CH. 365: Guests from the Far East (I)

Asahi demonstrated various magic spells and gave them a closer experience of all elements spinning on top of his palms. When that wasn't enough, he suggested injecting mana of different elements into their bodies. To do that, he had to touch them.

"Where will you touch?" Riveria asked with her eyes narrowed with suspicion. She didn't trust him one bit on matters like this after the stunt he pulled yesterday.

"Anywhere is fine. Give me your hand."

(My love, you're being lewd again…)

Riveria stretched her hand, and Asahi took it and intertwined his fingers with hers. The high elf blushed from the intimate physical contact. Ryuu's blank stare made her embarrassment even worse. She was ashamed to find his warmth rather comforting.

'What am I doing holding hands with a spoken man?'

Asahi put on a serious expression that made Riveria a bit composed. "Don't panic now."

Asahi slowly transferred his fire-imbued mana, otherwise, the foreign mana would harm her. Riveria closed her eyes and immersed her entire being in the pulsating warmth.

"It's different from my magic power…" Riveria whispered, nodding in a daze. "Fire element.."

"Exactly. Now, try to resonate with it."

"I shall."

A fiery glow erupted from her, fluctuating as if it was unstable. She could feel the heat rising in her core.

Ais stared at Riveria's figure. "...Beautiful."

The mildly warm aura reminded her of the times she spent with her mother under the tree, and Asahi's headpats to an extent.

Asahi streamed different types of mana into Riveria. She seemed to have grasped something, at the same time she felt nothing out of the ordinary. It was an odd sensation, where the truth couldn't be deciphered with effort alone. The speed at which she learned depended on her talent as well as her mental strength.

Asahi repeated the process with Ryuu and Ais. The blonde loli instinctively controlled his mana to create a small breeze. Being the daughter of a spirit had its perks.

Riveria praised Ais despite knowing it could spoil her. She wasn't envious of what she could get with hard work.

'He wasn't lying about elements.'

Riveria couldn't wait to return and write down all of her discoveries.

Asahi continued his teacher duty even after he returned home as he taught Ray more about telekinesis. The Siren was having both best and worst time of her life with telekinesis lessons. While she had fun with Asahi, she lamented her inability to comprehend things known to humans.

Asahi consoled her low spirit with headpats. "You'll learn it eventually."

Ray became bright again. "Yes, I will."

At that moment of bliss, a silver wolf barged into the room and growled at Asahi. Ray would have blown the wolf's head off with her sonic scream if Asahi didn't stop her.

Kaguya and the whole gang came following the wolf."

"Master, it's me. Natsumi! They're here. A man introduced himself as a wandering samurai. His lord has some business with Astraea Familia. I'm getting serious Edo Period vibes from these guys!"

Seeing a wolf speak the human language was an odd sight for everyone in the room. Even Astraea hadn't seen something so strange in the human world.

Asahi rubbed his chin. 'Interesting. Is this familiar possession?'

Natsumi seemed to have awakened a new ability in his absence.

(Very much so. It's a neat trick, isn't it?)

'Yeah.'

"Did you say a wandering samurai?" Saeko's eyes glowed with a fighting spirit as her lips twisted a cruel smirk. "Perfect timing."

She might have taken an oath to become Asahi's sword, but she still hadn't done anything Samurai-like for him. Defeating another swordsman might be the thing that could fulfill some part of their oath.

"Someone is about to be brutally murdered today." Shiori mourned their loss with a sigh. "A bloody battle."

"They also have a little fox girl," Natsumi added. "And… a god."

"Fox girl. Could it be?" Asahi thought of Haruhime since he was the only fox girl he saw in Danmachi. "Who is the god?"

"He didn't reveal his identity."

Astraea frowned. "Let's meet them."

She had to meet people from the Far East since Kaguya was one of her children. Her past didn't mean anything once they became a part of their Familia. A princess or a queen, the status didn't matter once someone joined her Familia.

Alise put up a serious expression as though reading the air in the room. "They better not be here for Kaguya."

"They most likely are," Kaguya said with a grin. "Captain, are you that worried for me?"

"Yes. You're a part of the family!"

"I'll cut them down then," Saeko said with a calm smile as she put a hand on her katana's hilt. "With my precious sword."

"We don't need to create a conflict." Ryuu stared at Saeko. "But if they come at us first, we'll cut them down as Saeko said."

Others also voiced their support for their vice-captain.

"I have nothing to worry about with friends like this." Kaguya turned to Asahi as her lips formed a charming grin. "And a man like this.'

"Black cat is in the bag," Shiori muttered as she pushed up her glasses. "Asahi-kun, attack!"

"Calm down, Shiori. I'm not your pokemon!" Asahi stopped Shiori, who wanted him to attack Kaguya, and patted the wolf's head. "Hold them for one minute."

"I will, Master."