Chapter 269: Interlude on the Way to School
"Light novels?"
As an ancient being who had lived for countless years, hearing a term she had never encountered before from Hikigaya Hachiman's mouth, the Inari God felt quite intrigued.
"Light novels... well, never mind. It's just a kind of reading material, in short."
Seeing the Inari God's puzzled expression, Hikigaya Hachiman was about to explain in detail what a light novel was.
But on second thought, the scene of introducing a deity to light novels would definitely be strange!
To avoid awkward trouble, Hikigaya Hachiman decided not to elaborate.
In any case, the Inari God would surely not be interested in light novels, which are mostly used as toilet paper anyway.
"In a simple summary, is the guy who stole the worship (incense) about to resurrect the Nine-Tailed Fox?"
Although it sounded like a very cliché setting.
According to the Inari God, that Nine-Tailed Fox was a Great Demon deity that existed even during the Inari God's peak, and it was eventually eliminated only by the joint efforts of the two major factions: deities and humans.
It goes without saying that the Nine-Tailed Fox's power must be quite formidable.
Even if his own strength increased significantly after his trip to the other world, if he were to face it, he would surely be swatted away with a single blow, wouldn't he?
"It won't be resurrected immediately."
The Inari God immediately corrected the flaw in Hikigaya Hachiman's words.
While the theft of her worship (incense) severely affected her, if that small amount of worship could resurrect the Nine-Tailed Fox, the effect of the worship would be far too great.
In reality, the stolen worship would, at most, serve to awaken it.
Don't forget that the thief originally intended to occupy the entire shrine, and only chose to leave with the worship because Hikigaya Hachiman returned in time.
"Because it is a fox, my worship (incense) is most effective for the Nine-Tailed Fox's recovery. Even if the Nine-Tailed Fox's remnant soul is summoned and revived because of it, it should be hiding in some secluded corner, secretly accumulating power for now. Furthermore, you actually don't need to worry too much about its power.
Over the long years, the Killing Stone has been split into countless fragments. Even if it collects most of the Killing Stones, its power will at most reach the level of a lower-rank Demon deity. With the speed of your strength's increase, by the time it fully manifests, it will no longer be a major threat."
"Lower-rank Demon deity?"
Learning of a new power classification level from the Inari God, Hikigaya Hachiman showed an interested expression.
"Let's discuss this matter when your strength reaches the Emperor rank."
The Inari God smiled slightly, refusing to reveal the higher-level realms to Hikigaya Hachiman.
After all, there is a deep chasm between the Emperor rank and the Deity rank, not to mention Hikigaya Hachiman is currently only at the King rank...
Moreover, even if Hikigaya Hachiman ultimately failed, it wouldn't be a big deal.
After all, he was only responsible for guarding the Chiba area; the true protector of Kanto was someone else entirely.
Thinking of the man she had met before, the smile on the Inari God's face slightly froze.
Compared to Hikigaya Hachiman's concept of 'all beings are equal,' that person was undoubtedly an extremist who firmly believed in 'human supremacy.'
If not for the intervention of other exorcists at the time, she would probably have vanished long ago, wouldn't she?
"Truly a very domineering human..."
Recalling the terrifying aura that had made her soul tremble at the time, the Inari God sighed faintly, then looked at Hikigaya Hachiman with increasingly determined eyes.
For the sake of her own safety and that of her divine attendants in the future, Hikigaya Hachiman must, by all means, take over the position of Kanto's guardian!
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Monday morning.
With Sakura joining them, the Hikigaya siblings were walking the same path to school for the first time in a long while.
"It's been a long time since we walked to school together..."
Komachi, holding Sakura's hand and following behind Hikigaya Hachiman's bicycle, felt a little excited since they hadn't completely walked the entire school route together since Hachiman started high school.
"Since it's Sakura's first day of school, of course, I have to go."
Thanks to the Inari God, the school enrollment issues for Sakura and Illya were resolved in just one Sunday.
As it was Sakura's celebratory first day of school, Hikigaya Hachiman naturally couldn't be absent.
"Then what about your school, Onii-chan? Won't Hiratsuka-sensei be angry?"
Although the feeling of the three siblings walking to school together was very nice, Komachi couldn't help but worry, remembering that today was also Hikigaya Hachiman's normal school day.
After all, she had heard of Shizuka Hiratsuka's reputation more than once from Hikigaya Hachiman.
"I've already requested a day off."
Although she was suspicious of the reason—sending a sister to school— Hiratsuka Shizuka, who was undoubtedly a good teacher, eventually approved Hikigaya Hachiman's request for leave.
However, the ease with which his request was approved made Hikigaya Hachiman feel uneasy; he feared he might be dragged to the office for interrogation by Hiratsuka-sensei upon his return...
"I don't want to go to school!"
Just when Hikigaya Hachiman was worrying about his fate a few hours later, a familiar shout suddenly reached his ears.
Looking in the direction the sound came from, he saw Illya, who had already changed into Komachi's school's elementary section uniform, desperately resisting Irisviel beside her by clinging to an electric pole.
"Illya..."
Looking at her willful daughter, Irisviel seemed quite helpless.
She had managed to hypnotize Illya with magic when she was distracted by playing games, but she hadn't expected Illya's magical skill to be so high that she undid the hypnosis halfway through the walk.
She couldn't possibly use hypnosis on Illya again now, so in her frustration, Irisviel could only try to physically force Illya to school.
"Good morning, Irisviel..."
Just then, Hikigaya Hachiman approached with his two sisters from a distance.
Ignoring the awkward positions of the mother and daughter, Hikigaya Hachiman raised his hand and greeted them.
"Good morning, Hikigaya-kun."
Hearing Hikigaya Hachiman's voice, Irisviel's eyes immediately lit up as if she had seen a savior.
In contrast to her mother's reaction, the moment Illya saw Hikigaya Hachiman, her face showed an expression of despair, as if she had met a great demon king.
"Illya, good morning..."
Just when Illya felt her life was hopeless, Sakura's voice came from behind Hikigaya Hachiman.
"Sakura!"
Illya, who had been clinging to the electric pole, immediately relaxed and smiled upon hearing Sakura's voice.
This time, without Irisviel's coercion, she voluntarily let go of the electric pole and ran over to Sakura.
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