To become a king and a magician

Angelica nodded: "I understand. Then please come with me, Lady Natsukawa. Lady Ryougi should be over here."

"No need, I'm already here."

Angelica had just turned around when a gentle voice interrupted her. Seeing the beautiful woman appear not far away, Angelica immediately bowed. Natsukawa Torama spoke with a nostalgic look and tone, "Long time no see, Ryougi Shiki."

"Yes, it's been a long time, Natsukawa-kun."

[Ryougi Shiki] responded with a smile.

71. Fujimaru Ritsuka standing at the fork in the road

Time passed by unnoticed, and dusk arrived.

Walking along the road with her back to the setting sun, Fujimaru Ritsuka stopped in front of a house.

Turning to look at the "Fujimaru" nameplate on the wall, Mashu said softly, "This must be your house, Senpai? I know that Japanese people usually put their surname next to their house name."

Fujimaru Ritsuka nodded: "Hmm... It's a bit unbelievable. It's only been two weeks, but it feels like it's been a long time since I came back. I wonder how Dad and Mom are doing now. They must be off work and preparing dinner by now, waiting for me to come back from school—if they didn't go to Chaldea."

Looking at the door inside, Fujimaru Ritsuka took a deep breath, patted her face, and pressed the doorbell next to her.

"Ding dong!"

The doorbell rang.

For some reason, Fujimaru Ritsuka suddenly felt a little nervous. She had just returned home normally, but her mood was inexplicably off. Her heart was beating very fast, as if it was about to jump out of her chest.

Soon after the doorbell rang, the door opened, and a red-haired woman who looked somewhat like Fujimaru Ritsuka came out of the house. Fujimaru Ritsuka's figure immediately came into her view.

"Ritsuka?"

“Yes, I’m back, Mom,” Fujimaru Ritsuka said with a smile.

"Why did you suddenly come back? Didn't you go to work for that international organization called Chaldea?"

After being told this by her mother, Fujimaru Ritsuka suddenly remembered that Chaldea's public image was that of an international research organization covering various fields...

Scratching her head, Fujimaru Ritsuka, who hadn't thought about how to explain things to her parents on the way here, was at a loss for what to do. She could only awkwardly stammer, "Well... this... it's a normal holiday, a holiday! My department head over there approved a holiday for me, so I can come back and rest for two days!"

"Oh, I see. Well, at least call us first to let us know you're coming back."

After commenting on her daughter's lack of attention, Fujimaru's mother noticed Mashu beside her: "And who is this?"

"Hello, I am Mash Kyrielight, and I am your...."

“Friend,” Fujimaru Ritsuka continued, “because the department was on holiday, I brought Mashu back with me. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be good to leave Mashu alone in the dorm, right, Mashu?”

Mashu nodded quickly: "Ah, yes... Sorry to bother you."

“Ritsuka’s friend. Nice to meet you. I’m Ritsuka’s mother. By the way, please come in. It’s not good for you to just stand at the door. We’re having dinner right now. Would you like to join us?”

"Yeah! I've been starving for ages, I haven't eaten anything all afternoon. Mashu must be hungry too, right? By the way, do we have enough bowls and chopsticks at home, Mom?"

Upon hearing that there was food, Fujimaru Ritsuka's eyes lit up. She had been walking outside all afternoon and was starving. She immediately pulled the still somewhat reserved Mash along with her into her house.

--------------------------------

At the same time.

Inside the Ryougi family home, since it was dinnertime, Natsukawa Tora and the others also went to the Ryougi family's dining room.

Although they are a prominent family in Kanbushi City, Ryougi Shiki doesn't like complicated things, so the Ryougi family's dinners, like everything else, are kept as simple as possible, basically no different from when they were at Garan no Do.

There weren't many people at the table.

Natsukawa Tora, Ryougi Shiki, Angelica.

The three of them sat around a small round table, quietly eating dinner prepared by Angelica. This was the usual routine whenever Natsukawa Tora returned, though it wasn't always Angelica who cooked; most of the time it was Natsukawa Tora who did, while Ryougi Shiki rarely cooked.

During the meal, he put down his chopsticks and looked at Natsukawa Torata with a primal gaze: "Is this alright, Natsukawa-kun?"

"Hmm? Which one are you referring to?"

"Fujimaru-kun. Is it okay to leave that child alone? If we let her go back to her own home, she might not want to leave again."

The fundamental question made Natsukawa Tora stop eating.

Indeed, this is not an impossible situation.

No matter how great a feat Fujimaru Ritsuka accomplished in the future that Natsukawa Toramaru knew, she was still just a little girl who didn't understand anything, far less mature than the version of her that Natsukawa Toramaru knew.

Even though she had resolved two singularities, gone through several battles, and had not shown any signs of backing down, it would be absolutely impossible to say that she had not felt fear during her previous experiences.

It's normal to have these thoughts: fear of being killed, fear of not being able to do it, fear of getting hurt. Anyone can understand that. But Fujimaru Ritsuka concealed them very well, or rather, she forced herself to do it very well. She knew that she could only move forward, not backward or stop, so she endured all these feelings.

This was also Fujimaru Ritsuka's original choice, but here, there should also be some reason for Natsukawa Torato. Fujimaru Ritsuka believed that when she was scared to the extreme, her captain would definitely come to pull her back.

But it's different now.

Now we have Guanbuzi City as a fallback option.

If you have a way out, you won't be able to give it your all, and the same goes for your spirit.

Even without me, the minister can handle everything, right?

[As for humans, Miss Aoko is already very strong, so we can leave it to her.]

My going back would only be a hindrance.

The battle is truly terrifying. And then there's the Demon King. Can I really handle it?

.......

Such thoughts probably surfaced more or less after Fujimaru Ritsuka calmed down from the excitement of returning home.

"Your departure time is noon the day after tomorrow, right?"

"If, at that time, the child decides she doesn't want to leave, what do you plan to do? Will you forcibly take her back via spirit teleportation? Or...?"

The root cause approach didn't finish its sentence.

Natsukawa Tora sighed, biting his chopsticks. "Wouldn't that be forcing her to fight? Chaldea isn't some heartless organization; they wouldn't force an underage girl to fight."

"But what you said makes sense. If that situation really happens, there's nothing we can do about it."

"But... Shi, the final situation might be completely the opposite of what you said."

Completely opposite?

Instead of thinking about escaping, it strengthened my resolve to fight.

"Let me use myself as an example."

"If I were in Fujimaru's shoes right now, I would be even more determined to restore humanity after this trip back. After all, I have a more concrete goal than the empty goal of saving the world."

"That is—to return to my parents and to protect the place I will eventually return to."

72. Things I want to protect

Fujimaru family.

Inside Fujimaru Ritsuka's bedroom.

"Phew~~~~ Taking a shower feels so good."

Wearing a cute pink pajama set, Fujimaru Ritsuka, who had just come out of the bathroom, said this as she returned to her room.

On the windowsill outside the bedroom, Mashu, who was looking at the night sky, heard her voice, turned around and smiled, "Have you finished taking a bath, Senpai?"

"Hmm. By the way, Mashu, here, your milk."

As she spoke, Fujimaru Ritsuka walked over and handed one of the two bottles of milk in her hand to Mashu.

"In Japan, you must drink a glass of milk after taking a bath. It feels very comfortable, and you should drink it all at once."

"Huh? Really?" Mashu looked at the milk in her hand with some doubt. "I haven't read anything like this online or in any books."

"These kinds of things won't be mentioned on the internet or in books. There are many things about Japan that you can only learn by coming to Japan in person. Mashu, there's still a lot you need to know."

As she said this, Fujimaru Ritsuka opened the milk bottle in her hand, put one hand on her hip, leaned back, and gulped down the milk in one go.

Seeing this, Mashu followed suit and imitated Fujimaru Ritsuka's actions, finishing her milk.

"Well......"

Mashu covered her mouth with milk, then gradually drank it all down. Wiping the residue from the corner of her mouth, she said, "It...it does feel a little good, so refreshing. Japanese culture is truly profound."

"Right?"

Fujimaru Ritsuka laughed and said, "Speaking of which, Mash, what are you looking at? Is there something in the sky?"

“I was just looking at the night sky because it’s rare to see the night sky in Chaldea; it’s mostly blizzards, so this is even more rare,” Mash explained. “Besides… I’ve never seen a night sky like this before.”

The night sky in the city is different from the night sky in Chaldea. Although she couldn't quite put her finger on the difference, Mashu had that feeling.

After watching for a while, Mashu suddenly turned to Fujimaru Ritsuka and said, "Thank you so much for today, senpai. You took me to so many places and introduced me to so many things I'd never experienced before. I'm really happy today. Thank you, senpai."

For Mash, who has never left Chaldea since birth, today is definitely the happiest day of her life.

She had no idea that the outside world could be so colorful.

Lying down next to Mashu, Fujimaru Ritsuka smiled and said, "No need to thank me, it's nothing. Besides, I'm very happy to be back here again, to be in this place again."

"Mom's cooking is absolutely delicious, it's just as good as the minister's. Dad hasn't changed at all in the long time I've seen him, but actually it's only been two weeks, so there's no way he could have changed much."

"Teacher Atalanta is still the same as always. Although I didn't see my old friends because it was the weekend, I don't think they've changed much either."

"After a day like this, I always felt that the burning of humanity was like a dream."

dream.

This is Fujimaru Ritsuka's truest thought right now.

Returning to Kanbuko City, saying goodbye to her teacher, saying goodbye to her parents, and eating her mother's cooking again... Before today, Fujimaru Ritsuka would never have dared to dream of such a thing, since with the Humanity Warehouse Incident happening now, these things should be impossible.

But now it has happened, it has really happened to her.

When she met her mother earlier, Fujimaru Ritsuka really felt an urge to cry.

I went to a completely unfamiliar place and was immediately subjected to a bizarre experiment. Later, I was half-heartedly drawn into a very serious matter and unwittingly walked through the gates of hell...

The two weeks at Chaldea weren't exactly pleasant for Fujimaru Ritsuka. While her time as club captain was relatively good, most of the time—whether it was the training from Ms. Merry or the series of thrilling battles that followed—left Fujimaru Ritsuka feeling somewhat out of place.

To put it bluntly—