C51: Family

My family congratulated me on my academic success and called me back. That was the gist of the long letter they had written and filled with flowery words.

At least there was no assassination mission, for now.

"Oh, so they just want you back?" The headmaster sounded disappointed.

Old man! Stop treating my life like your own damn private show!

If he were anyone else, I would have made my discomfort clear. But this headmaster of mine didn't respect things like boundaries and personal space.

He was the kind of guy who would do crazy stuff and annoy people solely because it was entertaining. The more it irritated someone, the more he would do it. Why was every strong Exorcist weird in some kind of way?

"I will set off immediately," whatever the clan wanted me for, it couldn't be anything good. So it was better to get rid of this now.

"Can you take Agon with you?" Headmaster asked.

"No," I answered. I knew he would ask this. For whatever reason, he wanted Agon away from the academy. If I got too involved, I would become an active participant in a dangerous situation. "You could put Agon on the same team as Sei and maybe even add Anika. I think they would make a good team."

In the manga, they formed a team during the Expert Exams Arc. Surprisingly, they worked pretty well together. Anika should have finished developing her special ability by now.

I was about to walk out, but I suddenly stopped and got an idea. Would it work? I don't know. But it didn't hurt to try. "Also, headmaster. Agon has shown interest in seeing if he has Hybrid Affinities. Can you help him with that?"

Since I had decided to tell Agon about something he would have learned later. It was safer to make Agon stronger than the original, just in case things went south. Him becoming stronger would only be a good thing.

Also, Agon was my friend; if I needed his power, I only had to ask. He was the kind of person who would rush head-first into danger for a friend.

"Sure," the headmaster shrugged without a care in the world. "Should I also tell your friends you will meet them in the Expert Exorcist Exam?"

As soon as he said that, I turned around and looked at him.

How did he know that?!

"Judging by your face, I was right on the money. Wasn't I?" He smirked confidently.

Fuck!

Now I see why some people considered the headmaster annoying. No one liked being read like an open book.

Should I say something about his secret to him? I bet telling him I knew about the bandage demon would unnerve the old man.

But I resisted the temptation. Doing something like that and exposing myself just to be petty would be pretty stupid. That's the kind of thing a Japanese isekai character would do to look 'cool'.

"Yea, tell them," I smiled, trying to act as if I wasn't disturbed.

After going out, I contemplated telling my friends goodbye.

We had just come back after six days of partying through the roads. So we were pretty good pals by now.

But at the same time, just disappearing out of nowhere would make the next time we meet pretty fun. We will probably get into a fight. I couldn't wait until the next time we met again.

..

I left the academy with only a fishbowl and a small backpack.

"So it's just you and me now, Carpy." He fluttered about in the bowl and stared at me.

I took out a small map and compass and walked north, where my clan HQ was.

I wasn't in a rush; there weren't any written time limits on the note. Carpy was the only company I would have for a while. At least there was someone to talk to.

Carpy was a great listener.

…

It took four days before I finally caught a gaze of the compound of the Dark Sword Clan.

The place was in a valley between two mountains. It was like a Japanese-styled castle surrounded by walls. It was almost as big as a twenty-story building.

There was a lustrous charm about it that wasn't like something that someone could typically build.

I took a deep breath. The place reeked of grass, and the smell was a bit strong, as if it was hiding another scent.

The feeling of fresh air filling my lungs was a feeling I could never get used to but always enjoyed.

As I approached the ancient-looking castle, a fog started settling around me.

It was some kind of defensive mechanism, so I didn't try to fight against it. There was little I could do even if I tried.

But not even twenty seconds of walking straight through the fog. The mist got so thick I could barely see my hand.

This was some kind of barrier technique to confuse any intruders or attackers.

I kept walking, and a tunnel opened in the fog, where I saw gates as big as a standard house. At the gates was a woman with wrinkles in her eyes. She waved at me.

My heart almost stopped and then started beating again, faster than usual. I had Kon's memories, but they were like watching a movie and had no emotions attached. "Mother, you seem well."

As I got closer, she hugged me tightly. "Look at you, my little boy. You've grown so much."

It hadn't been two months since the original Kon left the Dark Sword Clan to go to the academy. But I knew how mothers were. They always worried about the smallest of things.

So despite not being her real son, I hugged her back. "Mother, I'm home."

I felt something wet dripping down my eyes. No matter how I felt, this was Kon's body, and he cared a lot about his family. I quickly wiped my tears before anyone could see. They were now my family too.

Maybe I wasn't as emotionally detached from Kon's memories as I had initially thought.

"I heard all kinds of good things about you. But we were worried sick when we heard that the Demonic Exorcist had attacked the Academy," she started explaining and glanced down.

What was she looking at?

I followed her gaze, and she was staring at Carpy.

"Son, why are you carrying a fish bowl? Also, why is there a carp in it? Don't goldfish make better pets?"

"It's a long story," it was not a long story. But it was useless to explain to someone about demon evolutions and all that.

I had read enough stories in my past life where the isekai protagonist would explain and then get laughed at. I wasn't a genius, but I wasn't that dumb either. "It involves a blind exorcist, a gate, and a carp swimming up a river. Maybe I will tell you the story someday, mother."

The inside of the clan compound was even more extravagant than the outside. There were dozens of statues with numbers on them. Each of them was a clan leader.

Though our clan was just a bit older than three hundred years old, the clan heads changed quite often. Being the head of an assassin clan disguised as an exorcist clan wasn't the safest job around these parts.

We entered one of the houses; it was my house if Kon's memories were correct. Every building was very Japanese-themed too.

A man with short dark hair and stubble leaned on one of the house pillars with a green cup of tea in his hand. The cup had no handle. The man stared at me and smiled.

Despite being a man in his forties, he looked like someone in his mid-twenties. Ord was quite the magnificent energy. "Well, look who finally decided to come home."

"Hey! Kon is here!" Yelled out another clan member that was walking by. "How have you been, Kon? No one at the Academy brought you any trouble, did they? If they did, we could go and crack a couple of skulls!"

Despite being a clan of degenerate people, they were quite nice to their family members. How could someone who killed people in cold blood on a regular basis be so normal? I didn't know.

But one thing was for sure. The main protagonists' always had family problems. Agon's father was dead, and he didn't even know his mother.

As far as I knew, his grandfather should also be in that strange place. Maybe dead? Whatever it was, his family was not around.

On the other hand, the spoiled, arrogant young masters always had good families.

My family would be perfect if it wasn't full of murderous psychopaths.

Soon a lot of the clan members clattered around me when they heard of my return.

One of the older clan members patted me on the shoulder. "I heard you held back the Demonic Exorcist."

Why the hell does this rumor get more ridiculous the more I hear it?

"As expected from someone of our great clan," the elderly man nodded with pride written all over his face.

"Everyone, please step back!" A feminine voice stopped all the clamoring.

The crowd split in two like Moses split the sea. On the other side was a young woman with long dark hair and red eyes. She wore short jeans and a crop top.

She was the definition of fan service. With her distinctive looks, I would've known if she had appeared in the manga. She hadn't.

A new array of Kon's memories plundered into my mind. Like when we were kids, she taught the younger me how to remove a cockroach's limbs while keeping them alive.

"Lord father has summoned you," she said. Her stare was like that of a predator hiding behind a gentle demeanor. Even her soft smile was nothing but a mask for her twisted mind.

This was a fucked up family!

******

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