Author's Notes:

Hey everyone! I hope you're having a fantastic 2018! Feel free to send me your ideas! I may implement them into the story! Thanks for your support! Enjoy chapter 51!

Chapter 51: Louise's In-Laws

Saito's family stared at him intently as he explained the story of his disappearance. He started from the very beginning when he first encountered the portal as he walked on the streets of Tokyo. For hours, he told his story, although he chose not to be extremely detailed in the interest of saving time. He left out the wars he'd been in, the demonic creature that dwelled inside of him, and the existence of Elves, Fairies, Dwarves, and 'Angels'. He also avoided telling them about his status For an odd reason which he could not explain, he didn't tell them the extent of his relationship with Louise. In fact, he never even told them that they were dating, let alone married.

When he finished his story, his family stared at him silently for several minutes. They then looked at each other, as if wondering who should speak to Saito first. After a few more minutes, Saito's father cleared his throat.

"Son, you have to understand that frankly, you sound insane." He said. "How are we supposed to believe something like that? Magic? Dragons? None of that stuff exists. Just tell us the truth."

Knowing that simply saying that he wasn't lying wouldn't help, Saito got up in front of them. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves and muster up the courage to do what he was about to do. After a few seconds, he let his tail fall from it's position wrapped around his waist, hidden from view by his hoodie.

It brightly glowed orange as always, although he tried to subdue it's brightness a little. Because of it's great length, he had to move it in front of him so that it wouldn't bother Louise, who sat silently behind him.

His family turned pale as they stared at the long tail before them which swayed gently from side to side. Unconsciously, Aisaka reached her hand out to touch it, not believing that it was real. When her finger made contact with it, it twitched at the feeling of a foreign organism touching it. She was also shocked by how it felt. It was almost as if she could feel Saito's heartbeat within the tail. It was hard to describe, but she knew it was real. It was also remarkably soft, but gave off quite a large amount of heat.

After they had the chance to stare it for a few seconds, he wrapped it around his waist again and hid it with his hoodie. He then sat down again and waited for a response from his family. They were silent again for quite some time before speaking again.

"How did this happen?" His mother asked herself.

"I know it's shocking, but it's the truth." Saito said.

"So your eyes..?" His father asked.

"They're orange." Saito replied. "They glow as well, but I didn't want to shock you too much, so I left them normal."

"And her eyes as well? And her hair?" Aisaka asked, referring to Louise.

"My hair and eyes are naturally pink." Louise replied.

"And the stuff about magic and armies?" Mr. Hiraga said.

"It's real." Saito said. "Let me show you."

He held his hand out and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they glowed brightly and a dark red, fire like aura surrounded his hand. He went to the kitchen and grabbed a stick of butter, which caused it to instantly melt. He then quickly grabbed his mother's hand. She expected to be burnt, but she felt nothing other than a strange feeling on her hand, as if it were enveloped by a field of humid air.

Soon, he closed his eyes again and the aura around his hand disappeared. He started to feel uncomfortable, so he put his hands in his pockets and waited for his family to say something. For several minutes they stared at each other, then after a short while, they began to whisper to each other.

Out of respect for their privacy, Saito and Louise decided to do their best not to hear what they were saying. After a short while, his family turned towards Saito and Louise.

"Okay son, we believe you." His father said. "Or rather, we'll believe you if we see it ourselves."

"See it...yourselves?" Saito asked. "So you want to see that place."

His father nodded his head.

"Well, I guess nothing bad can happen." Saito himself in Halkeginian. "Louise, I guess we should show them."

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"We have no strong enemies at the moment, so it should be pretty safe." He replied. "Besides, it will only be for a little while."

"If you say so, but if anything happens, we're coming right back." She said. "We also have to make sure they don't see Riza and Gabriel."

"Riza and Gabriel are with Sasha. We don't have to worry." Saito replied.

"Okay. I'll open the world door." Louise replied.

She stood up and pointed her finger at an empty space in the room. A small ball of light slowly floated from her finger. In her native language, she commanded it to 'open', causing it to expand into a large, white oval.

After a few seconds, the centre of the oval cleared, allowing for them to see the world they would soon be stepping into. She chose to open the door into her and Saito's house on the coast. Saito's family, particularly his mother, was extremely hesitant to walk through it, but after some motivation, they walked through the door.

When they all stepped through it, the door closed behind them. His family's eyes widened as they saw the beautiful room with its polished wooden floors and intricately designed marble pillars. There were several maids walking through the building, cleaning any dust they could find.

When they spotted Louise and Saito, they immediately stopped what they were doing to line up in front of them and bow.

"Welcome back King Hiraga, Queen Vallière. You have arrived earlier than expected." They all said at once, shocking Saito's family. "The weather has become quite cold in your absence, so please take care to wear warm clothing."

"We told you you don't have to bow." Louise said to them. "Why don't you take a few days off. You've been working hard while we were gone. Just come back whenever you're ready."

"You are too kind. Thank you." They all said.

They all left the room in an orderly fashion, leaving Saito and Louise to address their guests from Japan.

"Sorry about that." Saito said. "We tell them that they don't have to be so formal around us, but they never listen."

"Never mind that. Where are we?" His father asked.

"Well, we're on the coast of a...newer country." He replied, trying to avoid calling himself and Louise rulers. After all, his family couldn't understand what the maids were saying, so they didn't hear them address Saito and Louise as king and queen.

His father and mother sat down on a very comfortable chair, needing to cope with the rush of information. Aisaka no longer seemed afraid, but extremely excited and intrigued. Knowing what she went through since his disappearance, Saito was happy to see her smile again.

"I know all this is kind of shocking, so let's go and get food, then we can talk some more." Louise said.

"S-Sure." His mother said, looking at Saito's tail, which he let fall from his waist since he was 'back home'.

Louise and Saito lent them some warm clothes, then led them outside and into a carriage. For about two hours, they rode towards a large town. For the entire journey, Aisaka, who was now extremely curious about everything, bombarded the two with questions.

"What's this country called?! Can we see a dragon?! Are there Elves?!" She asked.

Saito did his best to avoid answering her. He wanted to have a longer conversation about those things after everyone had eaten and calmed down a little. When they arrived at the restaurant, a group of soldiers that were eating noticed them. Immediately, they all saluted Saito and Louise.

"Come on, guys. That's not necessary." Saito said, speaking Halkeginian. "This is my family. I haven't told them about the war yet, so try not to make it obvious that I...did anything."

"Come on! Don't lie to your family! Just let them know!" One of the soldiers said. "They'll be proud of you!"

"I'll tell them later tonight." Saito replied. "Just act normally."

"If you say so." The soldier said.

They walked away towards their table and began to eat and drink again.

"What was that about? Is there a problem?" Aisaka asked.

"No. Just some...friendly banter." Saito replied. "Anyway, feel free to order anything you want. I'll pay for it."

Luckily for Saito's family, the menu contained illustrations of each of the available dishes, so they were able to choose what they'd like. After waiting for about 30 minutes, all of the food was brought to them. There were a variety of things to taste, from meats to roots, most of which didn't exist in Japan or anywhere else in Saito's world.

For hours, they ate happily, with Saito's family seemingly forgetting what was happening. Saito wanted to order wine as well, but decided it would be best not to drink alcohol until the situation with his parents was dealt with.

When everyone was done, they got up to leave, with Saito leaving a few gold and silver coins on the table. When they finally got back to the home on the coast, Saito sat down on a couch next to Louise. He took a deep breath, then exhaled to speak.

"Did you guys like the food?" He asked.

"Yes, it was delicious." His father said, feeling happily full.

"Good, good. Well listen, I have a few more things to tell you." Saito replied.

"Like what?" Aisaka asked.

"Well, firstly, the reason I have this tail. The reason I have fangs and these eyes." He replied. "You see, the first time I was summoned by Louise, this rune was carved into my hand."

He showed them the back of his left hand, which indeed had strange looking runes on them.

"What do they mean?" Aisaka asked.

"It means I'm a type of familiar called 'The Left Hand of God', or Gandalfr." He replied. "It means I'm meant to act as a shield for Louise while she gathers energy. As long as I hold a weapon, it gives me the strength to protect her."

"Ummm, I'm not sure I follow, but go on." His father said.

"The reason this rune gives me power and the reason it got its name is because of a...creature." Saito continued. "It's an ancient creature that was sealed away, but whenever someone has this rune, they're able to access its power."

"So is that why your body is different?" Aisaka asked.

"Not quite. When I came back to this place, I thought nothing would happen since I already had the rune, but instead, my arm was really badly injured." He replied. "We didn't know what was happening at first. All we saw was that more strange rooms appeared on the rest of my arm."

He removed his hoodie, underneath which he was wearing a short sleeved, black shirt. The short sleeves allowed his family to see his quite muscular arms. They immediately noticed that his left arm had some scars which seemed to be from deep cuts and burns.

However, they also noticed the glowing runes, whose color at the moment seemed to constantly change between a pinkish red and peach colored orange. He put his hoodie back on, hiding his arm from them.

"It turns out that these runes happened because I tried to make a second Gandalfr contract." Saito said. "It caused me to 'absorb' a second Gandalfr. At first, the only thing that changed were my eyes, but after some time, the rest of my body began to change as well."

"That's all really confusing, but I think I get it." His father replied.

"I'm glad you're not mad about it." Saito sighed. "The other thing I wanted to tell you is that I've been in...a few wars."

"What? Wars? Like...actual wars?" His mother asked.

"Yeah." Saito replied. "I've actually died three or four times already."

"I don't understand." Aisaka said.

"To put things simply, I fought in a war the first time I came here and I died in the process, but I was revived by an Elf. I'll explain the Elf stuff later." He replied. "The next time, I exhausted my strength as another kind of familiar called 'The Heart of God', which caused me to die. However, since I'm also Gandalfr, I was able to live again. Then I actually died a few months ago in a really big war, but I lived for the same reason."

"I'm struggling to believe that." Aisaka said.

"It's true." Louise said, sipping tea, but looking quite threatening as she remembered what happened. "Speaking of which, I have something to talk to you about later, Saito."

"I'm not in trouble, am I?" Saito asked, feeling very afraid.

"Not at all." Louise said. "It's to do with Germania."

"Oh okay. That's a relief." He sighed.

"You two act like you're married." Saito's father laughed.

"That's the other thing I wanted to tell you about." Saito said, remembering that he was talking to his parents. "We're not married...yet, but we're engaged."

His father immediately stopped laughing. They all stared at him in shock for several moments. They looked closely at both him and Louise. At this point, they finally noticed that the two of them were wearing rings on their ring fingers.

"W-When did this happen?" His mother asked.

"Ummm, a year ago." Louise replied. "We were supposed to be married already, but the war got in the way. After the war, Saito was extremely injured, so we had to put it off even further."

Saito's father grabbed him by his wrist and pulled him to one of the corners of the room. He made sure he was out of earshot of everyone. Of course, Louise could hear them as if they were sitting next to her, but she pretended not to hear anything and just sipped her tea.

"Saito, marriage is a big responsibility." His father said. "You have to make sure that you marry the woman you absolutely love, otherwise you'll be unhappy later in your life. Are you aware of this?"

"Yes, I am." Saito replied confidently. "Louise is the only woman I could ever love. I'd give my life for her."

"That's the spirit." His father said, feeling proud. "Just remember this: if your wife is unhappy, you will be unhappy. If she is happy, you'll be ecstatic."

"Thank you, father." Saito said, giving his father a hug.

Louise, touched by what Saito said, held her hand on her chest, trying her best not to smile. As she repeated Saito's words in her head over and over again, Aisaka suddenly sat down next to her.

"So tell me, what is Saito like around you?" She asked.

"Well, he can be very...extroverted." Louise replied. "However, he's also very sweet. He always puts me before himself."

"Do you love him?" Saito's mother asked.

"Yes. I'll always love him and be there for him." Louise replied, blushing bright red.

Saito's mother stared at Louise for a few seconds, evaluating her response. After a few moments, she sighed.

"I can't believe my son is engaged already." She said. "Listen, I don't know how you two came to start loving each other, but please bear with him. He can be quite dull and I don't know what perverse things his father is telling him at the moment, but he's good at heart, so just give him a chance."

"So you'll let us get married?" Louise asked.

"Of course." Mrs. Hiraga said. "As long as you both take care of each other, I have no reason to oppose it. I suppose I have no right to oppose it either. I don't know enough about this place to say anything about what you've been through, but you seem to treasure him deeply. That's enough for me."

"Thank you, Mrs. Hiraga!" Louise said, hugging her mother in law with a great sense of relief.

Soon, Saito and his father came back and sat down.

"So, are you two going to start a family?" Aisaka asked, although she was only teasing Saito.

"It depends on what your response would be if we did." Saito said, wanting to know if he should brace himself before telling them he had children.

"Well, I for one would be happy to have some nieces or nephews." Aisaka said.

"I'm a little too young to be getting called grandma, but I suppose it wouldn't be so bad." Mrs. Hiraga said.

"The thing is, we...already have a baby boy and a baby girl." Louise said, preparing herself for the onslaught of hatred she was ready to feel from Saito's family.

They were all silent for a while, but then started to laugh all of a sudden.

"You nearly got me there! What a funny girl!" Mr. Hiraga said.

"Perhaps we'll show them another time..." Saito said to Louise in Halkeginian.

"You're probably right." She replied. "I could quickly get them now though."

"Yeah, but I think they'd all have heart attacks if we did that now. Let's wait until they have time to digest all of this." He said.

Louise nodded in agreement, realizing that it probably could literally shock them to death.

"So is there anything else you have to tell us?" Aisaka asked.

"Let's see." Saito said, scratching his head. "Elves, Fairies, Dwarves, and what we'd normally call Angels exist."

"Really? How come we didn't see any?" Aisaka asked.

"They have...poor relations with humanity because of a dispute a long time ago. Let's leave it at that." Saito said. "Other than that, the only really important thing to tell you is that I'm the king of this nation. Louise is the Queen."

"You? A king? How? Don't make me laugh." Aisaka said.

"I've done a lot of things during the wars that have occurred. After the first major war, the Queen of another country awarded me a small piece of land." Saito explained. "After the last war, we were awarded a large part territory which used to belong to the defeated country."

"So is that why everyone's been bowing?" His mother asked

"Yeah. Louise was pretty important to winning the war, so I suspect they're bowing more to her than to me." Saito replied.

"Don't be modest Saito. The war would've been lost if you weren't helping in the south." Louise said.

"You're telling us that two people are capable of turning the tide of an entire war? It's pretty hard to believe. Especially a cute little girl like you." Aisaka said.

Slightly insulted by being called a 'cute little girl', Louise seemed to be contemplating some kind of retaliation, which Saito noticed. He held her hand, doing his best to calm her down.

"We should go back to Japan." Saito said. "You guys are probably shocked and tired."

Louise opened a portal to their house, something which still amazed Saito's family. When they stepped through it, it silently closed behind them.

"Louise and I can sleep in my room." Saito said. "Have a good night."

They all gave Saito a tight hug, as if he would disappear if they let go. Slightly choking from the pressure, he gently pushed them off and regained his breath.

"It's good to have you back, Saito." They said at once.

Saito smiled and bowed, then went upstairs to his room with Louise. When they walked through the door, Saito looked around the room with a sense of nostalgia. It was exactly as he'd left it. Everything was tidy, his bed was made, and there was absolutely no dust.

"My bed is kind of small, so I'll sleep on the ground." Saito said to Louise, grabbing a blanket from his closet.

"It's big enough for the two of us." Louise replied, inviting him to lay down with her. "It'll just be a little cozy."

"You don't have something lecherous in mind do you?" He asked, laying next to her and covering both of them with a blanket.

"It depends on what you consider lecherous." She replied, kissing his neck.

The feeling of her lips sent shivers down his spine. He lifted her face towards him and gave her a kiss on her soft lips. Saito seemed to have completely forgotten that he was back home and that his parents were in another room. Before he knew it, he and Louise were already naked, ready to indulge themselves in pleasure that night.

Author's Notes:

I'm so sorry for the late chapter! I've been flooded with schoolwork, so I've had no time to write. I will guarantee that at least 5 chapters will come out this month, so just bear with me. Thanks for reading guys, see you next time!