I'm a Immortal Tavernkeeper, But My S-Rank Daughter Doesn't Know That!

The moment he went back in time, Victor fell to his knees and put a hand to his head to hide the expression of despair that marked his face. He tried to get up, but couldn’t.

"Hey, Victor, what happened? Are you all right?"

The white-haired hunter had died several times before, only this time it was different. His heart was literally crushed and exploded just for trying to show his memories to Mari.

What’s more, Victor didn’t die to a human, a monster or a demon, he died to what was inside him, that voice that constantly repeated that he belonged to it. He thought he would be able to find out what this thing was when he arrived in Klento and got the help of the brilliant Mari Dundragon, but now he didn’t even know if he wanted to find out.

For the first time in his life, Victor couldn’t see a way out of a situation. This wasn’t a battle like the thousands of others he had faced.

Despite this, he had to stay strong, because Wanda Stillwind, his daughter, was fighting to make this world more peaceful and fair, something he had never managed to do. So he couldn’t give up, he had to stay strong and healthy to support her.

"Don’t... worry... Mari. I just felt sick for a moment." Victor replied, finally managing to stand up. Despite this, he kept his head down, because the look on his face was still one of panic.

Mari took a deep, relieved breath. "What a fright... But this could be a good sign. Do you often feel weak?" She started and walked towards a different table this time, where there were some books with thick covers.

"No, I don’t think so," said Victor, a little fearfully. He had the feeling that he still tasted blood in his mouth, so he didn’t want to say the wrong thing again and end up having his heart crushed once more.

"I wonder where I put the ’Exorcizing Curses Guide’?" Mari looked a little more anxious and lost than last time, perhaps because the hero she admired had fallen to his knees in front of her.

While Victor was still trying to catch his breath and calm the tumultuous thoughts churning in his mind, Mari searched her messy desk full of books. She ran her fingers over the book covers, muttering to herself as she searched for the ’Exorcizing Curses Guide’, but didn’t find it, so she went to a nearby shelf.

Mari Dundragon’s laboratory was a tangle of shelves full of books, potions bottles and magical artifacts. It was hard to imagine that she could actually find anything when she needed it.

"Where did I put that book? It should be here..." she muttered, scanning the books on the shelf carefully so as not to knock anything over. Her eyes lit up when she finally spotted the volume she wanted. "Ah, here it is!" exclaimed Mari, lifting the book with a triumphant smile.

She opened it with a serious expression, flipping through the pages quickly until she found the section she was looking for.

"Mari, I don’t know if..."

"Trust me, Victor. I will help you." She said with complete confidence, concentrating on the rapidly passing pages. "Got it! Look, these are some of the possible causes of curses, I want you to tell me which one it is when I mention it."

Mari then placed a finger on the pages and began to read aloud: 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"Strong bond with a creature of darkness? No, this is not your case, I’m sure. Manipulation of evil spirits, I don’t think so either, right? Ah, here it mentions the possibility of an unintentional magical bond, created during an interaction with supernatural beings or with cursed objects, have you touched anything that could carry a curse?"

"Not that I know of." Victor said, analyzing his recent history. In Serenity there was nothing that could have affected him.

"It says here that another common cause is excessive use of dark magic, which can corrode the soul. How often do you use dark magic, Victor?" asked Mari, looking at his white hair. "Generally, dark magic users use putrid elements, but there is a minority who use their own life span, as you do. I believe it’s twice as dangerous as ordinary black magic."

The gray hairs on Victor’s face and head were clear signs that he used black magic, because he wasn’t even fifty yet and so his hair shouldn’t be so white.

"I use it rarely, only in situations where it’s necessary." He replied. "I used to wear it a lot more in the past, when it was necessary, but lately I’ve been leading a peaceful life. In the last twenty years, I’ve only used it once before going on a trip because, unlike before, I now have a reason to want to live long."

"I see..." She closed the book and began to look at it, analyzing it. "I hadn’t stopped to think about it, but you being a dark magic user complicates things a lot. How can you be so sure that it’s a curse and not the side effects of using it?"

"I only used dark magic again in Agocester, to defeat a certain powerful creature that plagued the region, but I had already felt the effects of the curse when I arrived in Kozáni."

"Tell me about these effects."

"I can’t..."

Mari soon realized what Victor meant. "A curse that doesn’t allow you to talk about it? That complicates things a bit, but it’s still not impossible to help you." She said and started walking towards a table where those scrolls from before were, but Victor grabbed her wrist before she could reach the table.

Surprised, she turned back and Victor said, "I know what you want to do, but you can’t. If you do that, I’ll die. If you do, I’ll die."

Mari’s eyes widened in surprise, and Victor let go of her arm.

The next few minutes in the lab were silent.

Mari searched her mind, trying to find a way to help Victor, but if she couldn’t even use the most archaic method to detect the symptoms or know the root of the curse, unfortunately she didn’t know what else she could do.

After a while, Mari sighed and admitted:

"I’m sorry, Victor, but I don’t know if I can help you without any clues. There are thousands of curses and unfortunately the one that affects you seems to be a very powerful one. Your soul is being guarded or possessed by something I don’t know yet." She looked into his eyes as she spoke, "But with more time, I know I can find a way to get us through this." She raised her eyes and Victor saw in them that unique sparkle of motivation.

Since Mari was a genius, Victor knew she was serious, so he nodded. "All right, I trust you. Besides, it looks like this winter will be a long one and I still have some other friends to visit in the city."