Chapter 20

“Huh?! You’re a Special Rank Exorcist?!” This little kid is a Special Rank Exorcist? And she’s in her sixth year – two years older than me?!

“You… Were you just thinking something along the lines of, ‘Why’s this loli a Special Rank Exorcist?’”

“N-no, not at all!”

“Mhm. I don’t particularly mind; it’s not like I can do anything about my height…”

“No, no, I like your height, you know? I think you’re quite cute.”

“…Are you a lolicon?!”

“Y-you’re misinterpreting my words!”

“No, I’m really not. But anyway, why are you here?”

“Oh, I was just going for a walk, and I saw a girl being attacked, so I decided to help…”

“Looks like you’re a decent man, after all. Well, you probably helped them more than you helped me. If I’d fought them, they’d be in pieces right now.”

“Hahaha…”

An incredibly free-spirited girl, capable of doing just about anything – that was my impression of Eira. She was completely uncontrollable – unpredictable, really.

“By the way, how do you know who I am?”

“Oh, I heard about you from Gil and Claudia. They told me about a certain monster who spent two years living out in the Twilight.”

“Haha… A monster… I’m not really that impressive…”

“You’re free right now, aren’t you?”

“Well… Yeah. I’ve got time until the party tonight.”

“I’m gonna be there, too, so that’s perfect. Come with me.”

“Where are we going?”

“My favourite cafe. Don’t worry about the money; it’s my treat.”

“Thank you, Eira-senpai.”

“…Senpai?”

Eira turned around to look at me. Huh? Was what I said that weird?

“You… Did you just call me ‘senpai?’”

“Yeah. I’m a fourth-year, after all. We may live in different cities, but you’re technically my senior, right?”

“You… I like you! I’ll definitely take good care of you, as your senior!”

“Huh?! What are you talking about?”

“Since I’m, you know, short, people make fun of me a lot… That’s why I’ve gotten really good at discerning what people think of me. I can look at someone and know, ‘Oh, this guy’s making fun of me.’ That kind of thing. But I can see the respect in your eyes, and you’re treating me properly, too! And you addressed me as your senior, that’s good!”

“Oh, I see…”

For some reason, Eira had taken a liking to me. Since I, too, was about to become a Special Rank Exorcist, I decided it’d probably be a good idea to get closer to some of the other Special Ranks. After all, I didn’t want to have to deal with any kind of weird friction between me and the people I’d be working with.

“Let’s go!”

“Sure.”

Eira skipped off joyfully, and I followed behind her.

***

“So, did you really spend two years out in the Twilight?”

“I did. It was definitely quite the experience.”

We’d gone to the aforementioned cafe and had been talking about a lot of different things. To be clear, she didn’t doubt my story; she was just genuinely curious about my time in the Twilight.

“Wow… That’s pretty amazing. You crossed the whole continent in just a year.”

“…Honestly, I’m surprised my sense of direction was that bad…”

“And then you managed to cross the continent back in this direction in a year.”

“The ogres helped me out a lot, but the map they gave me wasn’t totally accurate. It caused a lot of confusion on my way back, too… Man, that was tough…”

“So, you’ve got it, don’t you?”

“Twilight Syndrome?”

“Mhm. I’ve got mine right here,” she said, unbuttoning her shirt a little to show me.

“W-wait, we’re in public!”

“It’s fine. It’s not like I’m completely stripping. Come on, look at it.”

Her tiny, soft breasts… I don’t care about them at all… Can’t see them at all…

I looked at the Duskmark on her chest. “…Are you at Stage 5?”

“You are, too, right?”

“My mark is here,” I said, rolling up my sleeves and showing her my Duskmark.

“Woah… How far up your arm does that go?”

“It reaches all the way up to my shoulder.”

“That would mean you’re past Stage 5, right?”

“Probably. Princess Lianne took a look at me, and she said that I’d completely integrated with the Twilight.”

“I see… Looks like your two years out there weren’t just for show. That aside, you met Lianne?”

“Yeah. I helped escort her here from the Seventh Barriered City. Are you close to her?”

“Hm? Ah, she’s a childhood friend. My family are kinda nobles, so.”

“Nobles… Oh, so you live in this city, right?”

“Everyone here is useless. Just a bunch of idiots, really. All they care about is the purity of their blood,” she spat.

As I mentioned before, the First Barriered City is a special place. The royal family lives here, along with the nobles. There weren’t a lot of people living in this city, but their standing was definitely higher than the common person’s.

We made small talk for a little while longer and then decided to go our separate ways.

“Well, let’s head out, shall we?”

“Okay.”

“I’m gonna head home to change. See you later, Yuria.”

And so, I ended up walking back to the inn. It was getting dark, so I decided to take a shortcut through a less-populated area. As a note, Exorcist-related crimes do happen inside the cities, so there are some security measures established to deter them. For example, there’s a system that detects the use of magic within the city and notifies the guards. However, this system does not cover the whole city, leaving a few blind spots here and there.

I happened to be passing through one of those blind spots. Something felt off, but I decided to keep walking. And then… I felt a fist swinging at me from behind.

“…Tch… Are you really Yuria, you bastard?”

“Dan… What are you doing?”

My senses were spot-on. It was Dan. He had probably been following me for a while.

“That woman you were with… That was the S-Rank Exorcist Eira, wasn’t it? She’s got a very distinct look, so I knew it was her. So… How the hell did you seduce her, you son of a bitch?”

“…You’ve got that wrong. We just happened to meet.”

“You’re lying. You may be a little stronger than before, but there’s no way you’re an S-Rank Exorcist.”

“…Just give up, Dan. I’m not the same person I was two years ago… You should stop.”

“Fuck you… Don’t you fucking dare look down on me.”

I didn’t particularly feel like I was looking down on him. I just thought it was quite pathetic. He hadn’t changed at all, this entire time.

But perhaps I was the same. The only thing that’s changed about us is our combat skill. Dan and I have both gotten stronger.

But I was definitely stronger than him. It was obvious from how easily I dodged his attack.

“Yuria! Don’t you dare look at me like that!”

Dan drew his broadsword and swung it. You’re slow, Dan. Way too slow. At your level, there’s no way you’d be able to survive out there. A little ways past the safe area would be your limit.

Dan’s impulsive, emotional attack was far too easy to read. There was no need for me to use any of my special abilities.

“What?!”

I grabbed his sword with my fingertips, twisted his wrists, and knocked his sword to the ground.

“Dan, open your eyes to the reality of the situation. Stop this.”

“Don’t fuck with me, don’t fuck with me, don’t. fuck. with. me! Yuria’s stronger than me? Me? That’s fucking impossible!”

This time, he used magic. I noticed Rebecca and Aria standing behind me, too. They were casting a barrier to keep people from watching and supporting Dan’s magic.

Why… Why are you all like this?

“…Time to end this.”

I activated [Twilight Sight]. I perceived the particles of mana in the air and activated [Invisible] to block them. The mana dissipated along with the barrier. The three of them, astounded that their magic had been erased, fell on their bottoms.

“Leave me alone from now on,” I said as I left. As I walked away, I felt his murderous gaze burning a hole in my back.

Despite that, I ran away. I didn’t know what to do, so I just ran. I didn’t want to deal with them anymore. Every time I see their faces, I’m reminded of how I used to be. It makes me sick. I wasn’t sure if I should pursue legal action against them, either. After all, the only evidence I have against them is my own testimony. It’d be my word against theirs. There are, of course, people who believe I spent two years in the Twilight because of my strength, but that’s just circumstantial evidence. The only real evidence that I was out there is in my memories.

However, it’s probably going to be necessary for me to truly face them one day. I wish we could never see each other again… But I’m sure we will. It’s fate.

I could tell that we would meet again, and that’s why I needed to bid farewell to my past… At least, that’s what I felt.