"Let's go. I'm curious how far it thinks it can run."
Mukuro kept both hands in his pockets as he walked in with Suguru at an easy pace.
The cave was pitch-black, not even a shadow in sight.
Maybe that was why the curse hid here in the first place. After living inside for years, traces of its cursed energy clung to every corner. As long as it wasn't dead yet, finding its exact location would take some effort.
And usually, under the cover of night, hiding or ambushing tended to work well.
Too bad the opponents it met today weren't anything close to human.
Pop.
Suguru snapped his fingers. A glowing curse floated out from behind him and lit up the entire cave.
Barely five meters ahead, the creature that had been ready to ambush them froze under the light. The look on its face resembled someone caught red-handed.
"Grrr!"
Even so, it charged forward, jaws opening wider and wider like it meant to bite the two boys clean in half.
Bang!
It didn't even last a second.
Before the curse knew what happened, a sharp dagger was already buried in its chest. A burst of force followed, tearing a hole through its front and sending its body flying backward.
"Easy. Try not to kill it. I still need to absorb it later."
Suguru reached an arm in front of Mukuro, worried the guy might casually butcher the thing before he was done.
For someone who used Cursed Spirit Manipulation, quantity was always good. And this one, nearly grade 1, was practically a treat.
But unexpectedly, the curse didn't fight back.
Maybe it understood it couldn't escape. It picked itself up, staggered over to a boulder nearby, sat down, and quietly waited to die.
"You should've done that earlier."
Suguru raised his hand. A swirling pull formed in his palm. The curse shattered without resistance and turned into a dark bead that fell neatly into his hand.
But neither of them walked away.
On the boulder the curse had leaned against, something had been carved—messy lines that looked like they'd been scratched with a knife. Faded words trailing off near the end, as if written by someone too weak to finish.
The two examined what they could still make out.
"'I will curse humans…'"
Mukuro read the words aloud. The curse's origin unfolded.
Long, long ago, it had been an ordinary freelance sorcerer, dreaming of protecting people and saving those tormented by curses.
But after entering this village, it ended up in a deadly struggle with the curse born here, a Shantogami. It exorcised the monster at the cost of its own life.
And back then, villagers had been nearby. They could have saved the dying sorcerer.
Instead, once they sensed cursed energy on him, they treated him like a monster.
"So… this curse was born from a sorcerer's grudge."
Suguru stared at the bead in his hand, a little stunned.
A sorcerer turning into a curse wasn't unheard of. They dealt with such cases all the time.
But he didn't expect someone would die for that reason.
Trying to protect the weak, only to be abandoned by the weak…
Scenes from a year ago flickered through his mind—the warped faces of the cultists from the Star Religious Group appearing again like ghosts.
A strong person could still be vulnerable.
A weak person wasn't automatically innocent.
So why must the weak survive?
If a peaceful era was built by the strong, why couldn't the strong be allowed to live?
He'd long known the difference between humans and monkeys. But Suguru still instinctively treated monkeys as though they were people.
Only because the words 'protect the weak' were carved too deep inside him.
"Suguru, don't overthink it."
Mukuro's voice came from behind as he lightly tapped his shoulder, already knowing what Suguru was wrestling with.
"Don't worry. I won't."
Suguru turned with a small, relieved smile.
Satoru and Mukuro were right. Why bother caring what monkeys did?
Monkeys were monkeys. Even if they wore human faces, that didn't change their nature.
What he wanted to protect were his friends, and humans.
"Let's go."
After swallowing the bead, he and Mukuro headed back the way they came.
* * *
"They're back! Those two are back!"
Villagers started shouting the moment the two stepped out of the mountain.
"The thing in the cave has already been dealt with. If there's nothing else, we'll be on our way."
Suguru kept his polite tone, as if the writing on the stone had never existed.
"Wait! There's actually something else. Two very troublesome things we need you boys to take care of…"
The round-bellied village chief ran over, rubbing his hands. The fat on his cheeks twitched with each word and each smile.
"Hm?"
Mukuro and Suguru exchanged a glance, then followed the villagers into a nearby building.
"These two are…"
Suguru's eyes widened.
Before them, in a room that looked more like a prison than a home, two young girls, filthy, trembling, clearly abused, sat huddled together. They flinched when the villagers crowded in.
"No need to ask. They're the true cause behind all the recent incidents in our village. They've been using their strange powers to harm everyone. Since you two are professionals, we'll have to trouble you to get rid of them!"
The village chief declared confidently, and everyone behind him loudly agreed.
"It wasn't them. The source of the trouble has already been dealt with by the two of us."
Suguru's gentle tone from before was gone. His brows tightened.
"It wasn't us!"
The two girls shouted through tears.
"It was you! You almost killed my grandson!"
An old woman behind the chief shrieked.
"That was because he—"
"Shut up, monsters! Your parents were monsters too. We should've killed you right when you were born!"
The chief cut the girl off. Villagers began hurling accusations, dumping every fault they could imagine onto them.
"It's okay. Don't be scared."
Unbeknownst to the villagers, two tiny curses floated out in front of Suguru, whispering softly to the terrified girls.
He rubbed his forehead, trying to think of how to explain their abilities to these people.
"Want me to just kill them all? With my ability, no one will ever find evidence. Same as with the Star Religious Group. We can call it purging pests for humanity."
Mukuro spoke casually.
"Yes! Kill them! Kill them!"
The villagers immediately echoed him, furious and eager, like that alone proved they were right.
"I see…"
Suguru finally understood.
Why he'd felt so uncomfortable the moment he stepped foot in this place.
Now everything made sense.
These things behind him… weren't people.
They were monkeys.
**
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