On the street at midnight, Nakajima Atsushi stood at the crossroads, holding the string of strange wind chimes, hesitating whether to shake the billion.
He looked at the clock on the corner. He had less than two minutes to hesitate.
On the roof of the building upstairs, Hachishaku-sama held his chin with both hands and looked at Nakajima Atsushi's troubled look.
Hanako can't leave the building, and Kuen can't just leave the high school, so he's the only one who's free. Kuen wants to let both humans and monsters try the bell, and since Nakajima Atsushi is here, it's just right.
"Come on, young man~" Seeing Nakajima Atsushi's hesitation, Hachiya knew what he was thinking about, so he waved his hand and shouted to him: "I will accompany you~"
Nakajima Atsushi looked in the direction of the voice and saw a woman in white talking to him.
Nakajima Atsushi: “……!”
Didn’t he use the wind chime yet? How come something came out?!
The boy's stiff expression made Yashaku laugh. He made a microphone with his hands and shouted, "I'm Hanako-kun's companion. It's inconvenient for him to come over, so I'm here to accompany you. Feel free to use the wind chime. I'll be responsible for your safety."
"Ah?...Okay, yes..." Nakajima Atsushi agreed incoherently, but he was muttering in his heart: Is it really okay?
There's something weird about it everywhere!
The boy felt as if he had been kidnapped on a pirate ship and had missed the opportunity to refuse.
He was so upset that he thought: He said he was here to protect me, but is he really here to monitor me?
Bashi saw that the pointer had turned to twelve o'clock and reminded: "Okay, it's time--"
Nakajima Atsushi rang the wind chime.
There was a slight vibration in the air, and the sound of bells spread from near to far. The bell sounds had a sense of layering, and it was clear that the terrain ahead was flat, but the bell sounds seemed to have an echo.
...It was as if I had hit something.
Nakajima Atsushi swallowed.
Standing on a high point, Bashaku observed the situation in the field at all times. There were things moving slightly on all four sides of the intersection, but none of them were very strong.
Jiuyuan, who was sharing the view, was lying on the bed, already feeling a little disappointed.
Why is the effect of this wind chime not very obvious... That's it? That's it? That's it?
Nakajima Atsushi was relieved to see that nothing strange had happened for a long time. He looked up and asked Hasshaku, "Is this all right?"
Basha nodded. He felt that the energy fluctuations nearby had stopped. He said to Nakajima Atsushi, "Give me the wind bell. You go back first."
After Nakajima Atsushi left, he stood at the intersection alone.
"……oh?"
Pressing down the hem of her skirt that was blown up by the wind, Bashi saw several young souls next to the telephone pole. They looked like a white ball of light.
It seems that it is not yet able to condense into a human form, but its soul is very pure, without any karma, and its size is also very small.
"It's really pitiful..." Hachisha made a quick judgment, "He left this world at such a young age."
He took a step forward to take a closer look, but to his surprise, the group of kids were not afraid of him at all. Instead, they huddled together cautiously.
"That's quite courageous." He laughed.
When he squatted down, he realized that the group of children did not seem to be huddled together to resist him out of fear, but that they were hiding something...
Because this was a blind spot, the children piled themselves up to hide the things inside, but the cover was only eight feet. He saw it when he looked closely -
It is a black soul stained with a lot of karma.
It's a bit like his condition when Kuen first met Geto Suguru, but better than Geto Suguru who was completely trapped in consciousness.
It's strange that innocent children are guarding such a soul that is tainted with karma, but...
Also very interesting.
They go against their natural instinct to avoid a strong enemy and protect the other person, so the person must be very important to them.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt him."
The appearance of the Eight-foot Master was very friendly to children. He smiled at the children tenderly, then spread out his hands, with his palms facing them: "Would you like to come to my house? My master runs a store, so it's no problem for him to provide a place for you children to stay."
He deliberately did not mention the black soul, wanting to see how the children would react.
All the balls of light were silent, but Bashi could see that they were "looking at each other in bewilderment".
I couldn't help but sigh in my heart: ...Children with pure hearts are so adorable.
Soon, the children shook their bodies and then clung to the black soul, obviously unwilling to be separated from him.
"So that's how it is. You don't want to be separated from him, right..." Hachisha-sama pretended to be worried and said, "But, he looks very dangerous. I can't let such a dangerous person come to my friend's store. What if he hurts my important friend..."
One of the children immediately became anxious, and I didn't know if it was him or her, but he was so anxious that he circled around the black ball.
Watching all this in his bedroom, Jiuyuan: "...Pfft."
It's better not to tease them.
The master of the eight-foot-long shop nodded reluctantly: "Okay... my friend agreed to let you stay in his shop for a while. He can help you cure the black guy's disease."
"Can't you see? He's very weak, right? He's sick and needs treatment." Hachisha-sama closed his eyes and started to fool around.
Kuen thought: This person's soul seems to be relatively complete, and he should not have a lot of things to deal with like Geto Suguru. And he is liked by the children, so he is probably not a bad person who will cause trouble. Nakajima Atsushi and Yoshino Junpei can only work part-time, and Nakajima Atsushi will definitely not stay for long. He originally wanted Nakajima Atsushi to be a buffer until he finds a new long-term employee.
If the person in front of him could be of use, Nakajima Atsushi could return to human society sooner.
Hachishaku-sama spoke again, "What do you think? This is your only chance. It looks like he won't be able to hold on for much longer. If you are seen by a passing monster, you won't even be able to protect yourselves, let alone him... You might all become monster food."
After saying this, Hachishaku-sama opened his palm again.
This time, the anxious child jumped up on his own initiative.
The first person moved, and also led his other partners, and they all came up one after another.
There are five children in total.
Then he reached out and held the black one in the palm of his other hand, and the other party did not resist.
"Looks like we have to finish work early today."
…
…
On the other side, after learning that Hachishaku had gained something, Jiuyuan didn't want to sleep anymore, so he simply got up from the bed and began to think about what to sell in the reputation store.
Also, he was a little confused by what happened to Nakajima Atsushi just now.
"By the way, system, why is the effect of Nakajima Atsushi's wind chime so poor? Is this the extent of the effect of the wind chime itself?"
[System: Master, because Nakajima Atsushi has no demonic power or spiritual power! ]
Jiuyuan: “……?”
No, it’s not written in your instruction manual.
[System: When you ring the bell, use demonic power or spiritual power to amplify it, and the effect of the bell will be doubled. However... if the one ringing the bell is an extremely powerful demon, then those weak souls will not dare to approach.]
"That is to say, it would be best if I could do it myself."
Jiu Yuan, who already possesses a great deal of demonic power, is the most suitable person for this task.
Jiuyuan sighed.
"Although we have said that we want to do business with humans, we also need to do business with monsters... We need to find a way to open up channels among low-level monsters first and let them help pass on information. As for high-level monsters, we need to let Xue confirm their strength first before deciding what level of products to bring out."
He didn't want to be robbed just a few days after opening.
It would be more stable to let Axue and the others determine the current strength range of the monsters. Besides, Axue's group's main job is to actively communicate with the monsters to fulfill the "master's wish", so this is a good opportunity to test their strength.
Then we should first find out the powerful demon forces nearby from the low-level demons, and then send Axue and the others out on the field.
The most effective thing for low-level monsters should be small things like monster candy. Jiuyuan saw it in the store and it was very cheap. One can be exchanged for only 5 coins of reputation.
The price of more advanced monster cookies will double to 200 reputation coins.
At this time, the system kindly reminded: [Master, the store sells the recipe for monster cookies. If you make it manually, the cost is only 30 coins.]
Jiuyuan sneered: "...Do you think I have the time to do this?"
Making cookies is not a problem for him, the key is how can he have the time to do it? And it would be inappropriate for him to do it himself, as he would be targeted. He should find someone who can cook.
However, how can I let the low-level monsters know that I have something good for them...
We still have to ring the bells to catch the passing souls to help with advertising!!!
The problem was back to square one, and Jiuyuan thought that he would have to stay up late tomorrow night as well.
At this time, Hachisha also returned to his side through teleportation.
And with tonight's rich harvest -
Five plus one gift pack.
With the mentality of opening a blind box, Jiuyuan gave each person a certain amount of monster candy, and then began to wait for their changes.
The first to do so were the children nearby. They transformed from simple spirits, their bodies gradually grew larger, and they re-condensed, and finally became five lively and lovely children. The children first looked at each other curiously, and then peeked in the direction of Jiuyuan.
However, when Kuen walked up to the black soul and began to feed it candy, the children all bent down and held their breath, waiting for a miracle to happen.
Jiuyuan looked at the children's expectant eyes, but what he was thinking was——
Since he's so lucky with children, he should... know how to cook, right?
The black guy needed much less than Xia Yujie, so after giving him only three, the other party began to change.
First, the karma that was entangled with the body began to return to the soul, and then, it turned into a red-haired man.
Jiu Yuan was so focused on his thoughts that he blurted out the other person's name before he even thought of asking him.
"...Can you cook?"
Oda Sakunosuke, who had just regained consciousness and was being stared at by so many pairs of eyes, said: “……?”