Chapter 130: Requesting the Method
"Congratulations, sir, on successfully exorcising the spirit."
Seeing Hikigaya Hachiman reappear in the alley, Takeda Mitsue naturally assumed he had eliminated the evil spirit completely.
"Yeah, let's go back."
Hachiman Hikigaya didn't bother explaining that the Baghead Evil Spirit hadn't been destroyed by him but had instead escaped.
After today's battle, he believed that all those years the Baghead Spirit had spent recuperating were now wasted.
With how desperate it was to cling to life, it wouldn't show itself again for at least a few years.
Rather than say anything and make Takeda Mitsue anxious, it was better to keep quiet.
When he got stronger in the future, he'd just take care of it then.
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"Are you really okay?"
On the way back to the shop, Kawasaki Saki, walking beside Hachiman Hikigaya, eventually couldn't help but ask.
"How could I be okay? I didn't take care of that thing."
Faced with Kawasaki Saki, Hachiman Hikigaya didn't intend to hide anything.
After all, as his assistant, she was one of the few people he completely trusted.
"You didn't finish it off? Then that means it must've been really strong. You didn't get hurt, did you?"
Hearing Hikigaya's response, Kawasaki Saki's tone instantly became tense.
After investigating Takeda Mitsue's case, Kawasaki Saki had realized just how strong Hachiman Hikigaya really was.
And yet even someone as powerful as him couldn't fully resolve this commission? That made Kawasaki Saki start to wonder if Takeda Mitsue had some hidden agenda.
"I'm fine. The one that's in trouble is that evil spirit."
Lowering his head to glance at his completely unharmed hand, Hachiman Hikigaya couldn't help but marvel at the power of the Sessho-seki.
He had just fought a spirit of Demon Emperor level. Even though its strength had dropped to Special Grade, a "skinny camel is still bigger than a horse."
Although he had successfully inflicted heavy injuries using the "Burning Flames of Purgatory" skill with ghostfire, he himself had taken quite a bit of damage.
Yet the reason he was now walking down the street looking completely fine, without a single wound, was entirely due to the Sessho-seki he had exchanged for earlier.
Its regeneration was just terrifying.
Hikigaya had personally watched a wound several centimeters long on his arm heal completely in just a few minutes—without even leaving a scar!
And this was only a fragment of the Sessho-seki.
If the entire Sessho-seki were fused into his heart…
"Would I be able to regenerate infinitely like that Demon King?"
Hachiman thought of the first Demon King he had ever encountered.(Muzan)
If he fused the complete Sessho-seki, wouldn't his regeneration ability be comparable to that Demon King?
But obviously, this was just a fantasy for now.
A fragment barely the size of a fingernail already cost 15,000 spirit coins. A full Sessho-seki might cost over a million.
If one Demon King yielded 10,000 spirit coins, then he'd have to eliminate over a hundred Demon Kings to obtain that level of regeneration.
"There probably aren't even 10,000 Demon Kings in all of Japan. So this is basically impossible to gather, huh?"
Thinking this, Hachiman let out a long sigh.
Making money is hard.
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Back at Takeda Mitsue's shop, she first pulled out the commission payment—several hundred thousand yen.
Then, she opened a box and placed a few strings of prayer beads on the table in front of Hachiman.
Seeing both Hachiman and Kawasaki Saki look at the prayer beads with confused expressions, Takeda Mitsue nervously explained:
"At your level, Master Exorcist, money surely means little to you. Other than money, all I have left are these prayer beads that I made with all my strength in my youth."
"Spiritual tools, huh?"
Her words piqued Hachiman Hikigaya's curiosity.
He reached out, picked up one of the prayer beads, and examined it carefully—while secretly comparing it to the jade pendant around Shizuka Hiratsuka's neck.
Such weak spiritual power…
If Hiratsuka's jade pendant had a spiritual energy level of 1000, then these beads had maybe 0.1.
Not that the beads were bad.
With their spiritual strength, they'd be more than enough to repel low- and mid-level evil spirits, and even hold up against high-level ones for a few rounds.
It's just that, compared to the pendant, the beads seemed too dim… too dull…
"Is this the true power a real exorcist should have?"
Just a pendant alone possessed such immense power—then what kind of strength would the exorcist themselves have?
Could they really be on par with deities?
Hachiman suddenly felt an intense urge to meet those five real exorcists face-to-face.
"Sir?"
The atmosphere in the shop turned heavy after Hachiman went silent while holding the beads.
Takeda Mitsue and Niguredou Yuria sat nervously across from him.
If the client wasn't satisfied with their reward, wouldn't they die a horrible death?
Glancing at Niguredou Yuria beside her, Takeda Mitsue's face showed a hint of guilt.
I'm so sorry, Yuria. Your master has so little to offer, and now I might drag you into trouble too…
"Sorry, I spaced out for a second."
Coming back to his senses, Hachiman saw Takeda Mitsue watching him nervously.
He quickly smiled in satisfaction and put away all the prayer beads in front of him.
Whether they were useful or not didn't matter—as long as he accepted them, the old lady would feel at ease.
Sure enough, after seeing Hachiman take away all the spiritual tools she had, Takeda Mitsue didn't show the slightest heartache. Instead, she visibly relaxed.
"I want to ask you something."
After putting the beads away, Hachiman got to the real reason he had come here.
"Please, ask anything, sir. As long as I know the answer, I will tell you everything."
"Can you tell me how an ordinary person can gain the ability to exorcise spirits? Of course, I'm willing to offer something in exchange."
"Eh…?"
Takeda Mitsue froze upon hearing Hachiman's question.
She had expected him to ask about some top-secret matter, judging by how serious he looked—but it turned out he just wanted to know how to train?
But why would a master exorcist want to know how ordinary people gained exorcist abilities?
Weren't they only supposed to recruit people who could already see spirits?
And with Hachiman Hikigaya's high standing, why bother asking a low-level, unofficial shrine maiden from Chiba like her?
Wouldn't it be better to go to Tokyo or Kyoto and ask those noble families with hundreds of years of tradition?
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