Chapter 59: Shuri Himejima

[New Quest]

"Huh?"

Lucias muttered in surprise while washing Est's hair inside the bathroom along with Yasaka and Restia who was comfortably sitting down on the large hot spring found in Yasaka's Shrine.

"What's wrong, Lucias?"

Yasaka asked while pouring water on Est to wash off all of the soap in her body before lifting her and up placing her on the large hot spring behind her.

"Nothing... I have something to do, Yasaka so have dinner without me"

Lucias said giving her a peck on her lips before hurriedly leaving the bathroom to check the new quest given to him by his ability.

[Quest: Revive Shuri Himejima, the stain of the Himejima Clan.

Reward: 300 Sp

Limit: 5 hours

Failure: -100 points in all status criterias]

"Shuri Himejima?"

Lucias muttered as he read the contents of the quest before pulling out a normal Katana from his inventory, preparing to jump out of the window but was stopped by the two spirits who came out of the bathroom.

"You're using another sword besides us?"

Est asked as she walked towards Lucias, naked as the water from her hair dripped down on the wooden floor of the shrine with Restia following her from behind with a large frown on her face.

"You two should rest first, I just have something to check on. I'll be back as soon as possible"

"It's no use lying to us Lucias, we are connected to you so any abnormalities in your emotions will be felt by us... you're preparing to fight aren't you?"

Restia retorted while crossing her arms on her chest with a disappointed expression on her face.

"... Fight? Lucias... can you explain everything to me?"

Yasaka who just came out of the hot spring with a white towel barely covering her body asked with a frown on her face.

"... This is going to take a long time to explain"

Timeskip

"This is... unbelievable"

Yasaka muttered in shock as Lucias explained everything to them regarding his ability, and regarding the sudden quest given to him by his ability and it's punishment.

"It is an interesting ability"

Restia muttered as she sat down on the wooden floor along with Est who haven't said anything ever since he stared explaining his ability since both of them already knew when they binded the contract with him.

"So you want to find the grave of Shuri Himejima... It's not going to be easy to do so since it is close to the territory of the Himejima Clan"

"Do you know her Yasaka?"

"...Yes, she is a shrine priestess of the Himejima Clan, one of the five great clans that has always been in conflict with some of the Youkais living in Kyoto"

"Five great clans, huh? Do you have any idea how she died?"

Lucias asked out of curiosity as Est suddenly sat on his lap with a neutral expression on her face.

"That is... well... She was inderectly killed by her own clan Lucias, to protect her daughter from the pursuit of her own clan members she had to sacrifice herself to save her only daughter while her husband was away "

Yasaka honestly answered causing a momentary stir of emotions to rampage inside his heart before getting forcefully calmed down by the [Gamer's Mind] skill.

"Tell me more about this, Shuri"

"... They wanted to eliminate the stain of their clan but was defeated every time by the fallen angel but... due to the grudge held by some of the members of the Himejima Clan. They revealed their location to the cadre's enemies... That is why their house was attacked by the cadre's enemies while he was away"

Yasaka honestly told him the truth causing Lucias to breath in as he tried to calm his emotions, he cannot act rashly since he is now a leader of his own faction. He cannot bare to bring them down with him due to his selfish actions

"... I'm sorry, Lucias"

Yasaka apologized as her ears dropped down on her head causing Lucias to look at her, confused on why she apologized to him when she did nothing wrong.

"Why are you apologizing, Yasaka?"

Lucias asked as he patted her head, trying to cheer her up, causing Yasaka to momentarily wag her fluffy tails before looking down on the wooden floor, in guilt.

"Most of the beings who attacked them are Youkais from my faction... This is my mistake for not monitoring the Youkais under me"

"... That's it?"

"Eh?"

Yasaka raised her head up, confused by his words while Lucias gently smiled at her before kissing her on her forehead.

"I know how hard it is to run a faction... You can't expect everyone under you to follow you wholeheartedly. So it wasn't your fault, Yasaka"

Lucias comforted her while hiding the fact that most of the members of his own faction is extremely loyal to him and the faction.

"Lucias... but I wasn't able to... properly give them their punishments... I didn't have any evidence to prove their crimes"

"Do would you mind if I punish them myself?"

Lucias asked with a large grin on his face, causing Yasaka to look at him in surprise from his intentions to deal with them himself.

"You can do whatever you want with them"

Yasaka nodded her head in response as her fluffy tails wagged behind her.

"Really?"

"Yes"

"Then... I'll be on my way"

Lucias said as he called the two ancient spirits inside the room to transform into their sword forms, placing them on his waist before glancing at Yasaka kneeling down on the wooden floor behind him.

"Be careful Lucias... I mean it"

"Don't worry, not many beings can take me down. If I did die then... prepare to take on the full wrath of my subordinates"

Lucias says with a light smile on his face before disappearing inside the room, leaving his red cape scattered across the floor.

"Come back safely, Lucias"

Yasaka whispered while holding her chest, like a wife waiting for his husband to come back home safely while caressing her womb with care.

-with Lucias-

[This feels... nice]

Est muttered as the cool breeze of the wind flew through her blade while Lucias ran through the darkness of the night using Stealth to charge through the Himejima Clan.

[It's been a while since we were last used, this is kind of exciting]

"I should call for the other to deal with the stray Youkais"

Lucias muttered, ignoring the whispers of his two sword before pressing the ear piece with his finger to contact the headquarters.

"AHH! What am I do for you Luuuuucias-samaaa?"

"Pandora's Actor?"

"Indeed, Pandora's Actor at your service"

"... Can you give the call to Ariel?"

"At your commands, Lucias-sama"

He said before transfering the call to Lilia who was busily managing their new home on the 90th floor of Aincrad.

"Yes?"

"Lilia call Ariel for me"

"... Sure"

Lilia quietly answered as a large explosion occured at her side of the call surprising Lucias who stopped in the dark alley to ask about her situation.

"What was that?"

"Nothing... I just accidentally blew up my room"

Lilia answered as a familiar feminine voice echoed through the background.

"Can't you stop destroying your room when you're angry, Queen?"

Ariel's calm yet playful voice said in the background of the call as she walked closer to grab the phone from the Queen.

"Who is this?"

"It's Lucias"

"Lucias? Why haven't you returned yet? Don't you know how late it is?"

"... What are the girls doing?"

"Ara, you need to be ready Lucias-san, I'm afraid that you won't live to see tomorrow"

Ariel says in a playful yet chilling voice, causing cold sweat to ran down his back as a bad feeling devoured his heart.

"W-what happened?"

"My, you act like you don't know... Suddenly Impregnating a woman outside, you're a naughty Fiancée Lucias-san. It seem like we have to educate you once you come back"

"Even if I forgave you, Lucias Frey. Don't expect the others to do so as well"

"I'm doomed"

Lucias muttered as a single tear ran down his cheek causing Ariel to let out... a chilling giggle at her side of the call.

"Now then, why did you suddenly call me Lucias-san?"

Ariel asked completely diverting the topic from before while pushing away Lilia who was trying to steal the phone from her.

"... I need you to help me with something"

Lucias answered as he accepted his fate when he goes back to the faction.

"Hmm... What is it Lucias-san?"

"I want you to go to Nia and ask her the list of information about 'The Youkais that attacked Shuri Himejima and her daughter at her home', after that I want you to bring some Masou-Shoujo and hunt them down"

"Sure"

"Thanks"

Lucias said before cutting off the call as he ran towards the Himejima Clan at full speed to finish the quest as soon as possible.

"I hope they'll go easy on me later"

He muttered with anxiety as he entered the gates of the Himejima Clan without reserve before injecting his mana to the ground to find Shuri's current location.

[I can sense the presence of a Vermilion Bird inside this place... How dare that bird not greet his superiors?]

[Don't waste your time on a bird Restia]

"You two are so carefree about this"

Lucias said while hearing their bickering inside his head before jumping above the large walls surrounding the clan and running towards the nearby cemetery outside of the territory.

[How did you find her, Lucias?]

Restia asked out of curiosity as Lucias jumped from roof to roof without a single sound in his steps.

[Skill: Locate has been bought] (200 Shop Points)

"Just a little secret of mine"

Lucias answered as he landed on top of the fence of the dark cemetery, seeing multiple low ranked spirits roaming around aimlessly inside.

[Be careful I detect the mana signature of a fallen angel around this cemetery]

Restia warned as Lucias jumped down the fence, cutting the protection magic placed around the cemetery with ease before landing on the ground.

"What?"

[Nevermind... You need to hurry up because I know for sure that this alerted the fallen angel who placed the magic around this place]

"I know"

Lucias answered as he arrived in front of a neatly cleaned grave with several fresh flowers placed beside the picture of a woman with long black hair as the name [Shuri Himejima] was engraved on the tombstone of the grave.

"Please forgive me for what I'm about to do"

Lucias prayed before neatly slicing the tombstone in half, revealing a large coffin beneath as Lucias immediately carried the whole coffin with his left hand before running away from the cemetery to avoid encountering the fallen angel.

[Great Job] (Est)

[We look like a criminal... Est]

Both of them said as Lucias created a large magic circle on the floor connecting to the shrine to immediately teleport back to Yasaka while carrying the large coffin on his shoulder.

"Yasaka!"

Lucias shouted as soon as he teleported to the shrine surprising the Kitsune, sniffing his cape with an extremely flushed face on the floor.

"L-Lucias... T-this isn't what you think it is.."

Yasaka tried to explain but was cut off by Lucias who placed the large coffin on the floor.

"I don't mind, I'm used to it anyway"

Lucias waved his hand in front of him before resummoning the two ancient spirits back to their human forms.

"Yasaka, can you leave me alone for a few seconds"

"Eh? O-Of course"

Yasaka answered before pulling the two spirits out of the room, leaving Lucias alone inside the living room along with the coffin.

Lucias hesitatingly opened the coffin as he prepared himself for the intense rotting smell of the corpse.

"I'll clean your shrine later Yasaka so please forgive me"

Lucias muttered as he opened the coffin, but was caught by surprise as none of the smell he expected came out of the coffin, as several runes were scattered across the voluptuous body of Shuri, causing Lucias to smile from recognizing the type of spell that the runes were inflicting to the corpse.

"[Preservation] huh? It seems like your husband truly loved you even in your death"

Lucias smiled, as he took out a single green pill from his inventory before opening her mouth and dropping the pill directly on her throat.

"I'll give you one more chance in life to be with your daughter and husband, Shuri Himejima"

Lucias said as he coated her throat with a layer of mana, using it to control the muscles on her throat to help her swallow the pill, causing a familiar string of notifications to appear in front of him... The same notifications when he revived Iris in the past.

[Shuri Himejima (Status: Under Resurrection)]

[Restoring all body functions]

[All body function have been successfully restored]

[Restoring all dead organs]

[All Organs have been successfully restored]

[Replacing all dead tissues]

[All dead tissues have been successfully replaced]

[Restoring the target's brain]

[Brain Cells have been successfully retrieved]

[Memories successfully retrieved]

[Recreating mana circuit]

[Player's mana circuit has been used as a model for recreation of mana circuit]

[Mana circuit have been successfully recreated]

[Returning Shuri Himejima's soul from Death's Domain]

[Integration Soul and Body is under process]

[Integration complete]

[Reviving Shuri Himejima underway]

[Shuri Himejima has been successfully revived]

[Optional New Quest]

[Optional Quest: Grant the last wish of Shuri Himejima and help her reconcile with both her daughter and husband

Reward: ???' Respect, ???' Love and Affection.

Limit: None

Failure: None]