"In a remote place like this, just getting here takes a ton of effort. No wonder Jujutsu High had to outsource it as a commission."
Wearing a deep-purple dress, with silver hair braided into two long plaits in front and back, a tall, mature woman complained casually as she walked at an unhurried pace toward the abandoned construction site.
"It should be here. There's no way I got it wrong—this place is fairly famous online as a suicide hotspot. There won't be another similar site within several kilometers."
After confirming from afar that she hadn't come to the wrong place, Mei Mei reviewed the commission intel once more.
"According to the Window's observations, this location is suspected to have Grade 1 cursed spirit activity, along with a large number of low-grade cursed spirits. Exact numbers unknown…"
"That already counts as a pretty big job. No time to waste—let's get started."
Having been dragged out late at night for a commission, Mei Mei planned to head to a familiar izakaya for a good drink once this was over.
She skillfully activated her cursed technique, Black Bird Manipulation, sending the prepared crows into the sky above the construction site. Sharing vision with the birds, she began observing the situation inside.
However, the mission site—which should have been crawling with cursed spirits according to the intel—was completely empty under Mei Mei's surveillance.
Forget the Grade 1 cursed spirit that had been emphasized in the report—there wasn't even a single Grade 4 cursed spirit in sight.
"What the hell? Did Jujutsu High mess up the intel? The cursed spirits at the mission site all vanished? It's not like they went on a team-building retreat."
"Wait… there are traces of battle!"
Circling over the barren construction site, Mei Mei quickly noticed numerous signs of combat through the crow's eyes.
Ground split cleanly in half as if by an incredibly sharp blade. Broken walls. Collapsed structures. And most importantly—residual cursed energy that hadn't yet dissipated.
"Someone beat me to it?"
Mei Mei wasn't particularly angry about having her commission 'stolen.' After all, she always collected payment before doing the job.
The money was already in her pocket. Whether the target got exorcised ahead of time had nothing to do with her. There was no way she was returning the payment—she wasn't about to let herself run a Grade 1 commission for free.
Still, she lowered the crow's altitude slightly, intending to gather more detailed intel to shut Jujutsu High up later.
The moment the crow entered the construction site, Mei Mei felt—through her technique—a chilling, deathly still aura of cursed energy that inspired instinctive fear.
"Hey, hey, isn't this a bit much? I'm only observing through a technique. I'm not even inside yet…"
Her tall body stiffened for a brief moment. Mei Mei raised a hand to wipe the cold sweat from her forehead.
That kind of icy, terrifying cursed energy—like pure death itself—was that really something a human could possess?
Damn it. Don't tell me this shithole quietly spawned a special-grade cursed spirit…
At the thought, Mei Mei very sensibly retreated to what she considered a safe distance, only then continuing to send the crow deeper using Black Bird Manipulation.
There were plenty of battle traces throughout the abandoned site, but based on her observations, Mei Mei concluded that most of the fights had ended almost instantly.
The massive number of cursed spirits that had once gathered here seemed to have been annihilated in a single blow by some powerful existence—there were no signs of prolonged combat at all.
Most of the site told the same story. When the crow entered the central abandoned building, the situation inside was much the same.
Only after flying to the upper floors did Mei Mei finally notice something different—near a large hole smashed through the ceiling.
The residual cursed energy here was noticeably denser than elsewhere. This was likely where the suspected Grade 1 cursed spirit from the intel had been.
There were more battle traces here than in other areas, but even so, they were still extremely limited.
By surveying the surroundings and factoring in the destructive capability of a Grade 1 cursed spirit, Mei Mei deduced that the entire fight had likely lasted less than ten seconds.
Less than ten seconds for a Grade 1 cursed spirit?
As a Grade 1 sorcerer herself, Mei Mei was confident she could exorcise one too—but there was no way she could do it that cleanly or that fast.
Continuing upward through the hole in the ceiling, Mei Mei soon discovered another area where the residual cursed energy was even stronger.
"So that's it—there was a second Grade 1 cursed spirit. I knew the Window's intel was unreliable."
"But…"
As she examined this second battlefield, Mei Mei quickly realized an absurd truth.
If the first Grade 1 battlefield still showed some signs of exchange—brief as it was, the cursed spirit had at least resisted before dying—
Then this place was different.
No matter how she analyzed it, there was only one conclusion.
Instant kill.
A powerful Grade 1 cursed spirit had been slain in a single strike, without any chance to resist.
The entire battlefield consisted of a single slash mark—cutting through both floor and ceiling, stretching over ten meters long—along with the lingering cursed energy that reeked of death itself.
A massacre.
Even Grade 1 cursed spirits were being one-shot. That meant what had unfolded here before her arrival was a one-sided slaughter.
Based on this alone, the existence that had wiped out all the cursed spirits here before she arrived was unquestionably special grade.
In other words—
"Damn it… did I take a loss on this job?"
Compared to clearing out a Grade 1 cursed spirit and a bunch of low-level ones in some remote area, any commission involving a special grade was several times more dangerous—and several times better paid.
Put another way, Mei Mei had unknowingly taken on a job related to a special grade while being paid only for a Grade 1 cleanup.
And considering that Jujutsu High's intel had already been wrong—there had been two Grade 1 cursed spirits here instead of one—even without this development she would likely have lost out a bit.
Instantly, Mei Mei felt like she'd been taken for a sucker.
"Extra pay. When I get back, Jujutsu High is definitely paying extra. Suspicion of a special grade—I don't believe they won't be interested."
With the intent of making a hefty profit, Mei Mei finished investigating the abandoned site and didn't linger for even a second. She canceled her technique and immediately left the area.
After all, with a suspected special grade involved—and judging by the residual cursed energy, very recently—now that she had the intel, staying any longer made her feel distinctly unsafe.