Blessed Curse of Lust

“Five thousand?” Lily screamed.

The group was in the back garden. Lily, Yelena, and Valerie were sitting on a bench under the shade of a bigger tree. Thea and Eris stood in front of the three. The number the redhead just shouted was the number of points they were given for their last mission.

Since their whole story needed further investigation, it took a couple of days for them to actually receive their points. By this time, Lily had made a full recovery and was just let out of the infirmary. The healers did a great job; there was no sign that she ever received those nasty burn injuries.

“Yes, they said that it is the highest number of points a first-year student can receive for a single job. We pretty much maxed out on that last one.” Yelena said.

While the job ended up more difficult than they originally thought, she was thankful for Lucia. After all, the goddess was the one who chose that job. Although it was nothing more than a hunch on her part, at least that is what she told; in the end, it ended up as a huge discovery.

“That pretty much puts all of us to the top of the leaderboard by a fair margin. Even Valerie, who managed to lose all her points right at the beginning.” Yelena smirked at the princess.

Valerie pouted, but she couldn’t deny it. In order to get closer to Yelena, she lost pretty much all her points. Not on purpose, of course; she was doing her best during that fight, but in terms of pure swordfighting skill, she was no match for the white-haired girl.

“Still, it was a little too close. The points are good and all, but it could have ended so much worse.” Thea pointed it out.

None of them disagreed with that. It was lucky that Lily managed to dodge the attack that much. If she was hit full on, it was unlikely she would have survived. This thought weighed heavily on all of them.

“We need a support mage and fast. The end of the month is approaching fast, and we shouldn’t enter a dungeon before we have one. That would be too reckless.” Eris said.

No argument there either. As they went on, the jobs would become increasingly difficult. The dungeons were the pinnacle of that. No sane party would enter without proper support, and that is where the issue started.

“Yeah, but where do we find even a half-decent support this late? Anyone who is worth something would have a party by now. It is not like we can steal one from the other teams either.” Valerie grumbled.

“Huh!” Yelena raised an eyebrow at the princess’ words. “What?” Valerie asked back. “Nothing, just thought I would hear something like that from your mouth. The third princess who gets what she wants, no matter what, saying she wouldn’t steal from another party?” Yelena pointed out the contradictions in Valerie’s words.

“Hmpf! Don’t think it is because I’m some nice person who wouldn’t do that. Unfortunately, as third princess, I will have to look out for my reputation. Would be a pain to deal with rumors spreading around that I’m snatching up people from other teams.” She explained her reasoning.

That sounded more like her. Though she wasn’t wrong. Taking members from other teams is often considered extremely rude. There were a few cases where that wasn’t the case, such as if the team member themselves seeks out other parties to join instead.

Not a rare case that even during the year groups would break apart and reform. Sometimes due to internal conflict, other times because they lost a member who couldn’t make the quota. Things like that happened all the time.

“Um… I might know someone who we could recruit.” Lily spoke up.

She seemed hesitant about it, which struck Yelena as odd. Since they got closer, Lily didn’t have any trouble speaking her mind. In fact, she sometimes went too far, especially when it came to inappropriate comments, much to Yelena’s dismay.

“Are they any good? Or is there some other problem?” Thea asked, probably sensing the same thing as Yelena did.

“No, she is good.” Lily shook her head. “She is more than good. She is probably one of the best support mages in our year.” She finished.

The others looked at each other, rather confused about this revelation. If she was as good as Lily said, then why wasn’t she in a party already? Something must have been going on there.

“So, what is the catch?” Valerie was the first to ask the question that was on everyone’s mind.

“She is… well… a little unusual. This turned away most parties that initially wanted to recruit her.” Lily answered.

“Unusual how? Would her personality hinder us during a job?” Eris asked the next question.

“I’m… not sure. I don’t even know how to explain. Probably better if we set up a meeting with her and she can explain it herself.” While Lily knew some details, she wasn’t sure how to explain it properly.

The others looked at each other once more. Eris and Valerie shrugged; Thea just nodded towards Yelena.

“Okay! Given that you already know her a little, can you set up a meeting? Maybe this afternoon in the cafeteria?” Yelena asked Lily.

“Sure! I’ll speak with her later and ask her.” Lily responded.

****

That afternoon, the team gathered in the cafeteria. They picked a spot near the large windows, farther from the main area. They didn’t know what to expect, but given how Lily described this girl, they decided best to have at least some sort of privacy.

All of them had already made their orders for some tea. At this hour, the cafeteria no longer served food except upon specific request, and even then, only a select few simple meals were available.

Many other students also chose this place to hold their meetings while having a tea or coffee. It was a lively place at this hour, but everyone was busy with their own thing, so nobody paid much attention to Yelena and her team. Except for one girl.

The girl approached them; she had a wide, warm smile on her face, and even her eyes were smiling. She had light-pink hair that reached down to her shoulders. Her skin was pale and white, almost as much as Yelena’s. She had a pretty face, with a mole under the left side of her lip.

A short sword hung from her left hip. Not exactly the most common type here at the academy since most used long swords and that is what they focused on teaching as well. It all made sense when one saw the tall white staff in her right hand.

The staff itself was perfectly smooth, made out of some white wood. There were no decorations on it; the only thing that stood out was the grip, carved into the wood, with black leather wrapped around it to reduce the chance of it slipping out of her hand.

The top was different. The wood broke into several thin lines that coiled around, forming an almost egg-shaped cage atop the staff. In that cage, a yellow crystal was floating in the middle.

It was a focus. A type of magical item. While first-year students were normally not allowed to use magical items, support mages were the only exception. They were allowed to wield lower-level focuses that could enhance the effects of their spells when they cast them.

Since support mages were often vital for the survival of the group, and of course, the academy wanted to avoid casualties as much as possible, they were made into an exception and could wield these items to better help their teams.

Yelena thought she looked familiar, but she couldn’t put a name to the face. Judging by their expressions, Thea and Valerie were struggling with the same issue. Eris obviously wouldn’t know the girl, and Lily was the only one who even knew her name.

“It is nice to meet you all. You can call us by this body’s original name for now: Naomi Delevero.” She introduced herself while making a small, polite bow towards the girls sitting around the table.

Yelena, Thea, and Valerie tensed up when they heard that name. They knew instantly who she was. Even though none of them actually met her, she did have a reputation. One that was hard to ignore. The talks were already off to a bad start because of it, but it would be rude not to hear her out first. Maybe the rumors were exaggerated or something.

The Delevero family owned multiple counties in the east of the country. Although they had a good reputation overall, Naomi’s existence cast a dark shadow over their name. Because of this, the girl was always kept behind the scenes. Yelena was quite surprised they even let her attend here.

Of course, these rumors weren’t a new thing to Thea or Valerie either. They all heard them; it was hard not to come across these stories. Many called Naomi crazy, insane, or, even the nicest of them, just simply weird.

“Oh my! I know what you are thinking, but if you would let me explain at least, I would appreciate it. I know what others say about me, so I can understand your concerns. Please, just give me a chance.” She requested.

The smile on her face slightly faded; it felt more forced than before. She certainly was troubled about it, but didn’t look ashamed or anything like that. Yelena nodded and motioned towards the empty chair.

“Sit, please! We will listen to what you have to say, but I can’t make any promises until the end.” The white-haired girl explained.

She already made up her mind to at least get Naomi out, and she won’t go back on that. It would be rather unfair to not let her try to explain her situation. The smile returned to the girl’s face; she probably didn’t even get this far with some other teams. She took a seat and leaned her staff carefully against the table.

“So, let me start at the beginning. I’m what we like to call us plural. The easiest way to explain, that we are multiple entities sharing the same body. We all have our individual names, independent from the one the body was originally given. We also have a name we share that refers to our collective.” Naomi started her explanation.

Eris was rather surprised by this revelation. The others less so. No matter what rumor they heard, the main point always came back to Naomi’s split personality. Something that was discovered when she was very young, and that she has carried with her for a long, long time.

“Collectives like ours are generally referred to as systems. Systems have their own name to identify us. Ours is Light. We chose it before we even started learning magic, so it made sense that we would focus on learning light magic as well.” She giggled a little at that.

“Also, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. Otherwise, we will continue my explanation. I know it can be a little confusing, and there is a lot of incorrect information going on about being plural. You can understand that it didn’t exactly make it easy for us to find a team, but hopefully, if you can keep an open mind, you will see that we are not bad people.” She offered the others a chance to ask questions.

The team sat there in silence. They all had questions, but they were struggling to word them without being too rude or insensitive. Naomi just kept smiling, waited a little, and continued after she didn’t get any questions.

“Well, to explain our system a little better, other than me, there are three others. Normally, you will likely talk with me the most. I’m the one who fronts, or controls the body most of the time. I prefer to go by the name Yuna. The others believe I’m the most sociable when it comes to the day-to-day activities, so I ended up being the one who is on the front most of the time.” She explained.

“So then, how does it even work? Like you change who controls your body? Does it happen randomly or is it a choice?” Thea was the first to ask some questions.

“Both of those are a possibility. Let me go over our system’s members quickly, and then I'll explain in detail how some of these things work. Keep in mind, not all systems work the same, so in our case, it would probably be easier to introduce the members first and talk about how we made it work.” Yuna said.

The others had no objection. They were all already very confused, but hopefully her explanation would make things a little easier. Since nobody spoke up, Yuna nodded and began to talk again.

“So the first one is Emi. Lily already knows her, probably more than me. She is our more scholarly headmate. She loves studying, especially if it is related to magic. She can get really excited about it. The rest of us are glad she is here because none of us likes sitting through boring classes or reading difficult books. Emi will do that happily.” She chuckled a little.

“She also likes conducting research. Just like Lily, she joined the Eternal Flames too, so she does that there plenty of times. She explained.

The other nodded along. Although it was still hard to wrap their heads around the whole thing, it wasn’t all that difficult to imagine the alter she just described, but they all had a lot of questions on how things fit together.

“So, is it possible to meet with her? I mean, you mentioned changing who gets control, so technically it is possible, right?” Valerie asked.

“Umm… it is not impossible, but not now. Emi is a really shy type, especially around new people. Now there is a group of new people sitting here. She won’t come out for sure, and even if she did, she would likely not take it well. I’m sorry. Also, it is important to mention. In general, it is considered rude to try and call out a different headmate like that.” Yuna replied.

It was a bit disappointing to hear, but they could understand. If she was really like the way she was, she would indeed have a hard time interacting with them. Not to mention what Yuna said last, trying to ask to speak to another alter would be considered rude.

“Well, I can vouch for her. Sort of. I spoke with Emi a few times; she even helped me out when I was learning sequencing. She is really smart and kind, but as she said, very shy at first.” Lily chimed in.

Yelena had no reason not to believe Lily. If there was one thing the redhead really excelled at, it was reading other people. So her vouching for one of the girl’s alters really meant something. The white-haired girl nodded and turned back to Yuna.

“Thank you! That means a lot.” Yuna replied to Lily. “Let’s move on then. Our third headmate is Juniper, or just Juni. She prefers the third. She is our… well, party girl. She loves going out, drinking, having fun with other people and such. She is very friendly and sociable too. Although she only likes to show up when there is some fun to have. In normal everyday situations, she would get easily bored, so having her front for us would usually result in her sneaking off to the nearest pub.” Yuna chuckled a little at that.

“She also has a habit of drinking a little too much and then having me deal with the hangover the next day. Can’t say it is always a fair deal.” Yuna pouted a little as she explained that.

Thea laughed at that. Yelena already had a feeling what the brown-haired girl was about to say. She knew her best friend well, and she knew Thea would probably get along with Juni well.

“Sorry, just thought about how I wish sometimes to have someone I could make to deal with the hangover too,” Thea said.

Lily looked rather confused when she heard that. Thea never struck her as the type who would drink a lot. She always seemed calmer and level-headed.

“Thea’s family, House Lumera, are all warriors. It is a family tradition, and most served in the army too. They are not your usual noble house, always prim and proper. They tend to be a rowdy bunch, and their parties are legendary. Sometimes in the wrong way.” Yelena explained it mainly to Lily and Eris, who wouldn’t know all that much about Thea’s situation.

Thea awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck as Yelena explained it. While she tried to maintain a certain image here at the academy, she couldn’t deny what the white-haired girl had just said. In fact, she wasn’t all that much better than the one Yuna just described moments ago. Thea could easily drink other older adults under the table, although she would usually heavily regret it the next day.

“You mentioned four, right? Who is the last one?” Valerie asked.

“Our last headmate is called Valentina. Hopefully you will never have to meet her. She is not a bad person, but she is not very friendly either. She is rather stoic and closed off. She only appears when our body is in great danger. Usually, if somebody or something gets close enough to engage in melee combat. Valentina is much better with the sword than any of us, so she is better equipped to deal with such threats.” She explained.

The others nodded. Looks like her last alter, while not the most friendly one, can be really useful in certain situations. Thea was rubbing her chin as she listened. She had a question that she really had to get off her chest.

“So, you said you would explain how these switches work. My immediate concern is: would there be any chance that it will happen during a fight? You don’t seem like a bad person, and I’ll be honest, this whole plural thing sounds interesting. Not as bad as the rumors made it out to be. Still, I need to know if you will be reliable when we are engaged in a fight.” Thea said.

Thea tried to remain respectful, but as the team’s unofficial tactician, it was her duty to ensure things went as smoothly as possible. If Naomi suddenly started switching between alters, some of whom might not be fighters, it could be a very dangerous situation. She had to know if they could rely on the girl to have their backs.

“I understand your concern. Switching who is on the front can happen voluntarily or randomly. Although the latter tends to happen under certain circumstances. We have devised certain rules so that nobody tries to push to the front at inappropriate moments. The only one other than me who could appear during a fight would be Valentina, and, as I already explained, even then only if I’m in physical danger. Let’s be honest, if that ever happens, our plan already failed.” She stated.

While the whole thing was very confusing, they all agreed that the last part was very true. Support mages were usually placed between the two combat mages. They had the most secure place in the whole party. This meant that if any enemy ever got close to them, the rest of the team had already failed to do their jobs.

“Fair enough. One more thing.” Thea continued. “We now have a basic understanding of who you are, but not what you are capable of. Can you walk us through that?” She asked, clearly curious about how much she can actually add to the team.

“Yes! As I said, my main focus was on light magic. Within that, I’m good at healing, buffing, and providing barriers when needed. To a lesser degree, I can hinder enemies, but not exactly my specialty. My strongest spells are level 3, but since I’m still getting used to them, they take a while to cast. So normally I wouldn’t cast above 2nd-level spells.” She told me what her capabilities are.

The team was pleasantly surprised to hear that. Although Lily did mention that Yuna is possibly one of the best support mages in their year. Still, if she can already cast 3rd-level spells, she was far ahead of every single one of them in terms of magical abilities.

Then having someone who can not only heal but also give buffs and cast shields at the right moment would make them significantly more effective. Buffs alone can help tremendously. Most of those increase speed and physical strength, but some can even boost magical capabilities too.

Yelena looked around. For a while now, she had noticed how people were staring at them. No, more precisely at Yuna or Naomi. It was still a bit confusing how she should even address the girl. Still, she knew that many other students here would know her. She could see the worry and disdain in their eyes when they looked at the girl. Still, in Yelena’s mind, there was nothing to fear.

Yuna didn’t seem like a bad person, and the way she described her alters made them seem fairly nice, too. All those rumors stemmed from misunderstanding and a lack of open-mindedness. She felt bad for the girl.

Yelena leaned forward and looked at her teammates.

“Okay, I think we heard enough. I’m sure we all have more questions, but I think we know enough to make a decision.” Yelena slowly raised her hand. “All in favor of letting Yuna and the others join, please raise your hand.” She said.

Lily was the first to raise her hand, which wasn't really surprising, since she was the one who recommended the girl in the first place. Next, Thea’s hand soon followed. Technically, with this, they already had the majority, but Yelena was curious what the last two thought.

“I’m still not sure about this. No offense, but this is really… unusual.” Valerie spoke up. “That being said, if what you said about your abilities is true, then I think we would be fools to turn you away.” The princess also raised her hand.

“I will agree too. My only request is that we do a test run with a lower difficulty job. Just to make sure everything runs smoothly.” Eris added her part and raised her hand too.

Yelena nodded and smiled. She slowly turned to Yuna. The girl had previously looked worried when the voting started. By the end of it, she looked like she was having tears in her eyes. Yelena wondered just how hard she had to struggle all her life just because she was different from what others considered normal.

“Welcome to the team!” Yelena said with a kind smile.