Becoming a god in a low-key way in the supernatural world

Chapter 118 The Evil Star Arrives

"Information on the Plague Demon? You encountered the Plague Demon?"

On the phone, Yasuhiro Ishikawa's voice suddenly became tense: "The plague demon is no joke. Kill it if you can, don't let it escape! No, don't give it a chance to unleash the plague!"

"Don't worry about that, I just suddenly became a little interested in plague demons..."

At 2 p.m., on his way back to Tokyo alone, Kotegawa casually spoke into his wireless earpiece: "After people die, do they become plague demons?"

"That's possible!"

Yasuhiro Ishikawa gave a slightly more certain answer: "Although it cannot be confirmed, there are many records that the dead have turned into plague demons and become enemies."

"This isn't normal, is it? What could be causing it?"

"I'm not entirely sure, there are many different opinions on this... One theory is that after a person dies, their body rots and breeds diseases, and the spirit of the dead may become a plague demon... Another theory is that plague demons are messengers of the plague god. Although they may have been human in life, after death they return to the plague god's gaze and become new messengers. Yet another theory is that the souls of the deceased encountered plague demons, were infected and became new plague demons, and attached themselves to things related to plague demons, becoming plague demons in the form of tsukumogami..."

Yasuhiro Ishikawa listed four possibilities in one breath, and after catching his breath, he continued, "Each of these theories seems to have some merit, but so far, there hasn't been a single confirmed example. Historically, plague demons have been hunted down more than once. They are too terrifying and their lethality to ordinary people is too great. Even the monsters will kill them when they encounter plague demons."

"Those guys who turned into plague demons are really unlucky!" Kotegawa casually replied while pondering the various possibilities.

“That’s really bad luck, the worst kind of bad luck imaginable.” Ishikawa Yasuhiro agreed wholeheartedly, then added, “I’ll send you the information on the Plague Demon after I get off work. We can grab a bite to eat together, it’s been a long time since we’ve eaten together.”

“Okay…” Kotegawa responded first, then pondered for a moment and said, “That little fox is hiding in the Inari Shrine now. If you can see her, please give her a letter for me.”

"Hmm, that shouldn't be a problem. I just visited her the day before yesterday to ask her to help solve a case..." Ishikawa Yasuhiro's tone was somewhat doubtful: "Did you have a falling out with her? Did your last conversation not go well?"

“Oh, no…” Kotegawa said calmly, “Inari God is a stingy person, he didn’t let me into His house.”

“Uh…” Ishikawa Yasuhiro was speechless.

The two talked for an hour. Kotegawa hung up the phone, stepped on the gas, and the car roared into Yamanashi Prefecture.

At 5:30 p.m., he drove home. Before he even got out of the car, he saw four girls, Yujia, Qingkong, Xiaoniaoyou, and Hutao, each carrying something, walking towards him from the opposite side of the road.

"Oh? What a coincidence!" Youjia raised her hand to greet them, and said crisply, "Welcome back!"

"Welcome back..." Qingkong Hutao and Takanashi each said. Hutao looked around and asked in surprise, "Didn't Aunt Qiuye come back with you?"

Kotegawa drove the car into the garage first, and after getting out of the car, he replied, "No, something else happened, so I didn't let her come."

Earlier today, he spoke with both of his girlfriends on the phone, giving a brief overview of the situation at home, but omitting the fact that Yang Jie had become a plague demon.

"Alright, but if you're really sick, it's better to come to Tokyo. The hospitals here are definitely better than those in Ina," Kurumi advised.

Qingkong also said, "You can't be careless when you're sick; it's very painful."

“That’s true…” Kotegawa suddenly seemed to be deep in thought.

He almost forgot one thing...

The little bird looked around anxiously and asked, "Did we buy too few vegetables?"

The plan was for everyone to go to her house for dinner today.

"It's okay, it's okay, there's plenty of cooked beef in the fridge!" Youjia patted her chest loudly. "I guarantee there will be enough to eat!"

"Stop taking pictures, it'll only make it smaller." Kotegawa said casually, which immediately drew a furious glare from Yuka.

He looked at the girls and said with a smile, "You guys eat tonight. I made plans with Ishikawa-san to have dinner together, and I also have some things to take care of."

Hu Tao asked casually, "So, you'll be home tonight?"

"I need to go back again," Kotegawa said softly. "There are some clueless guys up to no good. I won't be able to sleep well tonight if I don't deal with them."

Hu Tao thought for a moment, then pointed to herself: "Then I'll go too, I think I can be of help."

She specializes in assassination and has also studied torture techniques.

Kotegawa shook his head: "This time I went with Ishikawa-san. He was afraid I would have murderous intentions, so he took the blame for this."

Hu Tao paused for a moment, then said meaningfully, "This Ishikawa-san is quite kind."

"He's a really good person."

As soon as he finished speaking, he turned his head to look behind him, and several girls followed his gaze.

A special vehicle slowly drove up and stopped at the entrance.

Yasuhiro Ishikawa got out of the car, a smile appearing on his weathered face: "Yo, good evening."

"Good evening to you too." The four girls bowed slightly, which was not impolite.

Kotegawa waved his hand and said, "Alright, see you later. Call me if you need anything."

He got into the car, sat in the passenger seat, and left with Ishikawa Yasuhiro, watched by several girls.

Ishikawa Yasuhiro, who was driving, shook his head and said, "I was thinking of finding a good place to have a nice meal."

Because I had to go to Nagano unexpectedly, I could only eat dinner on the train.

Kotegawa, who was flipping through files on plague demons in the passenger seat, said, "It's alright, I have some otherworldly specialties here. You've probably never tried them before, right?"

"Special products from another world? What are they?" Ishikawa Yasuhiro immediately became interested.

"A very firm and delicious meat, you'll definitely want to come back for more after you've had it once." Kotegawa kept everyone in suspense: "I'll give you one after I'm done with this. This kind of meat is very rare, and I only have two left now."

Ishikawa Yasuhiro perked up completely: "Such a rare ingredient? Great! We're in for a treat!"

Kotegawa recalled the taste of the giant toad meat: "The meat was absolutely fresh; it had been frozen the whole time."

"Fresh? As sashimi?"

"What's so good about sashimi? Just make it into grilled meat..."

"That's a great idea!"

The two chatted casually about food and drinks, then boarded a special department-exclusive car at a nearby station and sped off towards Nagano at Shinkansen speed.

At the same time, a large number of specialists from the Special Division Headquarters of Nagano Prefecture were dispatched to a hospital in Ina City.

Chapter 118 The Evil Star Arrives

Chapter 119 The Evil Star Arrives (Part Two)

At 7 p.m., Kote River once again set foot on the land known as Nagano.

Yasuhiro Ishikawa answered a phone call, grunted a few times into the receiver, and after hanging up, he looked around for a car to pick him up while saying, "Our people have surrounded the area, but they haven't made a move yet; they're waiting for us to get there."

Kotegawa tilted his head slightly and asked the question he hadn't had a chance to ask earlier: "Ishikawa-san, why are you able to command the Special Division here in Nagano? Actually, it would be fine if just the two of us went."

“Hehe…” Ishikawa Yasuhiro said modestly, “I was promoted in April and joined the Special Division as the head of the Operations Investigation Department at headquarters.”

The head of the first section is actually quite good. Although he may not be a high-ranking official, he definitely holds an important position.

The head of the investigation department, especially the head of the investigation department at headquarters, is a powerful figure with the authority to mobilize special agents to cooperate in their work throughout the country... except for Heian-kyo.

Kotegawa was somewhat surprised, and congratulated her, "Great, it's finally your turn!"

“That’s already an exceptional promotion… I was only promoted to section chief last year.” Ishikawa Yasuhiro shook his head. “It really is an exceptional promotion, otherwise even if you had a rocket in your ass, it wouldn’t matter.”

Before becoming the class monitor, he had been a junior member for almost five years.

Without his achievements last year, his promotion would still be a long way off.

To say the least, it's unbelievable that people are getting promoted every year like this.

"However..." he suddenly sighed, "I guess my time as a minister is almost over."

Looking back on his achievements in getting promoted, the Evil Spirit Society, the Ghost Princess, the Giant Ghost Incident on the Street... each and every one of them is enough to brag about for several lifetimes. In the future, it will be hard to find an event that is bigger than these.

But it's alright, at least the days ahead will be more stable, and I'll have more nights to get a good night's sleep.

Kotegawa, who was standing next to him, pondered for a moment and then tentatively suggested, "How about we go together next time we go kill some great evil god?"

Ishikawa Yasuhiro's face twitched violently. He was still terrified by the Viper God. Its aura, which seemed to destroy the world, almost scared him out of his wits just by looking at it.

"Thank you... but no need!" He forced a smile that looked more like a grimace: "The evil god is so terrifying, even if I said I killed him, no one would believe me!"

Kotegawa thought about it and realized it was true. He nodded sadly and said, "It's a pity."

There are rewards for killing evil gods.

He hasn't even gotten a single bounty for the most powerful monsters he's killed so far, and he feels like he's lost more than a little bit.

Ishikawa Yasuhiro didn't know what expression to make, so he changed the subject, saying, "Actually, this position has been vacant for a while now. The last minister was that woman."

“That woman… oh, is she Kurumi’s master? Hattori Tomoko…”

Yasuhiro Ishikawa nodded repeatedly and said in a low voice, "There's some truth to that. Although Tomoko Hattori left, headquarters has been waiting, wondering if the Hattori clan would send someone else. But after waiting for so long, they only got news that Tomoko Hattori went overseas, and that's when they started to soften their stance."

"Hattori Tomoko went overseas?" Kotegawa was taken aback again. The last time he heard news about her was when she escaped from the hospital. He hadn't paid attention for a while. Had she actually gone abroad?

"I left once I recovered from my injuries. Although I don't know why, I didn't try to hide it when I left."

Kotegawa hummed in agreement: "I wish her good luck."

As long as Hattori Tomoko stops using that perverse desire to control Kurumi, whatever happens to her is none of his business, and he won't care.

At that moment, a car with a special marking finally pulled up, and the two stopped talking and watched quietly.

After the car stopped, a young man in uniform got out and rushed to Ishikawa Yasuhiro, saying in a flustered voice, "I'm so sorry! I've kept you waiting! I, I..."

"Don't be nervous, we just arrived too," Ishikawa Yasuhiro nodded, without mentioning anything else.

He rose through the ranks from a staff member and understands this sense of apprehension very well.

At that time, Hattori Tomoko was a very important person to him; she could send him to some unknown corner with just a word.

"Yes!" The young man, covered in sweat, was almost in tears.

Kotegawa watched silently, recalling the issues circulating online about the Special Department's internal problems, such as seniors bullying juniors. These issues were no longer news; they had become commonplace and part of the professional culture.

It smelled absolutely awful.

He didn't say anything, and got into the back seat of the car with Ishikawa Yasuhiro. The young commissioner drove carefully, and they headed towards their destination.

The two people in the back seat stopped talking and closed their eyes.

The young driver barely dared to breathe, trying to keep his breathing shallow, his eyes fixed on the road ahead, wide open like saucers.