Actually, he intentionally failed to ask this question out of concern for
listening devices. Even for someone other than Mikihiko, getting
Tatsuya to cough up dangerous information was extremely difficult.
“What is it?”
“In regards to creatures like demons and Parasites, do they occur
frequently?”
Even though they weren’t eating, Mikihiko almost gagged.
Owing to Tatsuya’s nonchalant tone, Mikihiko listened in with only a
casual mood, only to hear a rather profound question.
“……No, they are really rare. While in the stories they exist in hiding
ready to do evil, those are largely Magicians pretending to be dark
creatures. For example, our side believes they have determined the
true identity of the infamous spirit at Mt. Oyama to be a practitioner
from the Middle East.”
Unconsciously, Mikihiko was stroking his chin just like someone in a
“contemplating posture”.
“The chances of a Magician running into a real spirit is about……
Maybe one in ten generations. Even so, those encounters are usually
something accidentally stumbling into our world. Real incidents of
spirits harming humans that necessitated immediate extermination
from Magicians probably once every several hundred years across the
globe.
At the end of the day, the last time on record that Japan exterminated a
true spirit was probably when Yusanari Abe exorcised the nine-tailed
fox nine hundred years ago.”
“Yet, this vampire incident was probably done by a “real spirit”.”
“I believe so.”
“Do you think this is a coincidence?”
“While I cannot say for certain, but the probably is near zero……”
Mikihiko’s reply was extremely prudent.
“As history has progressed into the modern age, incidents of spirit
activity has been on the decline. I am unwilling to believe that this
incident came out of nowhere.”
After hearing Mikihiko’s response, Tatsuya softly said “Indeed.”
After making sure that Tatsuya’s group left and Kaya returned to the
room, Leo collapsed back onto the bed in exhaustion. Although Erika
was still in the room, he had already pushed himself to the limit.
“……Meh, I already know everything anyways.
There’s no need to keep bluffing any longer, OK? You’ve already
worked really hard.”
“……I’ll just…… Take that as an honest…… Compliment.”
“It was an honest one. Compliment, I mean.”
Seeing Leo painfully close his eyes, Erika revealed a warm smile.
“Um, Erika-san…… Is my brother really going to be fine?”
Still, seeing this interaction, Kaya didn’t seem to find anything funny.
“No worries. I’ve already called the best doctor the Chiba Family
knows of. I know it can be a little difficult for you to understand since
you’re not a Magician, but life force exhaustion requires more time to
recuperate than physical exhaustion. All of the necessary recovery
procedures have been done already. Afterwards, the best medicine
would be plenty of bed rest, so he’ll be fine after a while.”
Kaya shook slightly at being identified as a mundane. Though Erika
noticed this, she didn’t espouse any comforting words from her
mouth.
“Then, I’m headed off to my brother’s place. If you need anything,
please don’t hold back and call the nurses, my brother’s subordinates,
or even myself.”
Erika gave a cursory bow to Kaya and excused herself from the
sickroom.
Leo had no intention of chiding Erika for her attitude