Chapter 103 – The Value of the Weakness Curse

In the evening, Jace arrived at the door of the house of Sulenna Keldon, listened for a moment to make sure that there were no strange noises inside, and then knocked on the door.

“Who’s out there?” It was Sulenna’s voice.

“Jace Sesso.” Jace said, “Remember me?”

Bang!

The door was thrown open so violently that Jess nearly got hit in the nose by it.

Sulenna glared and stifled a, “Brat!”

Jess said, “I didn’t come here to argue with you, Sulenna, where does Gagin live?”

Sulenna’s face twisted into a ball of anger, “You came to me that day to make a fool out of Gakin, and he took it out on me every day after that! It’s all because of your brat, I have no words to say to you.”

“What’s it to me?” Jace felt completely baffled, “I don’t care about your shit, I’m looking for Gagin, it’s about our whole group, you’d better answer me honestly, or else you’re delaying us from learning the new magic, the next time I see Gagin, I’ll tell him that you’re blocking my way, you know how obsessed Gagin is with magic, he’s humiliated to take it out on you, and he won’t beat you up if you block me and don’t let me tell him about the clues to the new magic. clues to the new magic and he’ll stop hitting you.”

“You arrogant little brat.” Sulenna brought her hand up and looked about to strike, but was grabbed by Jace.

“Tell me where Gagin lives! How long are you going to fool around with such a simple question?”

Grabbed, Sulenna froze for a moment, feeling that Jace’s strength was no match for a warlockess with little physical training like her, and instantly deflated.

“He …… lives two streets away, across the street from the leather store, that black tiled house, the first door into the hallway on the first floor.”

Jess shook her hand away and jogged all the way down the stairs.

Following the address that Sulenna had given him, Jace came under the black-roofed house with a light on the first floor, and he passed the window, only to hear two men inside arguing, one of whom was none other than Gagin.

“I don’t understand, don’t you trust me?”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you.” Gagin’s voice said, “The main problem right now is your limited ability to comprehend the spell, Erland, you can’t rush things, you have to be patient ……”

The other one was Erlend? Why was Erland at Gagin’s house at this late hour? To be honest, Jace had never heard Erland sound so serious, so he didn’t react to the owner of the voice for a moment.

Erland’s voice said angrily, “It’s obviously all those spells you taught that are wrong, Gagin.”

“So what’s wrong, Erland, I don’t understand why you’re always suspecting this and that.” Gagin’s voice was very helpless, even a little withdrawn.

Jace walked up the stairs and into the hallway, approaching the doorway to the room where the two men were by sound.

Erland said aggressively, “You’re tricking us, tricking this group into doing your bidding, Ursula, me, Sulenna, and that new kid, do you think we’re all your little followers?”

“We’re friends ……,” Gagin said.

Erland rudely interrupted him, ”Don’t be full of nice words here, you and Galdus used us to gather magic-related supplies and money everywhere, and finally fooled us with some fake spells, do you think I don’t know that? Sulenna practiced a pain curse for months, and it was so ineffective, I’d say it was worse than a random stab, what kind of magic is that? You think I haven’t seen what real magic looks like? I’m a member of the Brotherhood, not some random farm boy, bricklayer. Are you looking down on me and confusing me for a fool?”

Gakin’s voice was extremely calm, “If you want to learn any real magic, you can go next door to the Wizard’s Sanctuary.”

“What the fuck do you know about how all the Wizarding Temples recruit students, and you’re playing me for laughs here?” Erland was truly enraged this time.

“I’ve never ……”

There was a confused commotion from the door, and Gagin’s half-said words were swallowed back violently.

“Let go!” Jace heard a muffled sound from inside, followed by a clanking jumble of movement; Gagin had probably been hit.

He knocked on the door.

“Who?” Gagin asked.

“Jace, Jace Sesso.”

“Ah …… Jess, come on in, the door just pushes.”

Jace pushed his way in just in time to see Gagin getting up from the floor and Erland glaring angrily this way.

“Erland, you’re here too.”

“Jace.” Erland nodded, coughed and stood up straight, ruffling his shirt.

Gakin touched the corner of his mouth to make sure he wasn’t bleeding, propped himself up on the table and sat down and asked, “What can I do for you?”

“When is our next rally, Gagin?” Jace asked.

“Today?”

“Fifteen.”

“This Sunday, the 20th.” Gakin said, “This Sunday we have a rally, everyone is to be there, I have informed Ursula Delin and Galdus, and now Mr. Erland knows.” He looks at Erland again and says, “You can go and inform Sulenna for me.”

Erland didn’t say anything, he looked at Jace, then at Gagin, and finally put his eyes on Jace and said, “You heard us out there, didn’t you? You came in here intending to save this crook.”

“Erland, don’t get him in here.” Gagin said helplessly, “What is it going to take for you to trust me? The more impatient you get like this, the less you’ll be able to master magic.”

Erlangen ignored Gagin’s words as he stared at Jace and said, “Did this damn guy teach you any spells? He teaches you spells that don’t work at all under the banner of sharing a win-win situation, then tells you to give him money, give him treasure, give him things you’ve fought to the death to steal from jackals or whatever bandits, and tells you that the spell will work if you just practice it, doesn’t he?”

“He has taught me what summoning spells, what …… pain curses, none of them work at all, no matter how many times I practice them, they are useless, and he told me that dark magic can accept all those who are willing to follow the path of the dark arts, and that I am not a human being?”

“If you master any spells.” Gagin said, “It’s also possible to not go on adventures to search for those things, Erland, our group needs to live on so we have to have some financial resources, just like Ursula can help us with the alchemy, Galdus can use his talent to organize our spell collection, and he himself has a good family and can provide some dues. The same goes for you, although you’re struggling to learn magic, you have your own connections and your own power to contribute something as well ……”

“Fuck you.” Erland pointed at Gagin’s nose and asked, “So tell me, what did Sulenna contribute?”

Gagin was momentarily speechless, and Erland watched him with growing amusement on his face.

He sneered and asked himself again, “Never mind, you and I both know that.”

Jace thought to himself, if he he wouldn’t be able to stand it.

But Gagin relented, wiping the blood from his lips and saying, “You’d better go back.”

“You really take me for a fool.” Erland said, “How about two gold coins, take it out and I’ll quit, and we’ll have nothing to do with each other after that, and I won’t come back to you, either?”

“I don’t have that kind of money, Erland, so be more patient.” Gakin said, “I will teach you carefully and help you find the proper way to learn Shadow Magic, you’ll just have to trust me on that.”

“I believe shit.” Erland grabbed him by the collar and lifted him out of his chair, saying, “I think I’ve been very patient, Gagin.”

“Erland.” Jace snapped, “Calm down, don’t do it ……”

Erland gave a contemptuous laugh and asked, “Why, are you his bastard, or some relation? What favor did he give you that you defend him like that?”

He threw Gagin in his chair and turned to look over, his fists clenched, a clicking motion between his joints.

“It’s none of my business.” Jace said, “And I’m just being nice not wanting you guys to get too ……” Erlend spat coming this way, his mouth already askew with anger.

Jace knew that he was going to be used as a punching bag the next second.

“Aliena ……”

The spell had barely gotten off the ground when Erland reacted with great speed, reaching up and pinning Jace’s foot against the wall in one swift motion!

“What spell is that, did he teach you that?!”

Instead of answering back, Jace slammed his fist into Erland’s arm, a blow so hard that even Erland let out a cry of pain that he hadn’t expected.

He had just taken off when Jace finished reciting the entire Weakness Curse in a very fast speech!

Erland tried to fight back, but suddenly frowned and leaned back a little on his feet, managing to hold onto the bookcase without lying down straight away.

He looked at his feet in disbelief and then at Gagin, yet Gagin’s expression froze as well.

Jace could feel Gagin’s shock, and could feel him forcing his emotions not to show.

“What kind of cowardly spell is this?” Erland grunted as he tried to work his way back up, but slowly his arms were becoming weak, and it was hard to get back on his feet and walk.

“What did you do to me ……” he spat out the string of words with difficulty through clenched teeth before sheepishly swinging his fist across towards Jace, who simply stepped to the side letting his entire body flop to the ground.

The strong Erland whimpered on the floor for a while after getting down, trying to brace himself with his arms it took a few tries before he could barely scrape against the wall to get back up.

“Give us a little more time, Erland.” Gakin said with a bow of his head, “And if it still doesn’t end up taking off, give me a little time to save up to compensate you as well; it may not be as much as two gold coins, but I haven’t forgotten what you’ve done for this group in all the time we’ve been together.”

Erland nodded with a waxy face, and it didn’t take long for him to vomit out the window, dry-heaving for a long time before he turned back around.

He glanced at Jace, then at Gagin, muttered something under his breath, pushed the door open and ran out.

“You didn’t come simply to ask about the time of the coven, did you, Jace, and this spell, what are you going to trade for it?” Gakin asked in a low voice.

Jess said, “Tell me what you have first.”