Chapter 11: As for Cursed Spirits, Just Kill Them
The people from Jujutsu High didn't even give Emiya time to go home and prepare, because just as Yotsuya Miko left, Ijichi Kiyotaka pulled up in a sedan and stopped in front of him.
Clearly, even though it was still a while before nightfall, Emiya wouldn't have any opportunity to enjoy leisurely life.
According to Ijichi, Emiya needed to learn more about Cursed Spirits and the intelligence related to the mission.
Because Sorcerers always encounter various accidents while executing missions, the Assistant Supervisors can only try to provide assistance in this way.
"Mr. Emiya, this is your first mission commissioned by Jujutsu High, so there are some things I must explain to you."
Ijichi, while keeping an eye on the road ahead from behind the steering wheel, began to explain the basic protocols of being a Sorcerer to Emiya.
"As a Sorcerer, your primary duty is to exorcise Cursed Spirits to maintain social stability... Therefore, matters related to Cursed Spirits must never be easily disclosed to ordinary people, and during missions, you are required to try your best to ensure the safety of non-Sorcerers."
"Likewise, using Cursed Techniques to harm people is completely forbidden, and the Sorcery World has corresponding systems for punishment."
As he spoke, Ijichi glanced at Emiya's youthful appearance through the rearview mirror.
"However, while mission objectives often include the requirement to protect non-Sorcerers, a Sorcerer should still prioritize their own preservation. As long as your reason is sufficient, there won't be a major problem afterward... This is just my personal advice.
A shortage of personnel is the norm in this line of work. We often take on jobs that are difficult to handle, so retreating is not shameful."
While saving other people's lives is certainly a good thing, it doesn't mean you absolutely must sacrifice your own.
Even from an ideal perspective, a Sorcerer, by staying alive, will definitely be able to help and save more people than a non-Sorcerer.
"You mean this mission also requires rescue... then shouldn't we act faster?" Emiya immediately pressed.
From the incident at the shopping center today, he already realized that Cursed Spirits won't adhere to human concepts like keeping hostages.
"No, this mission doesn't involve trapped personnel, but victims."
"Three middle school students with gruesome causes of death were discovered on the back hill last night.
Based on the clues, it doesn't look like a human crime. And while the Residual Curse left at the scene was so faint that it didn't seem to be from a Cursed Spirit capable of harming humans, investigations by the Windows found no other traces of Cursed Spirits around the entire campus.
Since Cursed Spirits are born from human negative emotions, weak Cursed Spirits are virtually everywhere in densely populated areas. Therefore, there is only one possible explanation for this situation...
That is, a powerful Cursed Spirit is entrenched within the campus, forcing all other Cursed Spirits out of their territory through fear."
If one had to make a comparison, Cursed Spirits could indeed be considered a form of life.
Although they do not inherently possess the ability to reproduce, they still exhibit a series of instincts such as survival, fear, and seeking a better living environment.
"Middle school students, that would be around thirteen or fourteen years old, right..."
Emiya's focus was not solely on the Cursed Spirit information but also on the victims Ijichi mentioned earlier.
Even with Sorcerers working hard to exorcise them, as the man said, those monsters born from human emotions are simply endless.
They can crawl out from any dark corner at any time, and what Sorcerers can do most of the time is merely clean up after a Cursed Spirit appears and prevent the situation from escalating further.
"Yes. Reportedly, their parents caused quite a scene at the school today..."
Halfway through his explanation, Ijichi noticed Emiya's expression was off, so he quickly shifted the focus of his words.
"However, you don't need to worry too much about the Cursed Spirit being too strong. The predicted strength is only Grade 3, at most reaching the level of a Semi-Grade 2."
Next, Ijichi briefly gave Emiya a basic rundown of the Cursed Spirit grading system.
Grade 4 Cursed Spirits generally refer to those that are tiny or those whose bodies barely reach human size. Their strength is roughly on par with a healthy adult man wielding a baseball bat.
Grade 3 Cursed Spirits require hot weapons like a pistol to ensure safety, and Grade 2 requires various automatic firearms.
If a Cursed Spirit's strength reaches Grade 1, even if the government deployed a tank division, it would be difficult to stop.
As for a Cursed Spirit whose strength has reached Special Grade, most known human hot weapons cannot cause them effective harm.
And all of this assumes that physical damage can cause effective harm to a Cursed Spirit.
Normally, even a physically trained ordinary person fighting the weakest Cursed Spirit would be unable to eliminate it.
And those terrifying Special Grade Cursed Spirits are difficult even for Grade 1 Sorcerers to handle.
If it weren't for the existence of equally superhuman Special Grade Sorcerers on the side of the Sorcery World, humanity would likely have already begun the countdown to destruction.
However, those distant matters have nothing to do with the current Emiya. His mission is simply to eliminate a Cursed Spirit judged to be Grade 3.
This mission also paired him with a Grade 3 Jujutsu High student as a partner, and the standard for a Grade 3 Sorcerer is the ability to achieve one hundred percent exorcism of a Grade 3 Cursed Spirit.
So, it can be stated without suspense: they are guaranteed to win this mission.
"We've arrived, Mr. Emiya. This is our destination."
"Akase Middle School."
After Ijichi explained some common knowledge of the Sorcery World to Emiya, they successfully arrived at the destination of this mission.
The timing was particularly fitting. As they stepped out of the car and looked at the middle school, the sun had completely set just moments before, leaving only a brief glow that cast a pitch-black shadow over the central school building.
Even if Emiya had known nothing before, he would now suspect this campus was haunted.
"Ijichi-san."
"Yes?"
"I want to ask, can ordinary people truly not see Cursed Spirits at all?"
"More or less. Aside from the special Yin-Yang Eye, there are only two ways for a non-Sorcerer to see a Cursed Spirit."
Ijichi adjusted his glasses and explained: "One is in an environment with overly dense Cursed Energy, where a non-Sorcerer's body may become infected and temporarily awaken; the
second is in a near-death state, where a person's emotions reach their peak, allowing them to also see Cursed Spirits."
"I see..."
The information the man spoke of may indeed be common knowledge in the Sorcery World. But as far as Emiya knows, there is still one more way for ordinary people to 'see' Cursed Spirits.
Because the human body is truly a marvelous thing. Even if it receives no sensory information through the five senses, it can still faintly detect unknown danger when it approaches.
As long as one can precisely grasp that feeling, even an ordinary person who cannot see Cursed Spirits can sense their location.
As for Cursed Spirits, just kill them.