Chapter 16: Returning

Poll Results:

Original Father - 5

Valerian - 38

Ok Valerian will be Kuroka and Koneko's father. Though I won't be making anything happen between Valerian and Fujimai yet. Not until he goes back to Japan, which will be sometime between the Great War and the Civil War.

" " = Dialogue.

' ' = Inner Thoughts/commands.

{ } = System response.

[ ] = Telepathy message.

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"I hear you are leaving the village today." Fujimai said as she walked up to me. I was outside of Nurarihyon's manor, sitting next to Lyra with her head on my lap.

I look up at her and give her a wry smile, "Yes. Inari and I will be heading back to Kyoto soon, then back to the Underworld not long after that." I said back.

"I know. I wish we had more time to get to know each other, but Magari-sama is strict with her training." She sighed and sat down next to me.

"There's always next time, I'll visit again at some point. You won't be training at that time hopefully and we can spend some more time together then." I said leaning my shoulder into her before leaning back away.

She smiled and nodded at me, raised her hand and started petting Lyra. "I'm surprised you could tame a Bane wolf. We only know a little about them, even living in the same forest as the majority of them. From the little we know, they aren't easy to tame."

I shrugged, "Wasn't all that hard, she was surprisingly receptive to the idea of a challenge. Though it might be due to the fact I didn't look at her with disgust. I heard from Inari that even most gods find them repulsive, and a bearer of ill omens."

Fujimai hummed, but stayed silent otherwise. We sat in a comfortable silence until Inari walked out of the house, "When are we leaving Val?" She asked, smiling down at me.

"Hmm, lets leave now and get the others, then I'm returning to the underworld." I said. "What about your pack? Leave them here or do you want me to teleport them to one of the forests in our territory? The demonic beasts there are probably stronger than most of the beasts in this forest, so they could get stronger but also in more danger." I asked Lyra curiously.

[ Send them to the forest if you don't mind. If we can get stronger, then all the better. ] She responded calmly.

I nodded and pat her head, telling her to let me up. I stood up and held my hand out to Fujimai, helping her stand as well. I turned back to Lyra, "Come on, lets get your pack teleported." The four of us head outside of the town, and outside the bounded field. When we get out, Lyra lets out a loud howl, calling the other wolves. Within two minutes all of the wolves are standing in front of us. I nod and summon a communication circle next to my ear.

"Finally decide to talk to me did you Valerian Maara?" I heard my mothers upset voice over the communication circle.

I audibly gulped and laughed nervously. "Haha, I was busy... I'm Sorry. I was calling to let you know I'm sending a pack of Bane Wolves to our forest near our manor. So if you see a bunch of them appear, or a large mana influx, that's why."

She sighed, "Alright. thanks for letting me know. How is your trip? Run into any trouble?" She asked in a softer tone.

"No, I didn't even get to fight anyone all that strong physically. I fought Magari, the leader of the Nekomata clan. She was good with Senjutsu and Youjutsu, but she wasn't a physical fighter, at all. Luckily we found teachers for all the girls, so they've gotten a few weeks to practice." I replied.

"That's good. Though how long are you guys going to be gone? I miss you all..." She said in a sad tone.

"We are coming back today mom... Though I plan to have Serafall get a place in the village she's training at, since her teacher doesn't know about the supernatural. Grayfia and Kouko on the otherhand have teachers from the supernatural, so they can teleport back and forth. Kouko is learning from an Oni, named Inanna, and Grayfia is learning from an heiress of the Nakiri Clan, Suzu." I said

I heard a pause for a moment before my mother spoke up, "How did you convince an heiress of one of the principle clans to teach Grayfia? The oni I understand. A lot of oni work as mercenaries of sorts, so that isn't very surprising. The principle clans hate all three races from the Christian pantheon, though they tolerate the angels better than the other two."

"Suzu didn't seem to mind that we were devils too much. Though she seemed pretty young and she originally didn't want to since her clan would never allow it. Though Inari made sure to tell her she could with no consequences, so she agreed."

At the mention of Inari I heard my mom groan, "Is she there right now?"

I coughed, "Yes..."

"INARI! If you don't answer my call next time I'll come to Japan and drag you here!" My mother yelled out, loud enough for Inari to hear, though I was sure she could hear anyways by the way she was giggling.

"Sure think Asame! Hehe!" Inari said back into the communication circle I was now holding in her direction.

I pulled the circle back to my ear, "Okay mom. I'm going to get the girls and we'll be back. Also Inari will probably end up coming with us."

I heard a sigh, "Alright. Love you dear. See you soon." She said tenderly.

"Love you too. Later." I said as I closed the communication circle and teleported all of the wolves right outside the forest near our manor in the underworld.

Now with Inari, Fujimai and Lyra, who stayed back with me, we walked into the bounded field again and made our way back to Nurarihyon's manor, where the old man and Magari were standing outside.

Nurarihyon was smiling kindly at us. Throughout the week, we had gotten closer, and I can say he really is a nice guy, though he likes to pull pranks almost more than Inari does, which I didn't think was possible. He also hated responsibility with a passion, and pushed off all his official work onto Magari, who then pushed it off onto Fujimai.

"Are you leaving now?" he asked, still smiling. I nodded at him and looked at Fujimai, who had her head lowered, and her ears which normally stood up, were drooped.

I sighed and walked up to her, patting her head, "I'll come visit again in the future. We can spend more time together then."

She looked up and her eyes brightened, she nodded with a smile, stood up on her tip toes and kissed me on the cheek, blushing furiously before running into the house. Inari, Magari and Nurarihyon all burst out laughing, and I had a small smile tug at my mouth over her actions.

Magari sighed, "That girl is hopeless, she's already head over heels."

Nurarihyon laughed, "Let her be Magari. Valerian is a good man, even if he is a devil. Keep that promise to her, alright brat." He told her, directing the last part at me.

I nodded in response and walked over to Inari, grabbing her hand and creating a teleportation circle under the three of us teleporting us back to Kyoto, specifically outside of Yasaka's house.

We didn't have to knock, as we heard the clashing of weapons coming from behind the house where we found Grayfia and Kouko training with Suzu and Inanna respectively with Yasaka training her Senjutsu on the side.

I walked over and sat on the ground, with Inari sitting on my lap. We waiting for them to finish, which took about an hour and told them we would be heading back to the underworld today, though they could still come back and train whenever.

We talked for a little with Kato, Yasaka and Yasara. We stood up to leave, but I felt a small tug on my sleeve. I looked back and saw it was Inanna who looked at me with a determined expression, "I want to go with you..." She said in with a more meek voice after a second, though her determination didn't lessen.

"Are you sure? We are about to go to war, you know that right? There's a chance you could get caught up in that."

She looked at me in the eyes for a moment and nodded. "Your promise... I want to come with..."

I sighed and smiled, "Alright, alright. Fine. Why don't you inform the Asano's and get your stuff ready."

"I told them before you came back. As far as my stuff goes, it's here, I don't have much." she said after walking into her room, pulling a woven box, which was filled with clothes.

I walked over and grabbed the box from her hands before sending it into my pocket space before nodding to her. "Alright, then we can leave." I turned to the Asano's who were now smiling at us, and bowed slightly, "Thank you for allowing them to stay here and allowing Inanna to teach Kouko." before standing back up straight.

Kato smiled, "Don't mention it valerian-san, they are great company. Yasaka doesn't have a whole lot of friends her age, so it was nice for her to make some more friends."

Yasaka came up and hugged Grayfia, Kouko and Inanna, "See you all again next time you visit." She looked at me, "Take care of Inanna, Valerian-san."

I smiled and pat her head out of reflex, though she didn't seem to mind judging from her swaying tails, "Don't worry, she's in good hands. See you next time Yasaka-chan." She nodded with a smile and stepped back with her parents as I summoned a teleportation circle and teleported us a few miles outside of the village where Serafall was staying.

We walked in and back to Asahi's home. Knocking on the door, Himari answered the door with a surprised look on her face. "Valerian-san! I didn't know you were coming back today. Come in, the girls just got done training so they will be out in a few."

We walked inside and sat at the table, I noticed Asahi wasn't anywhere to be seen so I decided to ask, "Asahi-san have to go back on patrol?" Himari just nodded in response.

A few minutes later, Serafall walked out with a cheery expression and Yua was walking behind her with a smile, though more reserved. When Sera saw me, she ran over to me and buried her face into my chest, hugging me as soon as I stood up. "I missed you..." I heard her mumble into my chest, causing me to chuckle and rub her back.

After introductions of Inanna to Serafall and the other two girls, I spoke up, "We should head back home now Himari-san, though I plan to buy a home here so we can stay there whenever we come to visit and Sera can stay there while she trains."

Himari nodded and said, "I'll ask Asahi to get a place for you from the Daimyo."

I smiled and thanked her, before we said our goodbyes and walked out of the village into the nearby forest, summoning a teleportation circle, which engulfed us and we disappeared from the forest.