Chapter 204: Entering the Church
"This is…"
Seeing the dead insect, Sakura instinctively moved closer to Hachiman Hikigaya.
"Of course, it's a bug sent by Matou Zouken to search for us. I just didn't expect it to show up so quickly…"
Hachiman's expression was equally serious.
For hours earlier, he hadn't felt watched, which meant they had been detected by Matou Zouken within just a few minutes of leaving the inn.
"Can you say he really knows his territory?"
Sighing, Hachiman abandoned the idea of taking Sakura out for a proper meal and instead led her into a small supermarket along the street.
A few minutes later, carrying a large bag of food, the two stepped back out and slipped into an alley, disappearing from view.
"Eh… where did they go?"
In a dim room of the Matou household, Matou Zouken frowned as he observed Hachiman and Sakura through the bugs he had dispatched.
The moment the two entered the alley, all the bugs hiding there lost contact instantly.
By the time he sent new bugs into the alley, the pair had already vanished without a trace.
"Lost them again?"
Tapping his cane lightly on the ground, Zouken muttered to himself before deciding to send a message to the Tohsaka family that Sakura had been taken by a mysterious magus. Of course, the message would be slightly polished.
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At the Tohsaka household, Tokiomi Tohsaka, who had sent off his youngest daughter earlier that morning, was enjoying a glass of red wine in good spirits.
For a Magus family, having a highly talented descendant to inherit the family's magical circuits could be a source of trouble.
But the Tohsaka family had a different kind of dilemma—both of his daughters were exceptionally talented in magic, even comparable to each other.
Yet the family's magical circuits could only be passed to one heir, and the position of head of the household could likewise only be inherited by one person.
To avoid potential sibling rivalry in the future and to acquire the Matou family's inherited magical circuits, he agreed without hesitation when the Matou family proposed adopting one of his daughters.
For the choice, the outgoing elder daughter, Rin, was naturally preferred.
Thus, he decided to send his introverted youngest daughter, Sakura, to the Matou family to inherit their magical circuits and household leadership.
Thinking that both his daughters would eventually lead ancient Magus families, Tokiomi's hand unconsciously shook his wine glass a little more vigorously.
"Ding-ding-ding…"
Suddenly, the phone on the table rang.
"Hello, is this the head of the Matou family? May I ask why you're calling so late at night?"
"What?! Sakura ran off with a stranger magus?!"
Hearing Matou Zouken's accusatory question over the phone, Tokiomi was slightly taken aback, then quickly apologized and assured him that he would find Sakura and return her safely.
Once the call ended, Tokiomi was no longer relaxed.
He slammed the wine glass onto the table, took a deep breath to calm himself, and picked up the phone again.
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"Um… where are we going?"
Carried through the alley by Hachiman, Sakura looked up at the rapidly passing scenery and asked curiously.
Since entering the alley, they had been moving at high speed.
By now, they must have crossed half of Fuyuki City.
"To find a place without bugs."
As he spoke, they had already exited the alley and were now running across rooftops.
Even so, in Hachiman's perception, the area within a one-kilometer radius was still densely filled with various bugs.
"Is that guy a bug king? How can there be so many?"
Seeing the number of insects, Hachiman's expression flashed with helplessness.
If he couldn't temporarily locate Zouken Matou himself, he would have wanted to go straight back to the Matou household and raze it to the ground.
"A place without bugs?"
Sakura pondered Hachiman's words. Suddenly, a glint appeared in her eyes, and she excitedly looked up.
"I think I know a place that definitely has no bugs!"
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About ten minutes later, outside the church.
"There really are no bugs here. Sakura, how did you know?"
After carefully surveying the area and confirming there was not a single Matou insect nearby, Hachiman looked at Sakura curiously.
"Because the church is under the Church's control."
Successfully helping Hachiman, Sakura looked very pleased.
"Is that so?"
Hachiman recalled what Sakura had told him before—that the Church and the Magus Association were opposed to each other—and nodded. He then pushed open the iron gate and entered Church property.
"Eh? At this hour, is anyone still here?"
At the moment Hachiman and Sakura crossed onto Church grounds, the priest Kotomine Risei, praying before the crucifix, looked up.
Using an external observation spell, he easily identified the intruders' faces.
"A strange magus… and Tokiomi's daughter, Sakura?"
Seeing Sakura, Risei first showed a surprised expression, then a smile.
Unexpectedly, just after Tokiomi had asked him to use the Church's intelligence network to help find his daughter, the mastermind had delivered her directly…
Straightening his priest robes, Risei turned toward the church doors.
As Hachiman approached to open the door, it automatically opened from the inside.
"Please come in, stranger magus, and… daughter of the Tohsaka family."
An elderly man's kindly face appeared inside. He smiled slightly at them, opened the door, then turned and walked into the church.
"Do you know him?"
Hachiman became immediately alert when he heard the man recognize Sakura.
"No, I don't know him. The Church and mages have a poor relationship!"
Sakura shook her head, indicating she didn't understand the situation.
"I see… then we'll have to be careful."
Hachiman nodded at her reply and led her by the hand into the church.
In that moment, he had already scanned the entire church and the elderly man using the system.
No traps, and the man's strength was quite weak…
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