Royal Authority

"You can just follow me; there's no need to hold onto my sleeve," Lu Mingfei reminded her after they had walked for a distance.

Erii looked at him with questioning eyes.

Forget it, forget it. Once we finish buying the notebook, it'll be fine. Lu Mingfei didn't insist on her letting go.

Along the way, Erii looked left and right, her eyes sparkling whenever she saw people in cosplay.

She did have one question, though: why were there so many people who looked the same on the street? Could they all use the Shadow Clone Technique? But they didn't look exactly the same, either.

She felt like asking King of Fighters Sakura, but she didn't have anywhere to write things down, so she decided to ask later.

Lu Mingfei led Erii to the shop where he had bought his body pillow earlier. The two entered together, and Erii's gaze was immediately drawn to the dazzling array of anime merchandise.

He brought Erii to the section selling anime-themed journals.

"Here, if there's one you want to buy, you can tell me," Lu Mingfei said, pointing at the journals.

Erii nodded, her eyes shining. She crouched on the floor and began to pick out a journal, looking very serious.

She liked them all. Erii flipped through the journals, finding it hard to choose. After a while, she seemed to have figured something out, and she selected a journal with Lelouch on the cover.

"That works. If you have anything you want to say, you can write it down now, and I'll pay for it for you in a bit," Lu Mingfei said, crouching beside her.

He was also picking out a journal, thinking that since he was already here, he might as well buy one himself. He chose one with Kujo Jotaro on the cover—yep, very invincible.

Erii opened the journal, took her pen out of her skirt pocket, and wrote: "Sakura, can I have a few more?"

"No," Lu Mingfei refused decisively.

"Why?" Erii wrote back. It was clear she really liked these things.

After thinking for a moment, Lu Mingfei replied, "Because you are only the runner-up of the World Martial Arts Tournament, and the runner-up can only buy one."

Erii nodded like a chick pecking at rice, indicating she understood.

Seeing her serious expression, Lu Mingfei felt a bit embarrassed, but there was no helping it; he still needed his money to buy other figures and couldn't waste it elsewhere.

When they reached the figure section, Lu Mingfei decisively grabbed an Asahina Mikuru figure, then selected another body pillow of the same model as the one he had bought earlier, feeling quite pleased with himself.

Watching Lu Mingfei, Erii followed suit, picking up Naruto and Luffy figures, and then grabbing a C.C. body pillow—the heroine of Code Geass.

Lu Mingfei glanced at Erii but didn't say anything. He had only promised to buy her a journal; anything else was outside his scope of responsibility.

Surely she wouldn't expect him to pay for those? These things weren't cheap, and anyone with a bit of common sense wouldn't do that to someone they had just met.

After selecting their items, Lu Mingfei and Erii walked to the checkout counter.

"An Asahina Mikuru body pillow and figure, plus these two journals. Could you ring them up for me?" Lu Mingfei said to the cashier.

"Certainly, sir."

After the transaction was settled, Lu Mingfei paid the bill and walked out of the shop.

Erii followed closely behind and stepped out as well.

"Sir, Miss, you haven't finished paying!" the cashier shouted, rushing out of the shop in a hurry.

"I just paid."

Could this actually be a scam shop? Lu Mingfei couldn't help but be suspicious. Otherwise, why would they give him a thirty-percent-off card? They were probably waiting to rip him off once he bought more items!

The cashier quickly explained, "You only paid for part of the items. The Naruto and Luffy figures and the body pillow in that red-haired girl's hands haven't been paid for yet!"

Shifting his gaze, Lu Mingfei looked at Erii gloomily.

Erii hugged the body pillow, holding the Naruto and Luffy figures in her hands, her face expressionless.

"Why didn't you pay for the things you picked out?" Lu Mingfei asked.

Erii tilted her head, indicating she didn't understand.

"Everything you're holding, except for the Lelouch journal, needs to be paid for," Lu Mingfei reminded her again.

Carefully placing the body pillow and the two figures to the side, Erii wrote in her little notebook: "But I don't have any money. I've never had to pay for things before."

"Hiss..."

Lu Mingfei felt a headache coming on. This young lady probably had her family pay for everything she bought.

But this was too absurd. How could someone have never paid for anything themselves? Could she be some kind of young heiress?

"Sigh, in that case, you'll just have to put them back," Lu Mingfei said, feeling helpless.

Erii immediately became alert and quickly clutched the body pillow and figures to her chest. Although she didn't show much expression, Lu Mingfei could tell she had the stance of someone who would die before giving them up.

"Taking things without paying is against the law," Lu Mingfei explained to her seriously.

Erii's eyes showed a hint of conflict. What Sakura said seemed correct, but Luffy and Naruto were already her family!

Thinking hard, Erii revealed the side of the body pillow and the base of the figures.

Erii's Cushion, Erii's Naruto, Erii's Luffy—they were labeled as Erii's body pillow, Naruto, and Luffy, written in Chinese, Japanese, and English.

She wanted to convey that these were already her family.

Is this girl's name Erii? Still, this is too ridiculous. When did she write all this? Doesn't that mean he has to buy them now!

Under the cashier's sharp gaze, Lu Mingfei silently went back into the shop to pay.

Stepping out of the shop, Lu Mingfei cast a resentful look at Erii.

He had already spent a good portion of his one million yen, and the kicker was that he hadn't even bought as much stuff as she had.

On the other side.

The news of Erii going missing in the crowd had already been reported to Gen Chisaki by Yaksha, and now Gen Chisaki's face was dark; how could Erii have gone missing?

Could she have run away from home again? But in the past, she had never strayed far from Gen Heavy Industries because she simply didn't know her way around.

Her bloodline was unstable, and now Gen Chisaki was worried not just about Erii, but also that she might go berserk if she encountered something that affected her emotions; if she went berserk in Tokyo, it would cause a massive disaster.

"Yaksha, take the remaining personnel and continue searching in Akihabara; I will head over shortly," Gen Chisaki ordered.

There was no more time to waste, and Gen Chisaki's eyes gradually began to burn.

The ground was slowly cracking, and the weight of the surrounding Demon Spirits members seemed to increase dozens of times in an instant, forcing them to slowly kneel down in a posture of bowing their heads in submission.

Spirit Word Authority, this was a Spirit Word with the serial number 91, classified as a high-risk Spirit Word; unless granted permission by the caster themselves, no one could remain standing within the domain of Royal Authority.

Those within the domain had to endure dozens or even hundreds of times the force of gravity; this was the application of super-gravity onto the opponent, slowly crushing them.