C67: Expert Exorcist Exam

A bald head had many advantages, Bets contemplated.

He didn't stress if he ought to wash his hair with a different shampoo for his hair. Also, he didn't stress about gum getting stuck in there.

But another underrated advantage was when the sun warmed his scalp. It was quite comfortable, like having a warm towel on his skin.

He walked down the Sun Kingdom's capital city with some classmates. The place was quite luxurious. No building was less than ten stories high, and people walked amok and always seemed busy.

The roads were well-paved, and luxurious carriages moved about. The whole place lived up to the name of the capital city.

Gem, Sei, Anika, and Agon were with him. They had taken this tour together for convenience.

Also, the headmaster was training Gem, Anika, Agon, and another girl named Miku. So they knew each other quite well. However, Miku and her team had gone ahead.

"Where are we going?" Asked Agon, drooling at the food stalls. People turned and glanced at them weirdly, and some even sneered.

'He's making us look like country bumpkins, and we're standing out too much. Should I punch him?' Bets decided not to go through with it. Punching him here would draw more attention.

They arrived at one of the city's inns, and the first thing that caught their eyes was just how crowded the place was.

"I don't think they will have any rooms for us," Gem grumbled.

"Whatever, let's just get some food. Then we find someplace else to rent rooms for the night." Anika put in her two cents.

"But make sure you're all careful," Sei warned them. This was maybe the tenth time he had spoken during their journey to the capital. He was a weird guy. Bets had never met someone so quiet.

They found a free table, and that's when Bets noticed what Sei was warning them about.

At first glance, all the customers seemed normal. But amongst them were more than a dozen people who were undoubtedly exorcists. The capital city was swarming with local exorcists and foreign ones.

'The headmaster told us that Kon will meet us here.' Bets trusted in the old man. He wanted them out of the academy as fast as possible.

With enemy exorcists so close by, they stayed quiet and tried not to draw attention. Bets wasn't worried about Sei or Anika making a scene. But Gem and Agon were a whole different matter.

"I still think that if it wasn't for you having a shitty Warrior affinity, I would be able to beat the living piss out of you in any form of physical contest," Gem stated with a confident smile.

Bets rubbed his forehead, feeling an incoming headache.

Veins wriggled in Agon's forehead. "Why don't you come and try me, you bastard! The only reason you're good at anything is because of your clan and Bets!"

They started a screaming match, which almost became a fistfight.

"Hey! You shitty brats! How bout shutting the hell up! Or I will rip your guts out!" Yelled out another person who was dining. He looked like a man in his mid-twenties and had an eyepatch like a pirate.

Bets had memorized the database on all exorcists. This man was Devon Perori, an exorcist from a neighboring island country. The man had a nasty aura around him and reeked of iron and salt.

He was accused of killing people under the excuse of them being possessed. Some rumors said that he dealt with an organ trading organization. There were always people like him who abused their powers.

If someone like that passed the Expert Exorcist Exam, he would undoubtedly use his privileges to commit even more vile crimes.

Agon and Gem stopped arguing, glanced at each other, and nodded. It seemed like they had come to an agreement.

They got up, and Gem threw himself at Devon, hitting the eye-patch man with a flying kick. "Who the hell are you calling a brat?! I will rip your other eye out too!"

Gem took the man by surprise in the first attack. Devon got up and was about to react, only for Agon to come along and punch him in the face. "Why're you only calling us out?! Everyone here is making noise! Do we look like easy pickings to you!"

Then with the man stunned, they went and tag-teamed him. They were punching, kicking, body-slamming, and elbowing the pirate mercilessly.

"Humph. As the vice-leader of your team, you should control them." Sei snorted in disdain. "If Kon was here, he would have easily put them on a leash."

'If Kon were here, he would have probably joined them in beating on the defenseless man. Also, Agon is on your team! Why're you betting on me to deal with him?' Bets didn't know how Sei got a skewed version of Kon in his mind.

But he would not trash-talk his friend behind his back. So he let Sei think whatever he thought was the truth.

Despite fighting a lot with each other and their personalities being polar opposites, Gem and Agon worked well together. While one was preparing to kick, the other was already kicking and not giving their victim a chance to retaliate.

Bets didn't know how to feel about this whole thing. How did they get so good at kicking a man who was already down? It took practice to get that good at something. He almost felt bad for Devon Perori, as they weren't giving the man room to breathe.

"How about you stop? You're ruining my appetite," stated another young man from the other side of the dining room. He covered the lower part of his face with bandages and a flute close to his concealed lips. "If you don't stop, I might take some drastic measures. After all, if I lose my appetite, I wouldn't be able to eat. Not eating is bad for the body, indirectly affecting the exam."

Gem scratched his ear with his pinky finger. "Hah? Say that again? I don't think I heard you that well. But it feels like you're looking down on us. Agon, don't you think he looks kinda arrogant?"

"He looks like a guy who overeats shit," Agon added.

"Yeah, and my mother always said you are what you eat!" Gem cracked his knuckles.

'Why does it feel like these guys only get along when fighting against someone else? Otherwise, they're always at each other's throat.'

Gem and Agon were about to get close to the man with the flute. But before they could do so, another man dropped from the second floor, where the inn's lodging was.

He landed between Gem and Agon, putting his arms around their shoulders. "C'mon now, everyone. Why don't we all get along? As fellow Exorcists."

The young man who appeared had a barrel on his back. He had circular glasses that were a bit too big. No matter how he moved his head, it seemed like light always reflected on the glasses, and his eyes couldn't be seen.

It was Kon, who they hadn't seen in quite a while. He looked like his normal self, maybe somewhat taller and his body slightly wider. But what stood out the most wasn't his physique.

"So you're their friend?" The flute guy narrowed his eyes. "How creepy. I can't sense you at all. As if you aren't there at all."

That was what Bets took notice of too. Kon's presence was faint, like a dying animal, or as if he wasn't there.

Gem looked like he was about to say something. But Kon turned toward him and smiled; the smile didn't reach his eyes and looked creepy, like something straight out of a horror movie. "I will crack both your heads open with a spoon if you don't shut up."

Spoon? Bets was confused but didn't question it.

Gem and Agon nodded. With little thought, they went back to the table.

"That's how you handle your team," Sei made a snide comment toward Bets. The latter didn't want to pick a fight, so he just let such small things go.

Kon's smile turned from creepy to malicious as soon as they sat down. Gem and Agon were annoyed that they hadn't picked another fight.

However, Kon whispered something to them, and all three had similar malicious smiles and would chuckle from time to time while staring at the guy with the flute.

This would make anyone uncomfortable, which seemed to be the same for the flute guy. He would fidget in his seat as if trying to quell his instincts. While the three were sending malicious gazes at him and snickering.

"Where have you been? The headmaster told us you would be here already," Anika asked. She had an annoyed look on her face. Which wasn't anything special; she was always annoyed for one reason or another.

"Well, you know what they say. The main protagonist arrives late but at the right moment." Kon smiled, twirling a knife in his hand as the food came.

He had ordered food for everyone.