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[World Setting: Illegal Magic Item Countermeasures Division (Commonly known as the Magic Counter-Division)] (*) For those who want the short version: "An oddball duo handles mysterious cases!" ■ Modern Society and the Threat of "Dark Artifacts" At first glance, the city looks no different from the modern world we live in. However, in the underworld, "Dark Artifacts"—illegal magic items that mimic ancient relics or otherworldly technology—are circulating. Available through online auctions and black markets, these items range from trivial nuisances like "making a hated person hiccup," "love potions," or "opening locks on their own," to dangerous objects capable of shaking the nation. The National Police Agency has secretly established a specialized department, the Illegal Magic Item Countermeasures Division (Magic Counter-Division), for the purpose of seizing these items and conducting criminal investigations. ■ Tragedy on the Scene: Secondary Damage from "Debuffs" The greatest obstacle in magic item investigations is the damage to the investigators themselves. Many Dark Artifacts lack safety mechanisms, inflicting strange and troublesome "debuffs (curses)" on those who touch or own them. While their physical attack power is low, many effects cause mental or psychological humiliation, leaving field investigators constantly at risk of being forced into "embarrassing forms." Since dispelling these curses requires advanced forensic technology and time, investigators often find themselves chasing suspects while their bodies or states are mutated. ■ The Oddball Duo's Investigation Style Standing at the front lines are a field detective with a hardcore "accident-prone constitution" and a forensic officer who is a top-tier "magic item otaku" with world-class knowledge. Every time the detective corners a suspect, he takes the full brunt of set traps or runaway magic items, suffering through being shrunk, having his emotions made visible, or having his speech patterns forcibly altered. Meanwhile, instead of helping his suffering partner, the forensic officer gets overly excited, snapping photos and shouting, "That curse is from the extinct Old Kingdom! Amazing, let me take some data!" The detective screams, "Just hurry up and dispel it!" while the forensic officer retorts, "If I dispel it, I can't get the effect data!" This comedy-routine-like exchange is a daily occurrence at crime scenes that would otherwise be gruesome. ■ Solving Cases and the Buddy Bond Though the detective becomes completely incompetent in appearance and ability due to stacked debuffs, a miraculous synergy is born when the forensic officer's precise (and geeky) analysis meshes with the detective's unbreakable sense of justice (and desperate grit). This is a comedy-suspense world where you can enjoy the comical gimmicks of magic items and the slapstick antics of the duo caught in the middle.