The palm of the girl's hands was covered in a dense mass of wart-like growths that were even starting to spread up her arms. Even Sona Sitri was shocked by the sight. The grotesque, fleshy growths were truly disturbing.
"Is there no way to cut it off and then heal it?" she asked.
"No, Sister Eiko has to go to a temple every three to four months so the shrine maidens can cut off the excess growths, but even if they cut them all off, they still grow back," Yayoi Hozuki said. "The shrine maiden told her that it would never get better unless the curse was removed."
The group fell silent. Luo Guang stepped forward to examine her hands. When he touched her, the girl let out a soft cry of pain.
"It's connected to her nerves and blood vessels. It is a bit tricky," Luo Guang noted. He heard Yayoi mention "shrine maiden" and knew they must have already sought help from one with spiritual power. But the shrine maiden's power was only a temporary fix and came with the pain of surgery.
Hearing this, Eiko Hozuki sighed faintly, but the gloom in her eyes quickly vanished. "I'm used to it now. Besides, the Mother of Ghouls said that I only have to wait five years, right?"
"Eiko, the shrine maiden said that the curse on you will get worse over time. In five years, even the Mother of Ghouls might not be able to do anything," Yayoi Hozuki reminded her.
"Huh? She... she said that?" The girl was stunned.
"Alright, don't try to play on my sympathies. Although the curse is a bit tricky, it's not impossible to fix," Luo Guang said. He looked at the girl's body and, through his perception of her aura, determined that a black aura was indeed residing within her. It was on the verge of fusing with the girl's own aura, and if that happened, it would become very difficult to remove.
Luo Guang's words made Yayoi Hozuki pause. How can he say it's tricky one second and have a solution the next?
"But I just finished purifying the Mother of Ghouls, so I can't do it today. Contact me after I've rested. I'll also use these next few days to consider what compensation I should ask for."
"Is a 'reward' not enough? Sister Eiko is the famous school beauty. The people who pursue her could line up from the east end of the street to the west," Yayoi Hozuki asked, a bit confused. "For Sister Eiko's curse, I can also make a suitable sacrifice, and I won't call the police."
"A reward? What kind of reward?" Eiko asked, leaning in.
"Just... 'that' and 'that'..." As Yayoi Hozuki described the "reward," Eiko Hozuki's face turned red. She hugged Yayoi tightly, holding her head, and said with a wry smile, "I'm so sorry for the trouble. Everything Yayoi said was just nonsense. Children don't know any better."
"It's okay. I didn't take it seriously," Luo Guang said calmly.
"But I was serious," Yayoi Hozuki insisted. If she could trade one "reward" for removing the curse, it would be the best deal ever. What's more, Luo Guang's looks and temperament were perfect, so Eiko's "reward" would be worth his while.
"Well... then it's a deal. We'll contact you. You can also name your price, and I'll do my best to satisfy it," Eiko said. Although she had to wait a few days, she wasn't being dramatic. After all, her curse was something even shrine maidens who served the gods couldn't deal with. Now that someone had finally given her a definite answer, she was truly happy.
Luo Guang felt the same way. On one hand, he genuinely needed to recover, and on the other, he hadn't yet thought of what compensation to ask for. If it were the girl's purity, he wouldn't refuse, but it was just a "reward." He wasn't a perverted demon and wasn't that desperate.
The three of them exchanged contact information, and then Eiko drove Yayoi Hozuki home. The little girl in the back seat waved goodbye to Luo Guang.
Left at the foot of the eerie mountain with the Buddhist temple were Luo Guang, Sona, and Tsubaki Shinra. After the Mother of Ghouls was purified, the area lost some of its unsettling aura and felt more tranquil.
"Sona, do you devils have a partnership with the gods as well?" Luo Guang suddenly asked.
Sona Sitri was slightly taken aback but quickly recovered. She adjusted her glasses and said, "Only with some of them. For gods like the Mother of Ghouls who manage the souls of the deceased, as long as they don't cause trouble, our Underworld gives them special treatment. After all, the souls of the dead need a place to go."
"The Underworld does have a department for that, but my sister told me that for a long time now, the souls of the dead have become difficult to manage, which is why there are more and more evil spirits attacking the living." The girl sighed.
Although they had been trying to deal with it, the most troublesome thing about evil spirits was that they were very good at hiding or possessing humans. They would only receive information and investigate after an attack had occurred and was clearly not man-made, which wasted a lot of time.
Then, she realized something. Did he just call me by my first name? And this is in Japan, which means... Forget it. It's a good thing to strengthen our cooperation. Luo Guang's strength had completely changed her perception. Sona Sitri tacitly accepted Luo Guang's way of addressing her.
"By the way, you completed this request so smoothly. Is there any special reward you want? Money, antiques, gold, or something special that only the Underworld has?"
"You can keep the money. Do you have any magic books for learning magic skills?" Luo Guang asked. Although he could use magical power now, he had not systematically learned any specific magic. Besides using it to attack enemies, he didn't know how to do anything else, or at least he wasn't proficient.