Free Web NovelChapter 343: 343 Jujutsu Kaisen 8
Since the main headquarters of Taijin-kyo was still under construction, I decided to temporarily use the building in Tokyo, recruited administrative staff, and purchased server facilities to digitize information on the believers.
As a result, I was using the helicopter almost all the time, and Uraume was using the limousine most of the time to go out and have fun. As for me, if I needed a vehicle, I had a license, so I could just pick one from the mansion and drive out.
Then one day, while drinking coffee and watching TV, I nearly spat it out when Uraume appeared on screen doing an otagei (otaku dance) to anime music together with other people. For now, people didn’t know that Uraume was my younger sibling, but she was gradually becoming famous, so I thought it was only a matter of time before people found out. In the end, the embarrassment would be mine.
’This is awkward.’
Uraume was someone who had an unfortunate past—unable to control her own technique, she had unintentionally harmed even her family. So I tried not to touch her unless necessary, but this seemed like something I needed to talk about.
So I waited for Uraume to come back.
"Phew~ Today was fun too."
Today again, this one came back carrying a bunch of stuff.
"You, come here for a moment."
"Huh? Why?"
When I called, Uraume immediately came in front of me.
"I tried not to interfere as long as you stayed within the lines, but dancing on the street is a bit much, I think. We have an image to maintain, so I’d appreciate it if you could refrain."
"I-is that so? I thought I was pretty good with body movement, so I gave it a try... Understood. I will refrain from dancing."
This one looked a bit disappointed when I told her not to dance.
"By the way, I saw on TV that there were people dancing with you. Do you interact with such people?"
"I have friends I occasionally meet in Akihabara to talk about anime."
"They’re not asking strange things of you or teaching you anything bad, are they?"
"They’re just people who only talk about anime, but if you mean something strange, perhaps learning the dance? And they said there’s a cosplay festival soon, so they invited me to go together..."
"Hmm... I see. If they ask for anything strange or you think something is off, ask the maid I assigned to you."
"I will do that."
I didn’t know if this would be enough. This one’s otaku tendencies were growing day by day.
A few days later, Tsukumo Yuki came again.
"What is it today?"
"I reported to the Sorcerer Association. I came to tell you the result."
"Really? I don’t care what those people say, but let’s hear it first."
"They’ve decided to accept your family as the Hisakawa Clan in the Sorcerer Association. And they said they’ll recognize you, the head priest, as a special grade sorcerer, and your younger sibling as a semi-special grade."
Hearing that, I was dumbfounded. Who was recognizing whom?
"Well, isn’t that something. So?"
"So they said they’d appreciate it if you would help the Association if something big happens in the future, and also provide some funding."
"These bastards are openly trying to rob me!"
When I got angry, Tsukumo quickly mentioned the good points.
"It’s not all bad. If you follow the rules, you can officially use sorcery, and if problems arise, you can receive help from Association sorcerers. And since you have a special grade sorcerer, you’ll quickly gain great influence in sorcerer society."
"Nonsense... We don’t need any of that, so just leave us alone from now on! We’ll live just following the laws set by the country."
Tsukumo let out a deep sigh.
"Haah... What am I even doing in the middle... Fine. If we meet next time, we might become enemies."
"If your side doesn’t touch us, there’s no reason to become enemies. How about joining us instead? You seemed to have some complaints about the Association too."
"Wow... you’re really quick on the uptake! You’re right, I have a lot of complaints. But I can’t do that. I have something I need to do. I’m looking for a way to prevent cursed spirits from being born."
"Whoa... so you’ve been fighting against the will of nature. Wasting your time on such a ridiculous thing."
"Huh? The will of nature? Do you know something?"
Tsukumo Yuki asked with a serious expression.
"Hmm... this might become a long story. Is that okay?"
"Today, delivering that message was my entire job, so I have plenty of time."
"Alright then. You know the principle behind the creation of cursed spirits, right?"
"Yes. They are born from the negative emotions of non-sorcerers (ordinary people)—that is, cursed energy gradually gathering together."
"Then you also know how to prevent cursed spirits from being born?"
"Yes. Two ways. Since non-sorcerers cannot control cursed energy and cannot prevent it from leaking out, either make all of humanity able to control cursed energy. Second, remove cursed energy itself from all of humanity."
"Hoo~ you know a lot."
"I’ve done my own research."
"Then you also know that both are impossible."
"I thought so too a few years ago, but then I met a man named ’Zenin Toji.’ I’ve seen cases where Heavenly Restriction reduces cursed energy to the level of an ordinary person, but complete zero—searching the whole world, there were only two. One is you, head priest. But though I don’t know how, you seem to possess tremendous cursed energy while hiding it so others can’t sense it, so I think you’re definitely not zero."
Tsukumo Yuki seemed to have done some analysis on me.
"And the other person is the Zenin Toji I mentioned earlier. He is a clear case where Heavenly Restriction reduced his cursed energy to zero. And that’s not all. Even with zero cursed energy, Zenin Toji could perceive cursed spirits with his five senses. By completely abandoning cursed energy, his body gained abilities on another dimension, and instead obtained resistance to curses. Truly a superhuman..."
"Really? So did you research him?"
"No, I was rejected quite plainly. If I ever get to see him again, I plan to try. Anyway, what’s this about fighting against the will of nature?"
"To get to the conclusion first: you can’t stop people’s negative emotions in the first place. That’s why I said that. But here’s a question that arises. Why is the energy called cursed energy generated from human negative emotions? And why are cursed spirits born from that cursed energy? Poison is still just poison no matter how much it gathers. Have you ever wondered about this? It’s definitely not a natural phenomenon."
"Come to think of it, I never thought that far. I just took it for granted."
It would be strange if she had never thought about this—I suspected it was because of the world’s will.
"Here’s my thought. One day, an extremely intelligent species called humans was born. Through tremendous development, humans achieved brilliant culture and scientific progress, but if left as is, it seems that through indiscriminate development, not only other living creatures on Earth but even humans themselves—who created the Earth’s environment—would perish. So I think nature created a countermeasure to prevent that. A kind of cure."
"And that’s cursed spirits?"
"Yes."
"Then what are sorcerers?"
"Sorcerers are either people who adapted to that natural phenomenon, or mutants who resist nature. Or rather, should we say they evolved for survival?"
"That’s insane."
I raised a finger and poked Tsukumo’s side.
"Ugh! What are you doing!"
I smiled and tried to poke her side again. But Tsukumo didn’t stay still—she blocked my finger.
"Oh~ congratulations. You’ve evolved into a sorcerer."
When I said that, Tsukumo frowned and spoke.
"You were giving an example. If you pretend to be nature, the finger you just poked with would be the cursed spirit. And me blocking it would be becoming a sorcerer."
"Yes, exactly."
"Do you have any basis for thinking that?"
"In the future, the population will surely increase, and resources will be depleted. You agree with that much, right?"
"Yes. That will certainly happen."
"Then won’t humanity become unable to live prosperously, accumulating more negative energy, creating even more cursed spirits? And around that time, sorcerers will also increase, and eventually countless battles will occur, killing many people. Don’t you think? Isn’t it somewhat irrational and strange? It’s as if some entity is preventing the population from exceeding a limit."
This wasn’t a lie. I had wondered what the future of the Jujutsu Kaisen universe, where cursed spirits are born like this, would be like. I was speaking based on that.
"I see. So that’s what you mean by the will of nature."
"Yes, that’s right. If not that, it might be a god."
Tsukumo let out a deep sigh and said.
"For me, who has been struggling desperately to somehow prevent cursed spirits from being born, that’s a despairing story. So then, what are you going to do, believing that?"
"I’m just going to have fun with people and live."
Then Tsukumo Yuki, as if realizing something, said to me.
"Don’t tell me... that’s why you created that strange religion?"
She was misunderstanding something, but since the mood was already there, I said yes.
"Yeah. I have more money than I know what to do with anyway, so I’m trying to use it to have fun with people and maybe reduce some negative energy."
"I see. Then I should join that religion too. I’ve been stressed out because of the higher-ups, so it might be nice to go on trips sometimes and have fun."
Tsukumo Yuki, fortunately, seemed to accept it as true without suspicion. Anyway, she said that, winked at me, and left the mansion.
A few more days passed, and the Association guys started surveilling my mansion again. Probably because I had refused their offer. Since Tsukumo Yuki hadn’t come again, it seemed she had gone off to do other things.
’These guys are really annoying.’
But to avoid a repeat of the previous incident, they were keeping their distance and just watching, and since they weren’t taking any particular action, I decided to leave them alone for now.
The Taijin-kyo gatherings were held twice a year. They cost quite a lot of money, but still less than what I earned in a day. Knowing the future, making money was no trouble at all. Because of that, I paid a lot in taxes, and I was already famous as the person who paid the most taxes in Japan.
As a result, people everywhere started asking for handouts. Especially politicians, who demanded large sums as political funds. This time too, like in Marvel, I had the AI hack various records, find their weaknesses, and use them. And since I discreetly slipped them backdoor money from time to time, there were no political problems.
I didn’t want to do this, but the situation left me no choice. Laws are subject to interpretation, so there was no telling what problems might arise at any time, and since the people who know how to exploit that most skillfully are politicians, I needed to manage them in advance. Having a lot of money is good, but in this respect, it came with quite a bit of annoyance.
Anyway, the time for the next gathering approached. This time I rented a large cruise ship and held a weekend overnight trip. Unfortunately, there was an incident where a drunken man molested a woman, but I immediately expelled him from the faith and handed him over to the police. Thanks to the swift response, it didn’t blow up into a major issue. Rather, among the believers, an atmosphere of ’we must do what needs to be done’ began to take hold.
The broadcasters came again to film and aired it on the news, and like last time, they only said good things. For me, it was good publicity. And Tsukumo Yuki also participated. She said she had joined right after our conversation and came to participate. So she also had a great time and left.
After the Taijin-kyo gathering ended, while cleaning up, a strange discovery was made, so I checked. There was a problem at the Taijin-kyo branch in Tokyo. Several staff members had no external injuries but were unconscious, and there were signs of a search here and there. Moreover, traces of cursed energy remained, so this was clearly the work of the Sorcerer Association.
The areas they had searched were mostly accounting books—probably trying to find some weakness of mine. But they hadn’t been able to touch the mansion. Probably because I had set up barriers in advance knowing this could happen, and also because Uraume was there.
’These bastards finally crossed the line.’
I quickly treated the staff, then headed to the headquarters of the Japanese Sorcerer Association where the rotten oranges were, and boldly walked in through the entrance. Then several Association staff members came out to block me.
"Head priest! If you come out like this, the situation will escalate!"
Punch! Smack! Thump thump!
"Guh!"
"Ah!"
"Keugh!"
Without a word, I lightly struck the blockers hard enough not to kill but to knock them unconscious, and advanced quickly. Among them were some who seemed to be first grade, but they couldn’t stop me. Then I sensed groups hurriedly fleeing. When [Jack Sparrow’s Compass] pointed in that direction, it seemed the rotten oranges were trying to escape while the staff bought time.
’How cute of them.’
I also increased my speed and chased after them quickly. Then I encountered them in the underground parking lot. They were greatly flustered.
Snap!
Thud! Thud! Thud!
When I lightly snapped my fingers, the sorcerers guarding the rotten oranges collapsed one by one like puppets with their strings cut. I had activated sleep magic over the entire area, excluding only the rotten oranges. The rotten oranges, sweating coldly, stopped in their places. It seemed they too realized that escape was no longer possible.
"Head priest!!! Do you think you’ll get away with this?!!"
One of the rotten oranges stepped forward and shouted.
"You were the ones who struck first, weren’t you? Didn’t you think this result would happen?!"
When I spoke with a very angry expression, he swallowed nervously and began trying to appease me.
"Head priest, it’s not too late. Apologize to us and come under the Association. That is the way for you and your family to live!"
"Heh, really. You still haven’t come to your senses."
Snap!
Boom!
Thud!
When I snapped my fingers, the one who had been speaking had his head instantly explode, scattering brain matter and collapsing limply.
"Now who’s in charge?"
Two of them hurriedly knelt and bowed their heads, but the others were still standing, so I snapped my fingers again.
Snap!
Whoosh!
"Gyaaaaah!!!"
"Help!!"
At that, flames erupted from the bodies of those still standing, instantly engulfing them. They rolled on the ground like mad trying to extinguish the flames, but it was a futile struggle. Only after their entire bodies were charred black did the flames gradually begin to die out.
"You two seem ready to talk, so let me ask. Why did you do it? Why do you keep bothering people who are living peacefully? I’m sure I warned you?"
When I asked, the two glanced at each other and said nothing. So when I raised my hand again to snap my fingers, one of them hurriedly spoke.
"W-we had to protect the Association’s prestige. If left as is, similar groups would have emerged. So please understand—no, forgive us."
"Such a pathetic excuse. Then for the sake of my prestige, you wouldn’t be able to complain even if you died, right?"
"Th-that’s..."
Then the one who had been quietly standing next to him spoke.
"Please spare us. We will do anything."
I looked at him, pretended to think, and said.
"Hmm... what should I do? Even if I let you live, I don’t think you’d be of much help. So I’m leaning toward killing you."
"We will certainly be of great help. Because we have considerable influence within the Sorcerer Association, we can even make the Association move as you wish."
"But I need to be able to trust you. I still think killing you would be..."
When I said that, they urgently shouted.
"A binding! We will form a binding!"
In the Jujutsu Kaisen world, it was possible to form a jujutsu binding with another person. A binding mediated by cursed energy acts as a contract, and without complicated procedures, it can be established with a simple verbal agreement such as ’A will do this for B, and B will do that for A.’
"Fine. If you go that far, I’ll give you a chance."
I immediately formed a strong binding with them. I set the condition that I would give them each a piece of candy, and in return, they would agree to several conditions. Normally bindings are made on roughly equal terms, but what I formed with them was no different from a complete slave contract.
First, prioritize all of Jin’s orders in all matters.
Second, immediately report any event that could negatively affect Jin.
Third, any action harming Jin’s interests is forbidden for any reason.
Fourth, never reveal Jin’s secrets or orders.
Fifth, if you break any of these, commit suicide in great agony.
The moment the binding was completed, I handed out the candy. They could not hide the despair on their faces. After that, I used [Life Magic] to cleanly clean up the corpses of the rotten oranges I had killed.
"Enjoy the candy. It’s high-quality, so it should be delicious. Contact me if needed."
When I said that and left, they couldn’t say a word, just blankly stared at the candy.
