Chapter 23: The Trap

“Why are there so many monsters…?”

Aya-chan blurts out.

But I’m wondering the same thing too.

My father had put up barriers around the car, even though it was in a dark forest.

And the barriers are supposed to react if there are already monsters inside.

My father wouldn’t have overlooked it, by any chance.

Even if he had, he would have missed only one or two monsters.

It’s hard to imagine that he missed more than a dozen of them.

“Aya-chan, let’s go back to the car. If we stay outside, other monsters might come.”

“Uh-huh. I agree with you.”

Aya-chan nodded her head in fear and returned to the car while still clinging to me.

I know you’re scared, but it’s hard for me to move normally if you don’t move a little further away from me. ……

A few minutes after we were back in the car, our fathers, stained with blood, returned.

“We got the bear down. Did something happen?”

“Uh-huh! We were suddenly attacked by monsters!”

“What?”

I explained what had happened to Renji-san and my father, whose expressions have changed.

The monsters of the “first rank” were out in large numbers.

All of them were in my father’s barrier.

And that I had defeated them.

They listened to my story in silence, but as soon as I finished, they looked at each other.

“Soichiro, something bad happened.”

“They were well hidden. It’s troublesome.”

The two of them looked as if it was no trouble at all. They took out a spirit charm, a paper map, and a candle from the car and began to lay them out on the road.

Suddenly they both looked like ‘something bad happened’ and they are getting ready, but I have no idea what happened, so I wanted them to tell me. In a situation like this, it is best to ask directly, so I asked at a time that wouldn’t disturb my father who was getting ready.

“Papa. What do you mean by ‘hidden’?”

“I-I see. Itsuki must not know yet.”

He drew some kind of markings on the map on the ground with the thread Silvate.

“Some of the monsters use magic. You’ve seen them before, haven’t you, Itsuki?”

“Yes, I have.”

The monster I fought in the house where I met Hina used magic that sent out ‘shocks’.

It was a big shock at that time.

So monsters really use monsters.

The fact that it wasn’t human and could use magic was the event that broke my superiority and made me decide to become stronger. How could I forget it?

“The magic of concealment is, simply put, the magic that hides evil.”

“Can you do that?”

“No, I can’t. The only people who can use it are monsters of the fourth rank and above.”

……Eh, really?

The fourth rank is a genius that only a handful of people are born with.

That means there’s a monster that’s on the same level as that in this forest.

I thought it was a tour area that also served as a camp, but they must have gotten themselves into some kind of trouble ……?

I was looking around the mountain with trepidation and restlessness, while our fathers were proceeding with the preparations as if they were used to this kind of thing. I felt a chill run down my spine at the sight.

Hey, you’re kidding, right?

Is this an everyday occurrence for an exorcist?

“Itsuki. Come here.”

“Come here, Aya.”

I was called out of the blue, and while I was surprised, I went to my father.

Aya-chan was also stripped from me, and Renji-san held her in his arms.

A paper map was placed at their feet.

“I will be using magic to find monsters that are using hidden magic, and you will both be using it more often now, so learn to use it now.”

“……When you say we’re going to use it more, does that mean we’re going to fight a lot of strong monsters?”

At my question, Renji-san suddenly laughed.

“Itsuki-kun is seventh rank after all. I’m certain there’ll be more of those monsters in the future.”

“…… uyu.”

He answered my question and I squealed.

If you think about it, it makes sense.

The number of exorcists who can defeat fourth rank and above is overwhelmingly small.

In any case, there are absolutely no exorcists of the fifth rank or above who can defeat fourth rank in a stable manner.

And I am 7th rank.

Of course I’m on the side of being driven.

I have to become stronger.

I dropped my gaze to my feet, biting back the thought for the umpteenth time since my reincarnation in this body.

.“In order to find the monster that is doing the hiding, it is necessary to use more magic power than the monster is using for hiding to change the trait.”

“What does it change into?”

“A magnet that reacts to magic.”

“…………”

I was stumped by the answer.

Because there is no such thing as a magnet that reacts to magic power.

But it is magic that creates things that don’t exist – transformation.

It means that such a change is also possible.

I thought it might be a technique I would use somewhere, so I wrote it down in a memo in my brain so I wouldn’t forget it.

As I was looking at the map, a spirit tag woke me up softly.

It moved deep into the mountains, and then slowly advanced through the mountains and through Okutama to the center of the city.

…… isn’t this going into a densely populated area?

“Renji.”

Renji-san nodded at that word.

“I know. Let’s leave right away.”

“Why? What happened?”

Aya-chan, who was the only one who didn’t understand the reason, asked Renji-san in confusion.

“Aya, we’re in trouble. we were led here.”

“How do you……?”

“That’s right. Most likely, they were going to surround the loosened up exorcists who had come to defeat the bear with first rank monsters and kill them.”

Aya-chan asked further to Renji-san’s prediction.

“Why would they do that?”

“It’s purpose is to attract the attention of the exorcists here. The main body that carried out the ‘hidden’ was supposed to go to places with a lot of people and consume magic power without the exorcists finding out.”

“Does this mean that dad and Soichiro-san were targeted ……?”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

Aya-chan, who barely understood what she knew, asked such a question.

I, myself couldn’t help but marvel at the meticulousness of the monsters.

I was wondering if they would go to such lengths to feed on magic power.

The monsters so far have been thinking, but this one is more like the worst so far….. They seem to be a pain in the ass.

With this thought in mind, we got into the car with a great deal of energy.

After watching the four of us get into the car, Renji-san started the engine.

When the car turned on, he made a U-turn toward the road we had come through today with his skillful steering.

Then, as he pressed the button on the window while stepping on the accelerator, the sirens began blaring from the car!

“Eh, eh?”

This startled me too.

“Itsuki-kun didn’t know? An exorcist’s car is supposed to be an emergency vehicle.”

“I didn’t know that.”

The car accelerates with Renji-san on the gas pedal, turning the red patrol lights.

No, indeed, if you think about it, if the exorcist is late in arriving at the scene, people will die, so it is natural that it will be an emergency vehicle…?

“Soichiro, get in touch with Kamiarizuki. If the exorcists don’t get there soon, people will die too much.”

“I know. But before that…..”

Just as my father was about to say that much, a deer suddenly jumped out in front of us!

“……!”

At that moment, I reacted before anyone else in the car did.

I wrapped the deer’s body in guiding thread solvate and chopped it up until it was instantly atomized.

Bash!

Bright red blood dances, and then, with a delay, it disappears in a black mist.

The way it disappears is the way monsters die.

Relieved that I had completely exorcised it, the car drives by as if to dispel the fog.

“Thank you for the help. Itsuki-kun.”

Reniji-san replies, wiping away cold sweat.

I replied, “You’re welcome”.

But more than that, I asked my father a question that bothered me.

“Hey, Papa. Why are there so many monsters of the first rank coming out of the woods? It’s weird.”

“I was going to tell you about it in a little while, but I think this is the right time.”

In the car, which was going about 100 kilometers per hour, he let out a deep breath and told me what was going on.

“The fifth rank and above can create lower ranks of monsters.”

“……Eh?”

I asked back.

No, it can’t be helped.

“If the monsters above the fifth rank are left unchecked, they will continue to create monsters wherever they walk and become the masters of countless monsters. Monsters call for monsters, and the state of being out of control is called ‘Hyakki Yagyo’.”

“Hyakki Yagyo…?”

It sounds nasty.

“The “Hyakki Yagyo” is a story of monsters killing people, the dead becoming monsters and increasing the number of monsters. I fought one once in Kyoto, and it was hell.”

The voice of my father was different from his usual, and his voice was terribly cold.

I was so scared that the tragedy like the one that happened to Hina might spread to the rest of the world.

I couldn’t stand still at the thought of it, and took a deep breath to calm my panic.

But there was nothing I could do now to the faraway monster, so I fell silent.

……Nothing?

“Wait, papa. Renji-san!”

I had a flash of inspiration.

Yes, I had it. I had a way to stop the monsters before they entered the city.

A way to stop them from creating hell like they did with Hina.

“What’s wrong? Itsuki.”

“I have an idea.”

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