10 – Exorcist

After that, Kashin guided Tatsumi and Calcedonia to a house that was in a district very close to the heart of the city.

“Then how about this place me lords? This has a conservative build just as Lady Calcedonia and her partner Lord Tatsumi has hoped for.”

It was a small house that was built with red stone bricks. A common sight in the heart of the city.

Though, it was only small when compared to the aristocratic mansions they’ve been seeing till now. For a commoner’s house it should be on the larger side.

The house was stone made, but the flooring had wooden boards. There was a total of four rooms. One was a huge room located just after the entrance. Probably a living room of sorts. This room was connected to two other rooms separated by doors. They were probably bedrooms. And, though the attic was a bit low it was used as another room.

There was also a kitchen and a toilet. Indeed since this world’s civilisation level wasn’t up to modern level yet, it didn’t have a flush toilet but rather the type which uses a deeply dug pit for sanitation.

This house had both a froisnt and rear garden, and the rear garden had it’s own water well.

For commoner’s it was normal to use various water wells situated in different locations of the city for communal uses. So it was quite rare for a house to have it’s exclusive well. As expected this house was meant for the upper tier of commoner’s to live in.

What caught Tatsumi’s eyes most though, was an open box shaped object that had been put near the rear garden. It seemed to have been made by gouging out a big boulder.

“This is?”

“This is, lord Tatsumi, a bath. The previous owner was fond of baths so he specially made this stone bath with the help of an <Earth> attributed magician.”

“Eh? Then that, it’s a bathtub?…I mean, is it a bathtub?”

“Yes, that’s right. As I can see, lord Tatsumi must bee someone hailing from a foreign nation, so my lord might not be aware of it. But in this country when the season of the evening moon arrives the power of the water spirits become exceedingly strong. So this causes heavy snowfall and severe drops in temperature. And it’s an old custom in this country to warm oneself up in a nice hot bath when it’s cold. Though if one is not a noble then having a personal bath is out of the question for most. So, there are a few public bathhouses located in the city.”

By the way, as for how they prepare that much hot water, they either boil it using a giant bowl and pour it in the baths or employ a <Fire> attributed magician to directly boil the tub water.

Both of which costs time and money so as long as you are not a noble, it would be difficult for you to use these methods for a private bath.

“Then that means the previous owner of this house should have been quite affluent.”

“Yes. If I remember correctly he should have been a successful merchant. After he handed his business down to his son, he retired here. Though…after that person died, his son made a big loss in business and sold this house to cover the losses.”

“How is it, Master?”

Calcedonia asked Tatsumi who was still looking around the house.

“Yeah, I think it’s good enough. If Chiiko’s okay with it, then let’s select this place.”

“I have no objections. And the temple isn’t that far from here. Then, lord Kashin, how much does this house cost?”

“Thank you very much. As for the expenses——”

Tatsumi who had no ideas about the value of this world’s currency so he left the price negotiations completely to Calcedonia and once again looked around the room.

In Japan’s standards, it should be a 3LDK or a 4LDK housing. It’s more than enough for two to live.

Certainly it was now empty without any furniture, but he can enjoy his time with Calcedonia while thinking about how to place the furniture here.

But what about the net costs? Tatsumi didn’t know how much fortune Giuseppe and Calcedonia had but….did this world have any agencies that provided housing loans?

“Well, I can just ask Chiiko later. Making her pay for all of it makes it a bit pathetic, so I need to find a job as fast as possible and help Chiiko financially…I guess I’ll be a goffer for the temple till then.”

It was a bit later that Tatsumi was shocked to find out the cost for the house was enough to run a normal commoner household for several good years. Just how much fortune Calcedonia possessed.

***

On the way back to the temple.

Though they already purchased a house, it’s not like they could start living in it immediately.

They needed to prepare furniture, and since the house had been left alone for quite a while it needed some serious patch ups.

Aside from the furniture, Kashin mentioned that he would arrange for the repairs to be done. So leaving that matter completely to him, Calcedonia and Tatsumi headed back to the temple.

“Is something the matter, Master?”

Calcedonia anxiously watched Tatsumi who was walking with dropped shoulders.

“Oh no, it’s nothing serious…it’s just reality is really cruel isn’t it?”

Apparently, Calcedonia’s income was nothing to laugh at. Tatsumi was made clearly aware of that reality.

Certainly, Calcedonia mentioned the day before that she had a good amount of earnings, but Tatsumi never imagined it was enough so that she could nonchalantly spend away an amount that could sustain a normal household for years.

—As expected, evangelists have really deep pockets on this side— was what Tatsumi was thinking. In his previous world, people related to any religion were rich. This was a vague idea Tatsumi had towards them.

However, from now on he was going to live together with Calcedonia.

It doesn’t matter if Calcedonia was a pet Cockatiel in her past life. Currently, she was without a doubt human. And a beautiful one at that. Him living together with such a person had to be a dream, but it wasn’t.

Certainly in Tatsumi’s mind, he already thought Calcedonia as family. Though that didn’t mean he would rely on her for every single thing. That would make him way too pitiful for a man.

In this case, since she already had such a huge earning, he had to match with her.

Though he was determined to do it, even he who was foreign to this world could understand that normal effort wouldn’t make him succeed.

“Something even I can do…A job that pays well no less……Is there really such a convenient job around?…..”

Even if such a job existed, other people would have long made use of it.

“At times like this… as someone who was summoned to another world…… as expected, it should be an ‘Adventurer’ right? Though….”

Did the vocation called ‘Adventurer’ even exist in this world? Even if they did exist, how much did they earn?

“Hey, Chiiko. Does this world have any folks who are adventurers?”

“ Adventurers….is it? I haven’t quite heard of them. Can you teach me what exactly it is that they do?”

Adventurers were a jack of all trades that would take up requests in exchange for money. They vanquish monsters that pose a threat to humanity, and sometimes act as guards for caravans. They also explore ancient ruins and labyrinths in order to unearth the various treasures hidden bellow. And for that they fight the various monster guarding it. And so on, so on.

Tatsumi explained the stereotypical Adventurers he’d read about in books and saw in games.

“I am not aware of this Adventurer master speaks of, but what you say matches quite well with Monster Hunters.”

“Monster Hunters?”

Just like the usual development, this world also had beasts such as monsters and such.

There were also dangerous types among normal animals, but there’s a fine line between them and the types called monsters, is what Calcedonia explained.

“Among monsters there are also those who can use something similar to magic, so if they appear near human habitation it becomes a very dangerous situation. Survival of the fittest is an ironclad rule of this world. So it is natural for the stronger monsters to attack weaker humans. But that doesn’t mean we humans would shut up and stay still, becoming food for the strong. That’s why, in order to subjugate dangerous monsters a profession called Monster Hunters came to present.”

Of course, a certain amount of wealth was required to employ the services of the ones called monster hunters. They’d be facing dangerous monsters, so it was natural for them to seek remuneration enough for them to risk their lives.

Again, among monsters, there were some who’s meat were suitable for delicacies. There were also many who’s fur, scales, fangs, claws, bones and other parts were used as precious raw materials.

That’s why among monster hunters there were also those who would assertively seek out and hunt monsters for these materials, even if they were no requested to. If they could hunt a monster suitable as provision or raw material, then they’d be able to earn a rich profit nonetheless.

“Then, don’t the royal army or the nobles’ personal forces hunt monsters too?”

“Of course, His royal highness and the various feudal lords also dispatch their forces. But these forces such as knights and troops are mostly anti-personal combat specialists. I’ve heard they can’t show their full potential when their opponents switch from humans to monsters. Also, since most of these monster subjugation requests are urgent, it’s better to employ monster hunters from the start since they can get there faster than personal armies.”

Tatsumi nodded after hearing Calcedonia’s explanation. In this world, it seems official jobs require much time to be initiated.

“Also, various monster subjugation requests arrive at our temple too.”

“Eh? They do?”

“Yes. Though the ones that come are mostly <Exorcism> rather than the regular monster subjugation.”

In this world, there were also beings that possessed no material bodies. The so-called spiritual types.

These monsters are generally called <Devils>. They don’t posses much threat when they are in their spirit form, but if they were to possess on other lifeforms or monsters then they would enable that monster to show far more destructive power than normal. To distinguish from a normal monster, those that are possessed by a Devil are called <Demons>.

An animal or monster possessed by a devil normally begins to lose their awareness and let’s their instincts such as appetite and ferociousness take over their bodies. They transform into something that attacks anything in sight without discrimination.

And even if you manage to defeat the demon, the devil that possessed it would simply cast off the body and move on. Since the spiritual body of the devil couldn’t be destroyed by physical attacks, only the body of the possessed one would be defeated. And the devils who would temporarily lose a body would simply look for another one to possess.

That’s why, in order to completely extinguish a devil, <Light> or <Holy> attributed <<Exorcism>> magic were needed.

In this world, there were also weapons that could grant the same effect as <<Exorcism>> but their quantity was exceedingly low. They were the weapons that were called the Holy Sword or Spear and such.

“T-Then that means Chiiko also….?”

“Yes. Since I also have the <Holy> attribute, I take on requests to exorcise <Devils>. We who take on requests to clear devils and are attached to a temple are called [Exorcists] to distinguish us from the rest.”

It seems the reason Chiiko had so much wealth was because of the remuneration she got from her Exorcist job.

And then there is also the money she gets from healing and curing requests. Though she has to offer up half of the rewards from the healing requests to the temple, because of the <Holy> attribute and her exception control of magic, her name spread far and wide, and she gets requests on a regular basis.

Certainly Calcedonia has other attributes too, but the one she has the most aptitude in was <Holy>.

An ability to perform high-level healing techniques and exorcism. This was also one of the reasons she was called the <<Holy Maiden>>.

***

“<Devils>….hmm? This world has some scary creatures. But how do you differentiate between a normal monster and a demon?”

A normal monster and a demon possessed by a <Devil>. If there wasn’t a way they could tell the difference then it’d cause trouble for both the ones’ who posted the request and the ones’ who took it.

If a subject of a request for a monster subjugation turned out to actually be a demon possessed by a <Devil> then that might be out of the league for a monster hunter who accepted the job. In worst case, he might even lose his life.

So there must be a way to tell the difference right? Tatsumi asked Calcedonia while thinking that, and the answer was as he expected.

“A demon possessed by a <Devil> will have their eyes turn red. It’s a red that glows sinisterly even in broad daylight, so it’s practically impossible to not be able to tell the difference.”

“Huh? Eyes turn red?…..”

Instinctively, Tatsumi turned his gaze to Calcedonia’s ruby red pupils.

And surprisingly, Calcedonia narrowed her eyes and turned her head away as if to shake of Tatsumi’s gaze.

“…..Because my eyes are like this…… I was bullied a lot since I was a child…..”

“Ah….!! S-Sorry!!I-I didn’t mean to!!”

Even though he wasn’t aware of it, Tatsumi accidentally touched Calcedonia’s trauma. So he panicked and bowed deeply to apologize.

“Please don’t mind it. Now a days no one really minds this eye color of mine. It’s no longer an inconvenience.”

Calcedonia smiled sweetly as she said that, but she knew all too well. Behind her back, those who were not fond of her and were jealous of her high magical abilities were maliciously speaking ill of her behind her back. Such as ‘Since she has such high magical abilities, she must definitely be possessed by a devil!’.

Of course, those were nothing but trash talk. Calcedonia was in no way possessed by a devil. Since she has a high aptitude in <Holy> attribute; she was something of a natural enemy for devils. So there is no way that a devil can take over her.

“By the way, the most terrifying demons are when a devil takes over a human being.”

“HUH!? Even humans can become possessed?”

“Yes. Unlike animals and monsters, humans are a type of creature that possess various type of desires.. If these desires become too big and get out of control, they might become the trigger that call forth a devil. Though, this fact has yet to be proven.”

And in cases of unnatural deaths, the leftover grudges and regret might cause a devil to possess the corpse. In reality, there have been many cases when devils take over bodies of the dead left over after wards.

After hearing what Calcedonia said, Tatsumi immediately understood that they were the so called undead monsters.

“Also, it is generally known that when someone becomes a demon, the more power they held before, and the greater their desires were the stronger they would be as a demon.”

“If that’s the case, then these <Devils> really seem to be a troublesome foe.”

As they walked towards the temple, they continued to talk about demons and devils.

They talked about various demons Calcedonia personally exorcised, and some legendary tier monsters epic enough to be put in a fairy tale she met.

While listening to all these, the curiosity on monsters and demons Tatsumi held grew deeper and deeper.

Since he came to another world after all, he should at least see a monster or two. And by the way, adventure comes side by side with parallel worlds. Tatsumi who was no more than 16 had a strong and pure desire for adventure.

As Tatsumi dreamt about meeting various exotic creatures and such, they gradually neared the temple.

When Tatsumi first heard it was a temple, he imagined it to be something like the western christian churches. But in actuallity they were more like the western castles rather than the traditional churches or temples.

The only things that resembled a church were the spires climbing upward from the castle roof and the giant bell suspended there.

“Now then. I guess I’ll be living in the temple and working here till preparations for the house are finished.”

“Please do your best okay? If you have any misgivings then please tell me, I’ll try my best to be of assistance.”

Being encouraged by Calcedonia’s smile and glared by the gatekeepers armed with axes and spears, Tatsumi entered the temple from the front entrance.

Of course, since he was with Calcedonia, no one could stop him. Though, the temple gates were supposed to be open for all in the first place.

“Shouldn’t we first report to Mister Giuseppe that we’ve decided on our house?”

“That’s right. At this hour, I think grandfather would be in his office.”

Tatsumi and Calcedonia started to walk towards Giuseppe’s office.

“Carsey? I thought I couldn’t spot you anywhere today, did you go out somewhere?”

A calm voice of a young man called out behind them.