episode_0041

“Then, we will wait outside.”

After the refreshments were prepared and the servants left, only Eugene and Julia remained in the reception room.

In that situation, Julia couldn’t bear to look at Eugene sitting across from her and had to wiggle her fingers under the table.

‘Why is this so awkward? I can’t look at your face… .’

The two had known each other for over ten years, and had been officially engaged for several years.

But maybe it’s because we haven’t seen each other for a while recently? Somehow, the current situation where we’re left alone feels awkward.

“How have you been?”

As Julia kept her mouth shut as if practicing silence, Eugene spoke to her first.

“I’m at home all day… I’m doing well, I don’t have anything to do. What about you, Eugene?”

“As you know, the barbarians and foreign races beyond the front line are on the rise again. Because of that, I’ve been so busy that I haven’t even been able to see my fiancée’s face.”

“Oh, really? You must have had a hard time… .”

Julia was even more unable to look at him when he called her his fiancée.

Because her face would be flushed red as she lowered her head to the point where she could feel the heat.

“You know, Julia.”

As Julia was counting the number of marble tiles on the floor, Eugene spoke to her again.

“Should we get married soon?”

“What, what!?”

Julia was startled by the words that contained something she could not just ignore, so she raised her head and looked at Eugene without realizing it.

“You’re finally looking this way?”

And there, there was a black-haired man with a mischievous smile on his lips, who looked like the exact copy of her ideal type.

“You haven’t shown me your face since we met today.”

“Mi, sorry! But Eugene, did you just say let’s get married? ”

“Oh, that? I was wondering what I should say to get you to show your face, so I just tried it… It worked.”

Unlike him, who seemed somewhat satisfied with the success of the operation.

Julia’s forehead, which had been so pleasantly betrayed, had a cross-shaped vein bulging out.

“Want to die!? Who would dare to play such a game…!!”

“But I meant it when I said let’s get married soon.”

“Huh… ?”

“We’ve been engaged for quite some time now, right? I’ve been seriously thinking a lot lately about when to take the next step.”

Julia froze in place, unable to respond to the serious look on his face, which no longer showed any trace of playfulness.

“And above all.”

There was mischief in his eyes again as he tried to come up with some other reason.

“If I don’t take this pretty fiancée away quickly, I’d rather die than have her stolen by another guy.”

“Ah, uh, uh… .”

Eugene smiled faintly as he looked at Julia, who had finally lost her ability to speak beyond her tolerable level.

“So, Julia, what about you?”

“That’s it, so, me, me too… !!”

After mumbling for a while to answer his question, Julia finally mustered up the courage to speak.

Bang bang bang! Bam-!!

“This body appears!”

The door to the reception room opened noisily and an enemy came in without notice.

“Hey, hey, were you having a nice time!? But that’s too bad! I, Julian Dustin, will be taking over your time!”

With a sly demeanor and an expression that was almost overflowing with playfulness, Julian approached the table where the two were sitting.

“Oh, who is this? It’s my friend Eugene! Nice to meet you, nice to meet you!”

“… Julian.”

“What, why is your expression so serious? Aren’t you happy to see your friend after such a long time?”

“It’s nice to meet you. But it seems like we’ll be parting ways forever soon. May you rest in peace.”

Julia, who was shaking with rising anger, suddenly got up from her seat.

“Guys, kill this idiot halfway.”

He gave orders to the spirits who were having fun playing around him, invisible to others.

“… What!?”

The next moment, the sound of the heir to the family begging for his life echoed through the living room.

The employees who were listening to it live from outside couldn’t help but shake their heads as if it was starting again.

It was certainly a noisy, but happy, everyday time.

***

“Get out.”

I swung my fists at the pale bloodlines of vampires that were blocking my way without stopping.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The enemies’ heads or parts of their bodies burst open with a cool, popping sound.

It had been a long time since I had a fist full of red blood.

However, these guys have a tenacious regenerative ability as we’ve seen before, so it’s possible they might get back up and catch up.

“If you burn it and turn it into ashes, it won’t be able to be regenerated.”

“Stop living a miserable life and return to the embrace of the goddess.”

Aria, who was right behind me, used fire magic to finish off the blood relatives who had fallen to the ground, while Rene used his divine power.

However, I had to slow down my running speed so they could catch up.

Thanks to this, there is no need to be wary of being attacked from behind.

“Aria! Can you use magic to find out where Julian is!?”

“Wait a minute! I’ll check it now!”

He grabbed the neck of one of his relatives who was falling from the air in a frog-like posture and snapped it like a tree branch while biting him.

Aria took Julian’s comb, with its brown hair stuck in it, out of her pocket and cast a searching spell.

“Over there! It’ll be around the corner!”

Aria then pointed with her finger to the corner of an alley not far away.

But at that moment, from around the corner she had pointed, a greater number of her blood relatives than those she had faced so far poured out.

I put the brakes on my forward steps. But it wasn’t because I hesitated in front of a larger number of enemies than expected.

‘There’s no time to waste, since those things are popping out from where Julian is supposed to be.’

While I was still running, I reached out my arms to the two women who came up to me and grabbed their waists to keep them still.

“Ugh!!”

“… Oh my god?”

“You might bite your tongue. Keep your mouth shut.”

He gave them advice as they each showed their own reactions, then bent his knees, contracted his muscles as much as possible, and jumped up.

The group of blood relatives that had been rushing towards this side suddenly looked like dogs chasing a chicken and all looked up into the sky.

‘They’re all gathered together nicely.’

With the aura wrapped around my legs, I quickly fell towards the center.

Like a streak of meteors falling from the sky.

Shooo― Kwaaang!!

The ground shattered into a crater with a tremendous noise, sending pieces of stone flying into the air.

Then I swung my legs, still wrapped in aura, in a circle in the air where countless pieces of different shapes and sizes were floating.

Peeweeee! Peeweeee! Peeweeee! Peeweeee! Peeweeee!

The fragments pushed by the wind pressure generated there were launched in all directions, becoming lodged in or piercing the bodies of the blood relatives gathered around.

“Kkaaah!!”

“Keeek!!”

“Gyaaaah!!”

The blood relatives, bleeding from the holes big and small like cheese that covered their heads, upper and lower bodies, had to roll on the ground.

“Please finish it.”

I carefully put down Aria and Rene, who were holding me by my side.

They looked dumbfounded for a moment, then nodded.

“Fire Dance.”

“Goddess, please cleanse them.”

The blazing flames and holy light engulfed the blood relatives lying on the ground, and all that remained there afterwards was nothing but ash.

“Then, let’s go.”

After quickly wrapping up the situation like that, I started walking again and headed towards the corner that Aria had mentioned.

Julian, who I had believed would be there, was nowhere to be found, and instead a rainbow-colored door full of cracks was sitting there.

“Is this… the spirit gate?”

As I was glaring at the suspicious door with caution, Aria gave off a hint that she knew something.

“Are you guessing something?”

“Oh, no! I just remembered that a rainbow-colored door was mentioned in a famous traveler’s biography… .”

“Could you explain that to me?”

The anecdote she told was this:

A mysterious door appeared before a traveler who was suffering from dehydration after running out of water while crossing the desert.

Since staying there would have meant waiting for the day of death, the traveler opened the door and went in.

In this way, he briefly escaped from his original world and visited a magical world inhabited by spirits.

“There, I was treated as a guest by the spirits, got some rest, was given food and water as gifts, and then exited through the door I came in through… .”

When he looked back, the rainbow-colored door had disappeared without a trace, as if it had never existed in the first place.

“It’s a trivial story, like some common fairy tale. So, are you trying to say that this thing in front of me is the door to the spirit world?”

“… The person explained it kindly, but the tone is so angry. But I still think it’s quite possible that it’s true, right?”

I also thought that Aria had a point.

The missing Julian was none other than a contractor who communicated with spirits and dealt with them.

“But if the current hypothesis is true… it might be a bigger problem than expected.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Here, if you look at this door, it’s all cracked up, right?”

Aria looked at the rainbow-colored door that looked like it might collapse at any moment, and showed a rare serious expression.

“Assuming that this is really a passage leading to the spirit world, what if it couldn’t hold out and broke… .”

An incident will occur where the entire school city, including the academy, will be invaded by the spirit world and become mixed up.