Chapter 24: Demons Attacks the Neigborhood

Inari's summoning ended without much fuss. However, Inari's materialization in this world is dependent on my mana. Since I don't have enough mana in my body, to begin with, she can't stay there for more than an hour. Of course, there is no limit to her summoning daily but she said that it's better to summon her in emergencies since it might cause harm to my body to keep on summoning her in my state. But after summoning her, I managed to gain a vital piece of information that can allow me to raise my mana efficiently while also gaining experience in battles.

GATES

The GATES is one of the phenomenons that occur during the devil"s hour in forests, mountains or even in the cities. Of course, they are not ordinary places that can be seen by normal people so it would be strange if there is a human that managed to enter it and besides, who would wander around the city during that time of the night? Either you are a delinquent or murderer trying to find someone to victimize. Only magicians are actively seeking for GATES as they are much more reward givers than demons. Although you can earn a lot from the demons by killing one of them, the rewards from the GATES are much better and twice the amount that the demons drop.

I got a location from Inari on one of the GATES and she suggested that if I want to become more powerful and gain better mana capacity, exploring the GATES is the most efficient for me at the moment. When I look at the clock, it's already midnight. Although there is still time to go and explore the GATES that Inari mentioned, I am too tired to go forth. Due to the summoning, it drained almost all of my mana causing me to feel weak on my feet and body. My body felt so heavy which is said to be a side effect whenever you consume too much mana in one go. It kind of sucks to feel that way but it can't be helped. Since I am exhausted, its time to hit the sack. I think I will explore the gates tomorrow and prepare for it. I still have the school and the students to worry about.

...

When my alarm clock rang, I still feel groggy which is an after effect from my consumption of mana. Therefore, I decided to skip my daily training. It's not really a problem to skip once but I should train again the next day or else it would be hard to start over again. Also, I need to walk this time around because I left my bike at school. I groggily get up from bed and stretched my body before rushing my preparations for the day.

After everything is done, its time for me to walk all the way to school. It's not really a problem since I don't get tired so easily and walking can be a part of the exercise routine. But before I can leave, the phone in my pocket vibrated and the voice of the app started talking.

"Attention to the Magicians attending Sakuramiya High, please keep your vigilance high as possible today. We detected level-3 demonic energy coming from the school but we can't pinpoint it at the moment. Once the source is discovered, please do not engage without backup."

Sakuramiya High, that is the school I was attending. Another demonic energy? Why is this happening again? Ugh, I hate to see another demon attack again. But again, I don't know why these demon attacks start to get frequent all of a sudden. Without much info, I make my way to the school, wary on my surroundings. There is not much choice because there is a threat from demons looming while there are some delinquents trying to kill me every time I walk alone. While on the way, I constantly see some police line tapes on certain streets and there would be some people looking around and trying to scan some news they can use or tell others. I didn't really check but I overheard someone gossiping near me.

"Did you hear? That woman was killed after the break-in of the burglar!"

"Really? Then why is the woman is dismembered? It was like she was slaughtered!"

"I heard that the burglar going around the streets is a kind of cult fanatic that kills peoples for fun and dismembers them like they are eating them."

"Where did you heard this? How did you know it was a cult fanatic wandering around?"

"My son is a policeman. He is working on one case similar to this. That is why I am always nervous whenever it is starting to get dark. We don't know whether that cult fanatic would start appearing here."

"Oh my, why do I feel like this neighborhood isn't safe anymore?"

"I am even considering going to Nagoya with my family this time. I am not sure whether I can still sleep peacefully at night."

This is the first time I heard about this. Well, I didn't watch news that is why I am unaware of what is going on but now, I am quite confused about what is this cult fanatic. From the looks of it, it's not even due to a human cause but looks similar to the claws that demons have. I caught a glimpse of the dead body and I must say that it's not something a human can do. Only the demons are capable of this feat of killing spree. But the reminder that came from the Anonymous also came up today. Does that mean, this is somewhat related to the killings happening in the neighborhood? That was a very close coincidence. However, is it really a coincidence?

The occurrence of the attacks and break-ins also coincide with the appearance of the demons on Sakuramiya High. If that was the case, are all the demons trying to blend into the school since students are much easier to target? They can be a close friend to that person and once the victim will invite him/her to his/her house, that will be the time to strike them down. And by imagining this, it is not really a good one for me.

Walking down the street, I counted three incidents with the same things happening. Now I am sure that this is somewhat alarming. And if the phone announced it, that means that we are now tasked to hunt the demons. I am still weak and not yet strong, but I can call Inari for help for an hour but I know that isn't going to work.

"DING! Someone messaged you privately."

A message? All I know who messaged me directly would be Moonlight or Voltaire and no one else. When I opened it, I saw that it was Godou's account, Titan that called me.

Titan: Kazuma, don't go home later this afternoon alright? We are summoned by the disciplinarian, you know, Miss Asuza. Looks like it has something to do with the demon attacks happening. Anyways, you shouldn't miss this. This would be counted as your official contribution battle if we managed to deal with the trouble. We will be waiting, don't be absent.