Shirou, who returned from the Fairy Kingdom

Shirou calmly said, "It's precisely because you are sisters that you are enemies."

You do have an obligation to take away all of Aoko's rights.

Whether it's material or spiritual, you can destroy everything about her if you want.

Aoko sees this city as a treasure, which is why you decided to start destroying it here.

I won't stop you, but—I won't allow you to kill her either.

What would Shirou do if he traveled to 1500 years into this world instead of the Fairy Kingdom?

Shirou is not a god and cannot arbitrarily decide who is more worthy of the British crown.

All he could do was silently protect the two sisters in his own way.

"..."

Aozaki Touko closed her eyes with great regret, her expression complex.

"Shirou, you probably feel deep down that you're not qualified to consider yourself a neutral party, right..."

But the moment you said those words, your heart was already biased, wasn't it?

"wrong."

Shirou continued, "I will not allow Aoko to kill you either."

"........."

For the first time, a look of surprise appeared on Aozaki Touko's face.

Because she suddenly realized Shirou's true purpose and reason for being hidden.

She got it wrong from the start.

Shirou's appearance in Misaki is not only to "protect Aoko," but also to "protect Touko."

Orange smiled and said, "Now I think I understand why Qingzi likes you..."

Hehe, Shirou, if you think you can do it, then give it a try.

Let me make this clear first, this is the most difficult and least understood path, okay?

"..."

Seeing the determination in the boy's twilight-colored eyes, the orange-haired magician felt somewhat ashamed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to question your beliefs."

“Yes, I understand,” Shirou nodded.

"As a sincere expression of apology, let me grant Shirou one request. Tell me."

I will comply with anything that "the current Orange" can do.

Orange Magician sat back in her chair, her slender, beautiful legs, encased in black stockings, crossed over each other.

Shirou thought for a moment and said, "Don't attack Aoko. After all, your only target is Aoko, so don't attack her."

After hearing the boy's request, Aozaki Touko pinched the bridge of her nose, looking very troubled.

"You really do enjoy making things difficult for people, Shirou."

Even if I try to avoid fighting with that child, she will definitely come looking for me.

From the moment I set my sights on Misaki, it was already seen by Arisu as a target that had to be eliminated.

Do you expect me to give up and obediently stand still to be cursed to death by the cute little witch?

"It's difficult, but not impossible, right?"

"……snort."

The puppeteer gave a meaningful smile.

"Alright, I promise you... I won't lay a hand on her."

Shirou understood the deeper meaning in her words and said with satisfaction, "Touka's words are enough. I will also make sure that Ayumi won't attack you."

A sound came from the entrance hall.

Aozaki Touko calmly stood up and said.

"Ritsuka is back, so it's about time I said goodbye."

"Is there anything I can pass on to Aoko?"

The girl's older sister did not answer, but instead gave the boy a seductive smile.

Then, she strode towards the door in her high heels with the speed of the wind.

"Huh? Orange! Are you leaving already? Why don't you stay for dinner?"

"No, I'm still infiltrating, and I need to prepare to take over this city. If I don't feel a sense of urgency, things will go wrong."

Aozaki Touko took the plastic bag containing the beef from Ritsuka, who had returned, and left the apartment.

……

……

For the next period of time, the Western-style mansion in Kuonji was shrouded in the busy atmosphere of the end of the year.

After two failed assassination attempts, Aozaki Touko launched a full-scale attack on Misaki City.

Once Aozaki Touko got serious, the situation quickly began to deteriorate.

The dolls began their ingenious attack on the barrier pivot of Misaki City.

Aoko and the others were protected by two separate barriers.

One is a large barrier set up in the Misaki City area to detect magical energy and its movements.

This helps them to monitor and control outsiders, and is also an indelible skill set by the Aozaki Ancestor, who manages the sacred land.

The other is something that comes from the spiritual veins of the land, and that manages this power.

It is a typical square formation that maintains its internal circulation by relying on five pivots carved into the earth.

By artificially managing the flow of its source, the endpoint of this power can be concentrated at the Kuonji Mansion, which is a barrier that can monopolize the magical power of the entire Misaki City.

There are five pivot points centered around the Kuonji residence, each corresponding to one of the five elements.

If all of these are destroyed, Aoko's status as a "land manager" will become merely nominal.

At that point, Aoko will lose all her home-field advantage and be forced into a one-on-one battle with her sister.

Leaving aside Aoko for the moment, the reason why the immature Aoko was able to hold on to this land was largely due to these two barriers, especially the Aozaki family's detection network, which could be said to be her lifeline.

However, Aozaki Touko's puppet army infiltrated this great barrier and wreaked havoc throughout the city.

Leaving aside their skill level in magic—their experience in war was far too different, and as a result, Aoko and Arisu were completely outmaneuvered.

Soon, three of the five fulcrums were destroyed.

Against this backdrop, the atmosphere in the mansion grew heavier day by day.

It can't go on like this...

Shirou, wearing an apron, poked his head out of the kitchen.

Although the living room looked no different from usual, it felt unbearably oppressive.

Incidentally, Shirou did not contribute anything in the war for the sacred land.

He can infiltrate a magician's barrier, and he can even destroy a city...

However, asking Shirou to participate in the battle for the spiritual veins is somewhat asking too much of him.

Aozaki Touko brought nearly a hundred dolls.

Even if Shirou kills one-fifth of them, the remaining seventy or eighty would be more than Shirou could stop if they split up and caused trouble.

At times like these, I start to miss Assassin...

Shiro knew there was little he could do, so he simply stayed in the mansion and became a housewife.

My daily job is to serve the young ladies who are busy running around the city during the day.

Seeing Aoko and Ayumi's increasingly dark circles under their eyes, Shirou felt he had to do something.

"What is this? Ah... thank you, Shirou?"

Back home, Aoko handed her coat to Shirou, took the hot tea from him, and glanced at the two scrolls on the table.

Shirou explained, "This is a hot spring trip voucher that I won in a lottery in the shopping district."

"Huh? Isn't that the jackpot?! You actually won it?!"

Aoko pounced on him with shining eyes: "You're really amazing, Shirou!"

It's not that easy to win the grand prize...

This is the hot spring ticket that Shirou bought with the money he secretly earned working for the yakuza during the day.

"Hmm, it seems I've been having good luck lately... Perfect, Aoko and Ayumi can take these two scrolls and go for a walk."

You two have been on edge lately, this is a good opportunity to relax and change your mood.

Aoko's expression was complicated.

She was grateful for Shirou's thoughtfulness, but also keenly sensed that these two tickets were probably not obtained through Shirou's good fortune.

She even went so far as to lie to hide her worries, afraid of putting a psychological burden on Aoko...

What a gentle child, truly worthy of being my future...

However, Aoko was not in the mood for hot springs at the moment, and the timing wasn't ideal either.

Shirou noticed the girl's hesitation and said, unwilling to give up, "Ah, don't worry, I'll take good care of Misaki while you're away..."

Just as Aoko was about to say something, Arizu, who was reading a book nearby, interrupted the conversation.

"It's a rare opportunity, so there's no harm in accepting their kindness once."

The girl lowered her head, her pearly teeth sinking deeply into her soft lips.

"Qingzi, why don't you go to the hot spring with him?"

Volume 2, Chapter 134: Shirou and Aoko Soaking in a Hot Spring

"Huh? I'm going to a hot spring with Shirou alone...?"

Upon hearing what Aoko said, her cheeks instantly turned bright red.

She remained silent, stealing glances at the boy beside her.

However, Shirou stared intently at Arisu and said, "I bought... cough cough, these two hot spring tickets I drew were originally for you guys to use."

Yuzhu stared expressionlessly at the mirror lying across the table and said, "I need to stay here and monitor the fulcrum of the barrier. Now is the most crucial moment."

"Aoko, why don't you go to the hot spring with him?"

Even Yuzhu herself didn't know why she had said those things.

But the moment those words left her mouth, the girl's mood instantly turned terrible.

Shirou said, "Miss Yuuka, you've been monitoring her for a whole week now, haven't you?"

Oranges won't attack during the day; if they do, it'll be at night.

The hot spring tour is a short trip of one day and one night; you'll only be outside for one night. I'll keep watch for you..."

The black-haired girl suddenly raised her voice: "Amamiya, I don't completely trust you yet."

Shirou: "…………"

With an icy expression, Yuzhu continued, "Although you are allowed to live in the house and even move around in the mansion, it is all because of Aoko."

"I'm sorry, I can't entrust Misaki and the mansion to you for a day and a night without worry..."

"Youzhu, what you said went a bit too far."