Work Prophet
Chapter 450 - 68 The Terrible Curse

Chapter 450: Chapter 68 The Terrible Curse

Jude inquired with the female waiter at the inn about where he could find some good ale in town. She told him that all he needed to do was head east after leaving the inn and look for the tavern with stalks of wheat by the door—they had all sorts of drinks.

Jude noticed a strange expression on the female waiter’s face as she spoke, but he didn’t pay much attention to it. After thanking her, he strode towards that direction.

Soon, he found the tavern called Happy Nest, and to the disfigured man’s surprise, this sizable establishment had very few patrons.

There were only a scattered eight or nine people, including four Batoris Family guards, who seemed to have just arrived and were urging the young landlord to serve them drinks.

Compared to the other fixtures in the tavern, the landlord’s youthfulness was a bit excessive.

Jude didn’t hurry. He didn’t like to interact with people, not even companions who traveled with him.

He waited until the Batoris Family guards had grabbed their drinks and found places to sit before he approached the counter.

"Give me a cup of ale," Jude said, tossing a silver coin onto the counter.

The landlord quickly took the money, grabbed an empty wooden cup, filled it with golden ale, pushed the cup towards the disfigured man, and then shrank back to the side.

That gesture seemed to say, "Drink your ale and don’t bother me anymore."

Jude wasn’t bothered. Since his disfigured face was unwelcome wherever he went, he was used to the cold stares of others.

Moreover, the young landlord was not targeting him specifically; he treated all his patrons with the same ghostly demeanor. Earlier, when the Batoris Family guards came to buy drinks, he was equally reluctant and unenthusiastic.

One would think that his patrons didn’t pay for their drinks.

But it had to be said that their ale was indeed very good, and he didn’t know if it was freshly brewed. It had a strong scent of wheat, and the cup was also quite large—one cup here equaled one and a half cups at an ordinary tavern.

Logically, a tavern with such tasty and affordable ale should be overcrowded every day, even if the landlord had a bad temper. However, this place was very quiet.

But that had nothing to do with Jude. He was on holiday and didn’t want to get involved in other people’s business. He silently finished his ale in a corner.

Afterwards, Jude ordered another cup, tipped his head back, and gulped it all down.

The disfigured man felt his body start to warm up. It was time to find some fun.

Jude held the empty cup and returned to the counter, asking the young landlord of the tavern, "Where have all the girls gone?"

"There are no girls anymore," said the landlord coldly.

"What do you mean, there are no girls? How can a tavern not have girls," Jude frowned, "Is it because of my appearance? Don’t worry, I’ll pay double. There’s got to be girls willing to take on the job."

"No, there are no girls," the landlord repeated, "Otherwise, why do you think my tavern has so few people?"

"Fine, I don’t care where everyone has gone, and you don’t need to explain it to me. I just want to know, if there are no girls here, where else in this town can I find them?"

Jude said, while placing another silver coin on the counter.

The young owner quickly pocketed the silver coin before speaking again, "You won’t find a girl anywhere."

"Today is a day off, and I don’t want to cause trouble," Jude placed his Holy Sword East City on the table and calmly said, "But you need to give me a reason not to lay hands on you."

The tavern owner looked at the chainsaw with rows of sharp teeth and his expression slightly changed.

"I’m looking out for your best interest."

"How come I don’t feel that way?"

"This city has been cursed," the tavern owner said. "The curse has deprived us of our right to pursue pleasure."

"A curse?"

"Yes, the curse appeared about three years ago. At first, nobody took it seriously. Happy Nest was still full of happy people, and everyone was drinking themselves into a stupor every day, men and women flirting with each other... You could always find joy here.

"But then the curse arrived, and people began to feel itchy, so they would constantly scratch themselves. Then their skin would turn red, followed by pain, unbearable pain, and so these patients could only drink more to try to numb themselves.

"But this did nothing. They started to ooze pus, their flesh decayed, their necks thickened, they ran fevers, vomited, went blind, and emitted a foul smell.

"Then came even more terrible pain, terrifying erythema. The curse slowly spread throughout your body, devouring your flesh and gnawing at your bones, causing you to die in agony."

"We prayed to the Earth and Grain God, but it did not answer us. The Church sent priests to take a look, but they didn’t seem to have a good solution either. People were still dying, including two sons of the lord.

"Some say that it is a curse that Julius himself laid upon us because the city had become too corrupt before that. That’s why the Earth and Grain God cursed this land, cursed men and women, and forever deprived them of their right to pleasure."

After hearing the tavern owner’s story, Jude said, "If you just wanted to stop me from having fun in the city, you could’ve said so directly. There’s no need to make up such a long story."

"I didn’t make it up. My father and mother got the curse; one’s already dead and the other’s not far from it, otherwise I wouldn’t be running this tavern," the young owner said excitedly.

"Do you think I don’t miss those good old days and chased the girls away from the tavern on purpose? The truth is, either they’re dead or they’ve fallen ill, none can withstand that terrible curse."

Jude also felt a chill upon hearing this.

He had been bestowed the Holy Sword by Li Yu and felt that he feared no enemy in this world, but when facing an invisible and intangible curse, he seemed at a loss about where to start.

Even as the tavern owner spoke, Jude felt his own chin itch but was hesitant to scratch it.

The scar-faced man was no longer in the mood for pleasure and returned to the inn early. He found the same female waiter and inquired about the curse.

It was basically the same as what the tavern owner had said. Quite a few people in the city had been afflicted, and eventually, when the Church could no longer help, they merely suggested that the lord gathers all those who had been cursed together, out of contact from outsiders.

This action did stem the spread of the curse to a certain extent. However, those who were cursed could only wait for death in despair.

Thus, Jude urgently called together all the warriors of the Black Hound Guards and ordered them not to seek pleasure in the city. Then he informed Ireya and Ferdinand about the matter.