Riser Phenex isn't a villain

Chapter 101: Why can't the world be peaceful?

The charm of an adult woman...

Riser was curious, but then again, was there an adult woman around him?

Oh, there it is!

Yet, when he thought of her, it was hard for him to think of her as an older woman.

---

"Achoo~!"

"Are you okay, Serafall-sama?"

"I am okay~! I am okay~! I am sure that Riser-chan is just missing me~!"

"....." Everyone.

Still, looking at the purple sky of the Underworld, Serafall was quite lonely since she hadn't met him for a while.

---

Serafall aside, there was also another older woman, but then again, that person was the mother of his friend, so how could he do unforgivable to her?

Nevertheless, Riser needed to handle Magari first. "If it's the matter of the East Youkai Faction, then you don't need to worry. After all, I am the leader of this group, right?"

"Yes."

Magari was quite awkward when she heard those words, but that was the truth.

The East Youkai Faction wasn't led by Nurarihyon anymore, at least on the surface; everyone would think it was led by Nurarihyon, but the truth?

It was owned by the young man in front of her.

*Shiver!*

Magari quickly shook her head as she tried to endure the urge inside her heart.

Like other supernatural beings, they were all attracted to power.

Magari wasn't immune to that attraction either, as she also sought out her partner had to be strong.

Nevertheless, was there an existence that was stronger than an eight-tailed Nekoshou?

There were probably a few, but then again, how old were they?

There was no doubt that those who were stronger than her were older than her.

Except for the young man in front of her.

Riser was still young, and he could still grow even more.

It was also due to this that she could only bite her lower lip, trying to suppress her desire as there were many important things that she needed to report and console him due to his status as the new leader of the East Youkai Faction.

Frankly, there was no need for her to do so, especially when Riser's way of ruling was laissez-faire.

He only set up the general trend, and the others just needed to follow.

As for the methods, it all depended on his subordinates, and he gave some pointers and something to watch out for.

Magari told him about what was happening after they had followed his instructions.

Frankly, there was no need to do this, especially when he often talked with Nurarihyon through communication magic.

Nurarihyon might seem careless and sloppy, but in the middle of the mission, he was serious.

It was like the case when Nurarihyon tried to kill him.

When Nurarihyon wanted to stab his blade that time, Riser could feel no hesitation. Nurariyon's actions were decisive and ruthless.

This was the case with what Nurarihyon did to the Five Principle Clans of this country, which had been troubling the East Youkai Faction.

"It might be late, but can you explain to me about the "Five Principle Clans"?"

"...sure."

While Magari felt speechless since Riser didn't understand the "Five Principle Clans," even though he had helped them to deal with those clans ruthlessly, she still explained regardless.

"The Five Principal Clans are five powerful clans composed of Shinto mystics who possess a divine connection to the Shinto gods and have served them for generations. Most of their members from ancient times have been blessed with powers over one of the five elements, also regarded as the Five Phases, which is a part of their respective clans due to both their fervent faith and strict worship in Shintoism.

"And those five clans are Kushihashi Clan, Doumon Clan, Shinra Clan, Himejima Clan, and Nakiri Clan."

"Shinra Clan and Himejima Clan?"

"What's wrong? Do you know them?"

"The "Queen" of my wife and the "Queen" of someone I know seems to come from those clans."

Riser was a little speechless and quite ironic to know the origin of Shinra Tsubaki and Akeno through Magiri instead of asking them.

"Oh, then they should be someone who was banished from the Clan after all."

"As expected, huh?"

While he had expected Akeno and Tsubaki to have trouble as they had decided to become reincarnated devils, he didn't expect they would be banished from their clans.

Yet, he couldn't be blamed as he had never seen someone banished from their family in his previous life.

Even in the Underworld, there was no such thing.

—or there might be, but he might not have seen such a thing; after all, the time he came to this world was quite short, and the supernatural problems in this world were more complex than he had thought.

Not only did all the beings on the Christian exist, but Buddha, Shinto, and all other myths existed and lived among a human, which made this world extremely complex and unique.

Frankly, Riser wished to return to the Underworld since it was more comfortable to live there than on Earth.

"But why were they banished?"

"You didn't ask?"

"Do you think I can ask such a sensitive question?"

"...you are right."

Instead of asking, Riser might as well wait for them to tell him directly.

Tsubaki aside, he knew that he needed to wait for Akeno to tell him about her past.

Though, if he had to be honest, he didn't care about Akeno's past. While her past might be part of the reason for shaping her current self, what he was with was her current and her future, so her past did not matter to him, but if her past haunted her, then he would do his best to solve it.

"Hmm... there can be many reasons for one to be banished from the clans, such as those who haven't been blessed with those supernatural powers from birth, those who violate their religious laws, or they are born with the Sacred Gear."

"Sacred Gear?"

"Yes." Magari nodded. "Due to their strict belief in Shintoism, the Five Principal Clans have an aversion towards the members of their clans who are born with Sacred Gears, which are supernatural powers and items originating from Christian Beliefs, as possessing them is considered heresy."

"....."

Riser didn't know what to say about this.

Weren't they too stuck up?

However, when the world was about to develop, there were many who wished to stay on the old ways, yet was such a thing wrong?

Riser couldn't say much since while the old way might not bring prosperity, it would bring stability.

Instead of a new way that hadn't been confirmed whether it could succeed or not, the old way was reliable and definitely wouldn't fail.

Nevertheless, in such a way, there had always been a minority who would be sacrificed, yet wasn't it how the world works?

By sacrificing the minority for the majority.

It has always been like this.

Those who could save everyone were nothing but the Shonen manga protagonists.

"Still, are they powerful?"

This was probably the most important point.

"Hmm... should they be quite powerful? After all, they have mastered the power of the Five Elements and Eastern Magic of Shintoism, but all of them are nothing compared to their abilities to have command over the Five Sacred Beasts."

"Five Sacred Beasts?"

"Yes." Magari nodded once again. "The Kushihashi Clan has Azure Dragon; the Doumon clan has Black Tortoise; the Shinra Clan has White Tiger; the Himejima Clan has Vermilion Bird; the Nakiri has Yellow Dragon."

Riser somehow became interested in these Five Principle Clans and wondered whether he could sneak into their places later.

"So the other members aside, the leaders of the clan and those who will inherit the clans are exceptionally strong. Oh, right!"

Magari suddenly remembered something, and her expression became quite solemn.

"Almost, no, all of them should be related to a Grigori to a certain extent."

"Grigori? A fallen angel?" Riser frowned.

"Yes." Magari nodded. "The Fallen Angel is the natural enemy of the Devil, right?"

"But why did the Fallen Angel have a relationship with those clans?"

"I am not that sure since we, the East Youkai Faction, don't have much interaction with them, and we don't have that much interest either."

Unlike the Phenex House that could bring them the "Phenex Tears," what could Grigori do?

Magari was afraid that the Fallen Angel organization would bring them to war instead of helping them, so there wasn't any connection between the Grigori and the East Youkai Faction.

However, humans were different.

"While I am not so sure, the Fallen Angel should be gathering a group of humans with the Sacred Gear. Those who have Sacred Gear in the Five Principle Clans will be banished, so they should be working together?"

While Magari wasn't sure if this should be her conjecture, Riser's expression was ugly.

After all, there was only one reason why the Fallen Angel would gather Sacred Gear users.

War.

Was there going to be a war in the future?

Nevertheless, while he was staying on this mountain and talking with Magari, something big happened in Kuoh Town, and everything moved in a worse direction for everyone who was living in that town.