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Chapter 14: The Bookshelf Devil

Chapter 14: Chapter 14: The Bookshelf Devil

Although Aki Hayakawa had always been used to working alone, after interacting with the boy in front of him several times, he felt they could get along.

For some reason, the other boy seemed to understand him rather well.

On top of that, when facing the Crab Devil earlier, the strength and mentality Kotone had shown were both excellent.

Young private Devil Hunters were usually afraid when facing devils. Even if they killed a devil, they would often be left with some psychological trauma. But the other boy’s mentality showed none of that at all.

So if Aki wanted to find a partner, the boy before him would be a very good choice. Not only could they get along, but his strength and mentality were both formidable.

The only question was whether the other party would agree.

"A partner? Sure."

Kotone Asaba accepted without the slightest hesitation.

He had always felt that Aki Hayakawa was very likely included among the Affinity Codex pages that had yet to be unlocked, so there was no harm in making contact early and raising his Affinity.

Because Kotone agreed so quickly, Aki was the one who ended up a little surprised.

"My name is Aki Hayakawa. I’ll be in your care from now on."

Aki Hayakawa reached out to Kotone Asaba.

"I’m Kotone Asaba. Same here."

Kotone Asaba took Aki Hayakawa’s hand.

After that, they went to find a guild staff member and register their information.

Once they formed a partnership, they had to register it with the guild. That way, after hunting down devils, the two of them could share the achievements.

After they officially became partners, Kotone Asaba also learned about Aki Hayakawa’s record.

Aki Hayakawa had only been a private Devil Hunter for a few months, but he had already hunted down more than a dozen devils. Although they were all devils that seemed relatively weak, that record was already extremely impressive.

Devils did not appear very frequently. Sometimes, an entire area might not have a single devil appear for a full day, and there was a strong element of randomness.

After all, who knew when a devil that had originally been in Hell would reincarnate and suddenly descend somewhere in the human world?

Of course, reincarnation was not the only method. They could also be sent to the human world by the Hell Devil. It was just that this sort of situation was extremely rare. In the original story, Makima came from Hell to the human world to search for Pochita by being transported by the Hell Devil.

At the same time, Aki Hayakawa also saw Kotone Asaba’s record.

"You only registered as a private Devil Hunter two days ago, and you’ve already hunted down two devils?"

Aki Hayakawa was immediately surprised.

This was not just a matter of luck from devils randomly appearing. One had to know that when Devil Hunters used devil powers, they usually had to pay a price. For example, when he used the Fox Devil’s power, he had to offer some flesh as payment. So each time he used that power to hunt a devil, he needed several days to recover.

However, there were also a few exceptions. Since the conditions of a contract depended on the devil’s mood, some devils might demand a very light price. He guessed that Kotone Asaba was probably in that kind of situation.

Afterward, Kotone Asaba and Aki Hayakawa continued waiting in the hall.

A full two or three hours passed before the two of them finally received an announcement about a devil sighting.

They accepted the mission at the first possible moment, before the other private Devil Hunters in the hall could even react.

"It’s that kid Aki Hayakawa again. That guy is seriously relentless. Every time he’s in the hall, the moment a mission appears, he’s almost always the first to take it."

"If it were a multi-person mission, that’d be one thing, but this one seems to be a solo mission, and he still snatched it. He doesn’t even have a partner. He’s hogging it all by himself."

"Speaking of partners, doesn’t the person next to Aki Hayakawa kind of look like his partner? Hasn’t he always worked alone?"

"Huh? That kid’s actually willing to find a partner now? I thought he was going to keep working by himself forever."

Some of the surrounding private Devil Hunters began discussing it.

Just as they said, the mission Kotone Asaba and Aki Hayakawa had accepted was a solo mission.

Of course, a solo mission did not mean that only one person could do it. Someone with a partner could also bring them along.

Multi-person missions were generally issued when a very powerful devil appeared. If one or two private Devil Hunters could not deal with it, multiple people had to be gathered to exterminate it together.

Only after Aki Hayakawa had beaten everyone else to accepting the mission did he begin reading the mission details. "This time, the target is the Bookshelf Devil. The location is the library... Isn’t that nearby?"

"The library, huh? That is pretty close. Let’s hurry over."

Kotone Asaba had only gone to the bookstore two or three hours earlier. Walking there from here would only take about ten minutes.

There were always taxis parked in front of the guild entrance. Devil Hunters were always in a rush whenever they went to hunt devils, and taking a taxi was undoubtedly a relatively fast method. Taxi drivers generally charged Devil Hunters a little less.

By taking a taxi, Kotone Asaba and Aki Hayakawa quickly arrived at the library.

They could see many people and library staff fleeing from the library. Screams, crying, and all sorts of chaotic noises rang out without end.

"There are definitely still people inside who haven’t escaped. Let’s hurry in and save them."

After saying that, Aki Hayakawa immediately ran into the library.

With his extremely sharp insight, Kotone Asaba was the first to discover the Bookshelf Devil’s location.

The Bookshelf Devil had the shape of a rectangular bookshelf, but countless human hands grew from its base, allowing it to move. Each compartment on its front was a mouth, and above every mouth was a bloodshot, terrifying eyeball. From inside the mouths, bloody, intestine-like tongues would stretch out as its method of attacking people.

At this moment, someone over there was about to be attacked by the Bookshelf Devil.

"I’ll save the person. You take care of the Bookshelf Devil."

The moment his words fell, Kotone Asaba’s figure vanished instantly.

His right eye absorbed himself and Pochita, while he used the Kamui in his left eye to open a spatial opening near the Bookshelf Devil, allowing him to move instantly.

Seeing Kotone Asaba’s instant movement, Aki Hayakawa’s eyes immediately flashed with shock.

Just as the Bookshelf Devil’s tongue wrapped around a girl in a high school uniform and was about to drag her into its mouth to eat her, Kotone Asaba suddenly appeared beside the girl.

He placed his hand on the girl’s shoulder, causing her to "phase" together with him and Pochita. The Bookshelf Devil’s tongue immediately lost its target.

The Bookshelf Devil still had no idea what was going on.

"Kon!"

Aki Hayakawa formed a fox-head gesture with his right hand, and the Fox Devil’s head instantly appeared out of thin air, directly devouring the Bookshelf Devil.

"Can I swallow it?"

Aki Hayakawa heard the Fox Devil’s voice.

"...Do what you want."

Aki Hayakawa’s tone carried some hesitation. Although he was not short of the small amount of money he could earn from selling the Bookshelf Devil’s corpse, he now had a partner, so he also had to consider his partner’s feelings.

However, he still agreed to the Fox Devil’s request and let the Fox Devil eat the Bookshelf Devil. If the Fox Devil was in a good mood, the price it demanded from him would be lower as well.

If his partner minded, he would personally pay him compensation.

However, Kotone Asaba did not care about that sort of thing at all. What he cared about right now was that the high school girl in uniform before him just happened to be Kobeni Higashiyama.