Chapter 40: The Mysterious Masked Woman

Before the dawn arrived, a raucous cheer erupted in a room within the town of Hearth Bay. A balding man leapt from his chair in a fit of excitement, shrieking almost hysterically, "It’s done! It’s done!"

Before him lay a ledger, surrounded by a dizzying array of exorcism tools. Beside these were three empty vials of inhibitors, which had left a viscous black streak at the corner of the disheveled man’s mouth.

He danced about, gesticulating wildly. "The curse has been purged!"

A woman who had entered upon hearing the commotion looked at the man, a flash of disgust crossing her eyes before she skillfully buried her emotions. She sat opposite him, crossed her legs, and asked, "Well done. The upper management is very interested in this ledger. As an expert in this field, they would like to hear your opinion."

"Ha! This is a trade secret. You won’t find three people on this entire continent capable of stripping a curse from a cursed object as I have!"

The man puffed out his chest, feeling transcendent. Having successfully extracted the curse from the ledger, he felt as though he had reached the pinnacle of his life. This was a technique even the Containment Bureau had not mastered; it was originally his own research project. A genius like him had been cast out by the former director simply because of some minor infractions.

Now, look who was laughing last.

The director who fired him was long dead, while he had finally turned all his theories into reality. Those fools didn't understand the greatness of this technology. If they could extract curses, it meant they would, in a true sense, control the power of the Evil Gods!

The man could already envision his name being written into history books, worshipped by countless generations to come.

"Father of Cursed Objects—what do you think of that title?"

The woman frowned, glancing at the man who had become oblivious in his excitement, and explained, "We have no intention of prying into your trade secrets. We only want to know the cause of the cursed object's appearance and whether such incidents will happen again."

The consortium wanted stability; they could not allow a few cursed objects to ruin the entire industry.

"Ah, you mean that? That is a highly improbable event."

The man waved his hand, uninterested in the origins of the ledger. "The essence of a cursed object stems from human obsession. If this happens again in the future, just kill those wretches before they learn the truth. However, if your superiors are interested in the artificial creation of cursed objects, we could enter into a long-term collaboration. I conducted several experiments in this area when I worked in the Research Department of the Containment Bureau."

"I will relay this to my superiors."

"Tick, tick."

The woman wanted to say something more, but was interrupted by a sudden, light sound.

Is that... the sound of water?

Why would there be the sound of water?

She looked up and saw droplets falling onto the bald man's head, followed by a sky outside the window shrouded in blood-red. Although Hearth Bay was perpetually veiled in darkness, such a sight should never appear.

What terrified her even more was that she hadn't noticed when this anomaly had begun.

The sound of water and the blood-stained sky had appeared suddenly, as if time had skipped a beat while she was conversing with the man.

A soul-piercing cold dragged her back to reality. Looking at the balding man again, he remained in his previous posture, looking as if he were about to enlighten her on the many benefits of cursed object research, but he could no longer make a sound.

The man had turned into an ice sculpture, yet she hadn't perceived when it happened.

Another terrifying thought surfaced.

Though only a few seconds had passed, she felt as if the man had been silent for a very long time.

Then, a cold sensation touched the back of her hand. Something had fallen onto it, making her hair stand on end. Instinctively wanting to draw her gun, she turned her head toward her waist, but her right hand, now turned into an ice sculpture, stopped before it could reach the weapon.

What kind of... magic is this?

That was the last thought remaining in her mind.

Then, even her thoughts were frozen.

...

"Hiss—! So cold, why is it suddenly so cold!?"

The guard at the room’s entrance shivered violently.

His colleague, who was standing guard with him, also reflexively hugged his shoulders. This cold was unusual; it was far more biting than what they had experienced during the Empire's Northern Border War. He wanted to say more, but was interrupted by an unusual sight at his feet.

The two guards looked at each other, asking uncertainly, "Was the floor wet before?"

A second ago, they could still hear the cursed object expert’s non-stop lecture, but now, the entire corridor was deathly silent, save for their own breathing.

Confirming the ominous premonition in each other's hearts, they drew their swords, mustered their courage, and pushed open the door.

The room was empty.

Both the cursed object expert and the envoy sent by the consortium were gone, but water was indeed spreading from the room. The floor was soaked, and one could still see ice shards melting at a visible rate.

Meanwhile, at Riverbank Town, all was deathly silent.

"Tick, tick."

Hearing the sound suddenly emerge beside her, the woman wearing a smiling mask, who had been guarding the mailbox, looked toward the noise.

The space in front of the teleportation magic node twisted into a point. A woman wearing a swirl mask emerged from the distorted space. "It ended so quickly."

The woman with the smiling mask appeared somewhat disappointed and muttered softly, "Tch, I can't believe it went so smoothly."

The woman with the swirl mask flicked her left hand, tossing the ledger and a glass jar containing an unidentified tumor toward her.

Clutching the glass bottle, the woman with the smiling mask suddenly noticed something interesting, her tone turning excited. "Huh? What’s with this look? Where did this bouquet come from? You didn't hold a bouquet like this while you were taking out the target, did you? Bought it from a magic shop in Hearth Bay? It actually looks quite decent. Tell me, how much did you spend this time?"

"My boyfriend gave it to me. Do you have one?"

The answer and the counter-question were delivered in one breath, sharp and resonant.

This strike landed a critical hit on the woman with the smiling mask, freezing the expression on her face until she could no longer smile. She let out an angry battle cry, "Where did you get a boyfriend? And even if you have one, so what? I can't even remember how many men I've dated; you and I are simply not on the same level!"

"But did they ever give you flowers?"

The woman with the smiling mask widened her eyes in disbelief, stammering for a long while before finally squeezing out, "You bitch! Are you sick or something?"

This witch’s brain must have been fried today. Why was her aggression suddenly so high?

She scrutinized the witch again, noticing that the witch’s aggression wasn't just in her words—the eyes she revealed seemed to be spewing fire.

Her own momentum instantly weakened, and she shrank her neck. "Wait a minute, sister, have I offended you recently?"

"The advice you gave me before—were you lying to me?"

"Huh? What advice?"

"Tying someone up, locking them in a cellar where no one can find them, so that every time he opens his eyes, he can only see me. Why is he not at all excited when he hears this, but instead looks completely repulsed?"

The witch questioned her and added... a threat. "If this has ruined my image, you’re going to be eating an ice bolt."