Starting a Journey with a Curse
Starting a Journey with a Curse
Wow, the weather sure is nice. Perfect for setting out on a journey...
Except for the mask sitting atop my desk, that is.
Hehehehehe...
“There’s just no way...”
People could sleep pretty well, turns out, even when thrust into the depths of fear. Heck, I’d actually overslept a little.
Judging by the position of the sun, I’m guessing it’s noon already. Looks like I’m having breakfast for lunch, then.
The shop was taking today off.
I looked over at the mask again. The one that had been moving all on its own yesterday...
Just seeing everything in the light of day made it all a lot less scary.
Now that things were a bit calmer, I had a chance to look my new little friend over. It was a partial mask, the type a noble might wear at a dance party; if I put it on, it’d cover everything except the very bottom of my face. It was orange and glossy, sparkling in the midday sun, and accented with yellow lines. All things considered, it was a very pretty mask.
You know, except for the whole curse thing.
“If only it weren’t cursed...”
I looked at the mask, which was pointed straight towards me.
Maybe I was just imagining things, but it kind of felt like it was expecting something...
“Ugh, alright, I get it, I get it. I’ve just got to take you along, right?”
I put the mask away, along with the entire desk and chair. Then I headed downstairs to eat a late meal, having already put my bed in the item storage.
“You don’t look so good, Anti. Did you catch a cold or something?”
“Hmm, she doesn’t seem to have a fever.”
“Hahaha! So you’re just nervous before heading out on your big journey, are you?!”
“Oh, my.”
Sorry, Mom and Dad. Sorry for zoning out while I eat, I’m just a little cursed is all. And after you went out of your way to see me off right...
I stepped out of my warm and cozy home, only for Dad to call out, “This is as far as we’re going, Anti.”
“Hehe.”
“Huh?! Um, why...?”
You’re not going to see me all the way to the gate...?
“Look, Anti.”
“What? Um... Ah.”
I understand what Dad and Mom wanted to say.
Dad, and Mom, and the eatery behind them... And that stupid, big, flashy, orange sign.
That was my home. Yup, that’s right, it’s right here.
“This place’ll be waiting for you to return.”
“Yup, and we’ll be right here waiting, too.”
“So this is the place where we’ve got to see you off,” they both said in sync.
Right, this was the sight that I needed to burn into my eyes. So they were right; this was the place to do it.
I hugged Dad and Mom tight.
“Thank you... I’m off!”
“Yeah!”
“Take care!”
Hehe, that’s right. This was the place where they always saw me off, wasn’t it? It never changed. It was always right from here.
I felt really relieved.
“Well, you’ll be back in a month for the test, though.”
“Dad, you’re ruining the mood...”
A whole lot of regulars called out to me on my way to the gate, telling me “Take care” and “Are you sure you’re taking enough?” and the like. I couldn’t exactly say I’d shoved everything into my crown, so I just told them I’d sent everything ahead.
Sorry for lying.
When I made it to the gate, the old-timer was there waiting for me.
“Hey there, little miss!”
“Heeey, good morning!”
“It’s finally the day, huh?”
“Yeah!”
“...Give it all you’ve got!”
“...Right!”
The old-timer kept on waving the whole way to the carriage stop.
We only exchanged simple words, but it was still nice, somehow. It was like the warmth of the sun had reached the depths of my heart!
...I was super cursed, though.
The carriage was there waiting, so I hopped on in. There were several other passengers in the carriage, but it actually wasn’t very crowded.
The weather was nice, so we’d probably make it to Donius in four or five hors.
Now, then... I was heading east, but there was one single question on my mind: Was the place the mask wanted to go Donius, or no?
All the other passengers were acting unfriendly, maybe because I’d made them wait past noon.
I carefully pulled the mask out of my gear, doing my best not to draw attention to it.
Shine!
Ooh... It sure is shiny... It’s positively sparkling, isn’t it?
Looking at it now, it doesn’t seem like a cursed mask at all... You’d think something like that’d be more black or purple or whatever...
Tremble, tremble.
Huh?! Am I going crazy or something? I could’ve sworn I just felt the mask trembling for a second there. But there’s no way... Just no way.
And now I’m doubting my own senses.
Crown. The mask’s... vector, or whatever it’s called... That shows the way it wants to go, right?
[—Ready. Commencing display.]
A thing that looked like a sort of invisible sheet appeared beside the mask. It seemed to be made of the same stuff as the analyze card.
...It was shaped just like an arrow.
Ah, I get it. If I don’t go in that direction, I’ll get cursed, right?
“Come on, cut me a break...”
“Huh? With what?”
“Ah! I-It’s nothing...!”
That was a close one... The passenger across from me was awake.
Man, that must’ve looked like me talking to myself, right? I-I’ve got to watch out for that...
Sure enough, the arrow was pointing towards Donius.
Now just don’t go moving on me...
All I could do was pray.
Clickity clack, clickity clack.
Clippity-clop, clippity-clop.
Two hors later, though, tragedy struck.
The direction of the arrow changed.
“...This is the worst.”
Haah...
Without even thinking about it, I let out a sigh.
“What should I do...?”
The arrow indicating where the mask wanted to go just had to up and move... We’d both been going east, but now... Yep. Now it wanted to go north. Right into a forest. Not the sort of place you send an innocent young maiden...
...Hmm?
Sob.
Grr. I-I may have just been imagining things, but it kinda felt like the mask was looking at me with teary eyes. It’s “eyes” were just holes, though, so that didn’t make any sense...
Sob sob sob sob sob sob sob sob.
“...I’m getting off!”
“H-Huh?!!”
The driver was looking at me like I was a real weirdo. He tried his best to talk me out of it, but I ended up getting off the carriage.
“I know it’s not very ladylike to say this, but... if I don’t get off now, something’s going to leak out!” And with that, I disembarked.
With a look of pity on his face, the driver told me that I could get on the next carriage that passed by. I felt so embarrassed I could cry.
Sniffle.
I smacked myself in the face.
Gah, now that it’s come to this, I’ve just got to do it!
I had plenty of food in my item storage, including dry goods and bread, in case time passed differently inside. So I didn’t have to worry about going hungry. Plus, I had my bed!
...I seriously hope I don’t have to sleep on my bed in the middle of the forest, though!
Man, this arrow really wants me to go right into the deepest part of the woods...
“Crown, Scale Skater!”
[—Ready.
—Deploying movement device: Scale Skater.]
Vrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
The rotating gears on both my feet kicked up the earth.
Honestly, at this point I’m not sure whether I’m super lucky or super unlucky. But if nothing else, I can’t think of many people who’d be able to catch me when I’m speeding through the forest like this!
“Hup!”
Vrrrrrrrr, Vrrrvrrrrrrr!
Ka-klunk! Hop!
What’s with all this bumpiness and branches? Either way, I skated along and hopped over what I needed to.
Ugh, who’d have thought it’d be coming in handy now? Guess that’s why it’s good to have all sorts of experience, huh? But I’d prefer to avoid dealing with any more bears...
Whoosh, whizz, fwoosh!!
Hey, I’m pretty deep in the forest... Should I be worrying about monsters and stuff?
...
Is this bad? This is bad, isn’t it?
I’ll be alright though, right?
[—Analyzing. Enemy presences detected ahead. Seven in number.]
“I’m not alright at aaaaaall!!”
[—Identification complete. Enemy determined to be forest wolves.]
“Huh?!”
Forest wolves...?
Like the ones that came into Cardiff four years ago...?
“Does it look like we can go around them?”
[—Contact with enemy will occur in 10 seconds.]
“Gwaaaaah!”
Damn! Why does this have to happen to me?!
I’ll remember this, you dang cursed mask!
Ah, there they are!
They were tree monsters in the shape of wolves — for now, just two of them.
After those monsters had entered the town, I looked into them in the school library. Forest wolves actually weren’t animals, but plant monsters using mimicry. They were treants that copied the shapes of wolves in order to move. That was the most accurate way to describe them.
“Never would have guessed I’d end up having to wipe some out...”
Jeez, it’s all this selfish mask’s fault...
Naturally, I was feeling a little nervous. I mean, these things were an object of terror back in the village four years ago. Would I really be alright? Frankly, I was feeling a little scared, since I didn’t want to get hurt.
I should be faster though, right? Maybe I can shake them off...
“Whoa...!”
Something that looked like a leaf just went flying past me! No, wait, it was a leaf! No doubt about it! I managed to dodge it, though!
Okay, let’s try and shake these guys...
Ah, no good! They’re just running after me, and there are seven of the things! Looks like they must’ve done a pretty good job of mimicking wolves...
Ack! That was a close one!
I weaved in a zigzag pattern, dodging the leaves they were firing off. None of them made it to me, getting stuck in tree trunks and the like instead.
With a smooth half-rotation, I turned around. Yeah, I was flying along while facing backwards. That actually sounds pretty dangerous, doesn’t it?
It looked like there were vines trailing along behind the forest wolves. Ugh... Just imagine how much trouble it’d be to get caught up in those...
Launching an attack while running away and dodging leaves...
Alright! Looks like I have a plan!
Apparently I don’t have any sort of “level.” But my skill does!
Right now, if I analyze myself, it comes out like...
Anti Kythera
Human (♀) Age 15
Skill: Gearcraft Lv. 2
Yup, my skill went and leveled up.
“Crown! Give me chakrams in both hands!”
[—Ready. Processing.]
This was something I’d tried before.
Gears spinning fast can only move slowly.
I found a solution, though.
So I put them on my body and plunged forward.
Still, now that my skill had leveled up, my gears had a bit more freedom to them.
The gears on each of my hands came as a small and large set, with the big one on the outside of the little one.
Alright, looks like you get it!
[—Lifting freeze. Commencing reboot.]
Vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!
Vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!
Now I just had to hit them. Fortunately, I’ve had a lot of practice.
[—Critical temperature reached.]
“Now throw it! I’m counting on you to course correct!”
The small gears weren’t spinning. They went flying.
The big gears were rotating, while fixed to the little ones.
And so...!
“Take this!!”
They both went flying together.
“Roooar!”
It dodged! But you know? You may dodge it once, and yet...!
Vrrrrrrrrr!
“Grah!”
“You can’t keep on dodging it, can you?!”
I’ve got free control over the unmoving gear’s trajectory! Well, it looks like it lost a little momentum, though...
But still, touching it sure is hazardous to your health!
That’s my Anti-style Flying Saucer!
Now go on and take it!
The two forest wolves were chopped up into twigs in no time!
The bodies of these things were made up of fine branches. Break, and break, and keep on breaking!
Ah, it chopped right on through!
[—Others approaching. Five in number.]
“Wha?! All at once?!”
Gah! I’m getting surrounded here!
W-What should I do?
Ack, I suddenly stopped without thinking. This... could be bad...
“Rooooar!!”
“Gyah! Crown! Give me a big chakram!!”
[—Deploying according to predicted intentions.]
A large two-part gear appeared around my hips.
“E-Expand it!!”
[—Progressing according to predicted intentions.]
Vrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!
My gear roared as it spun, its outside covered in sharp teeth. Thanks to my skill leveling up, it was bigger than the ones I used to be able to make. That’s cool and all, but when am I going to start getting to the size of the ones I’ve used for item storage...?
The instant the five forest wolves leapt at me, my gear expanded with a woosh!
Ooh... With a yelp, they were all split in half... like a baguette being sliced for a sandwich...
“W-We won, just as planned...”
[——.]
“W-What is it...?”
[—Current actions acknowledged as an attack. Shall an attack name be registered?]
“Huh? U-Um, how about ‘Hooper’...”
[—Attack name “Hooper” registered. When attack name is input, it shall be deployed around your hips.]
I’d beaten all those forest wolves. It was kind of a strange feeling, somehow. They were the exact same type as the ones that had terrorized the town four years back, and I beat them, all by myself.
It really was an odd feeling.
Though I was kind of freaking out a little when all five of them attacked at the same time.
Still, to be honest, they were really, really weak compared to the bergbear. Like, seriously.
I’d been magicless until just recently, but now my common sense had crumbled to bits and was getting reformed.
Yeah. This Gearcraft of mine may be a pretty crazy skill. I mean, if just anyone could beat forest wolves this easily, there wouldn’t have been such a big panic in town back then.
Yup, this was kind of out of the ordinary, I’d say.
You could do all sorts of stuff with this skill, depending on how you used it.
I had definitely wanted power. I mean, everyone had made fun of me for so long. But now, I was seriously hesitating. This power that I’d gotten my hands on...
What could I do with it? What should I do with it?
I had no idea. But still, I wanted to find out.
If I used this power, would I end up famous? It was definitely possible.
Would I be able to show up my old “friends” who had made fun of me? Yeah, maybe.
Would I beat another bergbear?
I could probably earn a lot of money... But that would be all.
I had no idea what would come afterwards.
Things would just end with that... And I’d hate that.
Man, I was thinking some foolish things.
Was there some way to live my life that only I could pull off?
I didn’t care anymore if people made fun of me and called me a “gear girl.” If I worked hard, I should be able to earn some money. And it’s not like I want to become some adventurer who does nothing but fight monsters.
How could I live so that the people who’ve supported me would be proud?
That was why I left town, to find that out. It was my goal.
But I still hadn’t accomplished anything...
[—We have arrived.]
“Huh?!”
Ah...
I think I may have just been spacing out as I walked...
So what? We’re there?
“This is the place...?”
[—To be precise, the vector now points downwards.]
“Downwards?”
It was a clearing in the trees, where fallen leaves seemed to like to gather up.
What does “downwards” mean here...? Is there something buried?
“What am I supposed to do...?”
[—Suggesting action causing impact.]
“You mean fire off one of those ‘Involute’ attacks?! That’d be dangerous, wouldn’t it...? Plus there’s a chance I wouldn’t be able to move afterwards, isn’t there?”
[—Affirmative. Unable to deny possibility.]
“Geez... Alright, let’s ask the source! Crown, bring out the mask!”
[—Ready.]
A gear appeared in front of me and dropped out the mask.
It was night when I first saw it, and that incident with it going all scratch, scratch on top of my desk seriously freaked me out, but somehow... I actually felt kind of numb to all that now.
I picked it up using both hands and said, “See, I took you where you wanted. Is this good?”
Can I just go ahead and leave you here?
[—Request for synchronization received from item: “Cursed Mask.”]
“What?”
[—Status after synchronization: Unpredictable.]
“W-What’s that mean...?”
[—Permission to synchronize?]
Hearing “synchronize” was making me think of how the dimension stone and analyze card got stuck in Crown... I probably wouldn’t be able to take it back, but...
“Hmm... Alright, permission granted. I don’t want to leave things unsettled...”
[—Ready.]
Vrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...
Gah! Wait, I’m synchronizing it with a cursed item! What was I thinking?!
“H-Hold on a—”
[—Synchronization complete.]
“Man, you work fast...”
U-Ugh... Please tell me that didn’t strengthen the curse...
Sigh...
“Wah! Crown, hold on! Don’t come any closer! The mask! It’s coming right for me!”
[—Confirmed.]
Wait, aren’t you going to stop it?! That thing’s the source of the curse, isn’t it?!
Fwip!
Ah... Now I’m wearing it...
“Am I going to live to see my golden years...? Hmm...? Oh, hey!”
I was looking through the mask at that pile of leaves from before. Only now, I could see something that I couldn’t then.
“A-A magic circle?”
There was a shining pattern floating above the fallen leaves.
“This is amazing...! It’s so pretty, isn’t it? Wait, Crown, can you see it?”
[—Affirmative. Observation is possible as a result of skill synchronization.]
“But still, what is this magic circle even for?”
There was clearly some kind of meaning behind the shape of the thing. And it was big. Like, it must have been a perfect circle with a diameter of about 10 mels.
The pattern was shining... a sort of yellow-green, I guess? From the location it wouldn’t be a Wind one... Earth, then?
I’d done my homework in magic school. And I prepared for all the lectures. So if nothing else, I knew my stuff.
This was an Earth magic circle for sure.
Man, what’s with this thing? It’s way too complex.
But still, I could more or less tell the meaning of the pattern and how to start it up by looking at the shape of the thing.
“That’s ‘seal’ and ‘center’...”
This curved pattern wasn’t meant for sealing away monsters. It was probably to hide the place.
There should be a way to activate it right in the center.
“This is it...”
I accidentally brushed my hand up against it. As I did, it felt like the mask heated up a bit.
Then, it happened all of a sudden. Like, seriously, out of nowhere.
Fwoom...
“Wha?”
A whole 10 mels in diameter had opened up beneath me.
Gravity sure is amazing, isn’t it? It means you’ll always—
Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...!
I was falling. This wasn’t a test or something. I was up against physics, and not just as a school subject.
I was literally, physically falling.
Gwaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!
“C-C-C-C-CROOOOOOOWN!!!”
[—Anti-gravity mechanism deployed.]
★Alright, everyone! The anti-gravity mechanism is real simple!
①Have a small gear act as an axle for a large gear to rotate around!
②Make the large gear bigger when it’s rotating up, and smaller when it’s rotating down!
③Slap a whole lot of them on your body!
Got it? Great! Now let’s give it a try!
Twinkle!
Uuuuuugh...
...I stopped in midair.
I must’ve fallen about 30 mels, but it was still a long way down.
“Ha! Haha... hahaha... haha...!”
Tears started to stream down my face.
[—Gravity value ± 0. Position stabilized. Currently 38 mels, 56 celchis from upper entrance.]
If this hole had been 20 mels deep, I would be dead...
“U-U-Ugh...”
[—No external injuries detected. Awaiting input.]
“I-I wanna go hooooooome!!!”
I didn’t wet myself. Not at all. Not even a little, uh-uh...
“S-Sniffle...”
[—Crown Gear requests encouragement.]
“Uuuuuuuuugh...!”
Sorry... Just give me a minit here to get my emotions out...
Haaah...
“... Let’s go. Crown, I want to do something about the darkness. Got any ideas?”
[—Recommendation: Employ “Cardiff Fire.”]
“T-The forest fire?! You can do that...?”
[—Using a limited deployment.]
About 10 itty bitty gears appeared in the air around me, then fire shot out of them with a fwoosh!
O-Ooh! That’s amazing... So I can split the flame up like that, huh?
It was like I had my own floating candles.
Huh...? Wait... Can you usually store fire in an item bag? Oh, well, I put an entire forest fire in mine, so I guess so...
“Well, whatever... Thanks, Crown. Let’s get going.”
[—Beginning low velocity descent.]
Vrr, vrr, vrrrrrr!
My body slowly and steadily lowered towards the bottom of the hole, accompanied by the floating candles.
The special attack that beat the bear, Involute. I don’t know why it’s named that, but still... For some reason, it allows me to float in the air. According to Crown, it’s “a quasi-anti-gravity device, utilizing rotational centrifugal force.”
It wasn’t perfect, though. To put it simply, moving up and down with it is easy, but moving forwards and backwards or side to side is still tricky. And it’s tricky to maintain my balance, too.
So I couldn’t exactly fly freely through the skies like a bird. I wonder what would happen if my skill level went up more, though... I’d probably be able to just keep on going up, but I’m not really interested in being up among the stars.
For now, though, I was doing the opposite and steadily drifting downwards.
“It’s so deep... And dark...”
When I looked down I saw a big, biiiig cave stretching out beneath me. It was scary, but it wasn’t too bad since Crown was lowering me down pretty slowly.
...Was that out of consideration for my feelings?
The walls looked like they were made by piling up stones... Yeah, like a big well.
It was dank and uncomfortable, but the space was so wide open that it also strangely had a bit of a mysterious feel to it.
It was quiet, so the sound of the gears keeping me afloat reverberated through the air.
The numerous little flames shined in the darkness of the abyss.
[—Bottom detected. 102 mels, 87 celchis.]
“Seriously...? I didn’t think 100 mels would look this deep...”
I slooooowly touched down on the ground.
The little lights lit up the area around me. I could only see one big path leading ahead. Amazingly... it actually looked to be paved.
Thanks to the sudden drop in air pressure, the mask had slipped loose around my forehead.
...Can I just leave it like this?
“Crown. You’ve got the knowledge of a beginner dungeon in your head, right? Is there any chance this place is...”
[—Analyzing.
—Affirmative. This terrain shows the foundations of a dungeon.
—Perceived mana outside of mana circle up above: zero.
—Predicting that dungeon core has been eliminated.]
“So it’s the ruins of a dungeon...”
That’s a shock. I never imagined there was a place like this between Donius and Cardiff.
The mask beckoned me into the now-pointless labyrinth.
This cave... The way it was paved made me think of an irrigation channel. It reminded me of a school field trip back in Cardiff.
“I’m heading in. If anything moves, tell me.”
[—Continuing search.]
I walked onwards, sending the little fire gears out ahead of me. Yeah, it was no shock, but I was scared. It’s real dark, after all. I mean, there’s pretty much no light down in this cave...
Or so I thought. There were actually little shining spots scattered here and there on both sides of the path.
The mask heated up a little again.
“Light magic stones... Are they reacting to you?” I asked, tapping the mask on my forehead.
I wouldn’t have seen that magic circle from before if I didn’t have this thing on, either. It must have been set up so that the person wearing it could see the path forward.
...Just what exactly was hidden here?
I was worried monsters may have settled down here, but fortunately I didn’t run into anything. Here and there, though, there were places where it looked like a path had been caved in.
Somebody had made sure this path was the only way forward.
Finally, I arrived at the end.
The ceiling was a bit high here. When I illuminated the space with my flames, I saw furniture.
This place is...!
“A... room?”
There was a room in the depths of these hidden labyrinth ruins. It... didn’t feel like a boss room, though. Then again, I’ve never been in a dungeon before so what do I know?
There was a desk and a chair, as well as a lamp and a map. Yeah... Feels like somebody had been living here. Was this where the owner of the mask on my forehead had lived?
“If they were holed up in a place like this, were they some sort of big bad guy...?”
...
“Well, whatever. So, what now...? Am I supposed to take care of some unfinished business? Destroy the ‘special books’ in the sock drawer or something?”
Hopefully it’s not too big a job for a restaurant owner’s daughter.
Shake, shake, shake...!
“Gah, it’s shaking! Crown, the mask is shaking!”
[—Crown can confirm.]
“Hey, you! Don’t you have any sense of danger?! Ah...!”
Fwip!
Ah, the mask went ahead and re-equipped itself.
“Seriously, you’re cutting off the circulation in my... Ah!”
It was shining! The desk! The drawer of the desk was shining!!
It was the same sort of yellow-green pattern that I’d seen with the magic circle at the entrance.
So this mask really does have the power to see hidden magic!
“That has to be this thing’s objective, right...?”
[—Direction of vector is a perfect match with the indicated point.]
“Should I open it...?”
Just don’t let it be pictures of naked ladies...
When I grabbed the handle, that yellow-green light seemed to burst apart, then disappear.
Clack. It was open.
I pulled, and it slid out with no trouble. Whoever made this seriously did a good job.
And inside...
“A knife and... a letter?”
There was a letter inside an envelope. All that was written on the outside was the recipient.
“To Basseley.”
That’s a woman’s name, right...?
Who is it? Your lover?
“So should I just burn this...?”
Shakeshakeshake!!
“Hey! It’s shaking again! Way too hard, actually!”
[—Crown can confirm.]
“You dummy!! I-I can’t get it off?! This thing really is a cursed mask! Gah, it’s itchy! My eyes are feeling itchy!”
Shake...
“Ha... haha... I-It stopped.”
Hey, what’re you doing? I was just talking about burning a love letter from your one-sided crush, right?
“You... don’t seriously want me to deliver this, do you?”
...
...This time, it wasn’t shaking. S-So did this silence mean that was right?
“Come on, give me a break...”
[—Reporting. Vector direction confirmed to be linked to one more item.]
“Huh? To the knife, too?”
So this letter and knife were a set?
“This knife... it’s completely clear...!”
Normally, a knife’s handle and blade are made of two different things. But this one seemed to be made entirely of crystal.
It was amazingly clear, like ice.
Ah! There’s some sort of plant inside...!
“That’s a bud... Is it a flower?”
[—Unable to find corresponding information.]
“Huh?! If it’s some plant that even you don’t know, it must be pretty rare, right?”
Crown had the information of a freshly created dungeon core packed into its head. That was a trait of the analyze card it had absorbed. So shouldn’t it have info on plant and animal type monsters?
Well, there may be all sorts of plants that can only grow in a dungeon.
“So, what am I supposed to do with this...?”
[—Update: Vector direction has shifted.]
“...Huh?”
Whaaaaaaaaat?!!!!
“Hey, hold on! You don’t mean...?!”
[—The curse’s target direction has changed.]
“Aaaagh, so it’s telling me to go off somewhere else, now?!!!”
I’m not your gofer!
Even back in school, I never gave in to that sort of harassment!
Damn, if you weren’t cursed, you dumb mask, I would totally just ignore you! Wouldn’t even give you so much as a glance!
You’re just wasting my life away, seriously! But I guess I can’t just go and dare it to make the first move...
“Alright, this way next!” I guess...?
Pryce was always getting tricked into doing stuff for my mom because he couldn’t bring himself to turn her down...
Tumble.
“Ah!”
The mask came off all of a sudden, but I caught it midway through its fall. I looked at it as it lay in my hand.
...It was a strange feeling, like we were locking eyes.
Ah, well this is a pain... I get the feel that if I make a move without thinking, I might not be able to refuse it again. I mean, I got that, somehow.
This mask was asking for my help right now. Like it was saying, “Please.”
“Haah... Playing to my good-natured side, are you?”
I’ve defeated a bear and wiped out a forest fire. So why not listen to a request from a cursed mask?
“Crown, let’s work under the assumption that we have a place to deliver this.”
[—Request accepted. Registering guidelines for action. Beginning support.]
I grabbed the flowered knife and letter, and prepared to take off into the air.