Drip. Drip.
Along the old street, droplets of condensation fell from the outdoor air-conditioning units mounted on either side of the buildings, landing softly on the moss-covered stone pavement. Their sound was faint, almost too faint to notice.
Though the sun had not fully set yet, this street was already dim. An old streetlamp ahead cast a murky orange-yellow glow, flickering on and off without rhythm. Combined with the strange lighting and the deserted road, the whole place felt unsettling.
"Little Miss Hoshizuki, aren't you a high school student? Why would you come to a place like this?"
"An old street like this isn't exactly somewhere most students would wander into for no reason."
After getting out of the taxi, Minamiya Chiya looked at the blue-haired beauty walking just ahead of him with a puzzled expression. She was more than half a head shorter than he was.
He had only been living in this kind of city environment for a short time, but even he knew this area was not safe. He had once heard from some rich second-generation brat that women secretly doing sex work sometimes came here to solicit clients.
So why would a high school girl like Hoshizuki Kaede be coming here?
"Master Minamiya, I forgot to mention it in the taxi earlier. I'm the student council president at my school... ahem. The main reason I came here before was because one of our student council officers lives nearby."
Hoshizuki Kaede explained in a small voice.
Even with Chiya, the exorcist master, right behind her, the thought that there really were demons and ghosts and other filthy things around here still made her afraid.
No matter what, she was still just a high school girl.
And what girl would not be scared of something hideous like that?
"So that's how it is. You were only targeted by that thing by accident."
Chiya smiled faintly.
If that was the case, then there had to be something about Hoshizuki Kaede that had attracted the ghost. Otherwise, it would never have left such a heavy tracking mark on her so easily.
There was also the other point.
No matter how you looked at it, Hoshizuki Kaede counted as one of this world's "heroines." It was not all that strange for filthy supernatural things to covet someone like her.
To ease the girl's nerves, Chiya began explaining some basic knowledge about demons, ghosts, and other such unclean beings. He also warned her not to panic too much later, especially not to scream or shriek.
That was something particularly taboo during an exorcism.
If someone who was not even that frightened suddenly started screaming like crazy, even ghost ears would not be able to stand it. That would truly be a case of hurting the enemy eight hundred while losing a thousand yourself. For an ordinary exorcist like him, whose Daoist arts were still fairly shallow, any distraction during a ritual could affect the technique.
It could not be helped.
Who told that useless old system of his to be so underpowered before?
Listening to Chiya's calm reminders, Hoshizuki Kaede gradually settled down. Her sky-blue eyes lifted to him, shining with trust.
Master Minamiya is amazing. He's gentle, handsome, and so young, yet he already knows how to exorcise spirits... I wonder if he has a girlfriend. Ahh, I'm such an idiot. He's a master. How could someone like him be dating?
As the two of them continued down the street, a dark shadow tinged with sickly blue slowly began to gather beneath the old, flickering streetlamp ahead. It looked like a pool of ink seeping out from the ground.
In the blink of an eye, a blackish-blue puddle formed over what had been dry stone pavement.
"That girl has come back again... Her body smells so sweet, so delicious. If I can fully take that body for myself, then perhaps I can live a second life..."
Sensing her target drawing ever closer, a pale woman's face emerged indistinctly from the murky puddle. Her voice grated against the ears like rusted saw teeth.
As the "perfect second-life body" she had longed for came nearer and nearer, the ghost with the pale woman's face rose further from the black-blue puddle.
Her hideous white head was covered in sticky, foul-smelling hair tangled together like the dirty strands of an old mop. As that mess of hair slid over her brow and her body pulled free, a ragged floating form gradually revealed itself beneath the dim yellow streetlight.
"Come closer... come closer..."
The female ghost curled her pale, darkened lips into a grin. In her dead fish eyes burned piercing excitement and naked greed.
The moment the ghost fully showed herself, Chiya had already pulled Hoshizuki Kaede behind him.
"That thing's out. The yin aura coming off it is obvious enough. Looks like it can't wait to take your body for itself."
Feeling the foul ghostly stench coming from not far away, Minamiya Chiya frowned slightly.
He had not expected this ghost to be so bold. It had actually appeared before the sun had fully set.
He still had not identified exactly what kind of ghost or spirit this thing was by island standards, but he could already tell it belonged to the broad category of lesser phantoms and wandering monsters, the kind commonly grouped under nameless chimei-moryo type entities.
Compared to the more distinct and characteristic yokai of this country, this sort of spirit was generally weak, irregular, and lacking any real pattern.
Over the past year, Chiya had crammed a great deal of knowledge about this island nation's ghosts and monsters into his head, so he could already make a preliminary judgment.
This thing was not enough to threaten him.
"Ah? I-It's out? Where?!"
Hoshizuki Kaede was drawn in by Chiya's arm around her shoulder. She had no time to feel shy now. Instead, she huddled behind him like a frightened little bird, hiding in the shelter of the young master's back.
"Right up ahead. It seems to be waiting for us to get a little closer. The last two times you came this way, did you notice any strange location or anything unusual?"
"Ah? Let me think... Right, once we pass that corner ahead, there's an old streetlamp that always stays lit..."
Encouraged by Chiya's eyes, Hoshizuki Kaede thought carefully before finally recalling the odd detail she had noticed before.
Chiya nodded, then continued walking forward with her.
Only this time, he took the lead while the delicate high school girl nestled herself under his arm. The faint fragrance of youthful girlhood drifted toward him, making Chiya narrow his eyes slightly.
You miserable little ghost. You dare covet my future girlfriend. You've got a death wish.
Three minutes later, Minamiya Chiya finally saw the strange streetlamp Hoshizuki Kaede had mentioned.
And of course, he also saw the grotesque spirit standing beneath it, looking toward him.
Through Chiya's eyes, the ghost's sex was perfectly obvious.
A female ghost.
Long hair. Ugly face. A vaguely feminine body. Under the tattered white clothing, the exposed skin looked blackish-blue, like flesh that had swelled and rotted after soaking in water.
Forget her appearance.
Just the burning, greedy look she was using to stare at his future girlfriend was enough to irritate Chiya.
"You brazen fiend. You still dare act so arrogantly in front of me? You truly don't take me seriously at all."
"It seems this humble monk really will have to send you off to the Western Paradise."
With that sudden shout, Minamiya Chiya not only startled Hoshizuki Kaede behind him, he also made the female ghost under the lamp shudder.
"A monk who knows Buddhist arts?!"
Startled and having clearly heard what he said, the female ghost abruptly swept aside the hair covering her eyes. She muttered in surprise and confusion.
But this monk was strange.
Why was he not wearing robes?
Why did he still have hair?
And more than that, he was so young.
This was nothing like the monks she had heard of and seen over the past hundred years. Could someone like this really wield the powerful Buddhist arts that were so devastating against demons and ghosts?
She did not quite believe it.
"Ah?! There really is... is a monster."
This time, Hoshizuki Kaede saw the female ghost that had been lusting after her body with her own eyes. Her face turned pale, and fear and terror spread across her lovely features.
Just like the descriptions she had seen online, ghosts and monsters really were horrifying to look at.
The frightened girl instinctively shrank back, pressing herself even more tightly against the young master's back. Her ample, soft chest squashed against him like warm jelly, flattening slightly from the pressure.
That made the young exorcist's heart waver for a moment.
This girl's developed pretty well. Right, I think her little sister's supposed to be even bigger in that department. I'm really looking forward to seeing the two sisters together later.
"Foolish creature. Taste this humble monk's Dao sword."
Minamiya Chiya turned serious. As he spoke, he pulled from his pocket a tiny orange-red wooden sword about the length of a child's toy.
This thing had been part of the system's "beginner gift pack" after he transmigrated.
In that cultivation mobile game, it had been the most basic Daoist flying sword. Its rank was low, but in this world it already far surpassed the category of weapons human beings could forge.
Using it to kill a little ghost like this would naturally be effortless.
The young master formed a Daoist hand seal with his left hand and flung the little wooden sword in his right toward the foul-smelling female ghost.
Guided by the hand seal, the small sword shot forward with astonishing speed, stabbing straight at her.
"What is that?!"
The blackish-blue female ghost nearly bulged her eyes out.
This was not Buddhist power, but the sword gave her an overwhelming sense of mortal danger. It felt as though the moment it struck her, she would be instantly wiped out, body and soul.
The female ghost tried to dodge, but the little sword carried a special lock-on force that pinned her in place. Even trying to retreat back into her puddle-like "dwelling" was difficult. Her whole ghostly body felt as if it were being crushed beneath an invisible mountain.
So, helpless, she could only watch as the orange-red little sword pierced straight through her brow.
She had no power to resist at all.
Puchi.
Like a red-hot iron rod plunged into ice, Minamiya Chiya's basic Dao sword cleanly and effortlessly exorcised the lowest-grade little ghost in a single strike.
"Hm? So she was that weak..."
"She wasn't even as strong as the leftover ghostly aura I dealt with in the homes of those officials and rich businessmen before."
"And here I was staying on guard, thinking this might be some mid-level ghost that would be troublesome to handle... turns out it was just a lowly little ghost. I can only say, as expected of this island nation. Most of the spirits and monsters here are bargain-bin trash. The strong ones are only so-so, and the weak ones are even weaker."
Seeing the blackish-blue female ghost who had been coveting Hoshizuki Kaede's body vanish completely under his serious strike, leaving behind only his Dao sword lying on the dirty ground like some toy a grade-schooler had tossed aside, Chiya could not help muttering a complaint.
Just as Minamiya Chiya was about to comfort the frightened girl clinging to him, he heard the cold mechanical voice of the system.
[Host has slain a low-grade earth-water attribute ghost. Obtained earth-water attribute aura fragments. Hoshizuki Kaede's exorcism request has been completed.]
[You have received mission rewards: one year of bitter cultivation worth of true qi, one bottle of Healing Spirit Pills, one protective talisman.]
...