'This is very troublesome. I don't have much time left until the announcement. Possibly, I'd like to get this done quickly, but...'
Staring at the old man and seeing how adamant he was at not wanting to do anything with the ring, I suddenly started to sympathise with the weird version of Caius.
"Maybe I should also..."
No, this wasn't what was important.
I shook the thoughts from my head and glanced down at the ring on my finger. The old man had warned me that something was wrong with it, yet no matter how closely I studied it, the ring appeared perfectly ordinary.
I had used it so often, and not once did I feel anything amiss with it.
I looked at the old man again. He seemed to have turned his attention towards the materials once more.
"Can you tell me exactly what is wrong with this ring? You mentioned something about them being tainted by a substance. What sort of substance is it?"
A certain thought crossed my mind.
It couldn't possibly be—
"I don't know."
