C32: The Strange Weapon

Exorcist schools usually had a lot of rare treasures gathered over the years by their students. But they rarely gave anything to others.

The headmaster asked me to pick a reward and probably had ulterior motives. Was it some political stuff behind the scenes? I was a Dark Sword Clan member. So I was bound to get involved in troublesome stuff, sooner or later.

I didn't have the experience, brain, or time for politics. So I didn't bother thinking about it. In this world as long as someone had power, they could do many things. Might makes right, and deep down everything followed the law of the jungle.

"How about early graduation?" I asked for something basic, which he could easily accommodate.

I attempted to find out if the headmaster anticipated this response or if he was taken aback. The only thing I ended up finding out was that the old man was a hard man to read.

"I agree with that. You held back the Demonic Exorcist that even I couldn't defeat," the headmaster nodded. Acting as if my request was something obvious.

Thankfully, due to Anika's warnings, I knew the gist of the situation.

I didn't show any expression when he said I could hold back the Demonic Exorcist.

Technically, he wasn't wrong. But he made it sound like I battled the Demonic Exorcist and he couldn't defeat me until the headmaster came.

"Don't tell me you believe those rumors," I shook my head. I doubt the headmaster was like the gossiping students, who might believe something like this. At his age, he knew when to look at the facts.

Whatever he thought. I will still refuse those rumors. I don't want anyone to overestimate my ability. Superiors who overestimate an Exorcist's ability could send them on deadly missions without even meaning to.

"I found it hard to believe them too," The headmaster smiled. "But do you wanna know something?"

"What?"

"When I fought the Demonic Exorcist, he had an injured arm. Pretty much unusable during our fight. Now I wonder how he got that?"

My heart dropped. Now I could understand how some might take some things as 'evidence'. But I knew my abilities best.

Even Elite Exorcists would have difficulty buying time against the Demonic Exorcist. With my current abilities, I could barely take on a low-class demon.

"It was a fluke," I reasoned. He should know that. I didn't know whether he was playing with me or not.

But I had to keep calm. Come on my racing heart, slow down a bit! I mustn't show any sign of weakness.

While the Headmaster might have seemed like a good man in the manga, as he protected Agon countless times. I was worried he might throw me under the bus if there was an issue that he could solve by doing that.

"Is that so?" The headmaster had a smile on his face, and it was clear that he didn't believe my excuse. "The Demonic Exorcist might be a bit reckless. But some might find it hard to believe that someone of his caliber had injured his arm at a level where it was unusable just because of a fluke."

Shit! By 'some' he means that he found it hard to believe!

Should I continue refusing or will he consider my refusal suspicious?

Usually, I wouldn't be too worried. At most the headmaster would investigate. But at this time there was another thing I was hiding.

He would probably investigate my special ability. That was the only logical explanation for why I could even scratch someone like the Demonic Exorcist.

My special ability dealt with controlling humans. Would they believe me even if I told everyone that it was something only usable on myself? Obviously not. They wouldn't take the chance on something like that, unlike that monstrous Demonic Exorcist, who no country dared pick a fight with. I didn't have hundreds of demons backing me up.

I had to play this smart. So in the end I smiled uncomfortably and said. "I don't know. It was a hard fight, and if he wanted the Demonic Exorcist would have been able to kill me in less than a second."

"Obviously. That's the case for 99.9% of the exorcists in the world. But I think you're underestimating your efforts in the matter." The headmaster leaned into the desk and smiled. "That's why early graduation is not enough and something you could have easily achieved on your own. Though I do remind you that you will have to spend at least a month here before you can officially graduate."

A month? I thought early graduation might take longer. But I guess when the school was established, exorcists from clans came here just for a namesake. Because they had already learned everything they needed to from their clans.

Also, I realized something. This guy wanted more from me. If I asked for simple things, I wouldn't feel indebted to him. Sometimes, accepting a gambit was the best move on the board.

***

Headmaster, that's what they call him nowadays.

Most people probably forgot his name by now—kind of like how Professor Chain got stuck with that name.

But no matter how many times they called him headmaster, Meleo would never forget his own name.

Still, he was over ninety years old, and his elderly body could barely move. Meleo doubted he had even 20% of the strength he had back in the day.

His shoulder ached, and the scar the Demonic Exorcist had given him yesterday was still fresh. If this had been a couple of decades back, he would have been able to react fast enough to dodge a sloppy attack like that.

This had been the best chance to kill the Demonic Exorcist. Where he didn't have all his demons with him. But even in that state, the Demonic Exorcist had grown stronger than expected even at his age.

Also as soon as rumors had started spreading about Kon, that clan had done their best to fan the flames. They didn't even bother to hide the 'donations' to underprivileged students. Just so those students would talk more about this.

Meleo couldn't help but sigh internally when he thought of the Demonic Exorcist. Despite how he looked now, many decades ago… Even the cruel Demonic Exorcist was a young man once learning the arts of exorcism.

The old headmaster sank back to the memories of many decades ago.

A young dark-haired boy and a red-haired young girl are sitting at the same desk. They were opposite to each other. The boy looked withdrawn while the girl was outspoken and arrogant.

Meleo smiled at the memories. It felt like he could still hear the girl bragging. She was one of the least talented exorcists he had ever taught, but she was a fun pupil to have. Every day she would get into some shenanigans.

The boy was the opposite, he didn't have any confidence, but his talent was overwhelming. Low-class demons didn't attack him; they would even protect the boy sometimes. Just like how a mother would instinctively protect their baby. He had earned the name; The Exorcist Loved by Demons.

Later he would become known as the Demonic Exorcist.

It was sometimes bewildering how people could change so much. The gentle and unsure boy ended up becoming a monster. Back in the day, Meleo had hoped that the young exorcist would be the one to take his seat amongst the Special 22.

Where did it all go wrong? Wondered Meleo. The bitter feeling in his chest would never go away, no matter how hard he tried to forget it. Those same feelings hurt more than the wound on his shoulder ever could.

"I choose the Demon Turning Sword as a reward," Kon's voice woke Meleo up from his melancholy.

It took a couple of seconds for the old headmaster to register what the youngster had asked for.

What did he say?! Who gave him that information?

He didn't think someone so young would know about a magic weapon like that. The demon-turning sword lived up to its name and could turn any creature it cut into a demon. It was a catastrophic weapon and one of the three most dangerous weapons sealed in the academy. "Sorry, but you can't have something like that."

Meleo liked the kid and had seen how brave he was. If Kon hadn't been there to save the students and professor Chain, many more people would have died. But weapons like the Demon Turning sword were too dangerous to give out.

"I don't care about a weapon like that," Kon shook his head. "I just want to use it once. I wouldn't mind if the usage were under your surveillance."

No matter how he looked at the situation, Meleo couldn't see what Kon was thinking about. He was wondering if he was making some kind of mistake by trusting another one of his students. Well, he wasn't his student, but Meleo considered everyone here as his disciple. "Sure, but you will have to use it before me."

Meleo was confident in his ability to stop a kid. Though as soon as he thought of that, the wound of his shoulder blistered in a pang of pain. He almost winced, but with his decades of experience, he kept his composure.

'I wasn't even able to defeat the Demonic Exorcist when he didn't have all his high-class demons around him. I'm getting too old for this job.'

Time was unforgiving to humans. He at his peak would laugh at the current state he had ended up in.

'Maybe resigning as one of the twenty-two special exorcists would be for the best.'

**

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