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Although she had already seen Anos like this last time, back then, she had mainly been maintaining the operation of Forbidden Heaven and had not had time to ask the questions she cared about.
This time, she just so happened to run into Anos doing this sort of thing again.
Which meant she could ask.
"Ahem! Ophis, compared to that, your matter is more important. What happened?"
Anos coughed tactically and asked with slight concern.
If he did not change the topic, he had a strong feeling that Ophis would ask many questions about this subject.
"Mm... There is indeed something rather important."
Ophis nodded slightly.
She remembered the purpose of her visit.
"Can you help me with something?"
Ophis looked at Anos very seriously.
In Anos's memory, this seemed to be the first time Ophis had directly asked him for something.
"If it is something I can do..."
After thinking for a few seconds and confirming that Ophis's problem was something he could solve, Anos smiled and answered.
...
The world of Strike the Blood.
Anos once again arrived in this world.
Originally, he had planned to come here to gather faith and handle a few other matters after the faith development in the Akame ga Kill world was complete. He had not expected to come early because of Ophis.
Gathering faith was indeed very important.
Even if Anos himself had no immediate intention of using the power of faith, he still needed to use it, along with the world's fortune, to accomplish certain other things.
This world did have religious organizations, but their power was clearly inferior to that of the Vampire Progenitors.
In this world, Vampire Progenitors were nuclear-level existences.
Unlike the vampires of the Devil High School world, who were conservative and isolationist, the three great Progenitors had used their overwhelming power to establish their own Night Empires.
Compared to that, the vampires of the Devil High School world were closer to traditional vampires, while the vampires of Strike the Blood were more like summoners.
Because the power of the Vampire Progenitors in this world was far too great, whether it was the existence of the Night Empires or the world order formed under the Progenitors' leadership, all of it weakened the authority of religious groups.
After all, the Progenitors truly existed, and in terms of strength, they surpassed those groups by a great margin.
If a church's own power was not strong enough, how could people believe that the god it worshiped was powerful?
The Devil High School world was different. The miracles of the Biblical God had spread across almost the entire world. Even though the Biblical God himself had already vanished, his myth still circulated throughout the world.
That meant this world still had a great deal of faith that could be developed.
Moreover, the Strike the Blood world was not merely a single world. It was connected to places such as the Other Realm, the higher Upper Realm, and even the realm where demons resided.
The Other Realm was said to be the origin of humanity's ancestors in this world, while the beings now called demonkind were the true native inhabitants of this world.
The Upper Realm was a place linked to the existence of angels, as shown by this world's ability to create artificial angels.
Clearly, artificial angels would not rank highly in a higher dimension, but in this world, they possessed power above the Beast Vassals of second-generation vampires.
Because of that, the world where angels existed could be called the Upper Realm or a higher dimension.
Finally, there was the world where demons resided. Perhaps that too could be called an Other Realm, an alternate-dimensional domain, but it was not the same place as the Other Realm that served as the origin of humanity in this world.
The demons with whom this world's witches formed contracts came from many different alternate dimensions.
Of course, for now, only two worlds were temporarily within Anos's target range.
...
"This is the place."
Ophis brought Anos to a camp.
This seemed to be where the matter she wanted him to resolve was located.
"Ophis, are you not going to ask whether I can solve it?"
Anos asked with a smile.
"It should be fine, after all, you are my contractor."
Ophis nodded lightly.
She had great confidence in Anos now, because she had discovered that Anos truly had goals and acted on them.
Her own goal was only the Red Dragon God Emperor.
Anos's goal, however, seemed to be far beyond that.
"You really do have confidence in me."
Anos smiled and shook his head.
Still, he really could solve it.
At that moment, a worn-out-looking man sitting at the entrance and smoking noticed the two approaching.
By reflex, he pulled out a large amount of firearms and ammunition. All of them were enchanted bullets capable of dealing considerable damage to demons and magical life-forms.
Quickly drawing weapons and preparing for battle was a skill he had developed after years of traveling through various ruins.
However...
Very soon, after seeing who was actually in front of him, he chose to put the guns away.
The other party should be an existence capable of rivaling a Vampire Progenitor, and she also held goodwill toward them. Acting like that would only be asking for death.
Gajou Akatsuki hurriedly put away the firearms, then did his best to show what he believed was a friendly smile.
He remembered that the black-haired little girl had said she was going to find someone who could solve the problem.
Judging by the current situation, that man...
No, in his eyes, he should probably be called that boy.
Was that boy the person who could solve the problem?
Gajou decided to go up and greet him.
Then...
"Ophis, what is the name of this creepy uncle smiling at us?"
Anos asked casually.
Those words directly made Gajou choke on what he had been halfway through saying.
What did he mean, creepy uncle?
He was a charming older man, all right?
Honestly, young people these days really do not know how to speak properly.
Of course, dissatisfaction in his heart was one thing. Gajou would never say it out loud.
His daughter was still counting on the other party to treat her.
"He... what was his name again?"
Faced with Anos's question, Ophis thought for a long while, but still could not remember the man's name.
"Uh..."
A dark line seemed to appear across Gajou's forehead.
He suddenly felt that this little girl and this boy were strangely well matched.
"Ah, I remember."
Ophis patted her small head.
She finally remembered the man's identity.
There was no helping it. In her eyes, most living beings were no different from pebbles on the roadside.
As for Gajou Akatsuki...
Perhaps he was slightly more important than a roadside pebble.
That was why she remembered Gajou's face, but not his name.
"He is Nagisa's father."
Ophis introduced him to Anos.
That was the only identity she remembered.
"Is that so?"
Anos rubbed his chin.
No wonder this person had looked more and more familiar the longer he stared.
So it was Gajou Akatsuki.
Gajou looked a little younger than in Anos's memory. That should be because the timeline had not advanced that far yet.
"Take me to her first. You can explain what happened on the way."
Anos basically gave up on having Ophis explain the situation to him.
Compared to Ophis, although Gajou was a little shady and worn down, he was clearly the better candidate for explaining things quickly.
"All right. There is no time to waste. I'll have to trouble you."
Gajou immediately began explaining the situation to Anos.
...
A few minutes later.
"I see."
Anos sighed.
He had not expected things to develop in this way.
Not long ago, when Ophis came to this world, she had an accidental meeting with Nagisa Akatsuki.
Because Nagisa had the personality of a natural caretaker, she felt that she could not just leave a little girl like Ophis wandering around alone, so she very naturally began taking care of her.
Ophis did not give much of a response. She simply accepted it passively.
However, as time passed, even Ophis's somewhat slow little mind eventually realized that this human girl was genuinely kind to her.
Because of that, Ophis temporarily maintained interest and closeness toward the human individual named Nagisa Akatsuki.
Although Ophis often wandered around everywhere, she would still occasionally go to Nagisa's place to play.
Recently, Nagisa had come near this ruin to help Gajou with his work.
Nagisa could not see Ophis's power, but Gajou could.
Of course, Ophis herself had no intention of hiding much. She openly used her power several times to resolve crises.
After witnessing Ophis's terrifying strength, Gajou asked Nagisa to try using her spirit medium ability to read Ophis and see whether she could perceive anything.
Then...
Something went wrong.
With Nagisa's level of existence, using spiritual vision on Ophis was something Ophis herself could sense. At the same time, Nagisa suffered a backlash because she had seen something she should not have seen.
Then Nagisa collapsed, and Gajou panicked.
After hesitating for a while, Ophis still chose to help this human girl who made her feel comfortable.
However, she was also worried that her power was far too strong and that Nagisa would most likely be unable to endure it.
In the end, she chose to call someone.
"Relax. If it is only backlash, then it really is not a major problem."
Anos said with a smile.
"By the way, Mr. Gajou Akatsuki, you irresponsible bastard of a father, please step outside for a moment."
After listening to Gajou's explanation, Anos chose to kick him out of the camp.
He really was the source of too much trouble.
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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