Shirou, who returned from the Fairy Kingdom

Any slight movement should be reported; otherwise, the status quo should be maintained.

Since Aozaki Aoko inherited the land from her grandfather, Misaki City has been peaceful.

Then that peace was shattered last night.

Centered on the residence of Kuonji Aratsu, an ally of the Aozaki family, a "fog barrier" was formed that completely enveloped the entire mountain.

The internal situation cannot be observed from the outside, but a strong magical reaction can be felt from inside the barrier.

Moreover, the "dense fog barrier" began to expand its range starting at 5 a.m.

Fortunately, the momentum stopped as dawn broke, but several houses at the foot of the mountain had been swallowed up, and the whereabouts of the residents who remained inside are still unknown.

The Hetian Church has been busy dealing with this matter all morning.

The most important thing is to seal off and conceal the phenomenon of the "dense fog barrier" to prevent the mystery from being directly exposed to the general public.

Sister Weijia, who was skilled in magic, set up several barriers nearby to prevent passersby from seeing the thick fog on the mountain with their naked eyes.

Ritsuka Shuse, a member of the town's internal association, organized the evacuation of residents from several surrounding streets to ensure that no further victims would be found.

Meanwhile, the Goda Church urgently requested reinforcements from a neighboring city, who entered the dense fog as a survey team.

As a result, several of the church's elite agents lost contact after entering the dense fog and never came out again.

The situation is urgent.

Judging from last night's situation, the "dense fog barrier" will become active again once night falls, continuously expanding its range until it completely covers Misaki Town and even the entire Misaki City.

By then, the affected area will have expanded from dozens of people to an entire city—and that's not all.

Misaki is the estate of the Aozaki family, the finest spiritual land in all of Japan, comparable to Fuyuki, and the origin of Aozaki Aoko's grandfather's mastery of magic.

Such an important sacred site is shrouded in a thick fog of unknown origin. What scale of escalation will this eventually become? No one can say for sure.

"It might escalate into a crisis for all of humanity... I'm just kidding," Ritsuka Zhou said to himself, gazing into the distance.

However, Shirou did not think it was a joke.

He sensed something very familiar from the thick fog on the mountain—

"Fairy Realm".

That's right, this mountain has formed a huge otherworld.

Unlike "prophetic barriers," this dense fog is not a temporary erosion of reality, but a permanent invasion of the planet.

An impossible landscape was presented to everyone.

An impossible phenomenon is emerging from the dense fog.

Centered around the Western-style mansion in Kuonji, the laws of humanity and the common sense of the world were completely distorted.

This is the invasion of fairy tales—something only a true witch could do.

"How is Yuzhu now?"

Although Aoko vaguely realized the seriousness of the situation, she was now more worried about her roommate who was staying at home.

Ritsuka Shuse shook his head solemnly: "He is also missing."

She must have realized it already; the culprit behind the "dense fog barrier" is none other than Kuonji Aratsu herself.

"What did the association say?"

When Shirou asked Ritsuka this, Aoko was surprised: You even know that the idiot Ritsuka is a member of the Mage's Association?

"The association has decided to observe for a while longer and has no plans to do anything."

I knew it! Those magicians...!

Shirou gritted his teeth.

The "Fairy Realm" has been formed.

An environment beyond the age of gods has been created on the mysteriously vanished modern surface, making it a coveted object of observation for the modern magicians of the association.

Faced with a once-in-a-century miracle, the principle that "mystery should be concealed" can certainly be thrown to the wind.

Even if the entire Misaki were transformed into a "fairy domain," it wouldn't affect the clock tower, which is far away. How could they possibly lend a hand?

Magicians can simply wait until things are over before intervening under various pretexts to clean up the mess.

"And what about the church?" Shirou asked again.

Although the church isn't exactly a good thing either, they probably won't just sit idly by.

"The church has received a formal report."

At that moment, a man named Asashiro, wearing a cloak-like coat, and Aoko walked over.

Father Fumie Eiri of the Goda Church is a handsome man who exudes the aura of a martial artist.

To outsiders, he might appear as a priest, but in Shirou's eyes, he's a fake priest, much like Kirei Kotomine.

Religious faith is merely a means to seek the truth.

Father Yongli explained: "The Papal Court has notified all members of the Church in Japan, and coincidentally, some members of the 'Buryation Agency' are currently staying in Japan."

She'll be arriving in Misaki Town soon to take over the situation... and then, it will all be over.

"Burying facility"?

Shirou frowned slightly, and suddenly a word he didn't recognize popped into his head.

Is it something similar to an agent?

No, while the agents are indeed very powerful, this situation is probably beyond the capabilities of mere humans to resolve...

As if reading Shirou's mind, the priest explained.

"The Burial Agency" is a secret combat department under the Holy Church.

Although it is a special executive department only responsible for vampire incidents, it possesses powers far exceeding those of ordinary churches.

So when faced with emergencies like the one we mortals can't handle, we occasionally rely on the help of those people.

In short, just think of it as an elite group filled with the strongest monsters.

Shirou blurted out instinctively, "Like the Knights of the Round Table?"

The priest frowned slightly, then smiled: "...It's an interesting metaphor, but very apt."

The members of "The Burial Agency" are all superhumans, like the Knights of the Round Table in the Arthurian legend.

"Ryūka, who is this young man?"

As Shirou fell into deep thought, the priest in black narrowed his eyes and stared intently at him.

Aoko quickly answered, "...This child is my and Ayumi's familiar, but the contract is not yet complete."

"A familiar? Aoko..."

Aozaki Aoko cast a stern look at Shirou, who was about to protest, signaling him to be quiet.

The priest looked away from Shirou: "Is that so? I did not receive such a notice."

Since the application was submitted late, I won't inquire further. Perhaps it was because I was engaged in a battle with an external magician beforehand.

"Aozaki, we'll handle maintaining order here. You go and inform the Aozaki main family."

"Unfortunately, that's not possible."

"why?"

"Because the external magician who is currently fighting us—Sister Orange—has sealed off that place in preparation for her duel with me."

With a sly and playful expression, Aoko said, "Father Yongli couldn't possibly not know about this, could he?"

"That was an oversight on my part."

Father Yongli replied expressionlessly, "We've done all we can. Let's just wait here quietly for the bigwigs from the 'Burying Agency' to come and clean up the mess."

"……Wait a moment."

"Ashi?"

Everyone turned to look at Shirou, who had spoken.

"There's no need for the 'Burying Mechanism' to get involved; Aoko and I will handle it."

The church trio were all naturally surprised upon hearing this, but Aoko was even more surprised.

"Shirou-kun, do you think this is a situation that you and Aoko can resolve?"

Sister Wei Jia closed her eyes tightly and asked in a very stern tone.

Shirou smiled confidently and replied, "Yes, we will."

Since it involves pearls, it's not the church's place to interfere...

More importantly, that mansion is a precious treasure, and she doesn't want outsiders to approach it casually.

"but……"

"If I fail with Aoko, then you can do whatever you want with me."

Sister Weijia, could you please delay the "burial mechanism" a little longer?

"........."

Sister Wei fell into a long silence.

Shirou stared at her face; he knew very well that Sister Yuka was the one who could decide the situation.

After about half a minute, the nun sighed softly: "I understand, but only for one night."

If the thick fog doesn't clear up by tomorrow morning..."

Shiro nodded: "At that time, we'll leave it to the church to decide."

Sister Wei turned to Father Yongli and asked, "Is it alright?" The latter shrugged.

"Since Sister Weijia has said so, I have nothing more to say."

"Shirou-kun...right? I'd like to talk to you, is that alright?"

Shiro nodded in response and followed the priest away from where they stood.

About twenty minutes later, Shirou returned.

"Have you finished chatting?"

After finishing her conversation with the Shuse sisters, Aoko ran up to Shirou and anxiously asked, "What did you talk about?"

"We talked a little about Aoko when she was little. She was so cute back then... completely different from her fierce appearance now."

Aoko frowned: "Huh? Don't joke around!"

Shirou said, "When men get together, the only thing they can talk about is beautiful women."

"Still making fun of me! You idiot Shirou, go to hell!"

Aoko's face turned red, and she kept punching Shirou's back.

However, Shirou's words were not entirely a lie.

He had just heard from Father Eiri about the circumstances surrounding Aoko's inheritance of the Aozaki family.

Aoko's grandfather did not force her to become a magician.

“If your sister doesn’t make it, you’ll be next”—that’s all he said to Aoko.

Even if Shirou wasn't there, he could understand that Aoko must have been resisting at the time.

No matter how charming the "magician" is, it's impossible for Aoko to completely abandon her lifestyle.

Because she is a girl who lives more earnestly and diligently than anyone else.

Fifteen years of accumulation and sparkling memories, suddenly she had to abandon them all overnight and plunge into another strange and dangerous world.

But Aoko readily agreed at the time.

She gripped her trembling fingers tightly and said, "I'll give it a try."

It wasn't to meet her grandfather's expectations or out of a sense of responsibility for the Aozaki family, but because—

She hates running away.