After that, we didn’t encounter any more monsters as we made our way through the forest, and eventually, we reached the goal.

When we arrived, a few other exorcist trainees were already there, having beaten us to the finish. They glanced over at me and Aya-chan with curious expressions, as if wondering who these unfamiliar kids were.

Ignoring their stares, I walked over to Dad and handed him the map.

“So? Did you enjoy yourselves?” he asked.

“Yeah, but it was a bit long,” I replied.

I glanced at Aya-chan. She was smiling brightly, but there was a hint of fatigue on her face.

It was only natural. Unlike me, who had been training with Dad in combat and physical endurance for years, Aya-chan wasn’t used to such intense activity.

That’s why, halfway through, she couldn’t walk any further, and we had to take a break. I used Silveit to cool her legs and provided water with Water Attribute Transformation. This course, designed for middle schoolers, might have been a bit much for us elementary school students.

Still, as I had suspected, magic made it easy to take proper breaks wherever we were, even without any gear. Magic really was convenient.

Despite her exhaustion, Aya-chan didn’t show any signs of it, smiling cheerfully at Dad.

“I had a great time chatting with Itsuki-kun!” she said.

“Good, that’s what’s important,” Dad replied, crossing his arms and nodding in satisfaction.

I tugged at his sleeve, wanting to talk to him privately.

“Hey, Dad, can I talk to you for a moment?” I asked.

“Hm? What is it?”

“I just need to go somewhere without so many people around…”

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“Hmm…”

After glancing around, Dad nodded and said, “Alright.”

I told Aya-chan to wait for a moment, and then Dad and I walked a short distance away from the group.

As soon as we were alone, Dad’s tone became more serious.

“So, Itsuki, how did it go? Did my plan work out?” he asked.

“Yeah, I think I’ve gotten closer to Aya-chan.”

“Good, that’s what I was hoping for. Renji and I became friends during our training here too.”

Huh, really? I thought. But I set that aside for now.

“Actually… something happened. I resonated with Aya-chan for a moment.”

“…What?” Dad’s expression changed instantly.

I then explained everything: how I had been transported to what seemed like an Edo-era village after touching Aya-chan, the girl who looked just like her, and the mention of the Ice Princess.

I laid out the story in chronological order, making it as easy to follow as possible. Dad listened without interrupting, and when I finished, he sighed deeply and gently placed a hand on my head.

“You did well to come out of that safely, Itsuki.”

“…Yeah. I didn’t exactly fight anyone, though,” I replied, feeling a little choked up at the genuine concern in his voice.

“But… the Ice Princess, huh?” he muttered.

“Do you know anything about her?”

“…No, not at all.”

Dad briefly glanced at the trainees gathering at the finish line before turning back to me.

“But the monster definitely called itself that, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, that’s what it said.”

“…This could be troublesome.”

Seeing the rare look of frustration on Dad’s face made me tense up as well, my fists clenching unconsciously.

“Listen, Itsuki, there are two possibilities here.”

“Two?” I asked.

“Yes. The first is that the monster is boasting. Some monsters, drunk on their own power, declare their name to inspire fear in humans. The problem with that is, if they’re boasting, they have the strength to back it up.”

“…Yeah.”

I nodded slightly, understanding what Dad meant.

People who boast do so because they’re confident in their abilities. Those who see themselves as inexperienced wouldn’t dare act so arrogantly.

And for monsters, that arrogance typically comes when they’ve grown used to killing exorcists.

Even if this Ice Princess wasn’t a Sixth Rank Named monster, Fifth or Fourth Rank monsters could still be a serious threat to most exorcists.

There was a real chance that the Ice Princess was that kind of monster.

“And the second possibility?” I asked.

“The second is that it really is a Sixth Rank,” he said.

“But… you’ve never heard of it, right?”

I found it hard to believe that Dad, an exorcist of his stature, wouldn’t know the name of a Sixth Rank monster. He nodded.

“Yes, but I don’t know every monster out there. Some Sixth Rank monsters were sealed or exorcised before I was even born, and I haven’t memorized all the records.”

“…Then what do we do?” I started to ask, but Dad spoke up before I could finish.

“Don’t worry. We’ll figure this out soon enough.”

“We will?”

“There’s a branch family of the Kamiarizuki clan that specializes in gathering, compiling, and managing records on monsters. They’re called the Tsukishima family.”

There’s a family that specializes in that?

“So we can just ask them to investigate?”

“Exactly. I’ll send a request right away. We should have an answer by tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? Does that mean they’re starting the investigation now?”

I glanced at the setting sun and couldn’t help but think…

…Looks like someone’s working overtime tonight.

But even with how traditional exorcists are, they’ve at least digitized their records by now, right? I mean, they’ve got to be using PDFs for requests, right?

The reason I was thinking about this was because, in my previous life, one of my jobs at the printing company was digitizing old documents.

For a small to mid-sized company like ours, doing that kind of work was a matter of survival.

“We should head back. We’ve been away from the group long enough,” Dad said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I turned to follow him, but I noticed Shirayuki-sensei weaving through the group of trainees toward us.

“Huh? Shirayuki-sensei?”

“Yes, I, uh… came to get you. Haha…” she replied, smiling sheepishly.

I wondered how she had found us, but I decided it was better to get straight to the point. I explained to her everything I had just told Dad.

Telling the story twice in a row helped me clarify the details even more, and I could see Shirayuki-sensei’s face growing more serious as I spoke. By the time I finished, it was clear she understood the gravity of the situation.

When I was done, she spoke softly.

“Thank you for telling me, Itsuki-kun.”

“Sensei, what should we do?” I asked, glancing over at Aya-chan, who was still talking with Dad. The girl who had lost her magic.

“I understand how anxious you must feel, but our approach remains the same,” Shirayuki-sensei replied, looking at Aya-chan with a gentle expression.

“We’ll wait for the rejection to ease and create more shared memories. That’s how we’ll deepen the resonance.”

Then, she turned to me with a serious expression.

“Operation: Best Friends Forever continues.”

…When did this get a code name?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep