Isekai Restaurant
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Chapter 22: Jujutsu Exam
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- Silas -
"Do I need to take anything with me for the exam?" I asked, taking one last look over my bag and asked Gojo-sensei who had come to take Naruto and me for the Jujutsu Exam today.
Naruto was taking his exam for Grade 3 Sorcerer while I would take the exam for Grade 1 Sorcerer. We had thought Sakura would come for exams with us too but turns out that she would be taking her exam in a few days. They apparently had too many candidates appearing for the exams in this period and thus couldn't be placed in one day.
That's why we packed our bags and got ready for the trip.
On the side, Miu and Shigure-san were giving Naruto a pep talk… not that he needed any. If anything, he was too excited for the whole thing
Kanna on the other hand looked bored.
She wanted to go with him too but wasn't allowed so she was pouting in the corner.
"You won't need anything. Hmm, actually, you can take your knives which you use for fighting. Other than that, I don't think you will need anything else." Gojo-sensei said after some thought.
"Hmm. Then I am all done."
"Go and kick some asses, Boss, Naruto-kun!" Tohru wished excitedly.
"Good luck, Silas-san." Sakura wished me from my side. "Good luck to you, Naruto-kun. Don't play any pranks on your examiner and behave well, alright?"
"Okay. I will totally become a Sorcerer today, dattebayo!"
"I am sure you will. Just take care." She smiled at him before giving me a packed lunch for everyone.
Lavy and Shuna were still busy with the final preparations before the Comiket and couldn't be here.
"Alright alright enough flirting, you two. Seriously, get a room or something. We are getting late. Hurry up now." Gojo-sensei said, making my lips twitch while Sakura just smiled but looking closely, I could see the shade of red on her cheeks and ears.
Archdaemon Senses for the win.
We left the Restaurant and the warded building appeared in front of our eyes once more. They looked far more advanced than before.
The talismans looked fascinating.
I knew that Sakura was learning more about them. Even Yuri and Narberal were doing the same to help ward the new buildings in our town, but I haven't had the chance to learn them myself.
Actually, if my memory serves right, even Irene-san specialised in Enchantment Magic and knew Writing Magic of several kinds.
I will ask her to teach me some. Right now, I only know the basic barrier taught by Nanami-sensei which can repel normal humans from an area. It was one of the first things taught to us as it needed to be cast before we fought any curses.
Other than that, my fighting style was pretty direct, mainly focused on martial arts and knives with my Skills. Having some auxiliary things to learn would help a lot.
There were so many different kinds of magic. Such fascinating things. It would be such a waste to not even try to learn.
My Sage Skill was particularly good for learning new things and I had already completed learning the Ice Devil Slayer Magic. It was time to pick up the next Type of Magic for me.
I was just waiting for August-sensei to return from their trip.
Ainz had also offered me a way to learn Tier Magic but since I had picked one style already, I was waiting to continue going further on it or I would just become a jack of all trades and master of none. That's not what I want.
Right now, I mostly trained my control over my power which had increased a lot due to my evolution into Archdaemon.
We walked out of the building as a familiar scene of Shinjuku appeared in front of us.
The place we were in was supposed to be an underground subway. It was now changed into the secret base surrounding the Restaurant while the actual subway was diverted slightly away from the previous location.
Did we just teleport?
That was… convenient…
Man, I need to learn that too.
"Woah! So cool. Where is the exam, sensei? What do we have to fight?" Naruto jumped up excitedly.
"Mah mah, we need to meet others before we go for the exam. Now, hold tight and don't resist." He placed a hand on our shoulders and I felt a sense of compression and expansion before the scene in front of us changed. "We're here."
We looked around the place. There were several Japanese style buildings in the middle of lush green areas.
Very few people could be seen around the place.
Gojo-sensei walked in the front while we followed, all the while taking a look around.
A few minutes later, a familiar face appeared in front of us.
"Naruto, my brother!"
"Aoi-san!"
…
Him…
My lips twitched as the two guys, one big and one small danced around happily.
Thankfully, their dance was interrupted by the arrival of a few people.
An old man followed by a woman in a shrine maiden outfit. And was that Maki-san? Did she change her hairstyle?
"Yo! Old man. I brought my students. You can take them for the assessment." Gojo-sensei raised his hand and casually waved at the old man in the lead.
I gave them a polite bow. "Hello, my name is Silas Evans. Nice to meet you."
Beside me, Naruto also stopped what he was doing and bowed towards them. "My name is Naruto Furinji and I am totally going to become a Sorcerer today dattebayo!"
I noticed the slight twitch in the eyes of the old man at his proclamation while Gojo-sensei just laughed loudly and introduced others.
"This is the Principal of the Kyoto Jujutsu High, Principal Gakuganji. Beside him is Mai-chan. She is Maki's sister."
Ah so that's who she was.
She did say that they were twins.
"And the last one is Utahime Iori. She is a teacher here. Don't bother with her. She is weak." He laughed.
…immediately after he said that, a slipper struck his face… or at least tried to but was stopped by his Limitless and fell down.
He wasn't done either but even made faces at her, provoking her even more.
I ignored him, knowing full well the madness this man was capable of.
And it looked like my choice was right too as the others quickly calmed down too. They were too used to him messing around, I guess?
"Stop messing around. The preparations are done. Naruto Furinji will be observed by Aoi Todo and Silas Evans's examiner will be Utahime Iori. Along with you two, Mai Zenin will be taking an exam too. Utahime Iori will be overlooking the exam for her. You will be required to exorcise your target curses according to the rules and return by the end of the day. Any questions will be answered by your examiners." He then looked at Gojo-sensei. "Is that fine with you?"
"Perfect. Then let's hurry up then. Naruto-kun needs to go to bed by 9."
…
They talked about a few things and at that time, Maki's sister was giving me angry looks. She wasn't even hiding her gaze.
Did I do something to her?
I tried thinking and remembered that Maki-san's restriction was due to her having a link with her sister. A fate of sorts… Was the fate-cutting thing bad for her somehow and now she was angry?
No. If something like that happened, they would have told me.
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We took a train to reach our next destination. It was a two hour journey.
I found out that Gojo-sensei had teleported us to Kyoto directly.
Seriously, going from Tokyo to Kyoto so quickly. I knew that Ainz and even Milim could teleport but I didn't know of any methods to do so myself.
I will ask Ainz or August-sensei to teach me next time.
I sat with Naruto on my side and Aoi on his other side. In front of us were Utahime Iori and Mai Zenin who still hadn't spoken a single word, only giving me angry glances in between.
"Let's get the briefing out of the way. We are heading to a shrine in Nakagawa village east of Kyoto. There have been reports of a high level curse, a Grade 1 Curse and several lower level curses being formed there. There were several cases of forest fires in the area recently so it might be a fire type curse. We will get more information after arriving. Your task is to exorcise the Grade 1 Curse and the kid will need to exorcise a Grade 3 Curse. If you cannot do it, or are in danger at any time, say so and we will interfere. Don't try to be too brave or you might lose a limb or even worse."
I nodded while Naruto was looking excited actually.
"Don't worry sensei. We will totally kick their butts!"
…I couldn't help but get a smile on my face at his words. His excitement was infectious sometimes. Even the examiner smiled at this but didn't say anything.
"That's the spirit, brother!"
And then there was this kind of excitement… which just makes people shake their heads in embarrassment.
The journey was quite peaceful.
We soon reached Nakagawa village and were met by a woman. She was apparently a local shaman of sorts who had contacted the Jujutsu Academy about the Curse formed here.
The woman looked… creepy. She had white hair, wrinkles all over her face but the creepiest of all were the line of stitches on her forehead. Did she have surgery of some sort?
Beside her was another guy but he was just behind a mask.
"Do you know the number of low level curses in the place?" Utahime-san questioned.
"Yes. The number of curses have been rising abnormally since the last few months. This area only had some low level curses but since that… incident, the number has increased sharply. Some of them even evolved. We tried to keep them in check as much as we could but some still escaped our search and one of them managed to evolve into a Grade 1. This is totally out of our hands now." The woman said worriedly. "We have sealed the area off but I doubt it will hold on for long. Please do something quickly."
"Don't worry, our team can take care of it. Can you point out the area to us?" Utahime-sensei asked.
The old woman nodded and led the way. "Follow me."
While we were following her, I was curious about something and asked Aoi who was walking beside me.
"What incident was she talking about?"
Aoi stared at me for a moment but before he could answer, the girl beside him, Mai, scoffed at me.
"Excuse me?" I asked, confused. "Did I ask something wrong?"
"Wrong? Don't pretend as if you don't know anything. It's annoying."
I was taken aback by the words and couldn't help but ask. "I am afraid I don't understand what you mean?"
She looked at me with the same anger once more. "What I am saying is that you shouldn't poke your nose where it doesn't belong." She said scathingly.
I didn't argue. There was after all a chance that me cutting fate might have done something to her. "Pardon me but do you have some problem with me? You have been giving me angry looks from the first time you saw me and I didn't even know your name before today. I have only helped Maki-san when we met. If you were adversely affected by it somehow, please tell me. I will do my best to resolve the matter. However useless taunts like these won't do anyone any good."
"You!" She gritted her teeth, clenching her fist in anger. "You want to know what incident she was talking about, right? She is talking about the monster bitch among you who broke the barrier over the country. Ever since that day, the number of curses has been increasing like crazy. And what do you all do? Chill out in hiding, handing out cosmetics and fixing useless rejects while all of us tire out and die solving this problem. There… are you satisfied now?"
I narrowed my eyes at her words. She meant Sakura. We knew that it was Sakura's awakening that broke the barrier over the Restaurant's area.
Did it really cause all of that?
Even Naruto who was jumping around happily beside us while talking to Aoi became quiet and looked at us.
"Mai, be quiet. They don't know anything about it. Don't blame everything on them. If it hadn't been for them, you would still be struggling at the bottom with pitiful Cursed Energy. You of all people don't have any right to blame them." Todo said, frowning.
"And why shouldn't I? It would have been better if they hadn't interfered. I didn't ask for this. Why should I hold back?" She shouted back.
"You all, be quiet. We are on a mission. Solve whatever problem you have after this is over." Utahime-san turned around and scolded, making the girl scowl at us.
There was an awkward silence for the rest of the path.
We reached the place around half an hour ago.
It was a small forest outside the village borders and inside the place was an old shrine. It looked dilapidated, the walls were covered with vines and some parts even had roots growing out of it.
The worst part however was the feeling the place was giving.
I wasn't good at sensing but even I could feel the… wrongness of the place.
"Is that the shrine?" Utahime-san asked the old woman who nodded, looking at the shrine warily. "Alright. You wait here. We will take care of it." She then looked at us.
"Go on. Your turn. I haven't seen you two work with my own eyes but Aoi and Shouko-chan vouched for you and you were recommended by that insfufferabl… Gojo and while I might not like it, he usually knows his job well. If you face any trouble, give the word and activate the talisman. It will prevent any attacks from a Grade 1 Curse for a while and we will intervene, but it will also mean that you will fail the exam. Mai will be fighting a Grade 3 Curse too. You all cannot assist each other." Any other questions?"
"Do we have to kill all the curses in the building?" I asked the thing which had been bugging me the most.
She just stared at me in response. "Normally it is our job to take care of any extra curses but… If you can… no one will blame you… but you should only bite what you can chew."
"I see. Thanks." I looked at Naruto and started walking towards the shrine. The rest stayed back and watched.