Harem Sync: Divine Edition-Chapter 72: UNEXPECTED INSPECTION (2)

"WHAT!?" Haru and Isabela shouted together.

"And I’m not leaving until that happens!" She grabbed the contract, showing a small clause at the end. "Here it is! Clause 47-B: ’Inspector reserves the right to request physical demonstration of conjugal affection’!"

It was actually written.

Haru smiled, looking at Isabela with a playful look.

"Hehehe~ it’ll have to be, darling~" She stretched her lips, pouting. "He wants to see our love~"

Isabela blushed instantly. "H-Haru, I..."

Kira opened her eyes wide, watching, her tail stopping its wagging.

Haru approached slowly.

Isabela recoiled, her heart pounding.

Lips inches apart...

"WAIT!" Flavius shouted.

They both froze.

"Before you two kiss... I need to see you in ACTION!"

"...What do you mean?" Haru asked.

"You’re both adventurers! Right?" He pointed accusingly. "Could you get away with a mission with your daughter? How would you handle danger?"

He looked at Yukihime, who had returned to the room.

"I want a real mission demonstration! I want to see how parents work together protecting their child!"

Isabela seized the opportunity to escape immediately.

"By chance, we have a mission to complete, darling!" she said too quickly. "Where’s the paper?"

Haru pulled it out of his tuxedo pocket. "It’s here!"... I almost... almost kissed her...

It showed: Giant Rat Extermination - Sewers.

Flavius read it, his eyes shining.

"PERFECT! Then let’s go! I want to observe you in combative parental action!"

He stood up dramatically. "TO THE SEWER!"

Isabela exchanged a glance with Haru, thinking, "What on earth did I do to deserve this?"

Kira, still dressed as a maid, murmured: "...Are we really going to the sewer with this guy?"

"Apparently... yes."

```

[MISSION UPDATE]

◊ Exterminate Giant Rats

◊ NEW CONDITION: Complete with inspector watching

```

Minutes later, they were already getting out of the carriage in a specific alley in the Commercial District, a narrow alley between warehouses, smelling of old garbage, and on the ground an iron sewer cover with the city’s symbol engraved on it.

"Are you sure this is the place, Kira?" Haru asked, looking around.

Kira checked the map the Guild had given her, wrinkling her nose. "Yes, master. The smell of giant rats is coming from below. Lots of rats."

Flavius, still in his impeccable purple suit, clapped excitedly. "Leeet’s gooooo~!"

Haru and the butler opened the heavy hatch. A rusty iron staircase descended into the damp darkness.

They descended one by one, Haru first, then Isabela, Kira, Yukihime, Flavius, and the guard closing the rear.

(The other guard, Valtherion? He’d gotten away with it. He was at home resting peacefully.)

They reached the maintenance walkway below, a stone corridor with a river of sewage running alongside, faint magical lighting flickering on the walls every ten meters.

The smell was awful: rot, dampness, excrement.

Isabela covered her nose with a handkerchief. "How disgusting..."

Kira didn’t even blink. She’d smelled worse.

Flavius’s notebook literally transformed, pages turning into golden light, floating beside him.

"[Protect Bubble~]" she said in a sing-song voice, gesturing elegantly.

A transparent, soap-like bubble appeared, completely enveloping him and Yukihime, a magical barrier that filtered air, smells, and protected them from attacks.

Yukihime touched the inner wall of the bubble in amazement. "Daddy, look! I’m floating!"

"No, you’re not, daughter..." Haru murmured.

They organized themselves into basic formation... Isabela and Haru in front; Yukihime and Flavius in the middle of the floating bubble; the Butler-Guard and Kira behind.

"Inspector, stay behind," Haru instructed. "If something gets past us, the guard and Kira will cover."

"Oh, what tactical organization!" Flavius noted in the floating grimoire. "They demonstrate parental-military coordination."

They began to walk deeper and deeper.

The corridor descended in a slow spiral, water dripping from the ceiling, the sound of something moving echoing in the distance.

Isabela walked closer to Haru, her voice low. "Haru... about before... the almost-kiss..."

"Hm?" He looked at her.

"I... it wasn’t because I didn’t want to." He paused, choosing his words carefully. "It’s just that... I’m still processing."

"Processing?"

"Trust." He said simply. "I trust you now. Truly. But... there’s a difference between trusting as a guard and trusting as... something else."

Haru understood. "No need to explain..."

Behind them in the bubble, Yukihime looked curiously at Flavius’s grimoire.

"Mr. Inspector, why does the book float?"

"Ah, little one!" Flavius replied theatrically. "It’s convenience magic! It frees your hands for more eloquent expressive gestures!"

"Does Dad also do magic?"

"Your dad does impressive things, from what I’ve observed."

Yukihime smiled proudly. "Dad is the best!"

Flavius noted: "Child shows genuine affection for the male tutor. Good sign."

They arrived at the smelliest area, a large chamber where several tunnels converged, stagnant water pooled in puddles, trash floating.

They began to hear light footsteps, the scratching of claws on stone, low squeaks.

Kira warned: "Master... they’re coming."

A giant rat leaped from a side tunnel, running straight towards Haru, the size of a large dog, dirty gray fur, gleaming red eyes, enormous yellow teeth.

"Come to me, darling!" Haru extended her hand, preparing Ignition.

But before she could unleash its power... A beam of golden light passed between Haru and Isabela, instantly piercing the rat’s skull.

The creature fell dead before taking three steps.

"Slow~" Flavius commented as elegantly as possible, his grimoire gleaming beside him, his finger still extended from where he had fired the spell.

Haru turned to him. "Why!? Didn’t you come to see?"

Flavius smiled. "This is a test! After all..." he adjusted his suit, "...how fast are you protecting the child? Or will you always let someone else do your job?"

He paused dramatically.

"Yukihime was almost near that creature. If I hadn’t acted, you would have allowed a dangerous approach!"

That slightly bothered Kira. Ears flattening, tail ceasing to wag.

Haru understood it as a challenge. "This guy... is really testing me."

Isabela also caught on. Flames began to dance in her hands. "So you want to see speed? Let’s show you."

They advanced deeper.

And then the rats began to appear en masse, ten, twenty, emerging from side tunnels, running along the walls, jumping from holes in the ceiling.

Haru drew Vorath, a black blade gleaming faintly in the magical light.

Isabela conjured Valtherion flames.

First group:

Haru slashed diagonally, three rats.

But Flavius’s golden beams struck before the blade completed its movement.

Second group:

Isabela launched a fireball, five rats.

But an explosion of light from the grimoire incinerated them before the flame arrived.

Third, fourth, fifth group:

Same thing. Haru and Isabela strained, attacking quickly, coordinating, but Flavius was simply faster and more precise.

Kira watched everything with wide eyes.

"That guy... he’s killing rats like they’re flies. He doesn’t even move. He just points and..."

She looked at the master fighting, then at Flavius smiling elegantly in the bubble.

"He’s possibly beyond the master... far beyond..."

Flavius floated over to Kira while Haru and Isabela continued trying.

"And you, little fox?" he asked curiously. "Why don’t you fight too?"

"I’m a rear guard." Kira replied seriously. "My job is to protect them in case something gets past them."

"Wise." He noted in the grimoire. "She knows her role. She doesn’t seek unnecessary glory."

He looked at her with genuine interest. "You really like this boy, don’t you?"

Kira blushed. "I-I... he’s my master!"

"Hmmm~" Flavius smiled. "Noted."

Haru cut three more rats (finally managing to do so before Flavius), breathing heavily, and looked at Isabela.

She was avoiding looking directly at him. She attacked the rats, but always stayed on the opposite side, creating subtle physical distance.

And when they needed to coordinate attacks, she hesitated for half a second, enough time for Flavius to steal the kill.

"She’s... out of focus." Haru noticed.

He tried to say: "Isabela, cover the left..."

"I know!" She cut too quickly, launching flames without looking at him.

"Definitely something wrong."

More rats came, twenty, thirty, it seemed endless.

And Flavius kept killing 80% of them before Haru or Isabela could, laughing elegantly, noting things that were probably terrible in his grimoire.

Haru felt his irritation growing.

"This guy... is doing it on purpose. Testing us. Humiliating us. And Isabela is out of focus. And I can’t kill ANYTHING because he—"

He stopped, took a deep breath, looked at the rats coming in a horde. "You know too much? FUCK YOU."*

"GET AWAY!" he yelled.

Isabela, Kira, and the guard immediately retreated, recognizing the tone.

Haru planted Vorath on the ground, extended both hands forward... "IGNITION: FIRE CANNON!"

Flames exploded from his hands, not a fireball, not a jet. A CANNON. A massive cylinder of compressed fire that swept through the entire corridor, incinerated all the rats instantly, melted the stone walls, and continued **rising**.

The explosion pierced the sewer ceiling, opened a three-meter hole in the street above, threw debris and dirty water upwards, wetting the street, startling pedestrians, activating magical alarms.

Silence, smoke rising. Haru breathing heavily, hands still smoking.

He turned to Flavius.

"Done. Rats dead. Mission complete. Satisfied?"

Flavius stood still for three seconds.

Then he started laughing, not an elegant laugh, but a villainous cackle.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The grimoire annotated furiously:

*"Male candidate: EXPLOSIVE temper."

*"Destruction of public property."

*"Lack of emotional control."

*"Potential risk to child safety."

*"However... EFFECTIVE."

He stopped laughing, wiped away a tear, and looked at Haru with a huge smile.

"Oh, my dear... you just gave me EXCELLENT material for the report!"

Haru realized the mess he had made.

Isabela covered her face with her hands.

Kira just sighed.

And up on the street, city guards shouted: "WHO BLEW UP THE SEWER!?"