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Not long after that, elsewhere—
Asher had already carried the unconscious Adashino Benio back to his place.
At first, once he got home, Asher planned to just toss her onto the couch and leave her there.
But when he saw her soaked in blood, practically looking like a walking bloodstain, his resolve wavered.
After all, who knew how long she'd stay unconscious?
And if he didn't deal with all that blood, it would ruin his place anyway.
With that in mind, Asher carried Adashino Benio into the bathroom.
Looking at her there, unconscious and completely defenseless, Asher swallowed hard.
In the end, he still reached out with his so-called sinful hands.
…Strictly speaking, he didn't actually need to do it himself.
He had thought about letting Hotaru-gusa handle it.
No matter how you looked at it, she was a girl too, so it would've been less awkward than him doing it.
Unfortunately, as soon as they got home, Hotaru-gusa was already half-asleep, clearly exhausted.
Which made sense.
She'd used her ultimate skill several times that day.
In reality, this kind of thing took a serious toll on her.
This wasn't a game. Asher's shikigami couldn't just spam big moves endlessly as long as they had spirit fire.
Some time later, Asher walked out of the bathroom, his face faintly red, carrying the now-cleaned Adashino Benio.
He had to admit, her build was really petite.
He'd put one of his own white T-shirts on her, and it almost covered her from her shoulders down to her knees.
Like that, she somehow had a strange, inexplicable charm.
After laying her on the large bed in the bedroom, Asher left the room, went back to the living room, and sat down on the sofa.
Only now did he finally have time to sort through the rewards from this mission.
First, there were the ten shikigami summons and one Onmyoji-exclusive skill draw from the system quest.
Then there was the reward for defeating the massive filth within the Cursed Field: a Legendary Onmyoji's Folding Fan?
So rewards from exorcising evil spirits weren't limited to shikigami and onmyoji techniques?
That question popped into Asher's head.
Right on cue, the system sprite Kagura's voice answered him in his mind.
[That is correct, Mr. Host.]
[After eliminating evil spirits or yokai, you may also obtain items related to onmyoji equipment, similar to ceremonial robes.]
"I see…" Asher nodded, understanding at once.
With his curiosity settled, he checked what this so-called Legendary Onmyoji's Folding Fan actually was.
[Legendary Onmyoji's Folding Fan]A folding fan long carried by the legendary great onmyoji Abe no Seimei. As an item that accompanied him for years, it grants a special bonus: while equipped, all onmyoji techniques gain a 50% effectiveness boost.
…What?
A fifty percent boost?
Asher stared at the description, stunned.
Who would've thought such a small, ordinary-looking fan would have stats this absurd?
That was a full fifty percent increase.
Put this in the hands of any onmyoji, and it would be an ultimate treasure.
Realizing just how insane this item was, Asher's mood instantly soared.
Feeling great, he waved his hand and thought,
"System, use the ten-shikigami summon and the Onmyoji-exclusive skill draw."
[Ding! Ten-shikigami summon and exclusive skill draw in progress…]
[Congratulations! From the ten-shikigami summon, you obtained:N-rank Shikigami Tu Bi, N-rank Shikigami Red Tongue, N-rank Karakasa Umbrella Yokai, N-rank Amanojaku Green, N-rank Amanojaku Blue, N-rank Amanojaku Yellow, N-rank Amanojaku Red, SR-rank Shikigami Ubume, and one Spirit Codex!]
[Congratulations! From the Onmyoji-exclusive skill draw, you obtained: Spirit Summon: Bewildering Butterfly!]
[Ding! As you have now completed the N-rank shikigami codex, a new feature has been unlocked: Contract System!]
[Contract System: The host may freely contract new shikigami. (Note: The number of contracts depends on the host's Onmyoji rank.)]
...?
Listening to the rapid stream of system notifications, Asher's eyes went wide again.
Once it sank in, his face lit up with pure joy.
Was this it? A single pull straight to god-tier luck?
Not only did none of the shikigami overlap, he even pulled an SR?
Hotaru-gusa was only an R-rank shikigami, and she was already that strong.
An SR attacker like Ubume was on a completely different level.
Right now, Asher felt exactly like he did back when that certain three-character game first launched and he pulled Ubume on day one.
Back then, the rates were brutal.
Forget SSRs. Even pulling an SR like Ubume was enough to make people post screenshots everywhere.
A lot of players were basically raised by Ubume alone.
Asher was no exception. He'd never been particularly lucky.
On top of that, completing the N-rank codex had unlocked a brand-new feature: contracts.
The function itself was easy enough to understand. What caught his attention was how the number of contracts scaled with onmyoji level.
[Host: Asher]
[Onmyoji Rank: Intermediate]
[Onmyoji Skills: Basic Arts, Binding Word, Summon of the Thunder Emperor, Spirit Summon: Bewildering Butterfly]
[Inventory: Onmyoji Robes, Legendary Onmyoji's Folding Fan, Spirit Codex ×4]
[Contracted Shikigami: None (Note: Beginner Onmyoji may contract up to 3 shikigami)]
[Shikigami List]
N-rank: Lantern Ghost, Parasitic Spirit (2★), Graverobber Imp, Amanojaku (Red/Blue/Yellow/Green), Tu Bi, Red Tongue, Karakasa Umbrella Yokai, Broom God
R-rank: Mountain Hare (3★), Hotaru-gusa
SR-rank: Ubume
Looking at his status panel, Asher couldn't help but smile.
This operation had massively boosted his combat power.
He was confident now.
If that Miss Mary ever showed up again—
Even without using the bug-level move Summon of the Thunder Emperor, he could easily keep her there.
An SR-tier Ubume had single-target combat power that rivaled, or even surpassed, urban legend-level yokai.
Still riding that excitement, Asher spent some more time exploring the system's functions.
Eventually, he leaned back into the soft sofa and drifted off to sleep.
The next day arrived quickly.
In the bedroom—
Adashino Benio, lying on the soft, white bed, twitched her delicate nose a few times before slowly opening her eyes.
The first thing she saw was an unfamiliar ceiling.
"Mm… where am I…?"
She frowned slightly, rubbing her head as she slowly sat up.
Her confused gaze swept across the room.
After a while, memories from last night finally came back to her.
That ridiculously powerful onmyoji…
And then her own collapse into unconsciousness…
"Could this be… that person's home?"
She murmured the thought to herself.
Just then—
Creak.
The door opened softly.
Seeing her sitting up, Asher's gentle voice came from the doorway.
"You're awake?"
Hearing that, Adashino Benio looked up.
As expected, Asher was standing there.
Seeing her expression, Asher smiled faintly.
"Don't worry. This is my place."
"You passed out last night, so I brought you back here."
"So that's what happened…" Understanding dawned on her, and she let out a quiet sigh of relief.
She'd collapsed right inside the Cursed Field.
Even after Asher destroyed it and the field dispersed, if he'd just left her there, she would've been lying alone in a dangerous campus all night.
If something had happened then, it would've been disastrous.
Thinking that far, gratitude filled her heart toward this mysterious, powerful onmyoji.
She immediately tried to stand up and thank him.
"Esteemed Onmyoji senior, thank—"
But before she could finish—
She noticed what she was wearing.
At some point, her clothes had been replaced by an extremely loose white T-shirt.
"…Ah… this…?"
Seeing her staring blankly at herself, Asher felt a hint of awkwardness.
Still, he kept his composure.
"It's like this," he said calmly."You lost a lot of blood last night, so I had to clean you up.""Since you're awake now, take some time to get yourself together."
With that, Asher closed the door, leaving Adashino Benio alone.
It took a long moment for her to snap out of her daze.
Then, all at once, her pale cheeks flushed bright red.
Under normal circumstances, she would've screamed already.
But remembering that Asher was still in the living room, she clamped a hand over her mouth.
Her heart raced for quite a while.
Finally, she spoke urgently into the empty air.
"Kinako? Kinako!"
The moment she called out—
A strange creature appeared before her.
It looked like a mix between a fox and a cat, its body white and red, with only a tuft of flame-like yellow fur on its forehead.
This odd little being was her shikigami.
Kinako was a utility-type shikigami with a wide range of functions, capable of possessing various objects to enhance their abilities.
The moment it appeared, it looked at its master with worried eyes.
Despite its cute, fox-like appearance, it spoke with a thick Kansai accent.
"Kureo, are you okay?!"
"How does your body feel?"
As it spoke, it circled her anxiously.
As a shikigami, it naturally worried about its master's safety.
Unfortunately, as a non-combat shikigami, it could only watch helplessly during last night's fight.
But instead of responding, Adashino Benio grabbed Kinako, staring at it nervously.
"Kinako, about last night…"
What she wanted to know was what happened after Asher brought her back.
Faced with her question, Kinako scratched its foxy cheek guiltily.
"Well…Adashino…"
"Things really were just like that onmyoji senior said. He didn't do anything strange, so you can relax…"
As it said that, it recalled last night.
It knew Asher had taken her into the bathroom to clean her.
But it hadn't dared show itself, let alone try to stop him.
It had witnessed the battle inside the Cursed Field with its own eyes.
An onmyoji of that level, just from that one move alone, was already stronger than even the Yin-Yang Bureau's leader, Tsuchimikado Arima.
How could Kinako possibly dare go against Asher?
"…Phew… that's good…"
Hearing this, Adashino Benio finally relaxed.
Still, the thought of Asher cleaning her lingered in her mind.
Her cheeks couldn't help but turn pink again.
If he cleaned her, then that meant everything that should or shouldn't be seen…
He must've seen it all…
The more she thought about it, the less she knew how she was supposed to face him later.
Even though her personality had grown cold due to things in her childhood—
No one could stay completely unaffected by something like this, right?
…
After who knew how long, she finally managed to suppress the embarrassment in her chest.
Taking a few deep breaths and forcing her expression to look normal, she stood and walked toward the bedroom door.
Seeing this, Kinako hurriedly followed.
Click.
The door opened.
Moments later, she reached the living room and saw Asher and Hotaru-gusa having breakfast.
"Huh? You're awake, sis?"
Hotaru-gusa, who was in the middle of absolutely demolishing her food, looked up in surprise, then broke into a delighted smile.
Last night in the Cursed Field, Adashino Benio had been willing to risk her life to buy them time.
That left a deep impression on the inexperienced little girl.
Maybe that was also why Asher had chosen to save her and bring her home.
Seeing Hotaru-gusa's lively demeanor, Adashino Benio looked puzzled.
Catching that, Hotaru-gusa flashed a bright smile and introduced herself.
"Nice to meet you, Sister Adashino! My name's Hotaru-gusa!"
"I see… Miss Hotaru-gusa…"
With her quiet personality, Adashino Benio still couldn't quite bring herself to say things like "little sister."
Then she turned to Asher, who was calmly eating at the head of the table.
"Esteemed Onmyoji senior… may I ask your name?"
Taking a breath, she asked.
Asher looked up and smiled gently.
"Miss Adashino, just call me Asher."
"So it's Mr. Asher…"
"Mr. Asher, thank you for saving me last night!"
Not only Adashino Benio, but even Kinako behind her bowed deeply at ninety degrees.
Asher waved it off casually.
"It was nothing."
"Since you're awake, come eat breakfast with us."
"…Okay."
She nodded.
But just as she sat down, something struck her.
Her eyes widened as she looked at Asher.
"Asher…?"
"May I ask… which 'Asher' are you?"
"....."