ch61-ch80 · 076-ch63

Chapter 63

Having gently dodged the young woman's invitation, he was called out from yet another direction.

On the road facing the Adventurer's Guild, he ran into Yoshida — Hiyori's attendant.

"Sensei. Long time no see."

The way he lowered his waist with both hands on his knees as he greeted was dangerously not giving off legit civilian vibes.

...Then again, if you asked whether an exorcist was a legit civilian job, well, not really.

But even someone who didn't seem like a civilian was still an acquaintance to Sai.

He greeted him as their paths crossed.

"Likewise, long time no see. If Yoshida-san is here, that means..."

"Yes. The young misses are currently in the middle of an adventure."

He hadn't seen them since their graduation certification.

That said, it had only been a few weeks.

"Still, it's rare to see Yoshida-san around here."

Yoshida was Hiyori's attendant, but he didn't intervene much in her adventurer activities.

He wanted to support her as an attendant, but Hiyori had expressed a wish to figure out what tools and procedures were needed for herself, so Yoshida tried not to get too involved in her Shinjuku Tower activities.

There were times when he didn't even do the pickup and drop-off.

And when he did, he was supposed to be at a spot a little away from Shinjuku Tower, not right in front of it.

"I'm helping purchase potions and equipment."

"Ah, for the Exorcist Alliance..."

If he was coming to Shinjuku Tower as Hiyori's attendant, it seemed they were also making use of him for shopping errands.

The Exorcist Alliance — the Japan Exorcist Alliance — was an organization created to subdue monsters that lurked in Japan's darkness, like evil spirits and demons.

Hiyori's father, Ichijō Hayato, was the coordinator of this Exorcist Alliance.

Lately, thanks to the Shadow-Eater's activities, demons had become less active, but hungry ghosts still endlessly appeared from Kakuriyo into the present world. They rampaged without intelligence, so when they appeared, they needed to be eliminated.

Evil spirits were also an ongoing problem as long as humans lived.

The emotions of those who died with grudges, or the lingering negative emotions accumulated in the land, could turn into evil spirits (vengeful spirits) through magical essence.

Exorcising these was also the Exorcist Alliance's job, and "lurking in Japan's darkness" might sound cool, but in reality, it was an organization that never caught a break.

Yoshida, bearing the face of the Exorcist Alliance, looked at Sai with a solemn expression.

"Sensei. I have a bit of a consultation..."

"Did something happen?"

This was the first time Yoshida had come to him for consultation rather than Hiyori.

Because of that, Yoshida seemed a little tense.

"Yes. Sensei, do you possess the power of exorcism... the ability to purify?"

"If it's about defeating evil spirit-type monsters, you know I can do that. But I'm guessing that's not the kind of thing you're talking about..."

Sai normally defeated ghost-type monsters.

He could beat them by imbuing his blade or body with magical power and striking.

But if he was asking specifically about it, that probably wasn't the case.

"Yes. I wanted to ask whether you could handle a case where someone has been possessed by an evil spirit."

"Ah..."

Sai let out an involuntary grim sound.

It was about so-called exorcism magic.

Exorcise. Magic to drive out evil, to remove spiritual afflictions.

It could also be called magic that uses the authority of some god.

Since it was a technique that borrowed a god's power, it was the domain of clergy belonging to churches — and was actually a field Sai was bad at.

Noticing his bitter tone, Yoshida continued.

"As Sensei is well aware, lately the demons — no, the hungry ghosts have decreased considerably in number. But it seems the evil spirit types have grown even more powerful. We plan to have the young misses step up, but..."

"For emergencies... is that what you mean?"

"Yes."

The Exorcist Alliance's current challenge was increasing and strengthening their front-line forces.

Low-rank evil spirits or hungry ghosts were no problem, but ever since Shinjuku Tower appeared, both evil spirits and demons had been gradually growing more powerful.

They seemed to be putting considerable effort into increasing their numbers, but there were still limits. They were likely planning to ask Sai to serve as a trump card against strong demons and evil spirits.

"If it's just about defeating them, I can help. The problem is when someone's been possessed by an evil spirit..."

Sai couldn't use the magic to exorcise an evil spirit from a possessed person.

"I see... To give you an update on our situation, the other day, one of our people had quite a struggle performing an exorcism..."

"I thought exorcism techniques were supposed to be especially good at that sort of thing..."

Japan had exorcism arts passed down since ancient times.

Purification and sealing were supposed to be their greatest specialties — and yet even so, they struggled?

At Sai's words, Yoshida made pained face.

"Ashamedly... We probably need to strengthen our magical power and exorcism techniques as well. I was hoping you might have some good insight..."

This could be said to be the accumulated debt of centuries of continuous tradition, but also centuries of neglect. Their techniques hadn't kept up with the changing situation.

Yoshida seemed to have his own feelings of mortification about it.

"I can share the exorcism magic fórmula. Problem is, I can't use it myself... so I think the best flow would be to have Hiyori-san or Mio-san learn it first, then spread it to those who can use it."

"Thank you. I'll prepare a proper gratuity for you later."

"...I take it I can't refuse?"

"Yes."

The Exorcist Alliance was surprisingly thorough in all sorts of ways.

Thinking about how an extraordinary sum of money would probably change hands this time too, the ordinary citizen Sai could only feel humbled. But many people were working to save those possessed by evil spirits. And of course, money was moving too.

Maybe it was reasonable when you thought about it that way.

"Still, it's surprising that even Sensei has magic he can't use."

From Yoshida's perspective, Sai was an extremely strong adventurer.

It was surprising that even Sai had magic he couldn't use.

"Of course I do. Particularly by other-world standards, I can't use most high-level magic."

High-level magic displayed tremendous power, but on the flip side, it consumed an abnormal amount of magical power.

As a scout, Sai couldn't handle it at all.

It was a realm he couldn't reach even after decades of magical control training.

"Even after hearing about Kakuriyo, it's surprising that you can barely use high-level magic..."

"One of the spells I used in Kakuriyo is high-level magic."

The Anti-Demon Annihilation Magic was within the category of high-level magic.

It was precisely because it was one of the few high-level spells he could use that it was Sai's "trump card."

"Actually, my internal magical power isn't that high. As for exorcism magic, I think it's more of a compatibility issue..."

Sai said this with a slightly embarrassed tone.

It was one of Sai's weak points — something he hadn't told Hiyori or Mio.

"...And you're still that strong?"

Yoshida had seen Sai's instruction up close.

Or he'd watched his dungeon streams.

For someone like that to have low internal magical power... Should he think of the other world as that harsh, or Earth's magic level as that low?

"Rather, it's because I know my weaknesses that I train."

"Well, that's enviable."

Yoshida didn't know just how low this "not very high" internal magical power actually was, but even so, Sai never gave up and kept fighting even now.

From Yoshida's perspective, Sai was still an object of admiration.

"Well then, I'll be going now."

"Thank you for your time. Take care."

Hiyori and Mio had graduated as his disciples.

But the connection continued even now.

As long as Sai and their adventures continued, this bond would probably never break.

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Thank you for reading.