I just hope to live a leisurely life in the world of anime.

"Really? What important matter is it?" An Shu asked casually, poking Sima Weizhi, whose face was getting redder and redder.

"My Tiantong family is now in dire straits, and you think you can just leave without giving me an explanation?"

"Wandering through wind and rain? Why pretend to be stupid, Assistant Kikunojo? I just suddenly realized... I'm the one who lost again! From the very first encounter, I lost! And this time is no different..."

Kikunojo Tendo's expression changed, then he regained his composure. "Oh? Why do you say that?"

Our first conflict stemmed from those special children.

At that time, Tokyo residents held a great deal of prejudice against children, which led to a backlash from those children, resulting in incidents of violence occurring almost daily.

So you came up with a plan: to drive them all to the outer area.

"Well, then what?"

“You’ve prepared two versions of this plan. You know my attitude toward those children, but you’re not sure if I’ll lend a hand, or how I will.”

I guess your initial goal was that I could use Miori-chan's image of selflessly caring for and helping the cursed children to control them. Even if I couldn't completely stop the violence, I could at least keep them somewhat in line.

But you would never have guessed that I would go to such lengths to send them all abroad. It was a pleasant surprise; I solved a major problem without spending much money and also calmed the public.

"Then what do you think his other preparation is?" Rentaro couldn't help but ask when he heard this gossip.

"Tsk tsk." An Shu took a sip of the tea the girl offered to her lips, then smacked her lips twice. She had just seen a lip print on the rim of the cup!

No wonder that girl's eyes were darting around when she was serving it! And when did she secretly drink it? I didn't see it...

"An Shujun?"

"Huh?" Rentaro's puzzled voice woke Anshu up. "Do I need to explain the other preparation? Doctor, you explain it to this idiot."

"Me?" Muroto Sumire shrugged. "Given your personality, Chief of Staff, I imagine you'd secretly eliminate them all, right? Of course, that might just be a last resort! Hmm? Chief of Staff?"

"That's just your guess, An Shu!"

"Could I have guessed wrong?" An Shu asked rhetorically, and then continued, "At that time, I was wondering why you seemed to have paid a great price, but didn't stop my actions and let the plan go down the drain. But after thinking about it carefully, I realized something was wrong."

We can even boldly speculate that perhaps you truly love your wife, but don't actually hate those cursed children. The reason you act so extremely is because of that foolish girl, the Holy Emperor—just to give the citizens a morale boost! To let them know that there are others in the government hierarchy who are just as 'ignorant' as they are.

Even when the Holy Emperor was already facing much criticism, he repeatedly made appeals in the media, hoping that the cursed son would be treated kindly, but little did he know that this would only have the opposite effect...

Perhaps it was always this old man who worried himself sick over her. Fortunately, he was a powerful minister, not a treacherous one.

"Please use honorifics when referring to His Highness the Holy Emperor. And what is this so-called clash all about?"

"I've tried to annoy you every time, but I've always failed." He pinched the girl's cheek again, feeling frustrated. "I bet you've wanted to kill Tendo and Hikaru for a long time, haven't you?"

"That's my grandson! How could that be? Don't talk nonsense!" The old man clenched his fists and lowered his voice.

Chapter Fifty-Three: The Old Fox Who Had Become a Mastermind###

"Interesting! A grandson who murdered his father and mother? Or a grandson who colluded with foreign enemies and embezzled huge sums of money?"

An Shu chuckled and used his fingers to smooth the little girl's hair in his arms.

"Humph!"

"You actually figured it out a long time ago, didn't you?" Anshu ignored Kikunojo's cold snort and continued talking to herself.

"..."

"But you dare not touch him, because you are afraid that this beast who dared to kill his father will fight back desperately, and you will be finished too, dragging the Tiantong family down with you."

Then, one day you discover that someone is investigating the Tian Tong family's crimes, so you follow this line of inquiry to the source and find that it is Sima Heavy Industry.

At that time, you must have been quite confused! After all, although I didn't like you, I wouldn't do something stupid like trying to get you removed from office.

And so, you think of Kisara, the little girl who harbors deep hatred for the Tendo family.

"..."

The three of them remained silent, none of them speaking. Kikunojo's feelings were complicated, while Rentaro and Sumire Muroto were curious.

"After you've roughly guessed what happened, you should be overjoyed, thinking that I'm your lucky star and will help you solve another big problem. You should be confident in your importance to Tokyo, and that while I'm solving the problem, I'll ensure that you won't be implicated in anything."

Therefore, I faced no obstacles in sending people to investigate the affairs of your Tiantong family. In fact, I even had someone deliberately create two flaws in my investigation, and someone intentionally or unintentionally helped to smooth things over.

"So, I'm the one who still lost. I admit defeat in this case of using someone else to do my dirty work!"

As for what you said about the Tiantong family's turbulent times, only the foolish Jun would believe it. I know you still have a backup plan.

So what brings you here today? Get straight to the point, or please leave, I'm sleepy." As if to confirm his words, he lazily yawned.

"He truly deserves to be called a genius who built a business empire in such a short time." Kikunojo praised him as he picked up his tea.

"I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it!"

“But, Anshu, those are just your guesses. How do you know if they are true? After all, Heguang is my own grandson.”

"Kisara personally killed Tendo and Hikaru. The matter has become such a big deal, yet the Metropolitan Police Department has not issued an arrest warrant. You must have done a lot of work in this, right?"

Besides, if you really cared about that beast, you wouldn't have let my upcoming departure distract you.

So you don't intend to leave?

"I guess so." I didn't explain much, because it was too much trouble.

"That's good." They thought he was serious and were even prepared to have the Holy Emperor come out and persuade him.

After pausing and coughing twice, Kikunojo continued, "Anshu-kun, you should know about the No. 32 megalith, right?"

"and then?"

"Just yesterday, Aldebaran tentatively sprayed corrosive liquid at the monolith, and the Gastrea seem to be stirring as well, which means..."

"Does that mean the Third Battle of Kanto might be about to begin?" An Shu asked Kikunojo, whose face was grave.

"What?!" Rentaro, who was standing next to him, was stunned and couldn't help but exclaim.

"You scared me, Rima-kun! Doctor, keep an eye on him!"

"Okay, okay, I know!" Muroto Sumire hadn't even put her legs down yet when she reached out and grabbed Rentaro's collar from behind.

"Rentaro, how did I teach you? An excellent politician needs to hide his emotions and remain calm no matter what happens!" Kikunojo, dissatisfied, couldn't help but scold him.

"So you want to buy weapons from me?"

"Yes, there are quite a lot!"

"That's no problem. Every time I sell to you, it's always at cost price, isn't it?"

“I must say, Anshu-kun,” Kikunojo subtly changed his form of address to make himself seem less distant, “I really admire you! How about it, you should be of marriageable age by now, shouldn’t you marry the Holy Emperor?”

Of course, you can still marry Miss Miori, but she can't have a public identity! This is already my biggest concession; you know I'm quite old-fashioned!

"What do you mean, old man? You want me to be a mistress? If you dare, Anshu-gege, I'll..." The little girl bared her teeth at Kikunojo, clearly displeased! She wanted to say some harsh words to warn Anshu, but couldn't find the words.

"What are you going to do about it?" He pinched her nose, his face full of doting affection. "I refuse! Alright, it's getting late!"

"If there's nothing else, you can leave. But if the matter of Tendo and Hikaru isn't handled well and your political enemies seize on it, then I can't help you!"

"That's a real shame..." Kikunojo put down his teacup, stood up, and sighed. "Farewell!" He didn't have much time to spare.

Passing by Rentaro, I glanced at him and said, "Go back and tell Kisara that we should pack up and move back! Tendo Suki and his master miss her very much."

Tendo Sukiyo, the founder of the Tendo school, had always held Tendo Kisara in high regard, as he had obtained the Menkyo Kaiden at the age of 16.

"Oh……"

After Kikunojo left, Anshu said to Rentaro, who was still in a daze, "Rima-kun, aren't you going to take the doctor out for breakfast? The doctor has been going hungry because of you."

"Ah? Yes..." His feelings were complicated. The amount of information he had received today was so overwhelming that he had almost forgotten why he came here. He stood up and called out to Sumire Muroto, "Let's go, doctor..."

"Let's go, let's go... But Anshu-kun, are you sending us away so early because you want to do something unspeakable with Miss Miori?" Muroto Sumire teased Anshu, winking at the little girl.

"Tch, only a coward wouldn't dare!" the little girl pouted and complained.

"Oh? Could it be that..."

"Rima-kun, hurry! Right now! Get her away from me!"

"Wait, wait! Rentaro! Why are you listening to him so much? Of course I have to talk about something so gossipy..."

Bang—After Rentaro closed the door and Muroto Sumire's voice could no longer be heard, Anshu pinched Sima Miori's baby face, "You brat! What did you just say?"

"Ugh...no, no!"

"Hmph!" He slapped her hard, then scooped her up in his arms. "Come on, let's go catch up on some sleep!"

"Huh? But I'm already dressed!"

"I'm just sleeping for a while, it's fine to wear it."

"But this way, Brother Anshu, you won't be able to get excited!"

"Hmm..." That's true, it feels better to hug someone with fewer clothes on!

"No, no!"

"Wait a minute? Even if I take off my clothes, does that mean Brother Anshu still won't be interested in me? Has Brother Anshu already grown to hate me?"

"Wow! Why does this girl have such strange ideas?" He threw the girl onto the big bed in the bedroom, lay down next to her, hugged her tightly, put a long leg around her waist, and pinched her face to prevent her from making a sound.

"Brother Anshu?" After a while, noticing that the large hand on her face was getting weaker and weaker, Sima Weizhi called out softly, "What's wrong? You fell asleep so quickly!"

Even as she said that, she still helped him tidy up the stray hairs on his face.

"Hmm, Sister Miori?" The little girl was also startled awake by the two people's movements and sat up to rub her eyes.

"It's okay, Hitomi-chan, go back to sleep! It's still early!"

"Hmm!" After letting out a long yawn, the little girl couldn't resist the sleepiness and lay down again.

The little girl tilted her head up in An Shu's arms, touched his cheek with her lips, closed her eyes, and smiled...

Chapter Fifty-Four: The Gathering

It has been almost a month since Tendo and Hikaru died, and I have to say that Kikunojo was very cunning.

They instructed Tian Tong, Xuan Zhuo, and the other two to prepare their testimonies in prison, pinning everything on the deceased Tian Tong and Guang.

Furthermore, they mobilized those political enemies and their spies who had long harbored ill intentions towards the Tokyo area. These spies had previously secretly instructed them to contact Tendo and Hikaru. Now, they were all being asked to surrender, leaving those political enemies with no way to explain themselves.

Tendo Kikunojo even went to the Holy Emperor and personally handed over the criminal information of Tendo Kazumitsu to her.