Chapter 163 — If You Don't Reject Me, Emiya, I'm Willing to Call You My Foster Father!
Compared to the personnel of the Jujutsu Headquarters, the Jujutsu High Schools, and the Three Great Families, independent sorcerers are actually the group that occupies the largest portion of the jujutsu world.
Due to population density, Tokyo and its surrounding areas are extremely prone to the birth of powerful "Curses."
While the sheer number of Cursed Spirits has decreased compared to ancient times, the environment frequently brews "Imaginary Vengeful Curses" with bizarre forms.
These spirits possess strange abilities and can reach Grade 1 or even Special Grade status. This is likely because ordinary citizens enduring high pressure within the city have their own unspeakable miseries.
The times are indeed progressing and changing. People living in cities no longer harbor irrational fears of nature or ancient gods, yet negative emotions have not necessarily decreased compared to the past; in fact, there is a faint trend of continuous increase. One must not forget that under this trend, there is a prerequisite: the modern population is several times larger than in the past.
In earlier times, when falling into poverty, people could deceive themselves with reasons like "innate fate" or "punishment from the gods."
The tragedy of people in modern society is that they clearly know exactly why they are miserable, yet they still have no way to change the situation.
For example, spending a lifetime's savings to obtain a tiny shelter, only to end up with a dilapidated building and a back full of debt...
In truth, everyone knows who is at fault, but what is the reality?
The people truly responsible remain at large, while those with no power or influence can only carry their despair through the rest of their lives or end their lives then and there. Such things are a microcosm of society, not isolated cases.
The despair of a single person can potentially brew a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit; how could the personnel of Jujutsu High possibly suppress every Cursed Spirit across the dozens of cities in the Tokyo metropolitan area?
In such circumstances, only those Curses that are particularly difficult to handle are specifically assigned to Jujutsu High.
The remaining low-level Curses are basically handled by the sorcerer associations lingering in the cities—namely, the independent sorcerers.
They know that even if they registered under the Headquarters, it would be difficult to climb to the level of a Grade 1 sorcerer, so they simply choose not to endure the strict codes of conduct.
This is perfectly normal.
The number of independent sorcerers in Tokyo alone is more than triple the number of those within the official grading system. If you add in all the other regions not governed by a Jujutsu High, the true size of this group would multiply several times over.
Most independent sorcerers either hope to be lucky enough to have a descendant inherit their path, like Kugisaki Nobara, or they find a talented youth to pass on their mantle.
At the simplest level, a talent like Miko's original "Yin-Yang Eyes" is roughly one in ten thousand.
However, people born with Yin-Yang Eyes are a minority; most sorcerers only see Cursed Spirits after awakening the ability to manipulate Cursed Energy.
The two people currently standing before Emiya are independent sorcerers following a master-disciple lineage.
The "God's Attendant" who was killed and converted by the "Pseudo-Mountain God" was Mrs. Mitsue's master, and the young man is Mrs. Mitsue's disciple. It is quite rare to see three generations of a lineage gathered at once like this.
In terms of strength, the grandmaster killed by the Pseudo-Mountain God was roughly Grade 1 level, while Mrs. Mitsue currently barely reaches Grade 2. The most talented among the three generations is the youngest—[The Prodigy Rom].
Rom was born with perfect Yin-Yang Eyes. Since his earliest memories, he could clearly see all Cursed Spirits and even the movements of "Curses." Some sorcerers with insufficient skill might not even match the eye power he possessed at birth.
The master and disciple had originally placed high hopes on this prodigy, but until the day the grandmaster passed away, Rom remained a taciturn youth, and shortly thereafter, he left Mrs. Mitsue's side.
Called a prodigy from childhood, he was actually quite curious about the world. The more he saw, the more unknowns appeared... The more a person learns, the more they feel the ocean of knowledge is infinite; it was something like that.
However, for Rom himself, things didn't seem to be quite that way.
After several years of study, he discovered that "Jujutsu Sorcerer" seemed to be an extremely limited profession.
While the era was changing daily—everyone learning new knowledge, textbooks being replaced every few years, and old truths being devalued by a single experiment—sorcerers were different.
People in the outside world worked hard because the era forced them to progress; if they dared to slacken, they would be washed away by the surging waves until not even their bones remained.
Yet, in such a world, the things Mrs. Mitsue taught him were always ancient, stale pieces of knowledge of unknown age. If the descendants of sorcerers dared to make even a slight change to this knowledge, it would be viewed as a grave rebellion.
Young Rom realized this was an error, which is why he left Mrs. Mitsue. At the time, he naively thought that since there were so many sorcerers outside that small town, the jujutsu world outside might already be vastly different.
Unfortunately, the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.
After leaving his town, Rom discovered that the jujutsu world outside was actually far more feudal than Mrs. Mitsue. The mountains of feudal clans and the government pressed down directly overhead, leaving almost no paths or opportunities for outsiders. It wasn't just the system; the "knowledge feudalism" of the jujutsu world was even worse.
Everyone treated being a sorcerer like a 9-to-5 job; no one ever thought about new questions, they just blindly completed tasks.
Perhaps this knowledge was indeed the wisdom bought by previous sorcerers at the cost of their lives, but there is no such thing as an eternal truth in the universe, and the same applies to the jujutsu world.
After realizing the true face of the jujutsu world, Rom once considered giving up the profession and becoming one of the masses—someone whose eyes could see, but whose heart was covered by a blindfold.
In the end, however, he chose a different path: trying to bring modern progress into the application of jujutsu. As the saying goes, "There are wrong names, but no wrong nicknames." After a series of efforts, [The Prodigy Rom] successfully found a substance that could store Cursed Energy and successfully applied its characteristics to modern technology.
Ordinary cameras obviously cannot capture Cursed Spirits; they cannot even detect the anomalies caused when a Cursed Spirit touches a physical object because the "Curse's" field interferes with electronic equipment, causing a temporary short circuit.
However, the technology Rom developed, after being fitted with the principles of Cursed Energy operation, was no longer interfered with by the unconscious fields of "Curses." By consuming stored Cursed Energy, it could even observe Cursed Spirits directly.
Such an invention was epoch-making for the jujutsu world. Compared to this modern technology, the old paper charms that could only roughly monitor a Curse's position were simply too backward.
"So, what do you think? Are you willing to try accepting this emerging technology?"
Regardless of whether ordinary sorcerers would feel a sense of rejection toward it, the Headquarters would absolutely never allow such devices to be mass-produced; at most, they would keep a tight grip on the technology themselves. Rom was a sorcerer too, so he knew this well.
Even his master, Mrs. Mitsue, didn't support her disciple in this at all.
It was only because his individual strength was too weak that he wanted to try his luck now that he finally had contact with a powerful sorcerer. Even if the other party refused, it didn't matter; he would definitely continue developing cursed machinery on his own until he achieved the desired results...
"For real? You can detect the movements of Cursed Spirits?"
To Rom's complete surprise, Emiya—standing right in front of him—couldn't wait to grab the drone, continuously inspecting its various parts.
"Is there a possibility for mass production of this device? Or can ordinary camera equipment be modified, not just in drone form?
This feels like it would be extremely useful.
Should we find an area to install them and try it out first..."
Skipping the tedious process of skepticism entirely, Emiya had already begun considering how to use this modernized equipment. Even back in the world of Magecraft, he was entirely a " Magic User " than a Magus; he only cared about the practicality of things, and other rules had to take a back seat.
"You... are very interested?"
"Of course!"
"Then that's wonderful! I also have special materials that can trap Cursed Spirits, and Holy Water that can interfere with them, right here..."
By simply flipping open his somewhat flashy trench coat, numerous "gadgets and attachments" appeared inside the lining like a magic trick.
Rom could tell that Emiya was indeed interested in all of these and intended to support him. Furthermore, the man was different from an average independent sorcerer. Just from the fact that he could easily exorcise a "Mountain God" and leave behind terrifying power that nearly leveled a hilltop, one knew Emiya must be a sorcerer of considerable status within Jujutsu
High. Strength might not always come with power, but no one would ignore his words or opinions.
This was the first time Rom had met a "true sorcerer" willing to support him. The man even seemed to know how to make an invention more practical... Was he the type with strong crafting skills too?
How to put it... this feeling... was really quite good?
It is said that "Gold is easy to find, but a soulmate is hard to come by."
He decided: [The Prodigy Rom] must help this man develop sufficiently useful inventions.
As long as the materials and support were sufficient, developing firearms that could harm Cursed Spirits wouldn't be a problem at all!!!
Read ahead (60 chapters) by supporting me on buymeacoffee com/varietl or ko-fi edwriting