Lately, strange things had been happening with odd frequency. It struck me as rather mysterious.
"Do you think we're being targeted by the evil cultists?"
"......That would seem to be the obvious conclusion," Lowell replied.
"Wait, Tort-kun, are you only just realizing this?" Spira added.
I’d only voiced a simple question, yet both Lowell and Spira looked at me with pure exasperation. Honestly, I’d suspected as much myself, but there had been so little actual harm that I’d begun to wonder if I was just imagining things.
"Well, that forced teleportation incident from the other day only resulted in us finding a bounty of rare materials," I argued.
While we were exploring the dungeon a few days ago, we had been surrounded by a group of unknown adventurers. They used a mysterious scroll, and the next thing I knew, we were standing in an unfamiliar location. I suspect it was one of the deeper floors—somewhere no one had ever reached before.
It was a fantastical place where Crystal Trees grew in dense clusters. Since we happened to be teleported right on top of a gathering point, I tried a bit of mining. I ended up with piles of ore mixed with Mithril and Orichalcum, not to mention gemstones and rare medicinal herbs. In terms of resource gathering, it was incredibly productive.
The only real issue was that our Return Crystals didn't work. I wasn’t sure if that was a natural property of the floor or if someone was using localized interference. Normally, being stuck on a deep floor with powerful monsters and no way home would be a desperate situation.
However, by pure chance, we found a path connected to the Fairy Realm before we encountered a single monster. After crossing over, I explained our situation to the Queen, and she was kind enough to teleport us back to the Trent Forest on the twentieth floor. In the end, we walked away with a haul of rare materials and zero problems.
"And weren't you also targeted by a sniper?" Lowell pointed out.
"Even then, I only ended up with a rare Skill Book, you know?"
Lowell was referring to an incident from a different day. Someone had apparently tried to snipe me in the streets of Aingurna. The reason the details were so fuzzy was that the culprit was never caught, and more importantly, there hadn't been any damage. At the time, there was a sudden loud bang followed by a mysterious scream that made me jump. Lying right beside me was the magic stone of a monster called an Invisible Walker and a Skill Book for 【Blade Through】.
An Invisible Walker is a monster said to be almost impossible to observe because it is completely transparent. Their motives are unknown; they are strange creatures that rarely show hostility toward humans. Some people even doubt they exist since they leave no traces, but because magic stones are found like this from time to time, most believe they are real.
By the way, 【Blade Through】 is a skill that, once mastered, allows the user to cut through the hardest materials as if they were tofu. I gave it to Lowell to use later.
A second shot followed immediately after the first, but the Invisible Walker’s death rattle had put me on high alert. I threw up a wall with Create Golem just in time, and we emerged completely unscathed.
"And what about that time you were almost stabbed by a cursed knife?" Spira asked.
"Ah, right. That was a blessing in disguise!"
"......I suppose you could call it that," she sighed.
The cursed knife Spira mentioned was apparently a dark artifact that mummified anything it pierced. At the time, I was right in the middle of a trial-and-error process, trying to figure out a way to make bonito flakes. A suspicious man had approached me and suddenly brandished the knife, lunging for my chest. It was so sudden that I’d had no choice but to block with the fish fillet I was holding. To my amazement... it turned into perfect bonito flakes!
To be honest, I’d been struggling with the recipe, so I was so happy that I tried to shake the man's hand. He looked a bit grubby, though, so I cast Clean on him first... and it seemed like the magic purified the malice right out of him. Looking back, my only real takeaway from the event was that I’d saved a man from a curse and gained a handy new tool for my kitchen.
"Well, it's Tort we're talking about!" Halfa laughed.
『That's right! When it's Tort, a pinch always turns into a chance!』 Shiroru added.
I didn't quite understand why Halfa and Shiroru had so much faith in my luck, but I supposed it was better than being looked at with pity.
"However, this time it isn't quite so simple."
The attack today was a direct bombing of our inn. It seemed my room had been the target; it was currently a charred wreck that hadn't retained a single piece of its original furniture. We were safe only because we’d been sleeping in the Magic House deployed in a different room. The only casualty was one of the egoless golems I’d left on lookout duty.
Spira’s power had managed to contain the fire before it could spread, so the other guests were safe as well. At the very least, no one had been seriously injured. Even so, the damage to the building was extensive—it looked like it would be easier to tear it down and start over. The guilt of dragging the innkeepers into our mess weighed heavily on me. I suppose the least we can do is donate the funds for the reconstruction. I’ll also teach them a few of my best recipes; hopefully, that will help them return to being the popular establishment they once were.
Still, the evil cultists are clearly losing their restraint. Now that they've started involving innocent people, it might be time to bring this whole affair to a swift conclusion.