Thus, with Gojo Satoru's assist, An Xora and Seele officially joined the jujutsu world.
Of course, in the eyes of the uninformed jujutsu higher-ups, An Xora was little more than a tagalong—the truly important one was Seele, the girl who had defeated Gojo Satoru.
After joining the jujutsu world, and with access to its intelligence network, An Xora and Seele immediately began sweeping operations against cursed spirits.
This wasn't only to farm system points as quickly as possible and turn the jujutsu world into their own backyard—it was also to earn real-world money.
After all, the identity the system had assigned to An Xora in this world was genuinely poor, and Seele herself was completely penniless.
In the jujutsu world, exorcising cursed spirits came with monetary rewards. Jujutsu sorcerers still had to live, after all—not everyone came from a major clan with family backing and no financial worries. Most middle- and lower-tier sorcerers relied on exorcising curses to make a living.
That said, compared to freelance sorcerers, those under the direct management of the jujutsu higher-ups were periodically assigned unpaid "mandatory" missions.
But that was never going to be a problem for An Xora and Seele.
Though they had joined the jujutsu world in name, in practice they were just using it as a tool to provide intelligence and paychecks. They had no intention of following any orders from the higher-ups, and the jujutsu authorities, naturally, weren't about to humiliate themselves by assigning the two any mandatory missions.
These were all conditions agreed upon from the very start.
Without the meddling commands of the higher-ups, An Xora and Seele were actually freer than sorcerers like Mei Mei, who operated as true freelancers.
After all, freelance sorcerers had to wait for clients to come to them if they wanted to take on jobs and earn money. An Xora and Seele, on the other hand, were running a strong-arm operation.
As long as they exorcised cursed spirits listed in the jujutsu world's intel, the Council had to pay them. And according to the agreed terms, the jujutsu world was required to provide cursed spirit intelligence to An Xora and Seele unconditionally.
In other words, the jujutsu world had effectively handed all curse-extermination work over to An Xora and Seele as standing commissions—with no time limits.
Whenever the two felt like completing a task, the jujutsu world had to transfer the payment accordingly. As for missions An Xora and Seele weren't interested in, or that had poor cost-performance, the authorities couldn't force them—they could only deal with those themselves.
The higher-ups were, of course, dissatisfied with this arrangement.
But considering Seele's battle record, they ultimately swallowed their displeasure.
...
And so, several days passed.
On this day, Tokyo—a public park.
It was noon. An Xora lounged comfortably on a park bench, basking in the sunlight, occasionally sampling a dessert placed beside him.
Just then, a familiar figure appeared behind him and walked over.
"Yo. You're really taking it easy, huh—sitting in a park, soaking up the sun, eating sweets."
Gojo Satoru, dressed as usual, sat down on the other end of the bench, sounding half-amused as he complained.
"I can't even remember the last time I could sit in a park eating desserts. Or maybe that's never happened? I'm usually pretty busy, after all."
"Then being the strongest in the jujutsu world sounds pretty miserable," An Xora replied calmly. "No—former strongest, I guess."
"If you're really that busy, then what brings the ever-busy Gojo Satoru here today?"
"It's about the special-grade assessment."
Gojo pulled out a file and handed it to An Xora.
"I was planning to give this directly to Miss Seele, but she's been even busier than me these past few days. Under normal circumstances, I can't find her at all, so I had to come notify you instead."
"Alright, I got it."
An Xora skimmed through the assessment details. It was basically a formality—go to a specified location in Tokyo and exorcise a powerful cursed spirit. Succeed, and the assessment was passed.
Given Seele's strength, this was purely procedural. He just needed to tell her about it when she got back from exorcising curses that evening.
As for why Seele was out exterminating cursed spirits while An Xora lounged in a park eating desserts—
That was because An Xora had discovered that he could still receive system point rewards even without accompanying Seele on curse-extermination missions.
Previously, An Xora had insisted on being present so that Seele's actions would qualify as "protecting the Host," thus triggering the system's freeloading condition.
But over the past few days, An Xora realized that as long as Seele's subjective motivation for exorcising curses was to earn system points for him, the system's criteria would still be met—even if An Xora wasn't on-site.
After all, how was letting a girl earn money to support you not freeloading?
And so, upon discovering this, An Xora immediately began a life of indulgence—eating, drinking, and enjoying himself every day, living like a proper parasite supported entirely by Seele.
During the day, he spent the money Seele earned while playing around. At night, he returned home, hugged the fragrant, soft Seele to sleep, then woke the next morning to her gentle whispers and tender care.
What was wrong with a life like this?
A life like this was amazing. If you had the conditions to live so decadently, then of course you should indulge without restraint!
...
Meanwhile, after sending off Gojo Satoru—
Elsewhere, in an unknown apartment building.
"A new special grade who defeated the strongest… and an unknown curse whose strength may even surpass Gojo Satoru's…"
A black-haired man with narrow eyes, a lock of bangs hanging over his forehead, and a distinct stitched seam running across his brow stood at the apartment entrance, contemplating the intelligence he had received.
Moments later, Suguru Geto—or rather, Kenjaku—stepped inside.
The scenery changed instantly.
Sunlight. A beach. The sea.
Such a sight clearly couldn't exist inside an apartment—it was a special domain unfolded by some powerful cursed spirit.
"What took you so long this time, Geto? You even stood outside for a bit. Did something happen?"
A pale young man, his body covered in stitches, walked up and questioned Kenjaku.
"Nothing much," Kenjaku replied. "It's just that the jujutsu world seems to be gaining a new special grade."
"And… one who defeated the former strongest."
"Hmph. So what?"
In the distance, a non-human, one-eyed cursed spirit with a volcanic head snorted disdainfully.
"Whether it's that Gojo Satoru you mentioned before or this new special grade—if they dare stand in the way of our plans, I'll wipe them all out."
Clearly, aside from Kenjaku himself, no one present was human.