Chapter 15

Snap.

Before the downpour, the sky was hazy, with leaden clouds rolling like ocean waves, occasionally accompanied by muffled thunder.

When the sun is completely blocked out, everything on the ground appears even darker, turning into a cold, pale white that exudes a repulsive aura of death.

"Mr. Xia You, your letter."

A woman dressed in formal attire stood respectfully at a distance, bending down to hand the letter forward.

"Oh, thank you."

The young man, dressed in a cassock, was leaning against the latticed window, gazing at the scenery. Upon hearing this, he turned his gaze back and reached out to take the letter—but his fingers suddenly stiffened and trembled slightly, causing the thin paper to flutter to the ground.

The woman paused for a moment, then immediately stepped forward, picked up the letter, and repeated the action of [handing it over].

This time, the young man in the kasaya with his long hair half-tied up smiled and took the paper.

"Sorry, I'm not used to it yet."

"Are you still not fully recovered?" she asked with concern. "I noticed your stitches haven't been removed yet..."

"Ah, here? More or less, it won't heal in a short time."

He pointed to the stitches across his forehead, made a helpless gesture, and then opened the letter.

After a while, the belated rain finally leaped onto the window frame, splashing countless tiny, transparent water droplets that reflected the unique cold blue color of the storm.

"Hmm... Kamo family head traveling with Gojo Satoru, how interesting. The old folks are starting to get anxious too."

He stood up, folded the blank sheet of paper covered in writing, put it away, and then spread out a blank sheet of paper on his desk to write his reply.

"It seems we need to make them a little nervous in order for the plan to proceed more smoothly,"

Throughout, he spoke at a measured pace, and even the way he wrote was like placing a piece in a game of chess, exuding a special elegance and composure.

The woman beside him remained silent with her eyes closed, offering no comment.

"To stop at the unknown in this world is to bow down before one's own imagination. The minds of the elderly are always confined by an emotion called [fear]."

When the young man, addressed as "Mr. Xiayou," stopped writing, he casually tapped his forehead with the end of his pen, seemingly lost in thought.

"Hmm, let's use it to test the waters first."

…………

"Alright—that's all."

The [Rat Curse Spirit], whose appearance became even more chaotic after merging, was ruthlessly compressed and twisted by Gojo Satoru like wringing out a towel, turning into a kind of twisted rope shape in a very short time, looking particularly miserable.

Even powerful cursed spirits comparable to the highest rank have no chance against Gojo Satoru.

However, unlike the previous direct exorcisms, Gojo Satoru deliberately stepped aside this time, allowing Hato Kazuma to deliver the final blow.

Kazuma Hatake didn't hold back either, after all, it felt incredibly satisfying to level up by following a pro.

However, it seems difficult to advance to the highest level; his spell power and techniques have been stuck at level one for the past few days.

However, his action of swallowing the curse crystal directly after exorcising the cursed spirit really stunned even the most mature-looking Nanami Kento.

"What is that? A fallen cursed object? And they're actually going to eat it?"

"It's just a product of his technique,"

Gojo Satoru pulled up his eye patch, a beaming smile on his face. His tone when explaining to Nanami Kento had completely changed, as if he were the one showing off his ability. "How about it? Aren't you envious?"

“…No.” Nanami Kento replied calmly.

Rather than envying such things, he would rather finish work and go home right now.

"The combined [Rat Curse Spirit] has been successfully dealt with, but there are still some cleanup matters that require Mr. Nanami's continued assistance,"

Kiyotaka Ijichi said apologetically, "And Mr. Gojo, a report came from the [window] in Ibaraki..."

"Yes, yes, another level one or higher cursed spirit has appeared, right?"

Gojo Satoru waved his hand, his tone so lazy that he seemed completely unmotivated, but his body was already walking towards the outside of the sewer. "Okay, I'll leave now."

"I want one too..."

Just as Kazumasa Hatake was about to catch up, a pop-up window appeared in front of him.

[Current Task: The Rat Curse Spirit and an Unpleasant Day Off.]

[Rat Exorcism Spell: 100%/100%]

[Reward: Weapon [Bloodstained Fighting Gun]]

Weapons? Before Kazuma Hatake could even carefully read the description, a new line of text appeared in his field of vision.

[New limited-time mission: Undercurrents within the Kamo family.]

This task has a one-week time limit, and you must obtain at least 80% control over the Kamo family by the deadline: 12%/80%.

"Um?"

Gojo Satoru noticed that when Hatake Kazuma was saying something, he suddenly stopped halfway through and didn't finish the sentence for a long time.

"Did you eat something bad?"—He tilted his head cutely at the other person, and as he made this joke, the tips of his white hairs also twitched.

"……no,"

Kazuma Hatori was very tempted, but could only slump his shoulders, clearly extremely disappointed that he couldn't continue grinding dungeons with Satoru Gojo.

"I have to go back to the Kamo family."

If he doesn't go back soon, those old men who can earn him gold coins are really going to rebel.

"Oh, you really should go back."

Gojo realized that the people in the three main families were basically only good at following the rules, and each of them was so traditional and rigid that they could be made into specimens and displayed in a museum. He could rely on absolute force to establish a one-man rule in the Gojo family, but he obviously couldn't do that with Kamo.

In particular, Kazuma Hatori had only been the head of the family for a short time before he came with me to exorcise the cursed spirits, and I didn't have time to build up a powerful group to support him as the head of the family.

"Wait, the [secret dessert] you promised..."

Hato Kazuma was about to take out the dessert he had prepared earlier from his inventory when Gojo Satoru firmly refused, "No—no."

She even made a big X with both hands in front of her, firmly refusing to receive the mystery gift ahead of time.

Kazuma Hatake paused, "Hmm?"

"It was agreed that you had to catch ten fish to get it, how can you change the rules halfway through the event?"

Gojo Satoru was particularly insistent on this point—of course, following the process step by step and finally obtaining the [mystery dessert] through his own efforts was the most delicious dessert!

"Anyway, I'll definitely find time to fish enough. I'll leave that [mystery dessert] with you for now, but don't you dare steal it!"

Only then did Hagoromo Kazuma, having sorted out the five points of logic, nod with amusement.

"I see."

Anyway, it won't break if it's just in my inventory, so I'll just wait for him to come and exchange it for ten fish.

Therefore, Kazuma Hatori had to part ways with Satoru Gojo in Yamagata Prefecture and return to Kyoto by plane.

There, a group of old men were waiting for him to teach them a lesson... no, to treat them to a meal.

"That's all?"

Inside the main hall, separated by layers of shoji doors, Kazuma Hatori, holding a stack of papers, sat in the upper seat. His gaze towards Nagayoshi Kamo was cold and indifferent, revealing his utter displeasure.

"I kindly invited you to dinner, but you don't appreciate it."

Upon his return, he ordered Kamo Chokichi to provide him with all the core information about the Kamo family, especially the inventory of personnel, assets, and weapons.

But after waiting for most of the day, what he actually received was far from satisfying Kazuma Hatori.

Kamo Chokichi may have thought that this data could fool him, but he didn't know that he could see the progress directly from the task interface.

[Gain at least 80% control over the Kamo family: 34%/80%]

In other words, Kamo Chokichi kept at least a large portion of the information from him.

“If you’re testing my patience,” Kazuma Hatake’s gaze slowly swept over the crowd below, “I don’t mind giving you a try.”

Cold sweat trickled down Kamo Chokichi's back, soaking through the lining of his close-fitting kimono.

"This is indeed all..."

"lie."

Kazuma Hagoromo calmly interrupted the other party's sophistry and spoke directly to another elder, Nokichi Kamo.

“I remember that you and Kamo Chokichi are brothers, and you both hold equally high positions within the Kamo clan.”

Kamo Nokichi, holding the bowl, paused for a moment before answering with some hesitation, "That's right."

“Then let’s do it this way,” Kazuma Hatori raised his hand. “If you hand over all the information that the head of the Kamo family should have the right to know to me, you won’t have to keep eating sloppy food with Kamo Chokichi.”

"…………"

Kamo Chokichi, who was also holding a bowl, and the rest of the group fell silent.

So this kid knew he was forcing them to eat rotten food...!

"real?"

Suddenly grasping at a glimmer of hope, Kamo Nokichi's expression brightened. After struggling with his thoughts, he decisively ignored the glares that Kamo Chokichi kept throwing at him.

"Could you let me see those materials first? I'm not sure what information Choji missed."

Kazuma Hatori quite decisively tossed the stack of papers in his hand to him.

Kamo no Yoshikichi quickly flipped through the document, then asked Hatori Kazuma to wait a moment before beckoning another servant over and whispering a few words of instruction.

Kazuma Hatake paused his repeated attempts to force the other party to treat him to a meal, choosing to give them another chance.

If this still doesn't satisfy him, then he doesn't plan to waste any more gold coins on "treating" people.

Having just acquired the [Blood-Stained Fighting Spear], Kazuma Hatake didn't mind testing its power on these rebellious old men.

This time, after waiting for about an hour, the contents that were delivered had obviously increased in size—of course, Kazuma Hatori did not judge by the thickness of the paper.

[Gain at least 80% control over the Kamo family: 64%/80%]

The amount of intelligence one obtains is also a reflection of the degree of control one has.

"Why is it specifically marked here as a Level 1 cursed item [Root of Herpes] - Under Monitoring?"

By the end, Kazuma Hagoromo discovered that in addition to their large commercial assets in the general public, the Kamo family also possessed many magical tools and some high-level magical artifacts in the field of sorcery.

However, the destination of those cursed objects was basically [in the suppression of xx region], and they were used as talismans to fight poison with poison - Wu also explained this point to him in detail.

This is the only item that is "[Under Monitoring]".

"In fact, this information is known only to a very small number of people like us."

Kamo Nokichi wiped his sweat. "This was an internal mistake by the Kamo family. During transport, its seal was broken, and it took root in that abandoned hospital, constantly absorbing the negative emotions around it..."

"The good news is that there aren't many ordinary people around, so the negative emotions generated aren't too great,"

"The bad news is that abandoned hospitals themselves become breeding grounds for negative emotions. Once noticed by certain people, they can be fabricated into terrifying urban legends and so on... [the root of the herpes] will fully grow."

“I see.” Kazuma Hatori nodded.

“Since you, the head of the family, have noticed this, and are a powerful sorcerer who can go on missions with Gojo Satoru,” Kamo Nokichi suggested, “would you be so kind as to go and help with the exorcism…?”

[Currently triggered delegate:]

Kamo no Kichi's test: Please exorcise the [root of herpes] within the specified time.

Reward: Increases the Kamo family's level of control.

Was it a test of his strength, or an attempt to take the opportunity to erase the mistakes the Kamo family had made before?

After pondering for a moment, Kazuma Hatori gladly accepted the commission.

"good."