Having passed the initiation test, Reinhard and I finished the other necessary paperwork and left the garrison. I looked at the new sword on my hip proudly, while also being surprised that they agreed to my request of choosing not to wear the bulky armour.
"Congratulations, Luke, you are now a knight of Lugunica. Maybe we will eventually also become colleagues in the Imperial Royal Knights in the future." He praised my accomplishment, though it wasn't that impressive for me. He took out what looked to be a map of some kind and handed it to me.
"This is a map of the capital and its surrounding area. There were requests by merchants to clear out the mabeasts in the forests nearby. For an unknown reason, an unusual number of mabeasts started gathering in that forest two days ago. While I would love to go, the Council has implored me to find the 5th candidate as fast as possible. So, you can think of this as your first assignment. And not to worry, you will be rewarded." He patted the same pouch of coins that he tried to give me earlier. "Now, please excuse me, I have to resume my duties. I hope we meet again soon."
Saying goodbye to each other, we went our separate ways. I went back over to our little transfigured earth dragon. And as expected, it stood there like a robot while there was an unusually large gap between it and the other dragons hitched there. Surely, it had nothing to do with why the other dragons were shivering...
I let Mahito play with it while I went to the nearby store to buy some quick goods for the trip. The funny thing is that I don't need to buy any medicine or bandages. I can just ask Mahito to transfigure my injured parts into normal parts again.
"Hey, I'm sick of just referring to it as 'earth dragon' over and over again. How about we give it a name?" Mahito asked me as we stepped into the driver's seat. I doubted he had any actual connection to the dragon; he probably just wanted not to say that mouthful over and over again. And I admit, I did share the same sentiment.
"How about 'Maine'? It sounds a bit like your name, and technically, it's our 'main' ride." I wiggled my eyebrows at him as I offered my suggestion, a bit too proud of my own pun. We rode out of the capital and back to the same place where we came from.
"Your jokes are so lame, it's actually tragic. But whatever, I like the name." Mahito slumped into the seat beside me lazily. "Do we really have to go ALL the way back? it's like a twelve-hour trip..." He started complaining again, but I couldn't really blame him.
"I get what you mean, but it's just something we're gonna have to get used to. Besides, this is a rare occurrence; we won't always have to constantly travel. Not only that, this is a good way of building our reputation." I explained our situation casually, but was pondering the specifics of the mission.
This map is easy to understand, and the location marked on the map seems like the place I first found myself in... Could it just be a coincidence? Or did the activation of my technique release so much Cursed Energy that attracted all of those mabeasts? But that would imply Cursed Energy operates like the Witch's miasma... But if that was the case, then Reinhard would have pointed it out to Mahito.
"I can tell what you're thinking about, but our Cursed Energy has nothing to do with this. With so many humans, yet I sensed no Cursed Energy circulating in the area. I don't know what these 'mabeasts' are, but they shouldn't be attracted to our Cursed Energy. He said with his eyes closed, seeming to be confident about his statement.
"I'll take your word for it then. I hope you're right about it." I mumbled the last part, genuinely hoping that our CE didn't work like miasma, otherwise everything is gonna be so much worse. I also wasn't sure if Mahito knows that I am not telling him everything. The reason I don't want to tell him is that it could lead to questions like, 'If this world is a story, then was our world a story too?' and I'm too lazy to get into that shit.
After a few hours, we finally reached the location. It looked just like how we last saw it a day ago. We left Maine outside of the clearance and entered the forest. I had my sword drawn, scanning for threats. I couldn't be too confident just because Mahito was here. I doubt he could revive me if my head suddenly came off.
"There is something I would like to bring up", Mahito spoke up suddenly, his tone serious. "If your technique summons Itadori Yuji, I will try to kill him any chance I get." He kept his eyes forward, not looking at me. I stayed quiet, understanding his grudge against Yuji. Yuji was his natural enemy and, as he said before, the only way to achieve his true self would be by killing him. I just hope that future never comes to pass.
We walked towards the interior of the forest as far as we could, but we hadn't encountered any mabeasts yet. We stopped when we reached the tree that Mahito had cut down when we were first summoned here.
"Maybe they ran away or are hiding? I didn't even see a single corpse on the way here..." I looked around and said disappointedly, worried that we wouldn't be able to accomplish our goal. I looked at Mahito for his opinion, but he was just smiling at something at the top.
Following his gaze, my heart dropped at the sheer number of mabeasts who had their gaze locked on us. Why were there so many!? There had to have been at least 50 there. They had been using the cliffs to sneak around and gather as many of their pack members as they could. At the very least, it seemed these were all the mabeasts in the area.
"IF YOU KNEW ALL ALONG THAT THEY WERE STALKING US, WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?" I shouted in Mahito's ear, who looked at me innocently, like he wasn't in the wrong.
"I thought you wanted to get stronger. I wanted to see how long it would take you to realise they were following us~ you failed spectacularly by the way~" He patted my shoulder and lifted me for some reason.
"Uhh, what are you doing?" I trusted him enough to know that he wouldn't hurt me, but I was in no mood for games during such a risky situation.
"Just trust me~" He put me on his shoulder before suddenly starting to run away, prompting the large horde of mabeasts to start chasing us as well. As Mahito ran, I had a front-seat view of the horde rushing wildly towards us. It was literally like a huge swarm of black and red shapes just rolling towards us. Of course, Mahito wasn't running at his full speed, so he wanted them to catch up.
"CAN'T YOU JUST FIGHT THEM? WHY ARE WE RUNNING AWAY?" I knew I had no right to complain, but this was a life-or-death scenario, and I sure as hell wasn't going to just die without finding out why we were doing this.
"If it were just me, I wouldn't be worried at all. But I have barely any transfigured souls inside me. I can't fight them while protecting you at the same time." He explained while having a casual smile on his face, not stressed by the situation at all. He clearly had a plan.
"As long as we get them grouped up in a small area, I can finish this in one move. I'm sure you know what to do." He looked at me expectantly, hoping that I knew what he was going to do. "I'll try my best to push you out, but with so many targets, you'll have to pull your weight."
"Got it." I nodded and looked at the horde, gradually lowering the distance between us. As we reached a small clearing with barely any trees. Knowing that this was the right time, I braced myself as Mahito lightly threw me forward. The impact as I hit the ground hurt my shoulder, but I stood up as quickly as I could and started running forward. Looking back, the only thing I saw was Mahito facing the enormous horde.
Making a hand sign with his two hands and using Idle Transfiguration to create another pair of hands in his mouth, he used the pinnacle of Jujutsu Sorcery.
"Domain Expansion: Self Embodiment Of Perfection"
In an instant, numerous hands appeared from below and behind him. They expanded rapidly, closing around the horde of mabeasts while simultaneously trying to push me out. It was similar to how he pushed out Itadori when he first expanded his Domain.
I tumbled down to the ground as I barely left the 20M radius of the Domain. I looked back and saw the giant black sphere of his domain. I sat down and waited until Mahito finished.
Inside the Domain, Mahito grinned maniacally. The horde had no idea what they were trapped in, not that they had the intelligence to realise. All Domain Expansions granted the user the Sure-Hit effect. The Domain would be granted a technique, and the attacks from this technique would be guaranteed to land. Not only that, but the user would also gain a boost in their power due to the terrain giving them a home-field advantage.
Raising his hand in front of him, Mahito spoke quietly, "Idle Transfiguration". 'Self Embodiment Of Perfection' allowed Mahito to use his technique on everyone inside the Domain, regardless of whether he was touching them or not.
The horde quieted down before their flesh became transfigured and literally exploded, the entire horde of fifty mabeasts, dead in a single attack with no effort.
"Fifty transfigured souls isn't that bad~" Mahito casually walked over and 'collected' his winnings before shattering his Domain. He noticed me sitting on the ground and waved at me to come over.
"So... I guess you can only do that once a day, right?" I asked him, already expecting the answer to be yes, but just to make sure.
"Domain Expansions require a lot of Cursed Energy, you know~? And besides, I don't think I've heard a "Thanks Mahito-san" from you yet~?" He started his childish antics again while basically confirming what I suspected.
"Do you think they left any bodies behind? Maybe we could bring back the bodies of the victims with us." We started walking back towards Maine, while I asked for his opinion. Maybe it was wishful thinking. Not only was this forest too large to search for only two people, but realistically, only skeletons of the victims would still be remaining...
"Don't be so naive. You should know as well as I do that these animals wouldn't leave a body behind that is nice to look at. Even if we did find them, it's best not to take them back. Humans shouldn't need to cling to something which they know is already gone." He said simply, clearly not caring about the concept of providing closure and acceptance.
'Sigh' "Whatever..." Regardless of Mahito's apathy, he was true about the mabeast part. We would be lucky to find even bones of the victims, and seeing only those parts might only bring more pain for their loved ones.
After a while, we reached Maine and got on the caravan, ready to ride back to the capital. The ride brought back memories of, though only a day old, after that incident with the merchant. It's crazy how I was so shaken up by that, and now I could talk about it normally.
But more importantly, I need to activate my Cursed Technique again. As helpful as Mahito has been, I need someone, a HUMAN, who could relate to me. I looked down at my hands, which, for a moment, I could swear I saw Cursed Energy flaring around. Weird.
The ride back was uneventful. It turned into night when we arrived back, and this time, the guard at the gate welcomed me back with proper respect. I hitched Maine at the same spot again and looked around for Reinhard, in case he was just standing around here for some reason.
"I can't believe I have to do this... REINHARD!" I shouted before getting startled as I bumped into a sturdy person behind me.
"Luke and Mahito, you two have arrived back. I presume the mission wasn't that hard for both of you?" He smiled brightly, acting as if he hadn't just practically teleported behind us instantly. He took out the pouch of coins and handed it to me firmly this time.
"Yeah... anyways. There was a horde of more than fifty mabeasts there. How could that many have gathered there? Are you sure this wasn't just a ploy of the Witch cult?" I took the pouch and asked for his opinion. I lied about the Witch Cult part. Even they have very little control over the mabeasts, but of course, I was one of the only people who knew that. This was just to push suspicion away from us in case something happens in the future. And besides, what was wrong with keeping more eyes on the Witch Cult?
"Oh, that is much more than I initially expected. With that information, it is very much possible that it was a ploy by the Witch Cult. I will report this to the Council. You have done this country a great service." He bowed slightly to us.
"It's not that serious, Reinhard, we didn't do much." It was always weird seeing him be so polite over the smallest of things. But the more troubling part was when I glanced at Mahito and could see him looking at me with a suspicious face.
After a small chat, we went our separate ways again. I hadn't forgotten the face that Mahito had given me just now.
"Just spill it, what's wrong?" I don't like lost lasting drama, so I just wanted to know what the problem was and get it solved as quickly as possible. I didn't think he was angry at me, but I think he might have started catching on to the fact that I knew a lot more than I should about this world.
"Well, there are two things. One is the obvious: we have been together almost the entire day, and I never even heard the term, 'Witch Cult', so how do you know about it? Second, it's concerning your Cursed Energy. I can't quite get a grip on it, but it felt like your Cursed Energy was rapidly rising right before I opened my Domain." His second point was interesting, but of course, the first point had to have come up eventually. There was no point in avoiding it huh...?