3:30 PM.
In the office on the third floor of the Hidden Management Department's garrison.
Luo Shu held a small bag of chrysanthemum tea, about to pour it into the nearby teapot.
Just then, the uninvited Nia Honjo walked in with her hands behind her back, smiling as she approached the central sofa. Standing there, she asked Luo Shu:
"How was the post-meal coffee?"
"Just got back and you've already caught me?"
Luo Shu wasn't surprised by Nia Honjo's appearance. He tore open the chrysanthemum tea packet and poured the contents into the glass teapot.
During the meeting with Juzo Megure and Kotoko Iwanaga, he'd downed three cups of coffee. Especially later, sitting there chatting with Kotoko Iwanaga for nearly an hour, which left him parched. So, upon returning, he'd immediately thought of brewing some cooling tea.
As he added boiling water, Luo Shu reflected on the nearly hour-long conversation and sighed:
"I suppose we've reached a consensus with that Yokai Princess?"
"Hmm, timing-wise, she should already be looking for an opportunity to contact Ravel, creating a chance to isolate her."
Nia Honjo nodded in understanding, sitting down on the central sofa and lifting her legs onto it, crossing them as she leaned back:
"Oh~ So it seems things are progressing quite smoothly."
"Only half smoothly."
Luo Shu poured the steaming chrysanthemum tea into his cup and one for Nia Honjo, then carried both over:
"The Phenex Society side is being handled, but there's no word yet from the Hell Sect."
Nia Honjo wasn't surprised by this efficiency:
"True. After all, it's an organisation backed by those Grand Dukes. Even if it's just the periphery, caution is necessary."
As they spoke, Luo Shu placed the teacup in front of Nia Honjo and asked:
"By the way, do you know what Kotoko Iwanaga's Class is?"
"Kotoko Iwanaga's Class? Where did she get that?" Nia Honjo seemed momentarily stunned.
At her surprise, Luo Shu was taken aback: "What, even you don't know her background?"
Nia Honjo rolled her eyes at this:
"Although Raziel's omniscient ability is powerful, my personal power is limited, alright?"
"All my energy was previously focused on you and True Hell. Where would I get the Spiritual Power to investigate things I've never even heard of?"
"Besides, I only learned about this person's existence from you. She's been living very low-key in human circles, this one."
Hearing this, Luo Shu chuckled: "Spiritual Power consumption too high? Looks like your mana pool still isn't big enough!"
As he spoke, Luo Shu took a sip of chrysanthemum tea, both to cool his temper and to tease:
"If Raziel had consciousness, it would probably resent having such a burden of a host like you, wouldn't it?"
"Shut it."
Nia Honjo rolled her eyes again, snorted, then directly summoned Raziel as if to prove herself to Luo Shu, immediately searching for Kotoko Iwanaga's Class.
The black pages of Raziel flipped automatically, without wind, landing on a page that began to glow with an eerie blue light.
Within that glow, black characters began to appear.
But before Nia could read the text, under a faint aqua-blue light, the rapidly displayed characters began swiftly disappearing.
The two similarly coloured but differently shaded lights made Luo Shu look over curiously:
"What's wrong?"
At this moment, Nia Honjo said with some surprise:
"This reaction... haven't seen it in a while."
As she spoke, Nia raised her head and waved Raziel at Luo Shu:
"Too bad~ The search failed~"
"But judging from that reaction just now, it seems the Yokai Princess possesses one of those rare Classes with anti-divination properties."
"I once divined a witch before - the reaction was quite similar to this, so I do have some experience with it."
Luo Shu looked surprised at this, then took another sip of tea:
"Now that you mention it, she did say that before reaching Hero Rank, her Class was purely supportive with negligible combat capabilities."
"Considering her Hero Rank requires a ritual for a Top Tier Class, having anti-divination makes sense."
"But this actually makes me look forward to coming clean with her now."
An already Top Tier Class - what kind of abilities would awaken if she became Familia?
This was something Luo Shu was very curious about.
Hearing this, Nia Honjo glanced at Luo Shu, then immediately used Raziel to satisfy her own curiosity.
She wondered what Kotoko Iwanaga and Luo Shu had discussed.
Though she couldn't retrieve Kotoko's Class for now, that didn't mean she couldn't retrieve Luo Shu and Kotoko's conversation.
Soon, their dialogue appeared on Raziel's pages.
After quickly scanning the contents, Nia suddenly had an epiphany:
"Oh~ So that's the trap you set?"
"Mistaking Kotori-chan for a phoenix, then drawing Ravel's suspicion while gathering Phenex intel... You were barking up the wrong tree, weren't you?"
"This kid is really unlucky in an extraordinary way!"
Hearing the teasing laughter, Luo Shu glanced at Nia Honjo, who was flipping through Raziel, and couldn't help but comment:
"Sometimes I find these omniscient-type abilities quite annoying~"
"I couldn't agree more..."
Nia Honjo nodded, then said with a look of regret:
"Newly released games are never satisfying because I can't resist searching for the best walkthroughs and getting data only available to insiders."
"Someone who seems nice at first glance, someone you think could be a friend—just a quick search reveals all the bad things they've done since childhood."
"Of course, the most disgusting part has to be lottery gambling. Even when I correctly predict the jackpot, the officials always swap the winning ticket before payout. Imagine, an omniscient Spirit like me can't even win the lottery~"
"Sigh~ Humans are truly filthy creatures~"
Luo Shu gave Nia Honjo a look, hesitating to speak, but ultimately refrained from calling out her humble-bragging.
Still, he made a mental note not to buy lottery tickets in Japan.
"Instead of wasting time on this, why not help me figure out how to extract the Calamity Jade Seal from Conan's body? I've almost got everything ready on Eriri's side, but there's still no progress here."
"But my ability's weakened state hasn't passed yet... Retrieving something of such high authority is exhausting. Can we wait until next time? Once I recover, I'll search immediately!!"
Seeing Nia Honjo clasp her hands in plea, Luo Shu sighed and took another sip of chrysanthemum tea:
"Fine, fine. We'll wait and deal with the current tasks first."
Kotori Itsuka... and the Phenex Society and Hell Sect targeting her.
A ready-to-use Demigod can't be allowed to fall into their hands...
The Phenex Society is manageable with Kotoko Iwanaga handling it, but the Hell Sect... Has Enigma contacted the Three-Eyed Spider yet?
As Luo Shu pondered this...
...
Adachi Ward, Tokyo.
In front of a dilapidated shrine, Enigma, now dressed in black leather, looked up at the torii gate at the entrance.
Her gaze lingered on the half-corroded plaque above and the spider hanging there.
After a moment of silent confrontation, Enigma chuckled playfully. Just then, the faint jingling of a Kagura Bell approached from behind her.