The Reincarnated Onmyoji Who Returned From Another World ~ I Was Reincarnated Into An Onmyoji Family On The Verge Of Decline, But Thanks To My Experience As A Hero Who Fought In Another World And The Magical Power Training I've Been Doing Ever Since I Was Born, This Life Seems Like It Will Be Easy ~ - Chapter 15: Greetings

“Why is Papa there?”

Our house was the kind that had been driven to the brink of ruin, right? So why was my father, the head of such a household, one of the members welcoming Margaret Williams, who was clearly an important figure?

“It’s due to my influence.”

To that question, the housekeeper who had somehow appeared beside me responded.

“Huh?”

“I may look like this, but I’m a renowned onmyoji. I showed a pathetic side once, but I’m a great onmyoji who has lived for over a hundred years. My reputation in the world at large is quite high, you know?”

“…”

Over a hundred years… huh? Over a hundred years? Wait? The housekeeper had lived that long? This was news to me.

“Right now, the Williams family appears to be receiving threats.”

“…Threats?”

“Yes. They seem to be receiving threats saying they’ll kill the Williams family members one by one. And there was actually an attack. The Williams family estate was attacked, and the damage was severe. Fortunately, there were no casualties, but all the protective magical formations placed on the Williams estate were destroyed, and they were driven to a situation where they likely couldn’t defend against the next attack.”

“What?”

The Williams family was the largest onmyoji family… in Europe, right? What kind of organization could drive such a family to that point?

“The Williams family seems to have chosen to scatter their family members around the world. Rather than staying clustered in one place, if they scattered around the world, they could also disperse the enemy’s forces. The basic policy was to strike the dispersed enemy forces in cooperation with the families each person took refuge with.”

“…Huh? Does the housekeeper’s presence surpass that of the many prestigious onmyoji families in Japan?”

“Japan is conservative. They don’t really have much involvement with entities that fight overseas demons. This time too, there was no movement to actively protect the Williams family’s young lady. So it came around to us. Since onmyoji have a well-established system where onmyoji from across the country cooperate to handle a single incident, the Williams family was satisfied that even accepting her at the declining Koutoku family would be fine.”

“…I see.”

So this was Japan’s isolationist attitude.

“As shown on TV, Margaret-sama and one exorcist who came as her guard will be staying at the Koutoku house. Margaret-sama is two years older than Master Touya and close in age. Please do get along well with her.”

“Yeah, I understand.”

If she’d been attacked and then had her whole family scattered, I should try to be as kind as possible. With that resolution, I opened a new bag of potato chips.

■■■■■

Less than an hour after seeing it on TV, even though you couldn’t get from the airport to our house in an hour using any public transportation, the Williams family party arrived at our place in no time at all.

“Touya. This is Margaret Williams-sama of the Williams family.”

Wow, the person I’d seen on TV was really right in front of me. I thought such carefree thoughts while looking at the still-young girl sitting in front of me, Margaret Williams. Seeing her in person, she was an even more lovely girl than she had appeared on TV… though there was something a bit scary about how she was gazing vacantly into space with unfocused eyes.

“And this is Olivia-san, who came as her guard.”

The person introduced next to Margaret-chan was a woman standing beside her. She looked to be in her twenties… and hey, wasn’t this person strong? Or rather, wasn’t she actually a Williams family member? I sensed a blood connection with Margaret-chan.

“I’m Olivia. Please treat us well.”

“Thank you for such a polite introduction. I am Koutoku Touya, the next head of the Koutoku family. Please treat me well.”

“Oh… thank you for such a polite greeting despite being so young.”

In response to my polite greeting, Olivia-san turned a smile toward me while looking somewhat taken aback. Well, if a three-year-old gave such a greeting, that would be the natural reaction. It was quite incomprehensible, if you thought about it.

“Margaret-chan, please treat me well too.”

“…”

In response to my words, Margaret-chan just silently nodded. She kept gazing into space and didn’t meet my eyes at all, but she seemed to be listening at least.

“From now on, these two will be staying at our house. Please do get along well with them.”

“Yes, I understand.”

I wonder if I’d be able to get along well with Margaret-chan? While thinking about such things, I nodded to my father’s words.