The last pages of the diary describe how the husband drugged his wife's tea, using the various herbs that Merlin had previously identified within the teacup, along with holy water to protect her body from turning.
The diary then described an ornate dagger, blessed by the temple and used for certain concoctions that required divine energy and ritual. What was supposed to be a tool of healing had been used out of fear, used for a purpose most foul.
The husband had thrust the dagger into his pregnant wife's stomach, piercing his now-undead child and ultimately killing both it and his wife.
The writing had become deranged and almost cryptic, the erratic scribbles flooded the pages, and Merlin couldn't find any value in decoding more than a couple of lines.
They seemed to be curses against the temple, the nobles who ruled the city and the guards who were supposed to protect his livelihood. He had also written curses against himself, slandering himself as a useless provider, a terrible father and husband.
The final page was an apology, with half of the page covered by splotches of blood and smudged ink, presumably smudged by the tears that fell on the page.
Merlin's comment section was now full of people mentioning how messed up the story was, and as he looked around at his friends, he noticed Nora's condition immediately, she was clearly uncomfortable with the situation, more so than anyone else in the room.
"So... the dagger was thrust into his wife and child..." Alvira said as she stared at the ornate dagger. "Now that we know the story, what does that tell us?"
It seemed as though Alvira still desired the new weapon, regardless of how the story affected her.
"Well, it was used as a tool for murder, and it's presumably lodged in the corpse of a dead baby," Merlin said, "It has also been soaking in necrotic energy for quite some time, so with all that in mind, feel free to do as you wish."
Alvira took Merlin's words as the go-ahead to claim her new blade.
Merlin took several steps back from the woman's body, something that everyone else in the room but Alvira had noticed, as she was too enamoured with the prospect of a strong weapon.
Alvira reached for the blade, and in one quick motion, released it from the woman's corpse with a loud squelching sound.
The room went silent as everyone watched her wipe her new dagger onto the bedsheets, wondering if that was all that was going to happen after all that.
As to put everyone's suspicions aside, a high-pitched squeal rang out from the woman's corpse, catching Alvira off-guard.
Suddenly, a small creature burst out from the woman's stomach, lunging itself towards Alvira who had just noticed it and was unable to react in time.
The creature's long emaciated fingers were a mere distance from Alvira's eyes before the creature was suddenly flung towards the wall.
The small creature, barely the size of a toddler, was hanging from the wall by one of its shoulders. It looked to originally be a baby, although incredibly emaciated to the point it was essentially just a skeleton. The most out-of-place aspect was the surprisingly developed arms and hands, they were much longer than they should have been, and the fingers had shaped themselves into horrific claws. It was such a horrific sight that it sent Nora out of the room immediately.
As the creature squealed in pain, everyone's eyes glanced at the dagger holding it against the wall before turning to face Merlin who was already walking towards the creature.
"As it turns out, the man failed to kill his child," Merlin said as he plunged his other dagger into the creature's head, "The blade's remaining holy energy functioned as a seal, preventing the evil creature from moving, but once you removed it, it regained its bodily function. A terrifying and unexpected ambush."
"Unexpected?" The rest of the group all muttered, remembering that he took several steps back before this happened.
Merlin ripped his other dagger from the creature's shoulder and watched as the monster plummeted to the ground.
He noticed that the monster had actually dropped an item, and upon reaching for it, he was met with a notification.
「You have completed the quest, "Ghoulish Grasp", visit the wizard college to receive your rewards.」
"Oh, that's convenient," Merlin muttered.
"What is?" Typhoeus asked.
"The kid dropped a ghoul's hand, which saves me the trouble of fighting another ghoul," Merlin said as he threw the hand into his inventory.
"What do you need a ghoul hand for?" Typhoeus asked.
"It's just one of the quests I picked up from the wizard college," Merlin answered, to which he got a simple nod in return.
Alvira seemed rather shaken, to the point she hadn't moved from the spot she was standing since the creature was released.
She finally decided to inspect the weapon she was now holding, and her face showcased a mix of emotions.
"Hey, Merlin," Alvira muttered, "What do I do when a weapon is cursed?"
"Let me see it," Merlin said, holding his hand out to receive the blade.
Once he held the blade in his hand, he felt the palm of his hand go numb, there was an eerie cold to the weapon, not unlike his ghost blade, but far more sinister.
He quickly inspected the blade, not wanting to hold it for longer than he needed to.
┌───────────────────
[Vampiric Ornate Blade (Unique) (Cursed)]
An ornate ceremonial dagger, once blessed by the temple and used for ritualistic healing purposes. It has since been warped and sullied by negative intent and vast necromantic energy, being bathed in evil has since nullified its original blessing, perverting the blade in a rather ironic fashion.
Instead of healing and providing strength, the blade now siphons life and induces weakness.
• Damage: +19
• Abilities: ⟪Blood Siphon⟫
• Curses: ⟪Decrepify⟫
└───────────────────
He then inspected the ability of the weapon, causing another information window to appear.
┌───────────────────
⟪Blood Siphon⟫
The depraved nature of the ornate blade rips the lifeforce from anything it sinks its edge into, imparting a fraction of that energy to the unfortunate being wielding it.
• Heals the wielder by 6% of all damage caused by this blade.
└───────────────────
'Lifesteal this early into the game, not bad.' Merlin thought to himself. 'But that just means the curse must be pretty bad.'
He swiped the information window away and inspected the curse, causing another information window to appear.
┌───────────────────
⟪Decrepify⟫ (Curse)
The cursed blade siphons energy from its host, inducing its host with a degree of lethargy and frailty.
• Agility: -2
• Any piercing or slashing damage taken while this blade is wielded is multiplied by 1.5.
• Any bludgeoning damage taken while this blade is wielded is multiplied by 2.
└───────────────────
'And there's the kicker,' He thought, reading over the window a second time, 'But I suppose it could be worse.'
"It's not that bad of a curse, honestly, not a bad weapon, you just need to ensure you don't get hit as often," Merlin said as he handed Alvira her blade back. "And even if you do, you can heal it right back."
'Of course, it reduces your agility, so your stamina, dodging ability and stealth all get nerfed, meaning you'd get hit more often...' Merlin thought to himself. 'And you take more damage, so you're more likely to get critically injured or even one-shotted.'
"It does have a base damage of nineteen..." Alvira muttered to herself as she stared at the blade.
"It's also vampiric, isn't that your whole schtick?" Merlin asked.
"What do you mean my schtick?" Alvira huffed as she sheathed her new blade. She continued talking while rubbing the palm of her hand, clearly disturbed by the numbing sensation, "I wanted a vampire's soul, not a vampire weapon."
"Well, we can get you both," Zankoku spoke up as he peered through a window, "The zombies have scattered again, from what I can see from here."
"Alright, let's get out of here," Snowbunny said, quickly stepping out of the room and making her way to the staircase.
The group followed Snowbunny's lead, quietly making their way down the staircase, they inspected the street via the window before slowly unblocking the door.
"Alright, we know our positions as normal. Strikers in the front, clear our path, the rest cover our flank."
"Where is our destination?" Zankoku asked.
"We're after a vampire soul, right?" Snowbunny asked, "Where would we find a group of blood-sucking parasites?"
"A courtroom." Typhoeus quickly remarked, which received a slight chuckle from Merlin.
"Nice," Merlin remarked, "But, I think we should head towards a temple."
"Why? Don't holy things kill vampires?" Snowbunny asked.
"Yes, but not in this case." Merlin explained, "The birth of a Necropolis wouldn't be possible in a city if consecrated grounds were immune to necrotic energies. Truthfully, the Necropolis brings about a perversion of expectation, and a sick sense of irony, similar to the knife that Alvira has."
"This makes a holy area, such as temple grounds, a hot spot for high-level undead, as the necrotic energies corrupt the area in such a way that it becomes incredibly desirable for those twisted creatures to reside in it." He continued.
"The last vampire we found was in a church, and that wasn't in the Necropolis, why was that?" Alvira asked.
"That one was a little special, this doesn't really apply there..." Merlin said, "Also we found that church in pretty bad condition, there was likely no holy energy to be found anywhere within those fragile walls."
"Alright, understood, so we're going to the nearest temple or holy grounds," Zankoku interrupted the conversation those two were having, as he was getting tired from hearing so much of Merlin's narration for one sitting.
