I’ve already posted the whole first Volume of The Cursed Words on Tapas but I haven’t gotten around to putting it on WordPress. So if you wanna read the story now, you can go to one of those sites.

“I can’t believe you couldn’t even beat a few Wordless brats in a fight. You’re such a disappointment, Jade.”

When she opened her brown eyes, she didn’t feel any pain. In fact, her body felt completely healthy. Then she looked over and realized she was in the basement. Celadon was standing in front of a flat stone table and using his fingers to mold some marble like it was wet clay. He coughed and cleared his throat a few times, but eventually he created a bust of three teenage girls with horrified expressions on their beautiful faces. They didn’t have any blemishes or imperfections, so Jade barely recognized them.

“Papa… What happened? Why did those girls attack me?”

“Why else? Because you’re an easy target.”

*Cough-cough~! Cough-cough-cough~!*

“Papa, you need to see a Doctor.”

“I’m fine. It’s just a cold. I’ll get over it soon. I’m not a weak Wordless peasant like those villagers.”

Aside from a mild cough, the handsome man didn’t seem to have any other visible symptoms. However, Jade saw a glimpse of the back of his left hand: ‘Legendary Sculptor V’.

“There once was a Legendary Sculptor. The greatest Sculptor in all of the Greenstone Kingdom. Nobles, Princes, even the King would beg him to come work for them… But he grew tired of the fame, the glory and the endless pursuit of those gold-digging harlots in the Castle. So one day he decided to disappear in the wilderness for a while. Just a little while…”

A handsome young man with black hair, dark-brown eyes and slightly tan skin was smiling at an adorable little girl who shared his features. He was sitting on the side of her bed and a beautiful green-eyed, extremely pale-skinned woman was standing behind his back. Massaging his shoulders. He reached back and gently caressed her right hand with his left.

“That Legendary Sculptor was completing his finest masterpiece when he happened to meet the love of his life. Eventually… After a lot of hard work and incredible effort, the two of them worked together to create another masterpiece. A perfect baby girl, just like you!”

“Oliver… Put on some gloves and grab that end of the bed.”

“Okay.”

Thick black gloves appeared on Oliver’s hands and he grabbed the bottom of the twin-sized wooden bed. Klein picked up the head and the two men easily lifted the bed out of the room. Even though Emerald, Ivy and Peridot were still crying, they quickly followed them out. Jade struggled to turn around and keep up with everyone, feeling like the world around her was speeding up rapidly.

“Go away, Oliver!”

Klein shouted from the downstairs bedroom near the front of the house. He wasn’t wearing his fancy Plague Doctor outfit. Just a simple surgical mask, next to his wife Emerald, who was wearing a black dress and a similar white mask. Her eyes were bloodshot and she had tears streaming down her face as she held the hand of the rickety old man who was lying on the bed.

“Dad, please… Not yet. I’m not ready yet.”

“Heh-heh… *Weeze* Emy… It’s… It’s time. Before… I can’t speak anymore. *Cough~!*”

“So you decided to work for those bastards again anyway?”

When Oliver came home later, Peridot complained at the dinner table. The two of them grew quite a bit in the past year. With the boy reaching about 155 cm and the girl still a bit taller at 160 cm. At least their skin was relatively clear thanks to the medicine bought from Klein next door. Unlike most of the teenagers around Verde that had horrible acne, lesions or rashes.

“I’ve saved up way too much ore and crystals now. We had to build a whole other shed just to store it all. I don’t want my yard to disappear and I can’t just stop Mining. It’s more than just a job to me.”