74. Changes.

Omniscient POV

A slender man in his late twenties with sharp eyes and long, slightly wavy hair—black with streaks of blond—comes into view.

His bewitching appearance is accentuated by the long slits of his eyes and a shallow smile.

He is dressed in a crimson robe with a distinguished design, exuding a limitless amount of eerie aura from his body.

His mannerisms can be described as elegant. He is Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, often known simply as MacGregor Mathers, Sirzechs Lucifer's Bishop, and one of the founders of the Magicians Association known as the Golden Dawn.

It was a fairly typical day for him, tasked with ensuring the security of Rias Gremory, the younger sister of his master and heiress of the prestigious Gremory Clan. Rias had expressed a desire to tour the human world alone and purchase gifts for her newborn nephew.

However, she couldn't be left unsupervised due to the risks involved. None of the clans would ever risk allowing their young heirs or heiresses to venture into the human world without supervision, given its inherent dangers.

Some heirs and heiresses might resent this oversight, leading to discreet monitoring, as was the case with the Sitri heiresses who attempted to act more mature than her age.

As Mathers accompanied Rias to various shops within the human territory under his jurisdiction, he suddenly sensed a group of people pursuing a lone young girl.

He recognized the girl as someone who had been performing exorcism rituals in his territory for the past few weeks, seemingly in need of money. Mathers had allowed her to continue her activities.

Now, however, she was being chased by a group of Himejima Jutshushas led by the current Himejima Clan Head, Suou Himejima.

Currently, the situation among the Devil faction and other factions in Japan is a bit complicated due to the sudden death of the girl from the Belial Clan.

So, before confronting the Himejimas, he wanted to understand what was going on. Therefore, he decided to teleport beside that girl and ask her directly.

"Rias-sama, it appears we need to pause our shopping for a moment. I must attend to some urgent matters," said Mathers to the girl who was eagerly shopping.

"Oh, is something wrong?" asked Rias.

"I'm not certain yet, but it's best for you to accompany me. I can't leave you alone here," replied Mathers, and Rias nodded in agreement.

Mathers' assurance was justified. How could a group of mere humans, with their highest-ranking member reaching only high-class prowess, ever pose a threat to Rias in his presence?

Then Mathers teleported both of them beside the unconscious girl. As one of the best magicians of modern times, and with this being his own territory with multiple barriers and wards placed beforehand, it wasn't difficult for him to locate someone who was not even actively hiding.

However, the girl's condition looked dire. She was injured and in poor health. It seemed she might not survive much longer.

"What happened to her? She's badly hurt," Rias remarked as she took a closer look at the girl.

"She might not survive much longer, Ojou-sama," Mathers replied after assessing the girl's condition.

"Don't we have a phoenix tear with us? Use that," Rias insisted, feeling concerned.

"But.." Mathers attempted to say something, but Rias interrupted him and urged him to use it.

After thinking about it a bit, Mathers also concluded that it would be wiser to gather all the information before engaging with the prideful but pathetic Himejima clowns.

After using a phoenix tear, the girl was restored to normal, but she appeared very exhausted and the tears did nothing to alleviate her impoverished state. Initially panicked and tearful upon realizing she was still alive, Rias was able to calm her down. Mathers then questioned the girl and discovered her identity.

She was actually Akeno Himejima, the daughter of Baraqiel. Her fallen angel heritage and her strong lightning affinity, which was literally emanating from her body, made her lineage apparent even without prior knowledge of Baraqiel's current situation. Just then, the Himejima clowns showed up.

"Step away from that filthy crow, bats! This has nothing to do with you!" barked one of the lower-ranking clowns, which angered Mathers to be insulted in his own territory.

"What? Should I take it as the Himejima Clan insulting the Gremory Clan in their own territory?" Mathers replied calmly and professionally, though his magical powers flared up, causing the clown to cower back.

"Wait. You are Lucifer's bishop, right? We don't want any fights with the devils right now. We just want the girl. Hand her over and we will leave quietly," Suou said, stepping back and gesturing to stop the other clowns.

"Yes. I am MacGregor Mathers, the bishop of Sir Lucifer, and this girl here is Rias Gremory, the heir of the Gremory clan," Mathers replied, pointing at Rias who was shielding Akeno behind her after hearing her story.

"We cannot give her. You will kill her!" Rias insisted, holding onto Akeno protectively.

"This is our family matter, Gremory. Don't try to get in our way," Suou said, slightly glaring at her while maintaining his composure in front of Mathers.

"No! She will be my Queen. So it concerns us too!" Rias exclaimed after quickly formulating a plan.

Suou was visibly upset that the Gremorys were attempting to protect the very shame he was attempting to erase from his family. The other clowns seemed agitated and on the verge of doing something foolish, especially with an Ultimate Class magician standing before them.

Mathers wanted to intervene, but just then a small magic circle lit up beside one of his ears. It was a call from his master, Satan Lucifer. His master explained briefly that there was a girl named Akeno Himejima inside his territory whom he needed to protect. Mathers was curious about how his master knew about this, but for now, he would fulfill his order.

It seemed Azazel was still trying to help Akeno and protect her instead of her useless father. Azazel had assisted her escape and kept tabs on her anonymously for a while.

After seeing the Himejimas finding her in Mathers' territory, Azazel had sought Lucifer's help. Mathers then negotiated with Suou about Akeno.

Many among the Himejima clowns were dissatisfied, but they relented after receiving orders from their leader.

The terms of the negotiation were clear: Akeno would never be allowed to enter the Himejima's territory and must always stay by Rias Gremory's side. If she was found alone or inside the Himejima's territory, she would be killed.

These were the main points of the negotiation, along with a few others. After that, they all returned home; one side looked happy, while the other side appeared extremely unhappy.

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Kouske's POV

It's been a year since Irina-chan left. We still talk to each other through the communication device. I wanted to go meet her, but it seems she is in one of the Church bases where they train the new generations of exorcists. So she is focusing on her training, and I don't want to interrupt her.

Now, the neighboring grandma seems to be extremely ill, and it doesn't look like she will survive for long. She was actually one of the most caring people I have met since coming to this world. She lived alone, so she would always interact with us and treat us as her own grandkids. She managed to take an emotional place in our hearts.

I still don't understand why some Western people leave their lonely parents and move out of the house, even when it isn't a problem for them to keep living together. Parents raise their kids all their lives to be functioning members of society, but they often end up living the rest of their lives lonely and alone in the house.

Some never get to see the faces of their own children before dying. Simply leaving your old and ill parents with money and a caregiver nurse doesn't fulfill the child's responsibility.

Parents deserve more than that, at least emotional support. There are also some Westerners who make fun of Asians who choose to stay with their parents or live in extended/joint families.

As an Asian, I would never understand how their minds work. What's the point if you can't free up a bit of time for your own parents and family? Just the minimum means a lot to our selfless parents!

Never mind. I asked Granny about her family, but she said she didn't have any. But now I know why. We were alone, and I asked a question.

"Granny, do you think you would like to live a longer life? What if there was a way for you to be rejuvenated and live your life happily again? Would you take it?" I asked Granny suddenly, without even meaning to.

"Ho ho ho. That sounds like a good thing, but I believe in nature. Just let nature take its course. Aging and dying are also part of it and can be beautiful. Don't you think so? It's also nice to be reunited with all the family that has passed away in the afterlife together," Granny replied, with a longing smile on her face.

"Hmm," I replied, but tears streamed down my face.

"Don't cry, little one," said Granny as she wiped my tears. Even I was surprised by my own reaction.

"My only regret would be leaving Rurune-chan alone. But Sakuya-chan already promised that she would take good care of her," said Granny.

Then suddenly, a girl with black and red hair, around 11 or 12 years old, burst into the room, crying while hugging Granny.

"I don't want to leave you!" the girl exclaimed, with tears and snot covering her face. Surprisingly, she had ears and tails emerging from her body, but Granny seemed unfazed by her appearance.

"Don't worry, Rurune-chan. Everything will be fine," Granny assured. Rurune? The Cerberus?

After that, Sakuya came and took Rurune away. When I asked Granny why she wasn't surprised or anything, it was a silly question; maybe she had known about this all along. Granny then explained how she was aware of the supernatural beforehand and that her own son had awakened a sacred gear, leading to his tragic demise along with his family.

It was the work of a stray exorcist who targeted new sacred gear holders affiliated with the church. Granny mentioned that this exorcist was later killed by another stray fallen angel, as she had heard from church exorcists after persistent inquiries.

Two days later, Granny passed away peacefully in her room, and we conducted all the necessary rituals in her honor. Rurune-chan moved in with us. Granny's house was eventually sold because she didn't want Rurune-chan to become attached to it sentimentally.

According to Granny's will, the proceeds from the sale and her other assets were transferred to Rurune's name. I assisted in creating Rurune-chan's new identity.

The house welcomed new residents within two months: Gorou Aizawa, his wife Akemi Aizawa, and their tomboyish daughter Tomo Aizawa moved in and established a martial arts dojo named Aizawa Dojo within part of the house, with Gorou as the teacher.

Tomo, who is around our age, hit it off with Asagi-chan in their own way. Asagi-chan and Rurune-chan joined the dojo—Asagi because of Tomo's influence and Rurune-chan due to her sentimental connection to the house.

I might visit the place sometimes. It's never bad to learn different martial arts, especially Judo, which they mainly teach there.

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After about six months after granny`s death Saki and Rin were kidnapped by a low-class devil outside Kuoh town. They seemed to have gone out for a change in air but when no one was paying attention they wandered off somewhere else.

After that, they were kidnapped by a low-class devil. Someone had asked the devil to do that it seems. Normally, no devils would have done that, knowing the Tenjoins had connections to the Agares devil clan and their protection as part of their deal.

But this particular devil was ignorant and wanted to quickly rise in the devil society. So he chose the highest-paid job for quick promotion. But didn't know anything about their backing.

After finding out about it I quickly teleported them back home while the subordinates of the Agares devil clan seemed to have also found the devil quickly and brutally killed the low-class devil, when Uncle Ryouga contacted them.

Saki and Rin were very scared. Not wanting them to get involved in the supernatural world was wrong. Saki being the daughter of one of the wealthiest businessmen already made her a target.

I talked to Uncle Ryouga and got protections for them and also Saki and Rin are going to be learning magic. I also gave them falnas. I put my familiars in their shadows after getting their permission.

Many of my familiars are actually given to many members in Akatsuki to work as their partners. I also had to meet up with the Agares devil who came to investigate the case.

After that, I was approached by an important devil of the devil faction. He approached Akatsuki to be exact.

[A/N: What did you think of the chapter?

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