Chapter 42: The First Demon Hunt: 3
Chapter 42
The entire keep remained silent as the Adept Sorcerer made his speech. He congratulated the children on making it to the dawn of their path as exorcists while saying a few other things that Megumi didn’t care to pay heed to. His attention remained intently on what was about to come next after the sorcerer’s grand speech.
Today was supposed to be their first demon hunt after all, and while he did know how the hunt was supposed to play out, he couldn’t help but be eager to hear the rules once again.
After a short pause, the man’s voice echoed once more.
"For your inaugural demon hunt, you will all be assigned to teams of four, with team compositions determined by your respective abilities. Your primary objective is straightforward: you are to locate and exorcize the demon that is concealed within your designated sectors."
Megumi lowered his gaze and looked around the room; he had repeated the same action so many times that he had lost count. There were so many faces; children all the same age as he was gathered in the castle keep, waiting patiently for their names to be called.
Each of them possessed a unique ability of their own, one that set them apart from every other person in the room. What difference would he actually make in a group with three others? What was he supposed to do after he got assigned to a team? Pick up the leader’s mantle as he should—or rather—step to the side and let someone else do the honors?
He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.
... He wanted neither.
But he was going to have to choose soon, and he knew better than anyone else what his decision was going to be and would continue to be even at the end of all this. Leadership was something that would constantly be expected of him, a destiny he couldn’t run from.
He trusted his capabilities as a sorcerer better than anyone else’s, but then... why the hell was he suddenly shaking in his boots at the thought of doing what duty demanded of him? All he had to do was lead a bunch of kids; what was the worst that could happen?
As if he weren’t a kid himself.