Chapter 388: Shocking, The Prison Barrier Turns Out to Be....?!
La Folia was, of course, rejected.
She had anticipated this outcome from the start, but what surprised her was how much Mahiro seemed to value her aunt.
Could it be that this man preferred that type?
Surely mature women were better, right?
As she left the orphanage, La Folia glanced at herself, then turned her head to look at the person accompanying her.
That was Kirasaka Sayaka, the representative sent by the Lion King Organization to receive her.
Feeling La Folia's strange gaze, Sayaka couldn't quite grasp the situation and couldn't help but ask in confusion:
"Your Highness, Princess La Folia?"
La Folia pouted, shifted her gaze to the rapidly changing street scenes outside the window, and recalled the dashing figure of Mahiro when he fought the angel. She couldn't help but let out a small sigh:
"I really want to see a man's physique… When will I be able to have intercourse with Mahiro?"
Such a bold statement immediately stunned Sayaka.
Especially upon hearing the latter part, Sayaka became agitated and shouted:
"Your Highness, Princess La Folia! Please act like a princess!"
"Huh?"
La Folia replied, puzzled, "But princesses are women too. Isn't it instinctual to desire union between men and women and to bear offspring? If you and that Miss Yukina mind, it's fine—I can be the concubine."
So bold, yet so reasonable!
Sayaka was left speechless!
Or rather, she was so shocked by the princess's words that she felt dizzy.
Her eyes had already turned into swirling spirals.
Meanwhile.
By the time the sky had completely darkened, Mahiro had already returned home.
Perhaps due to the busy workload of a Demon Hunter, he didn't see Natsuki Minamiya at home.
So, after greeting the few people who were home, he went upstairs to his room and fell into a deep sleep.
Early the next morning.
He woke up as usual, right on time.
But as soon as he opened his eyes, he saw a face staring at him.
Long, jet-black hair, a face the size of a palm, features as delicate as a doll's, and especially those deep, ocean-like eyes that were incredibly beautiful.
Noticing he had awakened, a calm voice softly spoke.
"You're awake?"
"Whoa!"
Snapping back to his senses, Mahiro was startled and sat up abruptly. The girl skillfully dodged his headbutt.
"It's not Natsuki Minamiya. What do you want? Don't you know that suddenly appearing like this in the morning can scare someone to death?!"
If it were an enemy, it would be one thing, but someone like Natsuki Minamiya, whom he had subconsciously accepted and who meant no harm, playing such a trick would genuinely startle him.
Today, Natsuki Minamiya was, as always, dressed in a black Gothic Lolita outfit.
She sat on a chair, arms crossed, her legs clad in sheer black stockings and light pink high heels crossed elegantly, and she complained:
"What am I doing? That's a question I should be asking you! Mahiro, where have you been these past two days, yesterday and the day before?!"
"You don't know?"
Mahiro looked at her strangely.
"Why would I know? I removed the bracelet a long time ago," Natsuki frowned in dissatisfaction.
"Didn't Alpha and the others tell you?"
"No! They completely ignored me!"
Speaking of this, Natsuki was quite angry. No matter who it was, they were willing to communicate with her—except for those women who had followed Mahiro to this world. They never gave her any face!
If Aya's attitude toward her was cold, coupled with hatred from past grievances...
Then the people of Shadow Garden simply ignored her.
Only that dumb dog named Delta would exchange a few words with her, but unfortunately, Delta's mind was filled with nothing but fighting and more fighting.
She knew nothing.
That seemingly airheaded, light-blonde-haired sword-holding Elf would occasionally say a few things too, but unfortunately, her answers were even more clueless.
"Mahiro is my master. I wouldn't know where he goes. I only care about tracking my niece Alpha."
This left Natsuki Minamiya utterly speechless!
Seeing this, Mahiro's gaze toward her grew even stranger, and he simply responded with a casual "Oh."
He acted just like a scumbag who cheated people out of their money and affection.
This made Natsuki Minamiya's fair face instantly flush bright red!
The folding fan in her hand creaked under her tight grip, as if it might snap at any moment!
"Alright, alright, I'll tell you. Don't get angry—it'll make you age faster."
Mahiro raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, but Natsuki Minamiya still gave him a hard smack on the head.
"Hurry up and tell me!"
"I went to find Kanase Kensei."
"And then?!"
"I killed him—completely erased all traces on the spot. Even the bloodstains were washed away by the seawater."
"Is that all?"
"Not exactly. I also killed an angel while I was at it."
Natsuki Minamiya asked a question, and he answered one. The two of them made it seem like an interrogation.
Natsuki Minamiya snapped angrily:
"Can you stop answering one question at a time?! I'm not interrogating a prisoner!"
"Oh."
Mahiro gave another simple reply like that.
And before Natsuki Minamiya could lose her temper, he briefly recounted his experience on the island.
"So, you went to deal with a Model Angel just to find a princess who was lost on an experimental island?"
"Mhm, mhm."
Mahiro nodded seriously and praised, "As expected of Natsuki-chan, who works as a teacher at the school. Your summary is spot-on—clear and straightforward..."
"Don't try to dodge the question with me!"
Whack!
The fan landed on his head again.
"And don't call me Natsuki-chan!"
Whack!
Another hit.
"And also, are you insane?! For a princess you've never even met, you went to fight an angel that had almost completed its divine descent. Do you know what that means?! Are you really not afraid of dying?!"
Whack, whack, whack!
Several hits in a row, the fan striking like firecrackers.
But Mahiro seemed unfazed by the pain. He lifted his head and grinned:
"Excuse me, Natsuki-chan, are you worried about me?"
As soon as he finished speaking...
Natsuki Minamiya's fan, which had been hitting his head, froze mid-air. She then activated Spatial Transfer, instantly returning to her chair, crossing her legs and saying guiltily:
"Hmph, who would worry about you? It's just that you're still a prisoner on bail from the Prison Barrier. I have a responsibility to keep an eye on your whereabouts! Yes, that's it—responsibility!"
As if trying to convince herself, she deliberately emphasized the word.
Seeing her tsundere-like demeanor, Mahiro couldn't help but laugh.
"What are you laughing at?! What's so funny?!"
Natsuki Minamiya glared at him with cold, angry eyes, but there was no intimidation in her expression whatsoever. Instead, it only made Mahiro laugh even harder.
This made Natsuki even angrier.
"Alright, alright, I'll stop laughing."
Mahiro wiped the tears from his eyes and continued:
"But let me ask a different question. I wonder who told you that I went to deal with an angel that was close to its complete form?"
In his earlier description, he hadn't mentioned that the angel had completed its divine descent.
Natsuki immediately turned her head away guiltily, unable to meet his gaze.
"N-nothing, I just guessed. I know just as much as you do about Kanase Kensei. He's also someone we've been keeping a close eye on, but that man's actions are too secretive. We couldn't catch any leads, so we had to give up."
Besides that, the biggest reason was that they lacked the ability to deal with the artificial angels.
And Natsuki Minamiya didn't want Mahiro to take such a risk.
Wielding the Laeding forged by the gods, she could clearly understand what kind of species angels were and just how powerful they were.
However, her seemingly perfect explanation was full of holes in Mahiro's eyes.
"Really? But what you said has nothing to do with my whereabouts or the matter of the complete artificial angel. That guy Kanase Kensei even moved the testing grounds to a small island. The battles between the artificial angels mostly took place there, so you couldn't possibly know the progress of the artificial angel's completion either... Let me guess, who told you... It must be Giada, right?"
"!!!"
Natsuki Minamiya trembled when he hit the mark, but she still stubbornly insisted that no one had told her.
Mahiro simply smiled and didn't press further.
After all, this was easy to guess.
That day, including him, there were only five people in total.
Among them, La Folia definitely wouldn't have said anything because she wasn't familiar with Natsuki Minamiya and didn't understand matters related to artificial angels.
Yukina and Sayaka might have been pressured into talking, but they also didn't comprehend beings like angels.
And as for himself...
It couldn't have been him, right?
So, after eliminating all possibilities, only Giada remained.
A former Deva royal, she was well aware of the angelic divine descent ritual and even more knowledgeable about artificial angels!
Moreover, as the Third Progenitor, she had also dealt with Natsuki Minamiya before.
No one else could have been the one.
"What a blabbermouth..."
Mahiro sighed softly.
Although he didn't know what this Vampire Progenitor was up to, that didn't stop him from cursing her behind her back.
After that, Mahiro turned his gaze back to Natsuki Minamiya and stared at her for a long time.
His straightforward stare made Natsuki Minamiya somewhat uncomfortable, giving her a strange, uneasy feeling. She immediately asked:
"W-why are you looking at me like that?"
Hearing this, Mahiro calmly withdrew his gaze, looked out the window, and smiled:
"Nothing, I just wanted to ask you, Natsuki-chan—if there was an opportunity to help you escape the Prison Barrier, would you be willing?"
"Look, back then when you made a contract with a demon and fell into an eternal dream, wasn't it all for Tokoyogi Aya?"
"Now that Aya has given up her desire for revenge against the world and obediently stays by our side, don't you think it's time to wake from that eternal dream?"
His words struck Natsuki Minamiya dumb on the spot.
She stammered:
"W-what did you just say?"
"I'm saying, if you could be freed from the prison's restraints forever, would you be willing?"
"No!"
Natsuki Minamiya answered without a moment's hesitation, almost blurting it out.
She shot to her feet, her high heels tapping rapidly against the floor as the petite black-clad loli marched right up to him. Her small hands grabbed his collar as she angrily declared:
"Don't you dare set your sights on the Prison Barrier!"
"Mahiro, I can allow you to do anything—whether it's attacking the Lion King Organization or forming blood ties with the Third Progenitor, I won't interfere!"
"But!"
"The Prison Barrier is my bottom line! I won't allow anyone to destroy it!"
"And who told you I made a contract with a demon and built this prison for Aya's sake?!"
"Aya used the [Grimoire of the Oath of Darkness] on Itogami Island and was defeated by me and imprisoned ten years ago!"
"I'm twenty-six this year! Do I look sixteen to you?!"
Natsuki Minamiya's emotions were agitated to an extreme degree.
Even her voice trembled slightly, as if afraid the man before her might suddenly disappear to destroy everything she had guarded so steadfastly.
But after hearing her say this, Mahiro indeed took a closer look at the girl standing right before him.
Natsuki-chan's appearance really didn't look sixteen—fourteen or even twelve would be more believable.
Only—
"You didn't do it for Aya?"
"Of course not."
With that, Natsuki Minamiya released him and sat back down in her chair, still fuming.
"In any case, even if you establish a Dominion on Itogami Island, it doesn't matter. I trust you won't harm ordinary people, and I can help you manage it."
"But no matter what, don't touch the Prison Barrier."
"This is my only request."
By the end, Natsuki Minamiya's tone had softened considerably, taking on a pleading note.
On one hand, she didn't want to become enemies with this man.
Although he was usually quite unserious and they often argued and bickered.
She had to admit she did hold favorable feelings for Mahiro—she herself didn't even know when it started.
On the other hand, the man before her truly possessed the power to open the Prison Barrier!
And in an extremely simple and brutal way at that—just find its approximate location and destroy it!
However, Mahiro didn't respond this time, only frowning as he felt something was off.
The original work indeed never mentioned why Natsuki Minamiya sold her soul and made a contract with a demon to become a Witch.
He had always assumed it was for Tokoyogi Aya's sake—to protect Aya from persecution by the artificial island management corporation—and that was indeed the case.
But the Prison Barrier had existed even earlier?!
This was somewhat unexpected.
"So, can you, promise me." Natsuki Minamiya asked once more.
This time, Mahiro still did not answer, instead inquiring about the Prison Barrier.
Such as the reason for its establishment.
However, the girl remained tight-lipped on the matter, maintaining full vigilance no matter how he probed.
This made Mahiro extremely curious, his heart feeling as if it were being scratched by a little kitten.
It was unbearably itchy!
I want to know, I want to know, I want to know—I especially want to know!
But Natsuki Minamiya simply wouldn't say, and in the end, he had no choice but to give up.
"Alright, alright, I promise you."
After saying this, Mahiro got up and began washing up. When he came out of the bathroom, Natsuki-chan had already disappeared.
Just because Natsuki-chan wouldn't say didn't mean he had nowhere to look.
After all, there was still her good friend, Tokoyogi Aya.
But Aya's answer also greatly surprised him.
"What exactly are you talking about?"
In the study, sunlight streamed through the old-fashioned cross-shaped window, casting a hazy glow over the room.
Aya, who had been reading a book, now shifted her gaze from the pages and looked at him with a strange expression as she replied, "When did I ever say that Natsuki Minamiya established the Prison Barrier for my sake?"
"If it really were for me, why do you think I took the [Grimoire of the Oath of Darkness] from LCO's secret archives ten years ago and deliberately came to this artificial island to activate it?"
After she finished speaking, Mahiro's lips twitched slightly, and he tentatively asked:
"To free Natsuki Minamiya?"
"Of course. Otherwise, wouldn't it have been the same no matter where I released it? Wouldn't it have been better to cast it on the land of the Dominion?"
"Wait!"
Mahiro raised his hand to interrupt Aya, restraining himself as he said, "But this is completely different from what you told me in prison! Back then, you spoke of all sorts of noble causes! You talked about protesting the injustices of this world, and now you're telling me it was for your good friend?!"
At these words, Aya's gaze toward him grew even stranger.
However, this time she did not speak directly. Instead, she closed the Grimoire in her hand, slowly stood up, walked over to him, grabbed his collar, and forcibly pulled his head into her embrace.
Her pale, jade-like fingers ran through his hair, and a faint, cool fragrance mixed with the pleasant scent of books filled his nostrils.
Aya gently stroked him as if comforting a child.
"Calm down. I know what you want to ask, but do you remember the first thing I said to you back in prison?"
Feeling Aya's embrace, Mahiro began searching through his memories.
He did remember those words—they should have been something like this—
"I am here to prove that it is not us Witches who are cursed, but the world as it is now!"
"So, you activated the [Grimoire of the Oath of Darkness] on Itogami Island just to free Natsuki-chan?"
"Mhm."
Aya nodded slightly, her voice exceptionally gentle, like a petite, loving mother holding him as she softly said:
"I did indeed want to deny this world back then, but that thought stemmed more from Natsuki Minamiya."
Over the years, she had suffered too much—the agony of slumbering in an eternal dream, a torment beyond what ordinary people could endure. She could not form normal promises with others, nor could she make friends. Her body could no longer continue to grow.
She could only appear like a phantom, forever... forever watching the joys and sorrows of others.
As she spoke of this, a flicker of reminiscence passed through Aya's eyes.
Back then, when she learned that Natsuki Minamiya had become a Witch in this manner and was to guard that prison forever, she knew—Natsuki Minamiya had been deceived!
She just didn't know whether it was by her teacher, that man who dabbled in feng shui—Senga Takehito—or by the demon with whom she had made the contract.
It was also from that moment that she resolved to save her dearest friend, no matter what.
She just never expected Natsuki Minamiya to be so heartless.
Not only did she take away her [Grimoire of the Oath of Darkness], but she also imprisoned her within the Prison Barrier, to remain there for eternity...
But if asked how much hatred she truly harbored for Natsuki Minamiya?
In truth, there wasn't much hatred—only frustration at her unwillingness to fight back, and more than anything, pity.
With this thought, Tokoyogi Aya leaned close to his ear and whispered softly:
"If you wish to awaken Natsuki Minamiya, I can assist you. In this world, aside from Natsuki Minamiya herself, no one understands the Prison Barrier better than I do."