Chapter 415

Arifureta Chapter 415

Abyss Lord Chapter Three Inhuman Demon’s Den of the Residential Area

Author’s note: I’m very sorry for making everyone waiting for so long. Also I’m very thankful for all the concerns for my health. Thanks to everyone I have gotten much better. Also, forgive me even though this is an update after so long, but I’m unable to make the story really progress in this chapter. I think that next chapter will explain a lot of things and then we will be able to enter the last arc, so it will be a great help if you can tolerate this chapter as a my rehabilitation in writing. Forgive me for being drawn-out like this. Best regards!

Going back in time slightly.

At the first night of the departure of Hajime and others to their school trip.

「Yep, everything is fine over here nano! Papa, have a loo~t of fun in the school tripe okay? Sleep well!」

The bright voice of Myuu was echoing energetically in the living room of Nagumo house.

She was sitting snugly on the sofa while holding the phone in one hand with a wide smile. She returned a heartfelt “good night” to her papa who was giving her a night call.

The call was cut off. A beat later.

「Puhaah, Myuu was able to cover things up somehow nano-」

She took off the mask of a smile she was wearing and displayed an expression of someone who had just finished a difficult task.

「That was amazing Myuu-chan! You managed to trick that Hajime!」

「Yeah, I thought that it was hopeless already when he suspected in the middle……」

「That was really quick witted of you when you instantly brought up the souvenir contest to divert his attention, Myuu!」

Sumire, Shuu, and Remia showered her with praises. Myuu responded to them with a thumb up even though she was currently transforming into a droopy Myuu tiredly on the sofa from the extreme tension.

The door was opened at that moment and Tio entered inside. She had a casual appearance of a jeans and no sleeve shirt, but her expression was serious.

「I hath been in a call with Fukube-dono just now. It seems that the government is in deep turmoil currently.」

「The government is?」

The looks of Sumire and others also turned serious and they faced each other.

「Indeed. It seems that’s why there art no information circulating. Fukube-dono apologized earnestly for being one step behind the situation.」

「Theen, it’s as we thought, that this isn’t just our imagination.」

Shuu spoke with an expression that looked like he wanted to click his tongue anytime now.

It was something that happened this morning, after Hajime and others departed to Kyoto. When going to work, during the work, and on the way home, both Shuu and Sumire couldn’t help but feeling some kind of strange stares toward them. It was a feeling like they were being tailed.

Although the situation around them had completely settled down, the position that Nagumo family was placed in was still an exceptional one.

For caution’s sake, they entered a place with a lot of people――a famous family restaurant before contacting Tio. They met up before going home. It seemed that the choice they made was correct.

It seemed that someone was trying to meddle with Nagumo family again.

Most likely they were aiming at the timing when Hajime and others went to Kyoto right now.

「According to Fukube-dono, a faction art overstepping all the departments to crush the information. He is in a hurry to confirm the current situation. He mentioned that he wouldst contact us as soon as he learned what’s going on. It seems that he is also assigning several of his trusted subordinates to work on it.」

「People from that faction? Isn’t it too late to try anything at this stage?」

「It’s just as Remia said. That’s exactly why, something art fishy. There wouldst not be any problem if this is simply some idiots who don’t learn anything from the previous altercation and running wild but……」

There were countless government officials who were closely connected with businessman.

When they realized that the returnees’ power was real, they got greedy, however everything they tried failed and they received a painful retaliation instead. After that things should have settled down with a “contact person” ――an intermediator taking the role of coordinating the exchange between the returnees and the government.

The unknown was just that scary. Much more so if it was something powerful that could deal harm.

That was why Hajime and others managed to have a good exchange of information until now through successive generations of contact person, or that was how it should be, but……

What were they trying to do at this point in front of the power of the returnees that couldn’t be opposed by the existing power?

「It’s great that we had also contacted Shuuzou-san and others just in case.」

「They have connection with police, so they managed to coordinate with the strengthening of the city’s security. They had also gathered real ninjas――I mean, the disciples of their acrobatic gathering. They said that they had split into groups to confirm the other families’ safety, so we can rest easy with them in the case.」

「Sumire-obaachan. We are inside our home, so Myuu think it’s fine even if you don’t rephrase your wording nano. Not long ago Myuu asked them to teach Myuu “a bit of acrobat” but, they yelled “Yaegashi-style Ninja Art! Suiton – Suimeidan no Jutsu”. With a smug face.」

By the way, it was a ninja art to throw water that was pooled on a hand palm to blind the opponent using water drops. In the past they would use crushed leaf that also had poison on top of it before throwing it. It was quite the advanced technique because the water needed to stay as a clump without scattering everywhere when thrown. Myuu had finished learning it.

Putting aside the mysterious secret of Yaegashi family that was plain obvious,

「Even so, art this really alright, Hahaue-donomother in law? This art Goshuujin-sama we art talking about, wouldst he not be angry if he isn’t notified of any abnormality no matter how trivial it is? Of course! I wish to be allowed to assume all responsibility at that time――no, I shall take responsibility!! Haa haa-」

「Hey, Tio-chan! Don’t go haa haa from imagining getting punished! You’re drooling!」

「Tio-oneechan. Here, tissue.」

「Mu, pardon me.」

「You handed the tissue so smoothly there, Myuu-chan.」

Tio was unable to receive any reward recently. Rather she was getting busy with her work that she would get appreciated instead. Perhaps that was why this hopeless dragon was feeling a bit unsatisfied. She missed the ass pile bunker in the past……

「More importantly! As expected won’t it be better to notify them about this?」

Remia clapped her hands to return the topic back on track.

「Oops, that’s true. I hath also told Fukube-dono to keep quiet but, he was very reluctant to do so. He was half crying in fear of what the demon king might do if he found out. He accepted for the time being because he hath to hurry with the information gathering but……」

「You’re, right……I understand you know? That this isn’t good. That we should tell Hajime about this. But……but still……」

Sumire clenched her fists tightly on her lap. She looked down slight and hesitated to speak further with a conflicted expression.

It was just as she said, this was a bad move. She understood that this was a foolish choice if she considered the worst case. However, it was plain to see that she was being tormented by emotion that surpassed logic.

Shuu gently put his hand on top of the hand of his conflicted wife.

「……This is a field trip. It’s something that a high school student experienced only once in their life.」

It was the school life that Hajime could finally return to after making a desperate effort to return home and fighting the society’s curiosity and malice through a ton of commotion.

But, the school trip had ended a long time ago. Nobody said anything about it, but both Sumire and Shuu, and surely the other families of the returnees were feeling sorry that the children were unable to do the greatest memory making event of high school life.

But fortunately, in the end they were unexpectedly able to go although it would be their class alone that went.

Although there was ulterior motive behind it, they were still feeling immeasurable gratitude toward the school side for making this school trip happened.

「This is Hajime we are talking about, so surely he will be able to enjoy the school trip to some degree even while sparing effort to deal with the matter here.」

「But surely, a part of his mind somewhere inside would be occupied for the whole time with wariness. It will be definitely impossible for him to purely enjoy the high school life’s last chance of memory making as a simple student.」

Why did he have to be disturbed from being able to enjoy something that was only natural as a student just because he was a returnee, just because he possessed extraordinary power?

That was something intolerable for them as parents.

They wished that their son could just simply have fun together with his classmates.

「Of course we will contact him if the situation is too much to handle for us though.」

「Hajime has also anticipated various situations like this and prepared a lot of means for protection accordingly anyway, so if it’s really necessary, he can come back here literally instantly right?」

That was why, they wished that Hajime wouldn’t worry about the situation here unless the situation was really unmanageable and they felt really in danger……

Both Tio and Remia could only smile wryly and shrugged after being told about such parents’ feeling.

「Well, we art still waiting for the information. It wouldst be troublesome for Goshuji-sama to keep being called all the time just because of some cockroaches coming out of hiding. Not to mention that someone with “Guardian” vocation like me art present in the scene.」

Tio showed her understanding, then she added “however”.

「I shall be the one judging the level of danger. Art that fine, Hahaue-dono, Chichiue-donofather in law?」

「Yes, of course. May the protection of the dragon god stay with us.」

「Yeah, we promise to follow your lead fully. We will trouble you but, please take care of us.」

Now then, how serious the situation actually was.

If this was nothing more than a stupid act of some fools, it would be just like Tio’s joke, the problem wouldn’t be that different from taking care of some black C in the kitchen but……

「For the time being, let’s inform Shuuzou-san about the situation in the government.」

「Umu. That wouldst be wise, Chichiue-dono. We doth not know the opponent’s aim, but we shouldst urge the other families to also be on their guard.」

A call ringtone rang out.

It was Shuu’s phone. The screen showed the letters of “Ninja Master”. In other words, it was Yaegashi Shuuzou-san.

Shuu activated the speaker mode and picked the call.

Then,

『Shuu-kun, we have finished confirming the safety of all the families. There is no problem for the time being. But, it seems that it’s true that we are being targeted. The scale seems to be bigger than expected, however, there is something that is just strange.』

It was clear that he was fully in his hidden face mode from the way he immediately entered the main topic without even giving a greeting.

Shuu naturally tensed from nervousness while asking 「What do you mean?」. Shuuzou started with 『A part of this is just my conjecture but』 before continuing.

『It’s certain that other families than Nagumo family were also being tailed or monitored. Several families have been feeling some disquieting presence. But, this is too sloppy for an organizational action. I can’t sense any unity from the opponent’s action so far. Or perhaps their chain of command is all over the place.』

「Shuuzou-dono. This is Tio. By that do thy mean that there art several organizations involved in this?」

『I believe that is a valid thought. It’s also possible that the opponents are holding each other in check or destroying each other depending on the situation. I had also received a report of a trace of such situation being found.』

It seemed that the situation was more chaotic than they thought at first.

Even though the situation should be serious, it felt like the opponent was entering a stalemate on their own in a place outside of their sight.

Tio quickly explained the government’s situation that she heard from Fukube.

『Fumu. However, I don’t think that this is just an internal fighting between the government factions. According to Tsuchii-kun……the police chief of the jurisdictional police department, it seemed that there are abnormally large amount of foreigners entering the city.』

「Foreigners? From which country?」

『We don’t know until that far. However it doesn’t look like that they all came from the same country.』

This was……difficult to judge. They couldn’t grasp the situation.

Was it simply a monitoring? What was the objective? Were all of them targeting the families of the returnees? Or were aggressive force and passive force getting mixed up with each other?

Certainly this was a strange situation.

Shuu and others couldn’t grasp the level of danger. They looked toward Tio for her judgment, with a gaze that was slightly mixed with prayer.

「……In any case, there art no changing the fact that there are a lot of flies buzzing around the relatives while the returnees art absent.」

As expected, would they have to contact Hajime……Sumire and Shuu thought with disappointment.

If it was just Nagumo family that was at risk, they were confident that Tio alone would be able to deal with any situation no matter what kind of enemy came. But, the people that should be protected in this case were a lot, and there was a lot of ground that had to be covered.

The best option would be to take the safe choice. Tio prepared herself to speak the ideological argument while apologizing inside her heart to Sumire, Shu, and the other parents but……

「Tio-oneechan, Myuu think that it’s still not the time for that nano.」

「Mu? Myuu?」

Everyone’s gaze turned toward Myuu. At Myuu who was standing imposingly on the sofa. Shuuzou was also straining his ear at the other side of the phone after sensing what was going on.

「Even without relying on just papa and the others every time, we here have a lot of stroo~ng allies! First, let’s rely on everyone nano!」

Strong allies? Before anyone could ask a question, Myuu crossed the living room with rapid footsteps *sutetetete* and opened a window fully before twirling around. She raised her personal treasure warehouse that was hanging on her neck while her back was facing the garden.

「Everyone~, lend us your strength! Nano!」

It was night, so while being careful from getting too loud, explosion with reserved sound burst out and smoke screen of seven colors rose up.

What appeared at the garden was the familiar (?) golems. Yes,

――The Deadly Sins squadron, Demon Rangerrrrr!!!

Each of them was making a truly awesomely stylish pose as they answered the gathering call from their princess.

In addition,

「Etemp-saa~~n! Help nanooo!」

「YES-, MY LITTLE LADY! The transcendentally lovely and graceful beautiful angel fairy Etemp-chan! Is hereeee!」

What appeared on Myuu’s back accompanied with light like a certain Stan* was Etemp with the beautiful face of “god’s apostle” and three pairs of geometrical and half transparent fairy wings.

Her left hand was on her waist, her right hand was forming a horizontal peace sign over her eyes, one of her legs was lifted up tightly while she winked *BLINK-* with stars shooting out everywhere from the gesture. She looked really irritating. Extremely irritating. Her expression was very annoying!

The palm sized spider type living golems――the members of Arachne squad that came out together with her screeched 「Iii――!!」 and posed while throwing flower petals on Etemp’s entrance. That made it even more irritating.

「F-fumu. Now that thy mentioned it, they art also here.」

The entrance of the golems who were the archdemons who governed over the seven deadly sins at the inside, and Etemp who obtained flesh body from the fairy world that she could freely materialize made Tio’s expression slightly convulsed.

It seemed the overprotective papa was assigning the apostle to Myuu constantly as his daughter’s bodyguard……

「Lu-chan and others should call the other demons, while Etemp-san also――」

「Ojou-sama. It’s unfair that only these guys got called with “chan”. Give me affectionate nickname too! A cute nickname! If not I’m not gonna work mon!」

Was it just their imagination that an emotion of 「What a pain……」 crossed Myuu’s expression for an instant?

「Err~, theeen, Ete-chan should also――」

「Ojou-samaa-, you picked the wrong part of my name to split-. Are you planning to turn me into a performer!?」

「……E~chan?」

「Don’t you feel guilty toward a certain legendary rock star by calling me like that, Ojou-sama? Good grief……」

Ah, her face was definitely showing an emotion of 「Pain in the ass-」! Everyone’s interpretation was in sync.

But, as the one asking for help, Myuu held back with much effort and smiled stiffly. What a very mature response.

「Cough-, Etemp-chan――」

「Geesz-, are you even trying! E・temp・ta・n! Call me Etemp-tan, and don’t forget to put a lot of affection in it!」

「Tsk」

「Myuu!?」

Remia let out a voice that sounded like a scream. Of course she would. Right now, her six years old daughter had plainly clicked her tongue! She never saw her daughter doing that!

「Myuu want Etemp-tan and the other arachnes to protect the other families nano.」

「That request, it will be better if it’s said pleadingly with more cuteness like――」

「……」

「AYE AYE-, MA’AM!! I shall follow your command to the letter!!」

Fortunately (?), Etemp-tan had hopped cattily in front of Myuu, in other words she was standing between her and Shuu and others behind her, so the others couldn’t see Myuu’s expression.

But, Etemp-tan who was poking *tsun tsun* on Myuu’s cheek while making further demand immediately saluted sharply like a real military officer……judging from that, there was no doubt that Myuu was making an indescribable expression that a little girl must not make.

Myuu had also seemed to whisper something like 「……Papa, he assigned her to Myuu actually not as a bodyguard, but just to wash his hand off her……」, or perhaps not.

「Err~, Myuu? About Etemp-san and the arachnes――」

「Remia-sama, it’s Etemp-tan.」

「……Etemp-tan is――」

「That’s coompletely no good! Do it better, like there is ♡ attached at the end of your sentence――my deepest apologies, ma’am.」

Just what kind of expression Remia made? Surely it was an expression exactly like her daughter that a “my my ufufu type mature lady” should never make, no doubt about it.

You, just shut your trap already……that kind of gaze came not only from Shuu, Sumire, and Tio, but even from the deadly sins at the back. Remia continued speaking as that happened.

「I think it’s fine for Etemp-tan♡ and the arachnes to stand guard out there but, sending those golems to run around the city is……won’t it cause even greater commotion instead?」

Certainly, what Remia pointed out was true. In the first place, Shuu and others didn’t really understand what Myuu meant by calling the other demons.

The one who answered that question wasn’t Myuu but the demon ranger.

Gloomy black light enveloped the seven golems. Right after that, *gashan* the golems crumbled down noisily.

In exchanged, there were seven “shadows” that looked like compressed darkness standing on the garden. They had nothing like eyes or nose that could be used to differentiate them individually. They were just shadow. However, they definitely existed there just like three dimensional image that wasn’t projected on anything.

And then, they took a cool pose again just as expected. It seemed they wouldn’t compromise on that no matter what. The shadow posing somehow gave an entertainment feel.

At the same time, at a corner of Nagumo house’s garden, the small pond that Myuu asked Hajime to create started to bubble up fiercely. Then right after that, an offensive smell that was similar to sulfur pierced everyone’s nose,

――IaAAAAAAAAAAAA-

Countless repulsive roars echoed――

「Ah, sorry to all of you demons! It’s night so can Myuu ask you all to keep it quiet-, nano!」

――IHH!? aaaa~

The demons who kept their volume at the downlow got called from hell.

There were only shadows squirming on the Nagumo house’s fence. Their movement felt a bit reserved.

「Eh? What’s this? I doth not anything about this……」

Since when was Myuu able to open a hell’s gate and employed demons?

Tio muttered with an expression that was a mix of agitation and bewilderment. Remia mama who seemed to be similarly in the dark before this staggered and fell on the sofa.

「Endou said that water is a natural gate that connected to all the worlds nano. When Myuu wondered if Lu-chan and others can do something like that because they are the hell’s demon kings and asked them about it, they said that it’s possible if they have help with papa’s artifact.」

Then, as the result of her consultation with papa, Myuu was given the permission to use her own judgment to summon demons if it was “only twenty of them” and only at the “shadow level” that was the same like the time of the attack of the demon worshipping cult last time.

Perhaps they should be called as the “princess’s royal demon guard”, consisting of the demons who had cleared the papa’s super stressful interview. They had real body back in hell and able to respond to summon using artifact.

Also, before a demon was able to finally arrive at the interview, first they had to get through the selection test in hell, which was an extremely fierce contest. It seemed that hell had been falling into a hellish situation that was like a pandemonium over there.

Getting back into the topic.

「Oh, Ojou-sama. There is something there you know?」

Etemp-san looked at the small pond that had stopped bubbling with deep interest. Shuu and others also peered fearfully at the garden while wondering 「Eh, there is still something else?」.

The small pond only had small ripples spreading through it. They couldn’t really see anything else other than……

「Waah, Su~chan, Mi-chan! And Ryu~chan too, all of you are going to help nano? Eh? Hime-chan and Keru-chan will help too if it’s near the river? Thank you nano!!」

It seemed that Myuu was able to see something. No, right now something faint with the size of a small child and scaly skin, something that looked like a coiling snake, something that looked like koi fish jumping to the air, a beauty in kimono, and something like a half transparent horse felt like they entered into sight……

*Chapun* the center of the small pond splashed unnaturally.

「What’s that! I never knowst about them though!?」

Tio yelled with bewilderment and shock. Remia mama who woke up with a gasp also faintly saw the unknown things her daughter was happily frolicking with and fainted once more with fuu~. Also, even Hajime papa didn’t know about this.

「M-Myuu-chan? There is something there isn’t it? I can see them faintly but……who are they I wonder?」

「Myu? Umm~, there is the water tiger Su~chan and, the mizuchi Mi-chan, the dragon fish Ryu~chan, then the bridge princess Hime-chan! And then there is the kelpie Keru-chan nano!」

「I see, I don’t get it!」

「Everyone is friend. They have connection with Myuu, so they can come to play as long as it’s at a place that has water nano!」

「Yep, I don’t get it even more!」

『That’s impossible……are they really exist……』

Shuu had thrown up his hands that before he realized it he had turned the phone into video call mode. Thanks to being able to see what was going on there, Shuuzou-san’s jaw fell off without being able to close again.

If the strongest onmyouji girl and her family were here, they would be guaranteed to faint with the white of their eyes showing after seeing Myuu obtaining the cooperation of a great number of apparition with a friendly relationship without even any “binding”.

Then suddenly, the other side of the phone became noisy.

『What? Give me the accurate report!』

「Shuuzou-san? What’s the matter?」

After a while of some angry yells being exchanged at the other side of the phone, a beat passed.

The expression of Shuuzou that appeared in the phone next was extremely grave.

『It seems that several families got attacked.』

Everyone held their breath hearing that report.

『Luckily, it seemed the police officers who are our disciple, Miya of Amanogawa family, and Sakagami family’s Karashio managed to repel them but』

The instructors of Yaegeshi style, the mother of Amanogawa family who could fight close and personal using metal bat & street brawling, and the guard dog of Sakagami family that had the transformation ability to turn into giant wolf did great job.

『It seems that the culprits were some really strange fellows. Their atmosphere was different from a normal agent. They tried to do something that we didn’t really understand, so the people on the scene just beat them anyway before they could do anything that they tried to do but……we still don’t know the detail here. Can I ask you to send the combat force over there to their position immediately?』

「The information in our possession art just insufficient. Perhaps it wouldst be better if we ask everyone to evacuate to Nagumo house’s expanded space just in case. Anyway, Myuu, we art counting on you.」

It was unknown how far Myuu’s combat force would be able to control the situation. Depending on that, it would be decided whether Hajime and others would be able to enjoy their school trip fully or not.

Myuu guessed the meaning of Tio’s words and she nodded strongly.

And then, she took a deep breath before making her feeling resounding toward the garden of Nagumo house that was turning into a haunted area.

「Everyone. Myuu want to protect the important time of papa and the others. But, Myuu is weak and can’t do anything much so……please-. Lend Myuu your strength!」

Myuu bowed her head deeply. There wasn’t even a single one of her inhuman friend who expressed objection.

Etemp wordlessly formed a horizontal peace sign & a wink with energetic gesture.

The deadly sins archdemons were posing like they were doing a silhouette performance.

――IiIIIIH!!

――aAAAAAA!!

The Arachne squad and the princess royal demon guard were also getting fired up.

The apparitions were making fountain at the small pond while responding――

*Shaaa-* There was the sound of the curtain getting opened strongly.

It was the housewife of the house across the street. Her face was clearly expressing her feeling. 「What’s with the noise! The drama is in the best part right now!」 She looked like she wanted to say that. One of her hands was holding a TV remote.

Although, even that expression only lasted at the beginning. The housewife was unable to observe the garden clearly because of the barrier of perception obstruction, however somehow, she sensed that there were horror existences crowding over there. She silently turned white.

「S-sorry for the loud noise! We will keep quiet-, nano!」

Myuu-chan bowed repeatedly in panic. Shuu and others also bowed their head repeatedly in apology while wearing forced smile together.

R-right. There is no problem as long as you get it. Be careful next time, the neighbor replied like that with a forced smile and closed the curtain *fwoosh* as strongly as she could. It was as though she had just seen something that mustn’t be seen.

And so,

「T-then everyone~, we are counting on all of you nanoo~」

She put her hands around her mouth and ordered with a small voice,

――Roo~ger~

――iii~

――aa~

――*splish splash*

Etemp and others also replied with small voices and the terrifying shadows scattered toward the city.

As the result, Hajime and others were able to enjoy their school trip to their satisfaction without feeling weighed down.

With the exception of just one person.

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『Apparently something like that happened.』

「About the case of Myuu-chan employing a lot more inhuman beings than Hinata-chan, won’t she seriously become the master of Hyakki YakkouNight Procession of Hundred Mo at this rate?」

Kousuke just got brief explanation about what happened back home while they were going to school trip. He got a faraway look even while feeling relieved that all of their relatives were safe and sound.

Hinata and others were also getting dumbfounded look with the question of 「What in the world is that girl!?」.

Putting that aside.

「Fukube-san, you ran away huh?」

「Oh dear, I don’t know what are you talking about.」

Thinking really carefully, it was strange. Fukube was a member of the public security, and furthermore he was the “contact person”. Although it was to pick up Kousuke, it was a bit strange for him to be here when he still had the job to coordinate between the government factions and giving explanation and so on. He should have other people that he could dispatch who would be more suitable to be here.

In other words, because of the matter of him intentionally omitting his report toward the demon king, he was reluctant to face the demon king and got questioned. This matter of Kousuke came at a fortunate timing, so he undertook the task and ran away until Kyoto……leaving everything else to his subordinates. That was the hypothesis that Kousuke formed.

Fukube was looking at faraway while playing stupid, but there was faint sheen of cold sweat on his forehead. It was clear from it that Kousuke had hit bull’s eye.

As the result, Fukube had to throw himself into an inhuman battle that threatened his life instead, so it could only be said at this point that he was just born under the star of misfortune. It felt like before long he would get the habit of running his mouth with 「Such misfortune!」 like a certain index main character.

『And so, Endou. About the mastermind of the situation this time.』

「O-ou. But is it alright for us to talk leisurely like this? Even though there is smoke rising from Fuji Mountain.」

『There is still time. I’ll also explain the reason for it, but even if the worst happen, there will be no problem because the necessary personnel to buy time is already at the scene right now.』

「Ah, did you send Yue-san or someone like that there?」

『No, we ourselves have emergency matter that need to be taken care of. The one who went there is……your fiancée should know about it in detail. Right……Rana?』

Eh? Everyone simultaneously turned their gaze and found Rana avoiding their gazes vigorously. Her eyes were darting around every which way like pinball game. Her cold sweat was also trickling like waterfall.

「U-umm, bossss? This isn’t like what you think. It seems, that, it looks like boss is already aware of it but, you see, we――」

『Endou. You see, a part of Hauria feigned going home to Tortus, but actually the bastards secretly sneaked tp the depth of Fuji’s sea of trees to build a hidden village.』

「Rana-saaan!? What are you guys doing!? I don’t know anything about that even though I’ll be the next head you know!?」

「Because-, because! You will oppose it right!? But it will also be a waste if we just abandon the sea of trees!」

That seemed to be the reason.

Hauria clan members who migrated to the forest of King Tree――the sanctuary were around thirty people including Rana. But, around fifty people including Karm visited here to help with building the base until a certain degree of standard of living. After that twenty of them went home.

Naturally, it was Hajime who opened the gate to Tortus using the infinite magic power, but at that time they distracted their boss’s attention using some deceitful words and ten people including Karm escaped from the sanctuary while pretending that they had gone home. Like that they returned until Japan somehow, entered the sea of trees, and worked hard until; now to build a hidden village.

『Well, result wise, the bunch who assaulted the secret shrine that seem to exist in the sea of trees got mistaken as intruders by Karm and others there. It was a big help that they repelled those guys.』

But that is that, and this is this, it still doesn’t change the fact that you guys tricked me you know? Such threatening voice was sent out from the phone.

Rana was trembling. She pleaded even while half crying.

「But but! This is a hidden village that is hidden in the center of a handmade sea of trees labyrinth that is fully loaded with booby traps you know!? It’s just overflowing with romance! We wanted to show it to boss as surprii~se! It was self-evident that the plan would just get rejected even if we suggested it beforehand! But what if we report it after the fact!? Boss will approve most things anyway as long as it’s overflowing with romance! We thought that the chances wouldn’t be so bleak!」

『……Nn, h~mm, well』

「You’re weak Nagumo! Your romance supremacism is already reaching the level of bad habit isn’t it!?」

Hinata-chan tugged at Kousuke’s sleeve because the talk wasn’t progressing while asking a question of her own.

「Umm, Nagumo-sama? Nice to meet you. My name is Fujiwara hinata. Please allow me to ask a question.」

『Hm? The onmyou girl who Endou protected huh. Shoot.』

「Then excuse me. Is the secret shrine called “Uten no HokoraShrine of Right Heaven”――the shrine with the ideal topography for the four Taoist gods?」

『I don’t know it’s official name. But, it’s certain that the masterminds intended to destroy the four shrines at the four cardinal directions of Fuji Mountain.』

Hinata’s gaze turned toward Taisei and the elderly nobleman. The two of them were gulping.

「Uten no Hokora?」

Kousuke asked with a tilt of his head. Hinata nodded with a grave expression.

「It’s one of the focal points supporting the Great Barrier of the Heavenly Star. It formed the barrier of two scales. The Saten no HokoraShrine of Left Heaven is hidden in Izumo Grand Shrine.」

「Tsu, you mean the place that got attacked before this.」

As expected the culprit must be the comrades of the man in black and the female practitioner.

Just what did they want to do in the end by destroying the barrier?

『Listen carefully, Endou. I’ll tell you about the identity and objective of the enemy, and how we will deal with them going forward.』

Hajime apparently had obtained the answer. He started speaking.

Like that the content of the explanation caused wide eyed shock to not only Kousuke and Rana and others, but to even Hinata and co who should be the group with most knowledge about the Great Barrier of Heavenly Star.

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AN: Thank you very much for reading this every time.

Thank you very much too for the thoughts, opinions, and reports about misspelling and omitted words.

※Reference

– Myuu’s phone call Chapter 284. From Common Student Life ④. It’s when Hajime called from the hotel lobby.

– Hime-chan Same chapter. The bridge princess who came up in the talk inside the bus going home.

– Su~chan Chapter 263. From the Golden Week special after story, Yue’s Diary ①.

– Keru-chan Chapter 402. From the prologue of Abyss Lord Third arc’s prologue.

※The others are friends that Myuu casually made somewhen somewhere. There are also a lot more friends than them. Mostly water type.