trembling. We didn’t think it was okay to leave it like this. We also couldn’t take it with us.
Should we wait here until one of us brings a high-ranked individual from the city? Right as I was wondering about the feasibility of this plan.
“F-Fine, I’m just gonna seal it again with apocalyptic voodoo…!”
“Silence.”
“Hiik…”
We couldn’t find a solution even if we all tried to. I was a stranger to this world in the first place, everything was weird to me, I didn’t know a lot about magic, let alone curses!
The most reliable one here was the elderly scholar, but he also had never seen something like this.
Even the old man started making weird noises. Someone unaware of the situation might have thought he was struggling in the bathroom.
“Don’t tell me you’re going to soil yourself?”
“This scoundrel! Anyway, there might be something we can do…”
“Is that true, old man?”
“Yes, but it’s not within the reach of Iron-rank adventurers like us. As the Shaman of Ideope said, we have no choice but to seal it again.”
“Is it even possible to seal it again?”
“This is an old shrine of the Sun God. It may be possible to withstand the magical nature of that statuette if you have his blessing. Of course, that’s just a theory. I’m not sure of anything. Unfortunately, those who have the Sun God’s blessing in Sodomora can be counted on the fingers of a hand.”
Tink.
The Sun God’s blessing?
I remembered the blessing I had — ‘Imperfect Dexterity’. According to that one-eyed man in the guild, it was given to me by the Sun God.
Wasn’t this a great coincidence?
I could sense an ominous foreboding, because I, the blessing, and the statuette were all here together.
Was this the power of fate? It felt like a ray of light was tearing through the darkness.
“Old man, I have the blessing of the Sun God. What should I do exactly?”
“H-Huh? You’re claiming a savage like you is blessed by the Sun God? There’s no way an Iron-rank adventurer could have a blessing!? Did you get cursed as well!?”
“It would be a hassle to explain. Just tell me what to do!”
“You’re so impolite, rushing an old man. Although I said it needed to be sealed, I have no real idea how it should be done. You said you had the Sun God’s blessing, right? Maybe something will happen if you touch it yourself.”
No, isn’t this too much? I mean, I have to touch it and risk being cursed myself.
“Brother, don’t worry, I’ll hit you as hard as I can if it looks like you’re getting cursed! Just pick it up!”
“Yeah, yeah! I’ll also help you, Hassan! I’m confident I can hit hard too!”
I approached the statuette, half-listening to the words of my noisy party members. Honestly, I wouldn’t want to touch something like this even if I got paid.
I also had a strange ability to break curses and peculiarities…
It may be because of the weird situation, but I felt like the statuette was calling out to me for quite a while now. It was vibrating fascinatingly as if forcing me to touch it.
“Oh fuck it, I don’t give a damn!”
Grab—
Hello again, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. It’s always fun seeing Hassan interact with his party members. I wonder what will happen after Hassan touches the statuette. Well, I actually don’t because I know already, but I’m sure you guys do lol. See you again next time.
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