“Rhodes, how have things been lately? It’s been 3 years since you came to Tokyo; have you gotten used to life here?”
On a bright morning, the Sajyou family gathered in the dining room, quietly enjoying breakfast.
The man sitting in the seat of the head of the household talking to Rhodes was named Sajyou Hiroki, a Dark Magician.
The father of the sisters Manaka and Sajo Ayaka, he was a common, kind middle-aged man, unlike his scary-sounding profession.
The youth sitting at the foot of the table swallowed the fried dumpling in his mouth and said:
“Yes, I’ve gotten used to it. Thanks to the care from Manaka and Young Miss Ayaka, as well as Lord Sajyou Hiroki, thank you all very much.”
“You don’t need to be so formal; just treat this place as your own home. Ayaka feels the same way, right?”
“…Yes.”
Sitting opposite Rhodes, the second daughter, who would enter middle school next year, nodded slightly.
At first glance, Sajo Ayaka was a quiet and taciturn brown-haired girl.
However, this introverted beauty persona was just a disguise in front of her beloved father and her sister, whom she felt inferior to.
Whenever Sajyou Hiroki and Manaka were absent, Ayaka would become talkative and overbearing.
The contrast was as if her small body was simultaneously loaded with two entirely conflicting personalities, switching between them with a single click at any time.
Sajyou Hiroki took a sip of miso soup and said to Rhodes with a gentle and mellow smile:
“Speaking of which, if Manaka hears you calling her by her name directly, she’ll probably be unhappy again, won’t she? How about it, it’s fine to call me grandfather, you know?”
“No, that’s… hahaha.”
After the day they met, Rhodes became the adopted son of the Sajyou family.
However, on the household register, he was not Sajyou Hiroki’s adopted son, but Manaka’s adopted youth.
Rhodes himself didn’t know why a 14-year-old girl at the time could adopt a foreigner of unknown origin, only that Manaka went to the Ministry of Health and Labor once and the matter was settled.
The other two members of the Sajyou, Sajyou Hiroki and Ayaka, had no objection to becoming his grandfather and aunt.
It’s best not to think too deeply about this point.
One can only say that Magic is truly convenient.
“I’ve heard it.”
From the other end of the dining room came a slightly annoyed girl’s voice.
The girl walking towards the two men in the house possessed astonishingly ethereal beauty and brilliant golden hair.
Her petite figure was clad in home clothes somewhat resembling a maid’s uniform, revealing skin as fair as snow, and beneath her short skirt were a pair of slender legs encased in white over-the-knee socks.
She was Rhodes’s legal mother, Manaka.
As a side effect of being swallowed and corrupted by the black mud, Manaka’s body had not changed at all in the past 3 years.
Although she was already 17 years old, she still retained a remarkably petite, undeveloped frame.
Standing next to Ayaka, who was just starting sixth grade, they looked like a pair of twin sisters, and in two or three years, Ayaka would probably look more like the older sister.
Manaka walked to the dining table with a stern face and heavily placed a stainless steel basin full of broccoli salad in front of Rhodes.
“Rhodes, eat this. You never eat vegetables, and your mother is very worried.”
“It doesn’t feel as nutritious as chive boxes…”
Rhodes didn’t even look at the salad, continuing to devour the fried dumplings on his plate.
“Manaka, humans didn’t ascend to the throne of primates just to eat plants.”
Manaka put her hands on her hips and pouted: “Since Rhodes is still so willful, Manaka has a countermeasure—you won’t have your living expenses this week.”
Rhodes shuddered and straightened his back.
“Living expenses… My god, no.”
He honestly began to finish the vegetable salad on the table: “Can’t I just eat it?”
During his time living with the Sajyou family, Rhodes would ask Manaka for a huge sum of 1.5 million Japanese Yen in living expenses every week, and he would spend it all within 5 days.
However, there was a reason for him doing this.
The Lord says, do not store up treasures on earth.
When the false prosperity returns to nothingness, the new millennium will come.
The symbol of wealth, the seven sins of man.
The extremely defiled golden cup, only to open the gate of heaven.
Rhodes is the young form of the Human Order’s Adversary [Beast VI]…
No, right now he can’t even be considered a complete youth form; he can only be considered a developing anomaly.
As the vessel of the seven-headed, ten-horned Red Dragon, Rhodes constantly struggled against the urge to evolve within him.
Wanting to kill, wanting to devour Souls, wanting to evolve into a complete form, wanting to destroy the world—
To suppress the stirring great desire, Rhodes lived a life like a decadent emperor in modern Japan.
Nightclubs, bars, racetracks, pachinko parlors.
Looking back at Rhodes’s life in Tokyo, if not exactly a life of debauchery and constant revelry, it could certainly be described as indulging in all forms of worldly pleasures.
Through such a life, he finally managed to suppress his ravenous “appetite,” which in a sense was a roundabout way of saving humanity.
However, such days ended today.
Next, he was going to participate in the Fourth Holy Grail War held in Fuyuki.
The purpose was not to obtain the Holy Grail, but purely for amusement.
Becoming a pleasure-seeker, this was the way of existence for an Apocalypse Beast that wanted to live in modern society.
“I’m going to Fuyuki today to make the final preparations for the Holy Grail War.”
Rhodes said to Manaka beside him, and the girl immediately looked melancholic.
“Huh, why didn’t you say so sooner? If you had said so sooner, Manaka could have prepared a bento for you.”
I deliberately said it this morning because I didn’t want it to turn out like this, Rhodes snorted.
“Bento made by Mom… it’s not a field trip for kids.”
“Rhodes! Did you just call me Mom?!”
Manaka’s eyes lit up, and she suddenly grabbed his arm, shaking him violently.
“No, you misheard.”
“Yes, you did! Absolutely! Manaka clearly heard it!”
“I didn’t say Mama, I said… Drama.”
…How ridiculous.
Sajo Ayaka, who had been quietly eating the entire time, sighed softly at the sudden shift in the room’s energy, a faint tint appearing on her face from the sheer absurdity of the conversation.
Manaka persisted, raising her voice again: “Not Drama, it’s Mama! I heard it clearly!”
…Ahahaha.
Facing the girl who was loudly making a scene at the breakfast table, the father wore a helpless wry smile, and the younger sister lowered her face in mild embarrassment.
The atmosphere in the dining room suddenly became awkward.
Rhodes frowned and muttered softly: “So noisy, so annoying… you old hag.”
“Wuu… Rhodes is so willful, Mama is so sad.”
After speaking, Manaka pouted as if she were sulking.
Rhodes placed his chopsticks on the plate and put his hands together.
“I’m full, thank you for the meal.”
Sajyou Hiroki looked up and said to him: “By the way, Rhodes. Since you’re going to Fuyuki, remember to say hello to Matou-san for me.”
“Understood, Hiroki-sama.”
Rhodes rose from the dining table, glanced at Manaka, who was still sulking, and placed his hand on her soft golden hair.
…Hmph.
The girl whose head was being pressed down narrowed her eyes and puffed out her cheeks.
“If you think Manaka is such an easy girl to deal with, you’re greatly mistaken…”
“I’ll be back before dinner tomorrow.”
Rhodes paused and said: “By the way, I’m a bit craving squirrel fish, but the Chinese restaurants in Tokyo aren’t very authentic. Can I trouble you, Mother?”
“Okay… Okay~ Leave it to your mother! Manaka will do her best.”
So easy to deal with.