Chapter 164: A New Career Card!
[Notice: Life Mission—As one of the leading figures in the exorcist profession, you need an achievement that proves your excellence. Defeat a ghost-god alone (1/1). Completed! Reward obtained: Career Card ×1.]
[Career Card: You may install this card into a Career Slot to unlock a new career and its related Career Missions.]
[Notice: New Career Card installed. No available real-world career detected. Automatically assigning Trial Career Position: President of Shinazugawa Bookstore's Fantastic Bunko (Trial Version). Note: Activates upon taking office. Trial Version careers have fewer Career Missions.]
[Notice: New Life Mission acquired—Complete every Career Mission from one Career Card: 0/1.]
'President?'
Come to think of it, if the system assigned him a position like that, shouldn't it follow the usual convention and give him some shares in the publishing company too?
The publishing industry was not exactly thriving these days. There were fewer young readers entering the market, while the existing readership continued to age.
But Luke had no intention of entering publishing anyway. If they gave him shares, he could just cash them out!
What a shame.
Putting that aside for now, Luke took out the walkie-talkie he had prepared beforehand.
"I'm done over here."
He spoke toward Kasumizuki's side.
Certain evil spirits could interfere with phone signals, and this shrine sat within a space where the boundary with reality was blurred. That was why they had prepared walkie-talkies for communication.
"Good job."
Luke placed the cat food and dried fish he had prepared onto the ground, then gently rubbed Mimi's head.
"Thanks for the help."
With the Mountain God destroyed, its two shikigami were freed as well. After thanking the two spirits that had helped him, Luke walked toward the shrine hall.
An offertory box and bell stood before the doors. A few coins of unknown origin still sat inside the box, looking surprisingly recent.
'If my guess is right, this should be where the seal is located.'
Luke opened the shrine doors.
The room beyond was covered in talismans and spirit banners, while countless bells hung from the ceiling.
At the center, atop a square chair, sat an object wrapped in white cloth and bound tightly with soul rope.
That should be the medium used to create the Mountain God through sacrifice.
Or, using the proper term—A shintai.
A shintai was a vessel in which the enshrined deity resided, and only worshippers or spirit mediums could perceive its true form.
Destroying the shintai directly would probably have destroyed the Mountain God too.
However, Luke had no idea whether that would count toward his mission, so he had only kept it as a backup plan.
He stepped up to the chair and slowly lifted the shintai.
"A human skull?"
Luke held the skull in his hands.
Then his vision shifted.
Barren land.
Disease.
Hunger.
He saw ruined fields, livestock dead from sickness, and people reduced to skin and bones.
And then—A wedding procession moved along a mountain path beneath the sun.
Spirit banners and bells rang as the line advanced, while a young girl chosen as the sacrifice walked among them.
As though noticing Luke's gaze, the girl turned and looked back at him.
It was called a wedding procession, yet everyone wore plain ceremonial clothing, their faces wrapped in white cloth while spirit banners and bells surrounded them.
Rather than a wedding—It looked more like a funeral.
And as if responding to the ritual, rain began falling despite the clear sky, like the heavens themselves were weeping.
'Three Fox Valley Shrine.'
'A sunshower.'
'Masks.'
Ah.
Luke suddenly remembered an old folk tale.
The Fox's Wedding.
The details varied depending on the region, but stories of the Fox's Wedding often connected foxes with sunshowers.
"So they sacrificed a living person, then bound her skull with a ritual formation and sealed it inside the shrine to suppress a ghost-god representing drought, plague, or some other disaster."
Perhaps the girl had volunteered.
Perhaps she had been forced.
Either way, in Japanese legends, a person offered as a living sacrifice would inevitably leave behind resentment.
As time passed without anyone helping her move on, the girl's resentment continued accumulating.
Eventually, the Mountain God that had once maintained some degree of balance slowly descended into madness.
After roughly piecing together what had happened, Luke sighed.
"Sensei?"
The others entered the shrine after receiving his message. Seeing that Luke was unharmed, Miko called out loudly.
"Over here."
Luke stood behind the shrine bell and waved toward them.
"Eugh… this scene feels kind of wrong."
Kasumizuki's mouth twitched when she saw Luke standing there while holding a human skull.
"Sensei, are you okay?"
Miko and Yuria carefully looked him over with worried expressions.
"Well, aside from a splitting headache, weakness, exhaustion, poor spirits, and a mild loss of faith in life, I'm perfectly fine."
"Then we need to get you to a hospital right now!"
"I'm joking. Don't worry."
Luke smiled and patted both girls on the head before holding out his guandao.
"Here. Hold this for me."
He carefully returned the skull to its original place.
In his current condition, it was better not to casually swing things around. Accidentally smashing someone's head would be rather inconvenient.
"I'll do it!"
Yuria's eyes lit up at the sight of the guandao overflowing with spiritual power, and she eagerly grabbed the exorcism tool.
"Eh?"
The weapon's weight immediately dragged her tiny body sideways.
"Yuria-chan!"
Miko's eyes widened. She hurriedly grabbed the little mushroom before Yuria could slide straight out of the shrine hall.
Then—
"Eh? Ehhh?!"
Thud!
Luke helplessly picked both fallen girls up one after another, dusted them off, then rested the guandao diagonally across his own shoulder.
He turned toward Kasumizuki.
"It really is almost exactly what you guessed. They created a god through human sacrifice to seal away a ghost-god representing disaster."
Kasumizuki took out her phone and photographed the talismans and layout inside the shrine hall, then picked up the skull serving as the shintai.
"Oh, don't worry. I already set up another seal. That ghost-god can't get out."
"We just need to find the seal in reality afterward and reinforce it."
While Luke had been fighting, Kasumizuki had maintained their path back to reality and simultaneously completed preparations for a replacement seal.
Aside from the seal inside this shrine, there should also be a real-world anchor suppressing the disaster ghost-god.
That anchor would need reinforcement later.
Still—
"You're not planning to deal with the disaster ghost-god directly?"
"That isn't part of my job."
Kasumizuki shrugged helplessly.
"And have you considered the possibility that if I tried, the one who'd die wouldn't be the ghost-god?"
She pointed toward the two girls who also possessed Yin-Yang Eyes.
"We can just use the shrine grounds to reseal it for now. Dealing with something like that can be left to these two in the future."
Miko had been staring blankly at the skull in Kasumizuki's hand.
When she noticed the miko pointing toward her and Yuria, she pointed at herself in disbelief.
"Us?"
Kasumizuki nodded.
Miko's body immediately trembled.
She could not even carry Luke's guandao!
'What?'
'I'm supposed to fight a ghost-god?'
'Seriously?!'
Yuria, who also could not lift the weapon, reacted completely differently.
Although confused, she still asked earnestly, "Can I really become strong enough to do something like that?"
Kasumizuki solemnly placed a hand on her shoulder and gazed toward the distant future.
"I believe in you, Yuria-chan."
"I'll work hard!"
Yuria clenched both fists, her eyes blazing with determination.
'Ah, youth.'
Luke turned his face away helplessly.
Watching an adult fool a child this smoothly felt strangely unsettling.
Still, the sealed ghost-god currently posed no immediate threat, and Kasumizuki's new seal was already in place.
Besides, dealing with a disaster ghost-god was not part of Luke's job either.
As the surrounding spiritual power dried up, the environment gradually became hazy.
The shrine was rapidly drawing closer to reality again.
"The barrier is collapsing…"
Luke judged the situation.
With the Mountain God gone, the artificial shrine barrier had lost its foundation as well.
A gentle breeze swept around them.
In a brief blur, the shrine scenery vanished, replaced once again by the real mountain path and surrounding forest.
"Sensei, over there—"
Miko called out and pointed toward the nearby grass.
The spirit of the girl Luke had seen in the vision—the sacrifice from long ago—was standing there.
With the shrine seal broken, she had finally been released after who knew how many years.
The white cloth covering her face lifted slightly.
She smiled.
"Thank you."
Her grateful voice echoed directly within their hearts as her body slowly faded away.
"Mm~ She looks really happy."
Miko seemed to understand what had happened.
She lightly held Luke's sleeve as she spoke, almost casually.
"Yeah."
Luke answered weakly.
"Ah! So that's the girl."
Kasumizuki pointed toward the skull in her hand.
"Yeah."
"I wonder whether her grave can still be found. I'll look for it while searching for the ghost-god's real-world seal and give her a proper burial."
"Mm… wait, not today?"
"At least let Shibuya Jun, the diviner, come help."
Kasumizuki stared at him.
"You want me to search this entire mountain forest alone? Are you trying to work me to death?"
"Oh."
Kasumizuki stretched lazily.
"Anyway, let's go have a victory feast."
"No thanks. I want to go home and rest."
Luke tossed the bell he had taken from the Mountain God toward Kasumizuki.
At this point, merely seeing bells—or hearing one ring—made his head hurt.
And more importantly—He was exhausted.
He just wanted to go home and rest.
"What about you two? I'm paying~"
Miko looked at the exhausted Luke and grabbed his arm with both hands, helping support him.
She pursed her lips before replying, "No. I'll help Sensei get back. A-and my family will worry too…"
She had already stayed out overnight, and today she had even skipped school without properly telling her mother.
She really did need to go home.
Yuria nodded in agreement.
"Besides, we barely did anything. We'll take care of Sensei from here."
"Mm. All right, then."
Kasumizuki gave up.
"Go home and get some proper rest."
Luke looked toward the two girls.
"You don't need to escort me. That story-loving driver is waiting down below."
"Once I put this exorcism tool in the car, there probably won't even be room for you two. Go home and rest too."
...
After saying goodbye to everyone, Luke climbed into the taxi heading home.
The ghost driver trembled while staring at the guandao-shaped exorcism tool lying beside him.
He drove with extreme care and did not dare tell a single story.
After all, years of taxi-driving experience told him one thing very clearly—The walking disaster sitting in the back looked extremely unhappy.
Also…
'Is this Beika Town or something?'
'Do the police here not work?!'
'Someone is violating the Sword and Firearms Control Law!'
'The law, damn it!'
...
(Don't forget to vote, review, and leave a comment below! :D The more you vote, the more chapters I upload.)
...
Read more chapters(25+):
patréon.com/U22
(Note: Replace "é" with "e" on your web browser.)