Chapter 6

"…And that's why I'm here."

Starrk, wearing his Espada uniform, sat in front of a handsome man with long white hair, pointy airs, and wears a kimono.

"I see. Are you alone?" Asked the white haired man.

"For now, yes. But some of my comrades might visit once and awhile, so I guess there's that."

Starrk usually wasn't the type to do this type of talks, especially with someone with high standing like this man in front of him.

But he has no choice, he was the one chosen to do this mission.

"As for why you decides to guard Kouh Town yourself?"

"Well, heiress of Gremory and Sitri were planned to be sent in Kouh Academy to hone their management and logistics skills, and I need to make sure everything's is alright."

"…Very well. I shall allow your presence in my territory. However, I forbid you from releasing your 'true form' without permission from me and your King. I will discuss it with her at a later time."

"I understand."

Starrk stared at the man in front of him. 'Well, my Resurrección is way too powerful and will surely affect the lives of mundane people, and even weaker supernatural creatures. So I guess it's understandable that he will forbid me from using it.'

Sesshomaru, the Great Youkai and leader of Southern Youkai Faction. Possessing not only personal power that allows him to stand toe to toe against a major god, but also a great military strength consisting of youkais from Southern Youkai Faction.

Japan's supernatural side is divided by the four Youkai Faction of East, West, North, and South, with the Shinto Pantheon overlooking everything from above.

Kouh Town, which was leased to the devils, is part of the territory belonging to Sesshomaru, and the South Youkai Faction.

So the devils can't just casually send someone at the level of Starrk in Kouh, or the Youkais might consider it as an act of aggression and prepare for war.

And devils absolutely cannot go to war with the Youkais, not to mention the two faction have an equal strength, but Youkais are supported by the Shinto Faction and they would absolutely crush the devil faction if a war were to break out.

"I shall also forbid my subordinates not to intrude Kouh without permission, so you can rest assured."

"I appreciate that. I don't want to deal with troublesome things."

Then, Sesshomaru took out a picture and handed it to Starrk. "My niece asked me to give this to you, she's asking for your autograph."

"Hm?" Starrk looked at the picture, and he couldn't help but cringe.

It was him, wearing his 'Evil Lord Cayote' outfit. A black trench coat, with black boots and black fingerless gloves, wearing a silver mask covering his face.

He was doing a JoJo pose while holding a pair of black revolvers.

It is a photo of him a year ago, when Serafall forced him to do this pose with this outfit as a cover for her latest magical girl movie, the "Magical Girl Sera-tan; Return of the Lone Wolf".

Honestly, Starrk didn't know he'd be popular that he has a fan asking him for autograph.

What he didn't know is that, he was loved and adored by many humans due to his character in the movie.

Sighing tiredly, he signed the photo before handing it back to Sesshomaru.

"I appreciate it."

"If there's nothing else, I'll be taking my leave." Said Starrk.

"Very well. Please do inform me if you found some Youkais wandering in Kouh, I will be the one to deal with them appropriately." Said Sesshomaru as he hid the photo.

"I will." Starrk replied as he stood up.

He gave Sesshomaru a bow before leaving the Bounded Field - some sort of separate space- where the temple of Sesshomaru was located.

On his way out, he passed by countless Youkais whom he ignored. And it didn't take long for him to return to the human world.

He took a deep breath, 'finally. Freedom. I should just head to my house in Kouh and take a rest there.'

Starrk, as the one assigned by Sitri and Gremory to guard Kouh from other hostile factions, was given a mansion in Kouh's most affluent district,

He even have a few sports car and bike there. Sometimes he would take one and ride around the town.

Starrk directly find a place to hide before using 'Garganta' and open up a tear in space before stepping inside, with the tear immediately closing after he went in.

At the other side of the Garganta is Starrk's own room in his house in Koub, where he immediately lied down...is what he would've done if he didn't find another person already lying on his bed.

A beautiful woman with short black hair wearing a black see-through nightgown, which shows off her dark and purple underwear.

She was peacefully sleeping on the bed, looking all the defenseless.

"Oi." Starrk said in an annoyed manner, "I know you're awake. Get off my bed Merlin."

Merlin, another Bishop of Serafall. A descendant of that Merlin from Arthurian Legends, and a grand sorcerer comparable, or even better(debatable) than Irene.

Irene and Merlin never really competed on who is the better mage, but both of them respected each other that if you ask them who is better between the two, they would answer each other's names.

As if hearing Starrk's words, Merlin opened her eyes and smiled at him, "You could be a little gentle you know."

"…What are you even doing here?" Asked Starrk.

Merlin sat up and stretched her arms upwards, showing off her impressive figure. "Well, I decided to give you a little gift."

"A gift?"

"Hmm. I placed an observation magic all over Kouh. It can detect even a mosquito trying to go inside the town. Not to mention that you can observe everything here, anytime and anywhere. You can just stay here at your house and laze around while letting my magic monitor the town."

"…" sometimes, Starrk wanted to hug this girl and give her a kiss. That is literally the best present he could ever ask.

"Well, aside from that I was also the first girl to accompany you in your work. It has been decided that since we can't leave Starrk alone, one of us will be watching over him."

"Urgh. I'm not a kid."

"No. You're a big baby." Merlin chuckled as she patted at her lap, "How about you lie down on my lap and I'll you a lullaby."

Starrk shrugs and decided to lie down on her lap. He wasn't one to reject such generous offer, and its not like it's the first time he have slept on a woman's lap.

He wasn't really bothered by it.

"By the way," Starrk opened one of his eye and stared at Merlin, "I heard you took in a Stray."

Merlin smiled lightly, "Hmm? You mean Kuroka? Well, she's an interesting specimen. Her biological, magical, and spiritual 'blueprints' has been greatly modified. Her racial limit has been broken, and with a little bit of hard work she should be able to evolve into a Super Devil. At such a young age, she's already as strong as an Ultimate Class Devil."

"Oh."

"The Nebiros clan actually has such a good scientist, it's a pity he died. I would love to exchange knowledge with him. But it's fine, at least he left such a masterpiece before dying."

It's a bit scary for normal people to hear Merlin refer other person as if they're just some specimens she wanted to dissect.

Which she really does. Even Starrk fell victim into one of Merlin's experiments, as she consider him a 'specimen that is dear to her', but still a specimen nonetheless.

Though, she stopped that thought when Starrk tried to kill her when he found out that she was planning on doing some experiments with Lilynette.

Even though Lilynette herself volunteered because she finds it interesting, that touches Starrk's bottom line.

Merlin did apologized, and even promised to never to conduct any experiments on them ever again. A promise she had kept.

"Well, I really don't have any interest on that."

"Figures." Merlin lightly knocked on his forehead, "though, I might consider taking that girl in my peerage."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. As someone who can potentially evolve into a super devil, I wanted to observe her carefully and train her with the best of my abilities until she realized her full potential."

"…Good luck with that."

"Thank you. Now, go to sleep you big baby."