Most of this world was made up of elements I could do nothing about.
The reason I'd made it all the way to Level 8 with such ease was purely because my companions had worked hard.
By now, my status no longer matched my abilities. Meeting the expectations placed on me was difficult.
So from here on, I'd probably have to keep relying on my companions — Rhees and Citry, or Ark — to carry things forward.
The only thing I could do was welcome them when they returned from the battlefield.
I prepared herbal tea and chocolate.
I bought cake from a famous pastry shop, and while I was at it, I even set up some candles. There was also a nice bottle of champagne chilling — a gift.
Eva watched me with an exasperated expression as I got excited and started decorating the Clan Master's room.
"What if I put up a banner saying 'Welcome home, Ark'?"
"...I think it'd be wise not to provoke him... Even someone as magnanimous as Ark has his limits, you know?"
"No, he's limitless."
Besides, I wasn't trying to provoke anyone. I just wanted to convey my sincerity. To convey my passion for the mask. And if possible, I wanted him to sell it to me cheap — something around a million Gill would be great. I could borrow that from the clan's operating expenses, right? Probably not.
"Oh right, instead of just tea, what if I also prepared potions for mental fatigue—"
"...Did you really ask him to do something that crazy?"
Ark took a long time to come back.
Miss Eclair was fond of Ark. It shouldn't have been that burdensome a request, but maybe he was being hosted at the Gradius estate.
If he didn't come back today, it'd all be for nothing. Never mind the champagne and chocolate — the cake's shelf life was short. Setting up candles and everything on top of that... it was a completely thoughtless course of action.
"He's taking so long... With Ark on the case, most things should work themselves out, though."
"Well, that's how it goes sometimes."
Eva's expression grew increasingly clouded as she finished her preparations.
Of course she'd feel that way — I'd asked her to help with a pointless favor when she was busy. I really was sorry for always causing trouble.
Once I finished decorating, I had nothing to do, so I started working on a jigsaw puzzle again.
Why had I bought an all-white puzzle? That was yet another thoughtless decision. Trying to be hardboiled, maybe?
I had to check every single piece by trial and error, which was incredibly frustrating. Did this thing even have all its pieces?
"...Um... would you like me to help?"
"No, I'm fine."
I could handle a puzzle on my own, at least. It wasn't worth pulling Eva away from her work for something so meaningless.
As I focused on the puzzle in a feeble attempt at escapism, Rhees and the others returned from their money-making venture.
They burst through the door without any regard for the rules, and their eyes lit up at the sight of the Clan Master's room looking different from usual.
"We're home, Kurai-chan! Huh? What's this? A party?"
"You're back early. I'm waiting for Ark to show up. I asked him for a bit of a troublesome favor."
"We're back, Kurai. ...Ah, the usual setup, I see."
The usual setup? What's that supposed to mean...
Citry came in next and was about to set down the rather large bag on her back onto the desk, but she spotted the puzzle and placed it on the floor instead. There was a metallic jangling as the pieces clinked together.
I'd assumed they'd gone to the Treasure Hall again since they mentioned making money, but apparently that wasn't the case.
Citry reported with a smile.
"We made 110 million Gill! This covers the shortfall in Lucia's account!"
"Huh!? ...How?"
My sense of money was starting to go numb, but 110 million Gill was still a huge sum. Being able to cover the deficit was a tremendous relief, but this wasn't the kind of money you just picked up on a casual stroll.
In response to my question, Citry and Rhees answered one after another, competing to boast about their achievement.
"Don't worry. We followed the rules and handled it properly. Nobody ended up unhappy."
"We made those country bumpkins who picked a fight with us pay up! Took longer than expected, but we nailed it! Seriously, if you're gonna come to the capital, at least come pay respects to Kurai-chan properly!"
"Mm-hmm, yeah."
How glamorous. On their own, they were manageable enough, but when both were together, I was hopelessly outmatched.
I waited for them to calm down, then asked.
"Give me the short version?"
"The sobering-up potion we made to counter the Intoxication Potions sold for 110 million Gill! Turns out their resistance enhancement was pretty sloppy despite being Level 7."
"Doesn't matter how high their level is — at the end of the day, they're just country bumpkins, right? I wanna hit Level 7 too, but even a Level 7 out in the sticks is still a bumpkin. Hey, hey, Kurai-chan, is there anything else we can do?"
A sobering-up potion for 110 million Gill... Was that even a legitimate business?
I wasn't really sure, but some of the high-potency potions out there sold for unbelievable prices, so if it was Citry's specialty product, maybe it wasn't so far-fetched after all.
Maybe I should become an Alchemist and start selling sobering-up potions too...
"Oh, and while we were at it, we withdrew the Thunder Dragon commission. The other party wasn't planning to accept it anyway... but the Thunder Dragon would've cost a fortune regardless, so no problem, right?"
"Ah, that was a thing, wasn't it. Well, chicken tastes better anyway, so I don't mind."
I hadn't expected Eva to put up that commission in the first place, and Citry was right — the chicken had been tastier. No real loss.
Memory distortion really is something. The reason the Treasure Hall meal had seemed so delicious was probably because of that.
Citry clasped her hands together, clearly pleased with herself.
"That's what I figured, so instead, I put in a commission to hunt a Giant Fowl! If we manage to deliver one, I'll cook it up for you!"
"Hey, you chicken-hearted losers can go hunt your own damn chicken!"
Giant Fowl... that was just the regular stuff you'd buy at the butcher. Sure, they existed in the wild too, but this was the kind of commission a Level 1 Hunter would take on for pocket money.
I had a lot of feelings about this, but it was too much hassle to say anything, so I just smiled.
It wasn't worth bringing up Rhees's combative tendencies at this point.
"Ah, that was so much fun! I'm a bit disappointed I couldn't test how strong the Level 7s from the Mist Country are, but something like this every now and then is nice, right? You can always punch someone later."
Rhees stretched her back with a satisfied grin. Her tanned, supple skin, now exposed, stretched along with the movement. There was something distinctly feline about the gesture.
I couldn't quite read the situation, but my philosophy was to praise and let things develop, so I praised her.
"You held back from punching? Good girl, good girl."
"Only because Cit didn't do anything stupid... otherwise I would've punched them."
"I see... Citry, good girl, good girl."
Rhees alone was worrying, but paired with Citry she had a natural stopper, which was reassuring. Citry touched her cheek bashfully at my halfhearted praise.
And just like that, without doing anything myself, one of my worries — Lucia's debt — disappeared.
I could feel the situation rolling in a convenient direction. Was I divinely blessed or something?
"Somehow, I'm in that kind of mood, so I think I'll crash at Kurai's place tonight."
"You'd just be a bother to Kurai! Come on, let's go, sis! I'll let you stay at my place!"
Rhees, looking unusually cheerful with a lustrous smile, was dragged away by Citry, who pulled her along.
They got along so well. If there was a secret to that, I'd love to know.
§ The real prize — Ark — didn't return until late that night.
I was doing a puzzle with Eva, who'd finished her work for the day, when heavy footsteps came clattering from below.
For Ark to break the no-entry rule was extraordinarily rare. Eva and I looked up as the door burst wide open.
The sight that greeted us made my eyes go wide.
Ark was a wreck. His normally well-groomed hair was in disarray, his clothes were torn and threadbare as though he'd walked straight off a battlefield, and blood seeped through in places.
His expression held no composure either. His sharp gaze swept the room, and for a moment his eyes went round at the decorated Clan Master's room.
Snapping back to myself, I quickly grabbed the party popper I'd prepared and set it off.
Eva, flustered, followed suit. Ark looked like a pigeon that had just been startled by a gunshot. Trailing behind him, the Party members — every one of them just as battered as Ark — stood there in a daze.
I had no idea what had happened, but clearly something beyond my expectations had occurred.
There's a saying that truth is stranger than fiction. My brain was a clunker and I'd had terrible luck my whole life, so I was used to unexpected accidents.
Ark being beaten up like this was a first, but I knew how to handle it.
I stood up and, right in front of Ark's vacant eyes, unleashed my one and only special move — the sliding prostration.
The carpet made for poor sliding, so I spun a full rotation before landing in prostration form. If I were scoring it, I'd give myself a hundred and twenty out of a hundred.
"I'm soooooorry!"
"Kurai!?"
Satisfied with the quality of my prostration, I bobbed my head up and down. I didn't know if I was at fault for whatever had happened, but in times like these, lowering your head was the way to go. Here, apart from Eva, there were no prying eyes.
Ark said nothing. I could feel his gaze on the back of my head, so I kept my brain spinning at full speed.
What could have possibly happened to reduce Ark — the strongest Hunter in the capital — to a wreck?
His combat abilities were exceptional even among Hunters. How strong was he? Strong enough that no one in the monster-like Mourning Specter could claim they could beat him one-on-one.
Some might think "well, if that's all the strongest can do, it's not that impressive," but the Treasure Hall our Party had been clearing was higher-ranked than his, and the Mana Material he'd absorbed should have been of lesser quality — yet he was still this powerful. That was no ordinary talent.
And yet Ark was a wreck. If a monster had appeared in the capital strong enough to force Ark to fight at full power and come out looking like this, it would have been a major incident — so that was unlikely. Which left only the possibility that a monster had appeared that Ark couldn't fight at full strength against.
In other words, there was only one possible explanation.
Ark spoke in a voice so uncharacteristically foul-tempered that it was almost unbelievable coming from his usual cheerful self.
"...Why... are you... suddenly bowing like that?"
"Because your lady threw a tantrum, right?"
"...A... tantrum... you say?"
Bingo.
When presenting the mask to the young lady, Ark must have failed to handle the situation with his usual tact. He'd probably said something like "I don't want it" or "Kurai will love it," and that had set her off.
Hearing that, the young lady had grown unhappy and her tantrum had exploded. Ark was a wreck because suppressing her rampage had been a struggle.
No matter how powerful Ark was, a small monster he couldn't lay a hand on would have given him a hard time.
I raised my head and pushed past the trembling Ark with momentum.
"I want you to understand, Ark — I thought that if it was you, you could handle it diplomatically! I never expected it would be this difficult. I suppose I didn't explain myself well enough."
Regret and frustration churned inside me.
Not foreseeing this was my fault. I should have told him to avoid angering the young lady.
But thinking calmly, this was something the usual Ark should have been able to handle without issue.
It was definitely my fault for having asked Ark in the first place, but that didn't mean Ark was blameless.
"But still, Ark — you'd think handling the young lady without making her angry would go without saying, wouldn't you?"
"That's—"
"I mean, your Party has a perfectly capable Mage on it, doesn't it? If she went on a rampage, you should have used 'Chains of Slumber' or whatever. That's what I'd have told Lucia to do."
Ark's magic was apparently centered on offensive and physical enhancement spells, but his Party also had a skilled Mage who'd mastered a broad range of theory.
Isabella Mernes, with her distinctive pale purple hair unique to the North, bristled at my words.
"Excuse me?! Are you saying my magic is inferior to Lucia's?! I used it! I used it, and it didn't work!"
"Huh... oh, is that so...? I'm kinda sorry about that."
"Don't you apologize!"
"No, look... it's fine. Everyone has their weak spots. I've got plenty of mine. But status ailments are really useful in a pinch, so it's worth mastering. If you want, I can talk to Lucia about giving you some pointers—"
"Stop... stop comforting me!"
Isabella's cheeks flushed red and she stamped her feet.
To think that a top-tier Mage couldn't put a single civilian young lady to sleep... I'd thought she was skilled, but apparently not in that particular area?
I let out a deep sigh and extended my arm toward the decorated Clan Master's room. Eva stood nearby with an anxious expression, clearly unsure what to do.
"I was expecting you'd be back soon, so I waited. There's cake, and champagne too."
Looking up at the glittering decorations hanging from the ceiling, the priest Yuu spoke with exasperation.
"Wh-what incredible decorations..."
"I decorated it all by hand. Got a bit carried away halfway through... There are candles too, you know."
"..."
"Sorry about that. I just didn't expect it to take this long... I figured you, Ark, would be able to handle things more smoothly."
It wasn't that I'd overestimated Ark. His reputation was just that well-earned, and unlike me, he actually lived up to it.
Why would I ever have thought he'd struggle with a single young lady?
Ark remained expressionless and silent for a while, but eventually let out a deep breath.
"...Kurai, you — your words are far too lacking. I don't know everything, you know."
"I'm sorry."
"I heard that Miss Eclair was rude to you. That you'd warned her it was a dangerous Treasure Weapon. But even so — you should have been able to handle things more smoothly, Kurai."
"I'm sorry."
"Involving me was one thing, but dragging uninvolved civilians into this was wrong. You're the one who established the rule about not causing trouble for civilians — the Clan Master."
Fair points all around. I should have handled it better.
I truly hadn't meant any harm, but "no harm intended" didn't make it okay.
I reflected on my mistakes more deeply than the mountains and more profoundly than the sea.
"I really didn't think it'd escalate that far. What you're saying is perfectly reasonable, Ark. Next time, I'll try to involve only you."
"You're not sorry at all, are you."
Isabella stared at me, her cheeks twitching.
I was reflecting — truly. No, I was practically drowning in self-reflection.
But more than that, I was relieved that Ark hadn't quit the Clan.
Ark was one of the few friends my childhood companions could actually argue with. It wasn't that they argued all the time — he was the kind of friend who could withstand an argument. Violent impulses needed to be vented periodically or they'd explode, and Ark was the perfect sparring partner for that.
"So... um... did you manage to get the thing?"
It felt awkward to ask at a time like this, but I had to check.
In response, Ark irritably tossed me a leather pouch. I scrambled to catch it.
"That was grueling. Truly grueling. Holding down a sword-swinging, rampaging Miss Eclair was no joke. Her striking speed was on a completely different level, and she was casually outputting force beyond what any human body should be capable of. I managed to pull her away eventually, but — what the hell is that thing? Apparently it wasn't something she put on willingly, but something that flew at her—"
I stopped listening to Ark partway through.
It felt like receiving a birthday present. I frantically untied the pouch's drawstring and plunged my hand inside. Ark and the others stared with wide eyes.
That familiar, revolting sensation — like shoving my hand into damp flesh.
"Kurai, that's dangerous — careless actions—"
I pulled out the flesh face and held it up. It had only been a short while since I'd lost it, but it already felt like ages.
The pink flesh with veins racing across its surface. Ah, how revolting! How wonderful! Excellent!
At that moment, right before my frozen, awestruck eyes, the open mouth began to move on its own — without being touched.
"What a... tremendous power. I thought I'd found a prodigy, but to think there exists a warrior capable of suppressing my host so effortlessly. My, the people of this era are more resilient than any I recall. It appears my baseline needs revising."
!? It's talking!?
My hands trembled.
The Changing Human Face I'd been holding until recently had been nothing but a mask — it couldn't talk or move on its own.
None of the Treasure Weapons in my collection could talk or move autonomously either.
"Th-Thousand Transformations — I... I was in the wrong. I'm grateful that you sent Ark."
From behind the door, a familiar figure emerged quietly.
But by that point, I'd already pressed the flesh mask against my own face.
"!"
Ark and the others were speechless. Something squirmed at the back of my skull with a revolting sensation. It seemed the mask came with a convenient feature that anchored itself in place so it couldn't be removed. Impressive!
"Ooooohhhhhhhhhhhh!"
The flesh mask roared. Then a voice echoed through my mind.
*'Th-this — muscle strength E−, agility E−, stamina E−, magic E−, growth potential E−, motivation zero, overall rating: seven points. "Evolving Demon Mask" — activation criteria not met. Forcing release.'* The mask shook violently, as if trying to flee from me.
The empty eye holes drooped pathetically, and the tentacle-like cords that had anchored to the back of my head went limp and slack.
My motivation drooped just as badly. I let out a deep sigh, released my grip, and the mask detached on its own.
This thing looked way too similar, but it was NOT the Changing Human Face!
What a scam! Dammit — to think there were multiple kinds of creepy flesh masks floating around. Completely outside my expectations.
I wanted to sue whoever had created the original mask prototype. But they were probably a resident of some ancient civilization many eras past, so that wasn't happening.
...Oh well. I'd just have to settle for having obtained a rare Treasure Weapon.
"A knockoff, huh. Didn't see that coming. Eva, get a glass case ready. ...Oh, what's wrong?"
Eva was one thing, but even Ark — who was rarely fazed by anything — was staring at me with an expression of pure horror. The other Party members had all hidden behind Ark, and the only one standing beside him, Miss Eclair, was pale and trembling violently, tears welling up in her eyes.
"...N-no, it's nothing..."
"Ah, I forgot to ask — can I keep this?"
"Y-yes. Take it! Take it all! It was MY mistake for trying to lay hands on a Treasure Weapon that YOU had already touched! I'll — I'll never, NEVER do it again! Please forgive me!"
Miss Eclair screamed through her tears. Well, who'd want a mask that looked like this?
And yet, after all that trouble... this was the result?
Mistaking a Treasure Weapon's identity was enough to disqualify someone as a collector. I'd lock this blunder away in the deepest recesses of my memory and carry it to my grave.
I pulled myself together, looked around at everyone, and smiled.
"Well, it ended up being a bit of a letdown, but since I went to the trouble of getting cake, let's all eat together. There are candles too, you know?"