Chapter 44: Chapter 44

Jin’s POV
   At the morning of the next day, Jin sees a paper crane right on top of his chest the moment he wakes up. He unfolds it and sees a message written in ink and brush.

   “Good day to you, Minase-dono. It is I, Tamamo No Mae. I have sent you this paper crane so that I could invite you to come to the Fushimi Shrine again. I am going to tell everyone the truth tonight, and I would appreciate it if you are here with me.” the message writes.

   So she has decided to let the cat, er, fox out of the bag. That was quick. Jin thought she was going to ponder about it for at least three more days. Well, good for her.

   While Jin was reading the letter, his phone was keep on ringing to notify him that he received messages at LINE. He picks it up and checks who’s the annoying one who’s sending him barrages of massages this early in the morning.

   Turns out that he was being put inside a LINE group without him knowing. All the messages were sent from the various members of the group: Estyshana, the Graylock sisters, and Ayumi.

   “Has all of you received a paper crane written by Shuzo-sama?” Ayumi asks in the group.

   “I indeed have.” Audrey confirms.

   “Me too. What’s that all about? Something about going to tell us the truth?” Aldenia asks.

   “I have no idea either. If only someone who actually does would explain things to us…”

   Even though Jin is only reading the message, he could somehow feel Ayumi’s gaze that demands the truth.

   “Why am I inside this group all of a sudden?” he writes instead of spilling the beans.

   “Oh, don’t be like that. We’re friends, right? Isn’t it normal for us to be in the same chat group like this?” Aldenia writes.

   “Nope. I prefer to have some personal space.”

   “Ever the introvert, aren’t you?”

   “I created this group so that it’s easier for us to communicate. As such, I hope all of you can use this to the fullest.” Ayumi writes.

   “I guess chat groups can be useful if used in the right way.” Jin admits grudgingly.

   “By the way, where’s Esty-san?” Ayumi asks. “I’m pretty sure that she would be one of the first ones to leave a message.”

   “She’s probably still sleeping since she’s not a morning person.” Jin writes.

   “You sure know her well, Minase-kun.” Ayumi writes.

   “I guess it’s inevitable. We’ve known each other for quite a long time, after all.”

   “Back to our main topic. We’ve quite a bit of time until the meeting organized by Shuzo-sama, so I think it’s appropriate for us to meet up and train together, even for a little bit.” Ayumi writes next.

   Ordinarily, it would take them 3 hours to go to Kyoto by train. However, the problem can be solved in an instant by flying or using Teleportation.

   “I’m not trying to brag, but I’m more than capable to teleport everyone at Kameda Shrine to Kyoto.” Audrey offers.

   “Thank you, Audrey-san. However, that won’t be necessary since everyone else at the shrine has already departed to Kyoto by riding the earliest train.” Ayumi replies.

   “That early? Whatever for?”

   “They have to hand in my brother as soon as possible to prevent him from escaping judgment.”

   “...I see, My apologies for asking.”

   “It’s fine, Audrey-san.”

   “Say, what about Meiko?” Aldenia asks, probably in an attempt to change the subject.

   It took Ayumi quite a while to answer that.

   “She’s sitting right next to me.”

   “Oh, have the two of you been together the whole night or something?”

   “Yes. It somehow ended up like that. Not one word from you, Minase-kun.”

   “No worries.” Jin assures.

   “Anyway, please get ready and come to Kameda as soon as you’re ready.” Ayumi continues to write.

   Jin wastes no time in changing his clothes and get to cooking breakfast. When he got out of his room, Nyri was already at the living room and watching the television.

   “Good morning. Are you going to be outside for the whole day again?” she asks.

   “That’s right. I might come back early, though. Still, I can’t cook you lunch. Not even dinner depending on the situation. ”

   “So, does that mean that I get to order delivery again?”

   “Only by using a limited amount of money. A very limited amount. ”

   “Oh well, I guess it’ better than nothing.”

   After they’re done with the eating, Jin does the usual clean up while Nyri continues to watch anime. He then left her some money on the table.

   “Well, I’m leaving. Try not to spend all the money in one go.” he tells her as he’s wearing his shoes.

   Nyri was so glued on the television that all she did was waving her hand at him.

   Even though it’s Saturday today, the street is kind of empty. The civilians are probably freaked out by the sightings of kappas and decide to stay home for a while. Good. Jin loves it when the road is quiet.

   He reached Kameda without any trouble. Once there, he takes out his phone and calls Ayumi.

   “I’m already here, Ichihara. Where are all of you?” he asks once she picks up.

   “We’re at the courtyard. Just pass through the entrance and keep walking until you see another huge set of doors. The courtyard is beyond that door.” she instructs.

   “Got it.”

   The interior of the shrine is still wrecked from the yesterday’s battle. Jin guesses that they have yet to hire a contractor to fix the mess.

   Their courtyard is kind of huge, with its size around the same as six classrooms combined together. It’s empty for the most part except a pond at one corner. Jin can see koi fish of different sizes swimming inside.

   The Graylock sisters are already here. They’re currently warming up with Ayumi and Meiko. All of them are wearing gym uniforms. Audrey and Aldenia are wearing white shirt and black pants, while Ayumi and Meiko are wearing white shirt and gray pants. There are a sheathed katana, a pair of gloves and a spiked club placed on top of a picnic mat along with some sport drinks. Jin assumes that they’re Ayumi and Meiko’s weapons.

   “Where did you get that uniform, Meiko?” Jin asks the oni.

   “Ichihara-san used her old ones and adjusted its size to fit my body.” the oni replies.

   “Wow, you actually know how to alter clothes, Ichihara?”

   “Yes. Sewing is a useful skill, after all. Everyone should learn how to do them.”

   “I tried sewing once. I ended up stabbing my fingers with the needle and made zero progress.” Jin confesses.

   “Same here. I think I used up at least ten bandages that day.” Aldenia agrees.

   Audrey lowers her head guiltily. Looks like she has tried and failed too.

   “If you like, I can teach you on how to sew.” Ayumi offers.

   “No thanks. I’ll just go to a tailor if I want my clothes patched up or something.” Jin declines immediately.

   “Same here. I don’t want risk ruin a perfectly good piece of cloth.” Aldenia says as well.

   Audrey, on the other hand, accepts the invitation.

   “I’m grateful for your offer and wish to take the lessons.”

   “Understood. We’ll arrange a time after all this is over.”

   Meiko stares wordlessly at Ayumi with her puppy-dog eyes. Ayumi managed to hold the line for three whole seconds before surrendering.

   “...Fine. You can join in too.” the shrine maiden sighs.

   Meiko’s expression brightens up at once.

   “Thank you so much!” she says excitedly.

   “Say, is Esty even going to be here?” Aldenia asks no on in particular.

   “She’s probably still sleeping and won’t wake up until noon.” Jin says.

   At the next moment, his phone rings. Somehow, he’s not surprised that it was Estyshana who’s calling him.

   “Where are you, Von Mantus?”

   “At the guest room. Come and get me.” she demands with a groggy voice.

   Before Jin could even say a thing, she has disconnected the call.

   “She said that she’s in the guest room. I’ll go find her right now.” Jin tells the others.

   As Estyshana has said, she’s indeed inside the guest room. And she’s sleeping on the tatami mat. Jin prods her lightly with his toe.

   “Get up.” he tells her.

   “Can’t. Too. Sleepy…” she mumbles.

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   “I would say that you’ll catch a cold. But considering the fact that you’re an idiot, I guess that’s not happening.”

   “I’ve been in this country long enough to understand that idiom, you jerk.”

   “Why are you even here, then?”

   “Chifuyu will force me to study if I didn’t.”

   “That reminds me. How did you even managed to come out without telling the Wakaba family the truth or using your Bloodline Magic?”

   “I told them that I’ll be hanging out with the Graylocks on the next few days.” she explains.

   “And they just let you come here? I’m surprised that Wakaba didn’t try to follow you.”

   “Watanabe would definitely try to, but not Chifuyu. She did look at me with a worried expression, but she didn’t insist.”

   “...I see.”

   She suddenly opens up her arms.

   “Give me a princess carry.” she demands.

   “...I beg your pardon?”

   “You heard me. A. Princess. Carry.”

   Suddenly, she doesn’t sound that sleepy.

   “Fine, fine. A princess carry it is.”

   Jin bents down and picks her up with the princess carry as she requested. He then leaves the guest room while carrying her.

   “I’ll never understand the reason human females get so excited whenever they’re being carried like this.” she mumbles as Jin is walking down the corridor.

   Even though she’s saying that, her face is slightly blushing.

   “I can carry you like a carry a sack of potatoes.” Jin suggests.

   “Don’t you dare.”

   Ayumi, Audrey and Aldenia gasp when they saw Jin princess-carrying Estyshana. They take out their phone and start to take pictures while drooling. Jin does his best to ignore them.

   “We’re here.” Jin tells the demon who still has her eyes closed.

   “Good. Put me down.”

   Jin did as he’s told and gently put her down. She wobbles a bit for a few seconds before finally being able to stand properly.

   “Oh Devil, getting up this early in the morning is plain torture…” she mumbles.

   “You can wash your face at the pond over there.” Jin suggests.

   “Please don’t actually do that, Esty-san.” Ayumi pleads.

   “Of course I won’t.”

   “Yeah, I guess it’s better that way. Wouldn’t want the fishes to get sick after you contaminated the water they’re living in.” Jin tells Estyshana.

   She punches his shoulder with a strength that couldn’t even kill a fly.

   “We’re going to start our practice soon. Would you like to join us?” Ayumi asks the two of them.

   “Sure.” Jin tells her.

   Estyshana declines.

   “Sorry, I need some more time before I’m sobered up.” she says.

   “Of course. Please take your time.”

   “Support me until I get to that mat, Jin.” Estyshana orders.

   “Anything you say, Your Highness.”

   After Estyshana has sit down on the picnic mat, the others gather up to talk about their training menu.

   “How should we start our training?” Ayumi asks.

   “How about a sparing session? It’s the fastest way to figure out our strengths and weaknesses.” Aldenia suggests.

   “True. We can’t work together properly if we don’t know what each of our teammates can do.” Jin agrees.

   “And if we’re sparring, we should spar with the strongest one here.” Audrey suggests next.

   All four girls look at Jin. He shrugs.

   “Sure. Come at me alone. Come at me all together. I don’t really care.”

   “My, you’re really confident, aren’t you?” Ayumi asks.

   “Don’t take this the wrong way. I need to push myself really hard whenever I have the chance or I’ll lose my edge.”

   “I see. In that case…”

   The four girls look and each other and nod at the same time.

   “We’ll be taking you on all at the same time.” she tells him.

   “Sure. Get prepared then.”

   He himself doesn’t need to prepare. All he did was getting Felfarthen out and wait for them to be done.

   Ayumi picks up the gloves and puts them on. They’re made of leather and reach all the way to her elbows. Upon close looks, the gloves have multiple compartments on both sides. Jin could see talismans sticking out of them. A pretty clever way of storing talismans. Next, she unsheathes her katana and leaves the scabbard at the mat.

   Meiko picks up her club and does a few practice swings. Satisfied, she joins the others.

   All of them get into positions. They got into it without discussing a thing at all. All the fights they went through together last night probably polished their teamwork. Hence, there was no need of discussion.

   As Jin has half-expected, Audrey positioned herself the furthest away from him, with Ayumi standing in front of her. Meiko and Aldenia are standing at the shrine maiden’s both sides. Makes sense. Audrey the mage acts as the support and ranged attacker of the group, with Ayumi the all-rounder supports the other three by using her talismans. She’s probably in charge of giving out orders too. Lastly, Meiko and Aldenia are on the offence with their huge reliance on strength. An excellently balanced team.

   “Ichihara-san, Meiko-san. Please be careful. He’s extremely dangerous and should not be underestimated at all costs.” Audrey says from the back.

   “Don’t worry, Audrey-san. I’m never one to underestimate my opponent, whoever they may be.” Ayumi tells her without looking back.

   “I, um, I’ll do my best!” Meiko replies timidly.

   “About time I get to fight you, Minase! I’ve been waiting for this chance for a long time!” Aldenia says excitedly while cracking her fists.

   Jin decides to keep quiet. He can talk to them again after this is over.

   “So, who’s going to signal the start of our sparring?” Jin asks.

   “Oh, right. We didn’t decide on that, have we? Can you do the honor, Esty-san?” Ayumi pleads at Estyshana.

   “Sure thing. 3, 2, 1, go.”

   The moment the countdown was over, Meiko and Aldenia charge towards Jin with their club and fist ready to pummel him. He blocks Meiko’s blow with his sword and Aldenia’s fist with his arm. The latter winces after her fist made contact with the arm he reinforced with Strengthen, a Level 1 Spell that Aldenia probably favors a lot.

   Jin sees Ayumi at mid-air, her katana held above her head and ready to slice him into two. Jin calmly takes a normal breath, and then blows towards her. Her, along with Meiko and Aldenia are immediately blown away by a strong gust of cold wind. Or so he thought as Audrey casts Levitate (another Level 1 Spell) on all three of them, thus helping them get back on their feet.

   Next, Jin run passes the front liners and head straight to Audrey. The elder Graylock rapidly casts and fires low Level spells towards him by writing the spell formula with her left index finger. Her mouth and right hand moving rapidly as well to prepare for a high Level Spell. Jin is once again being impressed by the spellcaster of the Graylock family.

   What Audrey doing with her mouth and right finger is something called Sanand, which loosely translates to “at the same time”. Created by the Elves, it’s an extremely difficult spell-casting technique that only a few can pull off. A high Level Spell usually has a spell formula that’s at least one page long and divided into several paragraphs. By using Sanand, Audrey can mumble and write down different paragraphs of the spell formula and combine them at the end. What makes Sanad so difficult to do is that most paragraphs of the spell formula has the same word. If you mess up the timing, the spell will be jumbled up, and you’ll have to start all over again. Including Audrey and her father Austin, Jin has only met five spellcasters out of at least two hundred who can pull off Sanand successfully, which does not include Jin himself.

   Her high Level Spell is, according to the movements of her mouth and finger, the Level 10 Level Spell Astral Prison. If she manages to cast it, Jin would be stuck in an inter-dimensional space until Audrey lets him out. Even he would have trouble getting out if he’s ever trapped by a Level 10 Spell, so he has zero intention of letting her to finish her casting.

   Of course, her and her teammates will do anything to stop Jin from stopping her. Meiko and Aldenia has not stop their vigorous attacks towards Jin. Their attacks are somehow stronger and faster. Jin looks at Ayumi and finds out why. She’s strengthening them up with her talismans.

   He could end this sparring session quickly by threatening to cast a Level 10 Spell just like how he scared away the Graylock sisters, but as he told the four girls just now, he needs to constantly put himself in disadvantageous situations or his sense will become dull. And so, he refrained himself from going completely overpowered.

   A left kick at the head from Aldenia. Jin dodges the kick by slightly tilting his head. He returns the favor by punching her stomach. The punch connects, and Aldenia could barely stop herself from throwing up. Jin was thinking of cutting them some slack until Aldenia glares at him with a look that clearly says “Don’t you dare!”

   Rapid strikes with the club from Meiko, and Ayumi is joining in to give Aldenia some breathers.

   “Are you okay, Al?” Audrey pauses her spell to ask.

   Aldenia gives her elder sister a thumb up while still bending down. She’s pretty tough, Jin give her that.

   As Jin was about to sent Meiko and Ayumi flying and finish off Aldenia, he dodges at the last second as a silhouette with a red hair attempts to punch the back of his head.

   “Have you finally decide to stop drowsing?” he asks without turning around.

   “Yup. I’m all awake now.” Estyshana confirms.

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