“Hey, Gaijin! How did it go? Do you feel stronger?” I perked up as Wakao and the others who followed me walked over. They had been helping Minamoto treat everyone, so when they saw the old Exorcist near me, they promptly realized their jobs were done.

Yasuda and Takamori looked at the one-armed Matsumura next to me and the former pointed him out. “Did you make another follower?”

“How can you even say that with a straight face?” I asked, shaking my head. I turned to Matsumura and said, “Sorry about him. They are rather annoying.”

“No worries. I have to say – Seeing you accepted by more people is rather uplifting.”

“Hmmmm…” Wakao, like usual, sauntered up to the one-armed Samurai, looking up and down as if assessing something. “Where have I seen you before? You seem familiar.”

I looked at the interaction, and shot a glance to Minamoto from the corner of my vision. The man gave me a shake of the head… What did that mean?

Instead of getting an answer, Shinohara piped in, glaring at Matsumura. “I remember. He belongs to the Saints. There was a rally in the training halls before, and he was one of the new members.”

As if something sour had been forced into Wakao’s mouth, the man’s face twisted as he backed away from Matsumura. Yasuda and Takamori silently walked behind me, and I could feel some sort of friction beginning to build between the group.

I had no idea what was going on. The group of five seemed to back me up, but it felt more like they were against the inclusion of Matsumura. A frown marred my features as I turned on them. I had already experienced being excluded through living in the village, and while I easily ignored them, this was slightly different. Now, I wasn’t the one being prejudiced against.

“I think I need an explanation from you guys.” I said, feeling a bit of Life Energy slip into my [Presence Correction] skill. The area seemed to fall silent as my order slipped into the air. I hadn’t meant to be as overbearing as I had, but I was feeling a bit annoyed at the moment. Matsumura was the first person beside Minamoto who actively helped me out.

Yasuda grimaced. “I had forgotten you didn’t know. This is a bit… complicated to explain.”

“I can take over from here.” Minamoto cut in, looking over everyone here. He eyed Yasuda before pointing to the Samurai milling about. Most of them restlessly paced around while eyeing up our group every now and again. With my upgraded hearing due to my body stat, I heard most of their comments stemming around “that Gaijin.”

Suddenly, I felt like an animal on display. It was like I was no longer a person, but someone who was being actively excluded from the group. I idly thought that if it wasn’t for Minamoto, Matsumura, and the five others, would this have been what I went through constantly?

“We’ll go get everyone ready.” Yasuda bowed, offering an unsaid instruction. Minamoto just nodded with a smile.

“Tell them to rest till nighttime. We will have a better chance of encountering the Hyakki Yagyo, then.” Minamoto added, and the four Samurai and single Exorcist all scattered to go to work.

This left Matsumura with the two of us as he offered a pained smile my way. “Don’t bother worrying about what your friends said. They’re right, in a way. Just… I’ll believe what I want to.”

With those words, Matsumura left Minamoto and I. The older Exorcist sighed in the awkward silence, losing his signature smile. “I suppose it is time to tell you about what is the big deal about Gaijins.”

I shrugged. “I mean, its not hard to guess. Some bad guy came here and screwed things up, right? I can’t blame them for harboring a grudge. Though, it can be annoying.”

“Yes, annoying is one way to look at it.” Minamoto laughed, easing back into his smile. I found myself matching his own. “However, there is a bit more to it than just a Gaijin who came into our lands and ‘Screwed things up.’ The first Gaijin to ever cross the Storm Belt had brought every single kingdom and empire here to the brink of destruction. The next one personally took over half of the illegal operations in every single city before we even knew they had gone past the Storm Belt. Her organization is called the Saints, and as you might have figured, she is still around today.”

I felt horrified at the two examples. If that is the connotation of each Gaijin, then it was rather understandable that those village guards had been terrified of me. “That’s… then, is Matsumura a criminal?”

Minamoto shook his head. “Not necessarily. The Saints are more of a religious organization. They have been directly responsible for housing and caring for many of the less fortunate in most cities who haven’t actively hunted them down. Conversely, they are responsible for multiple insurgent groups who oppose the wealthy and nobility within many kingdoms, including Toshiki’s very own.”

Right, we had one Gaijin who was a violent, powerful warmonger, and the other who was some scheming, influential insurgent. And whenever people thought of me, they would definitely think of those two examples. Great. Just my luck.

Or actually, I am insanely lucky that no one has tried to kill me yet.

“I wouldn’t think too hard on this, mister David. It had been hundreds of years since the first Gaijin’s appearance, and the populace has had time to grieve. Sure, there are plenty who hold onto the past, but they are a minority.”

I raised an eyebrow. “And what about the villagers?”

Minamoto coughed hard, patting his chest and turning away from facing my squinted eyes. “W- well, the Saints are still a dangerous Gaijin-created group. I mean, look at the comrades you have formed just recently. They wouldn’t listen to you and joke around with you if they disliked you.”

“I guess it doesn’t matter right now.”

“Indeed. I just wanted to give you an idea on what to expect. In addition, I recommend you not to get too involved with people from the Saints. Most of them are just those less fortunate who have been helped, but those who will try to interact with you might not have your best wishes in hand.”

“I-” I paused to look over at Matsumura. After he left us, he had been going around and helping anyone who needed it. “I won’t abandon Matsumura. Even if he is part of the Saints or whatever, he- he helped me.”

Minamoto patted my shoulder with a smile. “I understand. I will defer to your judgement, so I just wanted to warn you of others. Now, shall I begin teaching you how to use that mask you gained from me? I did promise you my teachings again, after all.”

A shiver went down my spine as we finally were getting to this issue. I still hadn’t thought of how to breach the topic that I might or might not be some god to Minamoto. Sure, the definition of god was rather… imprecise when referring to me, but the floating screens haven’t lied to me yet.

As if sensing my unease, Minamoto backed off a bit. “Relax. I did tell you my transgressions do not carry over to the Priests of the gods. Maybe whatever god you contracted will give you a technique to use your soul stat better than I could teach as well. They might be interested since we are going to encounter a Hyakki Yagyo soon.”

I nodded silently. For once, Minamoto’s omniscient mind-reading skill wasn’t working. Whether that worked in my favor or not was up for debate, but his words were lingering in my head as he continued. “And, just a random question, how does a god give a technique out?”

“Hmmm? I am not too sure. It just happens, I suppose. You will have to ask an actual Priest – maybe look for someone who is contracted to the same god if possible.”

Once again, I nodded. That sounded reasonable. Everything sounded fine, really. Except I was probably the only one contracted to myself. I doubted there would be an idiot who would pick my name with two cooler, more indigenous-sounding names. Even then, I didn’t even know what being a god meant. Maybe it is based on intent?

Okay, I want to give myself a super awesome and powerful technique!

Right, nothing happened. It was expected, but having the answer thrown in my face is rather discouraging. Did I perhaps screw myself over with this decision?

I shot a glance at the class section of my [status], and sighed at how confusing I made things just because I thought I was unique for a second.

[Class: Rank 1]

[Acolyte - Self: One of the lowest of servants who worship a god. Your contract to god “David Wyatt” is a minor and unimportant one.]

[Stat Modifiers]

Body: 1x

Mind: 1x

Soul: 2x

Perhaps, I might never figure out everything. There were always more things to know. One being: how the hell am I worshiping myself? And how did I get demoted to the lowest of worshipers?! I am not narcissistic enough to to proclaim myself the greatest there was, but I sure as hell didn't have that little appreciation for myself.

Right?

“Are you ready for my teaching again, mister David?”

I sighed as I repressed the memories of Minamoto’s hell-training and ignored the slight annoyance that came from looking at my class. Always something to learn, but this time, I faced it head on. Either way, I wanted to be something other than dead weight on this mission. My friend, Minamoto, needed help after all.