Clockwork Maiden, Literally.

The Accursed Girl

T-This can’t be… what I saw right in front of me right now is Nirva’s glowing eyes… but her form doesn’t resemble anything like herself. It’s more like a deformed creature. I felt like I’m going to die just from the shock as I saw that thing.

I then grabbed Gerald’s collar and ran away further into downstairs.

“GUHACK!” I suddenly coughed out. I reflexed covered my mouth with my hand, but then I realize that I was spewing blood.

“W-What…? Seriously, now?” I thought to myself. Only then I realized one mistake…

I was reckless. I didn’t make a second thought and just activated Time Stop like that. My catalysts were not complete, so the effects of my magecraft would be halved!

If I was supposed to be able to stop time for 20 seconds, then it’ll be halved into 10 seconds only. Goddammit, why now?! Grr… not to mention I left my gloves back at the class.

I’ve got no choice.

[Clockwork – Continue ! ] *rrrrttt…….

“Huh?! What?! What happened?!” Gerald exposes his shock unconditionally. “Eva, let go!” he quickly ordered me, so I let him go.

“How come we suddenly reached this area, I thought we’re at the staircase… whoa, Eva, are you alright?” Gerald spotted my palm being covered by blood.

“Ah… it’s n-nothing, really,”

“Nothing? That’s dead serious, Eva! What did you do? Did you force use your magecraft?” he asked in a panic.

“Nevermind me… we need to run, haah… that thing is following us!” I pointed my finger at the approaching big-boo-like creature.

“Woa-shite! You bet we must!” Gerald stated his surprise. He then touched the wooden floor and suddenly a line of light appeared. Without spewing a word, he raised up a wall made out of the wooden floor, blocking the ghoulish creature beyond it.

“Let’s get going, this thing won’t hold out much longer!” Gerald stated. I agreed and thus we continued our escape.

“So, tell me, big boy… is that your magecraft?” I asked as I run.

“True. I can reform materials into something I imagined. Thus my magecraft was known as Handcrafter,” he explained solemnly.

“That’s… that’s amazing!” I complimented him.

“Heh, thanks. Even so, I sucked so hard at doing anything else in magic,” he replied.

“Huh? What do you mean? You can cast magic without chanting, that’s cool!” I expressed another compliment. Gerald then replies that casting magic without chanting is one of the things he learned here.

“Hey, um… Eva?”

“What?”

“Do you notice something odd?”

“Um… what is?”

“There’s no edge to this hallway!”

“Eh?”

He’s right… as far as we ran, there’s no edge that we came into. There’s no door right beside us either. It’s just a blank hallway with no edge to it, only the floor and the walls that welcomed us.

WIRRRYAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!

“EEEEEK!!!”

“AAAAAH!!!”

Both of us were nearly shocked to death as the creature suddenly shoving itself into us from the ceilings right in front of us. That thing is making loud disturbing noises!

“Ge-Ge-Ge-Gerald…? If you have t-those warp stones then now’s the best time to use it…!!!” I said as I quivered in my boots.

“Ha-ha-haah? T-T-That’s impossibru. Warp stones aren’t possible to be used in-doors…” said Gerald as he stuttered in fear about the same tone as I do.

The creature in front of us doesn’t have a mouth yet it is making disturbing noises. Not to mention it had shining green eyes that… resembled Nirva’s. The creature shifts in closer to us slowly and slowly.

We were solidified. Not an inch can we move.

“Ah… are we gonna end our lives h-here?” said Gerald frustrated.

“N-Not a good place to die… and not in a peaceful way, too,” I replied in the same tone of desperation.

Suddenly, a flash of red cape swishes in front of us, it’s the meister!

[ Zurück ! ]

*TAAARR—FWWOOOOSH….

We were captivated by the sight in front of us. The creature in front of us suddenly twirls like a shape of spiral and some buzzy noises were unleashed from it. Finally, it reformed into a shape of a little girl which is no other than Nirva. The meister quickly catches and hold Nirva firmly on his arms.

“Teach!” Gerald quickly calls out the meister.

“Oh, Mr. Gerald, are you okay?” the meister asked. “Yes, well… technically. UH! But Eva’s not! Her hand is covered in blood, see?” he pointed out to me who was still remained seated. Literally, I am stone faced.

“Miss Eva, come here,” he commanded. “Uh, yes, sir,” I got up and patted my dress with my other hand. I showed the hand that had blood on it, the meister then stated that the blood had gotten dry. Well, obviously…

“Don’t you force use your magecraft, Miss Eva. Your life is important as much as all humans are,” he explained boldly.

“Actually… ah, nevermind,” I cancelled my thoughts. I think it’s best to ask about the situation instead of my injuries. I didn’t think that the ghoulish-creature would be her all along.

“Um… teach? What’s wrong with her?” I asked.

“It must be the curse. She’s an accursed girl, after all, tch!” Gerald stated mockingly.

“Gerald. Why are you thinking that it’s absolutely a curse?” I turned asking at my friend.

“Eva… wasn’t yesterday’s incident quite clear?” he replied.

“That’s enough with it. Don’t start badgering her, even so, she’s still a human,” the meister conveyed seriously.

“Teach, you also think she’s accursed?” I asked to him,

“…one cannot bear as an accursed being without one or more traits that resembles such identity. And she bears two traits,” he stated boldly.

I don’t get what he said. What did he want to convey to me?

“Enough talking. Pardon me for the inconveniences you two had to go through, I was responsible for this incident. Please return back to your class, I will be back soon.”

Gerald nods and persuaded me to come as well. I’m confused now, everyone’s acting so cold towards her. Why? Even when I asked, I was given odd information that I don’t understand. Ah, fridge it.

I decided to dismiss the meister and joined Gerald on the way back to class.

We reached the class, but Gerald remained silent about what happened. He simply replies with a nope, nothing’s happening and also Sir teach is actually late like that.

I actually wanted to expose what happened, but Gerald warned me not to. Otherwise, something seriously bad will happen. It took me awhile to understand what he meant until I realized: if I expose about what happened to us, it will result in Nirva getting even more cornered and pinned in the class.

Gerald… he’s actually trying to make sure that she’s not getting more bullied. But still, though…

…

--Rozenflame Academy, 1458 hours--

After an hour, the meister came to class with Nirva. She took a seat quickly without caring being gossiped in the class. Poor her…

“Alright, enough already, class is starting,” the meister stated as he brought this thick book with him.

“Teach, why are you late?” one of the students asked,

“Ah… I have affairs to be done with outside this academy. Pardon for the lateness, everyone,” he replied. Huh… he also kept his mouth shut about the situation not so long ago, huh?

“Hey, teach! I thought your motto is that not going to be late even for a slight minute!”

“Well, that’s true but… things can go out of order, you know…? You think a motto must be carried out all the time? I thought YOUR motto is never forgetting homework,” he then smiled.

“Ahahahahaha!” everyone laughed afterwards. Except Nirva.

So the class continued on until evening. There’s no practice today, though. Well… I DID get some practice today, literally.

Sigh…

…

…

This process of studying magecraft is kept going for three months.

I’ve grown quite fond of the strange academy that had a strange layout in it. I managed to top the ranks in class as I managed to master most basic skills faster than anyone else. My dad and mom were impressed by my achievements, and mostly everyone at the manor house. I even had written many letters to granny and Bella whose still at Helmington City. One of them says that my birthday party was solidly fun as I have turned eighteen years old! Heh… Even I get to create my own circle of friends to go along with in the academy…

But still… I tried multiple times to re-approach Nirva and wanted to say a word to her. But she avoided me over and over, even when I tried to stop her, she’d disappear again. Everyone in the academy already knew me as the only crazy girl that wanted to befriend the accursed girl.

There’s one point where I forcefully grabbed her hand and said to her to not escape or run away from me. But she froze my hand and runs away. That caused my hand to feel numb for weeks. Even after that, I’d still try to get close to her.

Finally, after my last attempt, which nearly had my face frozen by her slap to the face and she ran off. Shortly, Madame Rozenflame warped directly behind me and nearly gave me a heart attack.

“So… you’re yet to give up, huh…?” she asked in a funny voice.

“I’m not going to give up, Madame. I was able to get her to talk to me three months ago! But why is she avoiding me now…?” I stated as if I lost hope. But that’s not what I had in mind. I’m not gonna give up.

“Heh… you’re one persistent girl to start with. As expected of Edward Chronodia’s daughter, huh?” she stated. “Even after getting yourself nearly killed by her… you’d still keep on chasing her?”

I boldly looked at her and say “Yes!”

“…I see.” She stated solemnly. “If that’s the case, then allow me to tell you. You’ll find out the truth about her very soon when we go on academy tour,”

“Academy tour?” I asked,

“Yes… it will be the point where you’ll get to know the truth,” she stated with a creepy smile.

“W-Why not just you tell me about her?” I asked again.

“So many questions, what a troublesome kid you are… well, if you find out yourself, you’ll get it even more,” she then walked a bit further from me. She then leered at me and says,

“When the academy tour began, go to Sharktooth District. There… you’ll find all the answers you need. You might want to prepare money for that, hehehe…”

…

…

Sharktooth District? I wonder where it is… but if it would allow me to get her out of her hellish circle, then why not?

Money? I got it all covered. Ahem! Thanks to dad, that is.

Sharktooth District… is that the place where Nirva came from? I’m even more wondrous about that place… if what Madame said is true… then it’s the perfect time for me to put up my skills of strolling around to use!