The Strongest Onmyoji and the Shikigami With AI are Unparalleled in Another World ~ A Second Life Properly Enjoyed Using Artificial Intelligence ~-Chapter 172 - We Meet Often, Don’t We?

The next day, I felt my head being lifted, and I woke up.

“Oh, you’re awake. Sorry.”

Right in front of me was Lily’s face.

“What is it?”

“I thought I’d return the pillow…”

Ah… she does have a pillow.

“I see.”

“Yeah. Sorry for taking it home. You can keep sleeping if you want.”

Saying that, Lily stepped away and crawled into the kotatsu.

Inside the kotatsu were not just Lily, but also Annie, Alice, and Natalia.

“You guys are up early…”

“It’s almost noon. You had a rough time, Yuuma, so you can sleep until Leanne-sama arrives. We’ll wake you when she does.”

Natalia said as she sipped her tea.

“No, I’m getting up… Hey, little fox, wake up.”

“Reboot failed. Shutting down…”

AI-chan said that as she hugged me.

“Reboot in the kotatsu.”

“Will do…”

AI-chan crawled out of the futon and immediately dove into the kotatsu.

I got out of the futon too and entered the kotatsu.

“Don’t use someone’s butt as a pillow.”

Apparently, AI-chan was using Annie as a pillow.

“Master, it’s cushy and feels great!”

AI-chan gave me an unnecessary report through the kotatsu blanket.

“Little fox, mind your wording. You’re making it sound like I’m fat.”

“Sorryyyy… It’s very soft and smells really nice.”

“I should have just told you to say nothing…”

You guys sure are having fun this morning.

“Here, Yuuma, have some tea.”

“Thanks.”

I drank the tea Natalia had brewed for me.

“What about breakfast? It’s almost lunchtime though…”

“Lunch is fine. Lily mentioned earlier that Leanne isn’t here yet, right?”

“Yeah, but she was here in the morning.”

Huh? She was?

“She stopped by this morning before heading to the castle?”

“Yeah. She came to have breakfast. After she finished eating, she said she was going to talk to the king and left.”

I didn’t notice at all.

“She’s got it tough too, not getting much sleep. Well, let’s just wait for her.”

“Sounds good.”

We decided to wait for Leanne, staying in the room instead of heading outside.

As we were talking about having lunch soon, Leanne arrived, bringing Pamela and Tama-chan with her.

“Good morning, Yuuma-sama. Did you sleep well?”

Leanne greeted me with a cheerful smile.

“Yeah, thanks to you.”

“You even put on makeup…”

“That’s good to hear.”

AI-chan muttered something under her breath, but Leanne ignored her.

“Well, have a seat.”

At my suggestion, the two of them sat in their usual spots, and Tama-chan crawled into the kotatsu.

“Both of you, we’re about to have lunch. Want to join us?”

Lily asked the two of them.

“We’d love to.”

“Then we’ll take you up on that.”

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When the two nodded, Lily left the room with Natalia.

After a while, they returned with lunch, and we all started eating together.

When we finished eating, we began sipping tea as a post-meal treat.

“Leanne, did you talk to the king?”

With the meal over, I decided to get to the main topic.

“Yes, I spoke with him this morning and proposed the matter from yesterday.”

“What did he say?”

“He seemed to approve. Actually, he even asked if it was really okay.”

Well, from the country’s perspective, it’s just me acting independently without altering the plan. Even if I fail, it won’t affect the overall situation.

“You’ll be helping with this too. Is that alright? You’re the head of the guild, after all.”

“That’s not a problem. Kenneth is there, and all I need to do is allocate adventurers and give instructions.”

“Is that all?”

With so many adventurers, it seems like maintaining control would be quite challenging.

Well, Kenneth must be capable.

Good luck, Kenneth. I’ll treat you to something next time.

“If there’s no issue, let’s go with that.”

“Yes. But before that, my uncle would like to speak with you. Could we borrow some of your time?”

It’s probably better to speak directly.

“Understood. Let’s meet him.”

“Then, shall we go?”

Leanne stood up and extended her hand.

I also stood up and took her hand.

AI-chan stood as well and touched Leanne’s shoulder.

In an instant, my surroundings changed from my room to the king’s familiar chamber.

“So, you’ve come… Well, take a seat.”

The king motioned for us to sit. Still holding Leanne’s hand, I walked to a seat, sat down, and let go of her hand.

“I’d like to say it’s been a while, but we’ve been seeing a lot of each other recently.”

“Indeed. There’s been no shortage of issues—mostly since you arrived in this world.”

Don’t make it sound like it’s my fault.

“I have nothing to do with that. If anything, I’d argue I’ve been contributing.”

“That’s true… You’ve done well. Now, about this matter—are you serious about going to the Demon Continent?”

The king wasted no time getting to the point.

“Yes, I think it’s the best course of action. However, you must understand that Leanne’s presence will be absolutely necessary.”

“That’s true… I respect your wish to protect Leanne, and since she’s no longer bound to the royal family and is with you, that’s fine. But going to the Demon Continent… no one ever even considered such a notion.”

The people of this world are overly afraid of the demons.

“I’m a reincarnated person, so I don’t know much about demons. I can’t see what’s so problematic. Cutting off supply lines during an enemy invasion seems like the most obvious strategy.”

An army marches on its stomach, as they say.

In fact, that organization called “Eats,” run by Merell and the others, seems to be planning something similar.

“Well… is it doable?”

“There’s no problem.”

All we have to do is go to the town and burn their ships.

No issues there.

What’s more concerning is Leanne’s teleportation being used for warfare.

Once it’s used in that way, life as it was before will never return.

“I see… but I’m sorry, I can’t offer you a particularly high reward for this.”

“That’s perfectly fine. I already understand from the previous stampede that urgent requests don’t pay much. However, I’d like this mission to be classified as a secret operation decided by His Majesty.”

“Understood. There’s no reason to exclude Leanne in this situation, after all.”

It’s not just Leanne—if we were seen as having run away, it would leave a bad taste in our mouths.

“Also, I’ll leave the town of Celia to Layla.”

“Your leader, the A-rank adventurer? I don’t mind, but are you sure? Honestly, considering the last stampede, if the demons were to target the royal capital and trigger another stampede, the most likely location would be Celia.”

They’ve already targeted it once.

The recovery is still incomplete, and it’s plausible that the demons might aim for the royal capital while using Tretta to divert the capital’s military.

In that case, Celia’s strategic location makes it highly suspicious.

Maybe the previous stampede was part of a larger strategy to destroy Celia beforehand.

“If it’s Layla, there shouldn’t be any issues. Your Majesty, please focus on the royal capital and Tretta.”

“Understood. I’ll leave that to you.”

“Then we’ll act as soon as the plan is finalized.”

“I’m counting on you.”

The king nodded, and I turned to Leanne.

“Well then, Uncle, we’ll take our leave now.”

“Very well. Take care.”

With our report to the king complete, we used Leanne’s teleportation to return.