So that's it?

　Following my instincts, I open the pages of the book.

'Luna, I want you to read these pages.

　As usual I can't read this book at all, but I had a feeling that this was the place.

'Yes, I get it!'

　I hand the book to Luna with it open.

'This page, when I opened it before, it was supposed to have information about medicine...'

　Luna has the skill of language comprehension, which allows her to understand any word or letter. In addition to that, she also has the skill of absolute memory, and she remembers the contents of this book and its page numbers from when she read it before.

　As White said, it seems that the entire contents of the book have been rewritten.

'This page is now about the curse of the evil gods.

　My instincts were right.

'Do you have any information on the curse that would put you in Miu's mother's state?

Well.........a curse to spread the same curse around you when you die after gradually losing your strength.......this is it. It is said to be called the 'post-death spreading curse'.

　Oh!　It seems there was.
　But still, "The Curse of Posthumous Diffusion".....
　It's a pretty straightforward name.

　I'm sure the "Status Fixation Curse" I was put under is just the same.

　Are evil gods not good at that too?

　Well, that doesn't matter now. I have to get Miu's mother well and get her well soon.

I think it's the curse. Does it say something about how to break the curse?

It's impossible to undo a spell with magic.

　I'm not sure any magic will work. The method I invented to annihilate the curse with the whole body and then revive it doesn't seem to work either.

　By the way, I heard that there are some curses for which this forceful method is the legitimate way to break the curse.

　However, the type of curses that are rooted in the soul are ineffective. Since it's this type that Miu's mother is under, she can only take another method.

　Luna said that there is no way to remove (...) curses with the Demon (..) method (...).
　In other words...

You mean there's more to it than magic?

Yes. There are two ways to prevent the damage caused by this curse. The first is to take the person affected by the curse into the space between the rooms and kill them there.

　This is the way Citry and Sylph proposed to save the world, even though they didn't mean it.

'Absolutely not that way!　And the second?

'Secondly, I'm going to use the ultimate undoing item...'

"The ultimate undoing of the spell?

It's called Katara's Drop.

A drop of Katara I've never heard of.

'I don't have one either. To begin with, the book says it's an almost impossible item to make.

What...


　***

　divine realm

　Two men and a woman were discussing something.

"I never thought that the curse of post-death diffusion would be triggered already...

　The brown-haired beauty with a gentle expression was the earth god who ruled the earth of this world.

''Ah. It's too early.

　The man who agreed with the earth god's words was the sea god.

'The population isn't exploding, and we don't have a food problem. The balance of the world has been kept in good shape.

　The muscular old man who answered that is the sky god who rules the sky.

　The gods with power second only to the creator god - three of the four great gods were gathered here. Incidentally, the remaining four great gods are evil gods.

　Although the name of the Curse of Posthumous Diffusion was not that terrifying, its effect was so great that even the four great gods could not stop it.

　This curse was one of the systems that kept this world in balance. Once it was activated, it would not converge until the world's population was halved.

　Originally, it was supposed to be a curse that this world would suck the power of the evil gods and automatically trigger it when the balance of the world was out of balance and the world itself was in danger of collapsing due to a sudden increase in population and other causes.

　And now, without much of a problem, it has somehow been triggered.

　In fact, part of the power that leaked out when the evil god reincarnated Harut was the source of this curse to be triggered, but...

　Now that the evil gods were asleep, there was no way for the other four great gods or the creator gods to grasp this.


''If there is no problem with the balance of the world, then I want to stop this curse.

I agree. It has to stop.

But the curse is not something we can control.

I guess I'll just have to call Grandpa and ask him to eliminate the first one.

　When the balance of the world is about to be thrown out of balance, even if this curse is triggered, the gods will not do anything about it.

　But for now, nothing is at stake. The gods can't afford to let the world's population be reduced by half without good reason. It is because the number of prayers reaching them will decrease dramatically.

　Now, if only the first one under the curse of post-death spreading - that is, Miu's mother - could be erased, the world would be saved.

　The Sea God decided to erase Miu's mother from the world. He thought there was no other way to do it.


''Just in case the human race called Hurt is trying to break this curse, but........

Hmm?　Is Hurt on the spot?

'Yes. I'm with a dozen or so others and the human race that's under the curse of posthumous diffusion.

'What, well then I guess we're all good to go on this one.

What?
Sea God, do you know this people?

Oh. It's a bakémon that comes to my grandfather's place sometimes to play.

Yes?
"'Oh'?　What are you talking about? How can a human being do such a thing?

'He can do that, that's why he's a bakémon. Maybe he can pull off a curse we can't even break.

　The Sea God was somewhat proud of himself.

''........Even if that human race was the one who could freely come to the God Realm, it would be impossible to break the curse of post-mortem diffusion.''

Why?

There are two ways to break the curse, and one is to eliminate the first one, as you said, Sea God. The other is to use Katara's drops.

Hurt would try to get a drop of that Katara. He's that kind of guy.

''I'm telling you it's impossible. Katara's Drop is the ultimate undoing item, and obtaining that material would be impossible in a human race's lifetime.

What kind of material is hard to find, for example?

''First, the 'World Tree Fruit.' Even the leaves of the World Tree will never be in the hands of an ordinary human race in their lifetime, but the World Tree Fruit is even more difficult to obtain than that.

I'm sure Hurt has one of those already.

'No way!　The World Tree only bears one fruit every thousand years!　How can a human race have such a thing? Well, there are exceptions...

What's the exception?

There's a way to spook the World Tree and make it bear fruit. It's a method that's only been used once since the creation of this world. To begin with, the Elves should be the ones who threaten it, but...

　In the past, the elves did not live under the World Tree. They were attacked by demons, persecuted by other races, and traveled the world in hiding.

　In addition, the World Tree at that time didn't attract humans as well as demons.

　There was someone who threatened the World Tree and promised to take the elves under his protection.

　He made the elves promise to take care of the World Tree and to devote their faith to it. Since then, the elves have prospered under the protection of the World Tree.

The current elves are such strong believers in the World Tree that there is no way any of them could seriously threaten the World Tree with the intention of burning it. In other words, it's absolutely impossible to obtain the World Tree Fruit!

So let's say. Even if Hurt could get the fruit of the World Tree, what else would he need?

It's not just the fruit of the world tree, there are also several other things that are impossible to obtain. It's a very good idea to have a good idea of what you're looking for.

　The hair of the nine-tailed fox and the scales of the colored dragon are rarely found in the world, as are the materials of those defeated by the heroes in the past. And holy water can be purchased in the Holy City and other places, albeit at a high price.

''Here's the problem. You can't get the Ancestor's Claw, the spiritual water that only the Water Spirit King can produce. And it's not the only one.

Do you need any more material?

No, sir. The problem isn't the material, it's the processing. We have to heat the materials we've gathered using the primordial flame until they're all melted... and the only vessel that can withstand that primordial flame is to make it out of baboon kane.

''So if Hurt and the others can get the World Tree Fruit, Nine Tailed Fox Hair, Colored Dragon Scales, Holy Water, Spiritual Water, and Ancestral Dragon Claws, and then pour them into a bowl made of baboon foxes and gum it up, we can make a spell-breaking item.

Yes. I mean, it's absolutely impossible!


　***

Hmm. Is this the right thing to do?

I made it up just like it says in the book, so it should be fine.


Okay, then. Let's just call it a Catara's Drop.