From the Warlord's Empire (12 page)

“N-no…i-it’s nothing like…that.”

Kojou subconsciously averted his eyes from Asagi as sweat dampened his back.

Now that she mentioned it, way too much came to mind: His being the vampire called the Fourth Primogenitor, those abilities scorching the city but a short time ago, the millions of yen worth of damage caused, the fact he’d sucked her blood—he had the feeling Yukina held any number of secrets that could completely mess up his life.

“Hmmm. I see…even Motoki’s on the money sometimes.”

Watching Kojou’s suspicious behavior, Asagi made a satisfied nod.

“Yaze? He said something to you?”

Kojou bounced the question back to her with fierce unease. Apparently that guy had put Asagi up to all her eccentric behavior that morning. But regardless…

“Sorry, but I really do have to go.”

Asagi, speaking with a strangely bright smile on her face, trampled over Kojou and hopped off the bed.

“Make sure you get to school on time, too. Nagisa, let’s go to school together!”

“H-hey, Asagi?”

As Asagi warmly embraced the still somewhat astonished Nagisa’s shoulder, she went “See ya!” and waved to Kojou. Kojou scratched his disheveled hair as he watched the two leave the room.

“What’d you really come for, anyway…?”

Seemingly talking to himself out loud, Asagi turned back for a single moment and answered. “Mm…I wonder. A declaration of war…perhaps?”

Suddenly left by his lonesome, Kojou went, “What was that all about?” as he tilted his head.

By the window, a single bird had stopped, watching Kojou.

The bird, its dark gray feathers seemingly constructed out of metal, stared at Kojou amid the dazzling rays of the morning sun.

Meanwhile…

A lone teenage girl stood atop a building in Island South—Itogami Island’s southern district.

She was a teenage girl with long hair. There was a large black instrument case lying at the girl’s feet.

The girl’s gaze was aimed at the ninth floor of an apartment building standing on the opposite shore, with a street interposed between them.

A single bird was stopped near the window of the room. The girl was borrowing the bird’s eyes to look at what was happening within the building.

“How…how indecent…”

A low murmur escaped the girl’s lips. The girl’s white cheeks were tinged with a hint of red—perhaps out of anger she could not be hidden, perhaps from embarrassment.

“It seems that man indeed requires a suitable punishment…”

Her lightly chestnut-pigmented hair danced and fluttered in the strong breeze blowing in from the sea.

Leaning down, she retrived from her instrument case a single sword…

It was a two-handed, silver-colored sword with a smooth, curved metallic surface.

“Hey, Himeragi.” Kojou called out to Yukina inside the monorail they used to commute to school.

Yukina, holding onto a metallic-colored handrail, slowly turned to look at Kojou. Her eyes, like deep lakes, had the cold light floating in them he’d seen when they’d first met.

“What is it, Akatsuki-senpai, who made me wait outside while with a female classmate?” Yukina casually replied in a robotic voice. Kojou audibly cleared his throat.

“I can clearly hear the ill will in that clinical tone of voice, you know.”

“I am sorry. Excuse me, Akatsuki-senpai, who gets along very well with female classmates in his bed in the morning.”

“Gaaah! That’s all Asagi deciding to climb into my bed while I was asleep! She’s always playing pranks. It’s probably ’cause she got annoyed yesterday,” Kojou clamored as he clutched his own head with both hands. In his opinion, it was a very convincing theory. Holding a small grudge for skipping out on sports festival practice to be with Yukina was very plausible where Asagi was concerned.

“So Aiba did that all on her own…did she?”

Yukina let out an exhale that sounded like a sigh.

“I thought as much. Though I am not so sure it was a ‘prank.’”

“Wha—You mean it wasn’t just a misunderstanding?”

Kojou watched Yukina while breathing a sigh of relief now that she’d returned to her usual tone of voice. As he did so, she glared at him with narrowed eyes.

“No matter how indecent you might be, senpai, I at least trust that you are not a person who would immerse himself in unseemly conduct with Nagisa close by.”

“So you’re saying I’m indecent, anyway?”

Kojou curled his lips in dissatisfaction. But based on what he’d been told so far, even he was not too dense to pick it up: Yukina really wasn’t angry with Kojou out of petty jealousy.

“So, if you know all that, why are you so angry?”

“Though I trust that Aiba’s lewd behavior was not out of any purposeful behavior of yours, senpai, I do not think that means you could have resisted her seductions.”

“Seductions?”

“What would you have done if you’d been assaulted by vampiric urges?”

Kojou’s breath instantly caught at Yukina’s serene question.

Yukina was firmly gripping the handle of the guitar case on her back as she silently stared at Kojou.

It was the abominable characteristic possessed by the vampire species. Rooted in the deepest recesses of their instincts rested a craving for blood, easily robbing a vampire of his reason and turning him into a violent monster.

It was a powerful urge even primogenitors could not control. And lust was what called it forth.

If, in that place, he’d been assaulted by vampiric urges, Kojou might well have assaulted Asagi. And then Nagisa would have seen his fangs sunk into Asagi’s neck. In a single moment, he might have hurt and lost his precious friend and his only little sister.

“…Suppose you’re right. Sorry,” Kojou murmured in a hushed voice. It burned him that he’d been so careless that Yukina had to point it out to
him. One way or another, Yukina had been worried for Kojou. Of course she was angry.

“Please reflect so that you do not befall such a dangerous situation again.”

Yukina spoke in a tone like what one used to scold a puppy.

“Well, yeah, but,” said Kojou, his lips tapering in what seemed a bit of displeasure. “Er, but I think this morning really was an act of God…”

“No, I think it is best you be more resolute, senpai. Please consider this.”

“Er, but what should I do if someone decides on her own to come into my room while I’m asleep…?”

“I believe it is best you always remain on your guard so that does not occur. Please reflect.”

“Ah, come to think of it, if that’s why you were angry, why’d you leave, Himeragi? Wouldn’t it have been better to stay there, so you could stop me if…”

“Uunh…”

“…I’ll be careful in the future.”

As Yukina began making a low sound, Kojou bowed his head deeply.

“Goodness,” Yukina said, making an exhale that seemed full of exasperation.

“At any rate, if you suck on anyone’s blood beside mine, I will be truly angry, then.”

“R-right.”

It was like she was saying she was fine if it was her blood he was sucking on. As Kojou thought of that, he was deeply grateful for Yukina’s concern. By rights, Yukina was just a watcher: a Counter-Demon Attack Mage granted the authority to eliminate Kojou. Even so, she was looking out for him like this. Even if her lectures were ever so slightly irrational, that was no cause for him to complain.

“Anyway, Himeragi, what do you intend to do now?” Kojou asked, his expression turning rather serious.

“You mean searching for the Black Death Emperor Front?”

Perceptively, Yukina immediately bounced the question back. “Yeah,” said Kojou with a nod.

“It’s a different situation from before with that old man Eustach. Not really able to find terrorists without any leads, are you?”

“I suppose not. However, I meant to go speak to someone first, someone who should have information.”

“…What, you know an info broker?”

Sounds like somethin’ out of a police drama,
Kojou thought, oddly interested.

But Yukina went, “Not at all,” shaking her head with a chiding look.

“However, Duke Ardeal said Itogami Island’s Counter-Demon Agents are trying to catch the Black Death Emperor Front, did he not?”

“Counter-Demon Agents?”

“Yes. Counter-Demon Agents.”

Yukina nodded as Kojou watched her. Kojou thought a little, murmured “ohh,” and clapped his hands together as if just remembering something.

Sakai Academy, high school building, staff section…

For some reason, Natsuki Minamiya’s office, located on the top floor—even higher up than the principal’s office—had an extravagant, commanding view.

The thick carpet was velvet. The furniture was all antiques. It had a bed with a canopy. The room had an elegance around it that made one want to ask what palace she’d robbed blind.

“Sorry, Natsuki. There’s a little something I hoped you could help us with…”

Kojou opened the thick, wooden door and brusquely entered the room. And the next moment…

“Guoo?!”

Kojou’s skull sustained a sudden impact, rolling him onto his back.

“S-senpai?!”

Yukina, entering immediately after Kojou, rushed to pull Kojou up as he groaned in pain.

From the center of the room, Natsuki Minamiya, wearing a black dress, stared coldly at both of them.

She was a small, baby-faced woman who looked like a little girl, but she was actually an English teacher who claimed to be twenty-six. She was also an actively serving National Counter-Demon Attack Mage. A
set number of Counter-Demon Agents were tasked with the safety of the students in Itogami Island’s educational facilities.

Natsuki was one of them.

Sitting very deeply in an expensive antique chair, she opened a folding fan with black frills.

“I told you to not call me
Natsuki
. Learn already, Kojou Akatsuki.”

As she spoke, she shifted her glare to Yukina.

“Oh, you’re here, too, middle school transfer student. So, what is your question? Did you want to ask how to make babies?”

“E-excuse me?”

For a moment, Yukina was in mild shock, unable to comprehend the words spoken to her, after which Yukina quickly shook her head. Kojou, pressing a hand to his forehead, leaped up with great vigor.

“Like hell it is! What are you talkin’ about, out of the blue like that?!”

“…Ah, it’s not? What do you want then?”

Natsuki made a bored-seeming exhale.
Wonder how much she really wanted to talk about how to make babies,
Kojou thought as his shocked face turned serious.

“We’re looking for a man called Kristof Gardos. We’d like you to share any leads you have with us.”

That moment, Natsuki’s aura completely changed. Her small body, not even 150 centimeters in height, exuded an air of oppressiveness so thick, it was hard to breathe.

“Where did you hear that name?”

Natsuki asked, narrowing her eyes like a beautiful Western doll.

So she does know about him,
thought Kojou. Regardless of her day job, Natsuki was apparently one of the top five Counter-Demon Agents on Itogami Island. Kojou and Yukina had expected that she’d be fully informed about the appearance of a big-time criminal of Gardos’s level.

“From Dimitrie Vattler. I’m sure you know him? Owns a big cruise ship docked at Itogami Island? He said he came from the Warlord’s Empire to wipe Gardos out.”

“Tch.” As Natsuki listened to Kojou’s explanation, she clicked her tongue in annoyance.

“I see…I should have expected that frivolous Master of Serpents might call you over. Really sticking his nose where it’s not wanted…”

Natsuki spoke ill of Vattler like she knew him personally. The “serpents” she mentioned were no doubt Vattler’s Beast Vassals. Though only for an instant, Kojou had seen that Beast Vassal enveloped in an incandescent light himself.

“So it’s true that terrorists from the Warlord’s Empire came to Itogami Island, huh?”

“If Vattler said it, it must be so.”

Natsuki spoke in a careless tone. She’d judged it to be something she couldn’t hide.

“And if I tell you where Gardos is, what then?”

“I will catch him before he makes contact with Duke Ardeal.”

Yukina instantly replied to Natsuki’s question. With that one statement, Natsuki apparently had a grasp of the broad circumstances. If he entered combat with the Black Death Emperor Front remnants, Vattler would happily release his own Beast Vassals. There was no mistaking that enormous damage to Itogami Island would result. Yukina was saying she’d put a stop to it.

But Natsuki’s reply was quite blunt.

“Pointless. Give it up. Ah, Astarte…you don’t need to serve these two; it’s a waste of tea. Do bring me that new black tea, however.”

“…Accept.”

Natsuki rudely ordered around the girl wearing a maid outfit bringing in barley tea. Surprised at the somehow familiar echo of her voice, Kojou and Yukina both lifted their faces in shock.

Carrying a silver-colored tray, an indigo-haired girl stood before them.

Her facial features were artificially symmetrical, with expressionless, pale blue eyes. There was a highly exposing apron dress wrapped around her slender, immature body.

“You’re the Beast Vassal host who was with old man Eustach…!”

“Astarte…?!”

“Ahh yes, come to think of it, she’s a familiar face to you both.”

Natsuki spoke without any change in her expression.

Kojou approached her while speaking in a small voice. “Why’s this girl here at school? Er, more than that, what’s with that outfit?!”

“Artificial Life-Form Astarte has been given three years’ probation for complicity in the raid on Keystone Gate.”

Finding the matter bothersome, Natsuki brushed Kojou off as she explained. “Being a national Counter-Demon Agent as well as a teacher, I am the logical choice to take custody of her. Besides, I was in the market for a loyal maid.”

“No doubt the reason you threw in at the end is the real one… Well, if she’s happy with it that’s great,” Kojou murmured as if he was telling that to himself.

The maid-clothed Astarte began preparing black tea just as Natsuki had commanded. The expression on her fairylike features did not change, but somehow, she looked like she felt it was well worth the effort.