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Chapter 21: The Contrast

Chapter 21: Chapter 21: The Contrast

The bullet was only about the size of a fingernail, yet it had greatly strengthened the Carp Devil. That was a piece of the Gun Devil’s flesh.

Kotone Asaba had no intention of keeping the piece of Gun Devil flesh for himself, because he would have to hand it over to Public Safety later.

Ordinary people were not allowed to possess pieces of the Gun Devil’s flesh without authorization. Even private Devil Hunters could not. Only Public Safety Devil Hunters were permitted to hold Gun Devil flesh.

Once they saw that the Carp Devil had been completely killed by Kotone Asaba, Aki Hayakawa, Ouchihara, and Ryoko Yamada finally dared to relax.

Looking at the "fins" the Carp Devil had shot all over the surrounding area, Ouchihara and Ryoko Yamada still felt a lingering chill. If Kotone Asaba had not saved them just now, they probably would have died here today.

They just did not know how this boy had done it. It was as if the Carp Devil’s attacks simply could not touch him, and that effect had even extended to them as well.

They would never forget the sight from moments ago, watching spike after spike pass straight through their bodies while they themselves remained completely unharmed.

What kind of Devil contract could grant an ability like that?

At that moment, Kotone Asaba walked over to Aki Hayakawa and handed him the piece of Gun Devil flesh in his hand. "You’ll be joining Tokyo Public Safety soon. This is a piece of the Gun Devil’s flesh. When the time comes, as a Public Safety Devil Hunter, you’ll be allowed to possess this thing."

Aki Hayakawa froze slightly. "Aren’t you able to join Public Safety too?"

"Didn’t I already say it? I don’t plan to for now."

"All right. Thanks."

Aki Hayakawa’s hand trembled slightly as he accepted the piece of Gun Devil flesh. The reason he was so desperate to enter Public Safety was precisely so that he could legally possess pieces of the Gun Devil’s flesh.

He had already investigated everything clearly. If enough pieces of Gun Devil flesh were gathered, they could lead to the Gun Devil’s main body. Among all the Public Safety branches across Japan, Tokyo Public Safety had collected the most pieces of Gun Devil flesh. Through Tokyo Public Safety, it would also be easier for him to learn more information about the Gun Devil. That was exactly why he insisted on choosing Tokyo Public Safety.

Aki Hayakawa gripped the piece of Gun Devil flesh tightly, and his expression turned cold.

He felt no disgust whatsoever.

There was only deep hatred in his heart.

He would never forget how the Gun Devil had once destroyed his family in an instant.

Everything he was doing now was for the sake of taking revenge on the Gun Devil!

The Carp Devil’s corpse had already been sold on the black market, and the money from the sale was split equally between the four of them. Although Kotone Asaba had done almost all the work, he had his principles, and he was not short on money anyway.

However, the Carp Devil’s corpse was not worth much. Since the piece of Gun Devil flesh had already been removed, the Carp Devil’s strength had returned to its original level. On top of that, the corpse had been badly dismembered, so it could only sell for a few hundred thousand yen.

Unless they sold the piece of Gun Devil flesh too, of course. That thing was the most valuable part, but the black market would not dare take it. Trading Gun Devil flesh was illegal.

The only option would be to deal with the yakuza, and Kotone Asaba had no interest in that.

What he cared about was not money, but the reputation he could gain after hunting Devils.

They had already returned to the guild hall.

Kotone Asaba discovered that he had already been given some initial media coverage.

However, it was not about the Carp Devil incident. The media did not report that quickly.

Instead, it was about the fact that he had hunted three Devils in Chiba over the course of two days, which had caught the media’s attention.

Newspapers, television stations, radio broadcasts, all of them had reported on it, calling him a genius boy who had appeared out of nowhere.

Although it sounded a little cringe-worthy, the higher his reputation became, the better.

"I heard the Devil you encountered this time had eaten a piece of the Gun Devil’s flesh. Is that true?"

At that moment, someone asked Ouchihara with a curious look.

Because when the four of them returned to the guild, a Carp Devil had been added to their records. There was also a special mark noting that the Carp Devil had possessed a piece of Gun Devil flesh, so the news had quickly spread among the private Devil Hunters.

Quite a few private Devil Hunters found it hard to believe. After all, no private Devil Hunter in their area had ever successfully killed a Devil that had eaten a piece of the Gun Devil’s flesh. When encountering that kind of Devil, private hunters were usually crushed one-sidedly and had no choice but to request support from Public Safety.

Even across all of Chiba Prefecture, there had only ever been one case of private Devil Hunters successfully killing that kind of Devil. In that instance, the piece of Gun Devil flesh had been extremely light, so the boost it provided to the Devil had not been very significant.

That was why someone had specifically come over to ask Ouchihara whether it was true.

"Of course it’s true. It’s written clearly in my record. But this time, I was just lucky enough to benefit from someone else’s work. This operation was basically entirely thanks to that young guy named Kotone Asaba."

Ouchihara looked to be in a very good mood. The weight of today’s record was truly substantial.

However, both he and Ryoko Yamada knew very well that they had only benefited from Kotone Asaba. Without Kotone Asaba, forget completing the mission successfully, whether they could have come back alive at all would have been a question.

With today’s record, he and Ryoko Yamada would very likely receive invitations from Chiba Public Safety. But they knew perfectly well that they did not have the ability to become Public Safety Devil Hunters. If they went to Chiba Public Safety, they probably would not live very long. It was better to stay comfortably in the private sector.

"It was entirely thanks to him?"

The man immediately looked toward Kotone Asaba on the other side, his eyes full of surprise.

This boy looked so young, yet he actually had that level of strength?

It was not just him. Some of the other Devil Hunters nearby had also heard what Ouchihara said, and all of them found it hard to believe.

"Come on, don’t joke around. Aki Hayakawa was with you too, wasn’t he? With Aki Hayakawa’s strength, he must have contributed a lot, right?"

"Exactly. If you said the four of you beat that Devil through perfect teamwork, I could believe that. But saying that little guy did it all by himself? How is that possible?"

Ouchihara had known these people would say something like that.

"You people had better not underestimate that kid. I’m really not joking. You could say he’s the strongest private Devil Hunter I’ve ever seen. If you still don’t believe me, you can go ask Aki Hayakawa."

Seeing Ouchihara’s serious expression, which did not look like he was joking at all, everyone had no choice but to believe it.

They were all extremely curious about who this boy really was. Before this, they had barely had any impression of him at all. Who would have thought he was actually this strong?

What shocked them the most was that this boy seemed to be doing homework right now...?

Kotone Asaba was currently working through the collection of past exam questions he had bought earlier. From an outsider’s perspective, it really looked like he was doing homework.

A Devil Hunter with such incredible strength was still a student who had to do homework. The contrast gave everyone an overwhelming sense of shock.

Quite a few of them felt completely defeated. What had they even been doing as Devil Hunters? Comparing yourself to others really could drive a person crazy.