Chapter 160 – Visiting the Simurian People
The next day.
With the holiday finally here, Zen'in Kaon took Ria out to explore Tokyo, hoping to help her better understand human society.
Meanwhile, over at Tokyo Jujutsu High, emissaries from the Simurian people had already arrived to escort Earth's representatives aboard their spacecraft—
so that both sides could gain a deeper understanding of one another.
"You must be the representatives sent by Earth,"
said a young-looking Simurian as he addressed the two sorcerers before him.
"Please, follow me."
Hearing this, Fushiguro Megumi turned to the man beside him.
"Senpai Hakari, let's go."
The two representatives chosen by the jujutsu world for this visit were Fushiguro Megumi and Hakari Kinji.
"I still can't believe the whole alien thing is actually real," Hakari muttered, eyes gleaming with curiosity.
"I wonder if aliens like passion."
Normally, this kind of mission wouldn't fall to him—but among the active sorcerers, he was one of the few with time to spare.
Most days, he ran underground matches at his fighting ring, soaking in the raw energy of youth.
Serious assignments rarely came his way.
Which was exactly why this task ended up landing on him.
Following the Simurian envoy, the two arrived at Mount Kurumayama Plateau in Nagano Prefecture.
The alien spacecraft hovered thirty thousand meters above, invisible to ordinary eyes.
"Honored guests," the envoy said, leading them to an open clearing,
"please step into this circle."
The grass in the area had been flattened into a circular pattern roughly a dozen meters wide.
Megumi and Hakari exchanged a glance before stepping inside.
The envoy appeared to send a signal—
and suddenly, a powerful force wrapped around them.
Their bodies lifted smoothly into the air, drifting skyward.
This was one of the aliens' transportation technologies.
After all, even aliens needed food.
Fifty thousand refugees traveling through space for so long—
even with a closed-loop ecosystem, they still needed fresh supplies.
And now that they had finally found a habitable planet, restocking was inevitable.
Even if coexistence failed, they could always continue their journey through the cosmos.
"It seems your technology is far beyond humanity's," Hakari remarked.
From within the gravitational field, he sensed traces of cursed energy.
It might have been the effect of a Simurian's innate ability—
or perhaps, more likely, cursed energy had already been integrated into their technological systems.
Given that they could construct a spacecraft capable of sustaining fifty thousand lives,
the latter seemed far more probable.
"In terms of technology," the Simurian envoy replied calmly,
"we are indeed more advanced than humans."
"But when it comes to maintaining peace—
we fall far short of you."
The envoy showed a hint of helplessness on his face.
On Simurian, war had been a constant for as long as anyone could remember.
Even after their technology had advanced to a high level, conflicts between factions never ceased—
all in pursuit of more resources.
"Peace…"
Fushiguro Megumi repeated the word thoughtfully after hearing the envoy.
"Could you tell us how your people became refugees?"
At this, the envoy's expression grew solemn.
"Because of war. Endless war caused by competition for resources."
"While we were busy fighting one another, we failed to notice that a far stronger species had already set its sights on us."
"In the end, Simurian was invaded. That war was catastrophic…
From an entire planet, only fifty thousand refugees managed to escape."
His gaze grew complicated.
"It is precisely because we have experienced such despair that our leader yearns for peace more than anyone."
After hearing this, Megumi and Hakari exchanged a glance.
They couldn't tell whether the envoy was telling the truth.
If it was true, it meant that there were even more powerful and aggressive alien races in the universe.
That was bad news—not just for the jujutsu world, but for Earth as a whole.
No one could be sure whether those beings might one day discover Earth.
As the group continued to ascend, the temperature steadily dropped.
Soon, a massive spacecraft—roughly the size of two or three football fields—entered their field of view.
It loomed like a colossal steel beast in the sky, utterly awe-inspiring.
"Damn… that thing's terrifying," Hakari muttered, goosebumps rising on his skin.
Now he finally understood why Gojo wanted to avoid war at all costs.
If that thing crashed straight down, it would be no different from a weapon of mass destruction.
"This ship is the greatest masterpiece of the Simurian people," the envoy explained.
"If not for it, we might already be extinct."
"The energy it consumes is cursed energy.
Otherwise, it would have been impossible for us to cross several star systems and reach Earth."
A hatch opened beneath the spacecraft, and the three were drawn inside by a gravitational pull.
---
Inside the ship, the scene was nothing like what Megumi and Hakari had imagined.
Rather than a cold, metallic interior filled with machinery, it felt like—
a city.
A city floating in the sky.
There were roads, buildings, and even low-flying transportation vehicles.
Simurian people moved about, casting curious glances at the two humans while speaking softly in a language neither could understand.
"Well, damn," Hakari said, staring at the road.
"That thing… is that a car?"
He looked genuinely stunned as he watched driverless vehicles glide past.
Was their civilization really that similar to Earth's?
"That vehicle was created recently, based on Earth's culture," the envoy explained.
"It is what you call a car. The materials were also sourced from Earth."
"It can run on electricity—or on cursed energy."
Their technology had always surpassed Earth's, so once they understood the principles and had access to materials, replicating human inventions was easy.
In truth, the technological gap between Earth and Simurian wasn't as vast as it seemed.
Likewise, if humans obtained Simurian technology, they could likely reproduce many of their devices with relative ease.
Megumi, however, focused on a more important point.
"Does that mean every Simurian is a jujutsu sorcerer?"
Fifty thousand sorcerers—that was an alarming thought.
The envoy quickly clarified, sensing the concern.
"Simurian people possess the same power as Earth's jujutsu sorcerers—cursed energy.
We are born able to control it, but that does not mean we are all strong."
"According to Earth's classification system, most of our people would not even qualify as proper sorcerers.
Some fall into the equivalent of Grade 4 or Grade 3."
"Only a small number possess truly powerful abilities."
He was clearly anxious not to give the impression that Simurian posed a military threat.
If all fifty thousand of them were strong, they never would have been reduced to refugees drifting through space.
"I see…"
Megumi felt a small sense of relief.
At the same time, curiosity stirred within him.
Why were Simurian people able to control cursed energy innately?
If that secret could be uncovered, perhaps even non-sorcerers on Earth could learn to control their cursed energy—
and if that happened, the birth of curses themselves might finally be reduced.