The Adventurer’s guild building in the city of Academia was on the small side, but that was true for most of Anima. There just wasn’t much adventure on the island nation, so most members quickly found themselves leaving for one of the continents in short order.

That said, there were still regions that were deliberately left clear of habitation so monsters could spawn away from civilians and the farmland, and thus there was steady, if unexciting, work for adventurers. As Casimir understood it, it made it a good place to settle down for an adventurer that was getting on in years and wanting to retire but unable to afford it.

He approached the front desk, recognizing the old woman sitting as the receptionist. “Hey Harriet.” Casimir said in greeting.

“Mr. Toomes, welcome back.” Harriet replied kindly. “How’s teaching been treating you?”

“It’s okay.” Casimir said. “I’m expanding my repertoire, relaxing, and earning some decent pay while living rent-free.” Master refused the offer of paying for the use of her guest room in the strongest possible terms, which was fair. If he had a nice cottage in the wealthy part of town, he wouldn’t think of charging her rent either.

“You seem… improved.” Harriet commented. “You’re not using calming spells like warming spells in winter anymore, at least. Should I be sending out feelers for any elite-ranked teams with an opening, come the end of the school term?” Casimir winced at the reminder of why he was forced to go on a sabbatical before joining a new team. “Or are you here on other business?”

“The end of term is still a long way away.” Casimir deflected. “I promised my Master that I wouldn’t commit to leaving just yet.”

“I’ll be discreet, then.” Harriet said, understanding what Casimir meant.

“Thanks.” Casimir said, smiling. “But I am here on other business. I’m assuming you at least know about the adventuring club at the Academy, but I was wondering how involved the guild was with the whole process normally.”

“Ah.” Harriet said, her wrinkled face crunching up with a smile. “Well, it depends. Some years the new students register as a novice-ranked team, some years they don’t. We do bend the rules a bit when the students get involved, as a favor to the Academy, so non-member teachers can tag along with the students to protect them, or a higher-ranked member can assist with the jobs even if we’d normally forbid such a thing.” One of the guild’s functions was to prevent high-ranked adventurers from taking on large amounts of easy jobs and leaving nothing for the lower-ranked ones to do, while also leaving the higher ranked tasks undone. One of the reasons adventurers were called that was because of how the guild functioned, as generally, an adventurer was forced to wander throughout the lands because there just weren't any jobs in the local area. The guildmasters managed all of that with large amounts of discretion, but as long as all the jobs got done and no one got cheated the regional offices didn’t much care how the branch offices were run.

“That’s about what I was thinking.” Casimir said while nodding along. “I’ve been dragged into helping with the club, so I figured I should ask if my… current status would cause any problems.”

Harriet took a moment to think about it. “I don’t think Guildmaster Purz would give you any trouble over it, but I’ll be sure to discuss the matter. Just come along when the students register and check back then.”

“Will do.” Casimir said. “Now… you wouldn’t happen to have seen David recently, would you have?” Casimir scanned the lobby again, double-checking the face of every man there.

“Last I heard, Mr. Smith was doing guard work on a ship in the Elven Archipelago.” Harriet said. “At least, that’s where I sent him the last time he came to visit his sister.” She frowned. “He’s still telling stories about you, you know.”

Casimir winced. “How bad is it?”

“Pretty bad.” Harriet replied, putting her hand on Casimir’s shoulder. “I try to set people straight, but he’s angry, and you never had the kind of reputation needed to have people dismiss him out of hand.” Yeah… effective curses tended towards the cruel and torturous side of violence, and using that as a primary combat tool doesn’t make many friends.

Well, this sucks. Even if there was an elite-ranked team that would take him, they might reject it based on the rumor mongering that meathead has been spreading. “Thanks for the information, Harriet. Here, get the grandkids something nice.” Passing the old woman a pair of silver coins as a tip for her work, her smile widened considerably as she waved him goodbye.

Well, time to face the music.

-----------------

The church of Helel, the goddess of light, was a common sight in human-controlled lands. While they were fairly insular and specific when it came to their priests, Helel demanded generosity from her followers, gathering tithes of mana from their prayer-rituals and spending it on charitable works, in particular the free distribution of healing magic to any who walk into their doors. The whole organization was more complex than that, but remaining in the good books of your local Helelites was vital for the health of your average citizen of half the nations in the known world.

But Casimir wasn’t here for that kind of thing. Instead, he walked down into the catacombs underneath the cathedral. He’s never been here, but he knows exactly where to go. The map was right there at the entrance, with each of the hundreds of shrines labeled with painstaking care. Even in the deepest depths of rationality, when making this trip seemed like the most ridiculous act possible, he still found himself at that map at least once a week.

But those curses are gone now. For months, really. The only thing stopping him from visiting since then was just cowardice, an old friend. But today wasn’t about that friend, it was about another, a more recent abandonment.

The shrine that Casimir approached, ignoring the guards that followed him in, was one of the more elaborate ones, reserved for priests that attained some personal notoriety. The complex enchantments were meant to allow for a priest to guide a group of people in a mana offering ritual to tithe additional power to fuel Helel’s miracles, but just supplying light mana into it did the job just fine.

The alcove’s sconces flared to life, illuminating the area as if it was high noon. The marble walls with gilded patterns gleamed, each depicting a scene from the life of the priest the shrine was dedicated to. But Casimir only had eyes for the centerpiece of the whole thing: a statue commissioned into an exact likeness. Before his eyes, letters formed slowly, a mote of light dancing in the air to create every stroke.

Luci Smith

‘The Guiding Light’

Crusader of the Faith

Fell in battle against The Soul-Devouring Dragon

He should probably say something. So much was left unsaid… but she wouldn’t hear it. Even if you accepted the premise that the shrines safeguarded the souls of priests who fell in Helel’s service, Luci still wouldn’t be in there. He should know, he was there when she died. When her soul was shredded and sucked in like it was one of those fruits she liked.

The fact that she was given a shrine like normal without a care by the church said quite a bit about the truth behind them. No different than the normal gravesites his family has tended to for generations.

Casimir waited, continually converting and feeding mana into the shrine to keep it lit while he contemplated why he was there. The guards eventually stepped back, satisfied that he wasn’t there to cause trouble.

He glanced once more at the murals, noting how each one had Luci in the center stage, calling on the miracles of Helel while facing the toughest monsters alone. Needless to say, there was quite a bit of artistic liberty, although he did recognize each event as a real monster they dealt with together, which was more than he expected to see. He’d complain about not being in the murals, but really, the real tragedy was that Magnus wasn’t depicted either. They’d likely give Casimir a goblin nose or something out of spite, so his absence was probably for the best.

Spite was one of the few ways for a spirit to work for free, and the ones with churches were no exception to that. They just liked dressing it up a bit. They had plenty of reasons to hate him, some of it even true.

Eventually, his mana heart emptied, and the lights dimmed. Only the faint illumination from the hall sconces provided guidance to the exit.

He left like he arrived, without a sound.

-----------------

Casimir walked into the field the first year adventuring club members were using. The other years didn’t really need his help, he just followed them into the forest while they practiced monster hunting, making sure they didn’t get in over their heads. He wasn’t even the only teacher helping with that, so most of his responsibilities with the club amounted to just the nine first years, split with Professor Thorne.

Thorne was gone, presumably having taken the bigger team along for some kind of exercise. “I know that the enchantment and curse classes start on practicals at about the same time, so it’s time for you two-” He pointed at Peter and Illivere. “-to show me what you’ve got working.” Hanna was going along nicely with her spellweaving, near as Casimir could tell. She could use Battle Healing, Fireball, Propel, Leap, and Overgrowth, which was good for eight weeks into the semester. Three mana types was solid progress, even if her Overgrowth was kind of all over the place, supposedly it was a pretty tricky spell to master. Faron, on the other hand, had more expected progress, focusing more on being able to use his spells well rather than rushing to learn more. Weapon training took up a lot of time, after all.

Peter remembered Casimir’s warnings against cursing people with dozens of long-term curses woven into their soul, and walked forward from the lineup with Faron, the one playing test subject.

“Here goes…” Peter said as he concentrated on Faron, touching him on the shoulder for easier casting. He didn’t tell Casimir what curse he was using, which was poor form, but Casimir could tell just from focusing on the mana what he was trying to accomplish. “...there!”

Faron flexed, punching the air as the motions created little cracks of air, despite the speed not being anywhere near enough to do that. Casimir nodded before leaning in, his eyes glowing with Analyze Magic. “Good, good. Let me have a look…” It was, as expected, a very clumsy example of Strengthen. Clumsy… but it looked like it would last over ten minutes, so that was better than Casimir expected. The class would be tested on being able to successfully cast a curse of their choice later this week, so it looked like Peter was going to pass that, at least. “Adequate.” Casimir said. “Do you have anything else?” With a brush of mana, Casimir cleared Faron’s soul from the curse.

“You bet, Teach!” Peter said confidently, emboldened by his success. He started converting his mana into Life mana, which was interesting. Casimir bet Hanna helped him with that. As expected, the spell he decided to pick up second was Invigorate, the basic healing curse that helped with exhaustion and soreness.

Casimir examined this one as well. “Not as good as the last one.” Was his eventual judgment. “It needs work.” He added. Another brush of mana and the curse was removed.

Turning to Illivere, Casimir gestured vaguely. “What do you have working?”

The emotionless girl pulled out some arrows out of her quiver. “I’ve enchanted these arrowheads with extra durability, and the shafts with acceleration, to increase the potential damage output and armor penetration.” Basic enchantments, but useful. Casimir noted that the shafts were feathersteel, which was much easier to enchant than most woods. “In addition, I have successfully managed to brew potions of both mind and life mana, although I’ve yet to master the enchantments.”

Casimir nodded in approval. “Alchemy is tricky, but very worth it.” Bottling mana was the easy part of alchemy, depending on the quality of ingredients you use. Master Alchemists could piss liquified mana if they wanted to show off, even. The complex part was the enchantments on the bottles. It shaped the mana as it came out of the stopper, creating a magical effect that was basically a curse as the mana was absorbed into the body. Mages could just manipulate the mana themselves though, so it was still handy to have even without the fancy bottles. “I know how to enchant bombs, so we can go over that in a bit.” It wasn’t difficult, the hard part of making alchemical bombs was making it so that any mage with half a brain couldn’t set it off with a glance. He knew enough, but he also needed the expensive magical reagents if he wanted to make bombs powerful enough to matter in the kinds of fights he got into. He knew a few cheap options that should be fine for novices, though.

Still, it was acceptable progress. “I think it’s about time for your first monster.” Casimir announced, which immediately seized the attention of all four students. “But first, a quiz: What distinguishes a monster from an animal?”

Faron stood at attention, immediately reciting the textbook answer: “Monsters spontaneously form from environmental mana.” Monster populations could also breed to expand their numbers if left unattended, but that was something they had in common with animals.

“Good.” Casimir said, creating an illusion of a Titan’s deer and a regular stag. “A monster can resemble an animal, or even a person in the case of goblins and such, but it’s important to remember that they are not. They are far more dangerous, and they hunger to eat any being with a soul. You will never see a monster fight another monster, with a few exceptions. The extermination of monsters is an adventurer’s primary duty, which is why they are not merely mercenaries with delusions of nobility.” Casimir gestures to the forest. “The formation of monsters isn’t entirely understood,” Specifically, it was a matter of spirited debate among academic circles. “-but it’s understood well enough that they don’t really form in places where they can be seen. Thus, Anima has created these wilderness areas specifically to allow monsters a place to form that isn’t in the middle of farmland and such. It’s worked, for the most part.” Monster parts were valuable to tanners, carvers, alchemists, and certain other artisans, and stopping their formation was not yet something that could be done reliably. “It’s a common practice, actually. Elves leave certain parts of their islands undeveloped so they can get materials for their heartstring shirts.” Casimir gestured to Faron’s tunic, light and airy but near impossible to cut or pierce. “Incidentally, you should get one when you can afford to, it’s a fantastic investment.” Casimir pulled at the collar of his dragonhide armor, pulling out the light green cloth of his own heartstring shirt.

“Good idea, Teach!” Peter said, blatantly sucking up. “Now about that monster?”

Casimir chuckled. “In good time. First, do you have properly sharpened weapons or do y’all only have blunted practice ones?”

A brief overview of their equipment commenced, and Casimir quickly sharpened the cheap knives Peter and Hanna had, and Peter’s axes. With the kids as ready as they were going to be, Casimir moved a variety of mana types into his soul to be soaked up by the curses he had, augmenting both his travel speed, senses, and reflexes. With a single great leap, he flew into the forest, on the hunt.

He had checked the quest history of the forest that morning, and knew that there shouldn’t be many monsters around. However, ‘not many’ did not mean ‘none’, so he was able to locate a Barbed Bear. It was a bit strong, but it didn’t have any natural magic beyond the kind that allowed it to exist. He could work with this.

First, Casimir placed a curse on the thing’s mind, making it utterly fearless. Monsters didn’t have much to begin with, but this monster wasn’t going to chase him half a kilometer without having second thoughts if he didn’t. Barbed Bears were mana blind, so Casimir shaped a metal arrow, sharpened it, and then propelled it, severing two of the looser thorny vines the beast was covered in and creating a bloody gash. The bear roared in anger and pain, which drew the attention of a handful of Swoopers that were sitting in a nearby tree, who promptly started to suicide charge Casimir, as was their nature.

Monsters weren’t stupid, normally. They weighed the danger they were in against their other impulses, like hunger, pain, and rage. But with the handy curse Casimir put on it’s mind, there wasn’t any question in the monster’s eyes that he could take the tiny mage. It also failed to change that opinion after a minute of failing to hit Casimir as he dodged attacks and killed those pesky bird monsters that kept diving at him, assessing the beast’s strength.

“It’s fresh, that’s good…” Casimir mumbled to himself as he figured out which curses would be best to weaken it. Idly, he backhanded a Swooper who thought he wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings.“Definitely too strong for the kids. Well, it’s bound to get pretty sluggish by the time we get there if I…” Casimir cast one of his old standbys, shaping air mana into a choking curse that drew the mana from the air the beast breathed into itself, reinforcing the curse rather than sustaining the beast. It didn’t grab all of it, but it should be enough to make the beast tired by the end of the chase.

Still, the thing was so big… Well, the problem was less the size, but instead the weight. Which was a problem that could be solved. Normally, a weight reduction curse was used to enable retreats, due to making it much more difficult to both deal and take damage. But it should do the job. One curse and yet another dead bird monster later, and the bear only had one fourth of its weight behind its blows. Casimir stood in front of a tree to test the bear’s strength. Ducking out of the way of the attack, he frowned as he saw the bark stripped and gouges cut into it. “Still too strong.” Casimir jumped out of the way of another attack. “Too fast, too. Still, I think I can do this in one more curse.” But first, kill that damn bird. Casimir tuned his senses towards mind mana and sniffed, glancing at the direction where the Swooper’s hive mind was thickest in time to spot the Flightmaster spawning another minion. With another propelled arrow, it was time to return to the matter at hand.

Strengthen was in the basic package of useful curses. The twenty on the curriculum was all beneficial effects, but one of the fundamental laws of curse magic is that anything you can strengthen, you can weaken. Another is that a beneficial and detrimental curse can sometimes just be a matter of perspective. So a Weaken curse made it so that each motion of the monster was opposed, rather than helped, by a bit of force mana. After seeing it make two more attacks, Casimir nodded to himself. “This looks good. Okay Mr. Monster, we’re only halfway there, it’s time to double-time it!” One last mind curse attuned the monster’s senses to Casimir’s soul, allowing it to know Casimir’s position unerringly as long as he could theoretically see, hear, or smell him. With that, Casimir started running.

Now, for the fun part.