Chapter 27
That scared me.
Honestly, if Koa and the others hadn't been there, I'd have screamed and panicked.
I don't know what time it was, but while the night was quiet and everyone was asleep, a huge crackling sound suddenly rang out.
I sure jumped out of bed.
A scaredy-cat?
Anyone would have jumped awake.
On a quiet night, when you're tired and asleep, anyone would be scared if a loud noise suddenly rang out.
So I'm not a scaredy-cat!
Talking myself down is so pathetic.
My little sister used to ridicule me relentlessly, so I never even had time to feel down...
Remembering that just pissed me off.
I'm back.
First, I took a deep breath and checked things out.
What had happened?
I went outside to investigate.
...
It was night; there was no way I could see anything.
I waited for a while, but nothing happened.
I decided to wait a little longer.
I'm sleepy.
It would probably be fine to check tomorrow.
I was tired from working on the house today.
I failed at processing the hides again.
...
Something had gone wrong.
It was because of the curse.
There was a faint shadow inside the barrier.
The instant I saw it, I got irritated.
Worse, the baby spiders saw the shadow and made a beeline for the house.
I was irritated that it had scared my companions, too.
...I took a deep breath.
Calm down, calm down.
Well, first I'll purify the shadow inside the barrier.
While I'm at it, I'll reinforce the barrier.
...I want to expand the area I can purify.
There was a lake. I wanted some fish to eat; river fish would do, too.
Was it cursed?
If I looked at it every day, I'd get used to it. Purifying it should be fine.
Now that I could sense magic power, I used it to connect the rocky mountain to the lake, for the time being.
It was pretty far. Maybe too far?
I had no choice but to try.
I spread the magic power to the left and right,
and seeped it into the ground below, deeper and deeper.
It gradually reached a considerable depth.
Eventually, the magic power spread across the surface in a huge circle enclosing the rocky mountain and the lake,
and seeped far below that circle, all the way down.
Then I made sure to purify everything thoroughly.
I pictured the mold in a bathroom.
I imagined mold remover slowly stripping away black mold with roots packed densely together.
Mold is persistent.
I used to battle it in the bathroom during the year-end deep cleaning.
Besides, anything you receive should be properly returned.
I hereby return the curse I received, just as it is.
"Purification"
Next, the barrier.
The aboveground barrier was fine, but I discovered a problem with the underground barrier.
The curse was seeping in with the water.
I pictured an oil strainer.
One that used an activated-carbon filter.
My mother had used one and been impressed.
While I was at it, I stacked three of them to reinforce it.
Should I have made it five?
I should probably return the curse that had accumulated, too.
Yeah, I'll return it properly to its owner once a day.
I think adding a little something extra would be good, too.
I only returned the curse instead of purifying it. That was a mistake.
I need to make sure I return it properly.
"Barrier"
Today was another refreshing morning.