Chapter 389: The Event Concludes, Heading Back to DanMachi, A Grand Dinner Party?
....
"Because I like you~" Seito answered back as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Mmh~~"
His direct confession left Hayasaka frozen, her cheeks flushing a deep, radiant pink. If he likes me, why does he have to launch an attack like this? This is...
With her inner world entirely in a mess, Hayasaka had no choice but to raise her passive defenses. Seeing her adapt, Seito triggered his skills and pushed the tempo.
Within a matter of minutes, the two exchanged over a hundred rapid blows!
As the rhythm locked in, Hayasaka cleanly transitioned from standard defense to active counter-attacks, matching Seito stroke for stroke to see who would claim final victory!
The relentless clatter of their intense match nearby caused Kaguya Shinomiya's shapely brows to knit into a slight frown.
"Mmh~~"
She groggily woke from her slumber, murmuring, "What's going on?"
But the second her blurry vision focused on the scene beside her, any trace of sleepiness vanished instantly! Kaguya's expression shifted from absolute shock to a vivid, burning crimson blush. She found herself completely at a loss for words.
Seito and Hayasaka were actually locked in a fierce battle right in front of her! And various combat skills were continuously being unleashed!
"Young... Young Mistress..." Hayasaka panted heavily, though her defensive maneuvers didn't slacken for a microsecond.
Seeing the situation evolve, a brilliant light flashed across Seito's eyes. "Why don't the two of you tag-team against me? Fighting just one of you simply isn't challenging enough!"
Hayasaka: "???"
Kaguya: "!!!"
The next morning.
Inside the living room of Seito's apartment, everyone sat gathered around the dining table for breakfast.
Asuna Yuuki cast a highly colorful, knowing look across the table toward Kaguya and Hayasaka. Beside her, Chika Fujiwara kept her little head dropped low, staying entirely silent for once. Kaguya and her secretary felt incredibly embarrassed under the steady scrutiny. However, neither of them uttered a word, silently focusing on their food while pretending to be completely oblivious to Asuna's piercing gaze.
"I'll be heading back to the other world in a bit," Seito said, breaking the silence after taking a bite of his meal.
"The other world? So soon?" Kaguya blinked, asking reflexively. Now that their relationship had been formally locked in, she naturally felt a deep sense of care and attachment toward him.
"Yeah. I need to clean up all the operational threads over there first, since the New Year is arriving very quickly," Seito explained.
The final examinations had been successfully wrapped up yesterday!
Because the current Sobu High was registered as a combat academy, the testing cycle only required a single period of theoretical checking, while the remaining courses were entirely focused on live combat performance. Because of this optimized structure, the grading process finished exceptionally fast. Now, Seito needed to return to the lower layers.
Hearing his explanation, the remaining girls dropped the subject. A short while later, the table was cleared, and Seito vanished from the apartment in a silent flash, taking Kitahara Iori and the rest of the student guild members along with him.
The God Domain, Floors 61–70 — The DanMachi world, Orario.
Zip~~
With a crisp spatial distortion, Seito materialized right in the front yard of his Familia estate. Extending his sensory arrays, he verified that his companions weren't currently hanging out in the yard, so he walked straight toward the main house. Meanwhile, Kitahara Iori and the boys, who had returned alongside him, immediately scattered to handle their own business.
At the same time, in the Central Region of the God-King Star Sector...
Sensing the absolute silence that had blanked the region over the recent period, the resident God-Kings felt their cautious minds starting to waver.
"Should we authorize our subordinate gods to step out of seclusion now?"
"Highly improper! I calculate we need to wait a bit longer. After all, we cannot conclusively verify if that mysterious killer has actually cleared out of the sector."
"I strongly feel he has already departed."
"I share that conclusion. Do not forget, we ordered a global lockdown forcing every deity back to their cultivation chambers. If that killer was still actively hunting for targets, he would have triggered significant energy ripples by now! Yet, we haven't picked up a single spatial disturbance."
"Hmph! That unknown God-King possesses an exceptional stealth framework. How could we easily track his footprints?"
"Tsk! Fraud God-King, are you an absolute fool? Even if his stealth parameters are maxed out, if he were to run a large-scale search sweep for hidden gods, he would inevitably expose a weakness! After all, we can accurately monitor the divine headcount drop across the Central Region."
"Correct! The killer hasn't revealed a single horse track during this entire block. Could it be that he is deliberately waiting for us to step out?"
"Let's observe for another interval. A cautious ship sails forever; being a bit more conservative can never lead to an error."
"Agreed!"
The absolute majority of the God-Kings felt that Seito had likely moved on. However, to ensure absolute safety, they refused to lift the lockdown immediately, choosing to maintain their defensive vigil. If the baseline indicators remained green after another block of observation, they would naturally resume normal operations.
Back on the DanMachi world, time steadily marched forward, and night quickly blanketed the city of Orario.
During the afternoon, Seito had reunited with Kirukiru Amou, Maple, and Hestia. He gave them a brief log summary of yesterday's school testing, while Kitahara Iori, Lili, and the rest of the vanguard formally checked back into the base.
Of course, Lili and Old Twenty-Eight's crew hadn't gone down to the Dungeon today; their absence was entirely due to the fact that they had been out exploring the marketplace. Since everyone had been shopping in different districts, they simply regrouped at the designated coordination time to return to the estate together.
The moment they stepped through the gates, Hestia immediately rounded them up to hold a grand celebratory dinner party at the Hostess of Fertility.
Currently, inside the cozy tavern...
"Welcome, everyone~! Please, take a seat~" Syr greeted them with a sweet, radiant smile, warmly guiding Seito and his group toward their tables.
The members didn't stay polite, quickly splitting up to occupy the spacious tables. Seito's table accommodated the four resident deities along with little Lili.
"Syr, we won't bother ordering from the menu. Just bring out whatever dishes your kitchen recommends today," Seito said with a gentle smile as he sat down, politely waving away the menu booklet she extended.
Although his database verified her true identity as Freya, the Goddess of Beauty, there was zero reason to slap a smiling face. Seito maintained a perfectly natural, polite composure.
"Understood," Syr smiled sweetly, turning back toward the kitchen.
Watching her walk away, Seito turned his head to speak with Kirukiru Amou and the girls. But before he could utter a word, Old Twenty-Eight's boisterous voice boomed from the neighboring table.
"Hehehe! I went all out today and hired three hostesses at once—an Amazon beauty, a cat-eared cutie, and a Prum girl!"
"Holy crap? You're completely unhinged! You actually hired a Prum?" The moment the words dropped, Hidenori Tabata's eyes widened as he stared at his guild-mate.
"Shallow!" Old Twenty-Eight snorted with a smug grin. "The Prum girl was brought in strictly to give me a solid shoulder massage. I didn't touch a single hair on her head, alright?"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. If you ask me, the Amazon race packs the absolute most explosive energy!" Sometsuki reminisced about his day, letting out a deep sigh of pure admiration.
"Same here!"
"Agreed!"
"..."
The remaining guild members nodded their heads in unison, completely sharing the sentiment.
.....
Thank you for reading.