10 The Playground
Kazuma departed early to scout the place where the quest takes place. He is not that familiar with Tokyo and has to use the map to locate it first before he started scouting and to see if it was a suitable place for battle.
He is a bit nervous about dealing with the Qlipoth. Although he has dealt with the Qlipoth before, that was an accidental encounter and the way he defeated a few of them are also in pure desperation and not something that he wanted to do in the first place. Right now, he is actively seeking out his target. Different ways to deal with it.
The Sakura Primary School is thankfully not that far from his home and he doesn't need to ride a train to get to the location, he just needed to hail a cab. Of course, he didn't go directly to the school and instead, asked the driver to drop him at the nearest coffee shop which isn't that far as well.
After paying the driver, he waited a few minutes before he head through the school. He decided to not wear his disguise just yet and went there normally. Classes are still ongoing but Kazuma already spotted a few kids running around playing with other kids. Perhaps a different time slot in class, he thought.
The playground mentioned in the quest is indeed present on the school grounds but contrary to his expectations, the playground is still being used by children and they are still playing on the little facilities the playground has to offer.
Still, Kazuma planned out and observed the area, especially the playground. Of course, he didn't forget and circled around the perimeter of the school and remembered a few of the key points of the area. Once he took a mental note of the place, he left and went to the coffee shop and ordered a coffee as he took out a notebook in his backpack.
Information is key to success here and although he didn't enter the school, he has a good idea of the layout. He made sure he does not look suspicious loitering around the place as that was a primary school and he might look like a creep, making his quest a bit harder as he can't just go in and do his quest.
He ordered normal black coffee with no sugar which is why it arrived much faster than other orders as it is much easier to make than the other orders like cappuccino and latte. One brew of coffee, pour into a glass, and done. Although not many liked pure black coffee, Kazuma liked it. Perhaps it is just an acquired taste.
Now with the coffee beside him, Kazuma started putting the plan into action. He started sketching the basic layout of the school, putting some notes on the small things he have seen so far and using that to his advantage. Without knowing how dangerous the Qlipoth encounter he will be having today, he is hoping it wasn't that dangerous. In fact, he hoped that everything that has been happening there was just an accident created by the playing kids. That way, it's easy money and easy quest clear without the need of risking his life.
He didn't commence the operation immediately. After all, the quest stated that his best bet on meeting the enemy is during dusk time. It's still a bit early so he will have to either pass the time somewhere else and wait. Since there was a nearby internet cafe, Kazuma decided to use that place as his means to wait until dawn. That way, he won't be bored waiting.
And so, the wait begins.
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Around 4 pm, Kazuma left the internet cafe. Kazuma wanted to make sure he is prepared for later on. And besides, the students are already being fetched by their parents so he is now sure that it's almost time for his job. He waited nearby and observed the situation at the school. There are still plenty of students around but it seems the faculty of the school only allowed the students to use the playground during the morning or break time as during the current time, Kazuma noticed that the playground is empty.
"Looks like they have decided to take action about that rumors huh? Well, perhaps they are trying to prevent more incidents then," Kazuma thought to himself.
However, it seems that precaution didn't work as a few moments later, one of the faculty teachers are running to the playground in a panic while some of the children are also crying. There is something happening there but I couldn't see what it was due to my current position.
I soon found out when an ambulance came out and the little boy is carried by one of the male teachers and drove off, while the teachers seems in shock. Based on what Kazuma saw, the boy was bleeding in his head and seemed to have lost consciousness.
Seeing the result, Kazuma is more nervous now seeing how the Qlipoth he is facing now is not a peaceful one. Although he cursed on his current bad luck, Kazuma steeled himself to ensure that he succeed. For the money.
After the little chaos, the students are being picked up much faster by their parents and in no time, all of the students have left. A few more teachers left when its almost dusk time and soon enough, everyone left.
Without anyone left behind, Kazuma has infiltrated the place. He put on his disguise and entered like a thief entering a private property, ready to steal some valuables. He already scouted the place so he also know where the security cams are and he made sure to move past them.
Sighing in relief as the playground has no security cam, Kazuma relaxed and pulled out his kitchen knife, ready, looking vigilant on his unknown enemy. The moment he entered the playground, the feeling started to get pretty heavy and Kazuma isn't liking that feeling.
Although he has no idea what to expect from the enemy, now that he is sensitive to mana, Kazuma can now feel the slight fluctuation of the mana in the surroundings. The moment he felt the sudden influx of it, Kazuma immediately dodged, barely dodging a shadow-like creature pouncing on him. It was big. As big as a tiger. It's not like a size of a dog or a cat, it's definitely big.
Kazuma has no time to think as the shadow enemy started pouncing at him again.
"F*CK! This f*cker is fast!" Kazuma cursed as the enemy is moving erratically.
Even though he is totally nervous, Kazuma keeps himself calm and collected in the situation and didn't panic. He started sizing up the enemy and its movements, looking at its every possible movement.
The enemy is fast but not fast enough that he barely can dodge the attacks, he can still do that. Kazuma made sure to keep an eye on the enemy or he will be injured and worse, die.
He didn't want to fire his magic into the enemy discriminately as well. His ability is fire and he has yet to learn any magic spells aside from fire so he needed to ensure he doesn't burn the place down due to his reckless way of fighting.
But he already has an idea of how to deal with the enemy. It might be looking like a shadow but it's pretty visible and every time it gets up, it wanted to pounce on him. Kazuma immediately thought of a good strategy for taking it down without being destructive.
As the shadowy enemy positioned itself, Kazuma also positioned himself and charged up his mana. Using all the info he learned before, he used it to his own advantage and waited. Soon, the enemy tried to pounce on Kazuma.
"Eat dirt, f*cker! Taste this!" Kazuma shoved his hands to the Qlipoth and fired off a blast, causing the shadowy enemy to blast off and die.
The heavy feeling he felt earlier disappeared. Kazuma sighed in relief as he sat on the nearby swing and wiped off the sweat he built up after he did the thing he just did.
"I did it..."
At the same time, the page of the quest that he took suddenly got labeled mission complete, and the little glow it had before faded out.
Kazuma's first mission: Success.
