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The sudden demand left Yuki Suou stunned.
Traveling abroad wasn't anything unusual in itself, but with no prior notice? That was far too abrupt.
And the Suou family never handled affairs so sloppily.
Sending her overseas without explanation—it was clearly abnormal.
Especially since the order had come directly from her grandfather.
Realizing something serious must have happened at home, Yuki's expression tightened.
She turned to Rosen with an apologetic look."Sorry, Lord Rosen. Something urgent came up with my family. I may need to go back right away."
"I heard," Rosen replied easily. "But since it's urgent, I'll take you there myself."
He gave quick instructions for Miko Yotsuya and Hana Yurikawa to stay behind and watch the house, then used his divine step technique to whisk Yuki and Ayano Kimishima away.
In the blink of an eye, they arrived at the Suou estate, exactly where Yuki's address had pointed.
"Just as I thought," Rosen murmured. "Something's already been here."
He'd said "something," not "someone," because he could feel the lingering trace of a sinister presence.
And judging by the fox-shaped mark burned into Yuki, their visitor could only have been from the Sanhugu Shrine.
"But… why?" Yuki asked in confusion.
"If they were looking for someone, shouldn't they have come after me first?"
"Probably because your own mark was erased by 093," Rosen explained with a faint laugh. "They couldn't track you, so the next best thing was the person who performed the 'blessing' for you."
"Blessing?" Yuki gave a short, bitter laugh. "More like a death curse."
Her attempt at humor quickly gave way to worry about her family.
At that moment, an elderly voice rang out, and Yuki's grandfather appeared at the entryway.
The sight made her stop cold.
He looked completely different—aged by what felt like more than a decade in just a moment.
"Grandpa, what happened?!"
"Yuki! Why are you back? I already sent someone to meet you at the airport! You were supposed to be leaving the country!"
He had been preparing everything to protect his granddaughter—the Suou family's sole heir. While arranging her departure, he'd even drawn up his will, waiting only for his private lawyer to finalize it.
"Grandpa, tell me the truth. What's going on? Why send me abroad all of a sudden? Is it like Lord Rosen said—have those foxes come after us?"
Her usual poise and manners vanished. She fired question after question without restraint.
"How do you know about that? And… who is this man?"
Suou Yanqing's mind spun in chaos.
Did Yuki already know the situation?Or… had the foxes already reached her?
"He's Lord Rosen," Yuki answered without hesitation, "the god I'll be serving and offering to from now on."
If she lied, her grandfather would see right through it. So, since Rosen didn't deny it, Yuki laid the truth bare.
As the pieces fell into place, Suou Yanqing stared at Rosen in disbelief.
His first thought: Was this man just some con artist?
After all, his granddaughter was obsessed with anime and the like. Everyone online said otaku were easy to trick.
But his second thought—the far more likely one—was that this man was the very reason the fox spirits from Sanhugu Shrine had come in hostility.
Yanqing leaned toward the second.
On one hand, the fox spirits had claimed Yuki broke her protection contract with them by making a new pact. On the other, he had just witnessed his granddaughter conjure a spear of light before his very eyes.
There was no denying reality.
So Yanqing could only tell the truth from the beginning.
"It's my fault, Yuki. I brought this on you."
He expected her to glare at him in disappointment, but instead she only frowned."So you wanted to send me abroad just to protect me?"
"Lord Rosen… would that even work?" she asked.
"Not really," Rosen said with a faint smile. "If they agreed to a contract with your family, then they've already accounted for betrayal. Even if you run overseas, they'll still find you and drag you back. There's no avoiding it."
Because if escaping so simply could earn you three full chances at divine protection, everyone would have done it already.
If it were that easy to get something for nothing, the Sanhuko Shrine would never have fallen into such decline in the first place.
"So it really won't work, huh."
Yuki Suou let out a weary sigh.
"And if we try running, we might just end up dead faster."
Suou Yanqing realized his mistake too. He'd panicked at the sheer terror of the fox spirits earlier, but once his nerves settled, he had to admit Yuki was right.
Which left him utterly out of ideas.
But Yuki didn't look the least bit rattled. Instead, she curved her lips into a confident smile.
"Don't worry, Grandpa. Did you forget? I already signed a contract with Lord Rosen. I'm a transcendent now too!"
"And if things really go south, we still have him."
Hearing this, Suou Yanqing glanced skeptically at the absurdly young Rosen.
He cast a shadow on the ground—proof he was human.
As for that so-called "contract" with Yuki, Yanqing suspected it was just a cover. At best, Rosen was some middling spiritualist.
And "Lord God"? He didn't believe a single punctuation mark of that title.
A god this young? What was this, one of those anime where you could hire a bargain-bin deity for five yen at a shrine?
But those fox spirits were different.
The one they worshipped was no joke—an actual god with a proper shrine behind them.
And gods who received worship and offerings were never weak.
"Relax, Grandpa. Lord Rosen is the real deal," Yuki said helplessly.
She understood why outsiders wouldn't believe, so she didn't waste time arguing. Instead, she turned directly to Rosen.
"Lord Rosen, looks like you were right—they really did come for me. So… with my current strength, do you think I can handle this alone?"
She focused inward, feeling the power coursing through her.
It was ridiculous.
Compared to her frail old self, the difference was like heaven and earth.
The surge of confidence made her grin.
"You can handle the grunts," Rosen said evenly. "But the shrine's guardian spirit? That's a no-go. Still… think of this as training. I'll bring Miko and Hana with us—you three could use practice fighting as a team."
"..."
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