Chapter 79

Where did the cursed object go? Good question.

It seems that this patriarch has also read the report and discovered that Xia Youjie did not mention anything about cursed objects at all, as if they did not exist in this incident at all.

In previous classes, Kazuma Hatake had learned some basic knowledge about cursed objects. He knew that if a cursed object was devoured by a cursed spirit, there was a chance it could be recovered; however, if it was devoured by a suitable human, causing the cursed object's own will to awaken, then once the human vessel died, the cursed object would also die.

In other words, the patriarch used some method to make the cursed object be controlled by the talisman while the cursed spirit was consuming it, so that the cursed object would still fall after death and be picked up by Xia Youjie.

Now, the owner of the cursed object has come to collect the debt.

She was also testing him.

Hatake Kazuma harbored deep resentment towards this cult leader.

If they came to test him, why send their subordinates? Yuqu Kazuma sincerely wanted to suggest that if this esteemed patriarch suspected him, he could come directly.

It would be best to confront him face to face.

"say."

At that moment, Ayako Sakami urged him on the phone, her tone stern.

If it weren't for Kazuma Hagoromo's earlier scathing remarks about the old woman who was a curse master, and his subtle expression of loyalty to the cult leader, she might have even been tinged with anger when she uttered that word.

Kazuma Hagoromo would never give such an honest answer as "He ate the cursed object because it increased his strength".

Furthermore, before capturing the villainous big boss who had tried to scheme against Wu in his previous life, he had no intention of arousing the suspicion of the patriarch and being excluded from the core team.

"That cursed object..."

Kazuma Hatake slowly spoke, answering the question from the other end of the phone.

“Xia Youjie kept it for himself.”

Ayako Sakami: "..."

Ayako Sakami: "Huh?"

"It's true. Back then, after we exorcised the cursed spirit, we got a piece of organ that looked like dried bacon, about half the size of a palm."

Kazuma Hatori's voice was steady, and his speech was neither too fast nor too slow.

Even though his voice wasn't as deep as it was during his youth in the first playthrough, his lies were still very convincing.

"Xia Youjie said that since feeding cursed items to cursed spirits can increase their strength, he also wanted to try feeding them to his own cursed spirit. Therefore, we did not choose to hand over the cursed item to the Higher Vocational College."

"As for me, you know, I am ordered by the patriarch to get close to Xia Youjie and gain his trust. In this regard, I will naturally listen to him completely and will not utter a single word of objection, so as not to cause me to lose the trust relationship that I have worked so hard to build."

Ayako Sakami was stunned, realizing that what Kazuma Hatori said was perfectly reasonable and she couldn't find any flaws.

"So, the cursed artifact is currently..."

In the end, she could only hesitantly ask for the result again.

“That’s right, it’s with Xia Youjie.”

Kazuma Hatori calmly summarized for her, showing no sign of guilt.

According to Mikoshiba, a guy like him who usually doesn't show much expression always subconsciously gives people a sense of reliability, calmness, and other positive qualities, so no one would ever think of him as cunning or wicked.

When it comes to lying, they're incredibly accurate, fooling people every time.

Of course, Kazuma Hatori didn't consider himself cunning or wicked—he was just lying through his teeth a little.

In a typical game, this would mean that when faced with questioning from the villain, he would be given options such as "confess," "conceal," "lie," and "turn the tables."

Are we expecting him to honestly confess? There's no achievement to unlock yet.

Besides, it's safest to say that the cursed object is with Xia Youjie.

The higher-ups naturally couldn't bring up the fact that Xia Youjie's report was problematic, as that would expose that they were not only fully aware of the whole incident, but also had dealings with the curse masters in private.

As for the cult leader, Kazuma Hagoromo was not worried at all.

If that guy had a way, or if there were someone else who could get closer to Natsuyuki than Kazuma Hatori, why would he need to be assigned a task?

As for Ayako Sakami, whatever he said went.

Could she possibly confront Xia Youjie?

Besides, she already had a sufficient reason to give to her superiors, so there was no need to dwell on it.

If she persists in pressing the issue, Kazuma Hatake will immediately turn the tables and accuse her of trying to prevent the Pope from completing his mission, thus seizing the moral high ground.

In other words, in the entire fabricated story just now, apart from Natsumi Yuuki's reputation being slightly damaged, no one was actually harmed as a result.

As for Xia Youjie's reputation, it doesn't matter, since he'll be playing villains anyway.

Kazuma Hatori thought to himself without any psychological pressure.

"I...Is that so...?"

Ayako Sakami was clearly incredulous, but the only people involved that night were Natsuyuki, Kazuma Hatori, and a cursed corpse.

She couldn't get any information from Xia Youjie, and the body had been disposed of by the higher vocational school.

Moreover...

She then thought that the patriarch's only request was to find out the whereabouts of the cursed object; he had not ordered her to retrieve it.

“I will report what you have said to His Holiness the Pope,” Ayako Sakami said solemnly. “As for His Holiness’s decision, I cannot interfere.”

Kazuma Hatake remained silent for a moment.

“You couldn’t interfere anyway, could you?” he began. “After all, you can’t even get an audience with the Pope…”

Beep beep—

The call was disconnected again.

People can be really vulnerable sometimes.

Kazuma Hatori put away his phone and decided that if Ayako Sakami called again to ask about the aftermath of the cursed object, he would say that it had been eaten by Natsuyuki's cursed spirit.

Fortunately, the patriarch seemed to have accepted this explanation and the fact that the cursed object could never be found again.

Ayako Sakura stopped bothering him, and the higher-ups stopped targeting him and Xia Youjie and devising another mission that "only they could go".

Not only that, they also reclassified the [Doll Attack Incident] mission, raising it from level two to near level one, and then provided a large additional mission allowance as compensation.

When filling out the expense report, Kazuma Hatake also wrote down all the souvenirs he bought for Satoru, which resulted in a very large sum.

The money of the higher-ups in the sorcery world is too good to pass up.

Xia Youjie, who was honestly filling out the expense report next to him, was speechless and didn't know what to say for a long time.

If he knew what Kazuma Hatake did in the previous game, he would understand that his current actions are already quite restrained.

The living Yama of the sorcery world just wants to squeeze some money out of them; it's incredibly kind of him.

Meanwhile, Gojo Satoru dragged his chair aside a bit, lay down on Hatori Kazuma's desk, and happily watched him write, even letting out a mischievous chuckle, urging Hatori Kazuma, who had just calculated the integer, to add an extra zero after the number.

"Those old guys are already blind and trembling when they hold a teacup. They won't notice if you add an extra zero. They might even accidentally stamp it while their hand is shaking. That would be a win for them!"

Xia Youjie: "..."

This white-haired student is even more clever than the others.

Xia Youjie: "What if we get found out?"

Gojo Satoru waved his hand: "Hey, if you get caught, just say you forgot to put a decimal point before the zero, and ask them to add it for you. You don't even need to send it back to be rewritten."

Xia Youjie was completely speechless, realizing that the entire story was flawless.

When he tried to persuade Kazuma Hatake not to follow his bad example, he noticed that the other man's eyes lit up.

"genius!"

He even praised Gojo Satoru's ideas, which earned him an even more smug and proud expression from the latter: "[Look at what you're saying, there's no doubt that I'm a genius]."

Then, Xia Youjie watched as the black-haired boy deftly drew a circle on the paper with his pen, and a zero was indeed added after the amount.

Xia Youjie: "…………"

They're both bold in their ideas and bold in their actions!

He finally understood why the two of them could become such good friends...

"Class begins... Hmm? Jay, what's with that expression?"

When Masamichi Nobi entered, he saw Natsuyuki looking at Kazuma Hagoromo and Satoru Gojo, who were huddled together with their heads close together, with a rather subtle gaze.

Shoko Ieiri sat on the far side, propping her head up with one hand and pressing the keypad on her phone with the other, seemingly indifferent to what was happening next door.

"Oh, it's nothing."

Xia Youjie snapped out of his daze, got up, and handed the expense report to Ye'e Zhengdao.

When Gojo Satoru sat back down, Hatori Kazuma also handed him over.

This routine procedure had been followed countless times before. Moth Zhengdao glanced at them briefly and put them together without examining them closely.

After all, he only taught four students in the entire grade, all of whom were fifteen or sixteen years old; and the higher-ups in the world of sorcery were like the top of a pyramid, highly respected by sorcerers.

Night Moth Path never imagined that a student, barely two months into their vocational college, would be thinking of taking advantage of the elite...

"Before class, Wu and Yizhen."

Masamichi Yagami first called out the names of Kazuma Hagoromo and Satoru Gojo, telling them to pay attention to what he was about to say.

"You've been scheduled to do a magazine interview this weekend. Remember to contact SS Studio in advance. They will arrange for staff to meet with you and provide some important information."

He handed his business card to Gojo Satoru, who was clearly looking forward to it, and to Hato Kazuma, who remained calm and composed.

SS Agency is short for Sigma Six Agency, which they previously affiliated with. Originally, it was just to make things easier for Gojo Satoru and Hatake Kazuma on that mission, but now they actually have to arrange a proper interview for them.

The firm, on the other hand, didn't mind at all—they could make a fortune from it anyway, so what was there to mind?

As for the business card given to Kazuma Hato and Satoru Gojo, it was temporarily assigned to one of their managers as a kind of novice mentor to prevent any problems from arising later.

No matter how dissatisfied the Gojo family was with Gojo Satoru's willful and reckless behavior, they had to acknowledge that he was the only successor to the Gojo family head, and they would not treat him any less in terms of pomp and dignity.

"That's right. Remember, you're not allowed to mention anything related to the world of sorcery."

Nocturnal Moth couldn't help but give the instructions again.

"I'm more at ease with Ichijin, but I'm worried about you, Satoru,"

He raised his voice deliberately and emphasized again, "You absolutely mustn't say anything carelessly when the time comes!"

"Okay, okay—"

Gojo Satoru replied in a soft, drawn-out tone, clearly annoyed by Yoga-sensei's concern.

He's just playful, he's not really reckless, so why do you always look worried that he'll get into trouble?

"That's good."

The moth nodded in agreement.

"Just answer whatever comes to mind, since this kind of interview only happens once."

—And he casually made a promise.