Chapter 14: Too Much Hair, Too Weak to Resist Fire

[🎉 Shoutout to Sardine_Power, Skyhawkfang, Nathan, Sakura_Arrival for joining patreon. Thank you very much.🤗]

Although she didn't really need protection, Miura Yumiko's actions were certainly commendably brave.

After all, not everyone is willing to stay behind and cover others when facing life-and-death danger.

Most people still hold onto the mentality of 'better them than me,' distancing themselves from anything not directly their problem.

'To be able to interfere with reality, making it so that even normal people without Yin-Yang Eyes can see it, this evil spirit is indeed quite powerful.'

'But that is all there was to it.'

Though the evil spirit before them looked terrifying, it was only at the level of an ordinary vengeful ghost.

To ordinary people, of course, it was a catastrophic disaster. They wouldn't even have a way to escape. But to most cultivation sects, it was just an experience bag for new disciples to practice on.

The evil spirit clearly had some intelligence, but not much.

The curse had been removed, and its emotions were purely anger. It wanted to go berserk and start killing indiscriminately.

But as a predator, its instincts told it that the strange human beside its prey was extremely dangerous.

Even though he looked full of flaws, it felt like the moment it made a move, it would be destroyed.

Fear and anger tangled together, making the evil spirit hesitate.

It wanted to go but felt unwilling.

It wanted to fight but feared something would go wrong.

It was stuck there, unable to advance or retreat.

"Why is it just standing there?", Miura Yumiko had been really scared, and the only reason she wasn't collapsed on the ground was because of sheer willpower.

But after waiting for so long and not seeing the long-haired evil spirit charge, it was like it had frozen. Just crouched in place with no movement for a long time.

Kaito didn't answer. He simply stepped forward.

Finally, the long-haired evil spirit reacted, taking a step back, still keeping a distance of around five meters from Kaito.

Miura Yumiko: "..."

'Is that backward step… seriously?'

Kaito continued forward, and the evil spirit kept backing away.

Like two parallel lines that would never intersect, always keeping the same distance.

But the room was only so big. Soon, the evil spirit had nowhere left to retreat.

This made it increasingly anxious, letting out an ear-piercing shriek that cracked the glass with spiderweb-like fractures.

This kind of sonic attack was far too much for ordinary people to handle.

Miura Yumiko couldn't help but press her hands tightly against her ears, but it didn't help much. Her brain still felt like it was being stabbed with needles.

Kaito had originally wanted to observe this evil spirit, which, up to now, was the strongest he'd encountered in this world. To see if it had any unique traits.

But after scanning it thoroughly with his spiritual sense, he could only say it was painfully ordinary. Nothing noteworthy at all.

That meant it had no reason to keep existing.

"Burn," Just a simple syllable.

Several basketball-sized fireballs suddenly emerged from the air in front of him, blazing like little suns, exuding intense heat.

With a casual point of his finger, the fireballs merged together as if they had a life of their own, instantly transforming into a slender dragon shape, mouth wide open, impatiently pouncing on the long-haired evil spirit before it.

Big body, weak defenses, too much hair. Maybe it was from playing too many games lately, but the moment he saw the inky black long hair of the evil spirit, he instinctively went with a fire-based spell.

Though, it didn't really count as a spell. Just a simple manipulation of spiritual power, molded into the form of a dragon.

Even so, the long-haired evil spirit had no resistance whatsoever, and in the blink of an eye, it was devoured by the flaming dragon. It didn't even have time to scream before its entire body turned to ashes with a "crackle pop."

At the same time, the eerie chill in the room dispersed, and the temperature gradually rose.

Miura Yumiko glanced at her phone. The signal suddenly showed full bars.

The girl was still a bit stunned, "Th-that's it?"

It had looked so grotesque and terrifying, and yet Kaito had casually wiped it out.

Especially that dragon made of flames he summoned. It looked vividly alive, like a real creature.

Thinking back to how she had acted like it was the end of the world, even volunteering to stay behind… Yumiko's cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

"It's gone," Kaito shook his head, "Just a little ghost. Not worth mentioning."

This long-haired evil spirit had clearly given a bit more merit in return.

If the previous two exorcisms had earned merit about the size of a sesame seed or a mung bean, then this one was more like a sunflower seed. Though shelled, of course.

"I just didn't expect Kurumizaka-kun to be this powerful…", Yumiko gave an awkward smile, now looking at him with a bit more reverence in her eyes.

This was a natural instinct when humans were faced with something beyond their understanding.

A super handsome classmate, who was secretly a powerful exorcist, and had just saved her life.

If this were a manga, next would be the beloved teen romance comedy arc, right?

"Thanks for the compliment," Kaito mercilessly shattered her fantasy, "The exorcism fee is a friendly five million yen. How would you like to pay?"

To be fair, the price wasn't unreasonable.

According to official Japanese surveys, the average monthly salary of a typical office worker was around 330,000 yen. Five million yen was just under two years' worth of wages.

Two years' salary in exchange for a life. This was a deal 99% of people would take without hesitation.

If Kaito wanted, he could've easily asked for more. But since this was the first commission accepted by the club he just founded, offering a slight discount was normal.

Besides, even though Kaito hadn't needed her to stand in front of him, he still appreciated Yumiko's earlier action.

"Five million, huh…", Yumiko pursed her lips, quickly calculating her savings in her head before letting out a breath of relief.

Her family was doing fairly well. Her parents both did business abroad, not exactly ultra-rich, but decently well-off.

She had saved up a bit over eight million yen since childhood, just enough to cover the fee for this commission.

"How do you have over eight million?", Looking at the notification of funds received on his phone, Kaito raised an eyebrow.

"Because… I have something else I'd like to ask of you," Yumiko bit her lip, a little embarrassed, "Can I trouble you to stay the night here?"

Even though the evil spirit that had been targeting her had been slain and burned to ashes, the girl still felt uneasy.

As the saying goes, "Once bitten by a snake, you'll fear ropes for ten years." The pressure an evil spirit gave off was ten times worse than any venomous snake.

She kept feeling like there were still other dirty things lurking in the dark corners of her home, waiting to emerge after she fell asleep at midnight.

In short, she felt very unsafe.

Yumiko was even planning to talk to her parents soon about moving into a cleaner apartment. She never wanted to experience something like this again.

As the one who slayed the evil spirit, Kaito's presence was like a branch in the eyes of a drowning person.

A normal reaction would be to cling onto it, and never let go.

Just his presence, even without doing anything, gave Yumiko genuine peace of mind.

═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═

patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator

🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.

https://discord.gg/bYAfGyp98y