97. The Wangsheng Funeral Parlor and Soul Society Are Similar, Don't You Think So?

Seeing Keqing's figure getting farther and farther, Ryūhei turned to Ayaka while saying and pointing at himself.

"Don't you think I'm like the main character in manga and novels?"

Ayaka somewhat understood what he meant. She opened her mouth to make a retort.

"Don't become one!" Then, she pinched his waist.

Seeing her reaction, he hammered his palm with his other hand.

"Ah. You're jealous, aren't you?" He said that with a smirk. And what he got was a stomp, although Ryūhei dodged it right away. Then, he grabbed her arm and pulled her in a certain direction. In that instant, her face reddened due to his sudden action.

And the direction he was going was the clothing store that Xingqiu had just opened recently. The same clothing store where it sells modern clothes and anime outfits.

Just then, the servant who recognized Ryūhei bowed.

"Welcome, Sir Niwa."

Ryūhei nodded. Then, he asked, "Is it alright if I bring these?" Ryūhei pointed at Rimuru and Pikachu.

"Well, it's forbidden, honestly." The servant replied awkwardly.

Ryūhei shrugged his shoulders.

"Then, I'll leave them to you." He glanced at Rimuru and Pikachu, and then they jumped in front of the servant, making him shriek in surprise.

"S-sir, they're docile, right? I won't be attacked, right?"

"Haha. No prob. They really understand what I'm saying. You can rest easy."

Without waiting for the answer, Ryūhei strode inside while pulling Ayaka.

The two spent some time in the shop, trying on different modern clothes one after another. Naturally, Ryūhei also picked out some clothes for her. Especially after seeing her wearing the Tōtsuki Academy uniform.

Xingqiu rushed into the shop after hearing Ryūhei was back. However, when Xingqiu saw that Ryūhei was with a girl, he gave up his intention to disturb their date.

After shopping, Ryūhei took Ayaka to his house and prepared a room for her.

—————

Somewhere, in a certain place and a certain room.

The room was rather dark, lit only by the dim candlelight. A man sat on a classic-like chair while resting his cheek on his hand. He listened attentively to the report from his underling.

"Hoooh, what a surprise. It's the first time I've heard that name again after a few hundred years. But, to think that the last person of that clan took a different approach and was successful. But well, I don't want to antagonize Morax. Maybe I'll see him another time." The man said with an evil grin on his face. Then, he turned to his underling.

"Send some people to spy on him and plant some moles in his companies. Report immediately the moment he set out to another nation!"

"As you wish, my liege."

After the underling left that room, that man muttered.

"Niwa Ryūhei, eh? I hope he can give me some entertainment."

—————

Ayaka met Eni and Nibi when they came to the house after Ayaka put all her things in her new room. She wanted to ask, but Ryūhei suddenly grabbed her and teleported into the cave he used to train. He performed a technique to cover the entire cave with a dark curtain. After that, he opened his mouth.

"Well, let me tell you a lot of things, okay! First of all, I told people that Eni and Nibi were my servants who came from Inazuma. But, that was an obvious lie."

"Then, who are they?"

Ryūhei didn't reply immediately. He hesitated at first. However after thinking it through, it might be better if he told her a little. After all, that didn't mean Ryūhei would reveal all of his secrets to her.

He stared at her for several moments before Ayaka turned her head bashfully. He smirked after seeing her expression. And then, he started to talk.

"They're bionic puppets with all of my knowledge. Since they are not humans, I call them Artificial Intelligence."

"Puppets?"

"Yup. I also have to warn you not to get close to the Adventurers Guild in every nation because Katheryne is a bionic puppet, just like Eni and Nibi. I'm sure you already know where the Guild HQ is. And all Katherynes are under the control of the people from Snezhnaya."

Ayaka collected his words pensively. What he said didn't make any sense. Even though she heard that the Adventurers Guild was based in Snezhnaya, it was still a neutral force since there was a commission to eliminate the Fatui sometimes.

"Make no sense, right?" Ryūhei added.

Ayaka turned to him.

"Is that really the case? I mean, are you sure that Katheryne is a puppet?"

"Yes." Ryūhei nodded. Then he crossed his arms while saying, "An Adeptus who taught me Adeptus Arts also confirmed this. Heck, I even suspect that the commission of eliminating the Fatui from the guild was simply conservancy."

"... That's a conspiracy." Ayaka corrected. "Can you tell me the reason why you believed in that Adeptus? I don't think you're a credulous person."

He said, "I'm sure you know that one can feel someone's presence."

Ayaka nodded.

Then, Ryūhei continued, "I know pretty well that Eni and Nibi are puppets. Yet, they have unique presences, different from humans in general. And I felt that Katheryne's presence was similar to theirs. So, I did not doubt that Katheryne was a puppet that was used to gather intelligence in seven nations. It's likely that one of the Fatui Harbingers made those puppets."

This was the truth and also the reason he no longer wanted to be an adventurer. Though, he made the mistake of registering as an adventurer and foolishly revealed that Katheryne was a puppet. He didn't want to make more mistakes, so he decided to stop being an adventurer.

As for Ayaka, Ryūhei already knew almost everything about her, so he knew that she could be trusted.

Hearing everything he said, Ayaka pondered for a moment before responding.

"Although I also suspected that the Fatui used the Adventurers Guild to gain intelligence at first, the way it antagonized the Fatui made me forget that the Adventurers Guild was under the control of Snezhnayan. However, why didn't you tell us before?"

"I don't want to attract attention before my strength is strong enough to become a threat to the enemies." Ryūhei gave her a reason. Then, his serious look turned to her. "Can you keep everything I said here?"

Ayaka put on a sweet smile before replying. "I promise."

Seeing this, Ryūhei put on a deadpan expression as his hand reached out to her to pat her head. This naturally made her blush as she tried to get away from him.

——————

After knowing his sworn brother brought a girl to go shopping, Xingqiu called his bestie, Chongyun, and dragged him to the Shueisha Publishing Company. There, both of them somehow met Yun Jin, Hu Tao, Yanfei, and surprisingly Yelan as well who sat together while reading and discussing the new manga that was released today.

Yun Jin herself pretty much loved almost any story. So, she bought them all. However, she refrained from reading Nozoki Ana in the open.

Meanwhile, after Hu Tao heard the word "Shinigami" in the manga from passersby, she immediately rushed to buy that manga. Other than that, she also bought Death Note and Kimetsu no Yaiba. After all, those three were somehow related to her job. Death, sending people to the afterlife, as well as purifying and eliminating demons.

Yanfei didn't read novels or manga that much. But still, she is quite interested in reading manga in her spare time and dragged Yelan to the Shueisha Publishing Company. When she read the title of the new manga, Detective Conan, she immediately bought it and started to read.

As for Yelan, because she was quite close to Yanfei, she decided to come along and buy some intriguing manga based on the employee's explanation.

When Xingqiu and Chongyun approached them, the ladies greeted two of them and let them sit together.

Xingqiu opened his mouth.

"It's rare to see you ladies sitting down here together. Especially Lady Yelan."

"Yanfei dragged me here even though I refused." Yelan replied and let out a sigh.

Xingqiu glanced at the manga in a shopping bag in front of Yelan.

"Did you buy these manga? It's quite surprising to see you interested in these." He asked.

"Well, you can say that." Yelan replied. "I'm quite intrigued by the stories in these manga. Look at this, this is the first time I've seen a story about ninjas. Then, humans were petrified for thousands of years due to an unknown phenomenon. Reincarnated into a slime with something called a system. A fantasy world where people can use magic instead of Visions. Anyway, it doesn't matter which one I should read first."

"I see."

And then, Hu Tao waved to Xingqiu and said, "Xingqiu, don't you want to try this one? It's a Shinigami. A Shinigami, you know! They come from the afterlife called Soul Society and descend to hunt evil spirits called Hollows in the mortal world and purify them before sending them to the afterlife. Don't you think the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor is somewhat similar? Perhaps I should tell my clients that I'm a Shinigami as well."

"Hey, hey. Don't do that! Your clients would be freaked out, okay!" Somehow, Xingqiu was worried about Hu Tao's next target.

—————

AN: My bad. I went out of town last Friday before dawn and came home in the afternoon. I was tired enough from the trip that I immediately fell asleep until the next morning when I got home.