Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

Whoops, it was time to calm down.

Although the Totsuka no Tsurugi was apparently worth 3 billion sakuras, that would only be when it was in pristine condition. This one was obviously only a broken one, so of course it wouldn’t be worth the same price.

1.5 billion, then?

That would be foolish to expect. Something broken would be completely different from a complete and usable item. For instance, maybe a famous painting would be worth millions, but even that would become nothing more than worthless scrap paper if it was torn apart.

Perhaps that was why Natsuya remained calmer than everyone else here.

Although she was also the daughter of a rich family, 3 billion sakuras would be a tremendous amount even to her family. If this broken sword still had such value, it was unlikely that she could still remain so calm.

After their astonishment passed, everyone figured this out on their own, and calmed down as well.

Still, they were still somewhat excited.

This sword was still something so precious. Even if its remaining value was still only 1%, that would still be 30 million sakuras, an incredible find!

So, how much would this broken sword be actually worth?

Seiji asked Natsuya this question that everyone was thinking about. She replied, “I don’t know. In its current condition, it’s probably only worth the base materials used to craft a new one. I wouldn’t know how to calculate its current value.”

Alright, so it turned out that Natsuya didn’t know about everything in the spiritual society after all.

“So if this was really left behind due to a failed spell, what type of spell would that be? Why would it be left behind in the Realm of Cherry Blossoms?” Seiji continued asking questions that he considered to be critically important.

“Any spell that requires a Totsuka no Tsurugi will be a major large-scale spell or ritual. It will definitely be extremely important. As for the type of spell, that’s hard to say because this spiritual artifact’s main effect is simply to support large-scale spells, so it can be used for all sorts of spell formations,” Natsuya explained. “If I had to guess, the greatest possibility is that it was used for a sealing ritual. That’s because the original purpose of the Totsuka no Tsurugi was to eliminate and suppress demons. It was invented for the purpose of dealing with powerful demons.”

“A sealing ritual… Perhaps to seal away the Realm of Cherry Blossoms? Could this be something left behind by Soul Society after a failed sealing attempt?”

That seemed possible.

However, Seiji came up with another possibility that he considered more likely.

Perhaps this spiritual artifact sword didn’t actually belong to Soul Society. Maybe it belonged to the Tendo Family instead!

He had obvious evidence to back this up—Shigure Tendo’s body!

This sword had been found near Shigure’s body. Seiji felt that this was no simple coincidence.

Perhaps… this was the concrete evidence that the Tendo Family was secretly connected to the Realm of Cherry Blossoms!

When he realized this, he felt that it was time to call his older sister Yui.

…

Capturing the target, Kouran Tendo, didn’t go very well. But at least it succeeded in the end.

Next up would be interrogation. However, this wouldn’t be done by Yui, so she was able to rest for a while.

At this moment, she received a call from Seiji.

Something flashed in her eyes as she listened to her younger brother’s report.

Her younger brother had given her a great “surprise” once again!

“I’ll immediately head over to your current location,” she said instantly, and hung up after Seiji finished his story.

With how Yui didn’t say a single extra word and wanted to come over immediately, Seiji realized that he had indeed been immensely lucky.

No, more accurately, Kazuko had been the immensely lucky one.

When considering the value of this broken sword, he would need to reward Kazuko correspondingly.

Seiji glanced at Kazuko for a while before he finally picked up the broken sword for the first time to check it out.

He suddenly received a system notification as words appeared before him…

You have obtained a mystical item that contains Inner World Essence. You may use some points to absorb the Inner World Essence. Would you like to absorb Inner World Essence?

Inner World Essence?

Seiji’s gaze sharpened as he read this sudden unexpected notification.

What on earth was this new term?

Was this related somehow to the Inner World Crystals? Why could he absorb this essence? What would happen if he absorbed it?

Various questions popped up in his mind. However, his system remained as eternally silent as always. All it did was offer him the options Yes and No on whether he wanted to absorb the essence or not.

He didn’t know what would happen if he absorbed the essence… but since his system’s options were usually beneficial, he decided to try!

Seiji immediately chose the Yes option.

He then saw a progress bar on the absorption, which also listed how many points he was using up. Seiji simultaneously felt something flow from the broken sword through his arm and into his body!

This warmth made Seiji’s body begin to heat up as the warmth started flowing within him. It felt slightly discomforting, yet also slightly good. Seiji could faintly feel something deep within him becoming slightly stronger.

As the progress bar for absorption swiftly increased, the number of points he used up also increased at a shocking rate.

Luckily, this absorption soon finished. In the end, it cost him 392 points to absorb all the Inner World Essence from the broken sword!

He had spent almost 400 points just like that. And what he obtained in exchange was…

Absorption complete. The Spirit House now has a new room, the Soul Room. The Soul Room can be used for storing and saving spirits and souls. Every day, the Soul Room will produce and store Mana. You may obtain additional Mana from the Soul Room.

Seiji widened his eyes in surprise.

He actually gained an entire new room for his Spirit House, and this room could be used to store spirits and produce Mana!

He immediately wanted to check it out.

“Seiji, what’s the matter?” Natsuya noticed that he seemed to be behaving strangely.

“I… just absorbed some energy from this sword,” Seiji explained. “I’m not sure what this energy is… After I absorbed this energy, I gained a new room in my Spirit House that’s capable of storing spirits and producing Mana.”

What?

Natsuya widened her eyes in surprise.

Absorbing energy led to a new room appearing in the Spirit House… Was building a personal dimension that easy!?

Not only that, she hadn’t noticed that the broken sword contained any type of energy at all. Just what the heck was that energy supposed to be!?

Compared to Natsuya’s shock, the others didn’t really react that much. This was because the Spirit House already seemed miraculous enough to them, so they felt that there was no need to be astonished over a new room appearing. Although they were surprised, they didn’t feel like this was such a big deal.

“I’m going in to check it out.” Seiji opened the door to his Spirit House and entered.

He didn’t have Natsuya or anyone else come with him, since there was no need. Besides, the now one-handed Kungo still needed someone to keep guard on him.

When Seiji went to the living room in his Spirit House, he saw that a new door had appeared along with a sign that said “Soul Room”.

Seiji opened the door and instantly felt chilled.

Inside this room… it was snowing!?

To his surprise, the environment inside the Soul Room was filled with snow.

The ground was covered in snow, and snow was also coming down from the sky.

That was right, the sky!

This “room” had a tremendous area. It was impossible to see any of its walls. Seiji could only see a dense mist for a few meters. And, everything above was also gray and hazy!

Yet, the environment wasn’t the most important part… What attracted Seiji’s attention the most was a group of different orbs of light that floated on top of the snow at differing heights!

These orbs of light had many different colors, including red, yellow, blue, orange, and green. They seemed like burning flames, as well as water flowing in a zero gravity location. Some orbs were large, and some orbs were small. Some floated up high, and some were low next to the ground. Some were almost completely still, while some were moving slowly. Some had nothing on their surface, while some were flashing… This all seemed quite wondrous.

“What are these?” Seiji muttered to himself while looking at an orb of light close to him.

“These are remnant souls,” Yomi spoke up to answer him. “These are souls left behind by dead humans. You could call them soul shards.”

“Soul shards… whom do they belong to?”

“I don’t know.”

Seiji fell silent as he contemplated.

His system had absorbed the so-called “Inner World Essence” from the Totsuka no Tsurugi in order to create this room… no, this dimension. The soul shards here could only possibly have come from the Inner World Essence, which meant that broken sword. The sword was a spiritual artifact… used for powering up large-scale spells…

“Could these be the soul shards of the people related to the failed spell involving this broken sword?”