"Long time no see, Mr. Akira."
"It has been a while, Lord Asai. What can I do for you?"
"My family is holding a banquet in a few days. Would you honor us with your presence?"
Akira paused, fingers that had been tapping lightly on his game controller stilling.
When it came to heirs nurtured by prominent families, they may not all be talented, but they were never fools.
At least this Lord Asai was sharp—he had willingly saved Akira face that day even at the cost of his own pride, leaving promptly after a single exchange. It was clear that he had his reasons.
This was what one would call "saving face." Though it wasn't a huge favor, just enough to give Akira a call, it still counted.
And that was precisely why Akira hated owing people favors.
Due to the particular nature of his profession, he was always the one in the superior position in any deal—he was the one being "invited," the one with the authority to refuse under the guise of spiritual seclusion, avoiding all sorts of messy social obligations.
But if he owed someone or needed something from them, his position would no longer be so firm.
He couldn't very well decline someone's invitation today only to beg for a favor from them tomorrow.
Sure, he could throw away his pride and do it anyway, but the more he owed, the deeper the debt.
And as an onmyoji operating outside of society's norms, the karma and retribution of every transaction had a weight to it.
An invisible scale measured every gain and loss. Too much or too little on either side would entangle his fate in even more complicated cause and effect, inviting unnecessary trouble.
So if he owed something, he had to repay it—down to the last bit.
Even with pure business deals, that rule applied. Transactions bore no gratitude or resentment.
Money and goods cleared the slate. Payment was exact—not too much, not too little. No greed, no deficits. While it didn't completely remove karmic impact, it minimized it.
Take the case with Utaha. Even though the proposed deal was mostly driven by his own desire, it was equivalent in value to what needed to be done.
The fact that he had lazed about for three years without issue was the best proof of that.
But favors were not the same as business transactions. In fact, favors were the messiest kind of karmic entanglement. That was why his favors were extremely valuable.
Equivalent exchange was fine. But giving without compensation would only lead to even more tangled karma—a true headache.
Akira let out a sigh.
Whatever.
I did lust after her body. If I want to gain something, I have to give something in return.
After a moment's thought, Akira replied, "Your family banquet is too crowded and noisy. Pick something else."
He hadn't yet received a favor from them, so this alone wasn't enough to make him go.
On the other end of the line, Lord Asai was actually delighted. To these families, Akira represented good fortune—some even believed he affected fate itself.
He was elusive and unattainable, yet no one dared ignore him. Naturally, they all wanted to get close.
But until now, Akira had never shown closeness to any one family, nor accepted anyone's invitation. This call had just been a shot in the dark.
That Akira was even considering it—even with such a modest reaction—was already a pleasant surprise.
"Then… how about the Spencer family? I happened to receive an invitation to their event.
It's a smaller gathering, mostly among acquaintances. The atmosphere is nice, and there won't be any active politicians or officials."
Spencer?
The sudden appearance of a Western name made Akira pause.
What was stranger was the faint sense of familiarity—as though he'd heard that name before, though it wasn't particularly important.
Still, the three points—small in scale, a friendly gathering, and no political bigwigs—fit the threshold he was willing to attend, so he didn't dwell on it and simply agreed.
"Sure. Just don't drag me around introducing me to everyone."
"Of course not, I understand. I'll come pick you up the day after tomorrow—"
"No need. Just send me the address. I'll be there on time."
"Understood. I won't disturb you further then, sir."
After hanging up, Lord Asai went cheerfully to report his success to his elders.
Getting Akira to attend anything—even if not their own family banquet—was enough to signal something significant. It was quite the political accomplishment.
Back at his place, Akira lay on the sofa, staring at the ceiling illuminated by the glow of the television. After a long silence, he sighed.
"If it causes trouble, then so be it. As if I'm scared of that..."
He willed open his system interface.
A Yin-Yang Taiji symbol floated before him, then split into two halves, revealing several uneven light bars, and a menu below where he could toggle to the skill tree.
First was the blue bar, maxed at 1335—a literal "mana bar" representing his spiritual power.
He wasn't sure whether that was a lot or not, but after traveling around and meeting a few genuine spellcasters and yokai, he found that hardly any could even compare, and all of them lost to him.
Of course, the witch was an exception. She didn't count.
Next was the white bar, which represented his "gain."
Onmyoji could accomplish things ordinary people couldn't, but they also had limitations normal people didn't—one of which was that they couldn't "possess" too much.
This wasn't about transactional balance, but rather the total amount of things one could hold in life. It wasn't just money—wives, children, all of it counted.
Currently, the bar had only filled a little over a third, indicating his accumulated wealth.
If he ever exceeded the limit—without even committing major karmic wrongs—the excess alone would trigger calamities and losses.
The more he exceeded it, the more severe the consequences.
Compared to others in his profession—most of whom could only live modest lives or even lived in poverty—he was already in dangerously extravagant territory.
The final bar was a short golden one.
It represented merit. There was no visible upper limit on its container.
To be honest, the thing was pretty mysterious.
Aside from being used to increase the white "gain" bar, it seemed to have no other use.
Still, Akira never dared spend it. Once he figured out how to obtain it and what it could do, he'd left it untouched.
When he first arrived in this world and received the system, he tried committing a minor evil—and the gold bar, which had been at zero, immediately dipped backward and turned an ominous black.
While nothing disastrous happened then and there, he had a feeling that whatever was on the other side of that bar, it wasn't good.
Terrified, he had gone on a charitable spree just to bring the bar back to normal.
He had no desire to find out what was on the dark side of that gold bar. At least now, even if its meaning was unclear, it looked pretty and reassuring.
After glancing over the overly branched skill tree, he casually maxed out the basic "talismans" skill, closed the system, turned on his phone flashlight, and picked up the takeout menu on the table.
Due to labor costs, there weren't many delivery options in Japan, and prices were high. While money wasn't a problem, the lack of variety was annoying.
Still, being indecisive was better than having no choice at all.
He flipped through the menu repeatedly, bored of all the usual options. Looking up at the dark room and too lazy to get up and turn on the lights, Akira suddenly felt a little lonely.
"Come to think of it… should I hire a maid?"
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