Chapter 18 - Chapter 17

I do not own the characters; all rights belong to their respective authors. I make this story for fun.

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"And you know, after playing cat and mouse, they stopped chasing me. When I noticed this, I felt sad and at the same time bored, but now I don't have to worry about being chased all day."

*Sip of drink*

"Fuuuaaa, after that, nothing interesting has happened. There are a few years left before I get my grimoire, specifically three years, and then fulfill Sofi's long-promised pledge to become a magic knight, but that's another story."

In a small food joint, at one of the many tables, Satoru was enjoying the delicious meal he had ordered along with a waiter who stood without commenting, unsure of what to say about the boy's attitude—sitting at the table but putting his feet up next to the freshly ordered food, drinking lemonade, and telling a somewhat curious and nonsensical story with several terms he didn't understand.

"And this is what has happened so far, fun, right?"

Two weeks had passed since the small problem with a curse that destroyed a certain part of the kingdom, but during this time, some magic knights had been looking for Satoru for unknown reasons. He thinks it might be because of how he solved the complicated situation. Though he can say he didn't do much, he is too lazy and doesn't want to explain, so he has been avoiding them.

When they find him in a shop or store, he runs away only to disappear in front of them or leads them into a dead-end alley, simply climbing the walls or teleporting. In simple words, he has given the magic knights too much work, but after two weeks, they seem to have left him alone. When he encounters one of them, they simply give Satoru a tired look, and he returns it with a mischievous smile.

But after that, nothing interesting has happened. Satoru has stayed in the capital for a while since his father is still negotiating some things about his work and working a bit too. So he took advantage of this time and explored while avoiding the magic knights several times, but now he doesn't know what to do; he is quite bored.

Setting aside his talk, he lowers his feet from the table and begins to eat the food he ordered. It's something simple a fruit salad with a piece of meat. Eating in silence, he starts to think about what to do next. He is still a child and has a long way to go, future adventures, and above all, possible enemies he might encounter.

Many thoughts come to his mind, but one thought shines above all the others. The concern he has now about this thought is which squad to choose. There are nine squads if he is not mistaken; many of them only accept nobles or those with good potential, but then there is Yami's squad that accepts any crazy person they find.

Too many doubts about which squad to choose, but thinking about it carefully, maybe none of them will accept him for not having magical power. Well, let's set aside the Black Bulls; considering the others, they possibly won't accept him either.

Finishing his meal, Satoru pays for his food and takes a small walk before the sun sets and he has to return home to pack his things to go back to the village. During the walk, a rather amusing idea pops into his mind that might cause problems in the future but would be worth doing, though it's still years away.

Walking among the people and turning down various streets, he soon reaches a place somewhat away from the crowd. Here, there is no one except very poor people and those who seem to be one step away from visiting Saint Peter.

"A pretty unique magic, and I imagine they made you suffer for it, didn't they?"

Turning around and looking at the path he came from, there was no one present, and all the people there thought he was another kid who fell into madness by talking to the air.

"You know, you have a rather familiar air and somewhat resemble that muscle-headed, muscle-brained, chain-smoking guy, but you have a much stronger aura compared to him."

A silence ensues, and the vagrants begin to murmur among themselves about this strange kid.

"Come on, friend, you're making me look like a lunatic, although I am one, but not that much. Well, I have my moments of craziness and other times of being serious and mature."

It seemed like someone was talking to an invisible friend, confirming the vagrants' suspicion that this kid was crazy, but soon a shadow extended from Satoru's shoes and moved a few meters away.

A figure began to emerge from this shadow, surprising all the vagrants as it took the form of a human. This person was wearing a hooded cloak covering their face, black pants, and black boots.

Emerging from the shadows, this person remained silent, looking at Satoru for a moment before speaking.

"Why do you have that aura?"

"MMmmhh aura?" Tilting his head to the right with a face full of confusion, "I don't know what aura you're talking about. I'm a kid who listens to his mom and, above all, doesn't cause trouble."

"Who did you make a contract with?"

"Contract? What contract? Sorry, but I don't sell my soul to the devil like a certain someone in front of me." Putting on a face of amusement and covering his smile with his hand.

This person tensed up upon realizing that Satoru knew something about him. But looking at him closely, he saw a rather annoying and young boy emitting a negative aura similar to demons. He was sure Satoru had made a contract with a demon and possibly was hiding his magical power.

"I'll ask you again, why do you have that aura similar to demons? Who did you make a contract with, and why did you do it?"

Unable to hold back his laughter at the person's anger, Satoru burst into laughter. "HAHAHAHA, sorry, pardon me for laughing, but seeing your angry face after showing a serene, calm face with a fake smile to hide your sadness is quite entertaining."

"Answering your questions: none, I didn't make a contract. I haven't had any interaction with a demon until now because you, my friend, have four demons, and thanks to this incredible meeting, I now know that demons are similar to me, well, in terms of cursed energy."

"Now I wonder, are demons made of cursed energy, or can they use cursed energy? A good question just popped up." Satoru noticed that this person had strong inner anger, possibly related to the demons, seeing how he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth while looking directly at Satoru's lenses.

"I don't know why you did it, but no one should have a contract with a demon." Raising his right arm and opening his hand towards Satoru, he murmured a few words, and a strong sensation of magical power emerged from his body.

Satoru watched as he began to use his magical power, which concentrated on his feet. The shadow of the unknown person extended towards Satoru, but he made a great leap backward, and dark-colored spikes emerged from the ground.

"Ha, it seems you want to impale me, huh? I don't know why you're angry, but seeing your amount of cursed energy plus the magical power, you must be a talented person."

"Shut up!"

More spikes began to emerge from the ground, intending to kill Satoru, but before they could touch him, he dodged them with ease. However, Satoru stopped dodging for a moment, and the unknown person took the opportunity to attack with all his might to kill him. But something happened that surprised him—all his attacks stopped centimeters away from Satoru's body.

From below, left, right, center, above, from any side, they stopped. Satoru didn't want to reveal his infinity but decided to do so because he noticed the unknown person beginning to use his magical power to cast another spell that might attract attention, besides already drawing it from the vagrants in the area.

(I don't know who he is, but he is similar to Yami—a dark magical power, but adding the cursed energy, which possibly comes from the demons in his shadows, he has two, not bad. I wonder if Asta's demon is similar.)

"Sorry, kid with a possible trauma about demons, but this meeting ends here, and I have to go, or I'll face a scolding, so bye-bye."

*Fiiussh*

Disappearing in a second, Satoru teleported to where his father was, while back at the place of the fight, the unknown person stood still, clenching his fists in anger. He looked at the vagrants who turned away upon seeing his anger and the magical energy emanating from his rage. A small figure emerged from his shadows and perched on his right shoulder.

"Ke ke ke, Mr. Nacht, it seems you found someone similar to you."

"Shut up, Gimodelo, I'm not in the mood."

"Yai yai, sorry, but still, he's someone interesting. He only has the power of a demon but no magical power."

"I also thought he was one of you, but seeing how he acted means he made a contract with a high-ranking demon and in return sacrificed all his magical power."

"And you wanted to kill him because he reminds you of your brother's death. Yai yai."

"Shut up!"

"S...sorry, Mr. N...Nacht."

Without another word, Gimodelo, a demon, returned to his shadow. The unknown person, who is actually Nacht, turned around and walked a bit, heading towards a wall. A black vortex appeared on the wall, and Nacht stepped through it to disappear from the place.

From a distant building's rooftop, Satoru stood watching everything from a safe distance. Now knowing that this unknown person was Nacht and that he could sense his cursed energy, a bit of curiosity arose about how demons are. Setting aside his curiosity, he looked at the sky and saw the sun beginning to set, so he turned around and disappeared from there.

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Author: I'm dying of fever, but here's your weekly chapter.

Word count: 1721