A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 215 The Curse of Donkey Skin

"It's with me." Of course, Rorschach hadn't forgotten about the thing that Valon had been thinking about. He burned the handkerchief that was wrapped around the package and held it in his own handkerchief.

"Great!" Varon tried to sit up to get it, but a cough immediately stopped him. The terminally ill young man, no longer spirited, slumped back onto his sickbed in dejection.

"Ah, alright, Lord Rorschach, you've saved me a second time. Now that my life is completely in your hands, you can have it. If you treat me like a human being, treat it well. If you see how awful I am, then trample it underfoot and try to destroy it."

Finally, when talking about destroying the donkey skin, Varen revealed a little expectation and strange excitement: "I've tried, and this donkey skin stubbornly remains intact. If you can defeat it, I will applaud you even as a ghost."

This child not only has physical problems, but also seems mentally unstable.

Rorschach suspiciously used Arcane Vision to examine it. Now that his spell had reached purple proficiency, he could not only observe the specks of light on the donkey hide, but also vaguely see a connection between Varon on the sickbed and the small piece of donkey hide in his hand.

A thin, smoky white light emanated from Valon's body, merging into the dark leather and disappearing.

"If you're feeling better, you can tell me its story."

"Its story is my story." Varan stopped coughing and recounted his memories in as low a voice as possible: "You've already seen what this talisman originally looked like, and you've seen the writing on it."

"A wish can come true just by making a wish? But it will shrink once." The leather is now smaller than the palm of his hand, and Rorschach couldn't help but laugh. "How many wishes did you make?"

"Does it even matter? You've seen it yourself. In the past six months, I've enjoyed immense power and prestige, practically controlling the greatest wealth in Valois. Although it doesn't belong to me, you should know that hands that take butter are never clean. In short, I'm satisfied, but I... I'm not content!"

He recounted his exploits as manager, how he frequented the mansions of high-ranking officials and lingered in the beds of noblewomen, using his silver tongue to satisfy all men and women with desires, promising them returns and transferring real money to the King's treasury, and then from the company to the Minister of Finance.

"I enjoyed it all, and when I came to my senses, the donkey hide was only half its original size. And this spring, some damn miner escaped from a sub-plane, and I thought the company was going to go under. It almost did, but then I made another wish, and a miracle happened. That idiot actually joined a cult, and we blamed everything on the underground order."

"As expected, this all-powerful, ruthless, and impartial skin took my life again. When it shrank to the size of a palm, my potion supplier also disappeared." He had another guess, but dared not say it.

Rorschach could no longer see the warning inscription on the leather: "So sinister?" He didn't quite believe that this was all the leather's doing, unless it was also the work of "Mother Earth." Perhaps it was just a coincidence, but what was certain was that it was constantly taking the young man's life.

The donkey skin became a symbol of Valon's life, and tuberculosis seemed to be its curse upon him. The amulet bestowed many gifts upon Valon until he realized it was a death warrant.

"If the size of a donkey's hide is linked to the amount of life it has left, is it possible to make it bigger? I've tried it myself, and I've also had alchemists soak it in potions, and engineers press, roll, and nail the four corners together to stretch it. But it didn't work."

"So I gave up, naively telling myself, 'Okay, then I won't make a wish. I've already achieved success and don't need to make any more deals with the devil or the gods.'"

"But you are young too, you should know what desire is. Although I am old and frail like an old man, I can never achieve a calm and undisturbed state of mind. Especially when you can get what you urgently need, this cursed donkey skin is an addictive poison."

Rorschach thought Valen's wish was nothing special: "Why don't you wish for yourself to be the king of Valois?"

Valen looked as if he had seen something terrifying: "Sir, please consider, if I were to make such a grand and outrageous wish, how many lives would I have to pay with? Would it vanish like ice in summer? I might become the king of the dead in Valois!"

Rorschach recalled that he had proposed purchasing donkey hides for research, but the young man had refused with various excuses. He commented, "Every gift of fate has a price; it seems your life is quite valuable."

"Are you going to make such a sarcastic remark about a patient?"

Why pretend to be pitiful? Rorschach put the donkey hide into his pocket: "Countless people, in the fields, in factories filled with dust, toxic fumes and countless dangers, pay with their lives for nothing more than a bread that barely fills their stomachs."

"In comparison, you've transformed yourself from a gambler contemplating suicide into someone with money and power. Isn't your life worth enough?"

"You're right, but I've already spent the money, and I can't buy it back with anything!" He coughed again.

Rorschach channeled blue light into him again, not targeting his lungs, but instead channeling it into Varon's mind to make him feel better.

"Who's sure they can't buy it back? I'll take the donkey hide. You'll need to rest and recover here. You can't leave without my permission. You can communicate with the outside world, but only through me."

It was clearly an order to imprison him, but Varen was overjoyed. He wasn't some kind of enthusiast; he clearly understood that this was not how one should treat a dying man!

Varen wanted to confirm: "You mean you can still save me?"

"Varang, let's make a deal. However, my product has only one hope and no guarantee of absolute success. In exchange, I want to know all the inside stories of the mining company and the gold mine." It seems that to cure Varang, we should first break the curse of the donkey skin, and then find a way to cure him.

If one could control the general manager of the mining company, they would hold a powerful card. If this card were played, Necker might be forced to play his own big hand, while Granor, the lord whose fiefdoms were all in the sub-plane, would certainly "not be able to afford" it.

After hearing Rorschach's offer, Varan gritted his teeth and nodded: "Rorschach, I'm willing! God will allow it, I hope so!" He repeated the last words of the donkey skin.

"No god can save you. I hope you can believe me." Rorschach would not hand Varon over to the Red Chancellor. He left the ward, paid another sum of money, and instructed the doctor and nurses to keep an eye on Varon and not let him leave, saying he would come back tomorrow.

The donkey skin remained connected to Varon under the moonlight, even though it was now Rorschach's possession. "Varon keeps saying 'My life is yours,' 'The donkey skin is yours to do as you please,' could he be trying to transfer ownership to me, to transfer the curse?"

Luo Xia shook his head, not caring what the other party planned. Even if his little scheme succeeded, Luo Xia would simply refrain from making wishes easily. He also had a way to deal with the donkey hide, so he put it in his pocket and headed towards the Tower of Stars.

(End of this chapter)