"Thank you. Thanks to you, the damage was minimal."

I listened to the guards' words of gratitude with an apathetic expression.

"I only did what needed to be done."

Then, I extended my foot toward the person who had just approached.

At that, the Priest purified the curse clinging to the bottom of my shoe. The sight of the black liquid vanishing made it look as if my boot were slightly shrinking.

"The cause."

Regardless, it wasn't my concept to do this just to get thanked.

I stared at the area the other Priests had just finished purifying. The passage through the castle walls was filled with the corpses of people and the luggage they had brought. They were the ones who had died, swept up in the curse before there was even a chance to save them.

"... It's the demon followers, of course."

Although there were quite a few people I had saved, they were nothing but a handful compared to the total number of victims.

Lamenting that fact, I stood up from my spot.

As I did, the situation further inside, previously obscured by the angle, came into full view.

"Damn it, I'm talking about the demon worshipers."

The most conspicuous among them were a soldier and an adventurer who had died at what appeared to be a checkpoint. Between the adventurer and the soldier sat a wooden crate, and inside the crate were dozens of gourd bottles.

Given that they were all broken, the circumstances suggested those gourd bottles had contained the curse.

"Oh God, grant peace to these pitiful souls..."

One of the guards prayed as he collected the soldier's corpse. At that, everyone present similarly bowed their heads.

A somberness dyed the air blue.

"... Does this happen often?"

"Not exactly often. But it's not rare, either."

The Priest who had been praying beside me provided the answer.

"I understand that a few cities in the north have already suffered like this."

It came with rather terrible news. There had been no talk of this down in the south.

They said the frontlines over there were particularly fierce, so it seemed news like this was concentrated only in the north.

"Still, the damage was minimal this time. We stopped it from getting inside the city."

Well. Was this really minimal damage? It was obvious that even more damage would have occurred if that thing had been transported into the city, but that just meant it would have been a greater loss; it didn't mean this was a small one.

"... Still, all the city gates will be closed for the day. Perhaps even until tomorrow."

I narrowed my eyes as I looked at the corpses laid out neatly on one side of the floor.

"Do not approach!"

"O-Our luggage..."

"Step back! Your luggage will be returned after a thorough search!"

"The inspections, then what happens to the inspections?"

"The gates will remain closed until the situation is resolved!"

"Wait a moment, then when can we go in...!"

"Step back! The details will be relayed later!"

Unfortunately, the ordeal here was only just beginning.

* * *

"What is this mess?"

"... I have no excuses."

"Is 'no excuses' all it takes?"

A woman, who was a head taller than the average male of the Middle race, shot up from her seat, unable to contain her anger. SLAP. A large hand struck the man in front of her.

"If the investigation showed there was a potential threat, crack down on it beforehand. Take care of it in advance so those bastards don't interfere with our business. Haven't I told you this time and time again? Huh? Haven't I told you time and time again?!"

"Y-You did—"

"And yet you couldn't even follow that one thing? Huh? You couldn't even train your subordinates properly and let this disaster happen?!"

"I-I'm sorry..."

"Sorry? Sorry? Is that what you should be saying right now? Despite climbing this high up, is that the only word that comes to mind?"

The man staggered, but she showed no mercy. SLAP! The man, who had barely regained his balance, was struck in the cheek once more and fell over.

"The checkpoint is blocked because of the trash you picked. What are you going to do now? How will you cover the losses we incurred today, and how will you compensate for the damages caused by the even stricter inspections going forward?"

Even waiting for him to get up was irritating. She abruptly grabbed the man by the collar and hoisted him straight up.

Due to their height difference, the man's toes barely touched the ground, and he let out a choking, gasping sound.

"I explicitly told you that this matter put the trading company's survival on the line. That you needed to pay extra special attention to it. But you made a mess of it like this? How dare you? How dare you?!"

THUD! And just as the man was on the verge of suffocating, she slammed him into the floor. Her bushy, grayish-blue hair bounced once.

"This is the trash you picked. So go out right now and take responsibility for cleaning up that trash. Make sure it stays out of my sight forever!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Confiscate all his assets, too! We need to make up for the damage that bastard caused to the company! And the same goes for your salary!"

She delivered one last kick to the man's shin before kicking him out. Then, in irritation, she bit her manicured fingernails.

'I'll be scolded by him. I might even be told he's disappointed.' Her mind was filled with fretfulness, rage, and anxiety.

"Damn it."

With this, the position she was aiming for had slipped even further away. And all because of her subordinate.

"Aaaaargh!"

'Is that bastard blind? Of all the people to pick, how could he choose something like that!'

"Aide! Demote that bastard as soon as this is sorted out! I don't need a bastard who can't even educate his subordinates!"

"Yes, ma'am."

There was no surer or easier way to vent surging anger than violence. With an irritated face, she flipped the table over.

The incredibly heavy, solid wood table flipped over with a crash.

"Damn it, the losses from this will be..."

Of course, even in that moment, her mind was diligently trying to devise a way to resolve the situation. Functioning separately from her anger, the rationality of a merchant coolly assessed the situation.

"... It's actually for the best. I'll use this opportunity to uproot all the followers of Envy. Their boss is gone and they've lost their power anyway; they're more than enough to serve as the price for my carelessness."

CLINK.

A round, pearl-like jewel glistened on her ear.

* * *

I held my position until evening in preparation for any unforeseen situations—like a hidden Demon Contractor popping out.

The Inquisitor came running over midway, but we didn't share any particular conversation. More accurately, the Inquisitor wanted to talk to me whenever there was a spare moment, but I ignored all of her signals.

There were no other notable occurrences.

No Demon Contractor appeared, and the dead and their luggage were all recovered. The same went for the corpse of the suspected demon worshiper.

Furthermore, the city gates were completely shut, and those who had remained outside would not be able to enter until tomorrow. Among them, the only ones who were granted a chance to enter were those who had witnessed and remembered the entire incident.

Though even they were treated as if they were criminals being escorted under strict surveillance.

KNOCK, KNOCK.

Regardless, since everything from that point on wasn't something I should interfere in, I opted to return.

As a bonus, my curiosity over the current state of my glove caused me to take a brief detour to the Meister's workshop on the way to the inn.

KNOCK, KNOCK.

'But why isn't he opening the door? Or did he already get off work?'

I tried knocking on the door one more time, then changed my mind to give up, assuming no one was inside. CLUNK. That was when the door opened.

"I had something to tell you anyway, so your timing is perfect."

I suppose this thing had an automatic door function, too. I stepped past the door that had opened without anyone there and gently closed it. CLACK. Even though I closed it as quietly as possible, a loud sound echoed out.

TAP, TAP.

In the meantime, the Meister engraved something onto the item he was crafting and carefully set it down. For some reason, his face seemed to have grown haggard in just half a day.

"Just to tell you in advance, this isn't my fault."

However, his opening remark was somewhat unsettling. I met the gaze of the Meister, who had just stood up. As our eyes met, his purple eyes darted around.

"Your glove disappeared. Without even a trace, all of a sudden."

My eyebrows instantly furrowed in response. 'My glove? Disappeared? Why?'

"I'll say it again, I didn't do anything. Well, it's not like I didn't do anything at all. But I didn't do anything that would make your glove disappear."

The Meister's rapid excuse dropped once more. Seeing his pupils shift slightly to the side, it seemed he wasn't entirely free of a guilty conscience this time.

However, in my reasoning, it didn't seem like this incident was his fault. It would be one thing if it had been ruined, but disappearing completely without a trace felt like a different domain entirely.

"Clarify the circumstances."

"... First, I'll explain the details of the experiment I conducted on the glove."

Still, to get a grasp on things, I needed to hear what he had done.

"I wanted to figure out its material first. Whether it was leather, or something similar to leather. But surprisingly, it was perfectly genuine leather. So next, I searched for the cause behind the leather's restoration. The things I mobilized for that were these..."

Whether I should call it fortunate or not, the Meister's explanation was quite easy to understand for a genius. It was at a level where even a layman like me could somewhat follow along.

However, what I understood was the purpose his experiment was conducted for, not its actual principles. It would have been difficult even if he had only used science, but since magic was involved too, that was only natural.

"The moment it disappeared, what was it like?"

"It was almost exactly the same as when a severed piece of the glove disappeared. It vanished as if melting away."

After saying that, the Meister hastily added an explanation.

"For the record, the experiment I was doing at the time had no reason to make it melt like that."

On a different note, I felt somewhat like that. Like an investor crossing their legs and watching an entrepreneur failing to show results.

Even though the most I had handed over to the Meister was a glove.

"I'm telling the truth."

'But why did it really disappear? It's not even a bound item with a property that returns it to its owner. Right, it's not even a bound item.'

'... Wait, a bound item?'

Half-doubting the possibility that suddenly brushed past me, I opened the inventory at my waist.

「Half-Palm Leather Glove (Black, Left Hand)」

Sure enough, the glove was in there.

"... Right. It seems so."

Engulfed in an indescribable feeling, I pulled it out. If I had to deliberately interpret this feeling, it would probably be doubt and anxiety about the equipment's origins.

"...?"

Separately, the Meister, who had raised an eyebrow at my sudden action of putting my hand into my bag, soon widened his eyes.

"Why is that coming out of there?"

'I don't know either. I didn't know it had a function like this.'

"Are you making fun of me?"

"I've done no such thing."

I stroked the glove held in my hand before tossing it down onto the Meister's workbench.

"... Is this a detail you were unaware of too?"

"Yeah."

"How...?"

Thankfully, since the Meister was a smart person, I was spared from a prolonged misunderstanding.

I crossed my arms, leaving alone the man who had resolved the misunderstanding with simple deduction and begun formulating other hypotheses. My head was a mess.

"Alright. It seems this will be a long story."

At that, the Meister also showed his own reaction. He took off his work clothes and threw on his outerwear hanging to one side.

His arm, which was thin as was characteristic of the Slender race yet packed with muscle as if reflecting his profession, was covered by a robe that Mages frequently wore. It seemed he was wearing it because he didn't want a repeat of what happened during the day. His face was scrunched up in a heavy scowl as he threw the clothes on.

"Let's go to a tavern. It seems that in order to explore this, I'll need to hear more about the situation where you 'coincidentally' obtained this."

'So I'm going to have to explain after all.' Suppressing my inner turmoil, I followed the Meister.

'I haven't had dinner anyway, so I might as well get some food while I'm at it.' The hollow thought I came up with was my only source of comfort.

"Shall we get the story started?"

I didn't need to pay for his dinner. Not that the Meister was treating me, either.

In that sense, I ordered additional food without hesitation. "There's no need to drag this out," the Meister attempted to start the conversation right at that timing.

"First of all, where did you get this equipment? The Magic Tower? Or is it some family heirloom?"

I wiped my mouth with a handkerchief—more food was going to come out, but it was bothering me—and swallowed a sip of water before looking straight at the Meister.

"If you want to hide it, then just hide it. Instead, don't bring up the word 'coincidence'—"

"I don't know."

"What?"

"Because it was just in my possession from a certain point on."

'Hmm. Now that I think about it, this excuse—amnesia—is coming in really handy.'

I folded the sauce-stained part of the handkerchief inward and leaned back in my chair. TAP, TAP. The Meister's fingers drummed against the table.

"... And why did you lose your memory?"

"Do you think I'd know?"

"True, if you knew, you wouldn't be like this."

The Meister placed a hand over his mouth, wearing a rather serious expression.

"Is the moment you got the equipment the only thing you have no memory of?"

However, keeping up with my conversation with him required a bit of mental power. Not because he skipped words, but because he skipped steps in logic.

Well, it was at a level I could figure out with just a bit of thought, so there was no need to look pathetic by asking.

I shook my head.

"Then the probability that obtaining the equipment was the cause is low."

TAP-TAP-TAP. As if it were a habit, the Meister continued drumming on the table.

"Here is your food."

Meanwhile, the bouillabaisse and caponata I had additionally ordered came out.

Well, they were called bouillabaisse and caponata, but in reality, they were closer to a soup boiled solely with miscellaneous fish and a vegetable dish drenched in sauce. Meaning they weren't as luxurious as their modern-day counterparts.

Though I did order more because they tasted good.

"Is all the equipment you use the exact same?"

"Yes."

"Even that bag?"

I nodded slowly at the question pointing out my inventory.

"And the abilities each piece of equipment possesses are identical?"

"... Only the bag has an extra function to hold items. Aside from that, they are the same."

'More importantly, where the hell did this equipment come from? Did it appear on its own the moment I logged in? Or before that?'

The questions I had put off because they were unresolvable continued to well up. RIIING. My ears momentarily went deaf.

"I guess you've been wearing it around all this time out of practicality?"

"Yeah."

'... Still, it's not like I hate the clothes themselves. Without them, I would have suffered endlessly over what to wear by now, so that's only natural.'

"True, if I had clothes with such great functions, I'd endure any displeasure to wear them around too. Seeing as you've worn them until now, there don't seem to be any curses or side effects."

The Meister's affirmation also made me feel much better.

'See. I knew anyone would wear these around if they had clothes like this.'

'It'd be one thing if I hadn't worn them from the start, but it's even more so since I'd already experienced all sorts of conveniences while wearing them around out of ignorance.'