Volume 1 - CH 26

“…… whoops! Caught me off guard.”

Renji let out a short exhale and jumped off the ground.

Both of his legs were wrapped with “Guiding Thread Sylvate”, and he naturally activated “Physical Reinforcement”. Then he covered his eyes with “night vision magic” and ran through the dark forest.

A few moments ago, a large explosion was drawn in the sky.

I think Itsuki is probably fighting under it, but it’s scary that there’s suddenly no sound..

No matter how much out-of-the-ordinary magical power Itsuki possesses as a “seventh rank,” it is only a matter of the amount of magic power he possesses. In a real battle, it’s not the amount of magic power, but how much you are used to fighting that counts.

“Stay safe. Aya, Itsuki-kun….!”

The main reason for coming here was to hunt bears.

I never expected we would face off against a monster of the fifth rank.

Moreover, the other party has “transfer magic”.

If I was going to fight such a high level monster, I should have been more prepared. At the very least, it wasn’t the kind of mission you would bring a child to.

It is often said that regret is the first thing to go, but in Renji’s mind, all he could think of were the “worst cases” of other exorcists he had seen so far.

Renji who rarely prays, prays to a god. He exits the forest to find a worried Itsuki standing in front of a huge rock.

“Itsuki-kun! Are you okay!”

I was relieved to see that he was still alive, and scouted the area around him.

“Oh, Renji-san!”

Itsuki rushed to him, but he hugged him on the shoulder and looked at him.

“What happened to the monster?”

“I’m sorry. I crushed it a while ago.”

“What….?”

Itsuki pointed straight at the rock and answered.

“It is a meteorite. I dropped this on top of it and crushed it.”

“………….”

Renji fell silent.

No, he had to be silent.

How else could he react?

A “fifth rank” monster is a terrifying thing for a five year old child to fight and survive, but to crush it in reverse? How is such a thing possible?

Renji, unable to believe it for a moment, looked at the rock Itsuki had dropped to restore a sense of reality.

It was a large rock, a very large rock.

That’s why Renji couldn’t help but gasp.

“…… Really, Itsuki-kun, you did this?”

“Yes. Generated by ‘Attribute Change: Earth’…..”

Itsuki didn’t seem to be aware that he was accomplishing something extraordinary as he explained.

This is a genius. The power of a seventh rank exorcist.

Deep down, Renji understood this and regretted that he had missed Itsuki’s fight.

As an exorcist, as a man, he wanted to see him fight.

Because surely that would have been the way to fight like a legendary exorcist.

But, after thinking about it, Renji’s doubts began to rise up.

“Itsuki-kun. Why are you so frightened after you exorcised the monster?”

“Ah… well, I’m worried about one thing.”

“Really? What’s that?”

What is he worried about? I wonder what it is.

Could it be that the monster had companions?

Or did he lose it without being able kill it?

Itsuki’s reply came as a surprise.

“I made a hole in the road, is that okay?”

Renji, not expecting that reaction, was surprised and burst out laughing.

———- —-

Completely, I went too far.

That was my first thought when I saw the meteorite I dropped on the ground.

I was able to exorcise it because the black mist that replaced the monster’s corpse rose up from just below the ground. That’s good. Both Renji-san and my father should have seen the explosion earlier and come back here. So that’s no problem either.

The problem is this hole in the ground.

What should I do about it…?

I wonder if it would be better to fill it up with “attribute change” or “trait change”

No, it was the other party’s fault that they had “healing magic” that brought this on.

So I was going to hit it with more firepower than it would have taken, because if it was just a little scratch, it would heal, but I went completely overboard with the momentum. I didn’t expect to make a big hole in the road. ……

I wondered if I would be made to pay for this and was thinking about money, which is peculiar to adults, when Renji-san came out of the woods at the right time.

I explained to him what had happened and timidly asked.

“I made a hole in the road, is it ok ……?”

Renji-san suddenly burst out laughing.

“Oh, it’s all right. The cleanup crew will fix it.”

Clean up crew?

I inquired from Renji-san about it, since I was hearing this concept for the first time.

“Hey Renji-san, who are the clean up crew?”

“Ah, I see. You haven’t heard about them from Soichiro yet?”

Renji-san took me back to the car and gently explained to me.

“Itsuki-kun, do you remember the people from the other houses that were there during the Shichi-Go-San?”

“Yes, I remember!”

How could I forget?

It was the first time in my life that I had been seen by so many different men.

“The ten houses over there, If you include the Kamiarizuki house, there are 11 houses, and that is the top 10 houses as an “exorcist.”

“Top 10 houses….”

“Yes. They have a long history and know various exorcism techniques. I wonder if Itsuki-kun has learned a sword art called ‘Yato-yato-ryu’?”

“Yes! Daddy will teach me.”

“I guess you’re right. Yato-Yato-Ryu is a sword art that belongs only to the Kisaragi family.”

“Huh? Is that so?”

“That’s right.”

I’ve never heard of it before.

I mean, if there is a sword art only for the Kisaragi family, does that mean that other families have their own sword art that is unique to them…?

“And it’s not just swordsmanship that is special. The ten houses each have their own magic called ‘succession’. I don’t think Itsuki has learned it yet.”

“Succession…..”

I don’t think it’s power transmission…..

It’s probably inherited by one child.

“I’ve never heard of it. I wonder if the Kisaragi family has one?”

“I know they do. I’ve seen Soichiro use it. Maybe you’ll learn it when you’re seven years old at the shichi-go-san.”

Wow, there it is. The shigi-go-san culture of the exorcist.

Why do they value shichi-go-san so much?

I wanted to know about “Succession” magic too. ……

“Let’s get back to the story. There are as many as 10 famous families of “exorcists,” but they are not the only ones who can become exorcists. There are also those who have had family members killed by monsters. They can practice magic and become exorcists.”

I felt as if my heart was clenched in my throat when I heard those words.

So there are other children like Hina?

“But still. If they are born in a normal family, they are more often not born with enough magic power to fight as an exorcist. These children cooperate with the police and do the clean up for us.”

“I see….”

I think even a normal child would have more magic power with defecation training, but there’s a restriction that they have to be 3 years old to do that. And I have the restriction that I don’t want to tell people about it. I am sure that a normal born child will not be able to increase his/her magic power. I’m sorry. It’s just that the training I created sucks. ……

“So, Itsuki-kun, you can exorcise monsters without worry.”

Even if he said that, I could only smile.

When I returned to the car, my father was already there.

Apparently, he had anticipated that I would defeat the monster and was protecting Aya. That was too good to be true.

Aya jumped out of the car and hugged me before my father could call out to me.

“Itsuki-kun! Thank goodness you’re alive!”

“……Aya-chan!”

“I was so worried! Itsuki-kun, you idiot!”

And then she cried just like that and I had a very hard time soothing her.

I was a little happy that she was so concerned about me, but I also thought that since I had worried her so much, I should have a hard time calming her down.