Everything went well after the aftermath. Satoru-san went ahead to the sorcerer clans to explain things while Suimei was left with the aftermath of the magicians' side.
Yes, I do know about their agreement regarding Tengen's barrier and such, but I still chose to act in consideration of the future events. It isn't wrong to say that I cut down a significant chance of the Shibuya Incident and the Culling Game occurring.
Nevertheless, there are still some unanswered doubts.
Still, those aren't enough to make me postpone my plan with Gekai.
'Two… No, three..?'
As expected, Bell Cranell is currently being trailed by two level six adventurers. If I am seeing things correctly, Lante-san should've been able to deal with them.
Or…
"Isn't it impolite to stalk someone?"
…it was her first time out with him.
Surprisingly, the 'stalkers' didn't come out in that instant.
'Looks like I'm in for a good show…'
Without any warning, mysteries began to be distorted in the surroundings. Compressed air was then shot out to the two stalkers.
Bam-!
They reacted swiftly and managed to dodge it. However, that was merely the beginning.
Small drops of water headed to their direction. Their numbers increased continuously. What's more strange was the impact behind them. Each one of them hits just as hard as the compressed air from before.
'A fair play on gravity and reinforcement…'
In higher-level, reinforcement is no longer the 'enhancement' of an object's purpose but the fixing of space to your target. In turn, fragile objects such as cotton would hit harder.
Lante-san mixed her water magic and reinforcement magicka in order to create such an effect.
In the end, the two stalkers ran away.
'Freya Familia… They're still this unstable…'
It was a good idea to spread magicka to Lili and the others first before the Loki Familia. As for Freya Familia, they are centered on the interests of their goddess alone. Since the scenario that forced them to work with Loki Familia did not happen due to my existence, they might do something completely unexpected.
'I see.'
With that, I continued drifting into the wind.
*****
That sensation was extremely clear. Artemis would never make a mistake about it.
"Orion..!"
Click-!
Artemis opened the door to her room. The sight of her white-haired Orion greeted her immediately.
'He is still the same…'
Artemis was sent in a daze. Unlike his previous appearance, Nobu had completely matured. His eyes, in particular, became even more firm than before.
"I'm sorry for the late arrival…"
"I was worried something happened to you."
"Well… I'm all and well."
Nobu might have conveniently shifted the topic away from Goetia. It became a topic he would have to talk about later.
Instead, he chose to hug her. It was completely different than before. If Nobu's head was still buried on her neck whenever they hug, it was her face who is now buried on his chest.
Having grown more than twenty centimeters over the course of three years is not something to scoff at.
For a few minutes, that was all they did. It was very serene in contrast to Hephaestus' blazing flames.
"...You went to Hephaestus first, I see."
An unexpected blow came at him.
Nobu knew that if he tried to reason with her, she would show her understanding. However, it is inevitable that a sense of 'dissatisfaction' would remain, no matter how small it was.
"How should I make up for it?"
Artemis looked up at him. Her hair is undone at this moment, showing a different side of hers.
"A kiss…"
It seems that their serenity would be broken too.
*****
Looking at the blushing Artemis, my heart skipped a beat.
My attention was placed on her pink lips. Ever since she wanted a kiss, my mind blanked out.
Artemis in her pyjamas…
It is completely different from Hephaestus' case. In a sense, it is more… revealing. With a little bit more of peeking, I might be able to see more—even more compared to her image during the bath two and a half years ago.
It actively challenged my self-control, which fortunately, never failed me up until now.
'She's not shy…'
I am wondering where the usual Artemis went. It could be caused by our two years of separation…
I didn't make her wait any longer. Our lips met as I held her waist. It was completely different than before.
Slowly, we lost track of time. We didn't notice our surroundings as our eyes could only see each other. It is akin to a lover's 'domain' where they live on their own worlds.
My self-control started to reach its maximum tolerance. With more kisses, it slowly dissipated.
"Orion…"
I was woken up by her voice.
'Wait..?'
I pushed her into the bed..?
My mind blanked out before I subconsciously opened my partitions. I was able to react instantly and stop what we have been doing.
'That was close…'
I looked at Artemis whose breathing became uneven. A trace of anticipation and excitement could be seen in her eyes along with confusion.
'For two times tonight…'
I didn't expect to encounter this two times in a single hour.
"About that… Uhm…"
"Orion…"
Things became slightly awkward.
After some period of silence, we finally went on the right track.
"The world I lived in… I can bring you there. You know… my parents know about you."
"The magister…"
"Yes, Kazamitsu-san mentioned you to them."
Despite crossing over to another world, Kazamitsu-san is still one of the strongest. His combat power did not dwindle as much as Suimei had experienced. The perfected [World Transfer] spell is one of its factors, too.
By the time he learned the derivation of [Cross Dimension] magicka, even the Black Dragon wouldn't pose a threat to him.
Such is the power of someone who faced the 'insurmountable' that Kenjaku had once faced.
"Your parents…"
Artemis became jittery at the mention of my parents.
"Yeah. They're looking forward to meeting the two of you."
I could see tension showing on her complexion.
"There's no need to be anxious."
"Um…"
I think I understand. It's the same as meeting your in-laws, isn't it?
"About the world I lived in…"
I started to tell her of my accounts inside the singularity. There are many interesting things that happened, mainly my King's 'rampage' as well as Goetia's plan to destroy all of humanity.
"Comparing it to this world… You've been facing dangerous enemies." She spoke. "I can help you. If I come with you to that place…"
"I can handle everything. Didn't I return safely?"
I smiled at her.
"If it's also that… it might work if you went to my world. Your Arcanum's restrictions only apply in Gekai, after all…"
*****
Talking to Artemis, returning to Hephaestus…
It took an entire night to settle things. Due to the fact that Gekai's time ratio is almost the same as my world's, I was left with no choice but to return first. Meeting the others would have to wait until later.
For now…
"Shiina…"
The tip of my mouth twitched as I saw the 'quite' messy room of hers. It has only been three days since our arrival in Japan, yet the room I helped organize with her only lasted for three days.
This made me wonder what Shiina-jii's intent was in doing all of this. If he sent Shiina ALONE, there would be no doubt that she would face many troubles. Then again, it was Shiina's wish to go to Japan. If he is dissatisfied with that, it would be a "good" way to force her to return.
This begs another question, however:
'Why did he agree to my help?'
If he wanted to force her out of Japan, he shouldn't have given me his permission that easily.
Coincidentally, I saw her pyjamas. It inadvertently reminded me of the memories of last night… as well as the moments that I spent with Shiina.
'...God, what should I do..?'
It wasn't my first time to feel helpless to this complicated feeling—the complicated situation I landed myself into. I have lovers from the present yet I am feeling something for the girls who became my girlfriends in the past… or future.
Things are already complex in Gekai, what more of Earth?
I buried this feeling as I proceeded to wake her up.
"Mn..?"
"You already snoozed the alarm clock twice, Shiina."
Her sleepy face struck me.
"Nobu..?"
"You need to get up. You're going to be late."
"Mn… Alright."
Her words reminded me of another sleepyhead—Aiz.
'What should I really do..?'
I never thought handling this would be difficult. I have to give another recognition to Suimei who perfectly did this.
Stepping outside of her room, I began the preparations for our breakfast. It wasn't that difficult; getting Shiina to wake up is.
Fortunately, she could still dress up properly on her own. I might not be able to handle that one properly. Still, her lack of common sense and independence shocked me the first time I came to know about it.
Thirty minutes later, we were able to arrive at Suiko. Since Japan doesn't have any guest parking for motorcycles, I can only bring her up until the gate.
While I was driving, I suddenly came across something.
Above the skies, there was a huge fox god. It was a scene straight out of a manga.
'Really…'
Nobody acted panicked or the like. After all, they couldn't see it.
'Cursed… No, haunted spirits.'
If there are cursed spirits, the manifestation of humanity's greatest fears, there are haunted spirits who were once a human. Simply put, they are the ghosts of people who could not depart the material world.
Tainted by the cursed energy—negativity—of the world, they can't help but be one.
Cursed spirits and haunted spirits are completely different. If the former could interact with the material world and unleash city-leveling strikes, haunted spirits have no ability to do so.
At best, it could merely affect the person itself rather than the surroundings. Their power also works within set rules, too. As long as someone does not acknowledge a haunted spirit's existence, the person would not be harmed by them. It is the reason why Sorcerers place greater emphasis on cursed spirits than haunted spirits.
Nevertheless, their abilities when it comes to anti-personnel attacks are strong enough. There are even haunted spirits who are comparable to special-grade cursed spirits such as the mountain-sized haunted spirit in one of my iterations.
As to the methods of exorcising them, there are two things. You could trace back their 'anchors' in the material world and destroy them. If a haunted spirit is anchored on a pencil, all you have to do is to destroy that pencil.
It is either that or…
'Mountain god…'
Removing my left hand on the motorcycle's grip, I stuck my index and pointy finger before making a cutting gesture.
At this exact same moment, the huge fox god floating mid-air was split into two. The phenomenon-distorting [Kurikara Dharani] vanquished the haunted spirit in one go.
'The mountain god… I'll pay it a visit later this week.'
*****
"Ah..?"
The girl who could see ghosts was left dumbfounded.
"Huh..?"
Her pair of golden pupils could not believe what happened just now.
"What…"
The girl, Yotsuya Miko, came to her friend's apartment to take care of her sick friend. However, she was shocked to see the two "ghosts" who helped her out of trouble thrice. She did not have any knowledge of it, but she had long formed a contract with the said "ghosts".
Their current appearance is merely them taking the 'agreed' price.
"How did it…"
Shockingly, there was something that 'cleaved' the said ghost into two—right in front of her eyes. It disappeared into nothingness as it was split into half.
Miko, who still could not process what happened, stood dumbstruck in her friend's apartment.
"Something that could fight them…"
Just when she thought that any prayer beads and salt would not hold against these atrocities that she tried to ignore in her daily life, something that could fight against them appeared.
For the first time, the girl felt relieved.