It's been like 3 weeks ever since we completed our first assignment from Reinhard, and I've managed to do pretty well by myself-... ourselves. As expected, we never had to leave the capital again, and our job as a normal knight was just keeping the order within the locality. But beating the instructor and being a spirit user gave us some reputation.
Concerning what Mahito had asked me 3 weeks ago, I just told him that the extra knowledge came as an added 'boon' for being transported to this world. He had a few suspicions about what I said, but he didn't have any evidence to find any flaw within what I said, either.
But another thing I did find out about my technique was that the closer I was to my summons while they were using their techniques, the more my Cursed Energy temporarily rose. It's the reason why my Cursed Energy rose so rapidly when Mahito used his Domain Expansion, but it rose so little every other time, because Mahito was barely using his Cursed Technique, to the point where it was undetectable.
I suspected that this was one of the drawbacks of the in-built binding vow to motivate me to get in more and more dangerous fights, otherwise I would never get the Cursed Energy to activate my technique. And yes, this binding vow only activates during a fight; we've tested it.
As for today, all we had to do was patrol the area while occasionally dealing with the brain-dead thug who thought it was a good idea to mess with a Spirit user.
"At this rate, I think I should be able to activate my technique tomorrow," I said excitedly. Mahito had been training me how to sense Cursed Energy and the basics of Cursed Energy applications like reinforcement.
"I hope it's an actual sorcerer this time, I want someone entertaining~" Mahito chipped in with his own thoughts. Maybe he was just joking, maybe he just wanted to kill a sorcerer, or he actually felt bad for me and didn't want me talking to an 'invisible' entity all the time. Who really knew what went on his mind?
"Mahito, I'm surprised that you've never really left my side at all. Surely it's not just because I'm a weak human who can't even efficiently use his Cursed Technique~?" I had become much more familiar with Mahito, sometimes even copying his own speech tone to tease him.
"I'm surprised that you've only now questioned me about this~ Just think of it as a 'Maybe if my summoner dies, then I also die' situation. And it's not like I have anything better to do." He said without meeting my eyes.
"Yeah yeah, sure." I replied and dropped the subject to focus on bigger things, like finding the next big fight. Sure, I was confident about activating my technique tomorrow at the latest, but the thrill of my rising Cursed Energy during a fight was too enjoyable to resist. I had a pretty decent understanding of Cursed Energy reinforcement now, as well as some combat training by Mahito(I couldn't embarrass myself by asking the other knights).
This effectively meant that ordinary thugs were no match for me, though I was still useless against even mid-tier opponents. But this progress was so satisfying for me, I couldn't wait to get stronger.
"By the way, I heard that besides that sword saint guy, there are supposed to be more powerful guys here in the capital. I haven't seen any of them." Mahito complained, for a pretty valid reason, honestly. All he did every day was talk to Reinhard or me and then fight some weak thugs, where he barely had to put in effort.
"I think you're talking about Julius and Felix, huh? Yeah, Julius should be out of the capital since his lady is always travelling. Felix should still be here, though." I made sure not to give too many details so that I wouldn't look too suspicious.
Mahito's eye sharpened for a single moment before going back to normal. Snickering, I didn't fail to capitalise on the moment, "Scared about the greatest healer's output of positive energy, are you~?" I now understand why he liked being so cheeky; it's fun.
"You're just getting annoying now. Besides, why did you want us to come to the slum area? This is not part of our routine patrol." He asked, looking around and seeing all the poor-looking people. They were staring at me with hatred and envy, obviously recognising that I was a knight.
"Just because we were not told to do it doesn't mean we shouldn't, Mahito. Who knows, maybe these guys might rise up later in the future. It'd be good to set up some early connections." Though the latter part was clearly a joke, I did mean what I said in the first part. Just because I now had power, it wouldn't mean I was going to forget the powerless people.
Mahito glanced at me before sighing, "Still so naive..." He didn't continue but still trusted me enough to follow my judgment. Though he didn't show it on his face, he could definitely feel it. There were traces of considerably high amounts of intentionally produced negative energy here.
A big reason why I came here was to see if Meili and Elsa were already stationed here or at least, somewhere nearby. So, now that we could both sense it, we both knew someone here was definitely up to no good.
"You sense it too, right? This isn't negative energy produced by an average shaman or curse user, it has to be multiple..." Mahito was smarter than he let on. If I kept on predicting things accurately, it would be suspicious. I needed to get some things wrong while getting the important things right.
It shouldn't be Meili's doing. The only way she could do it was if she gathered a considerable number of her witchbeasts. So it must just be Elsa right now, with her 'terrific' personality just oozing all of this negative energy. I calculated in my mind as we walked deeper into the slums. I wasn't planning on meeting Rom and Felt; I just needed to get a scope of the place and confirm if Elsa and Meili weren't already having 'fun' waiting for the big day.
"Being able to sense Cursed Energy is like a cheat code, honestly. We can catch nefarious people so easily with this." I spoke out loud intentionally, letting the surrounding people know that I was talking to, from their perspective, nothing.
"And that's all thanks to yours truly~" He pointed and complimented himself theatrically while keeping a watch on our surroundings. "Hey, how about we align ourselves with that new candidate? We're plenty strong, so they should accept us easily, and then we can have the resources to build your strength up easily." He put his arm around my shoulder as we walked.
"I don't think I should align myself with that new royal candidate, I like being the simple and young, reliable knight!" My voice became louder, and our eyes became more wary as we could sense the source of that negative energy approaching us from the upcoming, out-of-view path.
"Emitting this much negative energy is ridiculous. If I didn't know Cursed Spirits weren't a thing in this world. I would've thought this was one." Mahito didn't feel threatened; of course, he was a Special Grade level Curse. In fact, he was excited because if this turned into a fight, Luke would be able to accelerate his goal of reaching his next summon... and also because he was just bored as fuck.
As we kept walking, we finally reached the part where both the paths connected. We finally saw the source of that negative energy. It was an exceptionally beautiful and voluptuous woman, almost like a doll. She had a long cloak that covered a majority of her body and a smile that looked dangerous.
"Ara, who do we have here~?" She asked, looking playfully at me while secretly analysing my threat level. She had overheard Luke's loud talking and orchestrated a sudden 'meet' so that she could assess him closely.
"Nothing much, madam, I'm just on patrol. The slums have been overlooked for too long by now, I thought I would change that." I said as calmly as I could, trying not to show fear or recognition on my face.
"How chivalrous~ I'm sure you must be quite the capable man to take on such a chore by yourself~" She couldn't see anything particularly remarkable about him. Her intuition told her that he was dangerous, but she couldn't figure out why. Since she felt that he might be a threat to her 'benefactor's' plan, she decided to keep on acting until she confirmed her suspicion.
"I can confidently say that I might be the best at talking to myself, but that's about it." I laughed while being glad that I confirmed my judgment; she doesn't know who I am. Since she doesn't know I'm a spirit user, she thinks I'm here completely by myself. Phew.
Mahito, who hadn't put away his hand around my shoulder, reached out his other hand towards Elsa. From the beginning her saw her, he had a weird feeling about her, specifically her soul.
"So, what are you doing here, miss?" I made sure not to glance even a little at Mahito, knowing that her sharp instincts would catch on immediately, but internally I was panicking. If Mahito was planning to kill her outright, then it would ruin Subaru's entire arc, and I couldn't let that happen.
"Idle Transfiguration..." Mahito placed his hand on her chest and activated his technique to touch her soul, but momentarily became surprised at the nature of her soul. He thought she was a human, an absurdly strong one, but still a human.
So you're kind of similar to that blood manipulator, huh~? Well, that makes this very interesting~ He grinned to himself and planned to turn her into a puppet right then and there. She could become a stronger-than-average puppet, sure.
However, Elsa's sharp instincts kicked in, and she suddenly retreated backwards. 'What was that!? It felt like my soul was getting touched...' Elsa steadied her breathing and regained her playful expression again while internally being completely sure that Luke was the cause of that. 'I was right, he's much more than he looks. But why didn't he finish the job? Was that just a warning for me to back off...?
I feigned scratching my shoulder while actually pinching Mahito's hand, implying that I wanted him to stop. I hadn't glanced at him at all yet, so I didn't know what stupid face he was making. Seeing Elsa retreat backwards was both funny and terrifying at the same time since it meant that she could probably react to Mahito's attacks if she were in the zone.
"Are you alright? You look a little surprised~?" No point in pretending now. I'm sure she's figured out that I'm not just a normal knight. I can't let this turn into an information fishing contest since I have nothing to gain anyway. Might as well just give her the warning and see how she reacts.
"You're more interesting than I thought~ I really want to know your name so I can remember it for later~" She still stuck with that playful persona. He clearly knows who I am. Usually, I would just kill any obstacle, but I can't risk blowing my cover too much. But why isn't he being forceful? Looks like he wants something from me. She was being extra careful since Meili was nearby, and Luke clearly wasn't an average opponent. A single mistake could lead to Meili being jeopardised, and she couldn't risk that ever.
"I just wanted to warn you that there are some dangerous people in this part of the slums, so you should probably just lie low until you have to leave." I gave her my warning as non-aggressively and as figuratively as I could.
Maybe I was being dramatic; it was clearly not a problem anyway. Even if Elsa and Meili did kill some people during their stay here, it wouldn't be an obstacle towards the plot's canon, but I still wanted to keep them in check. I know I can't save everyone, but if I had the option to make a small detour to ensure that lives are saved, then I would take it.
"Is the handsome young knight really threatening a young maiden like me~ What if I don't obey and retaliate right now~?" She said slyly, quietly preparing her signature knives underneath her cloak. If she had to fight, then she would; otherwise, she would just retreat.
"Just cut the act. As long as my supervisor doesn't find a reason to send me here, then I won't come. However, I'd better not see you here next week~" I turned around with Mahito and walked away, waving at her carefree. I was fully confident that even if she was prideful enough to attack a serious threat for no reason, Mahito would still be enough to defeat her.
"You're a bad knight, you know~? Don't worry, I'll behave and be gone by next week~" Her eyes never left my back as I walked away. She had no reason to believe in my words other than the fact that she was at a massive disadvantage, which I took no physical leverage over. Literally the only reason she obeyed was that she didn't want to risk getting her and Meili's entire cover being blown. Otherwise, she would've started saying her iconic bowels line and then started attacking.
Only after we were completely out of view, she vanished as well and retreated quickly back to Meili and told her everything.
"That woman... is not a normal human." Mahito said as we walked back. He didn't inquire about why I stopped him from killing her. He just figured that I was stalling her until I uncovered her plans. He wasn't that far off the mark, though, to be fair.
"Really? Seemed pretty normal to me. Ignoring the fact that she's absurdly hot, of course." Maybe I was just digging a giant hole for myself, but I couldn't find a better solution other than just lying and feigning ignorance to him. I am willing to die in this hole.
"Her nature is akin to that of a Death Painting, but not quite at the same time. It's like she's human, but an artificially created one at the same time." The accuracy of Mahito's statement impressed me. He was reasonably correct. Elsa is a cursed doll. She was originally a human and then turned into a doll by the Church in Gusteko.
"Well, that explains the almost vampire look then..." After that casual information exchange, he returned to his usual antics. Today was an eventful day, I guess. I wonder what would've happened if we had fought Elsa. Well, we will be fighting her next week on that fateful day. But more importantly...
Tomorrow I get a new friend.