Splash.
The sound of a shower came from the hotel bathroom.
In the living room, Eiji was lounging lazily on the sofa.
He'd been busy exorcising Cursed Spirits all over the place these past few days.
While none of the Cursed Spirits had been particularly strong, the constant running around was still tiring.
Tap tap tap.
Eiji's fingers flew across his phone screen, typing out message after message before hitting send.
He was chatting with Altoria.
She had also just finished all her exorcism missions.
Currently, Altoria was helping a recently awakened Jujutsu Sorcerer seek justice.
According to Altoria, the young sorcerer had saved his classmates, but they had turned around and accused him of harming them.
"Haaah."
Eiji yawned and put down his phone.
Altoria used to be the King of Knights; a small matter like this wouldn't trouble her at all.
Click.
The sound of a door opening came from the bathroom.
Shijima Nagi, dressed in fresh clothes, walked out of the bathroom and sat down opposite Eiji.
Eiji looked up.
Beige short-sleeved shirt + blue jeans.
Her face was still flushed from her recent shower, like a ripe little apple.
"So, tell me about your situation. Why were you there alone?"
"That's because..."
Shijima Nagi's voice faltered slightly.
"If you don't tell me, I'll call your parents right now. You wouldn't want that, would you..."
Before Eiji could finish speaking, Shijima Nagi interrupted him in a panic.
"No, please don't."
Seeing Shijima Nagi bite her lip and finally unable to hold back, Eiji nodded with satisfaction.
Shuji Zenin had already found out Shijima Nagi's identity, and had also uncovered a police report.
Shijima Nagi had lied to her family, saying she was staying at a friend's house for a few days. However, when Shijima Nagi's mother inquired about her whereabouts with her friend's mother, she discovered that Shijima Nagi hadn't gone to her friend's house.
Her parents, unable to find her anywhere, had reported her missing.
"By the way, your mother is currently driving towards your hometown."
"No, they can't go. They're just ordinary people."
This statement broke through Shijima Nagi's last line of defense.
Seeing Shijima Nagi's reaction, Eiji pondered.
Could there be something on that small island where Shijima Nagi's hometown is located that is dangerous for ordinary people? Come to think of it...
Eiji took out the map Shuji Zenin had given him and then looked at Shijima Nagi's hometown.
The same island.
"There's a Kageoni on that island."
"Explain in detail."
"The Kageoni is a powerful Cursed Spirit that was sealed by the village ancestors. A group of outsiders broke the seal a year ago, and my grandmother was killed by the Kageoni."
Initially, Shijima Nagi had believed her grandmother died from a gas leak, as reported in the news. It wasn't until recently that she learned the truth about her grandmother's death from her parents.
"I see. You want to avenge your grandmother?"
"Yes."
The girl lowered her head, not wanting Eiji to see her vulnerable side.
Shijima Nagi was a very strong-willed girl; otherwise, she wouldn't have come alone to avenge her grandmother. However, she couldn't maintain her tough facade in front of Eiji. On one hand, Eiji had just saved her. On the other hand, Shijima Nagi knew how powerful Eiji was. She couldn't possibly win.
"How much do you know about the Kageoni?"
Hearing Shijima Nagi's words, Eiji felt he was one step closer to the truth.
"My grandmother told me some stories."
Shijima Nagi began to recall the stories her grandmother had told her when she was a child.
"A long time ago, there were two villages on the island: East Village on the east side and West Village on the west side. The village chiefs of both villages were the jujutsu sorcerers of their respective communities."
"Because the island wasn't large, the two villages often fought over resources."
"Later, West Village rescued a traveler who had been shipwrecked and received several books and a jar from that traveler."
"My grandmother said that jar was the beginning of all their troubles."
The jar contained a special Cursed Spirit, the Shadow Crocodile, a killing weapon created using a curse technique similar to gu poison.
"Gu poison?"
Eiji heard a word from Shijima Nagi that caught his attention.
"That's right, 蛊毒. Although the shipwrecked traveler's belongings were damaged by seawater, the people of West Village managed to decipher some of the remaining parts and piece together his story."
That jujutsu sorcerer came from the mainland. His family used the Gu poison curse technique to make large numbers of Cursed Spirits devour each other, eventually creating a powerful Cursed Spirit, the Shadow Crocodile.
"That family had prepared a way to subdue the Shadow Crocodile and turn it into a Summoned Spirit, using it as a weapon for conquest."
"Later, this family was hunted down by other clans. To escape their pursuers, they were forced to set sail, and eventually, they were shipwrecked."
"The jar contained the Shadow Crocodile?"
"Yes. They apparently believed that if they could cultivate another powerful Shadow Crocodile, they could rise again. So, the man held onto the jar containing the sealed Shadow Crocodile until his death."
"Why didn't you just throw the jar into the sea back then?"
"It wasn't us. We are from East Village. West Village is already destroyed."
Destroyed?
Eiji thought of something.
"They opened the seal on the Shadow Crocodile?"
"Yes. The people of West Village chose to raise the Shadow Crocodile to gain control of the island's resources."
"Their village chief followed the methods in the books to bind and control the new, still weak Shadow Crocodile, feeding it Cursed Spirits and even attacking East Village fishermen who went out to sea."
"But the information the West Village people had was too incomplete. As the Shadow Crocodile grew stronger, they eventually lost control of it. In the end, the Shadow Crocodile killed everyone in West Village."
"After that, the Shadow Crocodile would occasionally emerge from the caves in West Village and begin preying on the people of East Village."
"The village chief died protecting the villagers, and many villagers, out of fear, fled."
"The newly appointed village chief, to protect the village, took all the village's money and went to the Island Nation to find a jujutsu sorcerer who could deal with the Shadow Crocodile. Fortunately, he found one, and the Shadow Crocodile was eventually sealed in the caves of West Village."
The story finished, Shijima Nagi felt a sense of melancholy, her eyes gazing into the distance through the window.
She used to think all these stories her grandmother told her were just legends, not to be taken seriously.
Although she was the only one among the younger generation in the village with Cursed Energy, capable of becoming a jujutsu sorcerer, Shijima Nagi didn't want to be one.
Her parents agreed with this sentiment.
Shijima Nagi didn't want to become a jujutsu sorcerer because once she did, she would have to stay in the village her entire life, becoming a guardian.
For Shijima Nagi, who yearned for modern big cities and wanted to see the outside world with her own eyes, this was unacceptable.
Her parents' reasons were much simpler.
They simply didn't want their child to engage in such a dangerous profession.
Although they weren't jujutsu sorcerers themselves, they had learned about the work of jujutsu sorcerers from the village elders.
Fighting, injuries, even death.
They didn't want their daughter to follow such a path.
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Translation by: randomtranslator.com
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