Chapter Eighty: Idle Chatter at Lunch

  Thanks for the rewards from "Disappearing Heaven and Earth", "A Walking Fish", "WJ's Backyard is on Fire" and "You are Cute and Charming"!

  "Hmm?"

  In the bedroom.

  Wearing a white apron, Mei is busily preparing lunch in the kitchen.

  Unlike her usual simple self when alone, Akane prepared a sumptuous feast this time.

  For this reason, Akane deliberately bought enough ingredients in Academy City before returning to the dorm with Yakumo and Kanzaki.

  When entering the academy, Yagumo Taro was naturally stopped by the Knights who were guarding the academy.

  But after proving herself as Minaduki's spirit, those knight girls looked at her with eyes full of surprise.

  On the way back, Akane also talked about her life in the academy over the years.

  She is also considered a celebrity now.

  Not only was he brought back by the Dean himself and instructed to enroll, but he also achieved good grades in his year without using contract spirits.

  If it weren't for her personality, Akane would have almost been invited to join the Wind King Knights by their former captain, Velsaria.

  As the well-prepared ingredients go into the pot, waves of fragrance begin to waft out.

  "It smells so good——"

  Yui, who was originally in the living room, smelled the fragrance and suddenly jumped into the kitchen.

  "Not yet, dear Yui, can you wait a little longer?"

  Akane looked at her daughter she hadn't seen in three years, with a maternal glow shining in her eyes.

  "Mmm! I can finally eat mom's cooking! Dad's is really disgusting!"

  Yui grabbed Meirin's hem and made a face at Yakumo Suke who was sipping red tea in the living room.

  "I'm really sorry I don't know how to cook..."

  Bai Yun Mo glared at Jie Yi with a bad temper.

  These three years, Bachiroku also tried making dishes with his own hands.

  Unfortunately, he didn't have any talent in this area and the dishes he made couldn't even impress his daughter Yui, who usually loves everything he does.

  "Hehe——"

  "Come over here, don't disturb Mom while she's cooking!"

  Yagami saw Kuroba calling him, and Kudou rubbed his little head against Minadzuki before running back to the living room.

  Akane quickly prepared a sumptuous lunch.

  "I said, isn't it a bit too much..."

  Looking at the table almost full of dishes in front of them, Yakumo Saku and Yui exchanged glances.

  "Oh no! I accidentally made too much—"

  Meiying spat out a fragrant tongue, and immediately blinked her eyes towards Bayun Mo.

  "Ana, you'll finish all of it, won't you?"

  Huh?

  She looked at Akane with some doubt, and Yakumo Suke felt that something was off about the Akane in front of her.

  Although with his yokai digestive ability, it's no problem to eliminate this large table of dishes in front of him.

  "Then I'm off!"

  After saying this, Yakumo Mokuto and Musubi began savoring the long-awaited cooking of Akane Minaduki.

  "Mmm! This flavor... I've been craving it for three years!"

  While eating, Bachyun Mo thought of saying something, but because his mouth was full of food, the sound came out particularly strange.

  "Cough, cough, cough——"

  Then, as expected, he choked.

  Mei Irinobu immediately stepped forward and gently patted Yakumo Suke's back, scolding him with a sentence.

  "Hey, slow down, are you worried that Yui and I will fight over food?"

  "Gggrrr... Waaaah!!"

  After catching his breath, Hachiguma Tsumu finally slowed down his eating pace.

  While eating, she told Akane about her life with Yui over the past three years.

  "Three years after crossing over, Yui and I entered the Elemental Spirit Realm on the day of the final match of the Spirit Sword Dance Festival."

  "After the match I met Rubia Aleshtain."

  "Reubyia!? The Disaster Spirit Princess?"

  "That's right, it's her. In exchange for helping me find your message, I promised to help her awaken the Demon King and assassinate the Elf King."

  For Akane Minato, Yakumo Sumeragi had no intention of hiding anything.

  "That demon king is Fūjin, the Wind God."

  I contacted the black market organization 'Kuro no Rengo' and paid them to help me find the orphans of the 'Jidouin' that were attacked by Rubia back then, and had them all sent to Rubia as a reserve force for when war breaks out in the future.

  "Ah, right. That scattered Contract Spirit of the Wind God - Restia, like me, has now allied with Rubia."

  "War... Assassinate the Elf King..."

  For Asuza who had been taught in the academy for three years, the news revealed by Yakumo Mokuto was too shocking.

  She grasped Ba Yunmo's hand and said: "Mo, this is too dangerous, can't you stop?"

  "Don't worry."

  Yakumo Mika comfortingly looked at Akane one more time.

  "According to Ruby's plan, it won't be us who actually take action to assassinate the Spirit King, but rather the awakened Demon King - that is, Fūjin no Kami."

  "I just promised Rubia that I would help promote the awakening of the Wind God, and after successfully assassinating the Elf King to trigger a war on the continent, I would help her quickly calm down the chaos."

  "But won't many people die this way......"

  Akane still can't accept it tomorrow.

  "War is just too frightening..."

  Baiyun Mo let out a soft sigh, after all, Mingri Na was someone who lived in peaceful times.

  In fact, he himself was no exception, just an ordinary person who grew up in a peaceful era before his rebirth.

  If it weren't for Hong Fu's heavenly blessings, I would have been reborn as a boundary demon and wouldn't have had everything I have now.

  "And besides, Moku, why did you have to assassinate the Spirit King? Aren't they great beings who reign supreme over all spirits?"

  He delicately picked up a piece of beef, put it in his mouth and chewed slowly, then swallowed before saying: "Actually, they were indeed great beings, but that was in the past."

  "But in reality, the Elf King... has already gone mad."

  "Are you kidding me?! How is this possible?!"

  "Nothing is impossible."

  Yui stretched out her small hand to try and pick up a piece of sushi, but Hachirou Moku directly handed the plate over to the little girl, instantly receiving her sweet smile in return.

  "Rubia Elstein is a genius of the Elstein family, who have served the Fire Spirit King for generations. She was once a spirit maiden dedicated to serving the Spirit King at the Divine Instrument Institute."

  However, the Elf King continued to impose various heavenly punishments on the mortal world for unfathomable reasons, and no matter how Rubia prayed or offered divine music, it was all in vain.

  "Gradually, the spirit princess who should have been devoted to serving the Spirit King began to harbor doubts about the Spirit King."

  "Until the Fire Spirit King demanded a tribute from Rubia Sora - her sister's life."

  "Clare's life!?"

  Covering her small mouth, Akane almost let out a cry of surprise.

  It's really hard to imagine that the Fire Spirit King would take the life of that lovely, innocent and strong-willed little girl.

  "What's going on here?"

  "Heaven knows what the Spirit King is up to." Hachirou shook his head, indicating that he didn't know either. "Lubia snuck into the deepest part of the Divine Instrument Institute, a place where even the Spirit Princess was not allowed to enter."

  "There, she saw that all of the spirit kings were being eroded by 'things that did not exist in this world', and almost all of them had gone mad."

  "In fact, at every Spirit Sword Festival, the winning spirit user makes a wish to the Spirit King after the ceremony, and that miracle which can make wishes come true is actually something that has eroded the Spirit King."

  "Darkness from another world."

  "Because of this, Rubia ultimately betrayed the Fire Spirit King, inviting a calamity that would befall the entire empire, and became the despised 'Calamity Spirit Princess'."

  "It was also from then on that Rubia made up her mind to assassinate the Spirit King and create a world without spirits."

  "I'm sorry, Akane. As a price for helping me find you, I have to help her awaken the Wind God as the Demon King."

  Meiying opened her mouth and finally let out a sigh.

  She leaned her body against Bachiko Moku, breathing in the faint scent of lily, when Akiraka suddenly discovered that the Exorcist Holy Sword at her waist was emitting a dazzling light.

  Suddenly, a silver-haired beautiful girl named Aste appeared before everyone's eyes.

  "East?"

  Tomorrow is unclear.

  Baiyun Mo looked at the little girl in front of him with a strange gaze.

  Yui stopped eating and looked at Aister with a curious expression.

  "Sister, who is he?"

  "Ah, Est, let me introduce you, this is my husband and also a contract spirit... hmm? Est, what's wrong with you?"

  "It's nothing, master."

  Still expressionless, but suddenly changed his tone of address.

  It seems Esther is angry.

  What is she actually angry about?

  "This holy sword little girl." Yakumo Moku suddenly lost his smile, "You made a contract with my wife behind my back during the time I wasn't here, and I haven't even looked for you to cause trouble yet."

  "I am my sister's sword—"

  Aitsu suddenly walked up to Hachiguma Suke and lifted his head, his expressionless small face staring intently at Hachiguma Suke.

  "So it's enough for sister to have Esther."

  As she watched the two people staring at each other, it seemed as if the air was filled with the crackling sound of lightning, and Akane only felt a splitting headache.