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"Divine Dogs." Akuto pressed his hands together, forming a strange hand sign.
Immediately after, two giant wolves taller than a person slowly emerged from Akuto's shadow.
Those eerie green pupils terrified Kitamura and the others, making them stumble backward.
Okyu was so frightened that he even deployed his quinque.
"Second Class Investigator Akuto, this is..."
"Shikigami. They have a talent for finding people."
Without needing Akuto to say a word, the Divine Dogs approached the corpse and began to sniff.
Nishiyama's face was pale, but he mustered the courage to force a strained smile and said cautiously. "Second Class Investigator Akuto, those two wolves... they might scare ordinary people..."
Akuto nodded slightly, and the two Divine Dogs visibly shrank until they were the size of ordinary large dogs.
"This should be fine then."
Just as Akuto finished speaking, the Divine Dogs lifted their heads, caught a scent, and bolted in one direction.
Akuto followed immediately.
Kitamura, Nishiyama, and Okyu exchanged looks, gritted their teeth, and followed.
The ability to summon Shikigami was simply inconceivable.
Even if it turned out to be a wild goose chase, they wanted to see it for themselves.
However, they soon regretted it.
"Huff... huff... if I'd known... if I'd known, we would have driven!"
"Second Class Investigator Akuto's stamina is incredible!"
The three men were flushed; they had unknowingly run three kilometers and arrived at an old urban district.
The area was filled with detached houses and very narrow alleys.
Here, the Divine Dogs began circling in place, seemingly unable to pinpoint the exact location.
A few minutes later, the white Divine Dog let out a howl and sprinted toward a specific direction.
It was right across the street.
A sanitation worker was helping an old lady cross the road, chatting casually as they walked.
"Shunta, it's about time you started a family. You're over thirty now, aren't you?"
"Don't tease me, ma'am. How could someone like me start a family?"
The man called Shunta smiled as he helped the old lady to the other side and advised. "If you ever need anything, just give me a call. Please don't be a stranger."
"Thank you, Shunta. You've always looked after me. I'm really sorry for the trouble."
The old lady smiled and turned to leave.
Shunta's expression gradually darkened as he turned to face the four Investigators behind him.
*Swoosh!*
Without hesitation, Shunta bolted to the side, disappearing into the alleys in a few flashes.
"Catch him!"
Shunta kept running; he lived in the old district precisely because the complex terrain made it easy to escape.
However, just as he thought he was about to get away, a figure appeared at the mouth of the alley.
It was Akuto!
Shunta's footsteps faltered. He tried to run in another direction, only to find Kitamura blocking the way.
Shunta looked in all four directions; there were Investigators everywhere.
"Damned CCG investigator!"
"Why won't you just leave me alone!"
Akuto approached slowly without a word. The immense pressure forced Shunta to keep backing away until he actually fell to his knees, snot and tears streaming down his face.
"I really am a good person!"
"If you don't believe me, ask around! Everyone here has been looked after by me."
"And that woman I ate..." Shunta explained anxiously, "She was a slut!"
"She made her living by scamming men out of their money. I never eat good people... really!"
Kitamura and the other two had complicated expressions, but their hands opening their quinques didn't hesitate for a second.
"You can't run anymore. Surrender."
"I really can't die... I beg you... I don't want to die..."
"Finished talking?"
Akuto's low voice rang out above him. He looked up hopefully, just about to beg for mercy.
*Splat!*
Akuto threw a punch, and Shunta's head instantly exploded!
Even the Kagune bursting from his body was a step too slow.
"So weak."
Akuto took out a handkerchief to wipe his hands, then tossed it onto Shunta's corpse and took out his phone to dial a number.
"Second Class Investigator Akuto, this is Koyomi. Is something wrong?"
On the other end of the line, Koyomi's voice trembled slightly as she asked tentatively.
She was truly afraid right now.
Afraid that she would hear news of another Investigator under her charge being sacrificed.
The moment Akuto's voice sounded, her heart finally settled.
"Ghoul elimination successful. Have the cleanup crew come over."
"Yes! I'll arrange for people to go over immediately!" Koyomi's voice was full of excitement and thrill.
"Alright then."
Akuto hung up, turned around, and waved at Kitamura and the others.
The remaining three looked at each other in bewilderment.
This was the first time they had ever seen such a terrifyingly fast extermination!
From discovering the body to finding and exterminating the Ghoul, the total time elapsed was less than 40 minutes.
And his strength was absurdly high!
"The records show it's a B-Rank Ghoul, 'Big Mouth'."
"B-Rank..."
The three of them looked a bit bitter. If they had been the ones to find this Ghoul, they would have likely faced a bitter struggle.
They might have even been injured.
Yet Akuto had killed it with a single punch.
"Is his hand made of quinque steel?" Nishiyama crouched down and poked the Ghoul's corpse with his quinque.
"I didn't expect it to be an Ukaku. It'll definitely make a great quinque."
"Should we go grab some lunch together?"
"Oh no, I forgot to invite Lord Akuto."
At this moment, none of them noticed that their way of addressing Akuto had changed from Second Class Investigator Akuto to Lord Akuto.
"Ah, this is great... working with Lord Akuto is so easy."
"I feel a bit guilty, though. It's like we didn't do anything."
"Speaking of which, Lord Akuto is so strong, yet he's only a Second Class Investigator. Is headquarters blind?"
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"Hey, what are you dazing off for?"
Slacking off at his desk, Akuto looked up to see Akira looking down at him, her eyes full of disdain.
If an otaku saw this, wouldn't they be shouting 'Step on me, Mommy?'
"Are you going through menopause?"
A vein popped on Akira's forehead as she grabbed Akuto and started pulling him out:
"You've been here all day, and not a single person has asked you to eat with them."
"You small-fry NEET."
Akuto rolled his eyes. Was it because no one wanted to invite him?
It was because no one dared to.
Only Akira was familiar enough with him; others felt pressured just being near Akuto and didn't dare speak much.
The two of them arrived at a ramen shop.
Akira ordered and asked with an air of indifference, resting her chin on her hand:
"Did things go smoothly today?"
"It was okay. Took out a B-Rank Ghoul."
"Did you just happen to run into it?"
Akira knew very well how difficult it was to track a Ghoul.
First, you had to confirm its range of activity from multiple angles, then conduct extensive interviews to try and get a description of its features.
Then you'd list suspects, and there were often hundreds of them.
After that came the long process of elimination.
You'd rule out humans based on lifestyle habits, work, places they frequented, and so on.
Once the scope was narrowed down, it was time for surveillance.
And that was the hardest step because most Ghouls were difficult to tail; you could only start making contact once the suspect list was small enough.
This was the step where the most Investigators were sacrificed.
Because a seemingly normal human could reveal their kakugan at any moment.
And until it was certain the target was a Ghoul, an Investigator couldn't act recklessly.
So Akira naturally assumed Akuto had just stumbled upon the Ghoul.
"No, I tracked him. He was a sanitation worker."
"That guy hid himself really well. If it weren't for the Divine Dogs, I wouldn't have been sure. Before he died, he was even shouting about how he only ate bad people."
Akuto laughed as he spoke.