The part that was dark reminded me of the cursed magic stone .

“…Maybe…”

I thought as I pulled some weeds out of the ground and threw them towards the darkened stone .

And then… The gra.s.s that touched the black part of the stone shriveled up and died .

But the gra.s.s that touched the blue parts were unchanged .

It was as if a part of the stone had become cursed .

…This made me even more confused as to the truth of this stone .

Out of my acquaintances, the only person who was likely to know anything was…the Dryad .

‘Is the Dryad busy now?’

I asked the slimes that I had left behind in her forest .

Some of my slimes were there in order to protect her if something happened .

The Dryad herself was able to teleport in an instant, so she could come if she was free .

Well, she couldn’t teleport if I was on a different continent .

‘She’s not doing anything!’

‘I’ll call her!’

The slimes said as they went to call the Dryad .

And then…a few minutes pa.s.sed, and the Dryad appeared from the shadow of a nearby tree .

‘What is it?’

‘I found this strange magic stone . …What do you think?’

I said as I pointed at the part that had darkened .

After I stopped getting close to it, the stone had not changed in color at all .

‘Hmmm…’

The Dryad began to inspect it .

And then after a while, she answered .

‘It seemed like it is absorbing the magic energy from its surroundings . …I thought the magic energy was very thin here, maybe its related to that?’

Absorbing the energy…

I hadn’t noticed it myself, but could it be because of the stone?

I wondered . Then the Dryad looked at the darkened area and continued .

‘The black part is just like the cursed stone . …But I don’t know why it only affects a certain area…’

‘It’s because that’s the spot that I tried to touch . …It turned black right when my hand touched it . ’

‘So…maybe it means that it turns black when that spot has absorbed a lot of magic? After all, you would have much more than anything in this forest . ’

I see .

So it turns black after absorbing a lot .

In that case…

‘So this blue stone, it’s what a cursed stone is originally?

‘What do you mean?’

‘You said that it sucks in magical energy from its surroundings, yes? And then when that is finished, wouldn’t it be a cursed stone?’

‘…Maybe!’

In that case, perhaps we were witnessing the birth of a cursed stone…

But the problem was, why was it here…

‘Do blue magic stones just grow naturally like this?’

‘No . It’s definitely made by humans . …Besides, I sense human magic that isn’t yours, Yuji . ’

So maybe it really was the Blue Moon of Salvation that left it here…

It was good that we found it before anything happened . But they really were up to no good…

But it was just as I thought this…that I remembered that Rikardo was currently experiencing something very strange .

…Had nothing really happened?

‘Hey, Dryad . Do places that have less magic energy become colder?’

‘Of course? There are places, like near volcanic mountains, that are very hot . And it’s usually because there is too much energy there . …Though, there are some warm places where it’s very thin . ’

In other words, this weather could be due to the magic stone…

‘I suppose I should just purify it for now . Also, we have to find the culprit . ’

There was a part of me that wanted to keep it as a sample . But I couldn’t make the slimes carry something so dangerous .

But it would turn into a cursed stone if I touched it . I would be treated like some kind of terrorist if I walked around carrying that . And it would be my own fault .

‘Yes… If there is someone who wanted to make it, then they should come back to pick it up later!’

‘Right . …And there seem to be a few of them here . So the enemies base might not be too far away . ’

So saying, I created a barrier around the magic stone and activated purification magic .

Perhaps it was because there wasn’t enough energy yet, but no monsters appeared this time .

‘Did you find any more magic stones?’

‘I did!’

‘Over here!’

‘There are so many!’

Apparently, this forest was full of them…

‘I’ll purify them one at a time, so tell me when you find them! Also, continue to hunt the Greedy Boars!’

‘Understood!’

‘Okay!’