After being embraced by my father, the real work began.

The colossal arm had not dissipated into black mist like the monsters usually did, so we decided to deal with it by cutting it apart.

To prevent any issues if a car happened to come by, we hauled the arm down to the riverside and used Form Transformation: Blade, conjuring thread-like blades to slice it into smaller pieces. Meanwhile, my father contacted Kamiarizuki, specifically Akane-san, to report the situation and request cleanup assistance.

As I overheard my father’s phone call in the background, Nina explained what had happened while I was in the sanctuary.

A Sixth-Rank monster had followed the sanctuary’s magic and appeared. Everyone worked together to exorcise it. Afterward, the massive arm had suddenly emerged.

“So, this arm…?” I asked.

“I don’t know. It just appeared,” Nina replied with a shrug.

As she spoke, I continued cutting the arm into small, dice-like chunks, which were then incinerated.

But Nina wasn’t the one burning them. The horned woman who had been beside her earlier—a fierce-looking fairy—was summoned again to handle the incineration. With just a wave of her finger, flames engulfed the chunks of flesh, reducing them to nothing.

I exhaled deeply.

I had assumed the arm was part of the Sixth-Rank monster they had defeated, but that didn’t seem to be the case. That explained why my father had been using detection magic to search for hidden traces. But finding nothing was concerning in its own way.

Still, there was no point in dwelling on it. Shaking off the thought, I focused on disassembling the arm while stealing a glance at the warmth radiating from beside me.

“Hey, Nina.”

“What?”

“Who’s that woman…?”

Finally voicing the question that had been on my mind, I saw Nina puff up her chest with a proud expression, as if to say,

I’m glad you asked.

“She’s Ifrit. Cool, right?”

“…Ifrit? As in

that

Ifrit? But isn’t that supposed to be a dragon?”

My only knowledge of Ifrit came from Nina’s memories. I’d never seen the actual thing, so I couldn’t be sure, but I vaguely recalled her father summoning a fairy by that name—a being of immense power capable of turning an entire amusement park into a sea of flames.

“Well,

normally,

yes. But this Ifrit is different. She’s my own fairy. Don’t you have magic that’s unique to you, Itsuki?”

“Uh… maybe?”

Do I? I hesitated. There are monsters out there that use the same Oborozuki magic as me, so I couldn’t confidently say yes. Seeing my uncertainty, Nina pressed on.

“I realized something. What I was truly afraid of.”

“Monsters?”

“No. I was afraid of not being able to kill monsters.”

That quiet confession made me nod internally.

It made sense. To be hunted by monsters without the power to exorcise them—it would be terrifying.

“I want to be an exorcist, but I’m weak. That scared me. So I needed a strong fairy. One powerful enough to kill any monster.”

Her declaration was resolute.

Considering that, the sheer destructive force of her Ifrit made perfect sense.

Still, one thing bothered me.

I, too, had resolved to grow stronger out of fear of death. I trained relentlessly in magic and close combat.

Yet, even now, I couldn’t completely erase the fear I’d felt in the face of death.

That’s why I had to ask.

“Are you still scared?”

“Yes, I am,” Nina answered without hesitation.

Her candid response took me by surprise.

The Nina I knew would never have admitted that. She would have put on a brave face and insisted she wasn’t scared.

But now, she acknowledged her fear.

That surprised me—and relieved me. I felt the same, after all.

Unaware of my thoughts, Nina continued.

“That’s why I want to grow stronger. Strong enough to kill any monster, just like you, Itsuki.”

Her gaze carried no hesitation, no trace of fear—only the firm resolve of someone who had set her sights on what needed to be done.

“Do you still want to become an exorcist?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said, nodding without a moment’s doubt. Then she added, “I may be weak, but I still want to be an exorcist.”

Hearing that declaration, I couldn’t help but think Nina was incredible. I wanted to follow her example.

So, without realizing it, I voiced my determination.

“Then I need to work hard too.” Read new chapters at empire

“Why would you need to?” Nina asked, narrowing her eyes slightly. But I couldn’t afford to slack off while everyone else was giving their all. I couldn’t be the only one taking it easy.

As we bantered, I felt relieved. Nina had truly recovered.

The girl who had been unable to use magic, emotionally unstable, and prone to tears was gone. Nina had faced her inner demons and overcome them on her own.

She was amazing.

At the same time, my thoughts turned to what I had in my pocket.

It was the object I’d been holding when I returned from the sanctuary: a small, pale pink peach, just big enough to fit snugly in my palm.

A peach from the sanctuary.

Why did I have it? Probably because Otsu Norimitsu had handed it to me as I was leaving the sanctuary.

Honestly, he could’ve just given it to me normally.

The peach was said to heal any injury with a single bite and grant immortality with a second. But it wasn’t even large enough for two bites—it was small enough to be eaten in one go.

I had thought it might heal Nina’s emotional wounds, but seeing her now, she didn’t seem to need it. Her heart appeared fully healed.

Still, it was a piece of fruit. If I didn’t eat it soon, it might rot—though I wasn’t sure if sanctuary peaches could even rot.

Continuing to disassemble the arm, I pondered what to do with the peach.

…What should I do about this?

I let out a small sigh and looked up at the mountain.

Maybe the blacksmith at the workshop—the one I’d just returned from—would know how to put it to good use.

Feeling the soft texture of the peach in my pocket, I gazed up at the mountain and considered my options.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep