Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

  Seiji returned back to his apartment after he took Miyabi Ishihara to her home.

  He took a bath and soaked away all his fatigue in the hot water, breathing a huge sigh of relief.

  He then opened up his system and inspected his rewards.

  [You have been successfully taught the spells [Soul World - Interdimensional Locator Spell] and [Soul World - Portal to Reality]!]

  [You have received Adnan the Avenger's sincere gratitude, and a special reward to go along with it!]

  Two new [Soul World] techniques… that was all due to the seal and the sword that the "restaurant owner" had imbued with information for him.

  Seiji's system's explanation about [Interdimensional Locator Spell] was that it could immediately determine the location of a specific person. The person he was attempting to locate would have to have a connectivity rating of over 70 to him. This spell would cost Mana, concentration, as well as Soul Energy. Its success rate depended on the circumstances.

  Well, this spell was just like its description, a spell that could find someone. It could only be used to locate his close friends as it required a connectivity rating of over 70 to him. Not to mention, the system said that the success rate wasn't even one hundred percent… it seemed like a weak spell, but if any similar incident to the previous one ever occurred, it could be really useful in locating a missing friend.

  [Portal to Reality] was another spell that was exactly like the name. This was a spell that would be able to open a portal back to the real world—no matter where he currently was. Some conditions needed to be met for this spell beforehand, and this spell also cost Mana, concentration, as well as Soul Energy. Its success rate also depended on the circumstances.

  Both of these spells were obviously limited in use to extremely specific circumstances. However, they could be incredibly useful in those exact circumstances.

  Seiji was truly grateful to the "restaurant owner" that "taught" these spells to him.

  He then checked to see what reward he obtained due to Adnan's gratitude. He saw in his system that…


  He now had seven [Spirit Form Summoning Cards]!?

  Seiji widened his eyes in surprise.

  That's right, seven—an astonishing seven in total!

  These seven cards could respectively summon an ice dragon, a magic mecha, a Sengoku warrior girl, an armored knight, a beastman warrior, an elven archer, and a magic crossbow-wielding soldier, all characters from what Seiji faced in Rinura's world of illusions… If Seiji used all seven cards at once, it would basically create a multi-species mini-army!!

  Should he say that it was to be expected of a prince? Having such munificent rewards.

  Would this "allied army" be capable of defeating Akatsuki Mitarai? Seiji mulled it over, but figured that it was probably still insufficient. After all, these were still merely only spirit forms.

  Still, he figured that they would be able to give Akatsuki a huge amount of trouble. Perhaps they could be highly effective if he used his opportunity well.

  The next morning saw a light blanket of snow outside.

  Seiji received a phone call from Miyabi and learned that she had indeed Awakened.

  He ate some breakfast before leaving his apartment to head for a place that they agreed to meet at.

  He arrived to see that his senpai was holding an umbrella to block the snow while standing at the roadside, silently observing the falling snow.

  She wasn't wearing her eyeglasses. Her long hair was in a braid, and she was wearing a scarf. Her bangs were held up by a hairclip, and her beautiful expression had a slightly melancholic expression. It really made her seem like a literary girl.

  'Could it be that she Awakened to an ability that allows her to eat books?' Seiji couldn't help but have such a thought. However, he immediately buried it in the back of his mind.

  "Good morning, Ishihara-senpai," he greeted her.

  "Good morning, Harano-san." Miyabi stopped watching the falling snow and greeted him back.

  She saw that Seiji didn't have an umbrella with him, so Miyabi raised her umbrella higher to block the snow for him as well.

  "Thank you… How about letting me hold the umbrella?" Seiji reached out his hand.

  Something flashed in Miyabi's eyes as she silently gave him the umbrella without saying anything.

  Seiji held the umbrella for her as they walked towards Genhana High School together. He asked her in a whisper what ability she Awakened to.

  Miyabi didn't reply. However, a pair of fox ears suddenly grew on the top of her head, which immediately disappeared again once she saw that Seiji had noticed.

  "You can change into the same form as what you used last night?" Seiji inquired.

  Miyabi nodded.

  "What about your power? Is it also similar to last night?"

  Miyabi shook her head.

  The form was the same, but the power level was somewhat lower… Seiji had a rough understanding now.

  He didn't ask anything else. Instead, he began telling her about what the Awakened needed to watch out for.

  Miyabi silently listened to his explanation.

  The tall and handsome muscular youth walking together down the snowy street with a beautiful and quiet literary girl, sharing the same umbrella, with him whispering to her and her attentively listening, seemed like a beautiful and poetic scene that attracted many bystanders' attention.

  "Will you come save me if I'm ever in danger?"

  Miyabi asked this question after she finished listening to his explanation.

  "Of course I will, as long as I know you're in danger," Seiji replied.

  Miyabi looked at his face as something flashed in her eyes.

  Then, she reached out her hand, indicating that he should give the umbrella back to her.

  Seiji returned the umbrella.

  Miyabi lowered the umbrella after she took it back.

  The umbrella's top brushed against Seiji's head, causing him to reflexively duck.

  At this moment, Miyabi stood up on tiptoe and pressed her lips against his cheek.

  Seiji was astonished at this sudden action!

  His astonishment caused him to freeze solid in his movements.

  This sudden kiss lasted for only one second.

  Miyabi backed away two steps and retracted her umbrella, blocking her face with the umbrella and not allowing Seiji to see her current expression.

  "You are a good person, Harano-san."

  She walked off after lightly saying such a sentence.

  Seiji was quite mystified at suddenly being kissed and then being told that he was a "good person", which he knew was the most common way that girls would reject a boy politely. He stood still in a daze as he watched her walk off into the distance.

  Miyabi suddenly stopped in her footsteps after walking off more than ten meters and turned around slightly.

  "Please… take good care of me in the future."

  She covered her reddening face with her scarf after whispering this and continued walking off.

  '…What exactly just happened?'

  Seiji's expression changed from confusion to dazedness.

  'Can anyone tell me what just happened? I'm so lost!'

  He felt like everything inside him was pure chaos as he watched her figure fade into the distance in the snow.

  A while later, Seiji arrived at the student council president's residence, rubbed his temple, and put the issue of the literary girl that he didn't understand… the issue of Miyabi Ishihara behind him.

  He entered Natsuya's residence and began discussing last night's incident with her.

  "That mysterious realm we were in with cluster amaryllis flowers growing everywhere should be very similar to the realm that Awakened enter when they first obtain their powers," the student council president told him. "After I returned, I tried asking my family for any relevant information they possessed on this area of research. However, they rejected my request for information. I don't know what exactly that was… my best guess is that it was created by a top-level soul spell."

  "So, basically, the true perpetrator is on the level of a master soul spell user?" Seiji asked.

  "Yes… even if it's a group and not an individual that caused all this, there absolutely has to be a master soul spell user among them," Natsuya added.

  Both of them then fell silent.

  No matter what the situation was, it would be quite difficult to deal with… or perhaps even impossible.

  "I feel it was quite fortunate that the soul spell user didn't appear before us." Natsuya sighed. "It was also quite fortunate that we obtained that restaurant owner's assistance, along with that prince from another world being someone reasonable to deal with…"

  Seiji nodded in agreement.

  This incident had actually been quite dangerous. It was almost a miracle that everyone managed to return safely.

  If possible, of course he wanted to investigate the truth. However, he still didn't have the power to do so.

  Having Natsuya report this incident to the Yoruhana Family might be able to help uncover the truth using the power of her family's resources. But that would mean that Shoutarou Rinura would definitely become a target for their research, and Miyabi Ishihara and the others might be confined by them as well.

  Since everybody was safe in the end, just letting this incident pass behind them would be the wise choice.

  Sill, letting the incident pass behind them didn't equal forgetting about it. In the future, if Seiji and Natsuya ever found out who was behind it, they would definitely take action!

  Seiji and Natsuya came to such an agreement.

  "Let's forget about this topic for the time being and continue focusing on cultivation."

  "Yep."