A Hopeless Hand-to-Hand Combat Failure

After this incident, I felt more keenly than ever that I urgently needed to get stronger.

But the Zenin Clan had no intention of letting me go on missions alone. Even though all my shikigami were at Grade 1 level, they still thought I was unfit for solo missions.

-Because my hand-to-hand combat skills were atrocious, and I could easily hold my shikigami back.

If a cursed spirit circled behind me and killed me, it would be an utter disgrace.

Me: "..."

How rude can you get?

So every mission that made it into my hands after going through layer upon layer of screening never exceeded Grade 2.

-The Divine Dogs alone could handle them easily. There was no challenge whatsoever.

Aside from giving me practice coordinating with my shikigami, they did absolutely nothing to help me grow stronger.

I protested. I only wanted to take on higher-level, more dangerous missions.

But every one of my protests was rejected.

Even though I had demolished my residence quite a few times, and they had compromised on plenty of things, this was the one issue on which the Zenin Clan's higher-ups refused to budge, no matter how much it pained them to see the barriers and courtyards smashed to pieces by my shikigami.

I sought out the Great Elder, whose word carried the most weight. He only said, "Miss Kuang Wu, you have three shikigami. If you can coordinate your hand-to-hand combat with them, higher-level missions won't pose much danger."

I argued my case. "After nearly a year of training, my hand-to-hand combat skills aren't that bad, surely..."

As far as I was concerned, the world of my previous life had been full of out-of-shape losers like me.

And at least I had spent over a year learning under the Seventh Elder's harsh training. I was already much better than most people.

The Great Elder merely gave a derisive chuckle at that.

Then he stood up. The white-haired old man hunched over his cane and tottered toward a large tree in the courtyard.

He raised his hand and punched the tree.

The tree snapped in half.

The Great Elder casually withdrew his hand and looked at me calmly. "Miss Kuang Wu, you already have three shikigami, so I don't expect your hand-to-hand combat skills to reach any extraordinary heights. But you must at least be able to do this."

-Otherwise, if I encountered a cursed spirit too powerful to handle for the time being and died because I ran out of stamina while fleeing, that would truly be humiliating.

Me: "..."

I hated myself for being stupid enough to make such a basic error in judgment.

-In this Jujutsu Society, where nothing made scientific sense and the mortality rate was so high, what on earth made me think their hand-to-hand combat skills would be on par with those of ordinary people in my previous world?

Me: "...I was wrong. I didn't know what was good for me."

The Great Elder smiled in satisfaction.

For a very long time afterward, I never brought up the matter again.

Then I spent a year slogging through hand-to-hand combat practice.

Until one particular combat lesson.

I caught the Seventh Elder off guard and defeated him. I was ecstatic, thinking my hand-to-hand combat skills were finally presentable.

-Only the Seventh Elder was even happier than I was. His wrinkled old face glowed, and he looked as delighted as if he had been promoted to clan head.

After his excitement passed, he stood there in a brief spell of quiet. Then, without any warning...two trails of tears spilled from his cloudy eyes.

I slowly supplied a question mark. "What are you crying for?"

The Seventh Elder choked out, "Miss Kuang Wu's first stage of hand-to-hand combat training is finally over..."

The first stage?

A bad feeling rose in my heart.

"I originally planned for it to end in two months. By now, we should already be on the final stage. But...Miss Kuang Wu's foundation was far too poor."

At the thought of the second, third, and fourth stages still to come, his vision went dark.

Me: "..."

Watching the Seventh Elder cry like this at his advanced age, I felt a rare twinge of conscience.

-Getting stuck with a hopeless hand-to-hand combat failure like me really has been hard on you, Seventh Elder.

So, sorry for the trouble, but you'll have to put up with a little more from now on.