The God of Jesters
Chapter 69 - 2.19.1 Curse Explosion.

Chapter 69: 2.19.1 Curse Explosion.

Marshall Maisel was a lot luckier in his goal. Unaware of the disastrous fight that Remira was going to experience soon, he went to the barracks. Just missing the explosion, that would become a bigger matter than he would have ever assumed.

But in his ignorance, he moved away from my sphere of influence, away from the city and into a place where I was not too long ago.

And on the way, he asked various questions to the military officers that came to pick him up. All of whom seemed disturbed and worried over the matter.

Which worried Maisel, but his mood remained the same, his stoic expression with a hint of anger that made those sitting in the jeep feel heavy for some reason.

"Tell me as much as you can." Maisel was not asking, it was an order and the two relented.

"Sir, there are a total of three deaths, starting from the guard at the Mortuary. That is all we know currently." With the city away from them and no other ears to listen in to, the guide chose to speak as much as he knew to Maisel.

Which was enough for now. He understood that due to secrecy and the need to maintain the honor and authority of the Military, words like these are hard to get out.

Even with accidental deaths that might be caused by one’s own soldiers during a war, the blame goes to the other side, while the victims are treated as martyrs to drive others away. Hence the military was used to keeping their matters tight-nit, with the truth rarely seeing the day.

But Marshall Maisel knew this better than anyone, he himself was part of many of these so called accidents, including the death of Ikuras Yethel, to whom this whole event seems to be connected to.

So he reached the barracks. Though, before he could step into the facility, his communicator started to go off.

"Sir, you should already know, but unregistered communication devices are not allowed here." The officer informed Maxim, but was completely ignored as Maxim just clicked the button and heard the news from the other side.

– "Sir, an explosion happened not too far away from our position, and one of the operatives that went with Sir Knight just told us she went in a similar direction, before the explosion. Things didn’t seem right on our end."

"I have received the message. Search for the Knight’s whereabouts and see if she is alive or dead. If she is dead, I would wish to see pieces of her body."

Then closing the comms and mixing the frequencies on it, he gave the communicator to the officer, asking him to keep it safe.

Which confused him a lot.

Just what did he fear now?

Explosion in the middle of the city. A knight that might be dead?

But these thoughts only made him curious for a while, this was nothing more than fuel for discussion between other soldiers and he would make sure that this information never sees the light of day ever. Just like he had been trained.

So he took the communicator and allowed Maisel to enter the barracks, where there was a sergeant waiting for him all this while.

"Marshall." The sergeant greeted Maisel with a salute, before leading him to his office.

Making Maisel experience the odd situation in the barracks. There were dark circles under the eyes of the majority of soldiers, they felt lethargic and weak. And if he didn’t think it was wrong, they even appeared to be paranoid to some extent.

So he turned to the Sergeant, recalling the name which was imprinted in his badge, he asked. "Sergeant Valuvi, I am aware that my son’s body is missing and there have been some deaths. But what about them? What is going on here?"

"Things are bad Marshall. The loss of three soldiers was already bad to begin with, harming the mentality of the army. But what happened last night when those three were being killed is more horrific."

With those words, Maisel noticed similar dark circles under the eyes of the sergeant, though lighter, they were still there.

Which made Maisel guarded to his surroundings.

"A grand magic?"

Maisel asked from the side, but the sergeant just shook his head. "We don’t know what it was, the curse masters of the military are already on it, and we have also called for some licensed mystics to see what happened last night. They will be arriving around the evening."

"For now, we only know one thing."

"Whatever it was, all of it started with your son’s body. And it was out of consideration for you, that we chose to inform you of this. Otherwise... you should already know what would have happened."

Of course Maisel knew this would have been swept under a rug after the initial investigation was over.

"And I thank you for that." Marshall Maisel showed some understanding and respect for the sergeant that was leading him to the site.

Which was currently cordoned off and surrounded by guards.

It was nothing more than the Barracks infirmary, below which was the mortuary, which had turned into the crime scene.

Which Maisel was given an entrance to with a single nod from Sergeant Valuvi.

Entering the hospital, Maisel easily noticed a part of the hallway covered in blood and pieces of flesh completely.

Floors, walls and even the ceiling, there was no part of the hallway, where there were not pieces of meat and blood stuck to it.

"Such a gruesome attack and no one noticed?" Maisel asked, curious over why something can cause such a carnage, but still not be noticed by anyone.

But the sergeant only had a helpless smile.

The two came in front of the tapes that barred the crime scene and looked toward two men that were working there.

These two were not in the military garb, but had badges that showed their identity.

’Curse users.’ The curse users were not as prevalent in the world as they were once in the past. Since the moment the knights came into existence, along with the modern weaponry, the curse users experienced a sharp decline in population, making it really rare for one to meet them in person anymore.

Though, this didn’t mean Maisel was surprised to see them. He just asked. "Was it a curse of silence?" Maisel asked, but the two chose to remain silent and looked toward the sergeant, asking if they could speak to Maisel.

Which was understandable, as Maisel came here in his casual clothes, appearing more like a guest than an actual part of the military.

"He is someone of higher position than me, so speak away." With the consent given, one of the curse users explained.

"Nothing is here, no curse, no matter how much we try to find it." Then the second curse user continued from where the first one left off. "Which is odd, considering that we sense a remnant of a powerful curse that took form here last night, starting from there." The two pointed toward the Mortuary below ground, which confused Maisel, until the sergeant explained what the two curse users meant.

"The mortuary?... Meaning his corpse?"

The sergeant nodded, the corpse mentioned here was Farhad, whose body had disappeared from the grounds.

"Yes, from what we understood, one of the corpses below was filled with powerful curses, which exploded all at once, causing the whole facility to fall into sleep, beside a few men, who seem to have resisted the curse."

"The very same men that later died."

The two curse users talked, while the sergeant suggested Maisel move on from here.

But Maisel’s head was a bit shaken when he heard those words.

Sleep sickness, a lighter version of it, took place here.

"I can see the Marshall has some idea on what is going on." Sergeant Valuvi spoke with a silent sigh. "If possible, I would request the Marshall to explain in detail what is going on, why a clean body suddenly turned into a walking corpse of curses."

At those words, Marshall’s head turned to the sergeant, looking at him with curious eyes. "What do you mean by a walking corpse?... from the words of those two before, the whole facility was asleep." Marshall Maisel had developed a keen perception throughout his years of service in the military, he could read the meaning behind words easily and understood what Sergeant was meaning here.

"Among those that were not affected by the curse, there was a survivor."

As they descended down to the morgue, the Sergeant explained.

"From his own words, a corpse that acted more like an animal than a monster, ripped apart the body of his partner, before leaving for the surface."

"But he also speaks of a horrific dream, where he was eaten alive by rats which entered the morgue from the same place where your son was kept."

"And following his words, we checked up on it out of curiosity. And lo and behold, the rats did make a hole in the locker where your son was kept. But there was not much activity from the rats in reality. All of it was part of the soldier’s dream." The sergeant said with a helpless laugh. Knowing that this soldier was never meant to wake up. He suffered from the same fate as others, falling into a nightmare that had scarred most of the barracks including him.

But for some reason, this specific soldier broke open the dream through his own will and then saw as his partner’s body was ripped to pieces right in front of him.