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Exchanging gold for currency went fairly smoothly.
No matter the country, there were always private dealers willing to buy gold.
Of course, most of the ones Rosen ran into couldn't resist trying something shady. To them, he was just a young foreigner throwing around bars worth tens of millions of yen. That kind of temptation made them pull all the usual tricks—schemes like cheating the scales, deliberately lowballing the price, or just planning to rob him outright.
Whenever that happened, Rosen simply used his kotodama to make them submit. After the deal was done, he erased the memory of being controlled.
After a few rounds of this, he had several tens of billions of yen in cash and a few hundred million more in digital currency.
With more than enough money secured, Rosen decided it was time to head back and enjoy the company of his adorable retainers.
But then—
"…Hm?"
Stepping out of a gold shop, he stopped, gaze shifting to the dimly lit street.
The fading sun of 2007 painted the straight road in a dull golden haze. The last rays slanted across his frame, making his tall, balanced figure look even sharper.
Rosen wasn't interested in admiring himself. He narrowed his eyes, staring at something across the road.
In the waning light, a heavy darkness seemed to stir.
From that darkness, a shadow peeled free and stepped into view.
It was a wraith.
Its limbs were stick-thin, like withered branches, its height about the size of an average adult. Unlike the mindless ones that drifted aimlessly, this one's glowing green eyes were locked squarely on the two girls walking just ahead.
Its brittle legs carried it forward, and its arms stretched toward them.
The movements looked sluggish, but the distance of several meters closed in an instant.
It matched the girl's steps, hands just about to brush her back.
Rosen's eyes narrowed.
Normally, wraiths couldn't touch the living. Only those steeped in powerful grudges could reach for humans—and even then, not to harm directly. They fed instead, sapping vitality, leaving their victims drained, aching, short of breath, and wilting away over time.
But wraiths like that were rare.
This one, though, was different.
It suddenly froze, as if noticing something.
The moment it turned its gaze, its eerie green eyes locked onto Rosen. Its pupils widened, and for the first time, its twisted face shifted in something like… expression. Subtle, but unmistakable.
"A wraith… with awareness?" Rosen muttered, his interest piqued.
The wraith seemed equally surprised. A human who could see it, yet didn't immediately trigger its killing instinct? It hesitated, as though thinking.
And then it moved.
Its hesitation gone, it sprinted straight toward him.
It didn't understand how this human could perceive it—but it knew one truth: anyone who saw it must die.
What's more, there was something off about Rosen's presence, something not quite human.
It had only just awakened and hadn't yet found a body to inhabit.
So… this one will do.
The width of two lanes and a bike path was nothing—it closed the distance in a blink, eyes burning with malice as it bore down on him.
But unlike the past victims it had slaughtered, this "prey" wasn't screaming or panicking.
He raised an eyebrow.
"So I kept my aura suppressed to lure wraiths in for training, and instead ended up being targeted myself?"
The supposed prey didn't show fear.
Instead, Rosen smiled. A bright, almost dazzling grin.
The wraith lunged, ready to seize this body—
And then everything changed.
Not his shape, but his presence.
When its eyes met his again, the wraith jolted.
A blazing fire lit his gaze, golden light crackling around him. Behind him, faint but unmistakable, hovered the outline of a radiant halo.
The wraith's green pupils shrank to pinpoints.
For the first time in its miserable existence, something other than hatred swelled inside it—terror.
Its lower body melted into shadow as it bolted, shrieking, across the air.
"Trying to run?" Rosen didn't bother to chase.
A flash of invisible light shot from his eyes, crossing the ten-meter gap in an instant. It struck, and the wraith dissolved at once, its beastlike scream ripping through the air before vanishing into nothing.
The place it disintegrated was directly on the path of the two girls.
One of them thought she heard some horrific roar echo from nowhere.
The other… actually saw the monstrous shadow collapse in front of her.
"Lady Yuki?"
Seeing her mistress suddenly freeze, Ayano Kimishima's face twisted in confusion.
Yuki Suou.
"..."
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