IBHJ 1207

Manaka stormed ahead, practically steaming like a teapot with every step.

"I say, Master. Shouldn't we take this chance to get rid of her?" Orion, who was in spirit form, suddenly whispered near Ritsuka's ear.

"Why would I want to get rid of Manaka? She's going to help me find my sister and then help remove the beast from both of us." Ritsuka smiled as she hurried after Manaka.

"Master is really impossible, just too naive." Orion sighed, crossing his arms.

"But that innocence is also Master's greatest strength," Europa said with a smile.

"Why are you defending her?" Zeus looked at Europa with annoyance. "Have you forgotten how she made us suffer?"

"That... I stopped thinking about that a long time ago..." Europa laughed awkwardly, turning her head away, not daring to meet Zeus's gaze.

"Well, if these were just ordinary enemies, it wouldn't be a problem, but letting Master keep approaching that woman so carelessly is really dangerous, Mr. Krista," Holmes said to Kirschtaria.

"You're right." Kirschtaria nodded and turned to King Hassan, who was in spirit form. "So, if things start to look bad, I'll leave it to you, King Hassan."

King Hassan nodded.

Kirschtaria watched Ritsuka's back as she walked away. Though he was frustrated with her, since he'd taken on this job as her caretaker, he was obviously going to see it through to the end.

Besides, when it came down to it, this was also that person's request.

Kirschtaria closed his eyes.

Holmes asked, "Are you thinking about Lady Olga, Mr. Krista?"

"No, I'm just wondering what I need to do to make Ritsuka and all of you remember my full name." he looked at Holmes with annoyance. "I'm not called Krista, I'm Kirschtaria Wodime."

"It doesn't matter, names have no meaning, they're just code names, Kirs-kun..." Zeus waved his hand dismissively and patted him on the shoulder.

Kirschtaria Wodime's face darkened. "I understand, now please take your hand off my shoulder."

"Hahaha—" Zeus laughed awkwardly and pulled his hand away.

"Is my sister here?" Ritsuka kept pestering Manaka.

"My sister..."

"You're so annoying! I will take you to find your sister, just stop bothering me!" Manaka glared at her in frustration.

"Oh." she finally shut her mouth.

Manaka breathed a sigh of relief at last. She had considered many possibilities for the Beast VII and what she would need to do to get it, but she never imagined it would turn out like this.

Headache.

Yeah, just a major headache.

Even when facing Shirou in his Eternal Emperor state, she only found it annoying, but Ritsuka gave her an actual headache.

Unbearably irritating, yet impossible to defeat, with an especially sharp mouth.

And those cutting words didn't contain any malice whatsoever...

But that wasn't even the worst part.

The worst part was that Demonic Bodhisattva was watching her nearby, just waiting for her to be alone so she could get rid of her.

So she couldn't wander too far from Ritsuka, or she'd risk being eliminated by that woman.

That meant she could only take Ritsuka to Kama for now, hoping she would keep her promise and use her like some kind of vacuum cleaner to suck up Beast VII.

But still, without a doubt, this was completely humiliating!

And yet she had no choice but to turn this humiliation into hope.

Sigh...

What a terrible situation this is!

Manaka felt completely miserable.

Ritsuka pouted, "The people in this village are so weird. I keep trying to talk to them, but they don't answer me."

Manaka mentally rolled her eyes. Who would want to deal with someone whose words are so piercing? That would be the weird part.

"Why do you think that is, Manaka?" she asked.

"Don't ask me, go ask your babysitter," Manaka replied with disdain.

"But you said you were omniscient, doesn't that make you basically an encyclopedia? Isn't it just common sense to check an encyclopedia when you have questions?... Huh? Why is your face all scrunched up again? Didn't you sleep well? Do you want to take a little nap?" she looked at her with genuine concern.

Manaka's expression grew even worse. She swore that once her situation improved, the first thing she'd do would be to pin this annoying orange to the ground and give her a good beating, just to teach her the lesson that if you don't know how to talk properly, then don't talk at all.

"Speaking of which, it's really too bad that Xuanzang couldn't come here with us."

Just then, a very familiar voice suddenly came from nearby. Manaka's expression changed instantly as she dove into a nearby pile of grass.

Ritsuka asked in confusion, "Why are you hiding in a grass pile?"

"Shh." Manaka put her finger to her lips.

Ritsuka looked confused, but though she wasn't good at talking, she wasn't actually stupid. She understood that Manaka had her reasons, so she didn't say much, just hid behind the grass pile too.

After a moment, two young women came walking from the distance.

"Fufu, surely you jest, Lady Ayaka." The two young women passed by, chatting and laughing.

Manaka stared at their retreating figures and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Why were you hiding from them?" Ritsuka asked curiously. She could tell that Manaka was hiding from the two young women who had just walked by.

"Hiding? Hmph, I'm just avoiding unnecessary trouble," Manaka replied dismissively.

In truth, she was definitely hiding—specifically from Ayaka Sajyou.

And the pair who had just passed by were none other than Ayaka Sajyou and Xuanzang Sanzang.

"That smells like a lie." Ritsuka tapped her nose knowingly. "My nose is super sensitive to lies, you know."

Manaka: "..."

She ignored her and stared at the village ahead, frowning.

They've actually come out from Tír na nÓg? Aren't they worried the Empire will pick them off one by one? Or maybe... has that Shirou already figured out a way to deal with the Eternal Empire?

Manaka didn't know. Both the Emperor as a Holy Spirit and Shirou as someone who had crossed over from another world were beyond her omniscience.

But without a doubt, she could only follow her own path.

And get this irritating woman back to her brother as quickly as possible!

Manaka looked at Ritsuka with an irritated expression.

…

"Hello, is there a sequel to this book?"

"Amitabha, yes there is! Just give me a moment," Xuanzang replied. She put her palms together and recited a Buddhist phrase, then glanced back at Ayaka who was buried in the pile of books behind her.

Ayaka nervously pulled a book from the stack and handed it to Xuanzang, who passed it along to the eager customer standing in front of her.

"Thank you so much," the customer said gratefully.

"You're very welcome! Please let us know what you think after you've read it," Xuanzang replied warmly.

"I will."

As the customer walked away, Ayaka sighed and murmured, "That's the seventh one today..."

Ever since Shirou had decided to export culture to the Empire, Heroic Spirits like Shakespeare and other writers had quickly created a series of works tailored to the Empire's cultural climate. They then entrusted these books to well-known traveling Heroic Spirits like Xuanzang Sanzang to spread them far and wide.