While grinding his teeth, Suimei infused some magic into his hand to apply a relieving magic.
“Uuu, gu...ahh”
For a bit, Lefille’s pained voice became calmer and soothed. After the girl’s breathing became steady, Suimei asked:
“How is the burning sensation?”
“Ahh… it’s considerably better… That was...?”
“A magic of mine that reduces the effect of the curse. With this it’s a bit better right?”
“Is that so. Up until now nobody could do something like that...”
A voice of relief. Yet, this made Suimei feel a sense of guilt . In the end, while he could interfere with the curse, that was only a temporary solution.
“Sorry. While I can temporarily weaken the curse, I don’t have a way to get rid of it. This curse wasn’t just simply casted onto Lefille’s body. That’s why, until we find the caster or the medium used to cast it, the curse won’t be broken.”
Saying that, Suimei bowed his head in disappointment.
The curse cast on Lefille was one utilizing Sympathetic magic. Sympathetic magic, along with contact magic, was a way of classifying curses as popularized by England’s anthropologist and occultist, James George Frazer. He believes that there were invisible connections between objects that had similar shape on the theoretical level, an idea grounded on mutual influence. Using this mysterious connection one could achieve the amplification of curses.
This type used an imitation of a person, such as a doll or a photo, to cast the spell on a person. A cursed doll in Japan and voodoo doll from Haiti were such examples. His findings indicate that the curse on Lefille probably belonged to this category. As it wasn’t known what the medium was, or what the relationship the one who was cursed had with this medium, it was difficult to break such a spell.
“Sorry, this is everything I can do.”
“...It’s fine. Thanks.”
Suimei realized his helplessness only when he faced a curse he couldn’t undo. As she watched Suimei who apologized with such feelings, Lefille made a smile while holding back her pain.
After a while, drop by drop, tears flowed down Lefille’s face. In the forest in the middle of nowhere, like when the rain begins, her tears fell.
“Uuuuu…”
Only Lefille knew how it felt. As an outsider, Suimei had a sympathetic expression with his mouth open, as if he was trying to say something. But, there probably were nothing he could say. No matter how much he thought, he wasn’t qualified to wipe away her tears of despair and give her solace.
To Lefille who looked as if she would cry endlessly, Suimei could not utter a word.