“We were so busy dealing with the monsters so that I hadn’t made a report yet…but I actually caught one of the guys who was carrying the cursed stone.”

“Caught… So there was someone who tried to bring a cursed stone into this town!?”

“No, it was actually some slimes that were far away who caught him.”

I said as I pointed to the slime on my shoulder.

Well, it wasn’t actually this slime that did it.

“A slime caught a human…? Well, we’ll leave that for now. So, can we question this person?”

“No. I had captured him alive, but he then killed himself.”

“Killed himself… It would be one thing to do it while you were being questioned, but right after being captured? That is very strange. He was either incredibly loyal to his organization. Or there was something else… But even large kingdoms rarely have soldiers who are so skilled.”

So the manager thought so too.

There was too little information from the culprit…the only thing I could relate was the words he said before killing himself.

“He said, ‘to save this tarnished world!’…what does that mean?”

I asked the manager without much expectations for an answer.

But-the blood seemed to drain from his face as he heard this.

“Yuji…is-is that what the culprit really said?”

“Yeah. What does it mean?”

“I have an idea. But…no, it can’t be.”

Apparently, there was some important meaning behind the words I had said.

However, I had no idea what it would be.

“…Those words, is there something special about them?”

“There was a criminal organization called Blue Moon of Salvation that fell about 40 years ago… Well, it was practically a religion. And those were the words they would say before death.”

I see.

It was an old religion.

Still, I didn’t understand why that would make him react so strongly.

“So, this Blue Moon of Salvation was an especially large criminal organization?”

“No, they were really just made up of about 20 people. …Still, 500 people died in order to bring an end to those 20. They were not normal.”

500 to kill 20.

As they were being sent to hunt down a criminal organization, the people who had partic.i.p.ated were likely strong knights and Adventurers, not average citizens.

“They were that powerful?”

“Yes. Their skill with magic exceeds what the kingdom is capable of today. Besides, they did not put much value on the lives of their own. They easily used suicidal magic. …Had it not been for that, casualties might have been halved.”

…That sounded horrible.

Perhaps their magic skills were gained through human experiments.

However…

“They should be. …But aside from that great country, the Blue Moon of Salvation was the only organization that was capable of making cursed stones. Besides, those words before death… We cannot be sure that members of the Blue Moon of Salvation did not survive.”

The manager said, deep in thought.

“Is it really possible that the organization could still exist after being destroyed 40 years ago?”

“Normally, no. However, there was definitely something odd about the way their organization fell. They were always odd, really. And so we hadn’t thought about it too much… But if they had only made a theatrical show of being destroyed while descending underground in order make cursed stones…well, it would explain a lot. After all, they were good with summoning and production magic.”

Summoning magic…

Indeed, monsters had been summoned from the fragments of the magic stones.

—In a way, I had also been summoned to this world.

If I was summoned—that would mean someone in this world summoned me.

My summoning and the cursed stone.

The timing couldn’t be just a coincidence.

Perhaps—these two events were related to each other.

…I was starting to feel that this world was incredibly dangerous.

Back when I first met the slimes, I had thought it would be a peaceful world.