Mechanical Instinct Delivery

“I have heard that people have suddenly begun disappearing in your city, Jorice. Any idea what that could be about?”

From what resembled a complex chanism with a pale crystal adorning its middle, a tired, almost lethargic voice ca out, questioning a blond youth who was sitting back in an armchair that leaked opulence.

“Leton, we haven’t spoken in more than a month, and that’s how you start the conversation?”

The blond chuckled before leaning forward.

“How did you even hear of this so quickly? It has barely been a few days”

“Let’s just say… I have been on the lookout for that sort of occurrences. Over here in Tolten, we had a slight accident, as you know”

“Are you implying that your monster problem could have made its way to Lintown? The distance separating our two towns is pretty big, you know? Even a bird would take at least half a month to make it from Tolten to here… So on foot? I doubt you would have chased away that monster if it were so fast”

“I am just being cautious, and anyway, it’s always a good thing to solve disappearances, isn't it? Especially in your case, you don’t have that many city guards to begin with, and every ti another one goes missing, the profession becos less attractive…”

“Right, right, you hit the nail on the head! What do you want to know?”

“Do you have any clue or lead?”

“None whatsoever, the best I’ve got is the shaky testimony of so drunkard who was wandering around at night and puking all over my streets… He said that he saw a guard get knocked down, and… Ah, yes, that he saw two bright dots”

“Dots? As in, where the attacker's eyes would have been?”

“Yes”

“Did he say what colour they were?”

“You know, with how quickly you’re speaking for once, I feel like you already have a guess… But he said sothing a bit weird about the colour. He claid that they were definitely purple, but that sothing wasn’t right about it, like he was staring at a shade of purple he knew with all of his heart did not actually exist”

The blond rubbed his chin.

“The drunkard probably imagined things since he had drunk enough booze to kill ten n, but my investigators latched onto it because he also happens to be a dyer when not crawling in bars”

The man on the other side of the communication device stayed silent for a few monts.

“Any further precision about the colour?”

“You need to explain what’s so important about the colour of so glowing dots. But yes, he said that it was a dark and deep purple”

“I see. Then, Janice, you indeed have the sa monster that we had over here”

“Goddamnit…”

“Do be careful, it… It’s cruel and insidious. I suspect that it killed a whole lot more people than officially reported, and probably also has a knack for tornting its victims… In fact, special advice from , check underground”

“Excuse ?”

“You heard, check underground, it might have made itself a lair beneath the city”

“How… How can you sound so sure about that?”

“I said ‘might’”

“Don’t change the subject, you had your ‘I am stating a fact’ voice just now, how do you know that it will dig underground?”

“Don’t worry about it. Whatever you do, don’t underestimate it. Get soone powerful on the case, not just a young upstart. Hire a professional. Get soone who can at least beat a feral orc at arm wrestling, and can cut through a knight in full armour in a single swing”

“Is it that bad?”

“It’s probably worse. I would recomnd that you get all the help you can get”

“Damnit… This cos at a bad ti, you know? This is just when the cursed warlord starts making odd movents! I need to have so of my guards monitoring him to report to the crown!”

The blond scratched his neck. He had only recently been handed over the control of the city by his father, and he was already dealing with so extraordinary problems, naly a burrowing monstrosity, and the curse slinger that hadn’t done anything in fifteen years was becoming agitated. It was simply awful coincidences and timing.

Thankfully, the man on the other side of the device was willing to help.

“We don’t really have any champion or hero in the region, but I have soone that I can send your way if needed. She’s a bit hard to deal with, though”

“I frankly don’t care how rude or needy she is. If she can rid of a monster that abducts my guards, I’ll put up with it and call her Miss… What’s her na?”

“Gallilah, but you actually pronounce the G as a K”

“...Really?”

“She ca from a monsterfolk tribe. Just prepare lots of dried and salted beef, and she’ll be a delight to work with! She’s very sweet despite appearances”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

The blond narrowed his eyes as he listened to Leton’s description.

“Are you sending your girlfriend or sothing? You know, it isn’t seen as poorly as it used to be, for a human to get with a monsterfolk or anything these days…”

“Do you want help or not?”

“Mmh”

Jorice thought that this all but confird it, but he refrained from saying anything else about the topic.

“Alright, thanks for the help. I’ll prepare lots of dried beef- Wait a second”

Jorice stood up from his seat as he distinctly sensed sothing wrong. He approached and opened the window, sticking his head out, only to see the sky darkening and as so sort of flas that were both dark red and black began to form in the sky above.

The blond’s expression turned ugly, but knowing that there was nothing he could do about it, he rely went back to his seat.

“Leton, I think the curse slinger is trying to curse the entire city. I’ll keep you updated if I don’t die, alright?”

“You dog, the king gave you an amulet that protects against curses, you’ll be fine no matter what”

The blond stopped channelling mana into the communication device, sighing heavily as he wondered why this all had to happen just a few months after he took over the role of city lord…

___

Do you feel what I feel, Nara? That thing is fat.

It would appear that Argantis has been spending the last few months preparing to cast a great curse upon you

He noticed that I took all of his cursed items, and he thinks that a curse will impress ?

Curse slingers aren’t exactly known to be fully immune to curses… In fact, they are reputed to et their ends because they eventually, accidentally curse themselves with sothing they couldn’t control

Is that so?

According to your senses, the curse Argantis is attempting to cast is several tis more nourishing than the previous curses you consud, and additionally, it appears to be extrely large and condensed

Do you think I can eat that one as easily as the rest?

I do not know, but considering the ti and effort Argantis must have taken to create this curse, and then locating your location. He has either found a way to precisely target you specifically, or has decided to curse the entire city to get you

My analysis tells that he was, at least, sowhat miffed about thievery

Well, I’ve known that he has been very mad, thanks to the stream of negative emotions I have been getting in the past few months, but I honestly hadn’t expected him to actually dedicate that much ti toward getting revenge…

The curse was getting closer with every passing second, and since I was underground, I had no chance whatsoever of getting out of the way.

I guess I’ll have to do my best to eat it–Speaking of which, I had the last participant of my little ga currently stuck in between my jaw, he had lasted a bit longer than the rest, and so, as a reward, I had decided to give him a slow and agonising death.

So for the last few minutes during which I had been discussing with Nara, he had been fully alive and desperately trying to make let go by repeatedly smashing his fist into my steel body.

A valiant effort, for sure. Ultimately, a futile one, however.

I had him caught by the chest and stomach, a little crush, and I could be breaking his ribs, and squashing every organ within. Right now, I was only holding him firmly enough to prevent him from getting away, but no real damage had been done. Well, the damage was all self-inflicted from trying to fist-fight .

With all the grace that I could muster, I did a little twirl.

“~Sooorryyyy, sothing else caaaaeeee uuuuuup~”

He was allowed to appreciate my gorgeous singing for a few seconds before I shut my maw as hard as I could, biting him in half, sending blood and guts flying all over the place.

Originally, I had dragged him to one of the larger rooms of the maze, where one could stand up in full and slowly maim him little by little, but, sucks to sucks, this honour would have to be left to soone else.

Once the clean-up was done, I simply lay down on my back and spread my arms, awaiting the curse to fall. I had a good feeling about this, and so far, when it cos to that sort of stuff, my instincts have never been wrong.

Nara, however, was a bit more worried.

According to her, there was nothing proving that a powerful curse that was directly aid at would have an effect, and simply bypass my ability to eat such things.

But no proof of sothing didn’t an that it wasn’t possible.

You know sothing that I hate, Nara?

I know that you despise children, nobles, commoners, beastfolks-

Sothing besides those. I hate it when I am trying to explain sothing to soone, and I say sothing that, to , is an obvious fact, but to them, is apparently sothing that requires tangible proof. That’s just so annoying… Or when I show sothing to soone, and then say sothing in relation to that thing, and they just go: ‘Just because there is correlation, it doesn’t an that there is causation’.

This genuinely makes want to rip soone’s bones out. What do you an it doesn’t prove anything?

Is this unnad person you ntion supposed to be your brother?

How astute of you to guess that! Well, yes, I used to put up with his know-it-allism, but now? I realise that he really was spouting nonsense. He may have been a genius, but damn was he actually stupid…

Oh, it’s here-

The curse fell upon the city, and its power seeped into .

Although the sensation of coolness and the erasure of pain that followed the consumption of curses and spirits was the most remarkable effect of eating them, there was also the blinding pain that always surged for a split mont.

And right now, since the curse was atrociously large, that short instant turned into what felt exceedingly long hours, and for the first ti since then… I was re-experiencing the crushing of my flesh and bones in full.

Once, twice, thrice…

Seven tis, ten tis…

Fifteen tis, thirty tis…

Fifty… Fifty-one…

Mara?

AH! What the hell just happened?

You absorbed the entire curse

Did I? How long did it take?

The sensation of pure coolness spreading through my body is making feel quite upbeat–I feel like I could put on a sundress and start frolicking through a field of flowers just about now, just spin and giggle like a complete idiot.

Wow… This is bad, eating curses is actually like drinking alcohol… I need to calm down on that…

It lasted for about five minutes. It seems I underestimated your absorption qualities. Even such a large and dangerous curse was rendered harmless by simply coming into contact with you

It's good to know that I'm curse and spirit-proof.

I think I missed a few things that might have happened, though. What are the results of this haul?

You have three upgrades to pick from, and you can begin your first evolution.

I tapped my lower jaw.

Pardon my elvish– But holy shit!