Inside the RV, the three of them looked at the lively little girl with indulgent expressions.

After bringing her out of the Impurity Realm, the group had returned to the RV. Of course, the vehicle hadn't been started yet—if it had, Charles absolutely wouldn't have gotten in.

Rokuro scratched his head, troubled. "What are we going to do with this kid? The road ahead's gonna be really dangerous. We can't just take her with us, can we?"

Charles chuckled. "That's not really a problem. This kid's not ordinary."

With Charles's reminder, the two finally noticed something strange.

The girl had appeared in the Impurity Realm—an environment filled with miasma that was toxic to ordinary people.

More importantly, that world was a concentration of all human malice. Anyone who entered it would be overwhelmed by despair, fear, and other negative emotions.

Yet this girl had shown no signs of being affected by the miasma—and even smiled in such a place.

Rokuro and Benio looked at her more critically, but the moment they saw her bright, sunny smile, their stern expressions softened immediately.

Rokuro crouched and looked into her eyes. "We haven't asked yet—what's your name?"

The girl didn't reply. She simply tilted her head and stared back at him.

Rokuro gestured wildly as he explained, "Your name… like, what are you called?"

The girl still didn't answer, but she giggled at Rokuro's silly gestures.

Charles patted Rokuro's shoulder. "Don't waste your energy. This kid doesn't even have basic understanding yet.

But with her uniqueness, she'll learn fast. For today, let's just find somewhere to settle in."

He called for Kōfun to start the RV. Charles, of course, got out beforehand.

A moving vehicle… far too terrifying.

Their route was already planned by Charles. Since he had decided to go after Dark Void, he had come prepared.

They were following the residual curse energy left behind by Dark Void's activities—especially when he opened a Ryūkuro Point. The traces were obvious and not difficult to track.

Well, not difficult for Charles. Having studied many different systems of power, his ability to sense and interpret energy far surpassed most.

Leaving the mountains, the group entered a city, and Charles took out a magic device to hide their presence.

Flying around in rural areas was fine—but doing so in a crowded city would be reckless.

The device could only fool visual perception and would fail if a large-scale spell was used—but it was very handy in situations like this.

They found a hotel and checked in. On official business, naturally they picked the best accommodations.

The hot spring inn they'd chosen had excellent reviews. Charles planned to enjoy a bit of relaxation.

That evening, fresh from the hot spring and returning to his room, Charles found Rokuro rushing in.

"Charles-sensei, what do you know about that girl? Oh—by the way, I named her Koeda."

Charles nodded. "Koeda, huh? Pretty fitting."

The child, of course, wasn't ordinary. She was a branch broken off from the giant tree Ame-no-Mihashira, the pillar that supported the Impurity Realm's barrier. "Koeda" (literally "twig") was a very appropriate name.

As he thought this, Charles asked, "So, what made you come find me?"

Rokuro nodded. "There are too many strange things about Koeda. Just now, she watched TV for a little while—and she was able to recite the entire news broadcast."

Charles asked, "So she can already speak?"

Rokuro nodded. "Yeah. What is that kid?"

Charles patted him on the shoulder. "Alright, let's go see her. I'll explain."

They entered another room to find Benio flipping through a picture book with Koeda.

As soon as Koeda saw Rokuro, she ran over and hugged his leg. "Papa!"

Rokuro awkwardly protested, "I told you, I'm not your dad!"

But Koeda insisted, "Papa is papa!"

Rokuro turned to Charles for help—but Charles just laughed. "I'm so jealous… You already have such a cute daughter!"

He crouched down and said, "Koeda, I'm Charles. Let's get along well, okay?"

Koeda smiled sweetly. "Okay! Got it, Charles!"

Charles patted her head and stood up. "Koeda is someone very special. You two need to protect her."

Benio was surprised. "You want us to take care of her?"

Charles replied, "Isn't that obvious? Koeda did call Rokuro 'papa,' after all.

Just think of it as practice. You'll have kids of your own eventually."

The two turned beet red. Koeda looked from one to the other, visibly confused.

Regardless, the matter of Koeda was settled.

As a piece of the Ame-no-Mihashira, Koeda was a truly unique existence—possessing talents far beyond human comprehension.

In just one night, through watching TV and reading books at the inn, Koeda had already acquired basic common knowledge.

The next day, they were back on the road.

Charles and the RV, with Kōfun still at the wheel, headed for another remote area—this time, Charles sensed a particularly strong presence of Dark Void.

Sure enough, he soon detected miasma from the Impurity Realm.

The RV stopped, and Rokuro and Benio stepped out in their exorcist robes. Benio made sure to instruct Kōfun to take care of Koeda.

Rokuro approached Charles. "Is this miasma from the Impurity Realm?"

Charles nodded. "If there's miasma in the real world, that can only mean one thing—a Ryūkuro Point has opened.

Luckily it's in an unpopulated area, but we still need to shut it quickly. If not, the miasma will eventually spread to other places."

Rokuro and Benio followed Charles up the slope. Soon, they saw it—a dark hole, like a black vortex on the hillside.

It was unclear how long the Ryūkuro Point had been open, but a number of Impurities had already gathered below it.

Charles glanced around. "Just a bunch of small fry. So—I'm upping the difficulty."

He tossed each of them a wristband. "These are my special training tools. They increase gravity on your body and emit energy waves that disrupt your jūryoku.

Fighting while wearing them will be your first test."

The two looked skeptical but put the bands on. Immediately, they felt the difference—their bodies became heavy, and every movement was a struggle.

Worst of all, their jūryoku was unstable, making spellcasting difficult.

They both wore bitter expressions. They hadn't expected the first part of Charles's training to be this tough.

Urged on by Charles, they had no choice but to charge toward the Impurities.

Watching them flail about, Charles smiled in satisfaction. That's how special training should be—a little suffering is perfectly normal.

Charles had even forgone other, more brutal training methods. After all, he didn't think of himself as a devil.

…Though if Rokuro and Benio could hear his thoughts, they might've exploded on the spot.

Charles turned his gaze elsewhere.

"Looks like Dark Void left us a parting gift."

------------------

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