Ars Segrain, a seventeen-year-old boy, is considered a failure by his family and society. In a world where everyone shares the same desire to become the Curse Conqueror, Ars stood apart.
And where everyone has a contract with a curse that they had been chosen by since their birth, except Ars; he was the only boy who wasn't chosen by any curse.
And because of that, he had suffered immense trauma, but this wasn't just enough to take the man down; his desire may be vastly different from the others', but he won't give up that easily.
Ars wants to be a contracted Web Novel author. Despite being weak and bullied by boys his age for not having the power of a curse, he hadn't lost a bit of hope.
But life has its own rules - rules Ars was completely unaware of.
Yet, the day comes. Ars was wandering on the mountains in search of ideas for his web novel, but suddenly, Ars saw a pack of wolves coming towards him.
He wasn't fast enough to face back and run; therefore, he gradually sat on his legs and folded his arms around his shoulders, but the pack of wolves was long gone; they didn't even stop for an easy meal.
Ars realized something was off here, but when he was just about to leave that place, a striking roar occurred, but it was a sound that Ars wasn't familiar with; it became denser and denser by the second until a big, muddy Goblin King emerged.
Ars froze in terror and chaos because he believed that this place was safe from the monsters and wild animals; until now, he had come here every week.
He can't even kill a single goblin on his own, and now he's all alone and is in the way of the mad goblin king. Without thinking any further, he ran endlessly, but he forgot his path and went even deeper into the forest.
But as the saying goes, "Life has its own fate and desire for everyone."
In an impulse, he set his foot on a trap...
Countless arrows pierce through his whole body...
But as the arrows missed his vital spots, a bit of life of Ars was left until he would bleed out and die, and after many years, some adventurers would see his skeleton pierced through by arrows.
He wonders what their reaction will be: either they will look at my skeleton in disgust and make their way more cautiously, or they will remove the arrows from my skeleton and bury me in the depths of the earth where the light cannot come or go.
That's it; this was my fate.
In my whole life, I have not achieved a single thing. I neither have a curse nor a supernatural power or an innate talent, and also I am not good at my own hobby.
But now what can I do? That's my life, or that's how a life of the greatest failure in the whole world should be.
Now, at the end, I can relate to these famous words: "Nothing ever goes as planned in this accursed world."
HELL NO!!! Ars screamed...
I can't die that easily; I am not a contracted author yet, and Grandmother will be worried about me. She's the only one who's been raising me since Father left me here.
Suddenly, a purple mist started showing out of nowhere and engulfed Ars in it.
Ars assumes this is the afterlife and screams.
"Finally, I am dead, right? So this is the end of my failure tale? I hate gods! I hate them!! All of them, even if they exist.
Why me?
Why! I am the only one who doesn't have any powers.
Did I do something wrong?
Tell me!
Only if I had powers, nothing would end like this; only if I had a curse along with me like everyone else, even a weak one. I don't care; I have just trained myself and become stronger, and then I could change my fate and not end up here...
His voice started fading; he realized screaming in agony doesn't change anything. He closed his eyes, waiting to die.
Until he hears a deep baritone; it is so cold that in his last moments, he feels goosebumps.
He slightly opened his eyes and saw a dark figure flying in that purple void space; he thought the Grim Reaper had come to end his life. Again, he closed his eyes.
Then, he again hears a deep baritone. Now he opens his eyes to check what it is, and then he founds that the dark figure he was assuming to be a grim reaper was a darkish purple griffin.
Ars wasn't shocked a bit; he was ready to face whatever life now throws at him.
Griffin called Ars by his name...
Ars stammered, "H!-How did you know my name?
Have we ever met before?
And why are you here?
And why can a bird talk?
Griffin responds, "Calm down, boy. My name is Theodore, and I am your curse that you have been wanting for years."
Ars gasped, "My curse! But I thought I never had one, and it is said that curses are awakened or chosen when someone is born, and I am close to eighteen now, so why now?"
Theodore (Griffin) answered, "I don't know either. Perhaps you are someone special."
Ars replied, "Me and special, huh?..." (His voice started to get softer, and tears welled in his eyes, making their way to the ground.)
"You will never know how much I have endured; you just can't understand how happy I am knowing that I also have my own curse.
Until now, I was bullied because I didn't have any curse, any power; I was a weak little peasant who didn't have anything normal. Even my family despised me, and nobody pitied me.
You are the second person who has praised me for anything except my grandmother."
Theodore's voice hardened, "This isn't the time to get emotional, boy, and you want everyone to praise and admire you, right? Then you just have to become the curse conqueror.
Ars was stunned, "The almighty curse conqueror? And I just have to become that? Please tell me you are just kidding. You sound like it's a piece of cake for me, you know, right? Everyone in this world has the same desire to become the curse conqueror, and also, a moment ago, I didn't have my curse.
.
Theodore answers, "I am not kidding; I thought you didn't want to end up like this every time and let fate manipulate you, or do you want to change the fate.
You don't know the world; even if you became the curse conqueror, you only get to know about a fraction of this world. There are so many things that are yet to be found and explored, so let's do this together, Ars."
Ars felt a surge of adrenaline coursed through his whole body.
He replied, "So what now? What is our first step to become the curse conqueror?"
Theodore smirked, "First, you remove the arrows that are stuck to your body."
Ars blinked, "Oh my god! I completely forgot about that, but wait, my wounds are healed on their own."
Theodore sighed, "You're stupid! I healed them. How can they heal on their own now? Let's go home and fill out the forms for the entry in The Eldian Magic Curse School."
Ars's eye widened, "The Eldian magic curse school isn't the top magic curse school in our region, all right? Let's go, but wait, they also take a test to know the potential of the student. Will that be all right?"
Theodore responds, "The test will be in 13 days; that's enough time to get to know my powers and begin to wield them.
Continued in chapter 2 - The Eldian Magic Curse School - The Honorable Students