ch61-ch80 · 082-ch68

Chapter 68

That day. Sai was at the Adventurer's Guild in Shinjuku.

The location was the martial arts dojo.

His days of teaching the Hexa Shield and recovery magic to the Adventurer's Guild members — on the pretext of having learned them in Hexaria — seemed set to continue for a while longer, and today's audience was the rescue team.

The fact that he'd been giving guidance to hospital staff, combat instructors at the License Center, and others had become a topic of conversation among Adventurer's Guild personnel.

Perhaps because of that, the rescue team members seemed apologetic toward Sai.

"Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule for this."

The man who bowed his head was part of the rescue team that had rushed to the scene when Sai saved Soma and the others before.

"Not at all. The rescue team is one of the few safety nets for adventurers fighting in Shinjuku Tower. If I can be of some help to all of you, I'm happy to do it."

"We really appreciate you saying that. We're in your care today."

"Likewise. Let's do our best."

The content of the lesson was the Hexa Shield and recovery magic.

The rescue team members seemed to have already incorporated the magic control training and Five Senses Enhancement that Sai talked about on his stream into their own training, so the discussion moved along smoothly.

It was the same content he shared on his stream, but being taught in person made things sink in much faster. After about an hour of instruction, one member had reached a level where he might be able to use low-grade recovery magic.

"Looking good. So then..."

As Sai continued his instruction, a shrill alarm rang from one of the rescue team's communicators.

One of the members picked up the communicator and responded.

"What's up? We're in the middle of training here... The other squads are already deployed... Understood."

It seemed a rescue request had come in.

"Sorry! We've got a rescue call. That's all for today...!"

There were adventurers in danger in Shinjuku Tower.

The rescue team would want to head out right away.

"No, please hurry!"

Sai said.

The rescue team was a department that trained and operated on the front line day in and day out.

Whether the rescue team made it in time or not could mean the difference between life and death.

They were people on the very frontline of that kind of crisis.

The team Sai was instructing today was only scheduled for training — the actual on-duty shift belonged to a different team.

That was precisely why today had been set as Sai's instruction day. But even during training, a call came in... which meant the other squads were also fully deployed, meaning the monsters in Shinjuku Tower were running rampant and adventurers were falling into crisis.

The rescue team members started running.

Sai ran alongside them.

"I'll help! Where is it!?"

"S-Sai sir!? Floor fourteen!"

"I've got the map for floor fourteen memorized. At least let me clear the way!"

"We'd appreciate that!"

A veteran taking it easy while adventurers were in danger — that was unthinkable.

Sai dashed off together with the rescue team.

◇

Shinjuku Tower, floor fourteen.

There, the rescue team got a visceral taste of just how formidable the adventurer named Sai was.

The moment they arrived on floor fourteen, he was off and running.

The rescue team ran, chasing after his back.

They'd watched the videos Sai streamed. They knew he was an incredible adventurer.

But the sight of Sai fighting right before their eyes had a presence that no camera could fully capture.

"So that's the power that took him solo to floor eighteen..."

One of the rescue team members muttered under his breath.

"And didn't he practically solo floor nineteen the other day too?"

The rescue team was said to be the cream of the crop among Japan's adventurers.

They trained their bodies daily so they could move at a moment's notice when trouble arose. They trained relentlessly so they could rush to the scene in a crisis.

Yet even these rescue team members were in awe of Sai's movements.

He cut down every monster that appeared with a single blow, advancing without a second glance at the drops.

After about two minutes of full sprint, they arrived at the scene.

Sai, who had been leading the way, found the party in need of rescue — and his eyes went wide.

"Y-you guys...!"

The rescue team following behind was also shocked by the situation.

There, they found the party Sai had instructed the other day.

Yuuka was fighting alongside her party members.

Her expression was hollow, her pupils fully dilated.

They were supposed to be a five-person party, but two members seemed to have already fallen with serious injuries. The remaining two were fighting back against Yuuka, but both were covered in wounds.

Yuuka's knife found one of the party members.

"Eeek—"

"Like hell I'm letting that happen!"

Sai immediately deployed a Hexa Shield, thrusting it in front of the party member.

"Hey! What's going on here!?"

The adventurers were startled by Sai's sudden appearance.

"S-Sai, Sai sir!? Y-Yuuka's been possessed by a Demon Specter!"

The leader-type mage explained to Sai, his voice trembling with fear.

"What!?"

An evil spirit possessing a person.

In a certain sense, it was a common enough story. But for adventurers, it was unheard of.

What separated ordinary people from adventurers.

It was the amount of magical power they held.

Regular people with little or no magical power could be possessed by evil spirits. But adventurers, who possessed a certain threshold of magical power, were protected by that power and didn't need to worry about possession.

That was how it was said on Earth. It was conventional wisdom.

But Sai, who had returned from another world, knew the truth.

In environments where mana was above a certain level, that conventional wisdom was overturned. Especially with Specter-class monsters — even adventurers had plenty of potential to be possessed.

Sai hurriedly tried to formulate a plan for dealing with the situation, then stopped short.

He'd stepped forward and started acting on his own, but the people who should be leading this scene were the rescue team.

"Rescue team! Do you have any equipment for exorcising spirits!?"

"Exorcism!? We don't have anything like that...!"

"Got it!"

Ghost-type monsters had never possessed adventurers before.

It might be too much to ask the rescue team to handle exorcism.

The possessed Yuuka attacked skillfully, using both a short sword and magic bullets.

Sai stepped in front of the injured adventurers, dodging Yuuka's attacks while thinking.

Even if she was an adventurer who could reach floor fourteen, the person standing before Sai was a woman named Yuuka.

He knew her physical strength and skill from the previous instruction session, and a Demon Specter was nothing special to Sai.

But the Demon Specter was currently possessing Futami Yuuka, and he couldn't afford to injure her.

However, Sai couldn't use the exorcism magic 'Exorcise.'

If this were Hexaria here. Or Hiyori or Mio, they might have been able to use 'Exorcise' — but Sai couldn't.

At first glance, it seemed like a hopeless situation.

...Under normal circumstances.

But the bespectacled goddess of fortune smiled on Sai.

Still, he needed preparations.

Sai glanced behind him.

First, the rescue team.

Due to the nature of their work — rescuing adventurers — they carried cameras but weren't streaming. The cameras were only equipped as evidence in case something happened.

Next, the four members of the adventurer party in need of rescue.

Two were seriously injured and had collapsed, currently being treated by the rescue team with recovery magic and potions.

The two with minor injuries were watching the exchange between Yuuka and Sai anxiously.

"Rescue team. Sorry, but could you move back a bit!"

"What are you planning to do!?"

"There's something I want to try!"

Without waiting for the rescue team's response, Sai continued to address the two lightly injured adventurers.

"You two as well! I'll handle her, so just move back for now!"

"Y-yes, sir!"

The two accepted Sai's words without question and moved away.

Sai confirmed everyone had moved back a bit.

Then one more thing.

Sai thought to himself, Sorry to everyone watching Yuuka's stream, and while pretending to miss an attack, he struck and destroyed the camera near Yuuka's ear.

That took care of the camera issue.

But he was still being watched by those around him.

He'd have to bluff his way through it.

"Let's see, I think it's in here...!"

He said that while reaching into the pouch at his waist. Pretending to take something out, he used his Item Box magic to retrieve an item stored in another dimension.

"Yuuka, you're gonna be okay! Just hold on a little longer!"

What Sai pulled out.

It was so-called holy water.

The other day, when he taught Hiyori and Mio the Exorcise formula, he'd asked Hexaria to make some holy water, thinking "it might be needed in the future."

It really was just a matter of timing. Of luck.

Nothing more.

Sai splashed the holy water onto Yuuka.

The Demon Specter possessing Yuuka writhed in agony.

Of course. This holy water was specially prepared, optimized for exorcism.

Unable to bear it, the Demon Specter ejected itself from Yuuka's body.

And the place it flew out to — was where Sai's fist waited.

◇

Thus, the five adventurers including Yuuka were saved.

The two who were seriously injured also managed to survive.

But what came after was the problem.

An adventurer being possessed by an evil spirit-type monster.

Since there had never been a single precedent for this, it naturally became a major issue.

If Sai hadn't happened to be accompanying the rescue team.

If Sai hadn't happened to have received holy water from Hexaria.

A string of coincidences had averted disaster this time, but the implications of what occurred were heavy.

The Adventurer's Guild and the Exorcist Alliance began discussions the very next day.

Sai thought.

The atmospheric mana was increasing more than before.

That was why this incident had happened.

If that was the case, then there was a possibility that more incidents would occur in the future... and on an even larger scale.

================ Thank you very much for reading.