To become a king and a magician

Ayaka Sajou's cheeks immediately turned bright red!

Slightly unable to suppress a laugh, Hiel said, "Let's find somewhere to have dinner first. Anyway, tonight's work is finished—I'll leave this place to you. I'm going back to the church to organize the intelligence, is that alright?"

"Okay, thank you for your help, senior."

With a wave of his hand, Hiel jumped directly onto the roof.

After watching her leave, Ayaka Sajou said to Natsukawa Torama and Mordred, "Well then, let's go somewhere else first."

——————————————————————————————————————

A few minutes later, inside a fast food restaurant.

"I'm starting!"

"You just ate and you're hungry again?"

Looking helplessly at Mordred starting to eat again, Xia Chuanhu couldn't help but marvel at the power of the king's stomach, even though he now had two large plates of fried noodles and a huge plate of fried rice in front of him.

Looking at the mountain of food in front of Natsukawa Torama and Mordred, Sajou Ayaka was dumbfounded: "Can you... eat all of this?"

"No problem, no problem at all!"

"I could eat twice as much as you wanted."

What kind of gluttons are these two? Compared to them, Ayaka Sajou felt that her small plate of spaghetti in front of her was really pitiful.

While eating their second dinner, the three of them started talking about what had just happened.

“Recently, quite a few paranormal phenomena have been occurring in Tokyo. What were originally just urban legends, such as the Kuchisake-onna (slit-mouthed woman) and the Hanako-san (flower girl in the toilet), have now, for unknown reasons, materialized into physical paranormal phenomena. The two of you encountered one of them.”

Urban legend.

Paranormal phenomena.

Xia Chuanhu was no stranger to these two. If he had to say, so-called myths and gods were actually very similar to these two, only the order was reversed. Moreover, compared with gods and myths, urban legends and paranormal phenomena were seriously lacking in quality accumulation.

Of course, from a magic perspective, if an urban legend spreads to a considerable extent, it is indeed possible for it to naturally acquire a physical form and form a supernatural phenomenon, but that would take an incredibly long time.

“But that’s not the case in Tokyo,” Ayaka Sajo explained. “For example, one of the paranormal cases I solved tonight only started circulating as an urban legend in the last two or three days.”

"You obtained a physical form in just two or three days?"

Natsukawa Tora couldn't help but raise an eyebrow: "Isn't the speed a bit too fast?"

“That’s what we think too. The church is investigating the details as well. Of course, this has nothing to do with Mr. Natsukawa. This is a local matter in Tokyo. You don’t need to worry about it too much. My senior and I will handle it properly.”

"Even if I've already been affected, it's the same?"

"I'm truly sorry about this. Although the situation was only discovered suddenly that time, it was indeed my oversight, and I will do my best to compensate you—"

"Stop."

Natsukawa Tora interrupted Sajo Ayaka by pointing his chopsticks at her: "I don't need any compensation. This situation is just like an after-dinner walk for me; it didn't cause me any real loss."

It's something that can be resolved with a single punch; Natsukawa Tora isn't greedy enough to try and gain an advantage over something so trivial.

Moreover, although it's not the same person, she is still Ayaka Sajou. If Arthur tries to take advantage of her, he'll probably cause a scene.

"However, if possible, I would like you to tell me more about Tokyo."

"About Tokyo?" Ayaka Sajou asked, somewhat puzzled. "It can't be something like 'where's worth going, can it?"

"Of course, you can just read those things in the travel guide. Actually, I have quite a few doubts about Tokyo now, whether it's urban legends, paranormal phenomena, or all sorts of strange things that I feel... Even though I've seen all sorts of weird things, this is the first time I've encountered something like this."

Natsukawa Torato had no intention of getting involved in Tokyo's affairs; he would be leaving tomorrow at noon and couldn't do much for the place. If he were alone here, he would definitely pretend he hadn't seen anything.

But Grey is here.

Then Natsukawa Tora had no choice but to get involved. Regardless of the specifics, Gray's safety had to be ensured first, before considering anything else. If this incident might jeopardize Gray's safety...

"I understand."

Ayaka Sajou nodded.

"So, what do you want to know? I'll tell you as much as I can, as much as I know."

Although she is a local Tokyo magician, Ayaka Sajou probably knows less about Tokyo than the church does; at most, she only knows about the recent spate of paranormal phenomena.

Natsukawa Tora smiled: "I think what I asked were mostly things you already know, for example..."

"About your sister, Aika Sajou."

97. Is she your lover?

It was quite surprising to Ayaka Sajo that Natsukawa Torato wanted to know about her older sister, but despite the surprise, she still told her everything she knew about her sister.

He began learning magic at the age of nine, and by the time he was ten, he had completely mastered the entire black magic system. He also taught himself magic from several other systems. In terms of magician talent alone, he was an unparalleled prodigy, whose talent was comparable to that of a monster.

After her tenth birthday, however, she inexplicably gave up magic completely and even persuaded her father, Hiroki Sajou, to allow her to return to a normal life. Furthermore, at home, no one mentions magic whenever she's around, not even her father.

To be honest, Ayaka Sajou preferred her older sister as an ordinary person to her sister as a magician. Although her sister still gave off an all-powerful vibe, Ayaka Sajou felt happy being with her sister at that time. Her all-powerful sister gave her a strong sense of security.

Then, eight years ago, after her father died in a failed attempt to reach the Root, Ayaka Sajou also committed suicide that night. The reason for her suicide was unknown, and there was no suicide note. When Ayaka Sajou woke up the next day, she was all alone in the house.

And after that, for reasons unknown, all the Tokyo magic families except the Sajō family and all the magicians except Sajō Ayaka fell into various difficulties. Some families declined, some magic circuits deteriorated, some went bankrupt due to business failures... In short, they encountered one disaster after another and had to leave Tokyo.

To this day, Ayaka Sajou is the only magician in all of Tokyo, openly or perhaps secretly.

Standing at the entrance of the fast food restaurant, watching Ayaka Sajou leave, Natsukawa Tora couldn't help but frown as he pondered what she had said.

(Sajō Aika died eight years ago...)

It's unbelievable that Ayaka Sajou is actually dead. Judging from Ayaka Sajou's description, this Ayaka Sajou should also be connected to the Root, and no one but herself can kill her.

But why did she commit suicide?

(Is it because they are omniscient and omnipotent that they find it too boring...?)

It's not impossible. For Ayaka Sajou, there's nothing in the world she doesn't know. As a result, she has lost interest in everything in the world. According to what Natsukawa Tora knows, if she hadn't met Arthur, Ayaka Sajou might have become a shut-in.

It should be similar here. Giving up magic completely after finding it too boring is a similar reaction, but it shouldn't lead to suicide.

Moreover, what concerned Natsukawa Torato even more was the inexplicable decline of those magic families.

When magicians choose a location for their family, they select an area that matches their magic circuits and is located in a region with excellent spiritual veins. This is to avoid problems caused by acclimatization issues that could lead to the family's inheritance or even its decline. After all, a location with excellent spiritual veins often brings wealth and career success.

Natsukawa Torato doesn't believe that the magic families in Tokyo are unaware of this, therefore, unless the Tokyo spiritual veins dry up or external factors arise, their families will certainly be able to exist for a long time.

Furthermore... why did it specifically weaken after Ayaka Sajō's death? Why was there no sign of weakening before? And why was the Sajō family completely unaffected?

"It's almost certainly... something that Ayaka Sajou did after her death, right?"

Physical death alone cannot truly confirm the death of a magician. For a magician, even if their body is cut into pieces, they can continue to live on through their soul. The most representative example is the necromancer.

Given Aika Sajou's abilities, Torakawa Natsukawa didn't believe she couldn't even master such a method.

But this raises another question—Whydunit? Why would she do that?

It's not important to explore how magicians do things, because it's generally impossible to find out. As magic has evolved, it's not surprising that there are all sorts of strange and unusual techniques. But the reason why magicians do things is something that can be guessed.

(Do you have any clues? Aika Sajou)

Natsukawa Torato chose to ask the person directly. Even though the two were not the same person in the true sense due to the different worlds they lived in, and their ways of thinking were not the same, it should be fine to speculate on the thoughts of his other self.

【...】

There was no response—that was common. If you wanted Aika Sajou to speak, you basically had to wait for her to take the initiative. When Natsukawa Tora tried to talk to her, she responded very rarely, and it was mostly just him arguing back.

"Master, shall we investigate this?"

Seeing the solemn expression on Xia Chuanhu's face, Mordred couldn't help but ask.

After a pause, Natsukawa Tora shook his head: "No need. Just like Sajo Ayaka said, this matter has nothing to do with us. We are just passing through tomorrow, so there is no need to delve too deeply into what is happening here."

"Do you even believe what you're saying? Master, your worry is written all over your face." Mordred chuckled and tugged at his cheek. "I don't know why, but Master, you seem quite interested in that girl's sister. Could she be your lover?"

"How can I become lovers with someone who died eight years ago? Besides, I come from a parallel world; I wasn't even in this world eight years ago."

"Then why are you so concerned?"

"Well, to exaggerate, I'd call it PTSD. Her sister is a dangerous presence in every sense of the word, and I've suffered because of her several times already. Now that this situation is clearly related to her, I can't help but wonder if she's up to something again."

Even though Natsukawa Torama knew that the trouble wasn't caused by Sajyo Aika inside him, but by the Sajyo Aika on this side, he just couldn't stop thinking about it.

In addition...

Natsukawa Tora, his gaze searching for Ayaka Sajou who had disappeared into the crowd, clutched his chest. Perhaps influenced by Arthur, he was somewhat concerned about Ayaka Sajou's condition.

"Phew... Forget it, let's go back!"

As if to put all these things aside, Natsukawa Tiger suddenly laughed and said loudly.

"Or should we continue to enjoy the charm of Tokyo at night? And maybe grab a late-night snack later?"

"Oh, that's a great idea! I saw several nice-looking shops on the way here. Master, what do you think? Should we try to conquer Tokyo's nightlife food streets?"

"I have a feeling that we might be blacklisted by all the stores after that..."

That being said, Natsukawa Tiger still followed Mordred's footsteps.

Unbeknownst to Natsukawa Tora, the moon hanging high above his head suddenly flickered.

98. This is called returning to one's true nature!

the next day.

"Ugh... my head hurts so much... I drank too much..."

Waking up with an incredibly intense headache, Natsukawa Tora clutched his head in discomfort.

So sweeping all five restaurants was still a bit of a stretch?

And drinking alcohol like water... Now that I think about it, I don't know how someone like me who almost never drinks could have such thoughts. Even if I was influenced by Mordred, it's still a bit irrational.

Incidentally, he drank the water of life last night.

It's only because he's practically no longer human that he can do such reckless things.

Looking at Mordred beside him, Natsukawa Tora frowned. He and Mordred had both drunk too much the night before, so when they got back to the hotel, they simply lay down on the beds without paying attention to which one they were sleeping in.

So, it wasn't until now that Xia Chuanhu realized that the two of them had actually slept in the same bed last night.

(Isn't this scene a bit too disturbing to look at?)