kscans

Chapter 85 - The Night Before the Holiday

August 11th, night. Was it Mountain Day or something in the public calendar? It was a national holiday, but unfortunately I still had to work today. However, since we're starting a week-long Obon holiday tomorrow, nobody, including myself, minded the work. I guess I'll just sleep through tomorrow. After work I went to Okutama Island and worked until dawn, so I haven't slept for two full days. Yesterday I went straight there after finishing business in hell, so I didn't even eat dinner. Thanks to that sacrifice, I managed to finish the work by dawn. The lunch break carving session was good. Thanks to maintaining my energy throughout, I felt like I could see new horizons opening up toward the end.

"Ugh, uhhh... I know there's an overwhelming difference in skill, but it's still frustrating! I can't hit anything at all!"

"The smoke... I can't penetrate the smoke... They say if you can strike the constantly changing weak points, you can break through, but..."

"Ah! He's taking out a second one, a second one! The elegant smoking continues!"

I'm thinking absent-mindedly, but we're right in the middle of training. Though all I'm doing is sitting in a folding chair, smoking and manipulating the smoke. This time it's training to spot opponents' openings, so I'm constantly changing the weak points, but so far they haven't even grazed me. I set the difficulty at a level where they should theoretically be able to see through it, but... well, this kind of thing can't be helped. Since it's not something you can explain with words but rather personal intuition, they have to learn it with their bodies.

(Still, their movements are good. Especially Sarna-chan's)

In terms of natural ability, she's probably better than Rika-chan or Hikaru. Though her divine authority comes from death gods, so it's completely meaningless against me. To roughly explain Sarna-chan's unique ability, it's like an instant death technique in RPGs. It works on weaker opponents but doesn't work on bosses, a specialized ability for hunting small fry. That said, holders of this kind of instant death technique are valued for exterminating aberrations. It's like having a profitable qualification.

(The consumption cost is also low, so she can just keep taking on jobs one after another)

If the opponent is weaker than her, it ends instantly, so she can keep accepting requests one after another. From the Mutual Aid Society's perspective, even if they're weak aberrations, reducing their numbers is appreciated, so they prioritize giving her requests.

(On top of that, Sarna-chan has excellent future potential)

As Sarna-chan herself becomes stronger, the range she can cover will keep expanding. If she puts her mind to it, she could probably earn an annual income comparable to top professional baseball or soccer players.

"What do you wanna do? Lower the difficulty? Or maybe raise it a bit?"

When I say this teasingly,

"The latter!!"

How adorable...

"Then from here on, I'll add counterattacks"

"Eh, an octopus?"

The three of them stare dumbfounded at what I summoned. As you can see, it's an octopus, but not just any octopus.

"This guy is a life form created using the occult. His specs are different from ordinary octopuses"

"...First of all, I have no experience fighting ordinary octopuses"

"Also, the ink really stinks"

"! It's coming!"

"Oh, and one more thing, if you can't attack the weak points in the smoke for a certain amount of time, the level goes up, so be careful"

Adding the octopus, we start over. At first they were doing pretty well, but the longer it takes, the more their physical and mental strength gets depleted. By the end, they were completely black. That said, Hikaru and Rika-chan are steadily getting stronger. This was Sarna-chan's first time, but if she keeps at it, the results should become visible.

"Phew... I finally feel human again..."

After training ended, we headed straight to the large bath. Once Hikaru washed off the ink and got into the bathtub, he immediately started lounging around lazily. At first he was tense even in front of me, so I'm happy he's showing me this side of himself.

"By the way, Satou-san, aren't you in unusually high spirits today?"

"Oh, you can tell? Well, I haven't slept for two days, so my excitement won't settle down"

"...Eh, you haven't slept for two days?"

"It's nothing serious. I don't know what my maximum is, but I can move without sleep for at least a year"

Don't look at me like I'm some kind of monster.

"But what were you doing without sleeping?"

"Well, actually..."

When I explained the details, Hikaru gave me a really good reaction.

"So after I finished carving it all out, I returned it to its original location"

"Eh, even after working so hard?"

"Nature and stuff is fine, but houses are different. They probably have precious memories there"

The sorcerers and gods prepared new ones, but to put it bluntly, those were fakes. Since they would never reach the truth, they would eventually dissipate, but there should have been something off about them. In that case, it's better to return the real ones. Besides, I didn't return them for free. I swapped them with the new Okutama that the Mutual Aid Society prepared and took that one.

"Swapped them... eh, you can do that?"

"I can, I can. It's like that tablecloth trick"

I temporarily isolate the humans and animals and swap them during that time. I manipulated their senses a bit, so the residents probably didn't even notice.

"Since it's fake, I don't feel guilty about destroying it and messing around with it however I want. I'm really looking forward to this"

"..."

"What's wrong?"

"No, that side of you, Satou-san... I really like it"

Stop it, don't make this old man's heart skip a beat so casually. That dazzling smile stimulated the maiden part of this old man.

"Hehe, when my secret base is finished, I'll invite you too, Hikaru"

"Yes, I'm looking forward to it!"

I said it to hide my embarrassment, but an even more dazzling smile came back...

"Speaking of which, Obon holiday starts tomorrow, but you're planning to do it during the holiday, right?"

"Yeah, that's the plan"

"...Given the location, you can't bring in regular contractors, right? What will you do?"

"Ah, don't worry, don't worry. I'll use people from the supernatural world"

There are all kinds of people in the supernatural world. There are architects and interior designers who specialize in supernatural work, as well as those who work in such professions in the surface world as their cover. Using such people, though it costs money, you can finish everything in just a few days.

"No way, a few days..."

"It's possible. I can slow down the passage of time on the island and buff the contractors to work non-stop without sleep"

"That's a sweatshop"

"It's a sweatshop, but if you pay them accordingly, they'll gladly jump at it"

As they say, even hell's judgment depends on money. When you're deeply immersed in the supernatural world, money flies away constantly. For guys like that, it's a perfect opportunity, and from my perspective, such guys are appreciated. They know that if they do shoddy work, they won't get jobs again when something comes up, so they work seriously. Moreover, with my buffs, their minds become sharper, their dexterity increases, and they can work tirelessly, so in a way it's easier than regular work.

"Oh right. Speaking of hell's judgment, I went to hell yesterday"

"Hell!?"

"That's right, hell. I'll show you the two-shot with King Enma later"

"A two-shot with King Enma!?"

Really, he gives such great reactions...