Chapter 234: East, Black Ghosts, and the Spectral Collector (3)
From a young age, I saw things that others could not. I still can’t forget the disdain with which the villagers looked at me.
The only people who accepted me as I was were the black ghosts.
Operating in the “darkness,” unseen by others, they told me that I would save the world from what they saw as bad luck or misfortune but I didn’t fully believe them.
One day, the chief asked me.
I was confused, wondering if I deserved to be treated like this.
“Soho, what do you think the organization needs most?”
I hesitated before speaking, as I had only been briefed on the organization’s mission.
“I think it’s… the power to defeat the demons…”
But I had no such power. I was too powerless and weak.
If I were as strong as the others, I wouldn’t have almost been stoned to death in the first place.
“The power to defeat youkai… there’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s hardly the most important thing.”
“Then maybe it’s the strength of mind to face them without being intimidated by them.”
“That’s not it either.”
“…”
I tilted my head.
The chief smiled and gently stroked my hair before giving me the answer.
“Eyes.”
“Eyes? But everyone has eyes.”
“Eyes that can see things that ordinary humans can’t. Without them, even the strongest members of the army would be useless in the face of youkai.”
I didn’t understand, but he seemed to be referring to me.
“Yogi is certainly an aura that can be detected once you get used to it, but not all youkai appear in front of our eyes, and without your eyes, even the most powerful Black Ghost would be powerless if they were in a position to find and destroy them.”
“Even the Chief…?”
I was surprised that someone as powerful as the Chief could not find the youkai.
“That’s why, Soho, you must be the eyes of the black ghosts. You must find them before they harm more people, and show us where to go so we can save more people. That’s the role of a guide.”
“A guide…”
“It’s hard to gather much information before a battle because of the nature of youkai, who are overly sensory instead of rational, so you’ll need to learn to judge the level of the youkai by looking at the yogi, so your men won’t get hurt.”
“Something like that…Can I save people…?”
“Only you can save them.”
For the first time in my short life, I was glad I was born.
I studied youkai harder than anyone else, and developed my senses so that I could identify yogi from farther and farther away in greater detail.
I also had the help of my other guide brothers and sisters who had similar abilities to mine.
I tried desperately to save my colleagues and told the chief that I was ready, even though he was reluctant.
The organization was always short-handed, so I was put into the field at a relatively early age.
I joined my colleagues, ate, chatted, and went about my daily routine of finding and destroying demons.
So far, so good.
I could save people with my eyes, and I was no longer despised by them.
Most of all, I was happy that my valued companions needed me.
They trusted the younger me completely and followed my lead without question but today, that happiness was shattered.
Biyoung, who was about the same age as me, and I arrived late at the demon den, and the energy inside was so strange that we stopped approaching and waited.
A man walked out of the cave. Sadly, he was not one of my companions.
“Hah…”
The blind man, who had black hair and an unusually white bandage over his eyes, staggered out, breathing heavily as if it hadn’t been easy.
“Soho…”
He barely managed to stop himself from stepping forward.
Behind the blind man, the faces of my companions could be seen. The captain and the men who had entered the demon den first were with him.
If ‘together’ could be used to describe being dragged out and wrapped in mysterious black tentacles.
“Run… Run…”
“……”
Biyoung slowly turned her head to look at me.
“That thing… That’s a monster…”
Biyoung, the youngest and most inexperienced member of the group and I were no match for him.
…The word opponent was ridiculous.
There was no point in running away from him now that he had already closed the distance.
The blind man didn’t look like a youkai, nor did he look human. The hideous yogi from inside the youkai lair was hiding his aura like a beast hiding its claws.
‘What are those black tentacles, is that the power of the Yodo…?’
I sized up the blind man on the other side, a supposed spectral collector.
Up close, the realization dawned on me.
‘We need to call in at least three troops…’
It seemed he could be contained.
Then I recognized the faces of his colleagues who had been dragged out after him.
Their names flashed through my mind and a single hot tear escaped my eye and rolled down my cheek.
I had led them down the wrong path.
I, their guide, should have stopped them.
My mistake had killed them all but crying won’t fix the situation.
I had to save at least one.
“…Biyoung, do you think you can run away without making a sound?”
I wiped the tears from my eyes and whispered to Biyoung, who was standing next to me.
That was the mindset the black ghosts had taught me.
“A sound…”
“Not even the sound of a bush being stepped on. As quietly as possible.”
“…I’ll try. But what about Soho…?”
“I’m… I’ll buy you some time.”
“Shouldn’t Soho live rather than me…?”
“I’m not fast enough on my feet to get away from him anyway.”
“……”
Biyoung nodded with a stiff face.
When I took a step forward to buy time, and Biyoung stealthily shifted his legs, the blind man with the black tentacles behind his back raised his hand.
“That…You shouldn’t run away…”
“Biyoung, run at full speed!”
“Ugh, yeah…!”
From behind me, I heard Bi young running at full speed so I pushed forward, pounding my heart that was about to explode.
I wondered if there was any chance I could reach for the silver sword.
“No!!!”
My thoughts were cut short by a scream from the other side of the forest.
“…”
I stopped approaching the blind man and slowly turned my head. It was Biyoung’s voice.
“How did this happen…”
The blind man mumbled and held up a single finger.
Annihilation.
With that word in front of me, I sank to the ground. The ground was right in front of me, but it seemed to be getting farther away.
My head felt dizzy.
-Thud.
Suddenly, the blind man stood in front of me.
I could do nothing against him.
The guide, who had given me the wrong path, could only shed tears of frustration.
“Why… Why… Why did I…?”
Scratching his head, the blind man’s lips opened.
“Wake up.”
“…”
It was a peculiar death sentence.
As I sat there staring up at him, dumbfounded, he continued.
“You’ll have to help me, even if it’s just you, because I’m in a hurry, and I need to get this done.”
A moment later, the black tentacles behind him moved slowly, picking up the men and dropping them to the ground.
The only thing stranger than the mysterious tentacle was that they were still breathing.
“Hmph…”
The crying stopped.
At the same time, I was so surprised that I hiccupped.
‘How are they alive…?’
***
Things are twisted but it wasn’t all bad.
On the bright side, I got to work on my ‘healing’ and that’s a good thing because it means I can make progress on my ‘saint’ path.
Of course, I’m only looking on the bright side, and I’m already feeling a little tired at the thought of a long night.
I invested all of my new skill points in Acupuncture.
Acupuncture was now at level 10.
Since Acupuncture is not a combat-related skill, its level is affected more than other skills.
In other words, I had invested 10 points in a non-combat skill, but I didn’t mind, as I had many more uses for it in the real world than in the game.
It’s been a while since I’ve felt a tingling sensation in my head as I leveled up a skill.
For the record, I’ve never taken Acupuncture to level 10 in the game since there were no quests with such requirements.
Now that I have level 10 acupuncture knowledge in my head, I realize that acupuncture can do so much more than is currently known in the world.
Yogi erosion is no problem.
It could even do things that were impossible without divine power.
‘At least I have an excuse to tell Bernice.’
Inwardly, I was wondering what if level 10 didn’t work, but I was glad I stopped at this point.
“Ms. Soho, are you ready to go?”
I asked, turning to look at Soho.
“What?! Yes, yes…”
Soho, who had just been stripping the armor from the unconscious men, looked up in surprise and replied in a shaky voice.
Fortunately, the misunderstanding was resolved.
I made it clear to them that there had been a misunderstanding. Although I had a spectral sword, I was not a spectral collector.
I also put her in touch with Sierra and told her to clear up her misunderstanding.
This was possible because Soho was a “guide.”
[Curious. Does that mean this child has the same eyes as the saint?]
“Close enough.”
Sierra leaned closer to Soho and studied her warily. Soho didn’t say much, but she seemed to be feeling a bit overwhelmed.
As I cleared up the misunderstanding, I realized that I had been mistaken. They didn’t know anything about my tinnitus or my existence.
I thought I’d made a name for myself, but alas, with their busy lives, word of me must not have reached them.
“Well, I’m surprised to hear that you specialize in spectral swords… I thought it was an ancient and forgotten sword art…”
“Since you know the Ghost Slayer Technique, you must have studied hard.”
“Of course…! I don’t miss anything related to youkai… Well, the black tentacles that Zetto used to handle… It wasn’t even mentioned in the books…”
“Haha, that’s a guy named Sheddie, and he’s a cute guy whose charm is his fluffy fur.”
“Fluffy fur…”
Soho didn’t have much of an affinity for spirits, so Sheddie’s explanation didn’t make much sense.
“Uh, but can we leave Biyoung alone?”
Soho asked as she reached for the boy’s armor.
“If you mean the boy outside the cave… Yes, he was simply startled and fainted for a moment, and I can wake him up.”
“That’s fine. I’d be grateful if you could just take care of the rest of the crew’s yogi erosion.”
“Let’s get started then.”
I sat down in front of the crewman, whose flesh had been exposed to allow me to place the needles comfortably, and spread out a clean cloth to pick up the needles that were there.
“…Come to think of it, I don’t think it’s strange for a blind man to place acupuncture needles.”
“It’s not strange at all. The man who invented acupuncture was blind, so if there’s any doubt that acupuncture can solve yogi erosion…”
“That’s right, I suddenly remembered something from the past…”
In the West, where the Innocence Academy is located, they were unfamiliar with blind acupuncture, but in the East, the home of acupuncture, their reaction was different.
I released the needles without stopping, pulling out the yogi that was eating away at the man’s body.
“What the hell is a ‘spectral collector’ anyway?”
The Spectral Collector seemed like a villain I hadn’t heard of before, so I had to do some research.
I’d get the basics, and leave the details to Keraph.
“He’s literally a spectral swords collector, and he’s a peculiar one at that, traveling around the East looking for them and stealing them. From what I’ve gathered, it doesn’t seem to matter if he was a youkai before or after he became one, as long as it’s a spectral sword, he’s going after it.”
“…Could I be his target?”
I asked the most curious thing.
Soho clenched her jaw.
“I don’t know exactly what it is, but he can detect yogi. I think it’s probably some sort of guide ability, like mine, and if Zetto were to run into him along the way…”
Soho trailed off, nodding in assurance.
“…I’m sure he’ll come after you, because the yogi that flows from Zetto is quite unique.”
“Hmm… That means he’s going to try to take my sword away from me…”
Hearing this, Sierra frowned.
[Unpleasant.]
I agree.
That was a very unpleasant thing to think about.