After half an hour of experimenting, her breakfast was ready.
"Perfect!" Mafuyu gazed proudly at her plate of bright, colorful food. "I didn't know I had a talent for cooking."
With excitement, she took a bite of her creation. "Not bad!" she thought, pleased, and began eating heartily. But before long, she felt a sharp pain in her stomach and her vision started to blur.
"What... what's happening to me?" Mafuyu's mind raced as her body weakened. *Did I accidentally poison myself?*
In desperation, she staggered towards the door, needing help, and managed to open it.
"H...help" she gasped, collapsing unconscious in the doorway.
Within seconds, a figure appeared at her doorstep, noticing her lying there through the slightly open door.
"Mafuyu Kirisu-sensei?" It was Rei Ao, looking down at her with surprise.
Roughly half an hour earlier.
Rei Ao woke up in Megumi Kato's bed. As he hugged her from behind, he asked, "Megumi, should we get up?"
"Mmm Rei Ao, please let me sleep a bit more. I'm so tired," Megumi mumbled, barely able to keep her eyes open. The reason for her exhaustion was obviousRei Ao's endurance had been considerable.
"All right, sleep a bit more," Rei Ao said, cupping her face softly before getting up. He was utterly enamored with her; it was clear she'd studied specifically for this day, even trying techniques that Mai hadn't used yet, albeit a little clumsily. That, he thought, made her all the more endearing.
Before long, after getting dressed, Rei Ao headed out and ran into Megumi's older sister, Hiromi Kato, who was also on her way out.
"Um" Hiromi's face went red as soon as she saw him, while she awkwardly scratched the ground with her toe. She realized she was likely the only person who had ever overheard her own sister's private life. In the awkward silence, she couldn't even think of what to say.
"Megumi seemed comfortable?" she blurted out without thinking.
"!!!" She immediately regretted it. *What in the world am I saying?*
Rei Ao was just as taken aback for a moment but managed a smile. "Yes, very comfortable."
"???" Hiromi felt like dying from embarrassment. *Did he have to actually answer?!* Even though she'd overheard her sister's reactions last night and could understand, saying it to his face was something else entirely.
"Ahem," Hiromi coughed, desperate to leave. "Well, my parents are coming back from a trip around noon. You know what I mean, right?"
Rei Ao nodded. "Yes, I'll be gone soon."
"Great. Well then, I'm off to work. See you!" she said, turning quickly to leave, afraid that lingering any longer would cause her to explode with embarrassment.
Once she was gone, Rei Ao also didn't linger. With a leisurely stroll, he started walking back to his apartment building.
"Help"
"Hm?"
On his way up the stairs, he heard a faint, familiar call for help. He followed the sound and found Mafuyu Kirisu, collapsed on the floor.
"Ugh" Mafuyu moaned softly as she opened her eyes, disoriented.
"What happened to me?" She sat up, taking in the unfamiliar room. "Where am I?"
"Kirisu-san, you're in your own apartment," Rei Ao said, coming over with a bowl of congee.
"My apartment?" Mafuyu looked around, startled by how clean everything was. For a moment, she didn't even recognize the place.
"Wait, why why are *you* here?" she stammered, finally noticing him. She recognized Rei Ao, of course, but if this was her home why was he here?
"It seems Kirisu-san's memory isn't the best," he teased lightly. "I heard your cry for help, so I came over and found you with what seemed to be food poisoning."
He'd taken care of her food poisoning easily enough, though he'd also discovered the source: a chaotic blend of ingredients she'd apparently thrown together in a pan, resulting in a highly questionable culinary "experiment." There was no doubt she'd made it herself.
"Food poisoning?" Mafuyu's face turned red as she realized the likely cause, feeling deeply embarrassed. And to add to the embarrassment, Rei Ao set a bowl of congee down in front of her.
"Kirisu-san, your room was so messy there wasn't even anywhere to sit, so I took the liberty of tidying up," he said. "I also made some congee for yousomething easy on the stomach."
Mafuyu's face flushed bright red. *This is the end!* Now her student knew that she was a hopelessly lazy and disorganized mess.
But there was no way she could admit to it. Flustered, she lied, "Oh, it's actually well, the mess is because I hosted a, uh, gathering here yesterday. So that's why."
Rei Ao only smiled knowingly, choosing not to challenge her excuse. He wasn't particularly concerned with the details.
It turns out Mafuyu Kirisu also lived in this apartment complex. Rei Ao, seeing this as a perfect opportunity, was set on making an impression on her. For a beautiful yet hapless woman with no life skills, like Mafuyu, the best approach would undoubtedly be to appeal to her weaknesses and, most importantly, her appetite.
Seeing that Rei Ao didn't press her about the state of her messy home, Mafuyu breathed a sigh of relief. With a complicated look, she said, "Thank you, Rei Ao, for saving me."
Then, she picked up the bowl of congee he'd made and took a cautious sip. Her eyes widened.
"This is delicious!"
She'd been living on takeout for so long that she hadn't tasted a home-cooked meal in ages. And considering the disaster she'd almost cooked herself into that morning, this was practically heaven.
"Well, if you're all right now, I'll be going. By the way, I live just upstairs in 402."
"You live here too?" Kirisu asked in surprise.
"Yes, I just moved in recently."
With that, Rei Ao left her apartment. Only after the door closed did Mafuyu realize how genuinely grateful she felt, holding the warm bowl with a rosy glow on her cheeks.
Mumbling softly, she said, "What a nuisance."
...
Rei Ao returned to his place only to find himself surrounded by a group of girls. Mai, Gabriel, Raphiel, Vignette, and Sataniaall five of them were there.
Before Mai could say anything, Raphiel spoke up. "Rei Ao, we have something very important to discuss with you."
"Oh?" Rei Ao replied, intrigued, and listened as Raphiel explained the situation. With every word, his mind pieced together a plausible theory.
"Rei Ao, we're hoping that if we encounter this potential enemy, you can help us at least hold it off. The forces from Heaven and Hell should arrive as backup."
They were uneasy, knowing they might be facing an enemy as powerful as Gabriel's sister. Rei Ao shook his head.
"Is that a no?" Vignette's face fell, but Rei Ao wasn't rejecting them.
"Actually," he said, "I think you may be worrying too much. I suspect this being isn't an enemy."
"Why do you think that?" Raphiel asked, curious about his confidence.
"Because I saw this 'powerful lifeform' with my own eyeslast night, in fact."
"Wha?"
The girls looked at him in shock.
"It's a dragon," Rei Ao continued. "A huge dragon."
"Adragon?!"
They exchanged glances, remembering that the other world, connected to theirs, was indeed home to dragons.
"Isn't that extremely dangerous?" Vignette asked, frowning. She knew that in the other world, dragons were often chaotic and powerful.
"I can't speak for other dragons," Rei Ao replied, "but this one, at least, owes me its life. It promised not to cause any trouble."
"Itowes you its life?" they echoed, clearly surprised.
"Rei Ao, do you know where it is now?" Vignette asked.
"Unfortunately, after I saved it, it flew off," Rei Ao said with a shrug. "But it did promise to behave."
A little disappointed, they nonetheless trusted Rei Ao's judgment.
"Master is so powerful, even taming a dragon!" Satania exclaimed with admiration.
Rei Ao chuckled. Taming a dragon was one thing. But in the future, he was definitely going to try his hand as a dragon knight, as well as a demon knight, and an angel knight.
"In that case, this situation is a bit less urgent," Raphiel said, smiling. "But we should still try to find the dragon and conduct a little negotiation."
With that, Raphiel, Gabriel, Vignette, and Satania each left one by one. Only Gabriel lingered, slipping a note into Rei Ao's hand on her way out. When he opened it, he found her request: "Rei Ao, could I borrow 10,000 yen? It's forsaving the world."
Mai, who hadn't been snooping, finally asked, "What did Gabriel say?"
Rei Ao smirked. "She asked for a loan."
"A loan?" Mai said, eyebrow raised, finding the idea of an angel borrowing money from a human rather odd. She dropped the topic quickly, though, glancing downwards with a hint of annoyance.
"Rei Ao, you spent the night at Megumi's, didn't you? I'm guessing things wentpretty far?"
Mai already had her answer, but hearing him admit it
"Yes," Rei Ao replied simply.
He then settled back into the couch, beckoning her with a playful grin. "Come here, Mai. I can tell you want to make sure the scent iscompletely gone."
"Hmph!" Mai scoffed, though her face betrayed a faint blush. *Who's trying to remove a scent, really?* But she was always straightforward and honest.
She decided right then that she was going to make this rogue pay.
~~~
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
Currently You can Read 50 Chapters Ahead of Others!
Chapter 95: Shizue Izawa Trade Request
Rei Ao, while savoring the moment, took out the "God Sword" that he had removed from Tohru's body. Mai, glancing curiously from beneath him, couldn't speak but kept her eyes on the sword.
Rei Ao explained, "This is the God Sword that seriously injured Tohru."
His brows raised as he examined it. Though called a "God Sword," he couldn't feel any particular power from itit seemed like an ordinary sword. Using his "True Sight" ability, he accessed the sword's information.
[God Sword]: A sword that connects to the faith in gods, suppressing all those with belief in the divine.
"For believers in the divine" he mused. "In that sense, neither Kobayashi nor I would be affected, as neither of us believe in gods."
The description seemed to confirm that it was indeed just an ordinary sword, aside from the link to divine faith.
"Perhaps the sword's faith acts as an energy source of some kind?" he thought, and decided to try absorbing its essence. The God Sword immediately dissolved into golden particles, merging into his hand.
"Oh?"
[Name]: Rei Ao
[Level]: 44
Seeing his level increase by one, Rei Ao's eyes lit up. He'd felt a massive amount of faith energy in the brief moment he absorbed it, but the connection was severed almost instantly. Only a portion of that power had been absorbed, but even that was a significant boostespecially given how slow level advancement had become past level 40.
In the chat group, Rei Ao tagged Tohru: "@Tohru, are you there?"
In a distant cave, Tohru raised her dragon head upon seeing the message, her eyes flashing before she replied.
Tohru: "I'm here."
Rei Ao: "How's your recovery? I assume, as a dragon, your body heals quickly."
Tohru: "Without the suppression of the God Sword, my injuries have mostly healed."
Stella: "Waityou're a dragon too?"
Tohru: "Yes, I am of the Dragon Clan."
Frieren: "This chat is getting livelyhumans, elves, and now even a dragon."
Rei Ao: "Tohru, just a heads-up: the Three Worlds are aware of your existence. Angels and demons may come looking for you soon."
Tohru: "Are they enemies?"
Rei Ao: "No, they're friends of mine. Try to avoid conflict; they won't attack you."
Tohru: "Understood."
Shizue Izawa: "WaitRei Ao, are you and Tohru acquainted?"
Rei Ao: "Forgot to mentionTohru is also from my world."
Yukino Yukinoshita: "Wait, this world has dragons now, too?"
Angels and demons had already shaken her worldview, and now even dragons were real!
Rei Ao: "Technically, Tohru isn't from our world; she comes from an alternate world that's now connected to ours, the same one the monsters came from."
Mai Sakurajima: "Ah, that world"
"???" Rei Ao looked down at Mai, amazed. Even at a moment like this, she was still chatting in the group.
Blushing, Mai shot him a glare, barely holding back her frustration.
Akame: "Rei Ao, does this dragon resemble the type of dragon-like danger beasts you transformed into?"
Rei Ao: "@Tohru, would you mind sending a selfie?"
Tohru: "Aselfie?"
Tohru: "[Image]"
Tohru: "Like this?"
Frieren: "Oh, wow! She really does look like a dragon."
Yukino Yukinoshita: "I can't believe it She's a real dragon."
Yukino felt dazed. Ever since joining this chat group, the world has become increasingly unfamiliar.
Ayame Yomogawa: "By the way, Tohru, how did you get injured?"
Sui: "Maybe it was some kind of dragon conflict? Dragons, magic dragonsthese creatures tend to have really strong life forces."
Tohru: "No, it was a battle with the gods and humans. In our world, nearly every species is locked in chaotic conflict. Dragons and gods, as well as humans, are eternal enemies. I was wounded by a powerful God Sword, summoned by the gods specifically to subdue dragons, and escaped here by accident."
Shizue Izawa: "It sounds like Tohru's world is a dangerously unstable place."
Rei Ao: "It seems like all these dangers are slowly spilling over into our world. First, a dragon as powerful as Tohru has slipped throughwho knows what will come next?"
Saeko Busujima: "Our world is becoming quite perilous."
Rei Ao: "Yukinoshita, and Yumiko, both of you be careful out there."
Yukino Yukinoshita: "...Thank you. I will."
Rei Ao: "By the way, Saeko, how is Rei doing?"
Saeko glanced at Rei Miyamoto, who had been sitting on edge.
"It seems you can relax, Rei. Rei Ao hasn't forgotten about you."
"Mm..." Rei nodded shyly, reassured. Since waking up, she'd worried her connection with Rei Ao might have just been a fleeting night. But his ongoing concern for her was like a sweet relief.
Saeko Busujima: "Rei is doing well. I've been helping her improve her skills, and now she can handle a swarm of undead on her own."
Rei Ao: "Good to hear."
Rei's improvement was clear to him.
[Name]: Rei Miyamoto
[Level]: 6
[Abilities]: "Dragon Power," "Wind Spirit," "Rei Ao's Blessing," "Inherent Device: Judgment of Sin"
Level 6quite decent progress. Rei had clearly been training hard.
Saeko Busujima: "Oh, and Rei Ao, we came across a few of these at a clothing shop."
Saeko Busujima: "[Image] [Image] [Image]"...
She sent over a dozen photos, showcasing...lingerie, swimsuits, bikinis, and more, including several rather revealing designs. Many in the chat group were taken aback.
