Splash, splash.
The sound of running water came from the hotel bathroom.
In the living room, Eichi was lazily sprawled on the sofa.
He had been running around exorcising Cursed Spirits these past few days.
Although the Cursed Spirits weren't particularly strong, the constant movement was still exhausting.
Tap, tap, tap.
Eichi's fingers rapidly tapped the keys on his phone. Characters appeared one by one in a message, which he sent.
Eichi was chatting with Artoria.
She had just finished her own exorcism missions.
Currently, Artoria was helping a newly Awakened Jujutsu Sorcerer seek justice.
According to her, the young Sorcerer had saved a classmate, only for the classmate to turn around and accuse him of causing harm.
"Ha~ah."
Yawning, Eichi put down his phone.
Artoria used to be the Knight King. Matters like this wouldn't trouble her in the slightest.
Click.
The bathroom door opened.
Shijima Naji, dressed in fresh clothes, walked out and sat across from Eichi.
He looked up.
She was wearing a beige short-sleeved shirt and blue jeans.
Her face was still slightly flushed from the shower, like a ripe apple.
"So, tell me your situation. Why were you there alone?"
"That's because..."
Naji's voice was hesitant.
"If you don't tell me, I'll call your parents. You don't want that, do—"
Before Eichi could finish, Naji cut him off in a panic.
"No, don't."
Watching her bite her lip before finally speaking, Eichi nodded in satisfaction.
Shuji had already investigated Naji's identity and found a police record.
Naji had lied to her family, saying she was staying at a classmate's house for a few days. But when her mother called the classmate's mother to check in, she discovered Naji had never been there.
Unable to find her anywhere, her parents reported her missing.
"By the way, your mother is driving to your hometown."
"No, they're just ordinary people. They can't go."
That sentence broke the last of Naji's emotional defenses.
Seeing her reaction, Eichi became thoughtful.
Could there be something dangerous on the small island where her hometown was located?
Speaking of which...
Eichi took out the map Shuji had given him and looked again at the location of her hometown.
It was that same island.
"There's a Shadow Crocodile on that island."
"Tell me everything."
"The Shadow Crocodile is a Cursed Spirit sealed by a powerful Jujutsu Sorcerer invited by the village ancestors."
"But a year ago, a group of outsiders broke the seal, and my grandmother was killed by it."
At first, Naji had believed her grandmother died from a gas leak, just like the news had reported, until her parents recently told her the truth.
"I see. Do you want to avenge your grandmother?"
"Yes."
The girl lowered her head, not wanting Eichi to see her weakness.
Naji was a very strong-willed girl. Otherwise, she wouldn't have come alone to seek revenge.
But in front of Eichi, she couldn't act tough.
He had just saved her, and she knew how strong he was.
There was no way she could win against him.
"What do you know about the Shadow Crocodile?"
Hearing her response, Eichi felt he was getting closer to the truth.
"My grandmother told me some things."
Naji began to recall the stories her grandmother used to tell her when she was little.
"A long time ago, there were two villages on Shijima Island. East Village was on the east side, and West Village was on the west. The village chiefs of both sides were the Jujutsu Sorcerers of their respective villages."
"Since the island was small, the two villages often fought over resources."
"Later, West Village rescued a shipwrecked outsider. They obtained a few books and a jar from him."
"My grandmother said that jar was the beginning of all disasters."
"Sealed inside was a special Cursed Spirit—the Shadow Crocodile.
"Although the outsider's belongings were soaked in seawater and many things were ruined, the people of West Village managed to reconstruct his experiences based on the legible parts."
"The Jujutsu Sorcerer came from the mainland. His clan once used their unique Cursed Technique to let Cursed Spirits devour each other and fuse, eventually creating the powerful Shadow Crocodile."
"That clan had pre-prepared methods to control the Shadow Crocodile as a Shikigami, using it as a weapon of conquest."
"Eventually, the clan was hunted by other clans. To escape, they went out to sea, but encountered a shipwreck."
"The jar sealed with the Shadow Crocodile, was that the one he carried?"
"Yes. They probably believed that if they raised another powerful Shadow Crocodile, they could rise again, so the outsider carried the jar with him until his death."
"Why didn't they throw the jar into the sea back then?"
"That wasn't us. We're East Village. West Village has already perished."
Perished?
Eichi caught onto something.
"They broke the Shadow Crocodile's seal?"
"Yes. The people of West Village tried to raise it to control the island's resources."
"Their village chief followed the methods in the book, bound and controlled the still-weak Shadow Crocodile, and began feeding it Cursed Spirits. They even attacked East Village villagers who went out fishing."
"But the information they had was too incomplete. As the Shadow Crocodile grew stronger, they couldn't restrain it anymore. In the end, it killed everyone in West Village."
"Since then, it would occasionally emerge from the cave in West Village to prey on East Village people."
"Our village chief died in battle protecting the villagers. Many villagers were so afraid they eventually fled."
"The newly appointed chief used all the village's money to go to Japan to find a Jujutsu Sorcerer who could handle the Shadow Crocodile. Luckily, he found one, and it was finally sealed inside the West Village cave."
After telling the story, Naji fell into a gloomy silence, her eyes drifting toward the window.
She used to think the stories her grandmother told were just old legends.
Even though she was the only one in the village's younger generation who had Cursed Energy and could become a Jujutsu Sorcerer, Naji had never wanted to take that path.
Her parents had agreed with her.
She didn't want to become a Jujutsu Sorcerer because that would mean staying in the village for life as its guardian.
To someone like Naji, who dreamed of modern cities and wanted to see the outside world, that was unacceptable.
Her parents had simpler reasons.
They just didn't want their daughter doing such a dangerous job.
Although they weren't Jujutsu Sorcerers, they had learned enough from the village elders.
Battles, injuries, even death.
They didn't want their daughter to walk that Way.
(To be continued.)