Chapter 30: Appraisal Meeting ①

After that.

About a week had passed since the war with the Tsuchikurenai-ke.

Authorization was granted for the Soui house’s Soui Shuryakuma to avenge.

As a result, after the subjugation of the Tsuchikurenai-ke, credit would be awarded to Soui Shuryakuma.

Two women entered Shiga Inui’s room.

He scratched his head as he looked at them.

“Huh?”

At the unfamiliar term, he tilted his head and asked. Abarabana Tenri explained to answer his question.

“Within The Neutrals, the Jutsushi Kyoukai has a review body called the Ten Elders.”

The Jutsushi Kyoukai.

The organization managed information on registered sorcerers.

Officially, it was the monitoring of sorcerers; at the government’s behest—so civilians wouldn’t be dragged in—they kept up the appearance of honoring that promise.

Among its multiple bodies, the one called the review body was necessary to determine the value of sorcerers as beings.

“There, they convene a council focusing on those who distinguished themselves in war and evaluate sorcerers. Their ability, achievements, and threat level are assessed by ten appraisers to calculate their existence value in current monetary terms.”

In the past, during the Sengoku period, a sorcerer’s existence value was often expressed in koku.

In modern times, their estimated existence value came to be converted into Japanese yen.

“When wars between sorcerers break out, they assess the existence value of those who distinguished themselves. For example, my current total existence value is ‘1,020,000,000’.”

Normally, a sorcerer with only Flow Power and no sorcerous principles was “about 5,000,000,” and one with sorcerous principles was “about 10,000,000.”

From there, as a sorcerer’s grade rose, their value rose accordingly.

If a sorcerer with sorcerous principles is 10,000,000, then her price in the billions was a hundred times that—top-tier, one could say.

However, Shiga Inui still didn’t seem to grasp how amazing Abarabana Tenri was.

“…Is that supposed to be impressive?”

Naturally.

Abarabana Tenri seemed to see that coming.

She turned the topic toward Mineki Shian, standing beside her.

“Then… pardon me, Mineki-san, what about you?”

Perhaps daunted by being asked her existence value, the woman hesitated to answer.

“…ix…”

She murmured it faintly while averting her eyes.

Maybe she hadn’t been heard, so the other woman inclined an ear toward Mineki Shian.

“Sorry?”

She offered an ear.

Mineki Shian balked.

But then she opened her mouth and declared it loudly.

“…‘645,000,000.’”

That was Mineki Shian’s existence value.

Lower than Abarabana Tenri’s.

Hearing it, Abarabana Tenri couldn’t help but—

“Pfft.”

She puffed her cheeks and laughed.

Of course, she didn’t pretend she hadn’t heard.

Mineki Shian bristled.

“…What’s with that smirk?”

She shot a glare.

But Abarabana Tenri didn’t flinch.

If anything, she narrowed her eyes as if in ridicule.

“No… my apologies. I just didn’t expect that level after living for over a dozen years… fufu.”

Even Abarabana Tenri, living as a sorcerer, had earned many achievements.

As a result, her existence value hit the 1,000,000,000 mark.

As Shiga Inui’s property, her “rank” was low, but precisely because it was a time like this, she was taking the chance to mount and restore her self-esteem.

“Inu.”

A cool tone.

Shiga Inui nodded when he heard it.

“Ah—yeah. C’mon, ass out.”

He reached out his palm.

He stood, giving it a light practice swing.

He was about to smack Abarabana Tenri’s rear with his palm.

Her expression stiffened.

“W-wait, please! W-we’re not done talking yet!”

To escape punishment even a little, she continued.

“F-for people like me or Mineki-san, the appraisal can swing by millions—at most by tens of millions. Basically, evaluations rise up a gentle slope as sorcerers move slightly upward in rank. But if the achievements are tremendous, it can jump by the billions. For example, conquering a sorcerer war single-handedly… not that I’ve seen many like that…”

They’d had scuffles with sorcerers.

They’d negotiated to expand their territory.

With that level of accumulation, their current existence values had been formed.

So, a sorcerer who racks up billions in one go—one or two a year would be a lot. But… this year seemed to be a bumper crop.

“Ah— (Come to think of it, the Yukoku Clan… no, that wasn’t during my sorcerer days, so maybe that’s excluded?) So, that existence value—what was mine?”

Shiga Inui asked his own existence value without much expectation.