I wrote the chapter too long, so I'll split it into two chapters.
-----------------------------------------------------------
It had been four days since my fight with Zastin, and two days since I officially became Lala's fiancé.
That meant one thing, many aliens would probably come to Earth to kill me.
I'd already asked Zastin to deploy a small satellite, about the size of my palm into the exosphere. Its purpose was to scan and identify anything approaching Earth.
"No alien arrivals yet. That's good," I muttered, just as my phone began to ring.
"Hello, Kamiyama-san? What's up?" I asked.
"Hello, Ace-kun. It might take a while, but can you come to headquarters? Your reward has been decided. Bring Deviluke-san along," Kamiyama-san replied.
"Is that okay? If it's just about the ID card I requested, there's no need for me to go all the way to HQ," I said.
"What I meant is you'll bring Deviluke-san to the bookstore to pick up her ID card, and then you'll come with me to headquarters," he clarified.
"Alright," I replied.
I went down to the basement and called out to Lala.
"Lala! Are you still working on that armor?" I asked.
"Yeah! It's almost done!" she answered cheerfully.
"Let's go to the bookstore to pick up your ID," I said.
"Okay!"
When we arrived at the bookstore, besides Kamiyama-san, there were two other people present one woman and a man with a blue sword at his waist.
"Good afternoon, Kamiyama-san," I greeted.
"Good afternoon, Ace-kun," he replied.
"Let me introduce myself. I'm Shindo Rintaro, Swordsman of Water and a member of the Sword of Logos council. You can call me Rintaro. This is my wife, Shindo Mei," the man said politely.
"Haaii~!" Mei said with a wave.
"My name is Akashi Ace, and this is my fiancée, Lala Satalin Deviluke. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too," Lala replied.
I noticed Kamiyama-san's surprised expression apparently, Rintaro-san noticed it too.
"Why the surprised face, Touma?" Rintaro asked.
"Well, Ace-kun usually introduces himself like a robot," Kamiyama-san said.
"What do you mean by 'like a robot'?" I asked flatly.
"You know, he'd list his age, address, status, and everything else," Kamiyama-san explained.
"That's called being formal," I replied.
"Whatever. Anyway, here are Deviluke-san's ID papers and related documents," Kamiyama-san said, handing over the files.
"Ohh~ thank you!" Lala said.
"Now that we're done here, let's head to headquarters. Deviluke-san and Mei will stay here to watch over the shop. Is that alright, Deviluke-san?" Rintaro asked.
"Of course. Be careful," Lala said.
"Take care, everyone! Come on, Lala-chan, we can read or play while we wait," Mei said cheerfully.
---
When we arrived at the Sword of Logos headquarters through the portal, Sophia-san, Fukumiya-san, and another man were already waiting.
"You finally made it," Fukumiya-san said.
"Thank you both for coming," Sophia said as she walked toward me. "This is your reward for securing Sukuna's Day."
The reward was three new Wonder Ride Books.
"Thank you, Sophia-san. And may I ask who this gentleman is?" I said.
"My name's Ogami Ryo, Swordsman of Earth. Nice to meet you, kid," Ogami-san said with a grin.
"Nice to meet you too, Ogami-san," I replied politely.
"Since the introductions are done, I have a mission for both you, Ace-kun, and Ryo-kun," Sophia said.
"What kind of mission, Sophia?" Ogami-san asked.
"There's a Stray Devil roaming around the Tokyo area. I'd like the two of you to handle it," Sophia explained.
"Understood," I said.
"Alright then, kid, let's go. We can't let a devil run loose," Ogami-san said as he walked toward the portal.
"I'll be going then," I said, bowing slightly before following him.
---
We returned to the bookstore and found Mei and Lala reading together.
"I'm back," I said.
"Welcome back," they both replied.
"Been a while, Mei," Ogami-san said.
"It really has, Ogami-san," she answered with a smile.
"Kid, take care of your own business first. I'll see you at the meeting point I told you about," Ogami-san said as he left.
"Got it. Lala, I'll be out on a mission. I might come home late. If you want to go home now, I can drop you off first," I offered.
"It's fine. I'll stay here with Mei-san and read some fun stories," Lala said.
"Alright then, I'll be going," I replied.
"Be careful," Lala said warmly.
---
I arrived at the meeting point and saw Ogami-san sitting on his motorcycle.
"Ogami-san! Have you been waiting long?" I asked.
"No, not at all. Let's go," he said, starting the engine.
"Right," I replied, getting on my own bike and following behind.
We reached the suspected hideout of the Stray Devil.
"This is the place. I don't sense any life inside," Ogami-san said.
"How do you know?" I asked.
"I'm the Swordsman of Earth. I can feel everything connected to the ground," he explained.
We entered cautiously. Ogami-san carried a massive sword on his shoulder, Dogouken Gekido.
"This place is completely empty," he said.
"Should we move to another location?" I asked.
"Yeah. They wouldn't hunt in broad daylight unless they didn't care about the supernatural organizations chasing them," Ogami said.
We went to another possible hideout.
"There are two lifeforms inside. Stay alert," Ogami-san warned.
"Got it," I said, drawing Kurayami.
We moved quietly. After a while, we spotted them, one Stray Devil and an alien.
"What's that creature with the devil?" Ogami-san asked.
"Looks like an alien," I replied.
"An alien, huh? Why's it here on Earth?"
"Probably because of me," I said flatly.
"Huh? I'll ask later. Let's take care of them first. You handle the alien, I'll take the devil," Ogami-san said.
Ogami-san charged forward, his body wrapped in aura, and struck the devil with a heavy horizontal slash. The devil dodged, but lost its left arm.
I attacked the alien at the same time, my strike cutting across its chest.
"Argh! That hurts, holy energy?! Who are you?!" the Stray Devil shouted.
"None of your business," Ogami-san replied coldly, swinging his sword vertically down toward the devil's head.
The devil managed to create a shield using alien tech, but it shattered instantly under Dogouken Gekido's power.
Ogami's strike split the devil clean in half.
"Done already, kid?" Ogami-san asked.
"I've been done for a while. You've already mastered aura control, Ogami-san and it's only been four days since I shared the theory," I said.
"Heh, I'm a fast learner, even at my age. …Didn't kill that one?" he pointed at the wounded alien.
"I've got a few questions for him," I said, crouching beside the alien.
"Hey, you came here because of Lala, didn't you?" I asked.
"How do you know about Princess Lala?!" the alien gasped.
"I'm her fiancé," I replied calmly and knocked him unconscious.
"Pretty cool, kid," Ogami-san said with a grin.
"I'm always cool," I replied.
"So your fiancée's an alien princess, huh?" Ogami-san asked.
"Yeah. Her father announced that any alien who kills me can take my place as her fiancé," I said.
"You've got a pretty intense future father-in-law," Ogami-san chuckled.
"What about you, Ogami-san?" I asked.
"Me? I've got a kid, he's about to enter middle school. I'll be a teacher soon, too."
"A teacher? Where at?"
"Sobu High School," he replied.
"In that case, I'll be your student. Please take care of me, Ogami-sensei," I said.
"Oh? You go there? Then I'll be watching closely to see if you're both a good student and a good swordsman," he said.
"I'm actually a pretty good student, you know," I replied casually.
After cleaning up the scene, Ogami-san returned to the Sword of Logos HQ to file the report, while I went to meet Zastin to hand over the captured alien. Since that guy was a noble, he'd be detained for attacking me.
Whatever Lala's father was planning—I didn't care.
Just as I was about to pick Lala up from the bookstore, my phone rang.
"Hello, Kamiyama-san. What's going on?"
"Ace-kun, come to the location I sent you. Ogami-san and I are already here," he said.
"Understood," I replied.
Then I called Lala.
"Hey, Lala. Sorry, I can't pick you up right now, something urgent came up. You can ask Craftbot to drive you home."
"It's okay, Ace! I'm still with Mei-san, she's telling such fun stories! Mei-san and Rintaro-san will take me home," Lala said excitedly.
"Don't worry, Ace-kun~ I'll take good care of Lala!" Mei's voice chimed in over the phone.
"In that case, I'll hang up now," I said.
"Okay, be careful!" Lala said before I ended the call and sped off toward the location Kamiyama-san had sent.