Knockturn Alley.
A figure wearing a black beaked mask emerged from a shop with an illegible sign.
Besides the beaked mask, he wore a wide-brimmed hat and a long robe, dressed in black from head to toe.
Most of the witches and wizards passing through Knockturn Alley moved aside when they caught sight of his outfit.
The alley's regulars had seen all sorts of odd characters, but this getup still made them reluctant to approach. He looked as though he had been lifted straight out of a medieval engraving.
Resting on his black leather-gloved palm was a music box with a mouth and teeth. Its casing was a dull, dark color, with a split across the front where rows of densely packed, sharp teeth gnawed at his glove.
After all that biting, it had not left so much as a mark on the glove.
The music box seemed unwilling to accept defeat. Its teeth ground together with a grating squeak, and its jaws snapped faster and faster.
He grabbed the music box and stuffed it into his robe pocket. The pocket squirmed a few times before falling still, as though the robe had "lulled" the music box to sleep.
The man dressed as a medieval plague doctor was none other than Lucien.
He was now wearing the plague doctor's protective clothing, a newly triggered loan and the second piece of equipment in the Plague Doctor Set.
``` [Loan name: Plague doctor's protective clothing]
[Loan duration: 30 days]
[Loan details: Obtain the plague doctor's wax-impregnated protective clothing. Wearing it increases resistance to curse-, disease-, and toxin-based magic and grants immunity to most infectious diseases.]
[Loan task: Collect three toxin- or disease-based Dark Magic items and analyze the principles behind them.]
[Evaluation: This protective outfit looks hot, but since it's a magical