An Arcanist in Karakura Town 4 (Patreon)

An Arcanist in Karakura Town
Chapter 4

-VB-

I stared at the Hollow mask in my hand, elated and disappointed at the same time. 

My disappointment was a petty one: the mask looked like an ugly fat bastard. Considering what kind of Hollow I had made it from, this wasn’t unexpected. Appearance also didn’t matter when it came to ability.

And my, what an ability this Hollow mask gave me. 

While it did serve the primary purpose for which I got this mask, it had a side function that I hadn’t expected. The more spiritual power I reinforced the mask with, the tougher my skin got when I wore the mask. Yup, I got a Hollow mask that gave me a discount Hierro.

Fueled by this discovery and desire for more power, I went out hunting. 

This was where I fucked up.

“FUCK FUCK FUCK-!” I shouted out loud in the middle of the night as I ran from what I thought was a prey.

“Get back here!” the bear-like Hollow roared as it chased after me, running deceptively lightly on the rooftops of the houses while I sounded like firecrackers going off. 

“Fire bolt!” I shouted and waved as I spun around. The spell coalesced and fired off, only for the bear-like Hollow to dodge like a deer, jumping around like a maniac.

“I’m going to eat you slowly for that!” it shouted.

“Fuck off!” I shouted back at it angrily. I growled in frustration as it slowly caught up to me, but I wasn’t out of tricks just yet. I whirled around and extended my hands forward. “Entangle!”

From places where they should not be or even exist due to a lack of space, vines rose up on the expected landing spot of the bear Hollow, and when it landed, the vines latched onto its limbs and dragged it down, despite its attempts to jump away.

“Magic missile!” 

This should not have been possible. Entangle was a spell that needed concentration to upkeep, and even then, lasted only a minute. This was where the Hollow mask came into play; it allowed me to do things that should normally not work, like continuously concentrating on one spell while concurrently casting a new one.

Three whitish blue magic missiles formed around me and launched themselves at the Hollow. Unlike the fire bolt spell, magic missiles came in a bundle of three. While each of the missiles caused less damage, together, they created a greater quantity of damage. 

All three missiles struck the bear Hollow’s mask, and pierced through the mask. A great crack formed at the center and then the Hollow collapsed, dying. 

For a second, I let out a sigh of relief before hurriedly rushing over to the dying Hollow. I stopped two meters from it and quickly took a hold of the dissipating spiritual particles. Taking the mask off, I drew the power into the mask, letting it grow stronger. The sensation that I got from the mask when I did this was like a great vortex that grew with each successful hunt and drew in more and more of the spiritual essence before I shut it off.

Sometimes I wondered what would happen if I began to feed the mask my own essence.

I stood up and looked around. It was still midnight, and most of the denizens of Karakura Town continued to sleep without being aware of what had just happened. 

“Time to head home.”

If I was lucky, then I could sleep six hours tonight. 

Woo hoo!

-VB-

Morning came, I cooked breakfast for myself and Inoue, and then watched her go to school. While she was out, I practiced and studied the arcane, furthering very little despite having studied six hours and more.

As such, it was to my surprise that when Inoue came home, she brought a certain martial artist friend with her. 

“A-And this is my friend, Tatsuki.”

Inoue’s black-haired friend glared at me rather impressively. Inoue looked extremely troubled and tried to say something new to distract both of us, but neither of us were interested in her distractions.

The three of us sat in the living room on a Persian rugs I’d refurbished through liberal use of my spells. It was something that people recognized as related to affluence and connections; normal Japanese families do not possess Persian rugs or live in a warehouse.

I supposed that the latter was closer to Ms. Arisawa’s issue with me. She was probably worried about Inoue. 

“Why is she living here with you?” she demanded firmly.

“Because she’s my girlfriend.” I had no intention of hiding it.

Inoue blushed and Tatsuki’s head snapped towards her friend with a shocked gawk.

… But it looked like Inoue was still shy or uncertain about us. Sad, but not unexpected.

Teenagers and all that.

Tatsuki snapped back to me. “What makes you think that you’re worthy of her, yankee?!” she snapped at me.

Ah, there it was, the name-calling. She was way over her head in this situation, so she was resorting to anger. I wondered if she recognized it herself and allowed it to happen or didn’t and thus allowed it to happen regardless.

My first response would have been to defend myself; I quashed that reflex. 

My second response would have been to deflect the question towards Inoue, stating that it was more of her decision; this too was quashed because it would cause Inoue to feel stressed having to face her friend’s upset demands.

I settled on the third. 

“Though she is very different compared to me, I appreciate her and want to give back to her as much as and more than what she does for me.”

The not-completely-false romantic response.

Inoue blushed, and Tatsuki reared back in surprise, caught off guard by my answer. 

And then I added why I wasn’t taking advantage of Inoue. “I am rich and a teenager. If I was truly after Inoue for nefarious purposes, then there are other easier options to go after than a girl who has a loyal friend in a suburban prefecture of Tokyo. There are many orphanages spread through the city with girls just like Inoue without a lot of friends. Girls who can disappear and no one will care about.”

Both of the girls looked sick at the thought. 

I smiled. “It’s a good thing that I am not such a person, yes?” 

Inoue was not happy that I scared Tatsuki. For the first time since I got her, she used a card I hadn’t expected from her: no sex tonight.

Ugh.