Arifureta Chapter 301

Arifureta After III Abyss Lord Arc Chapter 2 The Lord’s ○○……Vanished?

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A fresh aroma and faint steam were drifting inside the living room where the morning sunlight was shining in.

「Kousuke-kun. You want one more glass?」

「Ah, thank you.」

The one who was smiling faintly while pouring the after meal tea into the held out cup was Sophie Grant, Emily’s mother.

Her almond-shaped eyes that closely resembled a cat were exactly like Emily’s to the degree that it would make anyone think in acceptance that indeed, the two of them were mother and daughter.

Although, her atmosphere was different from Emily. She was very gentle. She wasn’t the type with a strong self-assertion and unyielding will which would be expressed through her eyes. The sharp look of her eyes gave the impression of deep thought that would see through the genuineness of something when her eyes were narrowed quietly.

She was retired currently, but her former occupation as an accountant certainly felt like it suited her.

「Oi oi, Emily. Isn’t it fine even if it’s your mother who is serving the second serving of tea? It’s nothing much. Stop getting offended by such a trivial matter.」

「Yo, you are wrong! Don’t say something strange father!」

The father, Carl, was smiling wryly at Emily who was puffing out her cheeks 「Mumu-」 when seeing the sight of Kousuke getting tea poured by her mother personally. He said to her some remonstrating words.

Carl was also someone with a gentle personality. His glossy blonde hair that didn’t show his age seemed to be inherited by Emily. Sophie was also blonde-haired, but if it had to be said, Emily’s hair was closer to Carl’s hair.

By the way, Carl’s occupation was as a restaurant owner that had several branches within the country. He himself was a cook, but right now, he was mostly focusing on management.

Although, his skill was the real deal. Even Kousuke who was currently freeloading in a household of Britain that was often ridiculed as the country with the worst cooking had his evaluation overturned by the delicious dishes he was treated to every day.

Emily had also received the initiation in cooking from the pro cook Carl since she was little. Recently, she was especially passionate about learning, so she was good at cooking. For Kousuke, Emily’s pie dishes were masterpieces.

「What are you saying, Carl? Emily also has a powerful love rival. If she wants to become Kousuke’s number one, then she mustn’t let any chance go no matter how trivial. You see, a man is a creature that is weak against a devoted woman.」

The one who said that while elegantly sipping tea with a faint smile was Sierra Grant.

She was suffering from Alzheimer, but right now, she was lucid. Perhaps it was the Grant family’s trait, but Sierra also had determined almond-shaped eyes. Even her eyelids that previously were mostly closed were wide open right now.

「No, mother-in-law. Saying such graphic talk in front of the people themselves is……」

「Carl, you really are timid no matter what. If you are a father, then you should support your daughter’s battle.」

「No, that’s an exaggeration, calling it a battle.」

「It’s a battle, right? Love is war. Without the spirit of charging forward, how will a girl make the man they are in love with theirs.」

‘Uu’, father Carl was at a loss for words. He was basically unable to go against Sierra, and it wasn’t just because he was her son-in-law.

Unyielding, hating to lose, with a strong will that was like steel, was the nature of the grandmother of the Grant family.

Without a doubt, Emily’s nature was similar to that of her grandmother. She was still immature and would immediately get teary-eyed, and she hadn’t gotten out from the stage of putting up an act of false courage or simply being obstinate, but the strength of will that allowed her to run through to the end of the Berserk incident was surely inherited from Sierra.

That scene that was similar to the past , of her father getting talked down by her grandmother in her healthy state, made Emily smile warmly and muttered.

「Fufu, grandma, you’ve gotten completely better. ……This too is thanks to Kousuke.」

「I’m just the intermediary. The one who did it was Nagumo……no, it was Shirasaki who did it directly.」

「Certainly that’s so. I’m also grateful to Kaori-san, and also to the de, de-de, demon king-sama, but……it was Kousuke who connected us.」

After the Berserk incident, Kousuke asked for a little favor from Hajime.

Yes, it was a request that asked whether Sierra, who was afflicted by Alzheimer, could be healed.

It was hard to heal a disease like Alzheimer that destroyed the cerebral nerves and made the whole brain atrophying even if they used magic medicine. But the Nagumo family possessed a cheat technique. Yes, it was regeneration magic.

The subjugation of the Alzheimer disease was also one of Emily’s life works. Be that as it may, it was still a long way off until she could genuinely research the magic medicine on Tortus and the like.

Even if Emily was going to research the remedy that could be used on Earth for the sake of everybody, couldn’t at least her relative be saved first, Kousuke requested.

From Emily’s point of view, she actually wished to heal Sierra with her own hands, but thinking of the disease progression, it wasn’t the time for being obstinate.

After that, Emily too went to greet the demon king-sama which doubled as making a request too, but……

Kousuke and Emily who recalled the first meeting with the demon king family was,

「……It was, a sad event huh.」

「u!? I’m sorry that I messed up! But, if possible, please don’t recall iiitt!」

Emily-chan put her feet on the chair, held down her head with her hands, and became small.

However, even though she put up the charis○ guard, the spear of recollection couldn’t be blocked.

Just what blunder had Emily made?

If the mental state of Emily, who had resolved herself to have an audience with the demon king family, had to allude, then at that time, she was extremely nervous. After all, she would meet the mastermind of that “sky *chudon* with one phone call incident”.

Furthermore, she was told that even Kousuke who went through the Lord Abyssgate transformation wasn’t a match against that person. So to speak, she was going to meet Kousuke’s boss.

Emily-chan’s head was filled to the brim with the scenes of a certain Drago○ Quest’s great demon king laughing loudly with an evil expression inside the demon king castle.

And then, to make matters worse, the atmosphere of the demon king’s house was a bit high spirited. After all, from Hajime’s position, it was a situation that exactly felt like “Comrade♪ Comrade♪”.

And then, thinking of how Kousuke would become the Hauria’s clan head on the dawn of his marriage with Rana, that meant that his wives would become new Hauria family members, so naturally, Shia’s excitement was also rising.

Lured by the two with high spirits, the other wive~s were also getting high spirits, and eventually they went 「If we are going to meet anyway, then let’s answer their expectations and act appropriately like the demon king gang!」 and set up a meeting with excessive drama.

「No, that was something that couldn’t have been helped. Rather, obviously, it was Nagumo and the others who were in the wrong with their excessive drama and mischief. Even though we were coming to visit normally, why was there a signboard of 『Human, if thou wish to have your wish granted, then show me how you will overcome the trial!』 at the entrance. What’s more, when we entered the entranceway, the place became a dungeon. Anyone would normally start shaking in their boots.」

「Vanessa was really delighted though.」

Yes, the demon king-san’s mischievous drama――when someone passed through the entranceway of the Nagumo house, it would become an imitation of the Raisen Labyrinth~♪. (It was at the level of an amusement park’s attraction on hard mode. There was no danger involved.)

Specifically, the person entering the entrance would be sent to the training artifact, the game world. In the real world, Kousuke, Emily, and also Vanessa who skipped work for the sake of meeting the demon king-sama collapsed limply at the entrance.

According to Hajime, 「No, you see, it seems they were eager to meet with the demon king, so I thought that I would prepare the trials that are appropriate for a demon king until they reached the end. I’m being considerate, you know?」 something like that……

Putting aside Vanessa who was absurdly delighted, Emily was teary-eyed from start to end, but she cleared it somehow with her characteristic obstinacy and her hate of losing.

Inside the throne room of the demon king castle that they finally reached in the game, demon king Hajime who was standing with overwhelming pressure, Yue-sama who was forming the dark clouds and a lightning dragon, Tio who was surrounding the throne in her dragon form, Kaori who was floating in midair with black wings like a fallen angel, the masked pink who was looking up to the sky, and others were waiting with a deep atmosphere. After seeing the demon king family, Emily-chan’s eyes finally rolled back showing the white of her eyes, and her consciousness flew away.

Emily-chan, who returned to reality, opened her eyes in the living room of the Nagumo house, and then she saw Hajime who was saying 「Haha, that was a great reaction you showed there」 in a good mood. Kousuke who was protesting 「You overdid it you idiot!」 to such Hajime, and she felt very relieved……

*Trickle trickle trickle trickle~*

And she messed up.

The violent shame that was assaulting Emily after the relief caused her to start crying ‘waah waah’. After seeing such Emily, as expected even Hajime thought that he overdid it.

It caused the strange occurrence of the demon king-sama desperately soothing 「It’s fine you know~, it’s not scary at all~. Loo~k, there is only a normally virtuous Japanese person who you can find anywhere here」 while apologizing.

In addition, Yue and the others, the wive~s, also joined in all together with the soothing after participating in something that created a black history that was too harsh for a girl.

The aftermath of Emily’s blunder was also cleaned up in a flash using magic while the adult version Yue gently embraced Emily. Shia caressed her while going ‘good girl good girl’. Kaori and Shizuku feed her ‘aa~n’ sweet confections. Myuu and Remia also talked to her kindly. Only then did Emily finally get back on her feet.

……Most likely, other than Emily, there was nobody else outside the family who ever got pampered gently and considerately that much by the Nagumo family.

「We, well, as a result, grandma was healed free of charge……When I tried talking to them, everyone was really kind……I’m not, bo, bothered anymore by that!」

Emily-chan acted bravely. She was bothered every time she saw Hajime, and she would be absurdly tense. The only salvation was that she completely opened her heart toward Shia who was especially considerate toward her because she would join the clan.

「Even if you say that, Nagumo and the others are really off from common sense. Emily, tell me properly if something happens, okay?」

Surely Hajime too would think 「I don’t want the lord telling me anything about common sense」, and even Emily herself would surely think 「Kousuke too feels like that in general……」, but the one who was there was the maiden in love, Emily-chan.

She was a simple heroine who easily blushed red just from the gentle and considerate words.

Her cheeks reddened, her eyes softened from happiness, and she spoke 「Yes……I’ll tell Kousuke properly」 bashfully.

Seeing Emily staring at him happily like that, Kousuke also scratched his cheek shyly……

「My, there is no need to worry after looking at this, isn’t it?」

「Sheesh Emily, she really loves Kousuke-kun.」

「……That small Emily is already gone.」

The earnest words and expressions of the family caused Emily to return to her senses in surprise, and she turned bright red.

To divert attention, she hurriedly tried to brew a new pot of tea and reached her hand toward the pot. She was so flustered that she almost fell. Without delay, Kousuke followed up on her. He supported her with his hand on top of Emily’s hand. Emily-chan got even redder innocently.

It was a heartwarming morning for the Grant family. Today, Carl also had a holiday, so it was a really calm atmosphere.

But, at that time, Kousuke suddenly went 「Hm? This presence is……」 and turned his gaze to the entrance.

Right after that, *bang* the Grant house’s door was opened.

「GOOD MO~~~~~~~~RNING-! Kousuke-san! Your Vanessa has arrived!」

「Go home. Rather, go back into the soil.」

The one who leapt inside in a “banzai” pose with a smart suit appearance was the investigator of the Britain national security bureau, Vanessa Paradis. Her appearance was a cool beauty with very short hair, but despite this, she possessed an extremely disappointing personality.

She was a genuine otaku who boasted that her bible was the Japanese manga. And then, she was the self-proclaimed “Kousuke-san’s third wife”.

Vanessa wasn’t perturbed at all against Kousuke’s sharp remark. She sat down on a chair with a familiar attitude as though it was her own house.

‘I am Kousuke-san’s wife. In other words, I am also Doctor Emily’s relative = a member of the Grant family. Any problem?’ That was Vanessa’s claim.

※After the Berserk incident, Vanessa, who called Emily as “Doctor Grant”, now called her “Doctor” or “Doctor Emily”. A doctor was a doctor, so she wouldn’t stop calling her doctor it seemed.

「Good morning Vanessa-san. Have you eaten breakfast?」

「Good morning Sophie-san. Also everyone too. Sophie-san, I haven’t eaten breakfast yet. I’m hungry.」

The shameless Danessa-san gazed at Sophie with wanting eyes. The cool beauty, in the beginning, was nowhere to be found.

Sophie chuckled and headed to the kitchen in order to prepare a share of breakfast for Danessa.

「And, what’s the matter, Vanessa? How is your work? Don’t tell me, you aren’t neglecting your work again, are you?」

「Seriously, you are going to get fired at this rate. Recently, the chief would contact me without fail when she couldn’t find you anywhere. Try to be in my position where every time I have to listen to that person’s chilly voice.」

While Emily was asking while brewing the tea for Vanessa, Kousuke was giving candid advice with reproachful eyes.

Vanessa’s expression changed as though she really wanted to say 「How vexing!」 and gulped her tea. It seemed that she liked the taste because her mouth burst slightly into a smile before she spoke the objective of her visit.

「I’m not coming here to play. Kousuke-san, we wish to be at least informed of when his majesty the demon king came. He came yesterday, correct? The chief sent me here telling me to ask about that matter.」

「Eh? It’s amazing that it was noticed. Even though he teleported directly inside the house and then left by teleporting again.」

Hajime teleported directly inside in consideration so that the bodyguards from the security bureau living around the house wouldn’t be spooked. And yet, the security bureau also couldn’t be underestimated seeing how it was exposed to them like this. Kousuke’s eyes widened in admiration.

「From that reaction, as expected his majesty visited here, didn’t he?」

「Geh, so that was a trap question.」

「Yes. Actually, there was a sighting report from another place. It seems that person burned down a part of a forest, so our office grasped the information from that commotion.」

「Just what is that guy doing today right after yesterday!? Or rather, what happened!?」

Yesterday Hajime said that he had a date with Shia, so he left the rest to Kousuke before leaving. It seems that after that he burned down a part of a forest in northern Britain.

Emily-chan was trembling heavily with teary eyes just from listening to the story. Even Carl and Sierra who were acquainted with Hajime said 「Uwaa」 with a creeped out look.

「The possibility is extremely high that the person will contact Kousuke-san if he is in Britain, so that’s why, why did he burn the forest, what is he planning in this country? Now, Kousuke-san. ――Please spit it out.」

「Why am I being interrogated!? I don’t know anything!」

「No way……. You promised the chief, right? That you would report about it when doing something in this country. The chief thought that there must be a reason that Kousuke-san didn’t call, so I was expressly dispatched here like this, and yet, this is horrible. The salmon sandwich I bought while going to work for my breakfast got thrown into the shredding machine before I could eat it, and then I got chased out right from the get-go to come here. Please talk in deference to me.」

「No, seriously. Certainly, that guy came here yesterday, but it was for a different matter. I haven’t got any idea at all why he would do arson. Also, the chief, she is seriously merciless toward Vanessa, huh.」

Kousuke raised a dry laugh.

By the way, the shredding machine of the security bureau that Chief Magdanese was personally supervising would shred anything.

Whether it was important documents, Vanessa’s rabbit ears hairband, Allen’s smartphone, Vanessa’s santa hat, Allen’s specially made alloy metal chip that was stuffed with the bureau’s female members’ information, Vanessa’s bible, the expensive tribute ring that Allen prepared for 「I don’t know when the ideal woman who I should give this to will appear, after all!」, or even Vanessa’s salmon sandwich, the shredding machine could turn anything and everything into pieces in one go.

Recently, in the security bureau, it was a repeated occurrence that each time the shredding machine was making a *whir whir* sound, the bureau members would twitch and tremble, wondering just whose thing was being shredded that time……

The proud iron woman of Britain mustn’t be angered.

The shredding machine of the national security bureau chief-sama was in the process of turning into her symbol.

Kousuke coughed and told Vanessa of Hajime’s objective for coming here and his request.

It was at that time that Sophie finished making breakfast and brought it to the living room, so Vanessa was listening while eating with sparkling eyes.

The crunchy and savory bread, and the syrupy melting butter. The fluffy scrambled egg, the crispy and juicy bacon. The golden colored vegetable soup that was warming the body to the core……

「……Vanessa, are you listening?」

「Yhes? Ih’m hislening yhou nhow? Fhlease, honcinyu」

Munch munch, munch munch, hafuu~ delish-!

The way she was eating made Kousuke doubt whether she was really listening, but ‘well fine’ Kousuke continued his explanation.

When the explanation was over, Vanessa was also wiping her mouth clean with a napkin at the same time.

「I see. Kousuke-san is receiving another troublesome request with that. Ah, Sophie-san, thank you for breakfast. It was really delicious.」

「Every time I see it Vanessa-san is always eating with gusto. It makes me feel good seeing you eat happily like that.」

「I’ve shown you something embarrassing. Because of the bureau’s duty, it became a habit to eat quickly no matter what. I think that I should fix this habit, but the meal was so delicious that I unconsciously……」

「You are an investigator of the security bureau. Your body is the asset for your work, so don’t be reserved, come anytime to eat, okay?」

Based on that warm and fluffy conversation, on the contrary of her words, it seemed that she cared more about “Grant family’s breakfast” than “investigation toward the Vatican”. As expected, perhaps this SOUSAKANinvestigator was beyond saving already.

「Vanessa……you, are you coming to eat breakfast or for work. Just which one it is, huh?」

「A superior investigator like me is able to do both simultaneously.」

「Is that so……」

Kousuke could only send a fixed stare at Vanessa who said that with a sharp expression.

「However, if that person’s incident is unrelated with this then……I’m beaten. We were completely unable to grasp his trail after the forest arson. Was there no contact from that person after that?」

「No, I didn’t receive any call. I’ll try asking him for a bit just what he was doing.」

Kousuke called Hajime from the smartphone that was prepared for the clone in the Grant house. However, there was only the announcement of ‘signal doesn’t reach~’ coming and the call didn’t connect.

「It cannot connect……. It’s a rare chance when that person is in our country, so the chief said that she wished to use this chance to give her greeting no matter what though……」

「No, it’s better to stop that. After all, he is in the middle of a date with Shia-san.」

「That’s……certainly.」

「Well, the plan for the conference in Japan is still not realized yet, so it’s not like I don’t understand the chief’s feeling.」

「Yes. How the Grant family went to Japan by themselves unnoticed also caused the chief to feel plainly shocked. This matter is pretty much determined to be a matter of the highest priority, so if that person just gives the OK, the chief is planning to match that person’s convenience as much as possible and head there immediately.」

「Nagumo too is busy with various things, after all. It’s sad that this matter for that guy isn’t that high on his priorities.」

For Hajime, there wasn’t much merit for him to have a connection with Britain’s security bureau. If it was about connections, then it was enough to just go through Kousuke. Hajime was entrusting Kousuke with that responsibility.

And so, Hajime’s priority was his own projects, and the simplification of the gate to go to Tortus, and then the troublesome matter that was actually befalling him……it would be great if it was something like that, but for Hajime, this matter was at the level of a happy family activity > meeting with the chief-san.

So far as it went, Hajime himself had set up a day several times where it was convenient for him, but the timing was bad, and it was Chief Magdanese who was unable to match the schedule no matter what at those occasions.

After all, the connection with Hajime would only be in her position as the security bureau chief, so she wouldn’t be acting as the representative of Britain’s government. If she carelessly spread the connection with the Nagumo family and some fellow who meddled with them appeared, that would affect the national security with certainty.

Within her overlapping busy schedules, Chief Magdanese had to act in a way where her surroundings wouldn’t suspect her. What’s more, she had to be absolutely secretive before she could go outside the country for the conference with the demon king.

Because of that, the schedules of the two sides kept missing each other, and the current situation was where there was still no prospect for a conference.

「It can’t be helped. I’ll report to the chief exactly what I was told here. Although, we will want to hear about the circumstance of the arson, so if that person contacts you, will Kousuke-san please notify us?」

「Hm, well, I’ll do that. As expected, I’m also curious.」

When the talk came to a stop, Vanessa more or less also had the self-awareness that she was in the middle of work, so she stood up from her seat. She was planning to return to the bureau and give her report quickly.

「Regarding the Vatican, I don’t think that we will be able to be of assistance, but just in case, I’ll report this to the chief too. Also, if it’s information regarding the company, we too are able to get our hands on it easily, so if we understand something from our side, we will notify you.」

「About the company, it seems Nagumo will take care of it himself, so I think it will be fine, but……I guess I’ll depend on you.」

Vanessa nodded, then she said 「Well then everyone, let’s meet again at dinner」 full of motivation to pester for dinner while leaving.

But, at that timing, Kousuke’s expression suddenly stiffened, and he stopped moving.

「Kousuke? What’s the matter? Have you snapped seeing Vanessa’s shamelessness?」

Emily tilted her head and asked. But Kousuke didn’t react even to her question. He was staring at the empty air without a single twitch.

「Kousuke-san?」

「Oi oi, just what’s the matter?」

The expression of Vanessa and Carl became dubious. Sophie and Sierra were also gradually looking worried.

「He, hey, Kousuke? What’s wrong? Answer me, please!」

Emily’s voice finally turned anxious while her hands were shaking Kousuke’s shoulders.

There, Kousuke’s gaze finally moved toward Emily as though he finally came back to life, and he opened his mouth.

「-, there was a bit of something with my real body. Right now, he is around the Vatican’s……perhaps it’s a library or a monastery I think, but……it exploded a bit.」

It seemed something happened with the real body. His words were a bit ambiguous because he instantly saw Emily’s expression, and so he spoke in a way to not worry her excessively.

Though it seemed that it brought the opposite effect, for Emily and the others, it instead became the basis of an image of a serious situation. Everyone’s expression was tense from the sudden serious atmosphere that visited.

Although, this was about Kousuke. From the point of view of Emily and the others, he was the fanciful strongest hero that was outside common sense. There was no way anything bad would happen to him.

And so, they were watching Kousuke’s condition with a vaguely optimistic feeling, but……

That feeling was literally pulverized like an illusion.

「-!? What!? Red mist!? Is it poison gas!? Shit-, it’s one thing after another!」

Perhaps Kousuke had no leeway to really control the clone. Most likely, the clone was tracing the words from the real body as they were, conveying the urgent situation.

And then, time flowed for a bit with the situation still being unknown……

Suddenly, the clone body slipped out faint words with his gaze still directed at empty air.

――Sorry for making a stupid choice.

Surely those words weren’t something that Kousuke actually wanted to convey to Emily and the others through his clone. Surely, it was the feeling inside his heart leaking out.

With that small voice as the last, Kousuke――

Vanished.

「Eh?」

It was the dumbfounded voice of Emily. Her expression said that she didn’t understand at all what happened.

But, the reality was right before her eyes.

No, there was none.

Kousuke, the clone of Kousuke who was always beside her, had vanished.

「Eh? Eh? Kou, suke?」

There was no one who responded even when she called.

Her mind was still unable to catch up with reality.

Because this was strange. Kousuke’s clone body was excellent. As long as it wasn’t lethally wounded or Kousuke himself still existed, it wouldn’t vanish that easily.

And then, the clone body in this Grant house was for Emily’s protection. Even though he had to hold the burden that couldn’t be made light of from the routine magic power consumption, Kousuke had never erased this clone body no matter what.

Therefore, in other words, this was……

The proof that “something” happened to Kousuke that caused him to be unable to maintain his clone body.

「–!!!? Kousuke! Kousuke-!!」

Emily whose thought process finally reached that stage became panicked and raised her voice.

「-. Please calm down, doctor!」

「There is no way I can calm down! Kousuke is-, something happened to Kousuke!」

Seeing Emily who completely lost herself, Vanessa who was also stiffening seemed to recover her calm slightly instead.

She strongly grasped the shoulders of the deranged Emily who was shaking her head in denial.

「EMILY GRANT-!!!」

「――」

She called her name strongly. As though to make her come back to her senses.

Emily twitched in reaction to the voice of Vanessa that was filled with a dominating aura. After that, the focus of her eyes was finally returning.

「Vanessa……」

「Please calm down. Doctor Emily, nothing will be solved even if you panic.」

The expression and voice of the cool-headed and professional Vanessa that she met in the very beginning made Emily recover her calm for sure this time.

Emily took a deep breath. She sent Vanessa a gaze with eyes that had recovered their strong radiance, and she opened her mouth.

「Vanessa, what do you think we should do?」

Vanessa nodded once toward those words. While Sophie, Carl, and also Sierra were staring at Vanessa with held breath, she answered.

「What we know right now is that Kousuke-san’s main body is at the Vatican, and something happened there. And then there is a high possibility that even the common tourists are witnessing that “something”.」

「Ah, I see. Kousuke said that he was around a place like the Vatican’s library or monastery before.」

Carl and the others also hummed in agreement and continued.

「He also said something about an explosion. The Vatican garden adjacent to it is a tourist attraction. Although it can be visited only on a subscription basis, at this time there should be some tourists there.」

「It’s something so great that it made Kousuke-kun lose composure. It could be that the tourists at the cathedral, the plaza, or the art museum also noticed the explosion.」

「I see. What Vanessa-san wishes to say is that gathering information is simple, isn’t that right?[

‘Exactly’, Vanessa nodded. Before long, the commotion that occurred in the Vatican would surely be broadcasted. At the very least, the objective fact of “An explosion occurred inside the Vatican” should be reported grandly. If they coordinated with the intelligence department, they should be able to obtain quite a lot of information.

「Anyway, I will report to the chief. If it’s the chief, she will surely obtain information somehow about what happened to Kousuke-san. Although, personally I’m not that worried. Even if he is unable to maintain his clone, if it’s that Kousuke-san, then he will surely get in touch with us no matter what kind of situation it is.」

「……Yes. Yes, you’re right, Vanessa!」

This was the hero that they believed in. He was going to be absolutely all right. Yes, she strongly believed that.

「The problem was on our side instead. I think it will be all right, but now that the absolute protector Kousuke-san is gone, what’s going to happen to the Grant family……」

「Is there a possibility of us being targeted?」

Vanessa shook her head at Carl’s question that was asked with a grave voice.

「No, currently there is no sign of anything like that. Just as we told you all some time ago, we made it so that everyone thought that the Berserk incident has come to an end, so there is no problem. Although, there is something on my mind. The reason Kousuke-san headed to the Vatican.」

「……It was because the Vatican is gathering information on the “returnees”.」

「Yes. And then, there is the uproar this time. It will be fine if this is just me overthinking it, but we shouldn’t be taking an optimistic view. Doctor, also everyone else. I recommend everyone to evacuate temporarily to the security bureau for the time being.」

Certainly, if this was a case that was related with the “returnees”, not just Kousuke, even the Grant family that was connected to the Nagumo family which is the core of the “returnees” might be affected in some way. Such a possibility couldn’t be said not to exist.

In the end, it was only on the level of “just in case”, but nothing could beat being prepared.

「Yes. I agree with Vanessa’s suggestion. It also seems like the information about Kousuke will reach the security bureau faster, so it will be smoother to rely on the security bureau’s strength to decide how we should act from here on.」

「……You’re right. There is also the chance of the worst case scenario. Vanessa-san, my apologies, but can we depend on you?」

「Of course. I will also contact the bodyguards in the vicinity, so everyone, please make your preparations.」

Vanessa who was promptly taking action was an active elite investigator who was excellent as expected. She made calls one after another, reported to Chief Magdanese too, and concluded the arrangements quickly.

Several bodyguards from the security bureau who were living around the Grant house gathered, pretending that they would have a fun outing together with the neighbors to deepen their relationships. It looked like they were clamorously enjoying themselves when seen from the side; however, they were nervous inside their hearts. The group departed toward the security bureau.

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A virtuous looking man who was watering the garden in front of a certain house, a male worker who was cleaning the street, an old man walking his dog, a young woman jogging――they were staring fixedly at the car procession of Emily and the others.

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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.

For some reason, it became like the latter part of a prologue.

The story didn’t progress, and I’m sorry (sweat).

There were a lot of questions in the review column, so I’ll explain.

About the timeline of the school trip. I’m thinking of making the school trip arc happen after the Vatican arc.

And so, about the little girl onmyouji (?) who appeared for a bit, Kousuke hasn’t met her yet.

I’m thinking of writing it someday, so at that time it will help if you readers think of it as happening after the Vatican arc.

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PS

Thank you very much for the many suggestions for the Fleur Knights candidates!

‘Ah, come to think of it…’ There are also characters who I noticed like that, and they are greatly of use as references.

I want to introduce the rank eighth and ninth when I’m writing about the Fleur Knights again.

Also, from the review, I noticed that the previous chapter was the 300^th chapter.

Thank you very much for the congratulatory comments!

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PS2

Just in case, I also wrote this at the beginning of the previous arc, so please pay attention.

This work is――fictional! It’s completely unrelated with actual organizations, countries, or institutions!

The Vatican came out here, but it’s the Vatican of a fictional world.

Please be understanding even if the facility or section that originally doesn’t exist in reality appears.

Please be so kind as to put on your mind filter.\

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