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 19&20

Chapter 19: Ashes

Having left the house under the pretense of errands, I headed straight to a nearby convenience store.

[The gaze has been cut off.]

‘Roger.’

And when the surveillance on me loosened, I used magic to erase my presence and retraced my steps back the way I came.

“So it’s those guys.”

I hadn’t looked closely earlier to avoid being detected by the enemy.

But now they wouldn’t notice me.

Having returned to the estate, I now cast my gaze toward the multiple men dressed in black garb surrounding the estate. A fairly strong-looking bunch had gathered.

If I allowed their assault to proceed as is, it might be difficult for the housekeeper alone to hold them off.

“Dimensional Isolation Barrier.”

Therefore, I’d clean them up before the assault even began.

“Wh-what!?”

“…What happened?”

“…?”

I isolated the multiple men dressed in black garb into a space separate from the real world.

With this, no matter what kind of battle took place here, no damage would come to the estate.

“Alright then.”

After properly securing Margaret-chan’s safety, I revealed myself before the multiple men dressed in black garb.

“…You’re from the Koutoku family.”

“That’s right. I’m the next head of the Koutoku family. Nice to meet you… Well, I don’t intend to let you return alive either.”

There was probably no need to capture them alive.

There was no particular need to extract information either. I’d gotten permission from the housekeeper beforehand to kill if anything happened.

“Oni. I’ll handle this one myself.”

‘What? Am I just gonna have to wait around?’

“Just wait around.”

I refined my internal magic power and finished preparing to enter battle at any time.

“…”

By then, the multiple men dressed in black garb had also recovered from their confusion and were approaching us with practiced movements.

“Kyukyu-nyoritsu-ryo.”

Taking out a single talisman, I instantly incinerated the first one who reached me.

“…!?”

Seeing this, the remaining multiple men dressed in black garb who had been charging toward me stopped in their tracks.

“Stopping so disgracefully, you’re showing too many openings, you know?”

That instant was fatal.

I rapidly deployed shikigami techniques.

“Homura.”

Starting from me as the focal point, flames filled the interior of the alternate dimensional space I created with my magic.

“Ashes.”

And then those flames rapidly raised the temperature within this space.

“…Kill the caster!”

“Too late now.”

They took too long deciding to stay silent.

It was fatal to try to discern how I would move. After all, I had left the house under the pretense of errands.

If I took too much time, I’d just worry Margaret-chan.

“Die.”

When the multiple men dressed in black frantically started running and stood before me, it was already too late.

The space heated by the flames reached its peak, and the multiple men turned to ashes and disappeared soon after.

“Shall I head back?”

With this, I was able to successfully crush the enemies who had likely come to assault Margaret-chan.

“I’m back!”

Having released my magic, I returned to the estate.

Chapter 20: Family Time

“It’s been a while since I could come home. Really, when I first left, I never imagined I wouldn’t be able to return home for this long.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s nothing for you to apologize for. It’s work, after all.”

My parents had been away from home for a whole week before returning home together with Olivia-san.

“Touya, sorry for leaving you alone for so long. Weren’t you lonely?”

“Yeah! I was fine!”

I nodded vigorously in response to my worried mother’s words.

“I see. Touya is such a good boy~”

“Ehehe.”

Responding with an energetic “Yeah!” to “Weren’t you lonely?” might have been a bit harsh… but well, my mother looked relieved, so this was probably fine.

“Even so, it seems you two have really warmed up to each other while we haven’t been with you.”

Olivia-san spoke up, looking at Margaret-chan who had me sitting on her lap and seemed quite pleased.

“During the week when the master and mistress were absent, these two were together the whole time.”

Hearing Olivia-san’s words, the housekeeper holding a pot smiled as she spoke about our relationship.

“Dinner is ready. Shall we eat?”

What was placed on the dining table where we all sat was one large pot.

Inside the bubbling pot was sukiyaki. Eggs were placed in front of everyone’s seats.

“Ah, let’s eat… Thank you for the meal.”

“Thank you for the meal.”

After everyone put their hands together, we began eating the sukiyaki.

“Mmm, it’s delicious. The housekeeper’s cooking really is the best.”

“You honor me.”

“Dewishush!”

Really, the housekeeper was skilled at cooking.

I beamed while stuffing my cheeks with sukiyaki that had been sweetened for children.

“…Mm.”

As we were all eating together, Margaret-chan, sitting right behind me, skillfully brought meat toward her own mouth with her chopsticks, but instead stopped it in front of my mouth and wiggled it a little.

“…? I can eat by myself, you know?”

I could eat just fine without being spoonfed.

“Mm.”

“You want me to eat it, huh.”

I obediently stuffed the meat offered to my mouth into my cheeks.

“…You two really get along well.”

Watching us, my father muttered something as if it slipped out.

“Fufu, how heartwarming. I wonder if this is partly because we weren’t home? If the children can become this close, it was worth being away from home.”

There was certainly a possibility that if my parents had been here, I would have been conscious of their presence and acted more childishly than usual, and wouldn’t have gotten this close to Margaret-chan.

“Children can become friends very quickly. Even if the master and mistress had been here, they would have developed this kind of relationship. They were so close from the very beginning too.”

It was true, as the housekeeper had said, Margaret-chan was at zero distance from the start.

“…It was good that we accepted her. When this proposal first came, I was confused.”

“Yeah, I’m glad I could become friends with Margaret-chan. Thanks to that, every day is fun.”

“Mufuu.”

“…I’m glad.”

My father let out such words with a deeply moved expression.

“…Fufu.”

Seeing my father like that, my mother also showed a heartwarming expression.

The dinner time passed in a thoroughly peaceful atmosphere.

…

………

After we finished the sukiyaki, the housekeeper cleaned up, and my parents went to take a bath.

I was sitting on the sofa.

“Suu… suu… suu…”

On my lap was Margaret-chan, breathing quietly in her sleep.

“…Such a peaceful sleeping face.”

Olivia-san, sitting next to me and looking at Margaret-chan’s sleeping face, quietly murmured her impression.

“…When was the last time I saw such a peaceful sleeping face?”

“Huh?”

And at the words Olivia-san spoke next, I tilted my head.

So far, I had only ever seen Margaret-chan’s peaceful sleeping face. That’s why I couldn’t understand Olivia-san’s words at all.

“…Friends might be important after all.”

“I don’t know what she liked about me, but she’s been attached to me the whole time.”

“…I see. Yes, that’s right. That’s how it is. Margaret has always been a child who keenly senses whether someone suits her or not upon first meeting. That Margaret chose you must mean that being with you must be very comfortable for her.”

“I’d be happy if that’s the case.”

Being adored was genuinely something to be happy about.

“…Because you’re someone Margaret has taken a liking to, I want you to hear about it. The darkness she carries.”

“I’m quite reluctant to hear such things from other people.”

“Even so, I want you to hear it. Margaret needs someone who understands. Someone who will stay by her side… Please, won’t you become a good friend who understands Margaret?”

“…Are those words from a sister?”

“…! You’re… you’re really a perceptive child. Where did you…?”

“That doesn’t matter… I’m not heartless enough to ignore the words of a sister thinking of her younger sister. What happened?”

If she had denied being a sister here, I wouldn’t have intended to listen.

I would have waited for Margaret-chan herself to tell me.

But I couldn’t ignore a sister’s earnest wish. Therefore, I listened to Olivia-san’s words.