I Sealed Sukuna’s Finger#386+387: Time to Go Find My Husband, The Lady Wants to Leave a Backdoor!

While Bokue Keikain was still hard at work on Itogami Island—

In the Demon Realm's Northern Territory, within the Current Demon Lord faction's royal castle.

"Leo-chan, it's about time for lunch~"

As a beautiful blonde girl's voice echoed through the palace hall, the young Demon King who'd been buried in paperwork finally lifted his head from the throne.

"Phew~ Lunch again already, Sis?"

Leohart looked at the mountain of documents piled on his desk, then tilted his head to peer around the obstacle at Liala peeking out from the palace's side door. He touched his stomach, which felt no hunger whatsoever.

It had been over a week since the decisive battle between the Current and Former Demon Lord factions. Though from a historical perspective this was still immediately post-war, the Demon Realm had always valued martial prowess—territorial disputes and battles were completely normal here.

The populace had a relatively high acceptance of regime changes, so news of the Current Demon Lord faction's victory had spread throughout the Northern Territory in less than three days.

Now, with the Former faction's abdication, roughly ninety-five percent of the Northern Territory was under Current faction control.

As for the remaining five percent—those were either godforsaken backwaters that even Northern Territory natives avoided, or simply uninhabited wastelands.

In short, the Current Demon Lord faction led by him, Leohart, was now the sole ruler of the Demon Realm's Northern Territory.

No Council of Cardinals, no factional disputes.

His word was law, which also eliminated many administrative headaches.

"What do you mean 'lunch again'? It's already eleven o'clock!"

While Leohart was still reluctant to eat, Liala had already climbed the steps and approached her brother with concern.

"Leo-chan, you're the administrator of the entire Northern Territory now. As a leader, you need to take better care of yourself. If you ruin your health by skipping meals for work, that would be even worse."

"It's not about skipping meals..."

Leohart shook his head helplessly but still rose from the throne under his sister's watchful gaze.

The main issue... he really had no appetite.

After all, he hadn't become Demon King through administrative ability—he'd fought his way to the top through pure strength as a warrior.

Simply put, Leohart was a pure military commander.

But now, managing the entire Northern Territory had forced him to switch from warrior to bureaucrat, waking each day to mountains of documents.

Though he was managing somehow and getting better with practice, his daily energy expenditure had drastically decreased.

Think about what he used to do every day.

He was either battling the Former faction or on his way to battle them—at worst, supervising excavation sites.

Even if what they'd dug up had nearly gotten him killed...

At least he'd been outdoors constantly, burning energy.

And now? Just sitting there approving documents all day. If demon bodies weren't so resilient, sitting like this day after day would've made him rust!

"Come on, come on, you still need to eat on time. Just eat less if you're not hungry."

Seeing Leohart's troubled expression, Liala coaxed gently.

"Like I said, you're the Current faction's pillar of support now. If your health fails, the entire faction falls with you. Remember that... after all, your sister won't always be around to remind you."

...Wait?

Something about that phrasing seemed off. Leohart's heart skipped as he turned to look at his sister.

"What... what do you mean, Sis? Are you feeling unwell?"

"Hm? Unwell? No..."

Completely unprepared for that question, Liala froze.

They stood there, staring at each other for three seconds before Liala took a sharp breath as if her blood pressure was rising, then flicked Leohart's forehead.

"What are you thinking? That's not what I meant!"

"Uh?"

Leohart took the hit, still confused.

Not that? Then what?

Anyone hearing that phrasing would think she was on her deathbed giving final instructions!

"I'm just planning to travel when I have time."

Liala pressed her forehead helplessly at her brother—now Demon King but still dense about certain things.

"Travel?"

Leohart was even more stunned.

Not that he didn't want his sister traveling, he'd just never expected to hear that word from her.

But thinking about it made sense. Due to her appearance resembling the God race more than demons, her parents had hidden her away to avoid suspicion from their own kind, claiming she'd died young and adopting Leohart as cover.

Though the Council eventually discovered this secret, Liala had indeed lived a sheltered life all these years, never leaving home until Leohart became the Current faction's leader.

Now that conditions allowed, making up for lost childhood experiences wasn't unreasonable.

"So... when are you planning to leave, Sis? Should I assign some guards to accompany you?"

"No way~"

Liala hummed cheerfully.

"What kind of trip has guards following you around? Besides, Leo-chan, don't you trust your sister's strength?"

"Uh..."

At this point, Leohart was momentarily speechless.

Indeed, in terms of pure strength, his sister was undoubtedly the Current faction's strongest. Her previous submission to the Council wasn't from fear of angering them and causing problems for the faction—it was more about giving him, her brother, the chance to reach the Northern Territory's throne through his own power.

"So when are you planning to leave?"

"Haven't decided yet, but sooner is better. Maybe... tomorrow?"

"Where specifically..."

Leohart continued asking.

"Don't know, haven't decided. But travel is about having no destination—that's how you find surprises along the way."

Liala turned and descended from the throne, her golden hair swishing behind her.

But that was just talk. She knew exactly where she was going.

After all, it had been over a week since then. That guy should've returned to the human world by now, right?

<><><><><><><><>

Liala wasn't the only one making such plans.

Scene shift—

Meanwhile, in the Gremory household in the Demon Realm, lunch time had arrived. The entire family gathered in the dining room at their usual time.

"Hard to believe it's already mid-August."

Rias had just sat down when Akeno spoke up beside her.

Mid-August...

Hearing that date, Rias paused slightly, then hummed softly.

"Yeah, school starts in half a month."

Though she wasn't a bad student, the red-haired girl couldn't help the wistfulness creeping into her voice.

Akeno keenly caught this, her lips curving upward slightly.

"What's wrong, President? You sound a bit down."

"I'm not down, I was just thinking—"

Rias started to protest, but her friend cut her off.

"Just thinking how you haven't really spent proper time with Bokue this whole summer vacation and feeling regretful?"

"T-that's what you're thinking..."

Her thoughts exposed, Rias's face reddened as she protested indignantly.

But Akeno wasn't in any hurry, just asking again leisurely:

"Are you saying you haven't thought about it at all, Rias?"

"I..."

Rias found herself stuck again.

There wasn't much to say about it—of course she'd thought about it.

After all, she'd planned from the start of summer vacation how she and Bokue would travel around the Demon Realm together. But then the Fourth Progenitor's awakening happened, and now a whole month of the one-and-a-half-month vacation had passed. The longest time she'd spent with Bokue ended up being those few days in the Northern Territory.

"Exactly~"

Before Rias could speak, Kuroka jumped in with her own complaints.

"Bokue's really something, isn't he? Said it would be a week at most, but he's been in the human world for a whole month now with no end in sight. I bet he's having so much fun with that Sword Shaman girl on Itogami Island that he's forgotten all about home..."

Actually, Kuroka had more to say.

Like even if he was having too much fun to come home, at least bring her along. Even if the apartment was smaller, it wouldn't affect their daily activities.

Besides, that Sword Shaman girl definitely couldn't compete with her.

But leaving her in the Demon Realm for a month with barely any action—at this rate, the cat's womb would start growing cobwebs!

"Alright, alright~"

Seeing the girls' complaints growing louder, Venelana at the head of the table could only smile helplessly and gesture for them to calm down.

"The thing is, Bokue is human after all. Many things require him to prioritize the human world. It's like if the Demon Realm was facing some huge crisis—could you, Rias, continue leisurely attending school and dating in the human world?"

"I know, but..."

Rias awkwardly looked away.

She knew her mother was right.

It was like her brother Sirzechs—it wasn't that he lacked attachment to the Gremory family that kept him away. As the Demon King Lucifer, many things required him and only he could handle them.

"Good that you understand."

Seeing the girls had stopped complaining, Venelana smiled again.

"That's how it is between spouses. You need to accommodate each other in many ways. Not just now, but after you move to Itogami Island and live together too."

"Mm, I know, Mother."

Rias nodded lightly.

"Oh, speaking of moving to Itogami Island..."

As if suddenly remembering something, Venelana put down her fork with an "oh."

"We agreed to prepare your new house on Itogami Island, but won't that mean you'll have to commute between two places for school, Rias?"

"Right..."

Rias responded hesitantly.

"Though Bokue seems to be planning to connect Itogami Island directly to mainland Japan, moving the entire artificial island next to Tokyo."

"But that's still somewhat far."

Venelana shook her head.

"Actually, Mother has an idea. I think we could move your Kuoh Academy to Itogami Island. That way, after you move into your new house, you won't have to cross the sea for school every day—it'll be right on the island, just a short trip."

"Would... that work?"

Rias was still hesitant.

Setting aside that Itogami Island surely had its own schools for residents, just leaving Tokyo sounded problematic.

She'd chosen to establish herself in Tokyo precisely because it was Japan's political center. Though this might sound more symbolic than practical, forces established in areas with deep foundations were undeniably stronger and more representative than those from remote areas.

Like comparing a Tokyo conglomerate to one from Kagoshima.

The former immediately conveyed control over Japan's entire economic pulse, standing at the nation's political center looking down on all.

As for the latter... hard to say.

"Schools can merge with each other~ Our family happens to have connections in the human world for this kind of operation."

Venelana wasn't concerned.

"As for location... Rias, didn't Mother tell you? You can't be too rigid in your thinking. Though Tokyo is currently Japan's political center, if Bokue wanted, forget making Japan move its capital tomorrow—even if he wanted to change the country's name, would those bureaucrats dare object?"

"So it's about people, not location."

The beautiful woman lifted her wine glass for a sip, the deep red liquid making her lips look even more lusciously tempting.

"Take our family—the Gremory have never ranked particularly high among the seventy-two pillar families. But because your brother Sirzechs distinguished himself, even the top-ranked House of Bael must treat us respectfully now."

"Besides, there's still half a month of summer vacation left. Perfect timing to handle everything before school starts."

"I understand, Mother. About the new house's location—"

"Don't worry, Mother has already arranged everything—location and design."

Venelana smiled slightly.

"It is our Rias's marital home after all. I'll also set up a convenient teleportation array in the new house, so you won't have to go through 'customs' every time you come home."

"Eh? Is that okay?"

Rias was a bit hesitant.

After all, there were treaties between the human and demon worlds. All travel had to go through "customs," otherwise it was considered smuggling.

"Though technically it's not allowed..."

Venelana twirled a strand of hair by her ear, gaze drifting elsewhere.

"But ultimately it's just a word from Bokue-kun, right? And this way, everyone can travel back and forth conveniently."