I Became a Genius by Running Away From the Academy

69 – Encounter on the Journey (3)

“Are you a gentleman?”

At my sudden words, Tagame looked at me curiously.

“Yes, I know there is a shabby shrine deep in the mountains near here, but I came all the way here because I really wanted to visit it.”

“Eh, even if you suddenly say that…… Abandoned shrines abound in this area.”

I have heard that there are shrines everywhere in Japan.

“Are there any other peculiarities?”

“Hmm, like the fact that there are a lot of torii gates in the mountains and forests?”

“Ah, if you are there, you know.”

“Huh? Really?”

I was told that I gave a hint, but I was a little embarrassed because I didn’t think it would come out right away.

“Yes, I am from Tokyo.”

After Tagame said that, he lightly drove the motorcycle to a stop in front of the stairs leading to the mountain.

“If you are that gentleman, keep going up these stairs and you will be there.”

“I knew I was on my way, but this is closer than I thought.”

I looked at the stairs for a while, then made up my mind and got off the motorcycle.

“I’m sorry, but I’m going to go up there for a while, so please wait here for a while.”

“Yes? But…… “

“Oh, no. Come to think of it, it would be better to stop and go back without having to wait for me. You should do your work now.”

“Oh no! Still, as a younger sister Dori, I have to wait here…… !”

“Captain!”

Tagame said that, and the moment she was about to reject my words, the long-haired man who had been chasing us first waved the device and said,

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“It’s a call from above.”

“sh*t, of course…… “

Tagame pondered for a moment at the long-haired horse, then folded her waist and bowed her head towards me.

“Sorry. I guess I should go first.”

“It’s okay, thank you for driving us this far.”

“No! Rather, I was grateful!”

Saying that, Tagame bowed her head once more, led her group, and disappeared.

“Well then, shall we check here one last time and then go to bed early to prepare for tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

As Erio said that, he naturally climbed onto my back.

She then pointed with one hand to the steps leading up to the shrine.

“Let’s go then.”

“Yes, yes.”

At Erio’s urging, she pushed her foot toward the first torii at the top of the stairs.

Pass-

At that moment, the trees decorating the mountain trembled slightly, announcing the arrival of an uninvited guest.

◎ ◎ ◎

In terms of experience, after climbing the stairs to the height of the 10th floor of the building, I finally found the shrine that was the purpose of this trip.

‘If there were no shadows, I would have died in agony.’

My first impression of seeing the shrine was simple.

“I knew it, but it’s much more shabby and creepy than I thought.”

As if to show that people’s footsteps have already been cut off a long time ago. There were also cracked or broken Buddha statues along with overgrown weeds in the shrine.

And in the center of all that was a broken-down shrine that reminded me of an abandoned house.

As I saw it through the game, the basic image was already in my head.

But when I saw it in person, the feeling was different.

‘It’s good that you came.’

While thinking about that, Erio asked.

“Is this where Eugene talked about hiding?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

I nodded to Erio, who carefully selected his words and asked questions.

Then I walked into the forest at the back of the shrine, where a giant tree and a torii exist together.

‘I was a little worried, but luckily each torii gate has the same marks as in the game.’

I continued walking, relieved that I didn’t have to worry about getting lost.

Tabak-

Then, as soon as we arrived at the center of the forest, unlike before, we were greeted by a lake as clear as a mirror surrounded by four huge torii gates made of stone.

With Erio on my back, I looked closer.

Then I saw a bluish full moon rising in the middle of the lake.

‘I wonder if it will open around dawn.’

When I was thinking that while looking at the moon over the lake.

Kahah-!

Suddenly, the cries of crows came from all over the forest, followed by a silence that could only be described as unnatural.

Erio, confirming the change that had taken place around him, slightly raised his mana.

At that moment, someone’s voice came from beyond the forest.

-Leave……

A voice that sounds hollow and horrifying, like an echo.

The two who heard him looked at each other for a while before opening their mouths.

“Disabled.”

“Yes.”

At Doujin’s words, Erio reached out behind her head and manipulated the two hairpin-shaped artifacts she was wearing to turn them into OFF mode.

-Leave……

At that time, a more horrifying voice was heard from beyond the forest once again.

Ugh-!!!

Erio closed his eyes, accepting the full sense of himself he had suppressed.

Do Yoo-jin looked at the figure with half a step back.

To control Erio’s senses by using the ability of the characteristic, in other words, it also means to suppress Erio’s ability.

Using artifacts to control the senses uses a fundamentally similar principle.

-Floating……

In other words, in a nutshell.

“Over there.”

Pajijijik–!!!

Now, Erio, who is completely free from the power of the artifact, is an existence around me.

For example, it meant that you could clearly see where a person who was trying to scare people or a ghost was hidden.

A lightning bolt extending from Erio’s fingertips wrapped around the tree in front of him and exploded.

“Kyaaah!”

Then, instead of the dreary voice I had heard earlier, I heard the screams of a man who seemed to belong to a woman, followed by a person falling from a tree.

“It must have been a human, not a ghost or monster.”

Don’t misunderstand, this world is not the original Earth I was in.

Since the beginning, this world has been permeated with various mysteries such as the inner core method, vampires, and magic.

Due to the disaster of the dungeon, the mysteries just surfaced.

“Yeah, I didn’t show any signs of attacking, so I ended up knocking him out. Are you an assassin?”

“Well, but rather than calling this an assassin…… “

I went to the base of the tree and stared at the woman who had fallen unconscious.

Like clothes that look highly active with strong Japanese characteristics.

Like wearing something that looks like a mesh on your legs.

A mask that covers the face up to the nose.

The hints were overflowing from the glass, so I muttered nonchalantly.

“Ninja?”

Even though I was the one who said it, my head got complicated.

Of the many strategy videos I’ve seen, I’ve never seen a ninja appear out of nowhere.

Haa-

‘As things went wrong, something else happened without me knowing.’

That’s when I reflexively reached out for it, wondering.

Faah-!

From far away, I could feel the guys running from the forest, throwing stars and shurikens at us.

‘How many did you throw?’

The shadow on the sleeve of my dress slithered like a snake.

I moved the shadow with the intention of getting rid of it in case of emergency, but Erio moved as if he was saying that he was overly worried about me.

Pajijijik-!

Erio lightly moved his hand, and powerful golden lightning created a dome-shaped curtain around us.

Erio, who easily parried the attack, looked across the forest with a slight frown, as if he felt bad about being attacked.

“Hmm?”

In the meantime, Erio turned his head towards somewhere as if he felt something.

With her senses comparable to radar, she found that there was something familiar permeating the situation.

Percussion-

A guy came down to the ground as if he felt Erio’s gaze.

“Why are you here, Erio?”

Erio didn’t say anything after hearing that.

The person who brought it down seemed to think it was some kind of brawl, but it wasn’t.

‘Who are you?’

Erio was just puzzled because she didn’t know who the person who appeared in front of her was.

It’s easy to misunderstand just looking at the way she always hangs out with Han Yujin, but Erio basically wasn’t friendly with others and had no interest in them.

Han Yujin and Memery’s case was unusual, but in the case of Darcy’s morning class, it was normal to end the class without saying a word.

Through her sense of radio waves, she could tell that she was one of the students in the same morning class as her.

But that’s all, Erio didn’t know who was talking to her right now, or what her name was.

Fortunately, however, there is someone here who can untie the knot of these crossed arrows.

“Fuma Shigure?”

When her face appeared unexpectedly, Yujin Dou muttered that involuntarily.

Then Fuma Shigure looked at Doujin with slightly widened eyes, as if asking, “What are you doing?”

When they are all perplexed by this series of unexpected situations.

“Ha ha ha! What is it, our Shigure’s friend?”

Somewhere along with a loud laugh came a voice that could only be described as boisterous.

“Now, wait…… !”

Before Shigure heard him say anything.

Wow!

A large man with a perfect voice appeared among them along with dust.

Even when the man appeared, Shigure didn’t give up and tried to stop him, but he was quicker to open his mouth.

“Looks like the kids who became close with my daughter in the circle! I can’t let my daughter’s friend who came to visit me like this!”

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Ssik-!

“I invite you both to our village!”