Becoming the Young Heir

It was pretty much what I had guessed. They had summoned me this time simply to tell me that the old fossils had finally decided to push me forward as the Young Master.

Although they might have wanted to put me in my place when I first walked in, making a great show of reprimanding me, they ultimately let the matter drop without so much as a punishment.

...Wow.

This really was...

-Fantastic!

Sure enough, my dad-by-default had been absolutely right.

[As long as you're strong enough, the position of Young Master will be yours and yours alone.]

[Not even Naoya Zenin can take it? Even though he's your eldest legitimate son?]

[That's right. You have the Ten Shadows Technique-that alone puts you ahead of him. Even if Naoya is my eldest legitimate son.]

And now it had actually happened.

Wonderful. I could openly skip Etiquette Class now.

Goodbye, Seventh Elder. I wouldn't miss you.

Everything after that would be arranged for me.

The elders really had called me in just to tell me that.

Afterward, they started discussing things like a "succession ceremony" and "invitations" among themselves. They even mentioned the Gojo Clan.

-I wasn't interested in those little details.

Now that I was back from my outing, there were plenty of things I wanted to do.

The first thing I did after returning to my courtyard was summon my Divine Dogs and Nue.

Although we had won the fight, and they had recovered considerably by munching on the remains of cursed spirits, perhaps out of some inexplicable possessiveness-

I always worried about even the tiniest, most insignificant injuries on them.

So on the way back, I had pretended not to notice how reluctant the Divine Dogs and Nue were to leave and forcibly sent them into the shadows to recover.

They should have been pretty much healed by now, so I summoned them with great satisfaction.

Finally, they looked right again.

As usual, I rubbed the heads of the two dogs, one black and one white, then let them romp around the courtyard.

Next, Nue flew over as well.

Nue slowly landed beside me, then stared at me unblinkingly with those large, vacant eyes.

Maybe it was because of our special mental link, combined with the inexplicably rosy lens through which I saw my shikigami, but in any case-

I somehow managed to read anticipation on that stiff bird face.

As though Nue wanted a chance to be affectionate with its master, just like the Divine Dogs.

I was won over in an instant.

...Little Nue is so cute.

Of course I'll grant that tiny little wish~

I didn't know what the Nue summoned by previous users of the Ten Shadows Technique had been like, but mine was enormous.

Though perhaps everything just looked big because my current body was still so young.

Either way, I had to look up to see Nue's face.

As I stroked Nue's wing feathers, my entire body sank against Nue, as though I were lying on an all-natural feather bed. It felt incredibly comfortable.

The only thing was, Nue's sheer size made it a little tiring.

No big deal.

After that, I asked to go out again.

This time, no one stopped me. Instead, my dad-by-default sent a few jujutsu sorcerers along with me and reminded me to stay safe.

Having someone carry my shopping bags wasn't bad, so I didn't mind at all.

Besides, after learning that I had been using his card-and had stolen it, at that-my dad-by-default wasn't angry in the slightest. Instead, with a grand wave of his hand, he had a new card issued for me.

I was very pleased.

He really knew how to play along!

I went back to the dessert shop I had visited earlier that day.

Under the salesgirl's dumbfounded gaze, I instructed the jujutsu sorcerers beside me to take all the desserts I had my eye on, and signed up for a membership card while I was at it.

Before leaving, I made a point of asking the salesgirl, "These desserts taste really good, but could you use less sugar in them in the future?"

I had barely finished speaking.

Almost immediately, someone beside me asked to see the manager. Once the manager came out, they swiftly negotiated a deal to buy the recipes for those desserts at an extremely high price.

I said, "..."

I was dumbfounded.

It seemed I had still underestimated the weight the position of Young Master carried—or rather, the weight the Ten Shadows Technique carried.