Splash, splash.
The sound of a shower came from the hotel bathroom.
In the living room, Eichi was lazily lying on the sofa.
He had been running around exorcising Cursed Spirits these past few days.
Although these Cursed Spirits weren't very strong, all the running around was still tiring.
Tap, tap, tap.
Eichi's fingers rapidly tapped the phone keys, and one by one, characters appeared in the text message, which he then sent.
Eichi was chatting with Artoria.
She had just finished all her exorcism missions as well.
Currently, Artoria was helping a newly Awakened Jujutsu Sorcerer get justice.
According to Artoria, the young Jujutsu Sorcerer saved his classmate, but his classmate bit back, claiming the young Jujutsu Sorcerer had harmed them.
"Ha~ah."
Yawning, Eichi put down his phone.
Artoria used to be the Knight King; such small matters would not trouble her at all.
Click.
The sound of a door opening came from the direction of the bathroom.
Shijima Naji, dressed in new clothes, walked out of the bathroom and sat opposite Eichi.
Eichi looked up.
A beige short-sleeved shirt + blue jeans.
Her face still had a slight blush after her shower, like a ripe small apple.
"So, tell me your situation. Why were you there alone?"
"That's because..."
Shijima Naji's voice was hesitant.
"If you don't tell me, I'll call your parents. You don't want..."
Before Eichi could finish, Shijima Naji interrupted him in a panic.
"No, don't."
Watching Shijima Naji bite her lip but eventually speak, Eichi nodded with satisfaction.
Zenin Shuji had already found out Shijima Naji's identity, and also an alarm record.
Shijima Naji had lied to her Family, saying she was staying at a classmate's house for a few days. However, when Shijima Naji's mother inquired about Shijima Naji's situation with the classmate's mother, she discovered that Shijima Naji had not stayed at the classmate's house.
Unable to find Shijima Naji anywhere, her parents reported her missing.
"By the way, your mother is driving to your hometown."
"No, they are just ordinary people, they can't go."
This sentence broke Shijima Naji's last psychological defense.
Seeing Shijima Naji's reaction, Eichi was pensive.
Could there be something dangerous for ordinary people on the small island where Shijima Naji's hometown is? Speaking of which...
Eichi took out the map Zenin Shuji had given him, then looked at Shijima Naji's hometown again.
The same island.
"There's a Shadow Crocodile on that island."
"Tell me in detail."
"The Shadow Crocodile is a Cursed Spirit Sealed by a powerful Jujutsu Sorcerer invited by the village ancestors."
"But a year ago, a group of outsiders broke the Shadow Crocodile's Seal, and my grandmother was killed by the Shadow Crocodile."
Initially, Shijima Naji thought her grandmother died from a gas leak, as reported in the news, until she learned the truth about her grandmother's death from her parents recently.
"I see. Do you want to avenge your grandmother?"
"Yes."
The girl lowered her head, not wanting Eichi to see her weak side.
Shijima Naji was a very strong-willed girl; otherwise, she wouldn't have come alone to avenge her grandmother.
However, in front of Eichi, Shijima Naji couldn't be tough.
On one hand, Eichi had just saved her, and on the other hand, Shijima Naji knew Eichi's strength.
She couldn't win, absolutely couldn't win.
"What do you know about the Shadow Crocodile?"
Hearing Shijima Naji's words, Eichi felt he was a step closer to the truth.
"My grandmother told me some things."
Shijima Naji began to recall the stories her grandmother told her when she was a child.
"A long time ago, there were two villages on Shijima Island: East Village on the east and West Village on the west. The village chiefs of both villages were the Jujutsu Sorcerers of their respective villages."
"Because the island was small, the two villages often fought over resources."
"Later, West Village rescued an outsider who had been shipwrecked and obtained a few books and a jar from him."
"My grandmother said that jar was the beginning of all disasters."
"Sealed in the jar was a special Cursed Spirit, the Shadow Crocodile. That Cursed Spirit was a killing weapon created using a Cursed Technique similar to Gu poison."
"Gu poison?"
Eichi heard a word from Shijima Naji that piqued his interest.
"That's right, Gu poison. Although the shipwrecked person's luggage was soaked in seawater, destroying many things, the people of West Village still reconstructed his experiences based on some decipherable parts."
"That Jujutsu Sorcerer came from the mainland. His Family once relied on the Cursed Technique of Gu poison to make a large number of Cursed Spirits devour and Fuse with each other, eventually obtaining a powerful Cursed Spirit, the Shadow Crocodile."
"That Family used pre-prepared methods to subdue the Shadow Crocodile as a Shikigami, serving as a weapon for conquest."
"Later, this Family was besieged by other Families. To escape their pursuers, they were forced to go to sea and eventually encountered a shipwreck."
"Was what was in that jar the Shadow Crocodile?"
"Exactly. They seemed to believe that as long as they cultivated another powerful Shadow Crocodile, they could rise again, so that person held the jar Sealing the Shadow Crocodile until his death."
"Why didn't you throw the jar into the sea back then?"
"Not us, we are East Village. West Village has already perished."
Perished?
Eichi thought of something.
"They broke the Shadow Crocodile's Seal?"
"Yes, the people of West Village chose to raise the Shadow Crocodile to occupy the island's resources."
"Their village chief, following the methods in the book, bound and controlled the new, still weak Shadow Crocodile, then continuously fed it Cursed Spirits, even attacking East Village people who went fishing."
"But the information the West Village people obtained was too incomplete. As the Shadow Crocodile grew stronger, they eventually couldn't restrain it, and finally, the Shadow Crocodile killed all the people of West Village."
"Later, the Shadow Crocodile would occasionally emerge from the West Village cave and begin to prey on the East Village people."
"The village chief died in battle protecting the villagers, and many villagers, in fear, eventually fled."
"The newly appointed village chief, to protect the village, took all the village's money and went to the island nation to find a Jujutsu Sorcerer who could deal with the Shadow Crocodile. Fortunately, he found one, and the Shadow Crocodile was finally Sealed in the West Village cave."
After telling the story, Shijima Naji felt a sense of melancholy, her eyes gazing out the window into the distance.
She used to believe that these stories her grandmother told were just legends, not to be taken seriously.
Although she was the only one in the younger generation of the village with Cursed Energy and capable of becoming a Jujutsu Sorcerer, Shijima Naji did not want to become a Jujutsu Sorcerer.
Shijima Naji's parents also agreed with this.
Shijima Naji didn't want to become a Jujutsu Sorcerer because once she became one, she would have to stay in the village her whole life, becoming a village guardian.
For Shijima Naji, who longed for modern big cities and wanted to see the outside world with her own eyes, this was unacceptable.
Shijima Naji's parents' thoughts were much simpler.
They simply didn't like their child engaging in such a dangerous job.
Although they were not Jujutsu Sorcerers, they had learned about the work of Jujutsu Sorcerers from the village elders.
Fighting, getting injured, even dying.
They did not want their daughter to walk such a Dao.