"Why the hell do I have to be the leader?" I asked, and they looked at me as if I were stupid. Which would have earned Agon and Gem punches in the face, but this wasn’t the time to get down at their level.

Sure, I knew how to plan certain things when I had future knowledge, but I wouldn't consider someone who literally knew the future and made seemingly good decisions based on that knowledge a good leader in other situations. We were going into unknown territory, and I didn't want to bear that heavy responsibility.

Sometimes, being a follower was also okay, and I could relax knowing that people much smarter than me were stressing out about the future.

"Well, duh, you're the guy who always has a plan," Agon stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, and the others nodded along. When did the shounen protagonist, who didn't have two brain cells to rub together, become the voice of reason?

Before I could question my 'subordinates' a little more, the Moon Exorcist arrived, carrying an old and battered map.

"This is the only map I have found of the area," he said. "Not a lot of people dared explore or map these mountains, ever since they became Shuten Doji's territory."

It seemed like no matter what, I would end up with the leadership position. So it was time to act like one. "You have told us your demands. How about we tell you ours?"

After all, I hoped he wasn't thinking we were going on such a dangerous mission without some kind of reward. Sure, I was going to take Agon to the frontlines anyway, but since the Moon Exorcist wanted that too, I had to get some rewards out of this for everyone.

"Tell me what you want," the Moon Exorcist seemed ready to listen to my request as he pushed up his glasses.

"The monetary reward is obvious, a thousand gold for each of us. But on top of that, I want all of us to gain the rank of Elite Exorcist if we accomplish something that could change the tide of the war," I laid out my demands. Obviously, I went a little too high with them, but this was a negotiation tactic. He would try to go lower, while I would accept anything above the real goal I wanted.

"Sure," the Moon Exorcist nodded without an ounce of hesitation.

Did he just accept my outrageous demands?! If he pushed for all of us to become Elite Exorcists, he might lose his ranking. Hell, he might even be excommunicated. Also, did he just have 6000 gold lying around? That was pretty much the wealth of a medium-tier Exorcist Clan!

For something I was going to do anyway, that was one hell of an incentive!

The Moon Exorcist played along, and we talked strategy afterwards. Gem and Agon weren't listening, of course. Instead, they whispered amongst themselves like two kids who always sat at the back of the class and were the noisiest duo.

The plan of the Moon Exorcist was a bit complicated since we had to slip past enemy lines, a.k.a Uwabami. The plan was simple on paper though; we just had to cause chaos amongst the demons and buy enough time for reinforcements to arrive. At the same time, the Star Exorcist would draw all attention away from us by attacking the demon lines that didn't have Uwabami in them.

After memorizing the plan, we set off immediately. We went out of the cave and used some hovering talismans the Moon Exorcist gave us, and we jumped up. We easily took the leap, and the talismans burned up, having enacted their effect.

As soon as my feet touched grass, I took out the map he had given us, with the routes and possible dangers. I took one last look at the map and ripped it to shreds.

"Why did you do that?!" Anika exclaimed in panic.

"We won't be following the route. He agreed to our outrageous demands too easily, almost as if he was sure it wouldn't matter since we won't come out of this alive," I explained. But my real reason was much simpler, and what I said was just using a good-sounding excuse.

The Moon Exorcist wore glasses that reflected in the light. By shounen terms, he was a scheming bastard who would betray us all. He was untrustworthy!

Sure, he seemed nice and all that, but I didn't trust any word that came out of his mouth. But saying out loud that I didn't trust someone because they wore glasses sounded crazy.

"Now we just need to come up with something on how we can sneak past enemy lines," Sei said.

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I nodded and was about to respond when Bets raised his hand. "I have an idea about that. How about we use Ord suppression talismans?"

Those were a bit dangerous since they slowed Ord circulation in someone's body, with the after-effect making them hard to detect. It would take a second or two to be able to use Ord in case of a surprise attack.

Although the level of danger could be mitigated by Carpy's sensory abilities, I did not need the talismans since I could naturally suppress my own Ord as a Master. Gem should also be able to do the same, but considering that his Master affinity was only around 30%, usually it was very difficult to control Ord without Perfect Me.

However, the real problem was that we did not have the required talismans on hand. I explained this to Bets, but he smiled and pulled out five blank pieces of paper. "After the Expert Exams, I realized that since I didn't have a combat-oriented ability, I had to cover for that weakness."

He crouched down, took out a sealed bottle of ink, opened it, placed the paper on the ground, and dipped his finger in it. Then, he imbued the ink with Ord and started writing the talismans with printer-like precision.

In less than a few minutes, he finished making the talismans and handed them to everyone. "Try them and see how they work."

Immediately after putting them on, their presence grew to that of a mosquito. I glanced at Carpy, and he nodded. It seemed like even though they suppressed Ord, they were not absolute, and Carpy could still sense them.

"Ready to set off?" I asked my team.

They looked at me, eyes brimming with determination, and all answered at the same time. "Yeah!"

…

We dashed through forests and fields, encircling the battlezone where Uwabami had been. My heart felt heavy, knowing that trouble was likely with Agon around. But I took the extra long route to avoid a chance encounter with Uwabami.

We ran through steep, rocky mountains and luckily encountered only low and middle class demons, which Carpy easily disposed of. As we were about to exit the mountain, we saw something strange.

A young girl in her early teens lay at the foot of the steep, rocky cliff. Her hair was a striking shade of black with bold, crimson stripes woven through it, and a single, striking stripe of red adorned her choppy, side-swept bangs. There was a crater around her that suggested she had fallen from a high height, but her body appeared to be intact.

Since we were almost past the enemy lines, I didn't want to make any unnecessary stops. The girl also wasn't normal, as she had no injuries despite falling from such a height. Whatever the reason for her lack of injury, I didn't want to get involved and turned to notify the others of my decision.

However, when I turned back to the group, I noticed that Agon wasn't there.

"Where the hell did he go?!" I asked, already knowing the answer. Looking down, I saw him walking toward the girl.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Never before had I wanted more to grab someone's head and cave their skull in with a rock than I did now. I glanced at Carpy, and he shook his head. "She feels like a lingering spirit, a weak one too."

"Maybe she has an ability that makes her body steel-like or increases her defenses. That would explain the crater," Sei suggested. But by the look in his eyes, it was clear that he hadn’t settled his hate for demons yet.

Whatever Sei’s emotional state, the assumption of the situation he made was logical, but this was Agon we were talking about. Anything abnormal involving him had to be related to something dangerous.

"We need to go down there and grab the idiot," I said, and we all jumped down. The ground below our feet cracked when we landed, but we were all okay.

"Hey, are you okay? This is a bad place to sleep," Agon nudged the girl, but she remained in a deep sleep, snoring softly with a snot bubble that synced with her breathing.

As the rest of us cautiously approached her, I couldn't help but notice the unmistakable scent of alcohol wafting around her. It was as if the air itself was saturated with the sharp tang of liquor, making it difficult to breathe. The stench seemed to cling to her clothes and hair, a telltale sign that she had been heavily drinking for quite some time.

Dread settled over my heart, and suspicion grew within me about who this girl was. But I didn't want to be right.

Before I could stop Agon from nudging her, the girl opened her eyes groggily. Her yellow eyes had a dark slit running through the middle of her pupils, resembling those of a snake. The feeling of dread increased tenfold.

Then, she looked at Agon, sniffed the air, wrapped her arms around him, and said in a sing-song voice, "Master Orochi~ Master Orochi~"

"Ow, ow, ow! Stop that!" Agon complained, but no matter how hard he pushed, it had no effect. "Ow! You're breaking my neck!"

The rest of the team immediately removed their Ord-sealing talismans and got into fighting positions.

"Stop!" I said, putting my hand in front of them. They looked at me weirdly but still followed my orders.

The snake-eyed girl clung to Agon and sang, "Master Orochi~ Master Orochi~"

My brain worked overtime as I tried to think of something. But no matter how hard I thought, no strategy or scheme worked against that kind of power.

Agon coated his body with Ord, increasing his strength, and tried with all his power to break free from the girl's hug. "Let go of me!"

The girl's arms didn't move even a millimeter, no matter how hard Agon tried.

"Hic!" The girl hiccuped and looked at the rest of the group. Her snake-like eyes danced from one of us to another in a hypnotic way. "Do any of you have any sake?"

We were fucked…