Chapter 8: A New Idea
After sending off Alexander—who left with a look of "another boring fake, I'm going back to finding more dungeons"—Hikigaya took the three blades back to the "processing room" of the Yorozuya.
He lined the three swords up on the table, looking them over from left to right, then from right to left. He reached a conclusion: although two were replicas, with a bit of processing, they could definitely serve as the "treasures of the shop."
The craftsman who forged these replicas back then must have modeled them directly after the originals. The quality was rock-solid; as long as you didn't try to use them for God-slaying or something similar, they would be perfectly functional.
Putting the two replicas away, Hikigaya decided to think it through before starting the processing. Moreover, after using several bursts of "Abundant Plundering" on humans recently, he found that when this Authority was applied to humans, it was slightly different from what he had expected. It seemed that if he didn't "filter" carefully and swallowed everything in one go, he would be more or less influenced by the target's personal quirks.
Simply put, the life force of the seven members of the Eight Brilliant Blades of Condemnation was greater than the rest of the weapon groups he had killed combined, and the life force of Sekihori alone was more than the other six combined. This wasn't surprising; while humans see life force as proportional to lifespan, from the perspective of mystery, life force represents much more. Lifespan is merely a small, direct reflection of it. If a well-trained martial artist and an ordinary person have the same lifespan, the difference in other areas can be seen as a difference in life force.
On a larger scale, everything about a God is a reflection of their life force. At least, that was how Hikigaya chose to view it.
Anyway, all this rambling was just to say: he kind of wanted to try his hand at a flashy dual-blade style.
After that strike underground, he realized that this sword was very beneficial for his comprehension of the power of Wind. The power of Wind was crucial to Hikigaya. It was the first natural force he had obtained; even now, his celestial power was usurped from Seth, and wind is the natural representation of Seth as a god of the heavens.
Of course, the specific god from whom the natural force was usurped didn't matter much to Hikigaya now. The Eye of Horus was the final manifestation of power before the complete collapse of Pandora's ritual.
While the power of the "Setting Sun" still allowed Hikigaya to obtain strength from gods, it would be more accurate to describe it as "expansion." From the perspective of the gods, the concept of their abilities being "usurped" no longer existed; their interactions and battles with Hikigaya would be more akin to how they interacted with one another.
If one had to say Hikigaya possessed a trait distinct from his fellow Campiones, this was it.
So to the current Hikigaya, power was power; it didn't matter much who it came from. Although he didn't know who the owner of that underground pyramid was or who had left behind this divine artifact, it was enough to know that the sword's power was Wind and that it belonged to the level represented by Campiones.
Once power breaks free from the rigid framework of "Fight a God—Usurp Ability—Obtain Authority," the preferences of the gods are no longer important; the attributes and inner essence of the power itself are what require attention.
As one of the earliest natural forces perceived by humans, the life of all things and human production are the basic contents of Wind God worship. It also represents ancient man's view of heaven and earth, the universe, and astronomical calendars—deriving connotations of time, the change of seasons, and meteorology.
In ancient China, there was Di Jun, who was the Sun God, the Creator God, the God of Time, and also the Wind God. Seth, one of the important wind gods of ancient Egypt, also represented one aspect of the sun; together, the sun and the Nile constructed the ancient Egyptians' view of life, death, and time.
Hikigaya didn't want to be a "knock-off, budget version" of Di Jun or Seth. He wanted to find his own Wind. "To be yourself"—this cliché he'd heard until his ears grew calluses in his previous life—was actually quite difficult to move from a verbal slogan to a grounded reality. At the very least, Hikigaya was still a budget version of Seth.
But he wasn't in a hurry. Truly. Even a university degree takes several years. So, he simply put the items away and continued running his shop.
A few days after Alexander left, Hikigaya saw Ginzo Nakamori on television again. It appeared the Inspector was indeed making good use of the little iron gong Hikigaya had forged for him, and he was having an incredibly intense time with Kaito Kid. He had actually come very close to catching him.
Unfortunately, Kaito Baito possessed the "Protagonist seeking revenge for his father" high-end configuration. Ginzo Nakamori, who was merely "trying to catch his son-in-law for a scolding," was hindered by the disparity in their narrative settings.
Despite the teleportation "cheat" provided by Hikigaya, he was ultimately crushed.
Consequently, the Ginzo Nakamori that Hikigaya saw on TV looked like a transitionary character in a novel who got caught at a brothel by his wife—black and blue all over his face. It probably wasn't from Kaito hitting him, but from his own falls. After all, that kid flies around, and the gong's teleportation doesn't account for flight.
Watching the energetic, justice-driven Nakamori on screen, loudly proclaiming that he would beat the crap out of Kid next time, Hikigaya rubbed his chin. He wondered if he should take advantage of Nakamori's fresh user experience to do some more marketing.
Should he give him a protective charm this time? Or shoes that could bounce around?
No, he should "cultivate" Nakamori first, and then he could smoothly harvest Kaito Kid as a client. Why hadn't he thought of that before!? He must have been slacking off for too long; he'd forgotten the basic business philosophy of creating demand for the customer. No wonder the shop was so empty and had no repeat business.
Realizing the brilliance of this plan, Hikigaya couldn't help but laugh. He sat on the sofa in the breakroom, letting out a series of weird, demonic chuckles.
"Hachiman?" Suddenly, the breakroom door was pushed open. Moe walked in holding a broom, looking at Hikigaya with a face full of confusion. "Is your throat uncomfortable? Your voice is very strange. Is it what humans call a 'cold'?"
Hikigaya: "..."
'Can't I just laugh? Is it that weird?'
"Ahem..." Clearing his throat, Hikigaya pointed at the TV and said to Moe, "No, I've just discovered an excellent business strategy."
But on Moe's delicate little face, a look of surprise appeared this time.
"Ena said Hachiman is a fool. If you ever talk about 'business strategy,' it means you must be sick. Is this a type of cold too? Humans are so complicated..."
It seemed Ena was being mischievous again.
Speaking of which, Ena's possessiveness was among the strongest of anyone Hikigaya knew, but he hadn't expected her to tease even a doll.
Hikigaya estimated the time and realized the Yukinoshita sisters should be returning in a couple of days. He looked back at the TV screen, which was showing a photo of Kid escaping with his hang glider, and a devious smile spread across his face.
Taking out his phone, he dialed a number. After a good while, the call connected, and a deep male voice came from the other end.
"BOSS..."
"Is your name 'Gin'? If you've received the address, then come over."
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